A Versatile Fruit and Vegetable Image Recognition Method based on Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

( Yi-hsuan Huang ),( Ta-te Lin ) 한국농업기계학회 2018 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.23 No.1

Due to the increasing labor costs and shortage of labor in the agricultural industry, automation in agriculture has become ever more important. This paper proposes a versatile and automatic fruit and vegetable recognition method through the use of computer vision and deep neural networks. The proposed method allows for detection, recognition, and localization of selected fruits and vegetables via images or video streams. Therefore, the method can be used in various applications in agriculture such as robotic harvest, greenhouse management, or crop phenotyping. To detect fruits or vegetables in images, traditional image processing algorithms have some limitations due to occlusions and background variations. Different fruits or vegetables may require different algorithms. However, deep convolutional neural networks have brought about a breakthrough in dealing with this problem. The significance of deep neural networks in imaging processing is that features are no longer extracted by image processing algorithms. Instead, the network will learn by itself from the input data and extract the important features, called deep features. Therefore, we apply deep convolutional neural networks with You Only Look Once (YOLO), a real-time object detection algorithm, to build a versatile image recognition model for selected fruits and vegetables. Using YOLO, the models are trained with five kinds of fruits and vegetables: apple, tomato, cucumber, orange and strawberry. There are two kinds of models developed: ‘one vs. all’ and ‘one vs. one’ models. These models are compared to obtain the ensemble model. In addition, the effects of different phenotype between training data sets and testing data sets are also evaluated. Finally, the optimized model is applied in the recognition system and multiple kinds of fruits are recognized. We also tested the method with images and video streams acquired from greenhouses to evaluate the performance of the method.

Information Content and Intra-industry Effects of Cash Refund Capital Reduction Announcements in Taiwan

Chu-hsuan Chang,Te-kang Lu 한국증권학회 2016 Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies Vol.45 No.3

Capital reduction through returning cash to shareholders is one mechanism by which firms distribute their surpluses. While distribution of excess funds can lower agency costs, it may also signal a decline in the firm’s future investment opportunities. In this paper, we examine the information content and information transfer effects of the announcement of capital reduction and cash distribution in Taiwan during the period 2002–2010. We find that there is a significantly positive market reaction when Taiwanese firms announce a reduction in their capital and return cash to shareowners. We also document contagion intra-industry effects by showing that portfolios of rival firms in the same industry experience a significant and contemporaneous positive stock price performance. Consistently, our results support the free cash flow hypothesis of contagion intra-industry effects in the long-run stock return and operating performance of firms following cash refund capital reduction announcements. Moreover, multivariate analysis indicates that these contagion effects are influenced by com- petitors’ features, which are negatively correlated with competitors’ size and growth opportu- nity, and positively influenced by their dividend policy and ownership structure.

Biocatalysis and Bioprocess Engineering : < Note >: Improving 3`-Hydroxygenistein Production in Recombinant Pichia pastoris Using Periodic Hydrogen Peroxide-Shocking Strategy

( Tzi Yuan Wang ),( Yi Hsuan Tsai ),( I Zen Yu ),( Te Sheng Chang ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2016 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.26 No.3

3`-Hydroxygenistein can be obtained from the biotransformation of genistein by the engineered Pichia pastoris X-33 strain, which harbors a fusion gene composed of CYP57B3 from Aspergillus oryzae and a cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase gene (sCPR) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. P. pastoris X-33 mutants with higher 3`-hydroxygenistein production were selected using a periodic hydrogen peroxide-shocking strategy. One mutant (P2-D14-5) produced 23.0 mg/l of 3`-hydroxygenistein, representing 1.87-fold more than that produced by the recombinant X-33. When using a 5 L fermenter, the P2-D14-5 mutant produced 20.3 mg/l of 3`-hydroxygenistein, indicating a high potential for industrial-scale 3`-hydroxygenistein production.

Distinct Inflammation Biomarkers in Healthy Individuals and Patients with Schizophrenia: A Reliability Testing of Multiplex Cytokine Immunoassay by Bland-Altman Analysis

Ta-Chuan Yeh,Hsuan-Te Chu,Chia-Kuang Tsai,Hsin-An Chang,Fu-Chi Yang,San-Yuan Huang,Chih-Sung Liang 대한신경정신의학회 2019 PSYCHIATRY INVESTIGATION Vol.16 No.8

Objective Since the inflammatory process has been implicated in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorder, an important issue emerging is to assess the test-retest reliability of cytokine measurement in healthy individuals and patients with schizophrenia. The objective of the present study was to investigate the test-retest reliability of bead-based multiplex immunoassay technology (BMIT) for cytokine measurement by using a Bland-Altman plot (BAP). Methods Twenty healthy individuals and twenty patients with schizophrenia were enrolled, and a 17-plex cytokine assay was used to measure inflammatory biomarkers at baseline and two weeks later. The test-retest reliability was examined by BAP, 95% limits of agreement (LOA), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and coefficient of repeatability (CoR). Results In the healthy controls, only interleukin (IL)-2, IL-13, IL-10, IL-17, and macrophage inflammatory protein-1β showed excellent ICC. The BAP with 95% LOA determined that 13 cytokines showed acceptable 95% LOA for a 2-week test-retest reliability, and only IL-1β, IL-12 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α had significant test-retest bias. The CoR of cytokines varied significantly, ranging from 1.72 to 218.1. Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia showed significantly higher levels of IL-5, IL-13, and TNF-α and significantly lower levels of IL-4, IL-12, and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). Of these six cytokines, IL-12 and TNF-α were considered suboptimal reliability. Conclusion The findings from ICC and CoR implied that the test-retest reliability of BMIT for cytokine measurement were suboptimal. However, the BAP with 95% LOA confirmed that BMIT can reliably distinguish schizophrenia from healthy individuals in cytokine measurement, while significant within-subject variation and between-group overlapping were evident in cytokine expression.

Incongruent Expression of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Cortisol in Schizophrenia: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial of Laughter Intervention

Shu-Li Cheng,Fu-Chi Yang,Hsuan-Te Chu,Chia-Kuang Tsai,Shih-Chieh Ku,Yu-Ting Tseng,Ta-Chuan Yeh,Chih-Sung Liang 대한신경정신의학회 2020 PSYCHIATRY INVESTIGATION Vol.17 No.12

Objective Schizophrenia has been associated with dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Furthermore, alterations in neurotrophic factors might contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. We aimed to evaluate the effects of a simulated laughter intervention on the levels of cortisol and BDNF and to determine whether the effects associated with simulated laughter could be sustained after discontinuation of the intervention. Methods In this randomized controlled study, patients with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV clinical criteria were randomly assigned to receive either 8-week-long simulated laughter intervention (n=32) or treatment-as-usual group (control group, n=27). The serum levels of BDNF and cortisol were measured at baseline, week 8, and four weeks after discontinuation (week 12) of the intervention program. Results After an 8-week simulated laughter intervention, the laughter group had significantly higher levels of BDNF; however, four weeks after discontinuation of the intervention, the levels of BDNF significantly dropped. Interestingly, the levels of cortisol did not change significantly at week 8, but they were significantly elevated at week 12. The levels of BDNF and cortisol in the control group did not change significantly between week 0 and week 8. Conclusion These findings suggest that the simulated laughter intervention has an early effect on neurogenesis with a significant delayed effect on stress regulation in subjects with schizophrenia.

Virtual Screening and Testing of GSK-3 Inhibitors Using Human SH-SY5Y Cells Expressing Tau Folding Reporter and Mouse Hippocampal Primary Culture under Tau Cytotoxicity

Lin Chih-Hsin,Hsieh Yu-Shao,Sun Ying-Chieh,Huang Wun-Han,Chen Shu-Ling,Weng Zheng-Kui,Lin Te-Hsien,Wu Yih-Ru,Chang Kuo-Hsuan,Huang Hei-Jen,Lee Guan-Chiun,Hsieh-Li Hsiu Mei,Lee-Chen Guey-Jen 한국응용약물학회 2023 Biomolecules & Therapeutics(구 응용약물학회지) Vol.31 No.1

Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) is an important serine/threonine kinase that implicates in multiple cellular processes and links with the neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this study, structure-based virtual screening was performed to search database for compounds targeting GSK-3β from Enamine’s screening collection. Of the top-ranked compounds, 7 primary hits underwent a luminescent kinase assay and a cell assay using human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells expressing Tau repeat domain (TauRD) with pro-aggregant mutation ΔK280. In the kinase assay for these 7 compounds, residual GSK-3β activities ranged from 36.1% to 90.0% were detected at the IC50 of SB-216763. In the cell assay, only compounds VB-030 and VB-037 reduced Tau aggregation in SH-SY5Y cells expressing ΔK280 TauRD-DsRed folding reporter. In SH-SY5Y cells expressing ΔK280 TauRD, neither VB-030 nor VB-037 increased expression of GSK-3α Ser21 or GSK-3β Ser9. Among extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), AKT serine/threonine kinase 1 (AKT), mitogen-activated protein kinase 14 (P38) and mitogenactivated protein kinase 8 (JNK) which modulate Tau phosphorylation, VB-037 attenuated active phosphorylation of P38 Thr180/ Tyr182, whereas VB-030 had no effect on the phosphorylation status of ERK, AKT, P38 or JNK. However, both VB-030 and VB-037 reduced endogenous Tau phosphorylation at Ser202, Thr231, Ser396 and Ser404 in neuronally differentiated SH-SY5Y expressing ΔK280 TauRD. In addition, VB-030 and VB-037 further improved neuronal survival and/or neurite length and branch in mouse hippocampal primary culture under Tau cytotoxicity. Overall, through inhibiting GSK-3β kinase activity and/or p-P38 (Thr180/Tyr182), both compounds may serve as promising candidates to reduce Tau aggregation/cytotoxicity for AD treatment.