• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.289-292
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• 2014

The effect of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) on global warming is serious problem. The adsorption with solid sorbents is one of the most appropriate options. In this study, the most interesting adsorbent is granular activated carbon (GAC). It is suitable material for $CO_2$ adsorption because of its simple availability, many specific surface area, and low-cost material. Afterwards, GAC was impregnated with chitosan solution as impregnated granular activated carbon (CGAC) in order to improve the adsorption capacity of GAC. This research aims to compare the physical and chemical characteristics of GAC and CGAC. The experiment was carried out to evaluate the efficiency of $CO_2$ adsorption between GAC and CGAC. The results indicated that the iodine number of GAC and CGAC was 137.17 and 120.30 mg/g, respectively. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller results (BET) of both GAC and CGAC show that specific surface area was 301.9 and $531.3m^2/g$, respectively; total pore volume was 0.16 and $0.29cm^3/g$, respectively; and mean diameter of pore was 2.18 and 2.15 nm, respectively. Finally, the $CO_2$ adsorption results of both GAC and CGAC in single column how the maximum adsorption capacity was 0.17 and 0.25 mol/kg, respectively; how degeneration time was 49.6 and 80.0 min, respectively; and how the highest efficiency of $CO_2$ adsorption was 91.92% and 91.19%, respectively.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.269-274
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• 2014

On-site sanitation systems are typically installed to treat grey and toilet wastewaters in areas without sewer and centralized treatment systems. It is well known that, due to inappropriate design and operation, treatment performance of these systems in developing countries is not satisfactory in the removal of pathogens and organic matters. This research aimed to investigate the hydraulic conditions occurring in some on-site sanitation systems and the effects of hydraulic retention times (HRTs) on the system performance. The experiments were conducted with a laboratory-scale septic tank (40L in size) and an actual septic tank (600L in size), to test the hydraulic conditions by using tracer study with HRTs varying at 12, 24 and 48 hr. The experimental results showed the dispersion numbers to be in the range of 0.017-0.320 and the short-circuit ratios in the range of 0.014-0.031, indicating the reactors having a high level of sort-circuiting and approaching complete-mix conditions. The removal efficiency of $BOD_5$ was found to be 67% and the $k_{30}$ values for $BOD_5$ was $2.04day^{-1}$. A modified complete-mix model based on the relationship between $BOD_5$ removal efficiencies and HRTs was developed and validated with actual-scale septic tank data having a correlation coefficient ($R^2$) of 0.90. Therefore, to better protect our environment and minimizing health risks, new generation toilets should be developed that could minimize short-circuiting and improving treatment performance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.37-46
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• 2003

Over the last few years, the major airports in Asia have been operating at or close to their capacity. As a result, Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia decided to expedite the development of new airports. Accordingly, some of the existing airports have been completely used as other functions or purposes and the others operated as a domestic airport. In the latter case, re-development plans are needed for idle facilities. This paper evaluates the alternative options for re-development of idle airport facilities of Seoul Gimpo International Airport. The proposed methodology makes it possible to provide a practical and applicable evaluation of airport re-development plan. In particular, it can take into account the qualitative aspects of different interesting groups such as airport experts. passengers and airport peripheral community. The interview was conducted in order to obtain the different groups' view. To evaluate and select the best option of the airport re-development, this study adopted a fuzzy linguistic approach.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.291-297
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• 2017

This study was performed to investigate the dose-response relationship between average daily cadmium dose (ADCD) from rice and the occurrence of urinary cadmium (U-Cd) in individuals eating that rice. This was a retrospective cohort designed to compare populations from two areas with different levels of cadmium contamination. Five-hundred and sixty-seven participants aged 18 years or older were interviewed to estimate their rice intake, and were assessed for U-Cd. The sources of consumed rice were sampled for cadmium measurement, from which the ADCD was estimated. Binary logistic regression was used to examine the association between ADCD and U-Cd (cut-off point at $2{\mu}g/g$ creatinine), and a correlation between them was established. The lowest estimate was $ADCD=0.5{\mu}g/kg\;bw/day$ [odds ratio (OR) = 1.71; with a 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-2.87]. For comparison, the relationship in the contaminated area is expressed by $ADCD=0.7{\mu}g/kg\;bw/day$, OR = 1.84; [95 % CI, 1.06-3.19], while no relationship was found in the non-contaminated area, meaning that the highest level at which this relationship does not exist is $ADCD=0.6{\mu}g/kg\;bw/day$ [95% CI, 0.99-2.95]. Rice, as a main staple food, is the most likely source of dietary cadmium. Abstaining from or limiting rice consumption, therefore, will increase the likelihood of maintaining U-Cd within the normal range. As the recommended maximum ADCD is not to exceed $0.6{\mu}g/kg\;bw/day$, the consumption of rice grown in cadmium-contaminated areas should not be more than 246.8 g/day. However, the exclusion of many edible plants grown in the contaminated area from the analysis might result in an estimated ADCD that does not reflect the true level of cadmium exposure among local people.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2805-2810
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• 2016

Background: Differentiated thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy with a generally good prognosis. Knowing long-term outcomes of each patient helps management planning. The study was conducted to develop and validate a clinical prognostic score for predicting disease remission in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer based on patient, tumor and treatment factors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 1,217 differentiated thyroid cancer patients from two tertiary-care hospitals in the Northeast of Thailand was performed. Associations between potential clinical prognostic factors and remission were tested by Cox proportional-hazards analysis in 852 patients (development cohort). The prediction score was created by summation of score points weighted from regression coefficients of independent prognostic factors. Risks of disease remission were estimated and the derived score was then validated in the remaining 365 patients (validation cohort). Results: During the median follow-up time of 58 months, 648 (76.1%) patients in the development cohort had disease remission. Five independent prognostic factors were identified with corresponding score points: duration from thyroid surgery to $^{131}I$ treatment (0.721), distant metastasis at initial diagnosis (0.801), postoperative serum thyroglobulin level (0.535), anti-thyroglobulin antibodies positivity (0.546), and adequacy of serum TSH suppression (0.293). The total risk score for each patient was calculated and three categories of remission probability were proposed: ${\leq}1.628$ points (low risk, 83% remission), 1.629-1.816 points (intermediate risk, 87% remission), and ${\geq}1.817$ points (high risk, 93% remission). The concordance (C-index) was 0.761 (95% CI 0.754-0.767). Conclusions: The clinical prognostic scoring model developed to quantify the probability of disease remission can serve as a useful tool in personalized decision making regarding treatment in differentiated thyroid cancer patients.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.86-92
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• 2010

The polymorphism and the genetic relationships among 32 genetic resources of genus Nelumbo from Korea, Japan, China, USA, India, Thailand and Gabong were thoroughly investigated and extensively examined using ISSR markers. Out of 103 loci detected overall, 94 were identified to be polymorphic with a rate of 91.2%. The genetic similarity matrix revealed a wide range of variability among the 32 accessions, spanning from 0.227 to 0.833. The study findings indicate that the Nelumbo accessions have a high genetic diversity, and accordingly carry a germplasm qualifying as good genetic resources for cross breeding. According to the clustering analysis, different subspecies, N. nucifera and N. lutea, were divided into independent groups and all of the N. nucifera accessions could be classified into five categories. Compared to RAPD analysis, ISSR method showed a clearer picture of polymorphism among the accessions and exhibited a definite distinction even among the subspecies. In this respect, ISSR analysis is considered to be more effective in differentiating the accessions and subspecies of the genus Nelumbo than RAPD test.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.169-194
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• 2013

A Korean writer, Yi Soonwon's The Face and a Thai writer, Win Lyovarin's Three Worlds of Rat Ekathet symbolize into literature the historical demonstration which occurred in Korea and Thailand. Comparing the characters in these two works, we come to the conclusion that the background in which people use violence strongly relates with their emotion. The character in The Face commit emotional violence in which receiving education and training and having jostled situation were sprouted as hostility. On the other hand, the characters in Three Worlds of Rat Ekathet show the difference in the sense that they feel a pleasant sensation when they use violence, intoxicated in the power of violence. One thing that two works have in common is that people committing a sin suffer from a guilty conscience and guilty fears when we see the way to treat them. It is how psychological punishment is made by their own. In The Face, the character suffers from psychological punishment in the fear that the other may be aware of his past record when we see the difference to deal with emotional violence. That who committed violence not to be able to open up honorably can never be free from the judgement of conscience out of the law and the sense of guilt continues for his life. However, emotional punishment made by a guilty conscience in Three Worlds of Rat Ekathet has the limited period if sinners make the process of purification which means not committing a fault again. The ultimate way of treating those who committed violence is to forgive them with love and is the process of purification to change violence into non-violence.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.85-104
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of listening comprehension ability, self-efficacy, comprehension anxiety, and exposure time on Korean language understanding. In order to achieve our goal, listening examinations and surveys were conducted among 95 students from a university in Thailand, studying Korean language. As a result, it was revealed that the most influential factor on one's listening ability was self-efficacy. In addition, when the correlation between listening self-efficacy and other factors was examined, it was shown that there existed a statistically significant relationship. Particularly, listening comprehension anxiety had the most significant correlation with listening self-efficacy. Similarly, cognitive strategy demonstrated a significant correlation with listening self-efficacy. On the other hand, the effects of self-efficacy and other factors on listening scores such as the degree and types of strategy that students used were also studied. The findings revealed that, in most cases, strategy-intensive group's test results were influenced more by exposure time, while the less intensive group's scores were influenced more by their self-efficacy. Finally, after analyzing the effects of time spent on conversing with friends and watching Korean television on listening self-efficacy, it was discovered that both factors had statistically significant relationships with listening self-efficacy. Through this study, such results can be integrated and applied to education in various ways. The most important part for listening comprehension ability is enhancing self-efficacy and in order to do so, the appropriate education methods should be used to reduce listening comprehension anxiety, stimulate strategy use, and increase listening exposure time.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.204-204
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• 2016

Thailand had set the National Water Management Strategy which covered main six areas in the next 12 years, i.e., by priority: (1) water for household, (2) water for agricultural and industrial production, (3) water for flood and drought management, (4) water for quality issue, (5) water from forest conservation and soil erosion protection, (6) water resources management. However due to the climate change impact, there is a question for all strategies is whether to complete this mission under future climate change. If the impact affects our target, we have to clarify how to mitigate or to adapt with it. Vulnerability assessment was conducted under the framework of ADB's (with the parameters of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) and the assessments were classified into groups due to their different characteristic and the framework of the National Water Management Strategy, i.e., water supply (rural and urban), water for development (agriculture and others), water disasters (floods (flash, overflow), drought, water quality). The assessments identified the parameters concerned and weight factors used for each groups via expert group discussions and by using GIS mapping technology, the vulnerability maps were produced. The maps were verified with present water situation data (floods, drought, water quality). From the analysis result of this water resources management strategy, we found that 30% of all projects face the big impacts, 40% with low impact, and 30% for no impact. It is clear that water-related agencies have to carefully take care approximately 70% of future projects to meet water resources management strategy. It is recommended that additional issues should be addressed to mitigate the impact from climate risk on water resource management of the country, i.e., water resources management under new risk based on development scenarios, relationship with area-based problems, priority definition by viewpoints of risk, vulnerability (impact and occurrence probability in past and future), water management system in emergency case and water reserve system, use of information, knowledge and technology in management, network cooperation and exchange of experiences, knowledge, technique for sustainable development with mitigation and adaptation, education and communication systems in risk, new impact, and emergency-reserve system. These issues will be described and discussed.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.499-504
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• 2019

Head-lice infestation, pediculosis capitis, remains a public-health burden in many countries. The widely used first-line pediculicides and alternative treatments are often too costly for use in poor socio-economic settings. Ivermectin has been considered an alternate treatment for field practice. This study was composed of 2 parts, a cross-sectional survey and an intervention study. The main objectives were to determine the prevalence and potential factors associated with head-lice infestation, and to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of oral ivermectin administration. A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 890 villagers in rural areas along Thai-Myanmar border. Females with infestations were eligible for the intervention study, and 181 participated in the intervention study. A post-treatment survey was conducted to assess acceptance of ivermectin as a treatment choice. Data analysis used descriptive statistics and a generalized-estimation-equation model adjusted for cluster effect. The study revealed the prevalence of head-lice infestation was 50% among females and only 3% among males. Age stratification showed a high prevalence among females aged <20 years, and among 50% of female school-children. The prevalence was persistent among those with a history of infestation. The major risk factors were residing in a setting with other infected cases, and sharing a hair comb. The study also confirmed that ivermectin was safe and effective for field-based practice. It was considered a preferable treatment option. In conclusion, behavior-change communication should be implemented to reduce the observed high prevalence of head-lice infestation. Ivermectin may be an alternative choice for head-lice treatment, especially in remote areas.