• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-56
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• 2009

It is generally acknowledged that Philippines politics has achieved a basic soil for democracy at the macro-level by the two incidents of 'People Power' (1986 & 2001). However, in spite of such an achievement, Philippine politics at the micro-level, does not enjoy the same reputation. Institutionalized 'Bossism' or 'patron/clientelism' political culture has been attributed to make such a gap. This paper aims to bridge the gap by a longitudinal observation on local politics of a particular province in the Philippines. Surigao del Norte is the province picked up for the study. The reason why this particular province attracts special concerns is that there appears to come a very dynamic local politics, led by an indigenous Christian organization, the PBMA (Philippines Benevolent Missionary Association), which was founded in the mid 1960s. With the coming of the organization in the province, the political power of the traditional families has been narrowed. On the other hand, new families, not only the leader family of the PBMA but also the family allied with the PBMA, has expanded political influence. Following steps are adopted to understand the meaning of such a change. First, institutional frame of Philippine politics and elections will be reviewed. Second, demographic changes will be investigated on Surigao del Norte province to find out how popular the PBMA organization is among the people. Third, local election outcomes will be examined to describe the changing nature of political landscape of the province. This will reveal how the relationship between the old and new families has been developed in the province. Lastly, based on the facts discovered by a longitudinal observation, an attempt to evaluate theories on Philippines politics will be made Conclusions are as follows. To understand the dynamics of Philippine politics, 'expectations from the below,' or, 'passions of the people,' suggested by Ileto, needs more attention. Furthermore, 'mutual accommodation' between domination and resistance, coined by Abinales, also demands more appreciation. The case of local politics in the Surigao del Norte, with the coming of the PBMA, is sure to show a concrete example of changing politics in the 'changeless land.'

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.961-967
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• 2018

Lao-native beef cattle are primarily Bos indicus, and most ruminant production in Laos is still dominated by small-scale or backyard producers that use traditional practices, resulting in low productivity. The cattle herd size in Laos has grown by an average of 5 percent per year from 1.52 million in 2010/11 to 1.81 million in 2014/15. In 2016, the Laos cattle population was 1.88 million head, with smallholder farmers representing 98% of production despite efforts by the Laos government to develop commercial-scale farms. There were 170 commercial cattle farms in 2016, with 56 percent in the Central region of Laos. Although, overall, ruminant meat production has tended to increase but with consumption at 7.29 kg/capita/yr in 2013, it remains insufficient to meet demand. Crop residues and agro-industrial by-products used in ruminant diets include rice straw, cassava pulp and wet brewers' grains as roughage, energy and protein sources, respectively. The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013 will connect China closely with all countries in Southeast Asia. This initiative will change landlocked Laos to land linked for investors who will benefit from convenient transport at a lower cost, promoting agricultural production in Laos.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.191-221
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• 2014

South Sumatra's capital, Palembang, has long maintained a river-oriented transportation system. With road transportation's increased importance for exploiting natural resources, however, hundreds of roads have been constructed since the Dutch colonial period. This article examines how the construction of roads and bridges affected people's lives and social networks in Palembang, and what social and political significance it has in the context of a region in the postcolonial Indonesia, with a focus on the huge river called the Musi River, which horizontally crosses the city. After independence, there has been strong aspiration to link these two parts by road, and in 1965 the Musi Bridge (then the Sukarno Bridge) over the river was eventually opened. The construction of the bridge apparently initiated socioeconomic transformations and development in the region, including Ulu (the southern river bank)'s rapid urbanization. However, the features of regional development actually were prerequisites for "national" development. The regional development was impossible without financial support from the central government, and the local or regional aspiration for development was often supported only when it fitted with national envision. The Musi Bridge was a model case that fitted with such national envision. While it was the symbol of regional development, it was also celebrated as an exemplary sign of "national" development, by both Sukarno's government and Suharto's New Order regime. By analyzing the discussions and discourses regarding the Musi project since early 1950s, in addition to its social and economic impact after the construction, this article explores the continuities and changes in the roles and significance of the (construction of the) Musi Bridge with the changing political backstops in both regimes. Together with it, this article also aims to reexamine the interplay between "the national" and "the regional" in the prevalent aspiration for the national and regional "development" throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-44
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• 2013

This study examined the constitutional engineering of the Philippine democracy in terms of power sharing and accountability, and the effectiveness and stability of the Philippine democracy as a result were assessed. Based on the analysis, the nature of the present Philippine democratic system since 1986 was brought to light. This study argues that the system of power sharing between the President and the congress in the Philippines tends to serve for negotiating political interests among the power elites rather than functioning in a constructive way. And the public accountability system is not functioning as it was designed to do. Due to the defects the Philippine democracy continuously suffers the lack of political effectiveness and stability. Despite of the problem, the reason not to break down the system would be the fact that the system served for the oligarchic power elites to circulate and recreate the political power exclusively. The direction of the Philippine constitutional engineering should be weakening the present traditional elite dominated political system, and strengthening the chances of political participation from the various classes. Some concerned people suggested the constitutional change to parliamentary system in order to strengthening party politics, and federal system to cope with the problems of regional conflicts, but such efforts failed repeatedly due to the conflict of political interests. Considering the present circumstance, it would be advisable to reform political party law and election system in the direction of strengthening political party system, and to expand the scope of local government system in the direction of devolving the centralized political power.

• Journal of forensic and investigative science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.52-80
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• 2007

In the rapidly changing current society, the Korean National Police(KNP) is facing a lot of demands from the citizens like the protection of subject/victim rights, independence of investigation authority, disclosure of actual truth, and prevention & eradication of crimes. It is widely recognized among the Korean people and the police that the KNP is always standing for the rights of the people and it is high time that the KNP should be restored as the pioneer for the protection of human right. In this situation, the tremendous emphasis is given on the importance of investment in investigative training through the long-term master-plan in order to renovate its constitution, to level up its quality, and to cope with the highly sophisticated crime patterns. Korean police have already shown its outstanding investigative skills of identification of the deceased throughout large cases like Daegu subway arson and tsunami in Southeast Asia. In addition, the skills of cyber crime investigation are highly recognized by foreign law enforcement agencies. However, the investigative skills and abilities are being degraded and the morale of the investigative personnel are falling due to the insufficiently of the finite training budget. Lack of financial support results in the lack of training program and poor training environment, which subsequently leads to the inefficiency of training. Additionally, no long-term budget for fostering specialized investigative agents is allotted. Considering the fact that more than 95% of crimes in Korea are being primarily investigated by the Korean police, we have to understand the importance of the police. By the tremendous investment in investigative training which can lead to the high-quality investigations, the Korean police can ultimately contribute to the protection of safety and life of its people.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.107-110
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• 2008

Tropical fire ant, Solenopsis geminata (Fabricius) is distributed over the tropical and temperate areas. It is a polyphagous pest attacking to various plant and causes the pain to the people doing outdoor work. So it is known for a hygienic pest to human being, especially the people doing outdoor activities. It can cause severe pain to human, even with just a bite. Of particular concern is the possibility of its settlement in this country, if it invade to the farmlands and/or forests of Jeju Island and southern part in Korea. It is listed as a regulated pest in Plant Quarantine Act of Korea. This ant is usually imported through a ship and early settled in the port area where it is already distributed. Recently its distribution is rapidly spreading into Southeast Asia and southern part of China. In Korea, it was detected the one time in 1990s, but was detected the ten times from 2000 to 2006 by an imported plant quarantine process. Therefore, we would like to provide some information on the species, including morphology, distribution, host plant, damaged symptom and its general bionomics, which will be useful data for plant quarantine process and control.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.65-73
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• 2002

This research is to reveal an aspect of costume culture interchange in the relationship of the early Chosun Dynasty, by considering the imported goods from Japan, of the trading goods derived by the trade diplomacy between the two countries in the early Korea-Japan relationship in the medieval era. The research results are as follows. A good-neighbor Policy in the early Chosun Dynasty was established by a link of a barbarian ban policy to blockade the frequent intrusion by Japanese barbarians. The exchange was the form of presenting a return present in return for a tribute to the Chosun Dynasty from the Japanese envoy, which has a polycentric characteristic. Pusanpo, Naipo, and Yumpo were designated as the open ports, which played a pivotal role in the Korea-Japan exchange. In trading goods between Korean and Japan. the imported goods from Japan to Korea were a wide variety of items primarily such as dyes, mordant, medicines, steel, spicers, etc. In particular, Somok used as a red mordant, which were intermediate goods to Southeast Asia, was the most heavily-traded items of imported goods from Japan. It had been consumed primarily as a raw material making the costume suit of the royal family and the aristocracy. The increased import of Somok was derived from a thought of preferred red color by our people. As its inflow was increased. the costumes tended to be luxurious In early Chosun Dynasty and resulted in social issues. This active trading from the early Chosun Dynasty caused from the communication of the Japanese envoy. In addition the study of the trading provided an opportunity that can glance at an aspect of the costume culture, though It was fractionary.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.727-733
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• 2013

Despite the existence of effective anthelmintics, parasitic infections remain a major public health problem in Southeast Asia, including Thailand. In rural communities, continuing infection is often reinforced by dietary habits that have a strong cultural basis and by poor personal hygiene and sanitation. This study presents a survey of the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among the people in rural Thailand. The community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in villages in Khon Kaen Province, northeastern Thailand, from July to August 2013. A total of 253 stool samples from 102 males and 140 females, aged 2-80 years, were prepared using formalin-ethyl acetate concentration methods and examined using light microscopy. Ninety-four individuals (37.2%) were infected with 1 or more parasite species. Presence of parasitic infection was significantly correlated with gender (P=0.001); nearly half of males in this survey (49.0%) were infected. Older people had a higher prevalence than younger members of the population. The most common parasite found was Opisthorchis viverrini (26.9%), followed by Strongyloides stercoralis (9.5%), Taenia spp. (1.6%), echinostomes (0.4%), and hookworms (0.4%). The prevalence of intestinal protozoa was Blastocystis hominis 1.6%, Entamoeba histolytica 0.8%, Entamoeba coli 0.8%, Balantidium coli 0.4%, Iodamoeba b$\ddot{u}$tschlii 0.4%, and Sarcocystis hominis 0.4%. Co-infections of various helminths and protozoa were present in 15.9% of the people. The present results show that the prevalence of parasitic infections in this region is still high. Proactive education about dietary habits, personal hygiene, and sanitation should be provided to the people in this community to reduce the prevalence of intestinal parasite infections. Moreover, development of policies and programs to control parasites is needed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1235-1240
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• 2012

Background: Opisthorchis viverrini infection is a serious public-health problem in Southeast Asia. It is associated with a number of hepatobiliary diseases and the evidence strongly indicates that liver fluke infection is the etiology of cholangiocarcinoma. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate Opisthorchis viverrini metacercarial infection in cyprinoid fish collected from 32 districts of Nakhon Ratchasima province, Northeastern Thailand during one year period from February 2010 to February 2011. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, data being collected with pepsin-HCl digestion and stereomicroscope, respectively. Analysis was performed using SPSS Windows Version 12.0. Results: A total of 640 Cyprinidae family fish including 5 species were collected from different study sites, and investigated for O. viverrini metacercariae. The infection rate was 12.3% (79/640), predominantly in Cyclocheilichthys armatus, C. repasson, Puntioplites proctzysron, Hampala macrolepitota and Hampala dispar, respectively. The prevalence of O. viverrini metaceria in Nakhon Ratchasima area was 78.1%, predominantly in Sida and KiaKham Thale So. Conclusion: This findings stress that natural fish species in rural communities are still a source of O viverrini infection and put local people at risk, therefore public awareness and prevention campaigns are urgently required.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.259-267
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• 1998

A deletion of one out of the two copies of 9-bp repeat sequence (CCCCCTCTA), between the cytochrome oxidase II and Iysine tranfer RNA (COII/$tRNA^{Lys}$) genes in human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been used as a polymorphic anthropological marker for people of east Asian origin, and to lesser extent, Pacific and African populations. We searched for the 9-bp deletion of the intergenic COII/$tRNA^{Lys}$ Lys region in two Korean populations (175 from Seoul and 38 from Cheju) and examine the distibution of this deletion in world populations. The 9-bp deletion was detected directly by electrophoresis of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified nucleotide(nt) 8211-8310 mtDNA fragment. The frequencies of the 9-bp deletion were significantly different between the Seoul (16%) and Cheju (8%) populations. Examination of data from the world populations suggests a geographic gradient. The frequency reaches its highest values in some Pacific island populations and decreases along the southeast Asia-Siberia transect. In spite of this geographic gradient, Mongoloid populations including Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolian populations were relatively homo-geneous with regard to the 9-bp deletion type of the intergenic COII/$tRNA^{Lys}$ region. These results indicate Koreans are genetically related to northeast Asian populations, and have a maternal mongoloid ancestry. Therefore, the 9-bp deletion of the intergenic COII/$tRNA^{Lys}$ region will provide significant information to elucidate the historical patterns of migration of the Mongoloids.