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This paper investigates the potential of the Gamified Metaverse as a platform for promoting library services. The study compares the effectiveness of a traditional library program with a Metaverse- based library program in terms of knowledge acquisition and library anxiety. The research also examines students' perceptions of implementing gamification within the context of the Gamified Metaverse platform. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, including pre- and post-test analysis, statistical analysis, and qualitative data collection. The results indicate that both the traditional and Metaverse-based library programs effectively increased the participants' knowledge, with no significant difference between the two approaches. However, the Metaverse-based program was found to be less effective in facilitating interaction with librarians and reducing library anxiety. Additionally, students expressed positive perceptions of implementing gamification in the Gamified Metaverse platform, finding it engaging and motivating. These findings contribute to the understanding of the effect of the Metaverse as a tool for promoting library services and enhancing knowledge acquisition. However, it is not as effective in reducing library anxiety, particularly in terms of interaction with librarians and staff. It should be noted that the platform may have limitations such as high costs and potential side effects of virtual reality, making it more suitable as an additional tool for promoting library services, taking into account its feasibility and potential benefits for specific student populations and larger libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers conducting fieldwork, especially in comparative social research, face the complex issue of conceptualizing and practicing positionality. How we position ourselves affects the research approach, the interpretation of the data and, therefore, the whole research process. This paper discusses my own in-between or 'in-out-sider' positionality during my fieldwork studying the experience of youths in social movements in Thailand and Myanmar in 2020 and 2021. Drawing on data from a visit to Thailand and interviews with 40 Myanmar and Thai youths who participated in the movements, this article documents my experience of the subtle nuances of multiple positionalities and how I navigated through the fieldwork as an in-out-sider researcher. In this comparative context, especially, I believe that my in-out-sider positionality facilitated the research process, from interviewing participants to conducting the field visit. The discussion of this contextually situated positionality challenges the typical explanations of the insider/outsider dichotomy, suggesting the need for a rethinking of certain aspects of this explanation, such as the background and experience of the researcher, and the context in which the researcher and the researched interact. This paper therefore contributes to knowledge around this subject and its application, particularly in the context of comparative social research which studies specific groups of youth activists or protestors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This white paper recognises that for the decision makers and policy makers implementation of any intervention for changing the existing service delivery model, production model, market or regulatory model that impacts consumers and citizens are the most challenging tasks. Uncertainties about consumers and citizens' responses lead to delays or suboptimality in action. Ten priority actions with major direct SDG links that can reduce uncertainty in decision making in energy, climate change and disaster contexts of Bangladesh are derived from the assessment of research outputs of more than 70 lead subject experts and peer reviewed through blind review process by 50 expert reviewers from all over the world published in two special issue volumes of this Journal and research undertaken under the Bangabandhu Chair endowment at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper investigates Thailand and Malaysia climate governance policy in practice within their multi-level governance structures. Thailand presents a unique case of a unitary state with a degree of deconcentration and decentralization, while Malaysia showcases a federal state with a high degree of centralization. Methodology: The paper collected and analyzed both primary and secondary data. Indepth interviews with government officials, NGOs, and international organizations were conducted online and onsite in Thailand and Malaysia from May 2022 to September 2023. Interview data was triangulated with secondary data from key national policy documents on climate change and related issues. This paper examines the contributions and hindrances of multi-level governance on climate governance and highlights some lessons learned from both countries. Results: It concludes that multi-level government systems provide opportunities for various stakeholders to engage in decision-making and create policy innovation. However, the administration of decision-making in these systems can be constrained by tensions within these systems, between tendencies towards the centralization of decision-making, and little engagement between subnational governments and local-level stakeholders. Conclusions: Overall, we assert that clear direction and guidance at the national level complemented by mechanisms that engage local stakeholders in administration and civil society is essential to achieve overarching climate action goals regardless of the administrative system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Thailand, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) regularly performs visual larval surveys throughout the country to monitor dengue fever outbreaks. Since 2016, the DDC switched from a paper-based to a digital-based larval survey process. The significant amount of larval survey data collected digitally presents a valuable opportunity to precisely identify the villages and breeding habitats that are vulnerable to dengue transmission. Methods: The study used digitally collected larval survey data from 2017 to 2019. It employed larval indices to evaluate the risk of dengue transmission in villages based on seasonal, regional, and categorical perspectives. Furthermore, the study comprehensively scrutinized each container category by employing different measures to determine its breeding preference ratio. Results: The result showed that villages with a very high-risk of dengue transmission were present year-round in all regions, with the highest proportion during the rainy season. The Southern region had more high-risk villages during the winter season due to rainfall. Slums and residential communities were more vulnerable to dengue than commercial areas. All container categories could potentially serve as breeding habitats for dengue-carrying mosquitoes, with abandoned containers being the most significant breeding sites. Conclusions: The risk of dengue transmission was present year-round throughout Thailand. This underscores the importance of community and government initiatives, along with sustained public awareness campaigns and active community engagement, to efficiently and permanently eradicate mosquito breeding habitats. It should be noted that larval indices may not strongly correlate with dengue cases, as indicated by the preliminary analysis. However, they offer valuable insights into potential breeding sites for targeted preventive measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) causes an economic impact on the patients and their households. Although Thailand has expanded the national health benefit package for TB treatment, there was no data on out-of-pocket payments and income losses due to TB from patients and their household perspectives. This national TB patient cost survey was conducted to examine the TB-related economic burden, and assess the proportion of TB patients and their households facing catastrophic total costs because of TB disease. A cross-sectional TB patient cost survey was employed following WHO methods. Structured interviews with a paper-based questionnaire were conducted from October 2019 to July 2021. Both direct and indirect costs incurred from the patient and their household perspective were valued in 2021 and estimated throughout pre- and post-TB diagnosis episodes. We assessed the proportion of TB-affected households facing costs > 20% of household expenditure due to TB. We analyzed 1400 patients including 1382 TB (first-line treatment) and 18 drug-resistant TB patients (DR-TB). The mean total costs per TB episode for all study participants were 903 USD (95% confident interval; CI 771–1034 USD). Of these, total direct non-medical costs were the highest costs (mean, 402 USD, and 95%CI 334–470 USD) incurred per TB-affected household followed by total indirect costs (mean, 393 USD, and 95%CI 315–472 USD) and total direct medical costs (mean, 107 USD, and 95%CI 81–133 USD, respectively. The proportion of TB-affected households facing catastrophic costs was 29.5% (95%CI 25.1–34.0%) for TB (first-line), 61.1% (95%CI 29.6–88.1%) for DR-TB and 29.9% (95%CI 25.6–34.4%) overall. This first national survey highlighted the economic burden on TB-affected households. Travel, food/nutritional supplementation, and indirect costs contribute to a high proportion of catastrophic total costs. These suggest the need to enhance financial and social protection mechanisms to mitigate the financial burden of TB-affected households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the integration of magnetic susceptibility measurements and whole-rock geochemical compositional and Nd–Sr isotopic ratio analyses for granite samples collected from the Ranong, Lam Pi, Ban Lam Ru, and Phuket granite bodies in the Western Granitoid Belt of Thailand. In addition, U–Pb dating was performed on zircons extracted from the samples. All samples are proper granites based on their mineralogical and geochemical characteristics. Two samples collected from the Lam Pi granite body were classified as magnetite-series and I-type. The remaining granite samples were classified as ilmenite-series and S- or A-type. Furthermore, all granites were classified as syn-collision granites. Excluding the magnetite-series samples from the Lam Pi granite body, the other samples exhibit enrichment in incompatible elements, such as Nb, Sn, Ta, Pb, Bi, Th, U, Ce, Rb, and Cs. Zircon U–Pb dating yielded ages of ca. 60 Ma for the magnetite-series granites from the Lam Pi granite body, whereas ages of 88–84 Ma were obtained for the other granite bodies. Initial Nd–Sr isotopic ratios indicate a higher contribution of mantle material in the Lam Pi magnetite-series granites and a higher contribution of continental crust material in the other granites. Based on these compositional and zircon U–Pb age data, it is inferred that the 88–84 Ma granites formed as a result of the thickening of the continental crust owing to the collision between the Sibumasu and the West Burma blocks. In contrast, the ca. 60 Ma Lam Pi magnetite-series granites are thought to have been generated via partial melting of the mantle wedge associated with the subduction of the Neo-Tethyan oceanic crust beneath the West Burma Block. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon geological storage (CGS) is one of the key processes in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, which are used to reduce CO2 emissions and achieve carbon-neutrality and net-zero emissions in developing countries. In Thailand, the Mae Moh basin is a potential site for implementing CGS due to the presence of a structural trap that can seal the CO2 storage formation. However, the cost of CGS projects needs to be subsidized by selling carbon credits in order to reach the project breakeven. Therefore, this paper estimates the economic components of a CGS project in the Mae Moh basin by designing the well completion and operating parameters for CO2 injection. The capital costs and operating costs of the process components were calculated, and the minimum carbon credit cost required to cover the total costs of the CGS project was determined. The results indicate that the designed system proposes an operating gas injection rate of 1.454 MMscf/day, which is equivalent to 29,530 tCO2e per year per well. Additionally, the minimum carbon credit cost was estimated to be USD 70.77 per tCO2e in order to achieve breakeven for the best case CGS project, which was found to be much higher than the current market price of carbon credit in Thailand, at around USD 3.5 per tCO2e. To enhance the economic prospects of this area, it is imperative to promote a policy of improving the cost of carbon credit for CGS projects in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing recognition of the potential of migration to contribute to climate-change adaptation. Yet, there is limited evidence to what degree, under what conditions, for whom, and with which limitations this is effectively the case. We argue that this results from a lack of recognition and systematic incorporation of sociospatiality--the nested, networked, and intersectional nature of migration-as-adaptation. Our central objective is to utilize the translocal social-resilience approach to overcome these gaps, to identify processes and structures that shape the social resilience of translocal livelihood systems, and to illustrate the mechanisms behind the multiplicity of possible resilience outcomes. Translocal livelihood constellations anchored in rural Thailand as well as in domestic and international destinations of Thai migrants serve as illustrative empirical cases. Data were gathered through a multisited and mixed-methods research design. This paper highlights the role of the distinct but interlinked situations and operational logics at places of origin and destination, as well as the different positionalities and resulting vulnerabilities, roles, commitments, and practices of individuals and households with regard to resilience. Based on the empirical results, the paper distills a generalized typology of five broad categories of resilience outcomes, which explicitly considers sociospatiality. Our approach helps to grasp the complexity of migration-as-adaptation and to avoid simplistic conclusions about the benefits and costs of migration for adaptation--both of which are necessary for sound, evidence-based, migration-as-adaptation policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The protection of traditional high‐voltage capacitor banks relies on an unbalance relay which operates when an internal fuse is blown. However, the unbalance relay cannot indicate the cause of the fault. Thus, an operator wastes time and human resources investigating the fault issues. In this paper, a fault which occurred in a 230‐kV power system of Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand was observed by performing simulations using the Power Systems Computer Aided Design (PSCAD) program. The study system based on the double bus station and 72 MVAR capacitor banks was installed in the form of a back‐to‐back topology. Three scenarios were considered: normal condition, fault occurrence in one capacitor bank and fault occurrence in both capacitor banks. Current characteristics such as the current phase and difference in unbalance current were considered. In addition, discrete wavelet transform was applied to solve the ambiguity of current generated from the PSCAD. The authors' results suggest that identifying fault events using a coefficient of wavelet is more efficient than relying on the current amplitude. The findings mentioned in this paper can be applied in a traditional power system protection scheme to enhance a system's reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pythiosis is a rare disease with high mortality, with over 94% of cases reported from Thailand and India. Prompt diagnosis and surgery improves patient outcomes. Therefore, continuing professional development (CPD) is essential for early recognition. However, a needs assessment related to a pythiosis CPD program has not been performed. Objectives: We conducted a needs assessment to develop a pythiosis CPD program. Patients/Methods: We conducted a survey study with 267 King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital residents (141 internal medicine (IM) residents and 126 surgery residents). A 30-item survey consisting of a knowledge assessment, demographic section, and an attitudes portion was distributed both electronically and via paper. The data was analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Sixty-seven percent completed the survey (110/141 IM residents, 70/126 surgery residents). The mean score [95% confidence interval] on the knowledge assessment was 41.67% [39.64%-43.69%] across all objectives. The three domains with the highest scores were pythiosis risk factors (67.22% correct), microbiologic characteristics (50.83%), and radiographic interpretation (50.56%). The three domains with the lowest scores were laboratory investigation (15.00%), epidemiology (29.17%), and symptomatology (30.83%). Most participants noted that the program should be online with both synchronous and asynchronous sessions, with a preferred length of 60–90 minutes per session. Conclusion: The pythiosis CPD program should emphasize education regarding symptomatology, laboratory investigation, and epidemiology, all of which are critical for the early detection of pythiosis to decrease mortality from this devastating disease. Most respondents felt this program was necessary and should be implemented in a virtual blended format. Author summary: Researchers conducted a needs assessment to develop a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program on pythiosis, a rare and often fatal disease prevalent in Thailand and India. The study surveyed 267 residents at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, revealing a 67% completion rate. The residents exhibited a mean knowledge score of 41.67%, with the highest proficiency in pythiosis risk factors (67.22%), microbiologic characteristics (50.83%), and radiographic interpretation (50.56%). Conversely, lower scores were observed in laboratory investigation (15.00%), epidemiology (29.17%), and symptomatology (30.83%). Participants expressed a preference for an online CPD program with both synchronous and asynchronous sessions, each lasting 60–90 minutes. The study emphasizes the need for education on symptomatology, laboratory investigation, and epidemiology to enhance early pythiosis detection and reduce mortality. Respondents widely supported the implementation of the proposed virtual blended CPD program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a statistical model for computing global spectral solar irradiance under all-sky conditions at four stations situated in main regions of Thailand. The model expresses the global spectral irradiance under all-sky conditions as a multiplication of two functions, namely, a function of global spectral irradiance under clear-sky conditions and a cloud modification function. To develop the model, global spectral solar irradiance was measured at four stations in the main regions of Thailand, namely Chiang Mai (18.77˚ N, 98.97˚ E) in the northern region of Thailand, Ubon Ratchathani (15.25˚ N, 104.87˚ E) in the north-eastern region of the country, Nakhon Pathom (13.82˚ N, 100.04˚ E) in the central region of this country, and Songkhla (7.18˚ N, 100.60˚ E) in the southern region of Thailand. The spectral data from these stations were gathered and divided into two groups. The first group (January 2017 to December 2020) was used for modeling and the second group (January 2021 to December 2021) for validating the model. The first function was developed using the first group of data. Clear-sky conditions were detected using sky images obtained from a sky camera installed at each station. To develop the second function, a satellite-derived cloud index derived from Himawari-8 data at the stations was utilized. To validate the model of the global spectral solar irradiance under all-sky conditions, the model was employed to compute the global solar irradiance at the four stations for the year 2021, and the findings were compared to the global solar irradiance determined from the measurements taken at the four stations. It was discovered that the spectral irradiance calculated from the model and that acquired from the measurements was in good agreement. There was a discrepancy in the form of root mean square difference relative to the mean measured value (RMSD) of 9.48%. We concluded that the model performed well in computing the global spectral solar irradiance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on spatio-temporal geostatistical modeling remains a critical challenge in numerous scientific and engineering disciplines. This paper introduces a novel extension of dual kriging, called spatio-temporal dual kriging (ST-DK), in which drift functions with fixed and adaptive coefficients are established. The approach appears to be effective in modeling complex spatio-temporal dynamics, particularly when relevant auxiliary variables exert substantial influence on the target variable. To illustrate its performance, we compare the ST-DK model with the classical spatio-temporal regression kriging (ST-RK) and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) models for estimating temperature and air pressure data from Thailand in 2018. Our findings demonstrate that both the ST-DK and ST-RK models when utilizing adaptive coefficients outperform their fixed coefficient counterparts. Furthermore, the ST-DK method consistently exhibits superior performance compared to the ST-RK and GTWR methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aging process of transmission lines has a direct impact on the reliability and safety of the power grid. Therefore, an accurate age estimation method is imperative for effective maintenance planning and infrastructure investment. This paper introduces a systematic methodology for estimating the age of overhead transmission lines, utilizing the percentage statistical health index (%SHI) and the failure probability curve-fitting (FPCF) method. The %SHI, employing a scoring and weighting approach derived from test results and inspections, is used to assess the actual condition of transmission line equipment. Additionally, the FPCF approach is applied to illustrate the connection between the SHI and the likelihood of failure, facilitating the assessment of transmission line age by fitting failure probability curves to the SHI data. This age is directly associated with the probability of experiencing a failure. The evaluation was conducted on 924 towers situated along four transmission lines connecting the 115 kV substations S1–S2, S3–S4, S5–S6, and S7–S8. These transmission lines are in four regions with diverse terrain and environments such as mountains, rice fields, and more. In the SHI calculation, practical testing results and historical failure data were applied. The results clearly indicate that there were notable disparities in the age estimations for transmission lines in diverse geographical regions of Thailand when compared to their actual ages. These discrepancies can be attributed to various factors, including the local environment, such as rainfall, flooding, and salt-laden air as well as specific geographical features like mountainous and coastal terrain. To mitigate the deterioration of transmission lines in all regions, it is essential to implement a proactive maintenance strategy. This strategy should involve more frequent inspections, the use of advanced monitoring technologies, and the establishment of robust maintenance procedures, with which it would become possible to enhance the accuracy of equipment condition assessments, ultimately resulting in an overall improvement in the reliability of transmission lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multigenerational employees can evidently impact human resource management practices in terms of effective employee retention. Arguably, a high turnover intention of young employees can hinder a company's human resource development, while a high volume of retirement of senior employees can create a skill deficit and even a labor management dilemma. This study explored how a supportive work environment can retain employees of different age groups in Thailand's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly Generation X and Y. It modeled a supportive work environment that impacts the behaviors of Generation X and Y employees, taking into consideration the relationship among factors such as person–job fit, person–group fit, person–supervisor fit, person–organization fit, person–environment fit, and turnover intention. This paper statistically analyzed a set of data drawn from an attentive survey of a total of 400 employees of SMEs in 4 populous provinces in Thailand using structural equation modeling (SEM) and multigroup analysis (MGA) with the moderation effect of generations. This paper then found that person–job fit, person–group fit, person–supervisor fit, person–organization fit, person–environment fit, and turnover intention can influence an employee's intention to remain in his/her job. Additionally, the relationship manipulation among the aforementioned variables might influence Generation X and Y employees differently. Under the circumstances, supervisory support with less group involvement may encourage the retention of Generation Y employees, whereas a sufficient focus on job suitability could improve the retention of Generation X employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To compare the efficacy of 0, 5, and 20 sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for reducing symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method: Thirty‐six male children with ASD (mean age 2 years 3 months, SD 4 months, age range 1 years 6 months–2 years 11 months) were balanced and stratified by age, sex, and baseline severity of ASD, to: (1) a control group that received 20 sessions of sham tDCS; (2) a 5‐session tDCS group (5‐tDCS) that received 5 sessions of active tDCS followed by 15 sessions of sham tDCS; and (3) a 20‐session tDCS group (20‐tDCS) that received 20 sessions of active tDCS. All groups participated in the special school activity of Khon Kaen Special Education Center, Thailand. The primary outcome was autism severity as measured by the Childhood Autism Severity Scale. Results: The 5‐tDCS and 20‐tDCS groups evidenced greater reductions in autism severity than the control group at days 5 and 14, and months 6 and 12. There were no significant differences in the outcome between the 5‐ and 20‐tDCS groups at any time point. Within‐group analysis showed clinically meaningful improvements starting at month 6 for the participants in the control group, and clinically meaningful improvements starting on day 5 in both active tDCS groups, all of which were maintained to month 12. Interpretation: The 5‐ and 20‐session tDCS seems to reduce autism severity faster than sham tDCS. These effects maintained at least for 1 year. What this paper adds: Twenty sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) were not superior to five sessions.Sham tDCS with a special school activity can reduce autism severity starting at 6 months after treatment.The benefits observed for 5 and 20 sessions of tDCS last for at least 12 months. What this paper adds: Twenty sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) were not superior to five sessions.Sham tDCS with a special school activity can reduce autism severity starting at 6 months after treatment.The benefits observed for 5 and 20 sessions of tDCS last for at least 12 months. This original article is commented on by Wilson on pages 730–731 of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Franchising occurred in Vietnam during the implementation of government policy for economic reform and openness in the mid-1990s. The Vietnam-specific franchise law was passed in January 2006 to create a stable growth in the franchise sector in Vietnam. The legal framework in Vietnam generally follows international legal frameworks. However, the legal framework of franchising businesses is still uncertain. This paper explores Vietnam's franchising law and displays a comparison to the legal framework of Thai franchising law and the Republic of Korea franchising law. The paper concludes that while Vietnam's franchising law generally conforms to international standards, some legal issues should be addressed for further development of the Vietnamese franchising sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate electricity demand forecasting is essential for global energy security, reducing costs, ensuring grid stability, and informing decision making in the energy sector. Disruptions often lead to unpredictable demand shifts, posing greater challenges for short-term load forecasting. Understanding electricity demand patterns during a pandemic offers insights into handling future disruptions. This study aims to develop an effective forecasting model for daily electricity peak demand, which is crucial for managing potential disruptions. This paper proposed a hybrid approach to address scenarios involving both government intervention and non-intervention, utilizing integration methods such as stepwise regression, similar day selection-based day type criterion, variational mode decomposition, empirical mode decomposition, fast Fourier transform, and neural networks with grid search optimization for the problem. The electricity peak load data in Thailand during the year of the COVID-19 situation is used as a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. To enhance the flexibility and adaptability of the approach, the new criterion of separating datasets and the new criterion of similar day selection are proposed to perform one-day-ahead forecasting with rolling datasets. Computational analysis confirms the method's effectiveness, adaptability, reduced input, and computational efficiency, rendering it a practical choice for daily electricity peak demand forecasting, especially in disrupted situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising fossil energy prices and the significantly decreasing prices of energy technology have resulted in electricity consumers having the option to install solar PV rooftops to rely on the self-consumption of clean energy. However, the increase in this amount is affecting the revenue of electricity as a utility, which must adapt and develop its business model to accommodate the situation. If the utility cannot be adapted in time, it may lead to a loss of income from services and the sale of electricity from fossil energy. The utility in Thailand's electricity market that acts as the distribution system operator (DSO) is known as the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) is responsible for managing distribution networks and customers. There are four types of solar rooftop-as-a-service (RaaS) business perspectives they could consider as opportunities through which to minimize revenue impact. The business services were designed for the DSO customer as follows: Consulting, Design, and Installation (CDI); Operation and Maintenance (O&M); Energy Service Company (ESCO); and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The model comprises four customer segments: residential buildings and small-, medium-, and large-scale commercial buildings. This paper applies SWOT, Five Forces, 4P marketing, and economic impact analyses to identify the possibilities when using the DSO business model. The SWOT analysis demonstrates that ESCO and PPA are strengths in the DSO's performance characteristics and existing customer data. In the electricity industry, both models offer enormous customer bargaining power in terms of a Five Forces analysis. The main reason is that there is currently high competition in the installation service. In the 4P analysis result, the price per unit is found to be significantly lower than in residential scenarios. Therefore, there is a format for presenting promotions with an advantage over competitors. Deploying an after-sales service that brings convenience to all customer segments is needed. The economic analysis conducted using Cournot competition game theory shows a significant differential in the Medium (M) and Large (L) customer sectors' competition due to lower technology prices. In conclusion, with the current regulatory framework and criteria, the ESCO and PPA show the best practical model from a utility business perspective. The recommendation for DSO is to create a strategic ecosystem and to link it with private companies as their partnership business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the low prevalence and light intensity of Strongyloides stercoralis (S. stercoralis, Ss) and hookworm (HW) in Thailand, an increase in the efficacy of detection with the appropriate diagnosis is needed. This cross-sectional survey is aimed at using modified nonnutrient agar plate culture (mNNAPC) to assess the prevalence of S. stercoralis and hookworm infections and to report intestinal parasitic infections in La-Ngu villagers, Satun Province in Southern Thailand. We used wet smear, modified Harada-Mori filter paper culture (mHMFPC), and mNNAPC to investigate 204 villagers (4 villages) between August 2016 and January 2017. The combination of mHMFPC and mNNAPC raised the prevalence of S. stercoralis and hookworm infections among the study population from 3.4% and 1.0% to 6.9% and 2.5%, respectively. There were no significant differences between demographic characteristics and these infections (p < 0.05). Three types of protozoal infections, Blastocystis spp. (2.9%), Entamoeba histolytica-like (0.5%), and Giardia duodenalis (0.5%), and 3 species of helminthic infections, S. stercoralis (6.9%) (14 cases), hookworm 2.5%, and Enterobius vermicularis 0.5%, were demonstrated in this area. The mNNAPC showed the highest efficacy in detecting both parasites (Ss 92.9% and HW 80%), whereas the wet smear detected none. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the causal relationship between education and earnings, or the returns to education, using Thailand's socio-economic household survey data. We show that, with the minimum modeling assumption, the causal effect of education on earnings can be nonparametrically identified only when there is no unobserved ability affecting both education and earning, and when the selection mechanisms are conditionally independent to earnings conditioning on potential experience and education. The causal effects of education on earnings are estimated using a nonparametric approach with selection bias adjustment and parametric approaches with selection bias and ability bias adjustments. The results show different estimates for returns to education across model specifications, indicating the importance of the bias adjustments and parametric assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karst caves are unique oligotrophic ecosystems characterised by the scarcity of organic litter, darkness, low to moderate temperatures, and high humidity, supporting diverse fungal communities. Despite their importance, little is known about the fungi in karst caves in Thailand. In 2019, we explored the culturable mycobiota associated with three selected types of substrates (air, soil/sediment and organic litter samples) from two karst caves, the Le Stegodon and Phu Pha Phet Caves, in the Satun UNESCO Global Geopark in southern Thailand. Based on morphological characters and multilocus phylogenetic analyses, eight new species (Actinomortierella caverna, Hypoxylon phuphaphetense, Leptobacillium latisporum, Malbranchea phuphaphetensis, Scedosporium satunense, Sesquicillium cavernum, Thelonectria satunensis and Umbelopsis satunensis) were described, illustrated, and compared to closely related species. These new fungal taxa form independent lineages distinct from other previously described species and classified into eight different families across six orders and two phyla (Ascomycota and Mucoromycota). This paper provides additional evidence that the karst caves located within the Satun UNESCO Global Geopark, situated in the southern region of Thailand, harbour a diverse range of newly discovered species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principal objective of this review paper was to study the impact of gentrification phenomena in Thailand using a research methodology combining a review of the existing literature and a desk analysis of case studies, focusing on two main interconnected contributions to debates on gentrification. First, understanding gentrification phenomena by examining the existing literature required a perspective on not only gentrification but also its stages and consequences. Second, particular attention was paid to the desk analysis of case studies of gentrification phenomena in Thailand to provide an overview and critical analysis. The results of this research show that gentrification has accelerated across the globe to become a central engine of urban development. Gentrification is a complex process that has significant and multifaceted impacts on urban communities. Gentrification can have positive impacts, such as improving the urban scenery by revitalising the neighbourhood's blighted places and raising property values by making buildings more appealing and contemporary. However, gentrification can also have negative impacts due to critical issues that are neglected such as the displacement of original inhabitants, particularly vulnerable populations; the loss of tangible and intangible cultural heritage; social inequalities; environmental vulnerability; and inappropriate land consumption. All of these factors contribute to the fact that urban development in Thailand still runs into issues or roadblocks that keep it inefficient and unable to fully accomplish the intended objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate spatial distribution of gridded gross domestic product (GDP) data is crucial for revealing regional disparities within administrative units, thus facilitating a deeper understanding of regional economic dynamics, industrial distribution, and urbanization trends. The existing GDP spatial models often rely on prediction residuals for model evaluation or utilize residual distribution to improve the final accuracy, frequently overlooking the modifiable areal unit problem within residual distribution. This paper introduces a hybrid downscaling model that combines random forest and area-to-area kriging to map gridded GDP. Employing Thailand as a case study, GDP distribution maps were generated at a 1 km spatial resolution for the year 2015 and compared with five alternative downscaling methods and an existing GDP product. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach yields higher accuracy and greater precision in detailing GDP distribution, as evidenced by the smallest mean absolute error and root mean squared error values, which stand at USD 256.458 and 699.348 ten million, respectively. Among the four different sets of auxiliary variables considered, one consistently exhibited a higher prediction accuracy. This particular set of auxiliary variables integrated classification-based variables, illustrating the advantages of incorporating such integrated variables into modeling while accounting for classification characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semantic segmentation is a fundamental task in remote sensing image analysis that aims to classify each pixel in an image into different land use and land cover (LULC) segmentation tasks. In this paper, we propose MeViT (Medium-Resolution Vision Transformer) on Landsat satellite imagery for the main economic crops in Thailand as follows: (i) para rubber, (ii) corn, and (iii) pineapple. Therefore, our proposed MeViT enhances vision transformers (ViTs), one of the modern deep learning on computer vision tasks, to learn semantically rich and spatially precise multi-scale representations by integrating medium-resolution multi-branch architectures with ViTs. We revised mixed-scale convolutional feedforward networks (MixCFN) by incorporating multiple depth-wise convolution paths to extract multi-scale local information to balance the model's performance and efficiency. To evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed method, we conduct extensive experiments on the publicly available dataset of Thailand scenes and compare the results with several state-of-the-art deep learning methods. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed MeViT outperforms existing methods and performs better in the semantic segmentation of Thailand scenes. The evaluation metrics used are precision, recall, F1 score, and mean intersection over union (IoU). Among the models compared, MeViT, our proposed model, achieves the best performance in all evaluation metrics. MeViT achieves a precision of 92.22%, a recall of 94.69%, an F1 score of 93.44%, and a mean IoU of 83.63%. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach in accurately segmenting Thai Landsat-8 data. The achieved F1 score overall, using our proposed MeViT, is 93.44%, which is a major significance of this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil moisture plays a crucial role in various hydrological processes and energy partitioning of the global surface. The Soil Moisture Active Passive-Sentinel (SMAP-Sentinel) remote-sensing technology has demonstrated great potential for monitoring soil moisture with a maximum spatial resolution of 1 km. This capability can be applied to improve the weather forecast accuracy, enhance water management for agriculture, and managing climate-related disasters. Despite the techniques being increasingly used worldwide, their accuracy still requires field validation in specific regions like Thailand. In this paper, we report on the extensive in situ monitoring of soil moisture (from surface up to 1 m depth) at 10 stations across Thailand, spanning the years 2021 to 2023. The aim was to validate the SMAP surface-soil moisture (SSM) Level 2 product over a period of two years. Using a one-month averaging approach, the study revealed linear relationships between the two measurement types, with the coefficient of determination (R-squared) varying from 0.13 to 0.58. Notably, areas with more uniform land use and topography such as croplands tended to have a better coefficient of determination. We also conducted detailed soil core characterization, including soil–water retention curves, permeability, porosity, and other physical properties. The basic soil properties were used for estimating the correlation constants between SMAP and in situ soil moistures using multiple linear regression. The results produced R-squared values between 0.933 and 0.847. An upscaling approach to SMAP was proposed that showed promising results when a 3-month average of all measurements in cropland was used together. The finding also suggests that the SMAP-Sentinel remote-sensing technology exhibits significant potential for soil-moisture monitoring in certain applications. Further validation efforts and research, particularly in terms of root-zone depths and area-based assessments, especially in the agricultural sector, can greatly improve the technology's effectiveness and usefulness in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional bitumen pavement is no longer suitable for handling increasing loads and weather variations, which cause road deterioration, Thus, the modification of bitumen has been suggested to counter this issue. This study provides a detailed assessment of various additives for modifying natural rubber-modified bitumen used in road construction. This work will focus on the use of additives with cup lump natural rubber (CLNR), which has recently started to gain attention among researchers, especially in rubber-producing countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Furthermore, this paper aims to briefly review how the addition of additives or modifiers helps elevate the performance of bitumen by highlighting the significant properties of modified bitumen after the addition of modifiers. Moreover, the amount and method of application of each additive are discussed further to obtain the optimum value for future implementation. On the basis of past studies, this paper will review the utilisation of several types of additives, including polyphosphoric acid, Evotherm, mangosteen powder, trimethyl-quinoline and sulphur, and the application of xylene and toluene to ensure the homogeneity of the rubberised bitumen. Numerous studies were conducted to verify the performance of various types and compositions of additives, particularly in terms of physical and rheological properties. In general, additives enhance the properties of conventional bitumen. Future research should investigate CLNR because studies on its utilisation are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of microgrids to fulfil electricity demand could lead to arguments or conflicts between the private microgrid system owners and the existing national distribution authority, especially in overlapping sales areas. The core issue identified in this paper is a distribution system management model based on the cooperative concept of unifying the multi-owned networks as a single system to ensure the natural monopoly function. This model can avoid complex wheeling charges across multi-owned grids within overlapping sales areas, in which all network users pay at the expense of the merged system charge. This paper proposes the model and shows numerical examples using a suitable distribution network pricing model to recover existing costs and plan for future system expansion. The proposed model and charging algorithm were tested on a modified IEEE 13 bus to examine their impacts. The result demonstrates that the model resolves the issues with the overlapping sales area and creates a fair scenario for the network users regarding the usage charges. Thailand is chosen as the primary reference area, as it is a country with an actual sample case for the argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the political, geo-philosophical musings of Deleuze and Guattari on spatialisation, place and movement in relation to the religious nomad (wandering ascetics and reclusive forest monks) inhabiting the borderlands of Thailand. A nomadic science involves improvised ascetic practices between the molar lines striated by modern state apparatuses. The wandering ascetics, inhabiting a frontier political ecology, stand in contrast to the appropriating, sedentary metaphysics and sanctifying arborescence of statism and its corollary place-making, embedded in rootedness and territorialisation. It is argued that the religious nomads, residing on the endo-exteriorities of the state, came to represent a rhizomatic and politico-ontological threat to centre-nation and its apparatus of capture. The paper also theorises transitions and movement at the borderlands in the context of the state's monastic reforms. These reforms, and its pervasive royal science, problematised the interstitial zones of the early ascetic wanderers in their radical cross-cutting networks and lines, moving within and across demarcated frontiers. Indeed, the ascetic wanderers and their allegorical war machine were seen as a source of wild, free-floating charisma and mystical power, eventually appropriated by the centre-nation in it's becoming unitary and fixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an expansion of the generalized extreme value distribution to new distribution classes, specifically the Alpha Power Transformation Generalized Extreme Value (APTGEV) distribution. This extension is achieved by combining the Extreme Value theory and the alpha power transformation technique. We employ the maximum likelihood method in conjunction with the Newton-Raphson procedure to estimate the parameters in these proposed distributions. In the final stages of our research, we simulate these new distributions and apply them to real-world data. For this study, we have chosen extreme rainfall data from a weather station in the Si Samrong District Sukhothai Province of Thailand as our dataset. These extended distribution classes are designed to provide greater flexibility and adaptability in understanding complex data patterns, and their application to real-world data offers valuable insights into their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Rural doctors typically work in low resource settings and with limited professional support. They are sometimes pushed to the limits of their usual scope of practice to provide the medical care needed by their community. In a previous phenomenological study, we described the concept of clinical courage as underpinning rural doctors' work in this context. In this paper, we draw on rural doctors' experiences during the unfolding COVID pandemic to re examine our understanding of the attributes of clinical courage. Methods: Semi structured interviews were conducted with rural doctors from 11 countries who had experience preparing for or managing patients with COVID 19. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded using NVivo. A deductive thematic analysis was undertaken to identify common ideas and responses related to the features of clinical courage. Results: Thirteen interviews from rural doctors during the unfolding COVID 19 pandemic affirmed and enriched our understanding of the attributes of clinical courage, particularly the leadership role rural doctors can have within their communities. Conclusion: This study extended our understanding that rural doctors' experience of clinical courage is consistent amongst participants in many parts of the world, including developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a fuzzy logic approach, a simplified and adaptable method, to determine the health index of gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) bay and their compartments. Since the traditional weighting and scoring method (WSM) is a subjective method, the fuzzy logic approach has been applied to enhance the accuracy of the health index (HI) determination by evaluating the detectable degradation and the incorporated conditional factor (CF) considering actual operating conditions and invisible ageing. The input data are first obtained from routine inspection and time-based testing and then converted to numerical values as the fuzzy logic model input to compute the component HI. The bay HI values are further calculated by applying the WSM using the obtained component of the HI. Then, the accuracy of the obtained HI of the bay has been improved by multiplying with the CF to obtain the overall bay HI values. The proposed methodology was implemented in an independent power producer in a large industrial estate in Thailand to evaluate 175 GIS bays with actual data. The results were compared against other HI evaluation techniques with a satisfactory outcome. Finally, the overall bay HI is used to prioritize maintenance activity, to effectively allocate human resources, to prevent unplanned outages, and to achieve cost-effective, condition-based maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoremediation is green technology based on the application of plants to remediate contaminated media. This paper reviews five species of local plants used for phytoremediation in Thailand: Pteris vittata L., Pityrogramma calomelanos L., Chrysopogon zizanioides L., Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms, and Pistia stratiotes L. For each plant, its pollutant removal efficiency and mechanism is reviewed. The main mechanisms of phytoremediation, such as phytoextraction, rhizofiltration, phytostabilization, phytodegradation, rhizodegradation, and phytovolatilization, are concisely described. Screening local plants for phytoremediation is a cost-effective and easy to manage approach to derive suitable plants that are resistant to harmful environmental conditions. To be suitable, plants should have a fast growth rate, produce a large biomass yield, have a high tolerance to the toxic effects of the pollutants, and have a good capacity for pollutant uptake. Moreover, applying the proper species for each contaminant enhances the removal efficiency and supports sustainable phytoremediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sericultural farming is important to the local economy of Mahasarakham province of Thailand. This study measured the labour productivity of sericultural farmers by calculating the total labour value added per hour worked, given that the total labour value added refers to the difference between the total revenue and the total cost, not including the labour cost. This mixed-method research collected empirical data from 160 households in five districts of Mahasarakham during the 2020 production cycle using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Silk mulberry sales minus all costs (except labour) were used to represent the added value of labour. The overall total revenue data and total costs in each production cycle were used in this study. The study's results revealed that farmers' total labour productivity equated to 1.68 USD per hour per production cycle, 9.69 USD per day and 1,559.61 USD per year, calculated using the added value of labour divided by total hours worked. When comparing by district, Na Dun had the highest productivity of labour at 1.90 USD per hour, followed by Na Chueak (1.82 USD per hour), Wapi Pathum (1.70 USD per hour), Phayakkhaphum Phisai (1.50 USD per hour) and Yang Sisurat tires (1.46 USD per hour), respectively. The research results showed that the labour productivity of the studied sericultural farmers, 1.68 USD per hour, was higher than the minimum wage of Mahasarakham labours in 2022, which was 1.26 USD per hour. Despite the higher productivity cost, various challenges faced by the farmers were also identified, including a shortage of labour, lack of a market to support production, insufficient promotion and support from government agencies, a low price for silk products, damage to barns repair costs, lack of investment and production factors. The procedures and methods used to raise silkworms are complicated and timeconsuming. Traditional farmers' barns are insufficient for raising silkworms and sick silk varieties; a suitable barn design and systematic production management are recommended, providing the research's empirical evidence confirmed to help enhance labour productivity. Based on the results and discussions, this paper recommends future studies to investigate practical guides to help increase labour productivity and tackle the challenges facing local sericultural farming to a wider extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xylanase has been applied in various sectors, such as biomass conversion, paper, pulp, textiles, and pharmaceutical industries. This study aimed to isolate and screen potential xylanase- producing fungi from the soil of Suphan Buri Province, Thailand. Fifteen fungi were isolated, and their xylanase activities were tested by the qualitative method. The result showed that isolate SP3, SP10 and SP15 gave high xylanase activity with potency index (PI) of 2.32, 2.01 and 1.82, respectively. These fungi were selected for the xylanase quantitative test, isolate SP10 performed the highest xylanase activity with 0.535U/mL. Through molecular methods using the β-tubulin gene, isolate SP10 was identified as Penicillium menonorum. The xylanase characteristics from P. menonorum SP10 were determined, including the xylanase isoforms and the optimum pH and temperature. The xylanase isoforms on SDS-PAGE indicated that P. menonorum SP10 produced two xylanases (45 and 54 kDa). Moreover, its xylanase worked optimally at pH 6 and 55 °C while reaching 61% activity at 65 °C. These results proposed P. menonorum SP10 as a good candidate for industrial uses, especially in poultry feed and pulp industries, to improve yield and economic efficiency under slightly acidic and high-temperature conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thailand uses the ballot paper in the general election since 1933. In the present day, technology has been involved in daily basics. This study aims to explore the hypothesis of the election system in Thailand which can use the technology in the election process name as electronic voting (e-voting) or still need to use the traditional method. Before implementation, it should study in terms of the area that is ready to implement the new method and where still need to use the current one. This study takes the relevant factors to analyze with the data of each area collected from various sources. The clustering method used in this study is k-means. Then to find the acceptable k cluster the silhouette method is used. The result is 2 cluster is a perfect fit with the 11 factors that used in this study. The first cluster is Bangkok which is the capital city to be matched with the e-voting method and the second cluster is the remainder province in Thailand (76 provinces). This can be used for the next study in terms of supply chain design for e-voting and developing the ballot paper logistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: This research paper examines the prevention measures, i.e., the application of technologies such as those abused by "traffickers", used by government and non-government agencies to combat "internal trafficking" in Samut Sakhon province. The authors review numerous research papers and documents at international and national levels. (2) Methods: the authors use in-depth interviews to relate the anti-internal trafficking measures of the government and non-government agencies. (3) The findings show that these government and non-government agencies have attempted to combat "inter-border" trafficking and internal trafficking. However, limited information and communication gaps in the application of IT-based technology and other media for communication have caused unsatisfactory preventive results and responses against such phenomena. (4) Some findings point to the limited success of an NGO (the Labor Protection Network) whose leader decided to recruit Burmese- and Lao-speaking staff to reach out to potential and actual victims among Burmese and Laotian people. (5) The authors suggest that government agencies learned from this failure and then collaborated more with non-government and migrant worker organizations to provide sufficient information and efficient communication channels to ensure migrant workers' safety in Thailand's territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of joint disease among elderly patients around the world. In response to the need for patient-centered care, patients' and physicians' preferences for knee osteoarthritis treatments have been studied in multiple countries, but not in Thailand. The objective of this study was to investigate Thai patients' preferences and their willingness to pay (WTP) for knee osteoarthritis treatments by using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). Six knee osteoarthritis treatment attributes, including pain relief, delayed disease progression, gastrointestinal side effects, kidney side effects, cardiovascular side effects, and cost, were used to develop a paper-based, DCE questionnaire survey. Patients with knee osteoarthritis, who were at least 18 years old and who provided written informed consent, were recruited from the orthopedic department in a tertiary care hospital in Thailand via convenience sampling. The conditional logit model was used to determine patients' preferences and WTP. The Institutional Review Board at Chulalongkorn University approved this study before it started. A total of 232 patients were collected and analyzed in this study. Patients preferred treatments with a higher efficacy (pain relief and delayed disease progression), a lower probability of side effects (gastrointestinal, kidney, and cardiovascular side effects), and a lower cost. Regarding efficacy and side effects, the patients weighted the importance of a 1% change in cardiovascular side effects (− 0.08) more heavily than 1% changes in kidney (− 0.07) and gastrointestinal (− 0.02) side effects, delayed disease progression (0.02), and pain relief (0.01). Patients were willing to pay 29.56 Thai Baht (THB) and 41.84 THB per month for every 1% increase in pain relief and delayed disease progression, respectively. Conversely, patients were willing to pay 52.04 THB, 145.18 THB and 164.23 THB per month for every 1% decrease in gastrointestinal, kidney, and cardiovascular side effects, respectively. In conclusion, pain relief, delayed disease progression, gastrointestinal side effects, kidney side effects, cardiovascular side effects, and the cost of treatment were significant factors among patients undergoing knee osteoarthritis treatment. Additionally, patients had a higher WTP for delayed disease progression than pain relief and a higher WTP for a reduced probability of cardiovascular side effects than gastrointestinal and kidney side effects. These findings could be used to support treatment decisions for knee osteoarthritis patients in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major problem in Thailand related to parking is time violation. Vehicles are not allowed to park for more than a specified amount of time. Implementation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras along with human labor is the present remedy. However, this paper presents an approach that can introduce a low-cost time violation tracking system using CCTV, Deep Learning models, and object tracking algorithms. This approach is fairly new because of its appliance of the SOTA detection technique, object tracking approach, and time boundary implementations. YOLOv8, along with the DeepSORT/OC-SORT algorithm, is utilized for the detection and tracking that allows us to set a timer and track the time violation. Using the same apparatus along with Deep Learning models and algorithms has produced a better system with better performance. The performance of both tracking algorithms was well depicted in the results, obtaining MOTA scores of (1.0, 1.0, 0.96, 0.90) and (1, 0.76, 0.90, 0.83) in four different surveillance data for DeepSORT and OC-SORT, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon detecting a crash impact, the vehicle restraint system locks the driver in place. However, external factors such as speeding, crash mechanisms, roadway attributes, vehicle type, and the surrounding environment typically contribute to the driver being jostled within the vehicle. As a result, it is crucial to model unrestrained and restrained drivers separately to reveal the true impact of the restraint system and other factors on driver injury severities. This paper aims to explore the differences in factors affecting injury severity for seatbelt-restrained and unrestrained drivers involved in speeding-related crashes while accounting for temporal instability in the investigation. Utilizing crash data from Thailand between 2012 and 2017, mixed logit models with heterogeneity in means and variances were employed to account for multi-layered unobserved heterogeneity. For restrained drivers, the risk of fatal or severe crashes was positively associated with factors such as male drivers, alcohol influence, flush/barrier median roadways, sloped roadways, vans, running off the roadway without roadside guardrails, and nighttime on unlit or lit roads. For unrestrained drivers, the likelihood of fatal or severe injuries increased in crashes involving older drivers, alcohol influence, raised or depressed median roadways, four-lane roadways, passenger cars, running off the roadway without roadside guardrails, and crashes occurring in rainy conditions. The out-of-sample prediction simulation results are particularly significant, as they show the maximum safety benefits achievable solely by using a vehicle's seatbelt system. Likelihood ratio test and predictive comparison findings highlight the considerable combined impact of temporal instability and the non-transferability of restrained and unrestrained driver injury severities across the periods studied. This finding also demonstrates a potential reduction in severe and fatal injury rates by simply replicating restrained driver conditions. The findings should be of value to policymakers, decision-makers, and highway engineers when developing potential countermeasures to improve driver safety and reduce the frequency of severe and fatal speeding-related single-vehicle crashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the agency and stakeholder theories, effective boards, acting as an internal governance mechanism, reduce agency costs. This paper asks whether military connected boards represent a good governance tool by exploring how military connected boards affect stock price crash risk. Using instrumental variable analysis, we document that firms with military connected boards have lower risk of stock price crashes. Our findings are unlikely to have endogeneity concerns and shed light on the role of military connected boards as an effective internal governance tool. Consistent with the conservatism hypothesis and stakeholder theory, by being transparent about firm-specific bad news, military connected boards could effectively monitor managers to ensure they act on all stakeholders' interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity of gaming has greatly increased, especially among children and adolescents. As such, spending too much time playing games has become a serious issue and may have adverse effects on the quality of life of adolescents. This paper is aimed at identifying the factors and degree of influence that leads to gaming addiction and its impact on the quality of life of Thai adolescents. Data were collected from 2,044 adolescents in the form of a questionnaire from five major regions in Thailand, in both municipal and nonmunicipal areas. Structural equation modeling and the neural network model were used to analyze the data. The results indicate some differences between boys and girls as to what factors lead to gaming addiction. But gaming addiction was found to have a negative impact on the quality of life for both genders. Discussions comprising both academic and practical perspectives are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity of gaming has greatly increased, especially among children and adolescents. As such, spending too much time playing games has become a serious issue and may have adverse effects on the quality of life of adolescents. This paper is aimed at identifying the factors and degree of influence that leads to gaming addiction and its impact on the quality of life of Thai adolescents. Data were collected from 2,044 adolescents in the form of a questionnaire from five major regions in Thailand, in both municipal and nonmunicipal areas. Structural equation modeling and the neural network model were used to analyze the data. The results indicate some differences between boys and girls as to what factors lead to gaming addiction. But gaming addiction was found to have a negative impact on the quality of life for both genders. Discussions comprising both academic and practical perspectives are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduce a new dynamic classifying algorithm in this paper to recognize and monitor fish activity to simultaneously better comprehend their synapomorphies. The pre-trained Mask Regional Convolutional Neural Network (Mask-R-CNN) is trained using a set of test models extracted from recorded video recording. The approach suggested subsequently yields well-enhanced feature vectors. The system's automatic fish detection and tracking capabilities are improved, enhancing underwater investigation for supervising ecological biodiversity. The publicly accessible field-truth dataset assesses recall, F1-score, and classification and tracking precision. Utilizing current tracking R-CNN algorithms like Lowest Output Sum of Siamese Mask (SiamMask), Sequential Non-Maximum Suppression (Seq-NMS), and Squared Errors (MOSSE), comparative performance testing is conducted. In comparison to Siam-Mask (84%), Seq-NMS (78%) and MOSSE (75%), more than 120 of 170 specific bream were detected using the pre-trained Mask-R-CNN of the proposed algorithm (87%). This pre-trained Mask R-CNN system was used in the evaluation, and it was discovered that detection and tracking accuracy had increased significantly. This suggests that the ocean ecosystem could benefit from applying the proposed approach for management of ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The face identification problem is the task of identifying incoming users from their face images. The applications of this task include automating user identification at the building entrance. Consequently, many proposed algorithms are proposed for the given task ranging from handcraft computational models to deep learning models. This paper utilizes the existing effective algorithms and proposes the template selection strategy to enhance its recognition performance when the enrollment of multiple samples for each user is proposed. Besides, the paper investigates the effect of image quality on the recognition performance of the system and the efficacy of the proposed template selection strategy when applied in such a situation. Experiments are performed on the in-house dataset collected from the Thai population -- to evaluate the empirical system performance when the system is deployed in Thailand to automatically identify the user at the building gate -- as well as on the LFW public dataset consisting of 13,000 face images of 5,749 individuals with multiple ethnicities. The results show that, with the proposed sample selection, the identification error on the in-house dataset for the close-set identification decreased from 3.11 to 2.46% at 0.11% and 0.06% FMR. For the open-set identification, the FNMR decreased from 9.36% to 5.40% at 6.20% and 3.23% FAR, respectively. In addition, the experiments on the LFW dataset have also demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed system consisting of the proposed sample selection method and the selection of face recognition modules. That is, the performance improvement is noticeable as compared to the baseline where the sample selection method is not deployed and to the previous work when multiple samples are used for enrollment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been recent attempts to revive the traditional production of handmade paper from the bark of the Coi (Streblus asper Lour.) tree in Thailand. A sheet sample of Coi handmade paper, made from the traditional production, was collected and examined microscopically for the first time. Film-like material and cubic calcium particles were found on the sheet sample surface, which is consistent with the results of the authors' previous research. Meanwhile, handsheets derived from Coi pulp fiber, freshly made in the laboratory, demonstrated a low air permeance and brightness with high opacity due to the film-like material and cubic calcium particles. With a high felting power of Coi pulp fiber coupled with a possible strengthening role of the film-like material, both the beaten and unbeaten fibers were used to form handsheets with high strength. Some potential aspects of Coi pulp fiber suitable for creating a unique Thai banknote paper have been demonstrated, for which further studies are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights Thailand's distinctive form of Buddhist Modernism through an exploration of religious piety among female sex workers in the city of Chiangmai. The generally accepted key basis of Buddhist Modernism, as depicted by certain Western Buddhist scholars, is interaction and engagement with modernity. More specifically, it is seen as incorporating modern science into the Buddhist worldview, and as regarding meditation as a core practice of 'true Buddhism'. Crucial components of popular Buddhism, such as magical monks and mystical rituals, are excluded from this depiction of Buddhist Modernism, and even decried as 'false Buddhism', despite their canonical basis and long-term acceptance. Using ethnographic methods, this paper argues instead that the result of interactions with modernity by popular Buddhists always includes engagement with and mythologizing of traditional cosmology. That is, rather than solely involving global networks and scientific rationalism, Thai Buddhist Modernism is the product of complex patterns of interaction among local beliefs, mystical practices, and modernity. The purpose of this integration of modern and popular Buddhism in the religious practices of sex workers is to create loving-kindness (metta). Metta, in turn, is held to bring luck and attractiveness to practitioners, allowing them to earn an income to support their impoverished families and live well in modern society, as well as to accumulate good merit (bun) to improve their religious lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioethicists and philosophers dominate the on-going debate on human enhancement. They have debated the definition of human enhancement as well as the potential impacts of human enhancement technologies (such as pharmaceutical enhancements or pre-natal selection). These discussions have percolated, through bioethics bodies and bioethics recommendations, policy makers and have eventually been translated into policy. While some suggestions have been based largely in Western liberal democracies, others have deliberated the geopolitical consequences of human enhancement technologies. This paper argues that the present debate currently lacks perspectives from developing countries. It begins by introducing the current debate on human enhancement and recognizes Allen Buchanan's well-raised concerns on how these technologies may potentially cause new injustices for low- and middle-income countries ('developing countries'). It then provides two arguments calling for further research into human enhancement from the perspective of developing countries. First, this paper will argue that the current frames with which enhancement technologies are viewed are inherently neoliberal and require change. The second argument shows how the potential impacts of human enhancement technologies in developing countries have not been fully realized by analyzing how human enhancement technologies will impact Thailand, a developing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]