Silk Reeling Research Articles

Bridging tradition with innovation: Revolutionzing sericulture through biotechnological advancements

Sericulture, the practice of rearing silkworms (Bombyxmori L.) for silk production, has been an integral part of global textile industries for millennia. With the advent of biotechnology, particularly advancements in molecular biology and genetics, new avenues have opened up to enhance various aspects of sericulture. This abstract clearly indicates the multifaceted applications of biotechnology in sericulture, focusing on genetic improvement of silkworms, disease management strategies, enhancement of silk production efficiency and promotion of environmental sustainability. Sericulture encompasses the entire process of silk production, from silkworm rearing to silk reeling and textile manufacturing. Historically significant and economically vital in many regions, sericulture faces contemporary challenges such as disease outbreaks, genetic limitations and environmental pressures. Biotechnology offers promising solutions by leveraging tools and techniques from molecular biology, genetics and bioprocess engineering to address these challenges and enhance the productivity, quality and sustainability of silk production.

Microbiological safety assessment of silkworm farms: a case study

Silkworms have been farmed for their silk since ancient times. After silk reeling, their chrysalides are consumed as food in several Asian countries. Despite the long rearing tradition of this insect, few studies have investigated the silkworm’s microbiological safety all along the life cycle, focusing on detecting silkworm pathogens or on the safety of the dried chrysalis for food consumption. However, the in-farm rearing process, which takes around forty days, may affect the microbial load of the silkworm and of the rearing environment, as well as the quality of fresh cocoon and other performance parameters. No data is available on how microbial contamination changes during the rearing period and between different farmers. Furthermore, in light of the possible use of the chrysalis as food, it is crucial to understand how its microbial load varies according to the water content. To address these specific questions, we conducted an investigation involving the analysis of specific microbial indicators commonly used in the food chain. We collected environmental and silkworm samples from several farms. The examination covered the entire life cycle of silkworms, beginning with the first instar larvae and concluding with the scrutiny of both freshly harvested and dried pupae. Silkworm farms in Northeast Italy proved to be an appropriate model system for carrying out the experimentation. Additionally, an evaluation of rearing performance was conducted, with a focus on the quality of fresh cocoons and the survival rate of the insects.

Seri-Entrepreneurship: Current Status and Potential Opportunities

The ability of a country or an area to prosper economically is largely depend on entrepreneurship, especially in light of the current unemployment crisis and anticipated technological advancements. The most important issues in the growth of entrepreneurship are not just how to offer chances to entrepreneurs, but also how to provide them substantial support so they may achieve greater success. To this, cultivating mulberry plants, production of disease-free layings, raising of young (chawki) and late-age silkworms for cocoon production, reeling of cocoons (silk reeling) for yarn production, throwing (spinning, warp, and weft production), wet processing (dyeing and printing), weaving (fabric production), modern (computer-aided) and traditional (textile designing) textile marketing and so on are just a few of the varied range of activities that make up the Indian silk industry. Additionally, sericulture products and bye-products have become more significant in the biotechnological, pharmaceutical, and biomedical industries, in recent years, for the creation of high-value new goods. Therefore, there is a great deal of opportunity for successful business in the sericulture and seribiotechnology sectors to grow. These opportunities help young people and unemployed women to become successful business owners who both support the workforce and work for themselves. This can help address the issues of unemploymentstandards and in India’s rural and urban areas as well as elevate socioeconomic levels.

Sorting of Mountage Cocoons Based on MobileSAM and Target Detection

The classification of silkworm cocoons is essential prior to silk reeling and serves as a key step in improving the quality of raw silk. At present, cocoon classification mainly relies on manual sorting, which is labor-intensive and inefficient. In this paper, a cocoon detection algorithm S-YOLOv8_c based on the cooperation of MobileSAM and YOLOv8 for the mountage cocoons was proposed. The MobileSAM with a designed area thresholding algorithm was used for the semantic segmentation of mountage cocoon images, which could mitigate the effect of complex backgrounds and maximize the discriminability of cocoon features. Subsequently, the BiFPN was added to the neck of YOLOv8 to improve the multiscale feature fusion capability. The loss function was replaced with the WIoU, and a dynamic non-monotonic focusing mechanism was introduced to improve the generalization ability. In addition, the GAM was incorporated into the head to focus on detailed cocoon information. Finally, the S-YOLOv8_c achieved a good detection accuracy on the test set, with a mAP of 95.8%. Furthermore, to experimentally validate the sorting ability, we deployed the proposed model onto the self-developed Cartesian coordinate automatic cocoon harvester, which indicated that it would effectively meet the requirements of accurate and efficient cocoon sorting.

Efficient defective cocoon recognition based on vision data for intelligent picking

<abstract> <p>Cocoons have a direct impact on the quality of raw silk. Mulberry cocoons must be screened before silk reeling can begin in order to improve the quality of raw silk. For the silk product sector, the cocoons' level of categorization and sorting is crucial. Nonetheless, the majority of mulberry cocoon production facilities in use today choose the cocoons by hand. The accuracy and efficiency of mulberry cocoon plucking can be significantly improved by automatic methods. To increase efficiency, mulberry cocoons must be sorted automatically and intelligently using machine vision. We proposed an effective detection technique based on vision and terahertz spectrum characteristics data for distinguishing defective cocoons, including common and thin shelled defective cocoons. Each mulberry cocoon with a defect had its spatial coordinate and deflection angle computed so that grippers could grasp it. With 3762 photos in our dataset, our approach could detect mAP values up to 99.25% of the time. Furthermore, the GFLOPS of our suggested model was only 8.9 G, and its Parameters were only 5.3 M, making it appropriate for use in real-world application scenarios.</p> </abstract>

A Study on Digital Technology Usage in Business with Special Reference to Dharmapuri District

Business drives economic activity around the world. A consequence of the growing role of digital technology is the major transformation of how businesses across industries, in and outside the digital economy develop, produce, and market their goods and services. The main aim of this paper is to find the Several Digital Platforms which are used in developing business in Dharmapuri District and also analyse the problem faced by the businessman to adopt the digital technology.Dharmapuri district is known for its mango, tamarind, pulse, silk reeling, silk twisting, rice milling,manufacturing of readymade garments, power looms, sugarcane crushingand cacoonproduction. Rice mills and sago companies, as well as many other industries are eager to produce energy food for people of all ages, have a lot of potential.In that five enterprises, 200 business people are selected as sample unit and size of this study by using stratified random method.This research paper is fully descriptive in nature. Primary data is collected via well-structured questionnaire, it consists of three parts like demographical factors of respondents, usage of digital technology and problem faced by the business people in digital technology in DharmapuriDistrict. Secondary data is collected via Annual reports, journals, magazines, booksand newspapers. Percentage Analysis, Weighted average method and Kursal Wallis test were used to analyse the collected data. Findings of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between the investment made by the business people and usage of digital technologies in business.

Novel ultrasonic-assisted cleaner technology for cocoon brushing at low temperature

Cocoon brushing is a vitally important process in silk reeling, it closely relates to raw silk quality and reeling efficiency. In this research, an ultrasonic-assisted cocoon brushing process is proposed, which can achieve cocoon reeling and silk cleaning at lower temperature and alleviate the problem of using excessive temperature to cocoon brushing in silk reeling factories. The cocoon brushing effect of different treatment conditions is investigated by fuzzy orthogonal method to obtain the optimal process: ultrasonic temperature 80 °C, ultrasonic time 40 s, ultrasonic power 144 W, cocoon cooking time 3 min. Compared with the conventional process, the total number of cocoon brushing is reduced by 4.75 times, the reelability percentage is heightened 11.39% and the rushing upon cocoons per myriameter is lessened 2.53 times. After ultrasonic treatment, the secondary structure and thermal stability of raw silk are not change. The sericin distribution is more uniform and the mechanical properties are improved to a certain extent. The temperature of this process is about 15 °C lower than the silk reeling factory and it can save 93 MJ for 1 kg of raw silk per reeling. Results show that ultrasonic can be used to develop an green process for cocoon brushing, which may provide a technical reference for the silk environmental protection production.

Structure and properties of flat cocoon silk after silk reeling

Silk is obtained mostly from oval cocoons. In this paper, the flat cocoons were obtained by changing the silking environment of Bombyx mori silkworms. Then the appropriate method was used to reel the flat cocoons. The structure, thermal and mechanical properties of flat cocoon silk (FCS) after silk reeling and degumming were studied. The experimental results have shown that flat cocoon silk has the same main composition and similar thermal performance as that of common cocoon silk (CCS), but the sericin distribution on the surface of FCS is more uniform, the crystallinity degree of the FCS (53.77%) is slightly higher than that of the CCS (50.02%), and the cross-sectional areas of the FCS before and after degumming are smaller than those of the CCS. Before degumming, the stress of FCS is about 1% higher than that of CCS, the initial modulus is about 4.7% higher, and the strain is about 10.7% lower. After degumming, the stress of FCS is about 2.7% higher than that of CCS, the initial modulus is about 7.8% higher, and the strain is about 31.3% lower. The results have shown that FCS after silk reeling has application performance close to or even better than that of CCS.

Predicting the rate of fine fiber separation from the cocoon filament in raw material cocoons for silk reeling, using an FFA-based method

Predicting the rate of fine fiber separation from the cocoon filament in raw material cocoons for silk reeling, using an FFA-based method

Factories Against the Clock: Time-discipline and Resistance in the Silk Reeling Factories of Bursa 1850-1915

What can the study of different regimes of time discipline in factories and deviations in their measurement tell us about the relationship between capital, labour and the state authority in the Ottoman Empire? In this article, I will answer this question by analysing the official letters and petitions of the Bursa Silk workers to explore how “watchless” people understand and negotiate new time patterns emerged from mechanized production. I argue that the mechanized factory production did not result in a clock-measured, regular working day up until the early twentieth century in silk factories of Bursa. These irregular labor patterns, however, cannot be explained by the immature scale of the industry or lack of labor rationalization. The answer lies at the heart of the working day: such irregularity enabled employers to increase, to say it in Marxist terms, the absolute surplus value. Furthermore, I will argue that the demand for regimented work hours came not from the capitalists, and it was not the Ottoman government`s top-down reforms. Rather, the demand to curb all-invading, irregular work hours came from the young female laborers who were deemed the least “time-conscious”. In this light, the story of Bursa decenters the male-dominated view in the global history of economy and labour and adds nuance to our understanding of the temporalities of capitalism.

Morphological description and statistical characteristic simulation of cocoon filament size curve

Computer simulation of silk reeling is an important means to understand structure and formation of raw silk, and simulation to generate cocoon filament size curve is the premise of computer simulation of reeling silk. In this paper, according to unique pattern of cocoon filament size curve that is “thin-thick-thin, the last part is the thinnest”, a simulation and generation method of cocoon filament size curve with adjustable morphological is obtained by analyzing the characteristic point values and statistical data of cocoon filament size curve, such as head end size, maximum size and its position on cocoon filament, length of cocoon filament. Through a lot of simulation practice and analysis on statistical characteristics of cocoon filament size curve, it is considered that the proposed generation method has good applicability.

Comparative advantage and pathways to financial development: Evidence from Japan’s silk-reeling industry

We exploit the natural experiment of Japan’s opening to international trade to examine how comparative advantage can shape a country’s long-run path towards financial development. In the late 19th century, many of Japan’s prefectures had a natural comparative advantage in silk reeling. Producing silk for export required access to finance. At the same time, for technological reasons, borrower-quality in the silk reeling industry was notoriously hard to assess. Silk exporters overcame these frictions by forming local cooperative banks. We show that in the ancient silk prefectures, local cooperative banks continued to dominate local banking markets for over a century while bigger, country-wide banks came to dominate in other regions. By the late 20th century, the silk prefectures are indistinguishable from other regions in terms of their general level of financial development. However, our results suggest that they were effectively less financially integrated with the rest of the country. Hence, comparative advantage in silk favored the emergence of a banking-system dominated by small relationship lenders. But due to the local nature of these lenders, it also caused long-term geographical segmentation in banking markets.

Water footprint assessment of silk apparel in China

Water resources are vital to ecosystems and human beings and play a significant role in the textile and apparel industry. With an increased impact on the limited water resources, there has been increasing attention on the use of water footprint assessment (WFA) in textile research. In this study, a comprehensive water footprint assessment was conducted on the production chains of silk crepe de chine (CDC) dresses and silk brocade dresses based on the ISO 14046 standard and life cycle assessment polygon method. The results of the WFA showed that brocade dresses had a greater contribution to both the water scarcity footprint and water degradation footprint than the CDC dresses. The silk reeling process had a greater impact on water quantity and water eutrophication while the dyeing and finishing process had a greater impact on water acidification and water ecotoxicity. The leading contributors to the water eutrophication footprint were chemical oxygen demand (COD) > NH3–N for the silk reeling process and total nitrogen > COD > total phosphorus for the dyeing and finishing process. The leading contributor to water acidification was sulfides generated from the utilization of acid dyes. The leading contributors to the water ecotoxicity footprint were Hg > Sb > Cu > Zn for both dresses. The production of brocade dresses and the dyeing and finishing process had a significant environmental impact on water resources for products and processes, and are thus key factors to be considered in future water management. In order to reduce the water footprint of the textile industry, water reuse and improved wastewater treatment and manufacturing technology should be prioritized, along with the use of environmentally-friendly dyes.

Statistical characteristics for the defect occurrence of raw silk

In order to consider different defects that occur during the computer simulation of raw silk size series, it is necessary to find out the statistical characteristics for the defect occurrence of raw silk. Under the newest International Organization for Standardization standard for electronic testing of raw silk, the defects are classified into small slubs, big slubs, thick places, thin places, and small imperfection elements. By analyzing some probability distributions that happen during the silk reeling process and the formation of the defects, the study proposed that Pólya distribution may fit better than Poisson distribution in describing the number of defects formed in a certain length of silk filament. To verify this theoretical deduction experimentally, the defects for 15 lots of raw silk were tested every 1000 meters using an electronic tester for raw silk; each time 12 skeins were tested together and each test was repeated from 13 to 17 times. A goodness-of-fit test method for Poisson and Pólya distributions was deduced, which was used to analyze the statistical characteristics for the defects except for small imperfection elements. The results showed that when using the capacitive sensor, the defects of big slubs, small slubs, and thick places had a Pólya distribution with a weak spreading characteristic; the thin places were a combination of independent Pólya distributions, and each subclass of thin places took Pólya distribution; when using the optical sensor, all the defects had a Pólya distribution, which was in line with the theoretical deduction.

Present States of Silk Reeling Factories in Myanmar

Present States of Silk Reeling Factories in Myanmar

Technology Transfers and Organization: The English East India Company and the Transfer of Piedmontese Silk Reeling Technology to Bengal, 1750s–1790s

This article addresses two questions: Why do firms centralize, and what determines the success and failure of technology transfers? First, it argues that centralization decreases the costs of technology transfers, especially if knowledge is tacit, by reducing transaction costs. Second, it argues that an important factor for the success of a technology transfer is the capacity of a firm to mitigate agency problems. The English East India Company (EEIC) is mostly studied as a trading body. This article analyzes the company’s attempt to become a producer of raw silk in Bengal. In order to improve the quality of Bengal raw silk and thus increase the silk’s trading potential, it decided to apply Piedmontese reeling technologies that relied on a centralized system of production, which significantly decreased the transmission costs of the technology transfer and was thus the key for its success. However, because the EEIC’s management system involved in silk manufacturing was not innovated, the transfer’s effectiveness was diminished.

The Meaning and Evolution of the Name “Hangzhou Silk”

With regard to the meaning and evolution of "Hangzhou Silk", the author uses the documentary research methodology to trim and verify from three aspects of industry name, product name and brand name respectively, attempting to find out the source of "Hangzhou Silk" from historical documents. Research shows that, as the industry name being called as "Hangzhou satin industry" or "Hangzhou silk weaving industry", it was generally called as the "Hangzhou Silk and Satin Industry” after the combination of Hangzhou Silk Reeling Industry Association and Hangzhou Silk Weaving Industry Association until 1952. As the product name being called as "Hangzhou silk” or “Hangzhou satin", it was called as “Hangzhou silk “after the China liberation. As the brand name, it referred to the specific silk products of Hangzhou region in particular after being awarded of protection as Chinese national geographical mark product since September 2011.

Studies on technical properties and its changes for silk reeling pan in Japan – Pans made by ceramics for the Suwa type silk reeling machine –

Studies on technical properties and its changes for silk reeling pan in Japan – Pans made by ceramics for the Suwa type silk reeling machine –

Influence of Slug Catcher on Quality of Tasar Silk Yarn

Tasar weavers in India have been using Korean & Chinese tasar silk as warp and Indian tasar silk as weft since decades. With many types of tasar silk yarns available for consumers, it becomes imperative to assess the quality of the yarn and grade them to signify its use for particular end usages. Major issue in tasar silk reeling is the sloughing-off of bunch of filaments from the cocoon during reeling process, which abruptly reduces the quality of reeled tasar yarn. In this study, attempts have been made to use two different types of slug catchers during tasar reeling by wet reeling method and assess its influence on the quality of the reeled tasar silk.

The Structure of Vertical Specialization of Labor of Middle and Small Sized-Industries which were run by Korean in early 1930s - Focusing On the Silk Reeling Industry and Sardine Oil Industry -

The Structure of Vertical Specialization of Labor of Middle and Small Sized-Industries which were run by Korean in early 1930s - Focusing On the Silk Reeling Industry and Sardine Oil Industry -