The identification of wood species used in the cultural artifacts is important in terms of their preservation and inheritance. However, a nondestructive method is required, and wood samples must be partly cut off in conventional methods such as microscopy. In this study, we constructed a novel system for wood identification using image recognition of X-ray computed tomography images of eight major species used in Japanese wooden sculptures. Texture analyses of the computed tomography images were carried out using the gray-level co-occurrence matrix, from which 15 textural features were calculated. The k-nearest-neighbor algorithm combined with cross validation was applied for classification and evaluation of the system. Input datasets with a variation in image qualities (resolution, gray level, and image size) were investigated using this novel system, and the accuracy was greater than 98 % when the input images had a certain quality level. Although there are still technical problems to be overcome, progress in the development of automated identification is extremely encouraging in that such an approach has the potential to make a valuable contribution in adding scientific species notion to the artifacts; otherwise, only the literal documents are available.

The nesting biology of the drywood termite, Incisitermes minor, is poorly understood. To date, no published data are available regarding the in situ nestgallery development of I. minor. Three naturally infested Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis Bong. Carriere) timbers were analyzed by X-ray computer tomography to observe the structure of the first royal chamber and the termite's nestfounding behavior. One timber was infested by a group of termites which emerged from their natal nest. The other two timbers were infested by dealate reproductives from the nuptial flight. The study revealed that the drywood termite engages in outside foraging activity and has great foraging flexibility. Computer tomographic images also revealed that I. minor reproductives showed anatomical selectivity in their nest-founding activity. The structure of the initial royal chambers varied to follow the anatomical texture of the timbers, which resembled either a European pear shape or a cashew nut shape.

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