Explore the vast range of titles available.

This research presents a brain-computer interface (BCI) framework for brain signal classification using deep learning (DL) and machine learning (ML) approaches on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals. fNIRS signals of motor execution for walking and rest tasks are acquired from the primary motor cortex in the brain’s left hemisphere for nine subjects. DL algorithms, including convolutional neural networks (CNNs), long short-term memory (LSTM), and bidirectional LSTM (Bi-LSTM) are used to achieve average classification accuracies of 88.50%, 84.24%, and 85.13%, respectively. For comparison purposes, three conventional ML algorithms, support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (k-NN), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) are also used for classification, resulting in average classification accuracies of 73.91%, 74.24%, and 65.85%, respectively. This study successfully demonstrates that the enhanced performance of fNIRS-BCI can be achieved in terms of classification accuracy using DL approaches compared to conventional ML approaches. Furthermore, the control commands generated by these classifiers can be used to initiate and stop the gait cycle of the lower limb exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation.

The combined use of organic manure and chemical fertilizer (CF) is considered to be a good method for sustaining high crop yields and improving soil quality. We performed a field experiment in 2019 at the research station of Guanxi University, to investigate the effects of cattle manure (CM) and poultry manure (PM) combined with CF on soil physical and biochemical properties, rice dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) accumulation and grain yield. We also evaluated differences in pre-and post-anthesis DM and N accumulation and their contributions to grain yield. The experiment consisted of six treatments: no N fertilizer (T 1 ), 100% CF (T 2 ), 60% CM + 40% CF (T 3 ), 30% CM + 70% CF (T 4 ), 60% PM + 40% CF (T 5 ), and 30% PM + 70% CF (T 6 ). All CF and organic manure treatments provided a total N of 150 kg ha −1 . Results showed that the treatment T 6 increased leaf net photosynthetic rate ( Pn ) by 11% and 13%, chlorophyll content by 13% and 15%, total biomass by 9% and 11% and grain yield by 11% and 17% in the early and late season, respectively, compared with T 2 . Similarly, the integrated manure and CF treatments improved post-antheis DM accumulation and soil properties, such as bulk density, organic carbon, total N, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) relative to the CF-only treatments. Interestingly, increases in post-anthesis DM and N accumulation were further supported by enhanced leaf Pn and activity of N-metabolizing enzyme during the grain-filling period. Improvement in Pn and N-metabolizing enzyme activity were due to mainly improved soil quality in the combined manure and synthetic fertilizer treatments. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed a strong relationship between grain yield and soil properties, and a stronger relationship was noted with soil MBC and MBN. Conclusively, a combination of 30% N from PM or CM with 70% N from CF is a promising option for improving soil quality and rice yield.

Among abiotic stressors, drought and salinity seriously affect crop growth worldwide. In plants, research has aimed to increase stress-responsive protein synthesis upstream or downstream of the various transcription factors (TFs) that alleviate drought and salinity stress. TFs play diverse roles in controlling gene expression in plants, which is necessary to regulate biological processes, such as development and environmental stress responses. In general, plant responses to different stress conditions may be either abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent or ABA-independent. A detailed understanding of how TF pathways and ABA interact to cause stress responses is essential to improve tolerance to drought and salinity stress. Despite previous progress, more active approaches based on TFs are the current focus. Therefore, the present review emphasizes the recent advancements in complex cascades of gene expression during drought and salinity responses, especially identifying the specificity and crosstalk in ABA-dependent and -independent signaling pathways. This review also highlights the transcriptional regulation of gene expression governed by various key TF pathways, including AP2/ERF, bHLH, bZIP, DREB, GATA, HD-Zip, Homeo-box, MADS-box, MYB, NAC, Tri-helix, WHIRLY, WOX, WRKY, YABBY, and zinc finger, operating in ABA-dependent and -independent signaling pathways.

Surplus use of chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizers to increase agricultural Q9 production causes severe problems to the agricultural ecosystem and environment. This is contrary to N use efficiency and sustainable agricultural production. Hence, this study was designed to investigate the effect of maizesoybean intercropping on N uptake, N yield, N utilization use efficiency, and the associated nitrogen assimilatory enzymes of maize crops under different N fertilization for two consecutive years 2021-2022. The findings of the study showed that intercropping at the optimal N rate (N1) (250 kg N ha-1) increased significantly maize grain yield by 30 and 34%, residue yield by 30 and 37%, and 100-grain weight by 33 and 39% in the year 2021 and 2022, respectively. As compared with mono-cropping, at this optimal N rate, the respective increase (of maize's crop N yield indices) for 2021 and 2022 were 53 and 64% for grain N yield, and 53 and 68% for residue N yield. Moreover, intercropping at N1 resulted in higher grain N content by 28 and 31%, residue N content by 18 and 22%, and total N uptake by 65 and 75% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The values for the land equivalent ratio for nitrogen yield (LERN) were greater than 1 in intercropping, indicating better utilization of N under the intercropping over mono-cropping. Similarly, intercropping increased the N assimilatory enzymes of maize crops such as nitrate reductase (NR) activity by 19 and 25%, nitrite reductase (NiR) activity by 20 and 23%, and glutamate synthase activity (GOGAT) by 23 and 27% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Consequently, such increases resulted in improved nitrogen use efficiency indices such as N use efficiency (NUE), partial factor nitrogen use efficiency (PFNUE), nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE), and nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAE) under intercropping than mono-cropping. Thus, this suggests that maize-soybean intercropping under optimal N fertilization can improve the nitrogen status and nitrogen use efficiency of maize crops by regulating the nitrogen assimilatory enzymes, thereby enhancing its growth and yield. Therefore, prioritizing intercropping over an intensive mono-cropping system could be a better option for sustainable agricultural production.

Background Drought stress is the most harmful one among other abiotic stresses with negative impacts on crop growth and development. Drought-hardening is a feasible and widely used method in tobacco seedlings cultivation. It has gained extensive interests due to its role in improving drought tolerance. This research aimed to investigate the role of drought-hardening and to unravel the multiple mechanisms underlying tobacco drought tolerance and adaptation. Results This study was designed in which various drought-hardening treatments (CK (no drought-hardening), T1 (drought-hardening for 24 h), T2 (drought-hardening for 48 h), and T3 (drought-hardening for 72 h)) were applied to two tobacco varieties namely HongHuaDaJinYuan (H) and Yun Yan-100 (Y). The findings presented a complete framework of drought-hardening effect at physiological, biochemical, and gene expression levels of the two tobacco varieties under drought stress. The results showed that T2 and T3 significantly reduced the growth of the two varieties under drought stress. Similarly, among the various drought-hardening treatments, T3 improved both the enzymatic (POD, CAT, APX) and non-enzymatic (AsA) defense systems along with the elevated levels of proline and soluble sugar to mitigate the negative effects of oxidative damage and bringing osmoregulation in tobacco plants. Finally, the various drought-hardening treatments (T1, T2, and T3) showed differential regulation of genes expressed in the two varieties, while, particularly T3 drought-hardening treatment-induced drought tolerance via the expression of various stress-responsive genes by triggering the biosynthesis pathways of proline ( P5CS1 ), polyamines ( ADC2 ), ABA-dependent ( SnRK2 , AREB1 ), and independent pathways ( DREB2B ), and antioxidant defense-related genes ( CAT , APX1 , GR2 ) in response to drought stress. Conclusions Drought-hardening made significant contributions to drought tolerance and adaptation in two tobacco variety seedlings by reducing its growth and, on the other hand, by activating various defense mechanisms at biochemical and molecular levels. The findings of the study pointed out that drought-hardening is a fruitful strategy for conferring drought tolerance and adaptations in tobacco. It will be served as a useful method in the future to understand the drought tolerance and adaptation mechanisms of other plant species. Graphical abstract Drought-hardening improved drought tolerance and adaptation of the two tobacco varieties. T1 indicates drought-hardening for 24 h, T2 indicates drought-hardening for 48 h, T3 indicates drought-hardening for 72 h

Drought stress is a major abiotic stress that hinders plant growth and development. Brassinosteroids (BR), including 2,4-epibrassinolide (EBR), play important roles in plant growth, development, and responses to abiotic stresses, including drought stress. This work investigates exogenous EBR application roles in improving drought tolerance in tobacco. Tobacco plants were divided into three groups: WW (well-watered), DS (drought stress), and DSB (drought stress + 0.05 mM EBR). The results revealed that DS decreased the leaf thickness (LT), whereas EBR application upregulated genes related to cell expansion, which were induced by the BR (DWF4, HERK2, and BZR1) and IAA (ARF9, ARF6, PIN1, SAUR19, and ABP1) signaling pathway. This promoted LT by 28%, increasing plant adaptation. Furthermore, EBR application improved SOD (22%), POD (11%), and CAT (5%) enzyme activities and their related genes expression (FeSOD, POD, and CAT) along with a higher accumulation of osmoregulatory substances such as proline (29%) and soluble sugars (14%) under DS and conferred drought tolerance. Finally, EBR application augmented the auxin (IAA) (21%) and brassinolide (131%) contents and upregulated genes related to drought tolerance induced by the BR (BRL3 and BZR2) and IAA (YUCCA6, SAUR32, and IAA26) signaling pathways. These results suggest that it could play an important role in improving mechanisms of drought tolerance in tobacco.

Shading or low light (LL) conditions are a key and necessary cultivation technique in cigar wrapper tobacco production. However, the effect of low light on the photosynthesis in cigar tobacco is not clear. Therefore, this study is designed to know the photosynthesis of cigar tobacco under different light intensities (T200, T100, and T50 μmol m−2 s−1). The results reveal that under low light, T50 especially improved the light interception and increased carbon utilization, as witnessed by a higher specific leaf area and lower specific leaf weight. Low light intensity caused better light interception and carbon utilization in cigar tobacco leaves, and thus thinner leaves are more able to use low light efficiently. The chlorophyll content is related to the photosynthesis process; thus, LL affected the photosynthesis process by lowering the chlorophyll content. Similarly, LL also altered the photosynthetic efficiency by lowering the QY_Lss, qP_Lss, and Rfd_Lss. Additionally, higher expression of Lhcb4.2, Lhcb6, PsbA, PsbB, and PsbD under low light, especially T50, shows that the PSII and antenna proteins complex efficiently utilized the absorbed energy for photosynthesis. Finally, the lower photosynthesis, particularly in T50, is attributed to the downregulation of genes related to NADPH production (petH) and the rubisco enzyme synthesis-related gene (rbcs) for CO2 fixation in the Calvin cycle. Overall, the results show that the photosynthesis is decreased under LL intensities which might be related to lower chlorophyll content and downregulation of petH and rbcs genes.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution in arable soils and its accumulation in rice plants have become a global concern because of their harmful effects on crop yield and human health. The in-situ stabilization method which involves the application of organic amendments such as vermicompost (VC), is frequently utilized for the remediation of Cd-contaminated soils. This study investigated the effects of VC on the soil chemical properties and the physio-biochemical functions of fragrant rice, as well as nitrogen (N) metabolism and assimilatory enzyme activities, 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) content in rice grains, and the grain yields of fragrant rice cultivars, i.e., Xiangyaxiangzhan (XGZ) and.Meixiangzhan-2 (MXZ-2) under Cd stress condition. Four doses of VC (.VC1 = 0, VC2 = 3 t. ha -1 , VC3 = 4 t ha -1 , and VC4 = 6 t ha -1 ) and two levels of Cd (0 and 25 mg Cd kg -1 ) were used in this study. Our results showed that VC supplementation significantly ( p < 0.05) improved soil characteristics, including soil organic carbon, available N, total N, phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Furthermore, VC enhanced plant physiological and biochemical attributes in fragrant rice, such as net photosynthetic rate ( Pn ), nitrate reductase (NR), nitrite reductase (NiR), glutamine synthetase (GS), glutamate oxoglutarate aminotransferase (GOGAT) enzyme activities, protein contents, amino acid, and 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) contents under Cd stress condition. Specifically, the VC-amended treatment, Cd2 + VC3, led to an 86.75% increase in Pn and 2AP, and a 60.05% and 77.55% increase in grain yield for MXZ-2 and XGZ cultivars, respectively, compared to Cd-only treated plants (Cd2 + VC1). In addition, VC application significantly ( p < 0.05) decreased the Cd uptake and accumulation in rice plants. The correlation analysis indicated that leaf physiological activity and biochemical traits are strongly correlated with soil qualitative traits, suggesting that improved soil health leads to enhanced leaf physiological activity, N metabolism, grain 2AP content, and grain yields. Among the treatments, Cd2 + VC3 showed the best performance in terms of soil fertility and rice quality and production. Consequently, our study indicates that using VC in soils may benefit rice growers by improving soil fertility and supporting sustainable rice productivity and quality in soils contaminated with Cd.

Background In this paper, a novel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) framework for control of prosthetic legs and rehabilitation of patients suffering from locomotive disorders is presented. Methods fNIRS signals are used to initiate and stop the gait cycle, while a nonlinear proportional derivative computed torque controller (PD-CTC) with gravity compensation is used to control the torques of hip and knee joints for minimization of position error. In the present study, the brain signals of walking intention and rest tasks were acquired from the left hemisphere’s primary motor cortex for nine subjects. Thereafter, for removal of motion artifacts and physiological noises, the performances of six different filters (i.e. Kalman, Wiener, Gaussian, hemodynamic response filter (hrf), Band-pass, finite impulse response) were evaluated. Then, six different features were extracted from oxygenated hemoglobin signals, and their different combinations were used for classification. Also, the classification performances of five different classifiers (i.e. k-Nearest Neighbour, quadratic discriminant analysis, linear discriminant analysis (LDA), Naïve Bayes, support vector machine (SVM)) were tested. Results The classification accuracies obtained from SVM using the hrf were significantly higher ( p  < 0.01) than those of the other classifier/ filter combinations. Those accuracies were 77.5, 72.5, 68.3, 74.2, 73.3, 80.8, 65, 76.7, and 86.7% for the nine subjects, respectively. Conclusion The control commands generated using the classifiers initiated and stopped the gait cycle of the prosthetic leg, the knee and hip torques of which were controlled using the PD-CTC to minimize the position error. The proposed scheme can be effectively used for neurofeedback training and rehabilitation of lower-limb amputees and paralyzed patients.