• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.404-410
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• 2012

This study was conducted to examine effects of harvest time (09:00 vs. 14:00), precooling at $4^{\circ}C$ vs. no precooling, and storage temperature (4 vs. $8^{\circ}C$) on the storage life of 'Maehyang' strawberry fruits for export. Fruits at a 60% ripe stage were harvested from a commercial greenhouse in Gyeongsangnamdo, Jinju on May 4, 2010. Fruits were precooled by a forced draft cooling for three hours, transported for about 30 minutes and then stored, immediately. Small precoolers set in the farm were used for precooling. Fruits were placed in constant temperature chamber (4 or $8^{\circ}C$) after packaging using PVC wrap and a cardboard box. Fruits were examined for their changes in weight, hardness, Hunter color values, soluble solids content (SSC), and incidence of gray mold (Botrytis cinerea) during storage at a two days interval from May 6 to May 14, 2010. Hardness and SSC decreased as the ripening stage progressed. The Hunter's 'L' and 'a' value of fruit color decreased as time passed. Also, fresh weight decreased during storage at all temperatures. Soft rot appeared on epidermal tissues and followed by gray mold. Incidence of gray mold was greater at $8^{\circ}C$ storage temperature than in $4^{\circ}C$ storage temperature. However, no difference by the harvested time and precooling. The results indicate that effectiveness for keeping the freshness was best achieved by precooling at $4^{\circ}C$ and storage at $4^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2024

This study explored computer vision methods using the OpenCV open-source library to characterize the phenotypes of various horticultural crops. In the case of tomatoes, image color was examined to assess ripeness, while support vector machine (SVM) and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) methods effectively identified ripe tomatoes. For sweet pepper, we visualized the color distribution and used the Gaussian mixture model for clustering to analyze its post-harvest color characteristics. For the quality assessment of netted melons, the LAB (lightness, a, b) color space, binary images, and depth mapping were used to measure the net patterns of the melon. In addition, a combination of depth and color data proved successful in identifying flowers of different sizes and distances in cucumber greenhouses. This study highlights the effectiveness of these computer vision strategies in monitoring the growth and development, ripening, and quality assessment of fruits and vegetables. For broader applications in agriculture, future researchers and developers should enhance these techniques with plant physiological indicators to promote their adoption in both research and practical agricultural settings.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1397-1403
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• 2013

Fructus Sophorae, the dried ripe fruit of Styphnolobium japonicum (L.), is an herbal ingredient used in traditional Oriental medicine. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Fructus Sophorae extracts (FSE) on immune modulation in a murine RAW 264.7 macrophage model. As immune response parameters, the production of prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) and tumor necrotic $factor-{\alpha}$ ($TNF-{\alpha}$) were evaluated. Our data revealed that FSE increased the macrophage activation and the production of $PGE_2$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$, which was consistently correlated with upregulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and $TNF-{\alpha}$ expression at both transcriptional and translational levels. On comparative cytokine protein array, FSE significantly increased several cytokines, which was associated with phosphorylation of mitogen- activated protein kinases (MAPKs), including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p38 MAPK and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and Akt in RAW 264.7 cells. However, each inhibitor of these molecules attenuated the FSE-induced $PGE_2$ production. These results indicate that FSE activated macrophages through the activation of MAPKs and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathways in RAW 264.7 macrophages. These findings suggest that FSE may provide a promising source of an immunoenhancing agent.