cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1473
title: Air pollution prevention applications from transport sector by integration of transport and vehicle emission model in urban area: case study Bangkok, Thailand

description: Air emissions from transportation are a major contributor for greenhouse gases and are directly linked to fuel consumption. Poorly maintained vehicles lead to reduced fuel efficiency than those well maintained counterparts. This inefficient use of fuel can result in unnecessary air emissions. The main objective of this study is to propose air pollution prevention applications for the transport sector in an urban area in order to minimize the pollution and to meet ambient air quality standards by using transport and vehicle emissions models, which take into account air emission changes resulting from prevention strategies. This study combines pollution prevention, transport, vehicle emissions and geographic information system (GIS) techniques to deal with air pollution prevention in an urban conglomeration. Anthropogenic activities in transport sector are significant and wide-range at generating high levels of emissions. The trends of air emissions from transportation continue to rise in large scale along with the increase in travel patterns. These are the reasons for the need for reducing levels of air emissions from transportation sector. The study aims to probe the major root cause for the raise in air pollutants in the transport sector in Bangkok. The results of the study propose feasible ideas to reduce and control levels of air emissions from transportation sector. The driving force of this research is to use source reduction for reducing air emissions from transportation sector. Finally, the paper proposes possible solutions such as 4 high potential solutions viz., promoting use of NGV buses and rerouting existing services as the most effective countermeasure to minimize air emissions, and potentially least expensive, when compared with other solutions for prevention of pollutants from transportation sector in Thailand. The current study can be used in formulating policies related to air pollution at a macro level, as the study was focussed on that level.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1474
title: Behavior of mercury adsorbtion and desorbtion on metal surface used in natural gas production and exploration

description: Liquid elemental Hg adsorption on the steel coupons cut from new petroleum subsea pipeline with the specifications of API 5L-X52 was investigated up to 90 days under controlled temperature of 25 0C. Examination of surface mercury adsorption morphology using SEM found that elemental Hg was in spherical droplets with sizes ranged &lt;1 to &gt;10 micron. The Hg droplets were observed either attaching on the steel coupon surface or falling into pits or crevices of irregular steel coupon surface. The distribution of Hg adsorption location is inconsistent which may be contributed by heterogeneous surface characteristic. EDS analysis of surface Hg concentrations revealed that they were not correlated with Hg adsorption periods. However, it provided only an indication of an increasing trend of surface mercury which begins at 30th until to 60th day before they stabilized and declined on 75 and 90 day, respectively. The following examination by XRD no later than a week found that Hg was found in HgO form on the surface. XPS surface analysis, undertaken no later than two weeks found that all Hg present on the steel surface was in HgO form but at very much lower surface concentrations compared to those initially present as elemental Hg. The results revealed potential loses of Hg through volatilization. The XPS analysis for Hg depth profile revealed that Hg was more consolidated on the top surface to the depth of about 10-20 nm. The Hg depth profile of different Hg treatment periods showed that they were consistent in term of the depth profile concentrations that they were all below &lt; 1 %atom-Hg by XPS after the depth of about 20 nm from the top surface. The results of Hg decontamination by using I2/KI (at fixed KI of 2.0 M) found that at 0.2 M of I2 it worked well with different surface Hg levels ranging 20-34 %atom-Hg by XPS. It could reduce surface Hg levels to the final surface Hg levels at the minimum to maximum concentrations of 0.04% to 0.10 %atom-Hg by XPS, respectively. This I2 concentration was the minimum concentration which not only could remove Hg on the steel surface, but also in the depth profile with comparable performance with the higher I2 concentrations.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1475
title: A randomized controlled trial of polyethylene glycol 4000 without electrolytes versus milk of magnesia for the treatment of functional constipation in infants and young children

description: Objective: To compare 2 laxatives, polyethylene glycol 4000 without electrolytes (PEG) and milk of magnesia (MOM). Evaluating the effectiveness, adverse effects and patient compliance. Study design: Randomized controlled trial Setting: Pediatric outpatient clinic, Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital Methods: Infants and young children aged 1-4 years who met the Rome III criteria for functional constipation were randomly allocated to the PEG treatment group or MOM group. The primary outcome was the improvement rate. Secondary outcomes included the improvement of stool frequency, adverse effects and compliance rate. All outcomes were evaluated after 4 weeks of treatment. Results: 94 patients were enrolled. A total of 89 patients completed the study: 46 in the PEG group and 43 in the MOM group. Baseline characteristics including age, body weight, sex, initial stool frequency and duration of constipation were similar between groups. At the 4 week follow-up visit, 91% of PEG treated patients and 65% of the MOM treated patients exhibited improvement (p=0.003). Patients in the PEG group had greater increase of stool frequency after treatment than patients in the MOM group. Overall adverse effects were mild, transient and not different among groups, except there was more diarrhea in MOM treated patients. No serious adverse effects occurred. Compliance rates were 89% for PEG and 72% for MOM (p=0.041). Conclusion: In this randomized trial, PEG was more effective and had greater patient compliance than MOM for the management of functional constipation in infants and children aged 1-4 years.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1476
title: Assessment and comparison of SAPS II and MPM24 II scoring systems in predicting hospital mortality in intensive care units

description: Objective: To evaluate and compare the performance and validity of the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II) and the Mortality Prediction Model at 24 hours II (MPM24 II) scoring systems in predicting hospital mortality in Thai ICU patients. Design: Prospective, observational study. Materials and methods: Data on 639 patients consecutively admit to the ICUs of Nopparat-Rajathanee Hospital, a 580-bed university-affiliated tertiary care referring hospital, during May 1, 2008, to March 15, 2009 were used to calculate predicted mortality for SAPS II and MPM24 II using the original formulas. Standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was computed. Discrimination of both scoring systems was evaluated by the area under the ROC curves. Calibration was assessed by Hosmer-Lemeshow statistics and calibration curves. Comparison between areas under the ROC curves of both systems was undertaken. Results There were 218 in-hospital deaths (34.1%). SMR for SAPS II = 0.83 (0.74 – 0.92), MPM24 II = 0.89 (0.78–1.01). Both systems exhibited excellent discrimination (area under ROC curve was 0.88 for SAPS II and 0.91 for MPM24II). The discrimination of MPM24 II was better than SAPS II (p = 0.007). MPM24 II showed good calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow statistics 14.45, p=0.07), while SAPS II was poorly calibrated (Hosmer-Lemeshow statistics 20.65, p = 0.008). Conclusions SAPS II showed excellent discrimination, but poor calibration. MPM 24 II provided better discrimination than SAPS II, and showed good calibration. The local performance of MPM24 II in addition to its easier use suggested that it might be possible to use this scoring system for mortality prediction in Thai ICUs.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1477
title: Antimutagenic and antioxidative activities of some flowers

description: The objectives of this study were aimed to determine the cytotoxicity of methanol and water extracts of red hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn.), Mexican creeper (Antigonon leptopus Hook. & Arn.), ixora (Ixora coccinea Linn.), white frangipani (Plumeria obtusa Linn.), malay apple (Syzygium malaccense (Linn.) Merr.& Perry), kra chiew (Curcuma sessilis Gage), sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.), Indian cork tree (Millingtonia hortensis Linn.), thong pun chang (Rhinacanthus nasutus ((Linn.) Kurz.) and pomegranate (Punica granatum Linn.) in the brine shrimp. It was found that most flower extracts were not cytotoxic. Antioxidant activity of flower extracts was assessed by using two methods: scavenging capacity (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). The content of phenolic compound in the flower extracts was also determined using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. Water extract of ixora exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity (FRAP assay) and showed the highest total phenolic content. This study was also aimed to determine the antimutagenicity of flower extracts against the product of the reaction mixture of 1-aminopyrene-nitrite model in the absence of metabolic activation on Salmonella typhimurium strains TA 98 and TA 100 in the Ames test. The antimutagenic potential against urethane induced somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) using Drosophila melanogaster was also performed. The results showed that none of the samples was mutagenic in the Ames test and SMART. Most of the extracts were mutagenic after nitrite treatment. Nitrite treated methanol extract of sacred lotus exhibited the highest mutagenicity on both strains in the Ames test. It induced 1194 revertants of 3.2 mg of sample per plate on TA 98 and 992 revertants of 1.6 mg of sample per plate on TA 100. However, dichloromethane extracts of red hibiscus, white frangipani, malay apple, methanol extract of malay apple and water extract of red hibiscus were an exception because they were not mutagenic after nitrite treatment. All the dichloromethane extracts of flowers decreased the mutagenicity of the reaction mixture of 1-aminopyrene nitrite model on both tester strains. Methanol extract of kra chiew and pomegranate (15 mg/plate) showed the highest antimutagenic activity in TA 98 (98%) and TA 100 (100%), respectively. It was found that the water extract of ixora was the strongest antimutagenic activity in the SMART. The protective effects of these flower extracts may be due to the presence of flavonoids and triterpenes which exerted the antioxidant activity. The finding from this study suggested that the flower extracts minimize the risk of exposure to any mutagens possibly be due to their antioxidant activity.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1478
title: Characteristics and impact of support to orphans and vulnerable children in Northern Thailand : a secondary analysis of Thailand multiple indicator cluster survey, 2006

description: Children who are orphaned or living away from their parents may be at increased risk of discrimination, neglect or various forms of exploitation-including harmful labor or sexual exploitation. It is important to identify OVC who are at risk, monitoring and evaluating relevant support to ensure their rights are being met. In Thailand, among families that have taken in OVC, 78.6 percent of these families received no support at all. Children whose families receive any support (medical, emotional and psychological, material, social or educational) account for 21.4 percent. The percentage of OVC whose households have received all five types of support is only 0.1 percent. This research selected six provinces in Northern Thailand to study, intended to find out the association between household’s characteristics, care taker’s characteristics, OVC’s characteristics, type of support being received and OVC’s educational and health status. Supporting OVC needs steady effort at government level as well as family and community level. The research results would provide useful information for policy makers to develop better social welfare mechanism for OVC. Families and communities which have OVC may also benefit from this research by receiving new knowledge. The research found that Thai citizenship, living arrangements, household wealth, parents’ socio-demographic characteristics, medical, material, educational support, and OVC’s disability are significantly associated with OVC’s education and health status. Among all the OVC, double orphans, maternal orphans and disabled OVC are most vulnerable. It is suggested that Thailand needs better social welfare mechanism which can provide more support to OVC, especially medical, material and educational support, for their well-being. Further study is encouraged to focus on other parts of the country in order to present the whole picture of OVC in Thailand.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1480
title: Automated plasma parameter measuring system using electrical probe

description: In order to obtain the value of plasma parameters, including the plasma potential, the electron temperature, and the plasma density, the use of electrical probes is one of the techniques which can be accomplished by measuring current as a function of voltage. In this work, a computer controlled bipolar power supply was setup as a voltage source for the probe current measurement. The adjustable potential of the source was supplied to the probe so as to acquire adequate current information which corresponds with each region in I-V characteristics. The measured I-V data were recorded and analyzed by an automated algorithm. In the algorithm, the I-V data were partitioned into three voltage intervals by using the first and second derivatives of the current signal. The characteristic of the first derivative curve was utilized to determine the ion and electron saturation regions, while the interval between the maximum and minimum of the second derivation could be defined as the transition region. In the analysis of actual experimentally acquired data obtained from different plasma discharges, the algorithm performed well and also yielded plasma parameters with good agreement to the results obtained by usual manual calculation.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1481
title: Biodiesel production from rice bran oil soapstock using novozyme 435 catalyst

description: In this study, the fatty acid methyl ester (biodiesel) production from rice bran oil soapstock, acid oil from neutralization of the soapstock, and rice fatty acid using Novozyme 435 as catalyst were optimized. These substrates are by-product from rice bran oil refining. Biodiesel produced by soapstock was obtained only 36% in biodiesel production because it contained high water and soap content. When acid and rice fatty acid were use as substrate, biodiesel was obtained in a good yield. Thus, the acid oil and rice fatty acid were appropriate substrate for biodiesel production and the optimal conditions were a 2:1 molar ratio of methanol to FFA, the reaction temperature of 30 ℃, 10% Novozyme 435 and reaction time for 2 hrs. In the optimal condition, FFA were reduced to less than 2% while triglycerides were remained. Since about 10% of triglyceride (TG) contained in both acid oil and rice fatty acid, it as found that two step catalyzed process (enzyme and base, successively) is the appropriate procedure for biodiesel production from acid oil of rice fatty acid while the biodiesel production using acid-catalyzed process consisted of this process in the first of two steps and base-catalyzed process in the last step. The optimal reactions for base-catalyzed step were a 5:1 molar ratio of methanol to TG, the reaction temperature of 65℃, 0.8% NaOH and reaction time for 1 hr. The chemical and physical properties of biodiesel produced by this process were investigated and the results showed that this biodiesel reached the standard properties with high oxidation stability (10 hrs).
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1482
title: Characterization of Aureobasidium Pullulans isolates based on multilocus sequence analyses and relationship between alpha amylase activities and pullulan profiles

description: The fungus Aureobasidium pullulans is the major source of the commercial polysaccharide, pullulan, and also produces xylanase (EC 3.2.1.8). Tropical isolates of A. pullulans were isolated from various habitats. A total of 53 isolates used in this study included 45 new isolates from 15 provinces in Thailand, 1 new isolate from the U.S., and 7 comparative strains. These isolates were classified using multilocus sequence analyses from 5 loci including the rRNA ITS region, the rRNA IGS1 region, EF-1α, BT2, and RPB2. Based on the phylogenetic analyses, isolates were classified into 12 clades indicating that a vast diversity within the species. Moreover, morphological characteristics, pullulan production, and xylanase activity were determined for all isolates in an attempt to identify specific characteristics of each clade. The results showed different colors on different culture media, and some clades interestingly exhibited high levels of pullulan production and/or xylanase activity. Moreover, two new isolates were identified as a distinct species closely related to A. pullulans. To study the relationship between the activities of α-amylase and pullulan profiles, 5 representative strains were selected and grown in pullulan production medium. During cultivation, each culture broth was collected to assay the α-amylase and pullulanase activities and determine the pullulan profiles, including α-amylase sensitivity, pullulanase sensitivity, molecular weight, and viscosity. Pullulan yields gradually increased over time in individual strains while the molecular weight of pullulan decreased. However, the amylase activity of each strain was very low. It is possible that very low levels of amylase hydrolyze the minor maltotetraose structure of pullulan and cause the reduction of molecular weight, although it is also possible that other as yet uncharacterized enzymes or other factors play a role. Furthermore, the putative α-amylase gene of A. pullulans NRRL Y-12974 was characterized. The complete α-amylase gDNA contains 2,247-bp including 7 introns and 8 exons. The putative mRNA was 1,878-bp long encoding an α-amylase of 625 amino acid residues. Southern blot analysis indicated that there was only one copy of this gene in the genome. Finally, α-amylase mRNA was detected using reverse transcription-PCR, which indicated that there was α-amylase mRNA remaining in the cell during cultivation.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1483
title: Clique coverings of glued graphs

description: Let G be a graph. A clique covering of a graph G is a set of cliques of G in which each edge of G is contained in at least one clique. The clique covering number of G is the smallest cardinality of clique coverings of G. A glued graph results from combining two vertex-disjoint graphs by identifying nontrivial connected isomorphic subgraphs of both graphs. Such subgraphs are referred to as the clones. The two vertex-disjoint graphs are referred to the original graphs. We study bounds of clique covering numbers of glued graphs in terms of clique covering numbers of their original graphs. Also, we investigate values or bounds of clique covering numbers of glued graphs with specified clones such as a complete graph, a complete graph and an induced subgraph of both original graphs.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1484
title: Companion modelling to analyse the land/water use and labour migration interactions in Lam Dome Yai watershed, lower Northeast Thailand

description: 85% of rice production, the largest type of land use in the northeast region of Thailand, is under rainfed conditions constrained by erratic rainfall distribution and coarse textured soils limiting the regional paddy yield at an average of 1.8 t ha-1 and enabling farmers to have only 6 months in the wet season to carry out rice-growing activities. This harsh agroecosystem and related poor crop productivity leads to very low per capita incomes. A common adaptive strategy for these resource-poor rice farmers is labour migration. However, the interaction between labour migration and changes in land and water use is still not well understood. The future spending of 500,000 million baht on hydro-shield tunnels to divert water from the Mekong River has been planned without prior understanding of this interaction. The purpose of this research is to better understand this interaction by using the Companion Modelling (ComMod) approach to facilitate co-learning between researchers and a heterogeneous group of farmers. ComMod is an iterative, continuous, evolving approach that facilitates dialogue, shared learning, and collective decision-making through interdisciplinary and implicated action-oriented research to strengthen the adaptive management capacity of stakeholders facing a common resource management problem. In this case study, ComMod is used to enhance co-learning through knowledge exchange to integrate indigenous and academic knowledge, aimed at building a shared representation of the interaction under study. Importantly, such a shared representation allows stakeholders to efficiently explore possible scenarios of change in the future and to agree upon suitable collective actions. In this implementation of the ComMod process, associated tools i.e., a Role-Playing Game (RPG) and an Agent-Based Model (ABM) were developed with local rice farmers of Ban Mak Mai village, Det Udom district, Ubon Ratchathani province. According to the participating farmers, the co-designed ABM, named “BanMakMai”, sufficiently represents their farm management and labour migration practices. Subsequent monitoring and evaluation activities found various effects of ComMod on participating farmers regarding knowledge acquisition and changes in perceptions of the system under study, decision-making, and practices. The farmers also said that such a co-learning process, facilitated and stimulated by the evolutionary gaming and simulation exercises, is a very effective means for knowledge exchange.
DOI: 10.14457/cu.the.2008.1485
title: Effective shift handover in oil refinery

description: This thesis is only focused on how the effective in communication during shift handover by using support material to be included. Moreover, apply the two-way communication by giving feedback to exchange important information between incoming and outgoing operation team. Also create a competency assessment for new operator to be evaluating his performance regard to shift handover. Develop and construct checklist for field operator in each unit area to identify their routine task. The research methodology consisted of (1) refinery’s background.(2) Literature review and other issue that relate to thesis. (3) Background of the organization of case study and problem. (4) Survey and Audit of Shift Handover for system analysis.(5) Development of Shift handover system. (6) Implementation and Evaluation after 1 month.(7) Conclusions and Recommendations also including limitation of thesis. The data analysis showed that majority of the users (operator) was appreciate and satisfied with improvement of the shift handover system in both working instruction and logbook. However, the main concern with the logbook system was the use of language. They feel that Foreign language such as English could be their barrier in writing communication. The performance of the system to keep the incident that related to failure in communication to be 0 rates. And keep the company overall performance target.