In order to maintain high yields and protect the environment, the replacement of chemical fertilizers with organic ones has received increasing attention in recent years. A 2-year field experiment (2015–2016) was carried out to assess the effects of substituting equal amounts of mineral fertilizer with organic manure on the yield, dry matter (DM), and nitrogen (N) uptake of spring maize ( Zea mays L.) and on the mineral N (N min ) distribution in the soil profile. The treatments included chemical fertilizer; different amounts of maize straw, cow manure, and chicken manure; and an unfertilized control (CK). Compared with the chemical fertilizer treatments, equal amounts of substitutions with cow manure or chicken manure increased production, and a 25% nutrient substitution resulted in the best yield increase. Straw return had no effect on maize production, and 100% straw return resulted in reduced production. The N accumulation and DM content both exhibited a slow-fast-slow growth trend throughout the various growth stages, and the average N uptake and DM accumulation in response to the treatments followed the order of chicken manure > cow manure > chemical fertilizer > straw return > CK. The N min content in the profile not only increased as the N min application rate increased but also showed greater increases at certain depths than at the surface, indicating that excessive N led to leaching. These results suggest that an appropriate proportion of organic substitution not only provides enough nutrients but also improves the soil environment and leads to increased yields. This technique represents a practical method of continuously increasing production and reducing the risk of N leaching.

The reasonable control of the grate cooler is the key factor to ensure the heat exchange and cement clinker quality during the clinker cooling process. In this paper, the cement grate cooler pressure of the grate cooler is taken as the research object and a cement grate cooler pressure prediction model is proposed based on the analysis of the current status of the automatic control of the grate cooler. This model uses a multi-model fusion neural network algorithm that combines a BP neural network, a support vector machine and classification and regression trees with a neural network structure. Furthermore, the multimodel fusion quality characteristics are proposed, and the root mean square error and Pearson linear correlation coefficient of the multi-model fusion quality characteristics are used as the evaluation indicators for the prediction results of the multi-model fusion neural network. After the analysis of the cooling process of the cement clinker, we select seven input variables, and then complete the data preprocessing and model parameter selection. Finally, we predict the cement grate cooler pressure using a multi-model fusion neural network, a BP neural network, a support vector machine and classification and regression trees with three training sets to test sets ratios. Through the comparison of the root mean square error and the Pearson linear correlation coefficient evaluation indicators and their change trends, as well as the display and analysis of the final modelling results, it is found that the multi-model fusion neural network algorithm can greatly improve the accuracy of the prediction of the grate pressure, and at the same time it has good practicality for the accurate prediction of the cement grate cooler pressure in the industry.

Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) has great significance for agriculture sustainable development and reducing environmental pollution. The effects of Mg fertilizer combined with straw return on yield, N uptake, and NUE of spring maize (Zea mays L.) were investigated for two consecutive years. The treatments included JM3 (straw + magnesium fertilizer), JM0 (straw + no magnesium fertilizer), WM3 (no straw + magnesium fertilizer), and WM0 (no magnesium fertilizer + no straw). The application of Mg fertilizer significantly improved yield. The application of straw and Mg fertilizer together improved yield even more significantly; the grain yield of the JM3 treatment was 5.28% higher than that of the WM0 treatments. The highest total N uptake was obtained from the JM3. Nitrogen remobilization from vegetation organs to grain was highest in the JM3 treatment. The agronomic efficiency of fertilizer nitrogen (AEN), recovery of applied fertilizer nitrogen (REN), partial factor productivity of fertilizer nitrogen (PFPN), and nitrogen harvest index (NHI) responded significantly to straw return and Mg fertilizer. The AEN, REN, PFPN, and NHI values for the JM3 treatment were 15.35, 24.63, 5.28, and 2.31% higher on average, respectively, than those for the WM0 treatments. Generally, these outcomes indicated that there was an interaction between Mg fertilizer and maize straw. The application of Mg fertilizer with straw return significantly improved the grain yield, N uptake, and NUE of maize plants. The combination of straw return and Mg application is a practical method for increasing maize production and supporting sustainable agriculture.

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BACKGROUND In recent years, shallow‐buried drip irrigation in spring maize production has gradually replaced drip irrigation under plastic films and has become a common irrigation method in semiarid areas of northern China. RESULT Two years of field experiments were carried out in the semiarid area of western Jilin province to compare the two drip irrigation methods in the spring maize production system. The treatments included MW1 (drip irrigation under mulch + moderate irrigation amount), MW2 (drip irrigation under mulch + high irrigation amount), SM1 (shallow‐buried drip irrigation + moderate irrigation amount), and SM2 (shallow‐buried drip irrigation + high irrigation amount). The maize yields were significantly higher under mulch than under shallow‐buried drip irrigation, but there was no interaction between mulch and the irrigation amount. Drip irrigation under mulch greatly improved spring maize N, P and K uptake compared with that under shallow‐buried drip irrigation. The agronomic‐use efficiency, recovery‐use efficiency, and partial factor productivity were ranked in the order of MW2 > MW1 > SW2 > SW1. The water‐use efficiency of drip irrigation under mulch was 7.44% and 6.82% higher than that of shallow‐buried drip irrigation under the moderate and high irrigation levels, respectively. However, considering the costs of the plastic mulch, there was no significant (P < 0.05) difference in economic benefits between the SW and MW treatments. CONCLUSION Drip irrigation under plastic film provides greater advantages for production, but shallow‐buried drip irrigation may be a suitable method for farmers until fertigation technology is further optimized and the problem of plastic film pollution is solved. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

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The inhibitory impacts of spikes on LFP theta rhythms(4-8Hz) are investigated around sporadic spikes(SSs) based on intracerebral EEG of 4 REM sleep patients with temporal lobe epilepsy(TLE) under the pre-surgical monitoring. Sequential interictal spikes in both genesis area and extended propagation pathway are collected, that, SSs genesis only in anterior hippocampus(aH)(possible propagation pathway in Entorhinal cortex(EC)), only in EC(possible propagation pathway in aH), and in both aH and EC synchronously. Instantaneous theta power was estimated by using Gabor wavelet transform, and theta power level was estimated by averaged over time and frequency before SSs(350ms pre-spike) and after SSs(350ms post-spike). The inhibitory effect around spikes was evaluated by the ratio of theta power level difference between pre-spike and post-spike to pre-spike theta power level. The findings were that theta power level was reduced across SSs, and the effects were more sever in the case of SSs in both aH and EC synchronously than either SSs only in EC or SSs only in aH. It is concluded that interictal spikes impair LFP theta rhythms transiently and directly. The work suggests that the reduction of theta power after the interictal spike might be an evaluation indicator of damage of epilepsy to human cognitive rhythms.

Magnetic stimulation has more advantages than electric stimulation. Acupuncture point (acupoint) is a specific point in human body with high sensitivity to acupuncture treatment. In this paper, magnetic stimulation was used to stimulate Neiguan (PC6) acupoint and a mock point. 64-channel EEG signals in three stages (before, during and after magnetic stimulation) were recorded to study the difference of EEG characteristics when magnetic stimulation at PC6 acupoint and at the mock point. Brain evoked-potential component P300 was extracted during magnetic stimulation at PC6 acupoint, which was not extracted during magnetic stimulation at the mock point. Frontal, temporal, parietal-occipital and occipital lobes of cerebral cortex were activated after magnetic stimulation at PC6 acupoint. Parietal lobe of cerebral cortex was inactivated after magnetic stimulation at the mock point. It suggested that EEG characteristics under magnetic stimulation at PC6 acupoint were different from those under magnetic stimulation at the mock point.