High-moisture extrusion technology should be considered one of the best choices for producing plant-based meat substitutes with the rich fibrous structure offered by real animal meat products.  Unfortunately, the extrusion process has been seen as a “black box” with limited information about what occurs inside, causing serious obstacles in developing meat substitutes.  This study designed a high-moisture extrusion process and developed 10 new plant-based meat substitutes comparable to the fibrous structure of real animal meat.  The study used the Feature-Augmented Principal Component Analysis (FA-PCA) method to visualize and understand the whole extrusion process in three ways systematically and accurately.  It established six sets of mathematical models of the high-moisture extrusion process based on 8 000 pieces of data, including five types of parameters.  The FA-PCA method improved the R² values significantly compared with the PCA method.  The Way 3 was the best to predict product quality (Z), demonstrating that the gradually molecular conformational changes (Yⁿ´) were critical in controlling the final quality of the plant-based meat substitutes.  Moreover, the first visualization platform software for the high-moisture extrusion process has been established to clearly show the “black box” by combining the virtual simulation technology.  Through the software, some practice work such as equipment installation, parameter adjustment, equipment disassembly, and data prediction can be easily achieved.

Light heterogeneity leads to anatomically and physiologically heterogeneous features in leaves.  However, little attention has been paid to the effects of nonuniform illumination on the anatomical and photosynthetic performance on both sides along the leaf main vein.  This study explored such effects by combining in situ determination in the field with shading simulation in the phytotron, on pima cotton that has cupping leaves.  Photosynthetic characteristics and morphological structures were measured in the field on both sides along the main vein of eastward, westward, southward, and northward leaves.  The results showed that the difference in photosynthetic capacity between the two sides along the main vein in different directions was closely related to the daily photo irridiance (DPI).  This result indicates that the photosynthetic heterogeneity between the two sides is related to their intercepted light energy.  The conclusion was further verified by the shading simulation experiments.  Photosynthetic capacity and leaf thickness of the unshaded sides of leaves in the half-shaded treatment decreased, compared to those in the unshaded treatment.  Therefore, it is conjectured that the development of  photosynthetic characteristics on one side is systematically regulated by that on the other side.  The study provides theoretical guidance on accessing the feasibility of sampling and directional planting.