• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2018

In Botswana, mopane worms are widely harvested for household consumption. They are also traded for income generation. Urban based entrepreneurs' source mopane worms from rural areas to sell. The price of sourcing mopane worms from the harvesters has increased quite incredibly in villages. However, there is dearth of academic studies on the commercialisation of mopane worms in Botswana. This paper uses primary data collected from multiple sources to investigate the factors influencing the prices of mopane worms. Data collection involved administration of questionnaires to purposively selected harvesters in four campsites in the Central District, focus group discussions at each campsite and key informant interviews. The results show that there is declining population of mopane worms. The decline is attributable to such factors as over-harvesting and climate change which are the main factors influencing the price of mopane worms. In addition to physical scarcity of mopane worms, institutional weaknesses exist in the study area. The Agricultural Resources Conservation Act is ineffective and the majority of the harvesters are unaware of its existences. It is recommended that the regulations on the harvesting of mopane worms be reviewed. In order to benefit harvesters, mopane worms should be processed to add diversified economic value to rural communities.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.265-273
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• 2015

In general, when wood products are used outdoors for a certain period of time the surface color of wood changes due to light, water, heat and so on. This color change can be considered importantly for the product's market value. In this study, the color change of ACQ (Alkaline Copper Quaternary) and CBHDO (CuO $H_3BO_3$ N-cyclohexyldiazenium-anion) treated wood and untreated wood was investigated during 2-year weathering test. From this experimental study, it was found that the colors of the treated wood changed more reddish and yellowish from green. Meanwhile, the untreated wood turned to grey color rapidly. Also, the color of the treated wood in short-term exposure changed closer to the inherent color of the fresh natural wood than that of the untreated woods.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2019

Recently, various tourist products using hanok have increased rapidly. In the meantime, there is a steady demand for Hanok architecture. However, there are many negative perceptions about wood deformation and biodeterioration. Wood deformation and biodeterioration are related to moisture content. And the cracks occur in the process of removing water from the wood. Therefore, this study investigates the moisture content and cracks of dried hanok made of wood according to the drying method of wood. Drying methods include natural seasoning and artificial seasoning. There was a difference in moisture removal depending on drying period and method of natural seasoning. Drying time should be about 3 years for natural seasoning, so the moisture content of the wood is stable. In addition, the moisture absorption rate was low even in a humid environment where the voids were removed. However, natural seasoning is time consuming. Artificial seasoning, on the other hand, can quickly remove moisture from the wood and reduce porosity, but it is costly. Cracks that occur during the drying of wood may become problematic in appearance and stability due to wider spacing over time. As a result, the difference in the moisture content of the timber depending on the drying method and drying period of the wood was maintained even after the formation. These gaps appeared to be differences in moisture absorption in a wet environment.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.505-514
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• 2021

Among non-timber forest products, Tricholoma matsutake is a high value added item. Many countries, including Korea, China, and Japan, are doing research and technology development to increase artificial cultivation and productivity. However, the production of T. matsutake is on the decline due to global warming, abnormal temperatures and pine tree pest problems. Therefore, it is necessary to identify trends in domestic and foreign research on T. matsutake, respond to preemptive research and development to preserve the genetic resources of T. matsutake and increase its productivity. Based on the correlation between keywords in the high frequency keywords, it was observed that microbial clusters of T. matsutake are mainly found in Korea. The main focus in China has been the pharmacology studies on the ingredients of T. matsutake. The main focus in Japan has been on preserving the genetic diversity and species of T. matsutake. Thus, future domestic studies of T. matsutake will require pharmacological studies on the ingredients of T. matsutake and on its genetic diversity and species conservation. In addition, unlike China and Japan, genetic keywords did not appear in Korea at high frequency. Therefore, Korea will have to proceed with research using modern molecular biology techniques.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.119-131
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• 2023

The development of sustainable composites materials, from recycled polymeric materials and waste from the wood industry and stone processing, allows reducing the volume of these by-products, minimizing impacts on health and the environment. Nowadays, Polypropylene (PP) is the most recycled polymer in industry, while the furniture industry has increasingly used timber felled from sustainable forest plantations as a eucalypt. The powder tailing from the ornamental stone extraction and processing industry is commonly disposed of in the environment without previous treatment. Thus, the technological option for the development of composite materials presents itself as a sustainable alternative for processing and manufacturing industries, enabling the development of new materials with special technical features. The results showed that powder granite particles may be incorporated into the polypropylene matrix associated with short eucalyptus fibres forming green hybrid composites with potential application in structural engineering, such as transport and civil construction industries.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2024

An evaluation was carried out on variability in morphology of fruits and seeds (number and weight) of Tetrapleura tetraptera (Schumach. and Thonn.) Taub. from different populations across its distribution range in Nigeria. Bulk fruit samples were collected and examined for variations in morphological characters. Differences in morphological character of fruits and seeds among the populations were determined using analysis of variance at 5% level of probability. The relationships among morphological characters were determined using Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Significant variations (p<0.05) existed among T. tetraptera populations for all the evaluated characters: fruit length, fruit width, number of seeds per fruit and seed weight. A positive significant strong correlation (r=0.96) was found between seed weight and number of seeds per fruit, while no correlation existed between fruit length, width and number of seeds. Seed weight was positively correlated with minimum altitude (r=0.97) and maximum altitude (r=0.99) of seed populations. Number of seeds was also significantly correlated with maximum altitude (r=0.965). There was no significant correlation between geo-climatic variables and fruit dimensions (length and width). Observed variations in morphological traits within and across populations of T. tetraptera may be used as proxy to estimate genetic diversity and selection of superior trees for improved productivity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.95 no.3
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• pp.342-349
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• 2006

The survey guideline of forest products statistics suggests a certain type of standard to aggregate production amount of each item such as dry bracken, raw dates, cracked nuts, It does not, however, give any information about transition ratios, which would apply to convert weights of fresh bracken into dry one, or cracked nuts into the non-cracked. This has been one of the main factors which would make the statistics unreliable. The purpose of this study is to examine the aggregation realities and to put forward some proposals to improve forest products statistics with transition ratios. Targets of this study are 10 forest products that are strongly related to the mentioned problems. With the calculated transition ratios and some assumptions the changing rate of the official statistics of 2004 production amounts ranged from -41% to 474% for the 10 subjects. The suggested figures for transitions are based only on one-year analysis results. Therefore more periods are required to improve the accuracy and the reliability, and this study would be a good starting point.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.5
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• pp.548-557
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• 2009

For centuries, forests have been a key component of rural livelihood. They are important both socially and economically in Nepal. Firewood and fodder are the basic forest products that are extracted daily or weekly basis in most of the rural areas in Nepal. In this study, a field survey of 100 households was conducted to examine the degree of forest dependency and forest resource availability, households' livelihood strategy and their relationship with forest dependency in Chitwan, Nepal. A household' response indexes were constructed, Gini coefficient, Head Count Poverty Index (HCI) and Poverty Gap Index (PGI) were calculated and one way ANOVA test was also performed for data analysis. Data revealed that 82/81% of all households were constantly used forest for firewood and fodder collection respectively while 42% of households were used forest or forest fringe for grazing. The Forest Product Availability Indexes (FPAI) showed a sharp decline of forest resources from 0.781 to 0.308 for a 20-yr time horizon while timber wood was noticeably lowered than the other products. Yet, about 33% of households were below the poverty threshold line with 0.0945 PGI. Income distribution among the household showed a lower Gini coefficient 0.25 than 0.37 of landholdings size. However, mean income was significantly varies with F-statistics=246.348 at P=0.05 between income groups (rich, medium and poor). The extraction of firewood, fodder and other forest products were significantly different between the income group with F-statistics=16.480, 19.930, 29.956 at P=0.05 respectively. Similarly, landholdings size and education were also significantly different between the income groups with F-statistics=4.333, 5.981 at P=0.05 respectively. These findings suggested that income status of households was the major indicator of forest dependency while poor and medium groups were highly dependent on the forests for firewood, fodder and other products. Forest dependency still remains high and the availability of forest products that can be extracted from the remaining forestlands is decreasing. The high dependency of households on forest coupled with other socioeconomic attributes like education, poverty, small landholders and so on were possibly caused the forest degradation in Chitwan.Therefore, policy must be directed towards the poor livelihood supporting agenda that may enhance the financial conditions of rural households while it could reduce the degree of forest dependency inspired with other income generating activities in due course.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2020

Indonesian log production is dominated by young trees harvested from plantation forests. The timber contains of sapwood and juvenile wood, which are not resistant to termite attack. Smoking treatment can enhance wood resistance to termite attack, but it also changes the color. Specimens of mangium (Acacia mangium) and sengon (Falcataria moluccana) wood were exposed for 1, 2, and 3 weeks to smoke produced from the pyrolysis of salam (Syzygium polyanthum) wood. The color change of the wood was measured using the CIELab method. In addition, wood specimens were exposed to subterranean termites (Coptotermes curvignathus Holmgren) under laboratory conditions. Untreated and imidacloprid-preserved wood samples were also prepared for comparison purposes. The results showed that the color of smoked wood differed from that of untreated wood, and the color change for sengon was greater than for mangium. In addition, the 1-week smoking period changed the wood color less than the 2- and 3-week periods, which did not differ. Imidacloprid-preserved wood had distinctive color changes compared to untreated wood. Untreated mangium wood had moderate resistance to subterranean termite attack (resistance class III), while sengon had very poor resistance (resistance class V). Salam wood smoke enhanced wood resistance to termite attack, and smoke treatment of 1 week for mangium and 2 weeks for sengon resulted in the wood becoming very resistant (resistance class I). Both types of smoked wood were more resistant to subterranean termite attack than imidacloprid-preserved wood (average class II resistance).

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.339-344
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• 2022

The development of drug resistance is one of the most severe concerns of malaria control because it increases the risk of malaria morbidity and death. A new candidate drug with antiplasmodial activity is urgently needed. This study evaluated the efficacy of different dosages of aqueous extract of Strychnos ligustrina combined with dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine phosphate (DHP) against murine Plasmodium berghei infection. The BALB/c mice aged 6-8 weeks were divided into 6 groups, each consisting of 10 mice. The growth inhibition of compounds against P. berghei was monitored by calculating the percentage of parasitemia. The results showed that the mice receiving aqueous extract and combination treatment showed growth inhibition of P. berghei in 74% and 94%, respectively. S. ligustrina extract, which consisted of brucine and strychnine, effectively inhibited the multiplication of P. berghei. The treated mice showed improved hematology profiles, body weight, and temperature, as compared to control mice. Co-treatment with S. ligustrina extract and DHP revealed significant antimalarial and antipyretic effects. Our results provide prospects for further discovery of antimalarial drugs that may show more successful chemotherapeutic treatment.