• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.157-163
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• 2017

The object segmentation approach has the merit of reducing the processing cost required to detect moths of interest, because it applies a moth detection algorithm to the segmented objects after segmenting the objects individually in the moth image. In this paper, an object segmentation method for moth detection in pheromone trap images is proposed. Our method consists of preprocessing, thresholding, morphological filtering, and object labeling processes. Thresholding in the process is a critical step significantly influencing the performance of object segmentation. The proposed method can threshold very elaborately by reflecting the local properties of the moth images. We performed thresholding using global and local versions of Ostu's method and, used the proposed method for the moth images of Carposina sasakii acquired on a pheromone trap placed in an orchard. It was demonstrated that the proposed method could reflect the properties of light and background on the moth images. Also, we performed object segmentation and moth classification for Carposina sasakii images, where the latter process used an SVM classifier with training and classification steps. In the experiments, the proposed method performed the detection of Carposina sasakii for 10 moth images and achieved an average detection rate of 95% of them. Therefore, it was shown that the proposed technique is an effective monitoring method of Carposina sasakii in an orchard.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.209-215
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• 2020

Debates over the ecological and public health impacts of aerial pesticide sprays are increasing. This is particularly true for controlling Monochamus beetles, which are vector insects of pinewood nematodes. In 2017, adult female orb-web spiders, Trichonephila clavata, were sampled from pine forests in Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea, where the aerial pesticide spray, fenitrothion or thiacloprid, was used for several decades. The biological traits of the spiders (body weight, body length, carapace width, and total hind leg length) were compared among treatment sites (no-spray, sprayed three times, and sprayed five times), and differences were observed. The body length, carapace width, and total hind leg length of the spiders in the sprayed areas were significantly shorter than in the no-spray area, but there were no differences between the area sprayed three or five times. These results indicate that repeated exposures to an aerial pesticide spray can alter morphological parameters, which influences population-level fitness. Future studies should monitor the spider long-term responses to pesticides (a direct effect) and prey availability (an indirect effect).

• Biomaterials Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.328-336
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• 2018

Background: Biogenic fabrication of silver nanoparticles from naturally occurring biomaterials provides an alternative, eco-friendly and cost-effective means of obtaining nanoparticles. It is a favourite pursuit of all scientists and has gained popularity because it prevents the environment from pollution. Our main objective to take up this project is to fabricate silver nanoparticles from lichen, Usnea longissima and explore their properties. In the present study, we report a benign method of biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles from aqueous-ethanolic extract of Usnea longissima and their characterization by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. Silver nanoparticles thus obtained were tested for antimicrobial activity against gram positive bacteria and gram negative bacteria. Results: Formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by the appearance of an absorption band at 400 nm in the UV-vis spectrum of the colloidal solution containing both the nanoparticles and U. longissima extract. Poly(ethylene glycol) coated silver nanoparticles showed additional absorption peaks at 424 and 450 nm. FTIR spectrum showed the involvement of amines, usnic acids, phenols, aldehydes and ketones in the reduction of silver ions to silver nanoparticles. Morphological studies showed three types of nanoparticles with an abundance of spherical shaped silver nanoparticles of 9.40-11.23 nm. Their average hydrodynamic diameter is 437.1 nm. Results of in vitro antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles against Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus pyrogenes, Streptococcus viridans, Corynebacterium xerosis, Corynebacterium diphtheriae (gram positive bacteria) and Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneuomoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (gram negative bacteria) showed that it was effective against tested bacterial strains. However, S. mutans, C. diphtheriae and P. aeruginosa were resistant to silver nanoparticles. Conclusion: Lichens are rarely exploited for the fabrication of silver nanoparticles. In the present work the lichen acts as reducing as well as capping agent. They can therefore, be used to synthesize metal nanoparticles and their size may be controlled by monitoring the concentration of extract and metal ions. Since they are antibacterial they may be used for the treatment of bacterial infections in man and animal. They can also be used in purification of water, in soaps and medicine. Their sustained release may be achieved by coating them with a suitable polymer. Silver nanoparticles fabricated from edible U. longissima are free from toxic chemicals and therefore they can be safely used in medicine and medical devices. These silver nanoparticles were stable for weeks therefore they can be stored for longer duration of time without decomposition.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.756-760
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• 2021

Frankincense has been used as a traditional medicine for treating rheumatoid arthritis, dermatitis, and muscle pain. In this study, the anti-tuberculosis effects of Frankincense were evaluated in immune responses of macrophages. Frankincense methanol extract was not cytotoxic to the host. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide reduction assay using human macrophage (THP-1) cells did not show cytotoxic effects or morphological changes with treatments of 31.3, 62.5, and 125 ㎍/mL Frankincense methanol extract (FRM). Inhibitory effects of Frankincense methanol extract on the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in human macrophages were investigated. The immune response was measured by monitoring the levels of TNF-α and IL-1β in THP-1 cells with or without M. tuberculosis infection under Frankincense methanol extract treatment. Inflammatory cytokine levels and M. tuberculosis numbers were reduced in THP-1 cells treated with Frankincense methanol extract. Therefore, Frankincense methanol extract could be used as a potential anti-tuberculosis agent.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.638-646
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term habitat morphological alteration resulting from a large dam and weirs in the Tamjin River. To achieve this, we carried out a hydrograph analysis and a substrate size distribution analysis. We also estimated the channel width, bar area and vegetation encroachment using aerial photographs taken before and after the construction of the dam and weirs. The result of the hydrological analysis showed that flooding downstream was greatly reduced with small peaks occurrence after the dam construction. Interestingly, normal hydrographs in the main channel appeared just after tributary conjunction. There was a similar pattern in the substrate size analysis. Despite coarsened substrate just downstream of the dam site, more sand appeared again after introduction of the tributary. However, there was an increase in the bar area downstream of the dam's channels with most bars covered with vegetation. The channel width increased at the upper area of weirs through impoundment, but decreased downstream because of vegetation encroachment. This study indicate that unregulated tributary plays an important role in restoring hydro-physical habitat conditions in mainstream channels below a large dam. However, numerous weirs could be a causal factor to accelerate habitat deterioration in the dam downstream channels.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.281-293
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• 2020

The Korean thistle (Cirsium setidens) is grown in Gangwon province as a food ingredient called gondre. Based on regular monitoring of Korean thistle cultivation, we detected local outbreaks of a stick insect causing severe damage. Here we report the identification of the stick insect and its ecological characteristics. The survey involved 3 farms located in Jeongeon-gun, Gangwon province and lasted from May 28 to October 1 in 2019. According to morphological and DNA analyses the stick insect was identified as Ramulus koreanus Kwon Ha and Lee. a member of the family Phasmatidae. Its outbreak in the Korean thistle farms was observed from June 11 to August 22 with peak density on July 23. Spatial distribution analyses, using Taylors power law and Greens index showed that R. koreanus was uniformally distributed. Food consumption rate of Korean thistle leaves was estimated as 60.98±4.35 ㎠/day/adult. The main food plants were identified as Juglans mandshurica and Aronia melanocarpa. Further study needs to pursue the mechanism of the outbreak and its possible impact on agricultural and forest ecosystems. Additionally, means to relieve crop damage need to be identified.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_2
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• pp.793-810
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• 2022

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is considered to be suitable for near real-time inundation monitoring. The distinctly different intensity between water and land makes it adequate for waterbody detection, but the intrinsic speckle noise and variable intensity of SAR images decrease the accuracy of waterbody detection. In this study, we suggest two modules, named 'morphology module' and 'edge-enhanced module', which are the combinations of pooling layers and convolutional layers, improving the accuracy of waterbody detection. The morphology module is composed of min-pooling layers and max-pooling layers, which shows the effect of morphological transformation. The edge-enhanced module is composed of convolution layers, which has the fixed weights of the traditional edge detection algorithm. After comparing the accuracy of various versions of each module for U-Net, we found that the optimal combination is the case that the morphology module of min-pooling and successive layers of min-pooling and max-pooling, and the edge-enhanced module of Scharr filter were the inputs of conv9. This morphologic and edge-enhanced U-Net improved the F1-score by 9.81% than the original U-Net. Qualitative inspection showed that our model has capability of detecting small-sized waterbody and detailed edge of water, which are the distinct advancement of the model presented in this research, compared to the original U-Net.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.456-465
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• 2023

Melon fruits exhibit a wide range of morphological variations in fruit shape, sugar content, net quality, diameter and weight, which are largely dependent on the variety. These characteristics significantly affect marketability. For netted varieties, the uniformity and pattern of the net serve as key factors in determining the external quality of the melon and act as indicators of its internal quality. In this study, we evaluated the effect of fruit morphology and growth on netting by analyzing the changes in melon fruit quality under LED light treatment and monitoring fruit growth. Computer vision analysis was used for quantitative evaluation of fruit net quality, and a three-variable logistic model was applied to simulate fruit growth. The results showed that melons grown under LED conditions exhibited more uniform fruit shape and improvements in both net quality and sugar content compared to the control group. The results of the logistic model showed minimal error values and consistent curve slopes across treatments, confirming its ability to accurately predict fruit growth patterns under varying light conditions. This study provides an understanding of the effects of fruit shape and growth on net quality.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_2
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• pp.1849-1858
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• 2021

We analyzed the monthly and annual trends of the meteorological factors(wind speeds and directions and air temperatures) measured at an automated synoptic observation system (ASOS) and fine particle (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5) concentrations measured at the air quality monitoring systems(AQMSs) in Suwon. In addition, we investigated how the fine particle concentrations were related to the meteorological factors as well as urban morphological parameters (fractions of building volume and road area). We calculated the total volume of buildings and the total area of the roads in the area of 2 km × 2 km centered at each AQMS using the geographic information system and environmental geographic information system. The analysis of the meteorological factors showed that the dominant wind directions at the ASOS were westerly and northwesterly and that the average wind speed was strong in Spring. The measured fine particle concentrations were low in Summer and early Autumn (July to September) and high in Spring and Winter. In 2020, the annual mean fine particle concentration was lowest at most AQMSs. The fine particle concentrations were negatively and weakly correlated with the measured wind speeds and air temperatures (the correlation between PM_2.5 concentrations and air temperatures was relatively strong). In Suwon city, at least for 6 AQMSs except for the RAQMS 131116 and AQMS 131118, the PM₁₀ concentrations were affected mainly by the transport from outside rather than primary emission from mobile sources or wind speed decrease caused by buildings and, in the case of PM_2.5, vise versa.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.319-330
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• 2022

Andong is a place to culture the great amount of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in Korea. This study reports a yearly occurrence (March 31~October 25, 2021) of thrips infesting the hot pepper in Andong. Thrips caught to yellow sticky traps were diagnosed by morphological characters and showed two dominant species: Frankliniella occidentalis and F. intonsa. During this period, a total of 107,874 thrips were caught and included F. occidentalis at about 82%, F. intonsa at about 17%, and the other thrips at about 0.3%. There were two main peaks at May~June and at September~October, respectively, in which the total number of thrips was higher in the second peak and most were F. occidentalis. Interestinly, a low level of thrips occurred during July~August was observed and explained by their susceptibility to high temperatures. A laboratory experiment by exposing thrips to high temperatures showed that thrips were susceptible to temperatures higher than 35℃ and not tolerant to 45℃ for 1 h. Indeed, high temperatures higher than 45℃ were recorded in the greenhouses in Andong during July~August. F. occidentalis was more tolerant to the high temperatures than F. intonsa. On the other hand, the thrips showed the highest occurrence peak at July~August in hot pepper-culturing greenhouse in Kangwon, where the average temperatures were mostly lower than those of Andong and no high temperatures higher than 45℃ were recorded during July~August. A viral disease caused by tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was observed in the hot peppers cultured in Andong greenhouses. Multiplex PCR was used to detect the virus along with identification of thrips. With a high record of about 30%, the virus-infected thrips were detected during all the monitoring period. The virulent thrips were identified to be only F. intonsa. These results suggest that F. occidentalis gives a direct damage especially during harvesting period with their high populations while F. intonsa gives indirect damage by transmitting TSWV.