bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Consumers' intention in avoiding plastic packaging from online food take-out : a case study of Beijing and Shanghai, China
Authors:   , Yang Kaiyan 
Published: September 2023

China's plastic pollution has gotten worse, especially during the COVID pandemic when the city's lockdowns boosted the food takeout business. Although the government has made efforts in curbing the use of conventional single-use plastic packaging, the problem is still looming up in the critical time of building ecological civilization. The key to resolve the overwhelming usage of disposable plastic packaging lies in reduction, along with using green alternatives: biodegradable packaging and returnable containers. The study investigated consumers' willingness to adopt new alternatives by applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The measurement scale, developed upon previous literature, gains validated reliability and validity after running confirmatory factory analysis (CFA) in SmartPLS. The study distributed 536 questionnaires online, targeting consumers from Beijing and Shanghai. 430 valid samples were collected and analyzed, with results showing that consumers' perceived behavior control has strong and positive effect on their willingness to pay more to using biodegradable packaging and willingness to participate in the returnable container programs. The environmental attitude, social norms and past green behavior show less direct relationships with people's adopting intentions. Their effects on the intentions are mediated by perceived behavior control disproportionately. The moderating effect is also been found between socio-economic variables and WTP&WTM. The study thus made the recommendations that the government should roll out industrial-support incentives to support the development green alternatives. Besides, promotions of alternatives should also be stressed through incorporating plastic relevant knowledge into education plan of middle schools and universities and distributing advisements on social media platforms. In addition, the young and female should be set as the targeted groups to promote the use of green alternatives as this group of people are the major consumers of online food takeout. More importantly, the study can be applied to other cities in China with the same policy and cultural backgrounds.
Quality control of chemical grade calcium carbonate from Lopburi limestone deposit in Thailand
Authors:   , Teawpanich Pimpichcha 
Published: September 2023

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is naturally produced from calcite, limestone, chalk, and marble. It is being used as raw material in various industries (e.g., cement, plastic, paint, paper, and pharmaceutical industries). The low-grade CaCO3 samples obtained from a calcite plant at Khoktum Sub-district, Muang Lopburi District, Lopburi Province, Thailand were used in this study. These samples contain more than 98% of CaCO3 while Fe2O3 contents are higher than 0.1% and increased after finished the process. Because of this problem, the products could not be sold since lower Fe2O3 contents are required (e.g., ≤0.05% for filler grade and ≤ 0.1% for animal feeding). This study aims to find a source that cause the increasing of Fe2O3 content in the processing plant, removing the Fe2O3 content using a dry-type magnetic separator, and suggest the selection of suitable installation of dry-type magnetic separators in term the economic evaluation. For sample characterization, the chemical composition of the samples were analyzed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer, and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The results showed that the phase of iron found in the sample were magnetite, pyrrhotite, and iron scrap, indicating that the increasing of Fe2O3 content was from both raw material and ball mill. Induced roll magnetic separator was used to improve the quality of CaCO3 products by decreasing Fe2O3 content to achieve the standard requirements. The results showed that the Fe2O3 content was decreased from 0.67 to 0.08 wt% and CaCO3 content was increased from 98.06 to 98.73 wt% at the optimum condition. From these results, magnetic separators are suggested to be installed at the point of ball milling discharge and underflow of air classifier to reduce the iron content. The financial analysis indicated that the net present value (NPV), discount rate, internal rate of return, modified internal rate of return, and discounted payback period are equal to 17,992,947 baht, 15%, 53%, 24%, and 1.6 years, respectively.
Factors affecting the achievement of EPS Test of proficiency in Korean of Thai workers : focusing on Korean language schools in Udon Thani
Authors:   , Kamsing Puttarak 
Published: September 2023

This research investigated the important factors affecting the achievement of EPS Test of Proficiency in Korean of Thai workers. The objectives of this research were 1) to explore Thai workers’ problems in Korean language learning, and 2) to investigate the factors affecting the achievement of EPS Test of Proficiency in Korean of Thai workers. The samples consisted of 214 Thai workers studying in 3 Korean language schools in Udon Thani, Thai workers who are working in South Korea, and 4 teachers who taught the Korean language to Thai workers in 3 Korean language schools in Udon Thani. This research employed a quantitative and qualitative research design. Data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed by means, standard deviation, and Multiple Regression Analysis. The qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis.

The results showed 1) the problems in learning the Korean language by Thai workers involved grammar, listening, and speaking. The obstacle in learning was the lack of opportunities to practice Korean language skills. Further, 2) the factors affecting the achievement of EPS Test of Proficiency in Korean of Thai workers included the student factors, which included learning behavior and family, and the school factors, which included teacher, with a statistical significance level of 0.05.
The changing of south Korea's international economic policy: a geopolitical economy perspective
Authors:   , Chindakul Sahatas 
Published: September 2023

Since the success of rapid economic growth, South Korea, as a foreign-traded dependent economy, has initiated several policies to liberalize its outward direct investment (ODI) in order to maintain its competitiveness and drive its economic growth. The liberalization process of South Korean ODI helps promote South Korean capital abroad to various areas serving its needs of lowering production costs and securing natural resources and raw materials. As the world entered the 21st century with the acceleration of globalization, the global geopolitical situation has changed over time, especially in Asia, the rise of China has become real and threatens the hegemonic position of the US and its allies in East Asia, particularly South Korea.

This research aims to examine the relationship between geopolitical factors and the change in the international economic policy of South Korea that facilitate the flow of South Korean ODI. This research studies both external and internal factors of South Korean governments from Kim Dae-Jung’s until Moon Jae-In’s presidency, based on the Geopolitical Economy approach. To fill the gap in mainstream economics, this study discusses economic literature related to determinants that pull South Korean firms to invest abroad.

The findings reveal a relationship between Geopolitics and South Korea's international economic policy. For example, there was a changing international economic policy of South Korea to Kaesong Industrial Park in North Korea as a byproduct of the Sunshine Policy under both Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-Hyun administrations, changing international economic policy under Global Korea of President Lee Myung-Buk that focus on nuclear energy development in the Middle East, and the New Southern Policy of President Moon Jae-In which facilitate South Korean investment throughout the ASEAN in response to China’s aggressive stance in the region and the simmering US-China geopolitical competition.
Elastic bending behaviour of sandwich composite structures with abs cores by using additive manufacturing
Authors:   , Wannarong Dechawat 
Published: September 2023

Maintaining the lightweight performance of sandwich structures while achieving good bending strength and stiffness is difficult. Core materials for these programmable sandwich constructions are 3D printed with hexagonal honeycomb, re-entrant honeycomb, and circular honeycomb topologies with varying core densities. The bending stiffness and strength of these sandwich structures are determined by a three points bending test including an Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene core and a unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced polymer face sheet. The sandwich composite with the greater relative core density displays greater bending strength and stiffness than the composite with the lower relative core density. The sandwich composites beam with re-entrant honeycomb core exhibit the strongest bending strength and stiffness due to negative Poisson’s ratio. The findings were compared with experimental data using finite element analysis. Experiments and finite element analysis reveal that designed core structures can be used to regulate bending qualities. These results provide fresh light on the design of sandwich composite structures with exceptional mechanical characteristics for a broad variety of industrial and structural applications.
A numerical study of flow past arrays of cylinders at low Reynolds number
Authors:   , Wannaviroj Woraphon 
Published: September 2023

Coastal erosion along shorelines has increasingly been prevalent. A popular method for alleviating this problem is to use breakwaters, made of bamboo, known as “bamboo fencing". The thesis numerically investigates steady, low-velocity flow past several geometrical configurations of bamboo fencings, modelled as array of cylinders using the ANSYS®-Fluent software. The Reynolds number based on incoming flow velocity (U∞), cylinder diameter (D), and fluid kinematic viscosity is Re = 100. Validation is done for mesh convergence and time-step size for the two-dimensional flow past a circular cylinder. For a pair of side-by-side arranged cylinders, it is found that the effect of traverse gap (T) between the cylinder becomes negligible at about T/D = 15. For the staggered arrangement of array of cylinders with 3 to 13 columns, cylinders located at any position experience similar value of drag coefficient except for those located at the last column whose drag coefficient is much smaller. For the aligned arrangement with 3 to 5 columns, cylinders at the first column experience largest drag while the drag forces of cylinders for the rest are of similar, lower value. The pressure drop across the fence of cylinders is found to be directly proportional to the combined drag, as suggested by the theory. The summation of drag force and pressure drop increase linearly as more column is added but the increasing rate is larger for the staggered configuration. The investigation also considers other types of arrangement, found in the real world. It is found that the zigzag arrangement has drag summation and pressure reduction that are only slightly larger than the 5-column staggered arrangement, while consists of a larger number of cylinders. For the triangular and diamond modules, cylinders at the far left and far right in the lateral direction experience largest drag. The summation of drag force and pressure drop of the diamond module are approximately twice as much as those of the triangle. For the T-shape and line-shape, the drag summation and pressure drop are significantly smaller relative to the zigzag, the triangular, and the diamond modules. Lastly, the tail of the T-shape does not significantly alter the summation of drag force and pressure drop.
The role of neutrophils against Pythium insidiosum
Authors:   , Sriwarom Apichaya 
Published: September 2023

Pythium insidiosum (P. insidiosum) is an oomycetes fungus-like microorganism causing pythiosis infection in humans. The zoospores (infective stage) of this pathogen contaminate aquatic environments such as moist soil and swampy area, which is a natural habitiat. Humans are infected with P. insidiosum via cutaneous route which is the main entry of the zoospores. Recent studies have shown that patients with pythiosis shows high morbidity and mortality rates particularly those with hematologic diseases. As neutrophils are the first line of immune defense during fungal infections, this study therefore investigated the activity of neutrophils in response to P. insidiosum. The neutrophil killing activity, phagocytosis, and neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation were determined. Zoospores from six different strains of P. insidiosum were randomly selected and incubated with isolated healthy neutrophils (n=6). The results showed that human neutrophils significantly decreased number of zoospores as observed in both colony counts on blood agar and live/dead cell staining (p < 0.001). Phagocytosis measured by flow cytometry showed only two strains of zoospores (pHrodo-labeled) were significantly phagocytosed by neutrophils (p < 0.01). In contrast, all six strains of heat-killed zoospores significantly induced NETs (p < 0.001) detected by immunofluorescence staining and picogreen assay. Our findings suggests that human neutrophils produce NET formation as a main mechanism rather than phagocytosis in response to P. insidiosum.
Mechanisms of colistin resistance and the antimicrobial effects of antibiotic and adjuvant combination on colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae
Authors:   , Shein Aye 
Published: September 2023

The prevalence of colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (ColRkp) has progressively increased globally. The purposes of this study were to characterize the molecular mechanisms responsible for colistin resistance among ColRkp clinical isolates in Thailand, to determine the expression levels of virulence factors associated with ColRkp clinical isolates, and to evaluate in vitro and in vivo synergistic activities of novel combination of antibiotic and adjuvant against ColRkp clinical isolates. A total of 165 carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae clinical isolates were obtained from King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital between 2016 and 2021. We discovered a rising trend of ColRkp displaying extensively drug-resistant (XDR) and pandrug-resistant (PDR) characteristics, with a prevalence of 28.5% (n=47). Both chromosomal mgrB, pmrB, or phoQ genes mutations (91.5%) and plasmid-mediated mcr-1.1, mcr-8.1, or mcr-8.2, alone or in combination with R256G PmrB (8.5%), were responsible for colistin resistance in these ColRkp isolates. Several independent insertions, deletions, or substitutions in mgrB (85.1%) associated with increased expressions of Ara4N-related phoPQ and pmrK transcripts were observed to be crucial in establishing colistin resistance in our isolates. Since mgrB, pmrAB, and phoPQ are involved in supporting bacterial virulence, we observed a significant association between XDR ColRkp and increased biofilm production (p<0.0001). Moreover, significantly altered bacterial virulence factors expressions were found to be associated with XDR ColRkp clinical isolates. A novel colistin-EDTA combination exhibited potent synergistic activity in both planktonic and mature biofilms of all tested XDR and PDR ColRkp isolates in vitro. A combination of colistin and EDTA also exhibited significant therapeutic effectiveness in eradicating ColRkp catheter-related biofilm infections and eliminating the risk of recurrence both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, colistin-EDTA combination demonstrated its significant therapeutic efficacy and safety in decreasing bacterial loads in internal organs, reducing serum creatinine, and enhancing animals survival in vivo. This is the first in vitro and in vivo study to highlight that a novel colistin-EDTA combination is a promising therapeutic strategy for successfully overcoming colistin resistance in ColRkp catheter-related biofilm infections.
Endotoxemia from NSAIDS-induced gut-leakage enhanced lupus characteristics in Fc gamma receptor iib deficient lupus mice
Authors:   , Bhunyakarnjanarat Thansita 
Published: September 2023

High dose of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the common analgesia, might induce lupus activity through NSAIDs-induced gastrointestinal permeability defect (gut leakage) that causes endotoxemia. Indomethacin (25 mg/day) was orally administered for 7 days in 24-week-old Fc gamma receptor IIb deficient (FcgRIIb-/-) mice, an asymptomatic lupus model, and age-matched wild-type (WT) mice. The severity of indomethacin-induced enteropathy in FcgRIIb-/- mice was higher than WT mice as demonstrated by intestinal injury (histology, immune-deposition and intestinal cytokines), gut leakage (FITC-dextran assay and endotoxemia) and serum cytokines. In addition, higher responses against endotoxemia in indomethacin-administered FcgRIIb-/- mice was also supported by the prominent responses of FcgRIIb-/- bone marrow-derived macrophages toward lipopolysaccharide (LPS) compared to WT macrophages. LPS induces the expression of both activating-FcgRs (FcgRIII and FcgRIV) and inhibitory-FcgRIIb in WT macrophages, while enhanced only activating FcgRs in FcgRIIb-/- mice cells. In conclusion, gut leakage-induced endotoxemia is more severe in NSAIDs-administered FcgRIIb-/- mice when compared with WT. Due to a lack of inhibitory FcgRIIb expression, cytokine production from FcgRIIb-/- macrophages were more prominent than the WT cells. Hence, lupus disease activation from NSAIDs-induced gut leakage is possible through NSAIDs enteropathy.
Tuning the wettability of metal surface with electrodeposited porous copper and graphene coatings
Authors:   , Eltigani Husam 
Published: September 2023

Electrodeposition of porous copper is an interesting type of coating that is emerging for various applications. However, the understanding of the relationships between copper surface wettability control and electrodeposition parameters and post-electrodeposition storage conditions is quite limited. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to explore how nanomaterials such as graphene would interact with porous copper to provide surface wettability modifications. This work therefore aims to develop a framework for the relationship of copper and graphene deposition processes, storage conditions, and the wetting behavior of copper surfaces. The research work performed in this study is divided into 2 parts: (i) effects of plating and storage conditions on the wettability of electrodeposited porous copper surfaces, (ii) tailoring the wettability of copper surfaces by dropping of graphene solutions. From a wide range of characterization methods and analysis to investigate the microstructure of porous copper and graphene, and corresponding wetting properties of their surfaces, the key findings of the study are that the concentration of copper electrolyte and current density largely influence the microstructure of the porous copper which subsequently lead to the variations of contact angles in the hydrophilic regime. Furthermore, whereas the air storing condition promote hydrophobicity, the water and saline storage conditions are found to induce hydrophilicity. Finally, deposition of graphene using a solution dropping technique allows tuning of the surface wettability in a wide range, spanning superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic, depending on copper surface porosity and graphene solutions’ concentration and dispersing level. Graphene is thus demonstrated as a promising top-coat layer to tune the wettability of copper surfaces
Electroless CuNiSn electrocatalyst supported on carbon fabric for electrochemical reduction of CO2
Authors:   , Hongmeuan Atikom 
Published: September 2023

In the present work, tri-metallic alloy electrocatalysts containing copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and tin (Sn) supported on Pd-catalyzed carbon fabric substrate were prepared through a simple electroless deposition method. As-deposited Cu-Ni-Sn electrocatalyst was employed in the CO2-ERR in an H-cell type reactor. For the effect of electroless deposition time (15, 30 and 45 mins) on tri-metallic alloy electrocatalyst, the result showed that there is no significant difference for all samples based on the XRD pattern, indicating the deposition time had no effect on the crystalline structure of all catalyst. In addition, the evaluation of the ability of the CO2-ERR on trimetallic alloy electrocatalyst at different times was investigated using LSV. CuNiSn/CS_30 has a higher catalytic activity than CuNiSn/CS_45 and CuNiSn/CS_15 respectively. Furthermore, the Faradaic efficiency and H2 production of the Cu-Ni-Sn alloy electrode was lower than that of the monometallic and bimetallic electrocatalysts, suggesting Cu-Ni-Sn alloy electrode was active in the CO2-ERR. The CO2-ERR using the Cu-Ni-Sn alloy electrode was studied at the applied potential -1.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl. The gaseous products were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) but an undesired by-product, hydrogen was also produced. For, CuSn/CS_30 and Cu/CS_30 produce gas products with CO other than H2 compared to other electrocatalysts. Thus, most of CO on CuSn/CS_30 and CuSn/CS_30 can be easily converted into formate, C2 product and C3 product. Overall, this work provides new insights into the further development of low-cost non-noble electrocatalysts by a simple electroless deposition method.
Vietnam-India security relations: extrapolating India’s potential role in the maintenance of balance of power in Aasen
Authors:   , Jantz Felix 
Published: September 2023

The thesis examines why and how Vietnam-India security relations have deepened significantly in reaction to the shifting geopolitical landscape of the Indo-Pacific.

As Vietnam has to date been the ASEAN state that has engaged most deeply with India’s potential to be a regional security partner, the thesis focusses on ascertaining the factors that have led these two countries to develop a deeper security relationship than other states in the region. Following the analysis of the big geopolitical shifts that drive the two partners’ willingness to cooperate more deeply, the progression of bilateral security arrangements is analyzed, both in terms of the diplomatic tier that they are engaging on and the extent of realized cooperation on the ground. The thesis then concludes by evaluating some of the obstacles and limits that affect this bilateral from reaching its full potential for insulating Vietnam against the pressures of polarized big-power competition.