We present Hand-CNN, a novel convolutional network architecture for detecting hand masks and predicting hand orientations in unconstrained images. Hand-CNN extends MaskRCNN with a novel attention mechanism to incorporate contextual cues in the detection process. This attention mechanism can be implemented as an efficient network module that captures non-local dependencies between features. This network module can be inserted at different stages of an object detection network, and the entire detector can be trained end-to-end.We also introduce a large-scale annotated hand dataset containing hands in unconstrained images for training and evaluation. We show that Hand-CNN outperforms existing methods on several datasets, including our hand detection benchmark and the publicly available PASCAL VOC human layout challenge. We also conduct ablation studies on hand detection to show the effectiveness of the proposed contextual attention module.

Tau-class glutathione S-transferases (GSTUs) are ubiquitous proteins encoded by a large gene family in plants, which play important roles in combating different environmental stresses. In previous studies, we constructed a Glycine soja transcriptional profile, and identified three GSTUs (GsGSTU13, GsGSTU14 and GsGSTU19) as potential salt-alkaline stress-responsive genes. Two of them, GsGSTU14 and GsGSTU19, have been shown to positively regulate plant salt-alkaline tolerance. In this study, we further demonstrated the positive function of GsGSTU13 in plant salt-alkaline stress responses by overexpressing it in Medicago sativa. Stress tolerance tests suggested that GsGSTU13 transgenic lines showed better growth and physiological indicators than wild alfalfa (cv. Zhaodong) under alkaline stress. Considering the shortage of methionine in alfalfa, we then co-transformed GsGSTU13 into two main alfalfa cultivars in Heilongjiang Province (cv. Zhaodong and cv. Nongjing No. 1) together with SCMRP, a synthesized gene that could improve the methionine content. We found that GsGSTU13/SCMRP transgenic alfalfa displayed not only higher methionine content but also higher tolerance to alkaline and salt stresses, respectively. Taken together, our results demonstrate that GsGSTU13 acts as a positive regulator in plant responses to salt and alkaline stresses, and can be used as a good candidate for generation of salt-alkaline tolerant crops.

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Environmental stresses, such as drought, high salty and alkali, adversely affect plant growth and productivity. Plants adapt to these environmental stresses by inducing numerous genes at the transcriptional level and by protein phosphorylation. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase kinase (PPCK) is a Ca 2+ independent kinase in response to a range of signals in different plant tissues which plays a key role in the control of plant metabolism. As an important extension of our earlier studies summarized above on global transcriptome profiling of wild soybean under NaHCO 3 treatment, an alkaline (NaHCO 3 ) related gene GsPPCK1 was identified and subsequently cloned from Glycine soja, which has 99% similarity with PPCK1 of Glycine max (AAQ83695.1), named as GsPPCK1. Expression of GsPPCK1 mRNA was induced by NaHCO 3 stress in roots and leaves. GsPPCK1 transcripts increased during 3 hour exposures to NaHCO 3 stress. These results indicated that wild soybean PPCK1 was an early responded gene to alkaline stress. We transformed GsPPCK1 gene into alfalfa using a developed method, and transgenic alfalfa showed observably enhanced tolerance to NaHCO 3 stress compared with wild-type plants. Transgenic alfalfa grew well in the conditions of 100 mmol L -1 NaHCO 3 , while wild type plants exhibited discoloration and stunted growth, or even death. There were significantly changes in malondialdehyde content and relative membrane permeability caused by saline-alkaline stress in non-transgenic lines compared to transgenic lines (P<0.05). Moreover, compared with non-transgenic, transgenic alfalfa had higher levels of chlorophyll content and root activity under alkali stress conditions. The result indicated that over-expression of GsPPCK1 in alfalfa could enhance alkaline tolerance. All results showed that GsPPCK1 gene could improve the tolerance of transgenic alfalfa to alkali stress; therefore, the study on this field is of significance not only in theory but also in practice.