Effects of the root extract of Dipsacus asperoides (Caprifoliaceae) on locomotor function and inflammation following spinal cord injury in rats

Purpose: The study was performed to determine the effect of Dipsacus asperoides (roots), commonly known as Xu Duan, on rats with spinal cord injury (SCI).Methods: All the animals were separated into 3 groups: normal control; a group that received Dipsacus asperoides treatment after spinal injury, and a group that received phosphate-buffered saline after SCI. These groups allowed for determination of the effect of Dipsacus asperoides treatment on SCI-injured rats. Evaluation of locomotor function restoration based on Basso–Beattie–Bresnahan score was carried out while expressions of I-kBα and NF-kB p65 were estimated. Evaluation of pro-apoptotic protein Bax and anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 levels was also carried by Western blotting and densitometry.Results: The results showed that 10-mg/kg/day dose of Dipsacus asperoides restored locomotor function in rats after a period of 4 weeks. The treatment also decreased expressions of I-kBα, NF-kB p65 and Bax, but significantly increased expression of Bcl-2 (p < 0.01) in treated rats, compared to untreated rats.Conclusion: The results indicate that treatment with Dipsacus asperoides extract effectively mitigates spinal cord injury by attenuating inflammation and apoptosis in SCI rats.Keywords: Spinal cord injury, IKK-NFkB pathway, Bax, Bcl-2, Xu Duan, Apoptosi

Imitation with Spatial-Temporal Heatmap: 2nd Place Solution for NuPlan Challenge

This paper presents our 2nd place solution for the NuPlan Challenge 2023. Autonomous driving in real-world scenarios is highly complex and uncertain. Achieving safe planning in the complex multimodal scenarios is a highly challenging task. Our approach, Imitation with Spatial-Temporal Heatmap, adopts the learning form of behavior cloning, innovatively predicts the future multimodal states with a heatmap representation, and uses trajectory refinement techniques to ensure final safety. The experiment shows that our method effectively balances the vehicle's progress and safety, generating safe and comfortable trajectories. In the NuPlan competition, we achieved the second highest overall score, while obtained the best scores in the ego progress and comfort metrics

Use of tartrazine dye as a tracer to measure foliar spray retention on turfgrass

A well-managed turf is functional, recreational and ornamental. Professional management is commonly required to maintain the quality of turfgrass, among which, golf courses require the most complicated and intensive management practices to maintain the playability and performance of the turf. Foliar spray applications are widely used on athletic fields due to their precise application and efficiency. However, it is often necessary to modify spray methods to meet different needs and situations. Adjustments in spray volume, nozzle type and adjuvant can have significant influence on the distribution and retention of active ingredients on plant surface. Experiments were conducted in Urbana, IL to determine the influence of spray volume, nozzle type, adjuvant, surface wetness and their interactions on foliar spray retention on a bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) golf fairway. For water-based spray mixtures, the results indicated that increasing spray volume decreased foliar recovery to a plateau at around 85%. Compared to flat fan nozzles, air induction nozzles delivered the same level of foliar retention under typical spray volumes used on golf courses. However, flat fan nozzles provided higher spray uniformity and coverage. Adding nonionic surfactants (NIS), organosilicone adjuvants (OSA) and methylated seed oils (MSO) at the median recommended concentration maintained foliar recovery rates at approximately 93% to 90% under both low and high spray volumes. Without adjuvants, increasing spray volume reduced recovery rates from 96% to 87%. However, no differences were observed between adjuvants. When dew was present, increasing spray volume noticeably reduced recovery rates at high spray volumes, 750L/Ha and 1125L/Ha, compared to low spray volume. Adding adjuvants had limited influence on spray retention with the presence of dew

Research on the economic innovation of industrial design policy of “Design Promotion Center” of Taiwan Foreign Trade Association

since the 1990s, the industrial design activities of the design promotion center of Taiwan foreign trade association have made great achievements in the macro design policy formulation and micro level communication, and the cooperation between industrial enterprises and industrial design studios and designers. Based on Taiwan’s modern industrial manufacturing enterprises and the economic goal of economic structure transformation, these macro design industry development strategies and research work are effective. They have created a new era for Taiwan’s industrial design to be in line with international standards and upgrade in an all-round way after the 1990s, and played an important role in shaping the overall industrial brand effect of “Taiwan Design”

Application of Finnish energy saving and emission reduction technology in glass industry

Finland has formed a unique energy saving and emission reduction concept in the process of realizing the leap from agriculture to industrialization, which has been shown in the utilization of raw materials, optimizing fuel structure, recovering waste heat and waste disposal. These concepts and aspects have been widely used in the glass industry, from the early glass technology reform to the present stage of technological innovation for the development of Finnish glass industry to provide an important guarantee. Finland experience provides experience and reference for the development of glass industry in China, which has important strategic significance in the increasingly severe environment of energy crisis

Research on the channels for creation and development of high-quality “green manufacturing” brands — a case study of Xiamen

as the manufacturing industry gains momentum around the world, the conflicts between its rapid development and the accompanying consumption of materials, discharge of wastes and ecological impacts spiral. Governments around the world have explored measures and made achievements in alleviating the dual pressures from economic growth and environmental degradation. As for the overall trend of the manufacturing industry, creating and developing “green manufacturing” brands is the only way for the manufacturing industry to achieve further development. It is of great significance to design guidelines for green manufacturing from the angle of branding, the green notion provides more profundity and the soul to brands, ensuring sustainable development of brands. The development of green brands in Xiamen has adopted a global vision and related to the local realities, which would provide lessons for high-quality development of green manufacturing brands in other places

Lattice-Based Verifiably Encrypted Signature Scheme without Gaussian Sampling for Privacy Protection in Blockchain

Before the transaction data in the blockchain is successfully linked, its signature must be publicly verified by a large number of nodes in the blockchain, which is also one of the ways to leak transaction information. To alleviate the contradiction between the public verifiability of signatures and the protection of transaction privacy, we introduce a verifiably encrypted signature scheme into the blockchain. A verifiably encrypted signature scheme contains two parts of signature information: the encrypted signature is used for public verification, and the ordinary signature is used for internal verification. To reach this goal even better, we design a new lattice-based verifiably encrypted signature scheme, which separates the parameter settings of the signer and the adjudicator, and replaces the Gaussian sampling algorithm with a small range of uniform random sampling, achieving better efficiency and security