cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.351
title: INTRA-ARTICULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF DOGS WITH MEDIAL PATELLAR LUXATION

description: The study investigated the relationship of degree of patellar luxation of dogs with joint radiography, intra-articular degenerative change of the stifle with medial patellar luxation (MPL), histopathologic change, and biomarker index. Thirty-eight stifles were divided into four groups: normal stifle joints (4), grades 2 (13), 3 (12), and 4 (9) MPL. Demographic data, lameness score, and degree of patellar luxation of all dogs were assessed and recorded. Radiographs were taken to assess osteophyte formation. Synovial tissue was collected for microscopic evaluation differential cell counts, and cytokines measurement. Stifle joints with MPL were scored during surgical correction. All observed data were analyzed for correlations and differences among the normal and MPL stifle groups. There were significant differences in the lameness score between the normal and grades 3 and 4 MPL groups, the histopathologic score between normal and grade 4 MPL groups, the osteoarthritis (OA) score between normal and all grades of MPL. Correlations were found between degree of patellar luxation and the lameness, histopathologic, and synovial scores. Correlations of OA and the cartilage score were found with duration of luxation as well as age at surgery. Correlations were found between the synovial score and the lameness score, foam cell, and histopathologic score. The cartilage score was significantly correlated with number of neutrophils. In addition, correlations were found between the radiographic score and the OA and cartilage scores. In conclusion, MPL in small breed dogs can cause stifle OA. Radiographic score was correlated with cartilage score and OA score but the severity of OA was not related to the severity of PL. Only MCP-1 was found in synovial fluid but correlation of MCP-1 with other parameters was not found. The reason was that other cytokines relating to the severity of OA could not be detected in this study. MPL in small breed dogs might cause less OA than that in the large breed dogs and dogs with cranial cruciate ligament rupture. Severity of cartilage erosion and OA are related with duration of disease and age of dogs. Therefore, surgical correction should be performed as soon as possible in order to prevent further development of degenerative joint disease.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.353
title: An analsis of "Participation" in Participatory irrigation management: a case study of Kraseaw reservior, Suphan Buri province, Thailand

description: Improving irrigation efficiency has been identified as the ultimate goal in irrigation management across the globe. In this, respect, Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) has been implemented in Thailand to increase irrigation efficiency through reforming institutional structures and the establishment of the Water Users’ Organization. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the participation of each stakeholder in the participatory irrigation management of the Kraseaw irrigation project, Suphan Buri province. The concept of participation and the ladders of participation have been adopted in the study of identify the participation of all stakeholders. Data collection methods included i-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations and documentary reviews. There are 4 groups of key informants which are: government departments; Sub-district Administrative Organizations; private companies; and farmers. The study found that each stakeholder has different levels of participation in the irrigation management as a result of occupational prestige and technical know ledge. The decision making has been dominated by the irrigation officers. The participation of Water Users’ Organization in irrigation management is at the informing level, where stakeholders have more access to information about irrigation management. The study concludes that although there was not equal participation in the irrigation management, the establishment of the Water Users’ Organization resulted in reduction of conflict.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.354
title: A three-echelon multi-commodity location-routing problem

description: This research studies the problem of distribution network design. The purposes of this study are 1) to develop the mathematical model for redesign of current distribution network by focusing on reducing total distribution cost and 2) to develop new solution approach for large-scale complicated problem. This research formulates mixed integer linear programming for the three-echelon two-commodity Location Routing Problem (LRP). The objective function is to minimize facility operating and closure cost and distance cost. Due to large-scale of LRP, which is NP-hardness, this research proposes new sequential solution approach as following steps; 1) decomposing the LRP into two subproblems based on its structure, 2) establishing route by clustering algorithm and identifying shortest route from Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), and 3) allocating proper warehouse and service center. The proposed model is tested by using data of distribution network from actual case, which consists of five distributed zones. In analyzed phase, both of the distribution network redesign for each particular zone and allowing the distribution across all zones are considered. Additionally, this research conducts sensitivity analysis on each problem. Totally, there are 66 scenarios to perform. The result indicates that solving all zones simultaneously contributes lower cost than solving each zone separately. The proposed solution provides better answer than solving the problem by exact approach, which gives lower cost with shorter computation time. Moreover, the solutions of the proposed model are tested in stochastic environmental by simulation technique. The results show that the redesign of distribution network by proposed model can provide better quality of answer than the current network.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.355
title: Multi-dependent criteria supplier selection with uncertain performance evaluation

description: One of the key to improve logistics efficiency of a firm is to select appropriate supplier. In order to select supplier, there are many criteria involved. Also supplier with greatest average performance does not confirm to be the most suitable one because of uncertainties. Therefore the objectives of this research are to develop decision matrix for selecting supplier based on mean-variance-skewness and identify influential criteria of supplier selection problem for Thai electronics industry. In this research, the set of criteria comprises of 6 main criteria with total of 13 sub-criteria. The data was collected via in-depth interview and questionnaire. The first three criteria which have highest important weight are lead time, follows by price, and continuous improvement ability with important weight equal to 0.0910, 0.0869 and 0.0806, respectively. To analyze skewness effect, it is found that skewness has effect on performance more than average and SD. Skewness can better distinguish between first and less priority supplier than considering only mean and SD. This result indicates that skewness really plays important role in supplier performance and should not be ignored when evaluating suppliers. Therefore, this research develops decision matrix for supplier selection including skewness, namely, Success Mode Skewness Analysis (SMSA). The validation of developed decision matrix shows that including skewness into consideration is more valid than considering only mean and SD. The findings have significant implication for both of suppliers and buyers in terms of improving logistics efficiency
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.356
title: Comparative studies of South Korea's and Japan's nation branding

description: This thesis provides a comparative examination of nation branding strategies used by Japan and South Korea. Nation branding is a concept derived from consumer product branding, referring to the development of a nation-brand identity to improve a nation’s reputation and image for global audiences. It has its origins in concepts such as public diplomacy, but reaches beyond these origins to incorporate a multidisciplinary and multifaceted set of commercial, cultural, artistic, and scientific images. Japan was an early leader in nation branding, building on image and reputation enhancement activities. South Korea followed the example of Japan with the establishment of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding in 2009. The approaches and strategies used did vary between the two countries. Although South Korea based its program similar to Japan’s nation branding, it focused more broadly on content marketing through the hallyu or Korean wave strategy. The comparative analysis showed that the programs were similarly successful, and today both Japan and South Korea are highly ranked internationally on nation branding indices. The study’s implication for developing countries is nation branding strategies can improve global image and reputation.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.357
title: The effects of debate instruction through a flipped learning environment on speaking ability and critical thinking skills of Thai high school students

description: The study aim (1) to develop debate instruction in a flipped learning environment, (2) to investigate the effects of students’ English speaking ability after implementing the debate instruction in a flipped learning environment, (3) to investigate the effects of students’ critical thinking skills after implementing debate instruction in a flipped learning environment, (4) and to investigate the students’ opinion towards using debate instruction in a flipped learning environment. Twenty-four high school students in English programs in Bangkok were chosen as the sample group. The findings revealed that 1) there was a significant improvement of the participants’ English speaking ability after taking DIFLE, 2) there was a significant improvement of the participants’ critical thinking skills after taking DIFLE, 3) the students had positive opinions towards debate instruction in a flipped learning environment. This research provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of flipped learning environment and gives useful insights for future students, teachers, and institutions in teaching speaking English.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.358
title: ANTIMICROBIAL EFFECT OF HIGH DOSE ASCORBATE IN MOUSE MODEL WITH BACTERIAL INFECTION

description: Ascorbate or Vitamin C is a vitamin that is important to the body. It contributes to the immunity, involves the collagen formation, acts as an antioxidant and has the ability to destroy cancer cells and bacteria. These abilities depend on the concentration of ascorbate. Bactericidal properties of ascorbate were interesting, especially in the high concentrations. Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Escherichia coli are a common etiologies of nosocomial infection in Thailand and worldwide. These bacteria have developed mechanisms of antibiotics resistance and cause more violence in the disease. Hence, the time-killing assay was used to explore the bactericidal synergy of ascorbate in the administration with ceftriaxone, a common antibiotic. The results showed that ascorbate concentrations of 10 and 40 millimolar (mM) with ceftriaxone at the concentration of minimal inhibitory concentration (1X MIC) could inhibit the growth of S. aureus (ATCC strain) both in in vitro and in vivo but not effective against P.aeruginosa, A. baumannii and E.coli. In addition, ascorbate alone at 250mM could inhibit the growth of S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Moreover, ascorbate 10 and 40 millimolar can increase macrophage killing activity to S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. In parallel, MRSA clinical strains were tested with the time-kill assay in vitro for the prediction of the in vivo clinical responses in S. aureus-induced myositis mouse model. Indeed, the synergy in the time-kill assay of ascorbate plus ceftriaxone associate with the favorable outcome in myositis model. In conclusion, ascorbate antibiotic synergy against S. aureus-induced myositis was predictable by the time kill assay. This method might be valuable to select the patients potentially benefit from Ascorbate-adjuvant therapy, especially, against the antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.359
title: NEEDS ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH ORAL COMMUNICATION FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR PROFESSION

description: This study aims to investigate the needs of English oral communication for the automotive maintenance and repair profession based on perspectives of automotive mechanical students and stakeholders in the automotive industry in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, and to propose an English oral communication course syllabus for automotive mechanical students’ profession. The study is a survey research consisting of two phases: needs analysis and course syllabus development. The needs analysis process was based on the framework ESP needs analysis of Brown (2016). Data were collected by means of questionnaires with one hundred and nineteen automotive mechanical students and five stakeholders, and semi-structured interview questions were used to collect in-depth information on needs of English oral communication for the automotive maintenance and repair profession. The findings revealed the needs across three language areas: linguistic aspects, functional aspects, and sociocultural aspects. The quantitative data indicated that grammatical structures were least required from both participant groups. The automotive mechanical students and stakeholders had different views on language functions that were required in their profession. Regarding the sociocultural aspects, knowledge of social etiquettes was viewed as keys to prevent communication breakdowns. Finally, the most important contents were proposed for an English oral communication course syllabus for the automotive maintenance and repair profession in 12 units based on Content-Based Instruction (CBI).
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.360
title: DRIVERS AND CONSTRAINTS OF CONVERSION TO ORGANIC FARMING IN THE KINGDOM OF BHUTAN

description: Organic farming is one of the several approaches towards environmental conservation and aims to increase agricultural production and household income for small-scale farmers to enable them to come out of poverty and improve livelihood. The objective is to investigate the key drivers and constraints in conversion to organic farming for domestic organic certified and non-certified but organic farmers and provide policy recommendation to government and relevant agency. The survey data of 146 respondents comprising of certified organic (n=47) and non-certified (n=99) were collected from Gasa district of Bhutan during the month of October 2017. The data analysis includes the use of descriptive statistics and the study recognize the drivers and constraints in conversion to organic farming according to the ranked order of importance by the farmers.The respondents were also asked to prioritize the factors, drivers and constraints for organic practices. The result suggests that both the certified and non-certified but organic farmers has identified environmental awareness, health benefits, economic benefits, education and employment benefits as the predominant drivers for organic production. The constraints experienced by both the groups include low productivity, market aspects, education and research aspects and economic and financial aspects. To promote organic farming the Bhutanese government, non-governmental organization and farmers has significant role to play. The government should support non-certified farmers through information and awareness, product certification, capacity building and formation of groups and cooperatives and support the certified farmers through research & development, market intensification, policy support and infrastructure development. The non-governmental organization should support non-certified farmers through adult education, training program and input supply and certified farmers through implementation of projects, agricultural shows and provide linkages with research institutions. The non-certified farmers are highly recommended to form groups, cooperatives and associations, self-organize in terms of farm machineries and tools and labors and carry out off farm activities. The certified farmers should diversify products, choose better cropping practices and techniques and attend short-term courses.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.361
title: The role of chinese commercial associations in supporting new Chinese sojourners in Bangkok : a case study of the Thai-Guangxi Commercial Association

description: Thailand has always maintained friendly relations with China throughout long history, which include relationship in the cultural, political, economic, social and tourism areas, among others. In recent decades, especially following the development of the Chinese “one belt, one road” policy, more and more Chinese sojourners have chosen Thailand as their sojourning destination. However, looking back to the history, we will see that most old Chinese immigrants moved from China to Thailand to make a living as businessmen or labor force. During that period, commercial associations needed to be established, so that these Chinese immigrants could help each other, (such an association was then called a chamber of commerce). The original role of these Chinese commercial associations was to help the overseas Chinese people to get together and to provide support for their business activities. But nowadays, Chinese sojourners are from different provinces and occupational fields, and they would like to establish their own hometown commercial association to facilitate communication among themselves. This thesis has chosen the Thai-Guangxi commercial association as a case study. This can be regarded as a typical case of this kind of commercial associations and thus should be studied in detail. It is worth, in particular, to explore the relationship between new Chinese sojourners and this Chinese commercial association, as well as the role of the association in supporting the new Chinese sojourners.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.362
title: Human health risk assessment of cadmium exposure through rice consumption in Mae Tao, Mae Sot District, Tak province

description: Mae Tao sub-district is located in the Mae Tao watershed, an important Cd contaminated area in Thailand. This study was conducted to i) investigate total Cd concentration in rice from households in the Mae Tao sub-district and ii) estimate health risks from Cd exposure through rice consumption. A total number of 159 rice samples were collected from households in all 6 villages of the Mae Tao sub-district. These rice samples were digested with concentrated nitric acid and analyzed by the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Biodata information and rice consumption behavior were surveyed from the local residents at the same time of rice sample collection to estimate health risks. The results found that the average total Cd concentration in all rice samples (0.2843 mg kg-1) were within the CODEX maximum standard for Cd in rice (0.4 mg kg-1). However, about 19.5% of all rice samples had Cd concentration exceeded the CODEX maximum standard for Cd in rice. There were no significant difference in total Cd concentration between white jasmine rice and sticky rice (p&gt;0.05). However, locally grown rice usually contained higher total Cd concentration than the purchased rice by 1.48 times. When compare the total Cd concentration in each village, the average total Cd concentrations in rice samples from Mae Tao Klang (village No.2) (0.4151 mg kg-1) and Mae Tao San Rongrian (village No.4) (0.5097 mg kg-1) exceeded the CODEX maximum standard by about 1.04 and 1.27 times, respectively. The Cd exposure from the only sticky rice consumption pattern was the highest (2.26 × 10-3 mg kg-1 day-1), followed by both types of rice consumption pattern (1.39 × 10-3 mg kg-1 day-1) and the only white jasmine rice consumption pattern (6.30 × 10-4 mg kg-1 day-1). The Cd exposure in each rice consumption pattern was mainly influenced by the total Cd concentration in rice and the ingestion rate of the local residents. According to the health risk assessment between different rice consumption patterns, the average HQ value of the only sticky rice consumption pattern was the highest (2.2633), followed by both types of rice consumption pattern (1.3870) and the only sticky rice consumption pattern (0.6303). The overall results indicate that the local residents who consumed only sticky rice and both types of rice on a daily basis could experience non-carcinogenic health impacts from Cd exposure through rice consumption.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2017.363
title: Theoretical studies on electronic properties of curved graphene quantum dots and lithium adsorption on graphene quantum dots

description: Graphene quantum dots (GQDs), with their attractive properties, are of interest to apply for electronic devices. Therefore, this dissertation aimed to investigate the electronic of curved graphene quantum dots (CGQDs) and the adsorption of lithium on GQDs. For the first part, two shapes of flat GQDs, rhomboidal (RGQDs) and hexagonal (HGQDs), were modified to make CGQDs with different folding axes and angles. Stabilities and electronic properties of CGQDs were studied using PBE/DNP. The results showed that the deformation energies of GQDs depend on sizes and folding axes but not their shapes. HOMO-LUMO gap variations, both widening and narrowing the gap, upon folding were observed, and can be explained by orbital interactions. In the second study, three sizes of GQDs, coronene, circumcoronene, and circumcircumcoronene were allowed to be adsorbed by lithium ions and atoms at various positions of GQDs. Adsorption positions and binding energies were determined using M06-2X/6-31g(d). The results indicated that lithium ion and atom could bind better at the edge of GQDs. The adsorption between lithium ion and coronene showed the highest binding affinity of -135.073 kcal/mol. Moreover, the size increment of GQDs raises the binding energy, except Li+ absorption on GQDs with -1 charge. Preferred adsorption positions of lithium ions and atoms on GQDs can be described by the total charge of six-membered ring. In addition, binding affinities of one-Li-ion system on GQDs are larger than two-Li-ion system. For two Li-ion system, the binding energy on GQDs also depends on Li ion-Li ion repulsion.