Sukhothai Province Research Articles

Effects of Community Based Learning in Ceramic, Sakraloke’s Sukhothai

The purposes of this research were 1) to establish the community-based learning process of Sukhothai Sangkhalok ceramic work; 2) to design Sangkhalok ceramics for marketing competitiveness and community economic development; and 3) to evaluate the learning outcome of student with the community on Sukhothai Sankhalok designs. The research involved a simple-random sample of 40 second year students majoring product and packaging design of the Department of Art and Design. The community-based learning model in Sukhothai Sankhalok ceramic work as a research tool consisted of the learning plan, activities, and evaluation form. The researcher undertook a field work to collect data from the 3 Sangkhalok ceramics manufacturers in Sukhothai province, namely: 1) Suthep Sangkhalok, Tambon Muang Kao, Amphur Muang Suthothai; 2) Usa Sangkhalok Tambon Muang Kao, Amphur Muang Suthothai 3) Bua Sangkhalok, Tambon Muang Kao, Amphur Muang Suthothai. The data analysis focused on 2 areas, i.e. the analysis of ceramics community on its history, community’s operation model, and the analysis of students’ learning outcome. The analysis employed descriptive statistics and a comparison of learning outcomes against the 80 % criterion with one-sample statistics. The findings suggested that the community-based learning model of Sukhothai Sangkhaloke ceramic work as obtained in this research comprised 4 components: 1) strengthening community economics and community enterprise development; 2) promoting participatory learning process; 3) naintaining and building the capacity of local wisdom, and 4) building network and collaboration to link the knowledge and local wisdom. The Sangkhalok ceramic design works were in 3 collections: 1) Sangkhalok ceramics in swan shape with decorating technique of color painting under the glaze, in 4 styles, and 2) Sangkhalok ceramics in dragon shape with decorating technique of gold color water drawing, in 4 styles, and 3) Sangkhalok in Ganesh shape, in 3 styles. Students who designed the ceramics by the concept of Sukhothai ceramic art model showed the learning outcome with average scores at 84.50 % which was higher than the set criterion at 0.05 level of significance.

Mobile Application for Archaeological Site Image Content Retrieval and Automated Generating Image Descriptions with Neural Network

This paper presents a novel algorithm for generating descriptions of stupa image such as stupa's era, stupa's architecture and other description in mobile application by using key points generated from SIFT algorithms and learning stupa description from the generated key points with artificial neural network. Neural network was used for being the classifier for generating the description. We have presented a new approach to feature extraction based on analysis of key points and descriptors of an image. The algorithms were tested with stupa image dataset in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutta province, Sukhothai province and Bangkok. The experimental results show that the proposed framework can efficiently give the correct descriptions to the stupa image compared to using the traditional method.

Teacher Professional Learning Community (TPLCs) on Social Studies Toward 21 st Century Learning: A Case Study of Primary Schools in Sukhothai Province, Thailand

Teacher Professional Learning Community (TPLCs) on Social Studies Toward 21 st Century Learning: A Case Study of Primary Schools in Sukhothai Province, Thailand

An Application of Project-Based Learning on the Development of Young Local Tour Guides on Tai Phuan’s Culture and Tourist Attractions in Sisatchanalai District, Sukhothai Province

<p><em>This paper presents an investigation of a research entitled, “ An Application of Project-based Learning on the Development of Young Local Tour Guides on Tai Phuan’s Culture and Tourist Attractions in Sisatchanalai District, Sukhothai Province. It was intended to develop young local tour guides on Tai Phuan’s culture and tourist attractions in Sisatchanalai, Sukhothai Province. The study explored the improvement in students’ communicative ability and examined to what extent the students revealed both positive and negative attitudes towards project-based learning. The study also aimed to develop a set of recommendations for future practice in project-based learning in Thai educational institutions. The research was conducted in classroom of 50 grade 10 students with purposive sampling of Muangchalieng School in Sisatchanalai, Sukhothai Province. </em><em><em></em></em></p><p><em>The questionnaire aimed to evaluate the students’ satisfaction of the methodology called project-based learning in terms of their attitude in English language development and the practice of young local tour guides. A focus-group interview with each group provided in-depth information regarding their learning and provided ideas for a set of recommendations for future practice. It is anticipated that the information gained from this study will benefit both the teachers in their choices of suitable methodologies and students’ outcomes with the respect to improved competency in their skills in English and increased confidence in project-based learning in small groups.</em><em><em></em></em></p>

Three new species of the pill millipede genus Hyleoglomeris Verhoeff, 1910, from northern Thailand (Diplopoda, Glomerida, Glomeridae).

Seven species of the basically warm temperate to tropical Eurasian genus Hyleoglomeris are currently known from Thailand, including three new ones: H. hongkhraiensis sp. n. and H. aurea sp. n. from Chiang Mai Province, and H. cavicola sp. n. from Sukhothai Province. A new distribution map and a key to all Hyleoglomeris species presently known to occur in Thailand are given.

Social Network Analysis of Cattle Movement in Sukhothai Province, Thailand: A Study to Improve Control Measurements.

The aim of this study is to analyse the pattern of cattle movement in Sukhothai province, Thailand. A validated questionnaire was applied to 308 respondents related to cattle farming using one-step snowball sampling. The results showed that most of the nodes are farmers who move their animals in the province. The average normalized degree centrality and normalized closeness centrality were low (<0.01 and 0.04, resp.). We found that traders are the nodes with a high value of centrality. This corresponds with the cutpoint analysis results that traders are outstanding. In conclusion, the relevant authorities should focus on the nodes such as traders for controlling disease. However, a measure to detect disease in the early stages needs to be implemented.

The Cultural Tourism Management under Context of World Heritage Sites: Stakeholders’ Opinions between Luang Prabang Communities, Laos and Muang-kao Communities, Sukhothai,Thailand

The purpose of this qualitative research is to study opinions of stakeholders from Luang Prabang communities, Laos and Muang-kao communities Amphoe, Muang, Sukhothai Province, focusing on the cultural tourism management under context of world heritage sites. The results from the study illustrated that there are 3 types of stakeholders who are involved in cultural tourism promotion and policy formation: 1. Government agency of Luang Prabang and Sukhothai such as, the Heritage House which is responsible for the management of the tourist attractions and town's patrimony in the country under the supervision of UNESCO but for Thailand there is the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Ministry of Sport and Tourism and Fine Art Departments. 2. Entrepreneur includes not only, hospitality, restaurant, and tourism business, but also entertainment business and tourism training business. They are considered to be parts of the support in enhancing cultural tourism to promote the impressive services for visitors. 3. General public understood and agreed with government management. However, the public insisted to participate in preservation of national cultural heritage under the “Live World Heritage Town” concepts and management of UNESCO which Lung Prabang has been protected by these heritage sites since 1995 but Sukhothai has been protected by the heritage site since 1991.

Production of Charcoal Briquettes from Palmyra Palm Waste in Kirimat District, Sukhothai Province, Thailand

Palmyra palm is a significant economic crop in Kirimat District, Sukhothai Province, and generates large quantities of husks, stalks and shells as by-products and wastes, which impacts on the local environment. This study investigated (1) production of compressed charcoal briquettes from Palmyra palm husks, fruit calyx and shells, whose physical properties and thermal performance were tested and analyzed according to Thai Community Product Standard (tcps 238/2004); (2) the economic return of the production process. The results showed that 40%of shells of a mature palm fruit and 90% of the husk and fruit calyx of young palm fruit are left over. Moreover, the thermal properties of the palm husks, fruit calyx and shells were found to be similar to those of coconut shells and oil palms. In an experiment to test the properties of blends of the two products (husks and fruit calyx: shells) in 6 different mixing ratios using starch paste as binding agent, all 6 mixing ratios showed thermal values ranging from 5,281.60–6,702.00 kcal kg-1, which exceeded the Thai CommunityProduct Standard (tcps). During combustion, these briquettes produced low levels of crackling, odour and smoke emissions, and drop shatter. These characteristics make the studied briquettes appropriate for storage and transport. At a production cost of 4.83 baht kg-1for a production capacity of 400kg d-1, the payback period was 1.3 years. Therefore, the palm briquettes would make analternative source of additional income and an alternative fuelsubstitute for wood charcoaland LPG.

A human case of Streptococcus suis infection caused by an unencapsulated strain

Introduction: Streptococcus suis, an emerging zoonotic pathogen, causes invasive infections in persons who are in close contact with infected pigs or contaminated pork‐derived products. Although serotype 2 is the most prevalent type in S. suis infections in humans, to the best of our knowledge no human case caused by an unencapsulated strain has been reported previously. Case presentation: A 53‐year‐old male alcohol misuser with liver cirrhosis was admitted with sepsis to a hospital in Sukhothai Province, Thailand. He had consumed a homemade raw pork product 3 days prior to the onset of illness. An isolate from blood culture was confirmed as S. suis by species‐specific PCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and as untypeable by a coagglutination test. The absence of a capsule around the bacterial cells was also confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The isolate was also confirmed as sequence type 28 by sequence typing, and analysis of the capsule locus detected disruption of the cpsE–cpsK region, which comprises an approximately 2.5 kb fragment that contains phosphatase and kinase genes. Conclusion: We have identified the first human S. suis infection caused by an unencapsulated strain in a patient with liver cirrhosis. This unencapsulated strain was attributable to a mutation of the cps gene. Clinicians should be aware of the emergence of S. suis infection caused by unencapsulated strains, especially in patients with liver cirrhosis.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF 'KLUAI KHAI' FOR EXPORTING IN THAILAND

Supply chain management is very important to improve quality of fruits. The study was conducted in Chanthaburi Province (5 districts, viz., Makham, Pong Nam Ron, Tha Mai, Khao Khitchakut and Klung) and Sukhothai Province (2 districts, viz., Sawankhalok and Thung Saliam) from October 2009 to May 2010 through structured interview of farmers, collectors, and exporters. In Chanthaburi, it was found that ‘Kluai Khai’ banana was grown as intercrop in fruit orchards. Plant density was approximately 937-1,562 plants/ha, depending on the spacing of the main fruit crop. Average yield was 1 ton per rai (1 rai=0.16 ha). Two to three suckers were usually allowed to grow per mother plant. Fruit bunches were harvested when fruit angularity was 3/4 light full and sold to the collectors. The produce was sorted into two grades, standard grade and under-standard grade or off-grade. About 60-70% of the total production met the standard grade while the rest was off-grade due to insect and disease damage and/or under fruit size. Fruit hands that met the standard grade were subjected to postharvest operation conducted by the collectors who graded them into three sizes; AAA, AA and A, before packing into cardboard boxes and loaded onto a refrigerated truck at 13-14°C. This operation usually took 8-12 hours. Price of off-grade fruits was 8-10 times lower than that of standard-grade fruits. In Sukhothai, the banana had been grown as main crop at the density of 2,500 plants/ha. Only one sucker was allowed to grow successively after flower emergence of the mother plant. Postharvest handling operation was done at the farmers’ orchard by the exporters. Fruit hands with insect pest, disease damage and small sized or undeveloped fingers, usually about 5-10 and 10-20% of total production, respectively, were sorted out and sold in local markets. Fruit hands that met the standard (60-70%) were graded into three sizes. Most exporters (74%) took 14-24 hours to complete the operation while the rest (26%) took 6-10 hours. Average yield was 0.36 t/ha and the production cost was around 66.6 US$/ha.

Dynamic of Boon Kam Fa tradition of Phuan Ethnic Group in the Thailand tourism context.

The purpose of this research is to study the characteristics of the original Boon Kam Fa tradition conducted by the Phuan Ethnic Group in Thailand. It also aims to study the origin, existence, and change of the tradition in the context of the tourism industry in Thailand. The data in this qualitative research was gained through document study, observation, and interviews in several areas, namely Hat Siao village, Tam Bon Hat Siao, Amphoe Si Satchanalai, Sukhothai Province; Amphoe Phrom Buri, Sing Buri Province; and Tam Bon Ban Phue, Amphoe Ban Phue, Udon Thani Province. Such data collection was carried out through the perspectives of identity, tradition invention, and ethnic and cultural tourism. The results of this study indicate that a great deal of the history of struggle and migration of the Phuan Ethnic Group is found in Lao PDR’s myth and chronicles. In fact, the latest migration of the Phuan Ethnic Group to Thailand was in the reign of King Rama V. Phuan Ethnic Groups distributed themselves to different provinces, such as Sukhothai, Lop Buri, Sing Buri, and Udon Thani. As a matter of fact, they still adhere to Boon Kam Fa as one of their ethnic group traditions, which is used as a tourism activity nowadays. For Hat Siao village, Tam Bon Hat Siao, Amphoe Si Satchanalai, Sukhothai Province, the Boon Kam Fa tradition has been in the process of development to a tourism activity. The meaning of the tradition is a holiday for Phuan women to have time out from looming. The activities in the tradition include making Khao Khong dessert, Lam Phuan and Nang Kwak entertaining activities. Cultural Tourism 41 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1755-8336 (on-line) WIT Transactions on State of the Art in Science and Engineering, Vol 68, © 2013 WIT Press doi:10.2495/978-1-84564-806-0/004 For Amphoe Phrom Buri, Sing Buri Province, Boon Kam Fa has been deployed to a greater extent as a tourism activity. The tradition means paying respect to the sky, is a holiday and a new year’s eve of the Phuan Ethnic Group, and a fertility forecast. Making Khao Lam, playing the Mhak Bia game, and the Ram Kam Fa dance are some of the activities in the tradition. However, Boon Kam Fa is not made a tourism activity in Tam Bon Ban Phue, Amphoe Ban Phue, Udon Thani Province. Only some of the Phuan people still consider it a tradition with the meaning of Phuan’s Head Sib Song Kong Sib See (the twelve month tradition and the fourteen ways of life). Fertilizer or seeds are used in activities such as courting and the Tai Phuan dance. The data gained from the areas suggested that the Boon Kam Fa phenomenon has different perspectives of the dynamic, namely management, economic, social and ecosystem, and the meaning of the tradition. This research will shed light on the new knowledge about ethnic and cultural tourism, which will therefore lead to planning of tourism through cultures and ethnic groups. Ultimately, such planning is hoped to bring about the sustainability of society and culture in the future.

Approach to Estimate the Flood Damage in Sukhothai Province Using Flood Simulation

Thailand was hit by a great flood in 2011 resulting from irregular rainfall during the typhoon season that was estimated at 140% more than average. The flood began in the north and slowly moved to the central region, where it remained for more than 4 months. The flood caused great damage to the economy because it adversely affected industrial estates and agricultural areas. In the north, there are four main rivers in the region that combine into a river called Chao Phraya in the central region. The Yom River is one of the northern rivers where no large-scale dam has been constructed, resulting in frequent flood and drought. Sukhothai Province is located in the Yom Basin, where flood and drought occur on a regular basis, and the province was also severely damaged in the 2011 flood. In order to estimate flood damage cost in 2011, a simple regression curve is presented first to relate flood areas and damage cost based on past records. The 2011 flood in Sukhothai province was then simulated by using a Rainfall-Runoff-Inundation (RRI) model with satellite based rainfall (TRMM). After simulation results were compared with the observed stream flow water level, discharge and inundation extent, this study estimates damage cost for the 2011 flood based on the simulated flood area. The proposed approach could be a useful guideline in damage cost computation.

Sustainable Development With First CDM Project in Thailand

This article, written by Senior Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 146681, ’Sustainable Development With First CDM Project in Thailand E&amp;P,’ by Chiratthakan Getwech and Lawan Pornsakulsakdi, PTT Exploration and Production plc, prepared for the 2011 SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Jakarta, 20-22 September. The paper has not been peer reviewed. A clean-development-mechanism (CDM) project takes aim at recovering and then using associated gas from the oil wells of Sao Thian-A field in Sukhothai Province, Thailand. Without a CDM project, this associated gas would continue to be flared. The CDM project involved the installation of a gas-treatment system to filter out hydrocarbon droplets from the associated gas before its internal use and sale to an external facility. Introduction The CDM project is one of three flexible mechanisms that allow Annex-I Parties* to implement projects that reduce emissions or increase removals by sinks in the territories of non-Annex-I Parties. The carbon credits generated by CDM projects are “certified emission reductions” (CERs) that can be claimed by the project investor. Thailand is classified as a non-Annex-I Party and is not obligated to meet any emission-reduction targets. Instead, Thailand is eligible to participate in the CDM project as a host country, and possibly attract environmentally friendly investment from governments and businesses of developed countries. Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use aiming to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that such needs can be fulfilled now and in the future. There is interdependence among the three concepts of sustainability: environment, economics, and socio-culture. On the basis of this approach, sustainable development can occur only where the environment, the economy, and the social needs meet. The Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (a public organization), or TGO, is an autonomous governmental organization with the specific purpose of reducing greenhouse-gas emission, reviewing CDM projects for approval, and performing its role as the Designated National CDM Authority in Thailand. CDM-project development in Thailand must function in accordance with TGO guidelines, as well as with its sustainable-development criteria. *According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries are divided into two main groups: those that are listed in the Annex I, known as Annex-I Parties, and those that are not, known as non-Annex-I Parties. The Annex-I Parties are industrialized countries that are obligated to respond to climate change by lowering their greenhouse-gas emissions to an average of approximately 5.2% below their 1990 levels over the 2008–2012 period.

Aerosol Lidar Ratio Determination and Its Effect on Troposphere in Thailand

The empirical factor known as extinction-to-backscatter or lidar ratio (S) of Si Samrong district, Sukhothai province in Thailand were retrieved from radiosonde data for 5 consecutive days in April 2003 using Ackermann's numerical method. Daily mean aerosol lidar ratios (Sa) were obtained in the range from 50.268 ± 2.728 to 52.778 ± 2.383 which related to fine soil dust aerosols in troposphere. Since accurate lidar ratio is compulsory for estimating the aerosol optical properties and understanding transmission and reflection at the interested wavelength. Hence, this work was a preliminary attempt to retrieve the exact aerosol lidar ratio for Thailand in order to profoundly examine the roles of continental aerosol in regional climate corresponding to the available data at 532nm wavelength from Mie scattering lidar measurement in the near future.

An information value based analysis of physical and climatic factors affecting dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever incidence

BackgroundVector-borne diseases are the most dreaded worldwide health problems. Although many campaigns against it have been conducted, Dengue Fever (DF) and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) are still the major health problems of Thailand. The reported number of dengue incidences in 1998 for the Thailand was 129,954, of which Sukhothai province alone reported alarming number of 682. It was the second largest epidemic outbreak of dengue after 1987. Government arranges the remedial facilities as and when dengue is reported. But, the best way to control is to prevent it from happening. This will be possible only when knowledge about the relationship of DF/DHF with climatic and physio-environmental agents is discovered. This paper explores empirical relationship of climatic factors rainfall, temperature and humidity with the DF/DHF incidences using multivariate regression analysis. Also, a GIS based methodology is proposed in this paper to explore the influence of physio-environmental factors on dengue incidences. Remotely sensed data provided important data about physical environment and have been used for many vector borne diseases. Information Values (IV) method was utilised to derive influence of various factors in the quantitative terms. Researchers have not applied this type of analysis for dengue earlier. Sukhothai province was selected for the case study as it had high number of dengue cases in 1998 and also due to its diverse physical setting with variety of land use/land cover types.ResultsPreliminary results demonstrated that physical factors derived from remotely sensed data could indicate variation in physical risk factors affecting DF/DHF. A composite analysis of these three factors with dengue incidences was carried out using multivariate regression analysis. Three empirical models ER-1, ER-2 and ER-3 were evaluated. It was found that these three factors have significant relation with DF/DHF incidences and can be related to the forecast expected number of dengue cases. The results have shown significantly high coefficient of determination if applied only for the rainy season using empirical relation-2 (ER-2). These results have shown further improvement once a concept of time lag of one month was applied using the ER-3 empirical relation. ER-3 model is most suitable for the Sukhothai province in predicting possible dengue incidence with 0.81 coefficient of determination. The spatial statistical relationship of various land use/land cover classes with dengue-affected areas was quantified in the form of information value received from GIS analysis. The highest information value was obtained for the Built-up area. This indicated that Built-up area has the maximum influence on the incidence of dengue. The other classes showing negative values indicate lesser influence on dengue epidemics. Agricultural areas have yielded moderate risk areas based on their medium high information values. Water bodies have shown significant information value for DF/ DHF only in one district. Interestingly, forest had shown no influence on DF/DHF.ConclusionThis paper explores the potential of remotely sensed data and GIS technology to analyze the spatial factors affecting DF/DHF epidemic. Three empirical models were evaluated. It was found that Empirical Relatrion-3 (ER-3) has yielded very high coefficient of determination to forecast the number of DF/DHF incidence. An analysis of physio-environmental factors such as land use/ land cover types with dengue incidence was carried out. Influence of these factors was obtained in quantitative terms using Information Value method in the GIS environment. It was found that built-up areas have highest influence and constitute the highest risk zones. Forest areas have no influence on DF/DHF epidemic. Agricultural areas have moderate risk in DF/DHF incidences. Finally the dengue risk map of the Sukhothai province was developed using Information Value method. Dengue risk map can be used by the Public Health Department as a base map for applying preventive measures to control the dengue outbreak. Public Health Department can initiate their effort once the ER-3 predicts a possibility of significant high dengue incidence. This will help in focussing the preventive measures being applied on priority in very high and high-risk zones and help in saving time and money.