• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.152-160
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to compare conditions of Korean Restaurants in Hong Kong with those of Thai ones, which have already succeeded in globalization, by investigating and analyzing the characteristics of the two parties in Hong Kong, a world-wide international city. For these purposes, we selected 10 Korean restaurants & 10 Thai restaurants in Hong Kong, and visited the selected restaurants during the period from 2007.7.9 to 2007.7.14, to examine indoor spaces and food-related elements were recorded in detail, photographed and analyzed. The results of study is as follows ; we have first found that Korean restaurants did not show any humane properties linked to restaurant concepts and indoor space, did link Korean images through their trade names, and showed decorative culture based on traditional house and dietary-life cultural properties based on traditional Korean Bansang table setting at large. On the other hand, 4 (22.5%) out of the entire cases in Thai restaurants showed religious characteristics with strong Buddhist colors revealed, and all cases showed traditional Thai food cultures, from which we could find out dietary-life cultural properties. Second, whereas there were one case of Korean restaurants in which tradition was main and modernity was assistant, five cases in which tradition and modernity were paralleled in value, and two cases in which modernity was main and tradition was assistant, Thai restaurants had one case where tradition was main and modernity was associative, four cases in which tradition and modernity were paralleled in value, and four cases where modernity was main and tradition was assistant. This means that the Thai restaurants did not insist only on tradition, but showed efforts to transmit luxurious and refined Thai images to people from the world. Third, whereas Korean restaurants had to do with all kinds of menu, were equipped with brazierson their tables uniformly, and showed any differences because they did not use different tableware in accordance with foods, Thai restaurants divided the dinner into the hors d'oeuvre, the main, and the dessert or systemized menu structure by categories in accordance with cooking styles, and tableware selection in accordance with menus, table setting, food materials, and food styling using flowers were consistently expressed.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.121-127
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• 2021

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on exchange rates of the top ten currencies according to their trading value with Thailand by employing a regression analysis. Data includes daily number of COVID-19 cases - confirmed, new, deaths - and exchange rates against Thai Baht - CNY, JPY, USD, MYR, SGD, VND, IDR, AUD, HKD, TWD - which cover the period from January 2, 2020 to December 15, 2020. Results show that the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Thailand relate to changes in all exchange rates; CNY, MYR, SGD, VND, AUD, and TWD have depreciated in relation to the THB, whereas JPY, USD, IDR, and HKD have appreciated. Furthermore, the new cases and deaths of COVID-19 have similar associations with almost all exchange rates. Deprecation of the JPY, USD, VND, HKD, and TWD in relation to the THB is due to new cases, on the contrary the MYR, IDR, and AUD have appreciated. Likewise, the JPY, USD, VND, and HKD have depreciated, but the CNY, MYR, SGD, and AUD have appreciated in relation to the THB owing to deaths cases. The study findings provide useful knowledge to manage an exchange rate risk for business and could help policymakers to improve the efficiency of exchange rate.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.225-254
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to contrast the patterns of realization and understanding of refusal speech acts between Korean and Thai learners. This study intends to answer the following questions: (1) Do Koreans and Thai learners perform refusal speech acts differently? (2) Do Koreans and Thai learners understand refusal speech acts differently? A DCT and a follow-up interview were conducted to collect data of two groups of 30 native Korean speakers and 30 native Thai speakers. For research question 1, we analyzed the refusal strategy and provided reasons given by Koreans and Thai learners depending on the context. For research question 2, we ran a chi-squared test on the elements of the follow-up interviews, such as the weight of burden of refusing, and whether the participant would actually refuse or not. The differences between the refusal strategies of the two groups could be categorized by the preceding inducing speech act. In refusing a request, the difference was prominent in the apologizing strategy, whereas in refusing a suggestion, the difference was mainly in the direct refusal strategy. When refusing an invitation, the most evident difference was the number of refusal strategies employed. When providing an explanation of refusal to people with high social status, Koreans gave more specific reasons for refusals, whereas Thai learners tended to use more vague reasons. Moreover, when refusing an invitation, Koreans primarily mentioned the relationship, and Thai learners showed the spirit of Greng Jai. When asked the weight of burden of refusing, Koreans felt pressured to refuse a request from people with high social status, and a suggestion or invitation from people with high level of intimacy while Thai learners found it highly difficult to make a refusal in all cases. In answering whether they would actually refuse or not, Koreans tried not to make a refusal to people with high level of intimacy, and such a trend was not evident among the Thai. This study can help us better understand the learner's pragmatic failure, and serve as a basis in establishing a curriculum for teaching speech acts.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7407-7411
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• 2014

The incidence of urban female breast cancer has been continuously increasing over the past decade with unknown etiology. One hypothesis for this increase is carcinogen exposure from tobacco. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the risk of urban female breast cancer from tobacco smoke exposure. The matched case control study was conducted among Thai females, aged 17-76 years and living in Bangkok or its surrounding areas. A total of 444 pairs of cases and controls were recruited from the Thai National Cancer Institute. Cases were newly diagnosed and histologically confirmed as breast cancer while controls were selected from healthy women who visited a patient, matched by age ${\pm}5$ years. After obtaining informed consent, tobacco smoke exposure data and information on other potential risk factors were collected by interview. The analysis was performed by conditional logistic regression, and presented with odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals(CI). From all subjects, 3.8% of cases and 3.4% of controls were active smokers while 11.0% of cases and 6.1% of controls were passive smokers. The highest to lowest sources of passive tobacco smoke were from spouses (40.8%), the workplace (36.8%) and public areas (26.3%), respectively. After adjusting for other potential risk factors or confounders, females with frequent low-dose passive smoke exposure (${\leq}7$ hours per week) from a spouse or workplace had adjusted odds ratio 3.77 (95%CI=1.11-12.82) and 4.02 (95%CI=1.04-15.50) higher risk of breast cancer compared with non-smokers, respectively. However, this study did not find any association of breast cancer risk in high dose passive tobacco smoke exposure, or a dose response relationship in cumulative passive tobacco smoke exposure per week, or in the active smoker group. In conclusion, passive smoke exposure may be one important risk factor of urban female breast cancer, particularly, from a spouse or workplace. This risk factor highlights the importance of avoiding tobacco smoke exposure as a key measure for breast cancer prevention and control.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1023-1026
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• 2013

Cervical cancer is the most important female gynecological cancer, the second leading cause of cancer mortality in women worldwide and the second most common cancer in Thai women. The major cause of cervical cancer is persistent infection of human papillomavirus (HPV), leading to abnormal epithelial lesions, with progression to precancerous and invasive cancer. This study was conducted to investigate the frequency and type distribution of HPV in Thai women who had abnormal cytology. HPV detection from FFPE confirmed abnormal of high grade cervical intraepithelial lesions were for SPF-10-Innogenic Line Probe Assay. HPV-positivity was detected in 320/355 cases (90.14%) and HPV-negativity in 35/355 (9.86%). HPV-positive was found 147/320 cases (41.4%) of single infection, whereas 173/320 cases (48.7%) showed the multiple HPV infection. The most common seven types were HPV-16, -52, -18, -11, -51, -31 and -33, in that order. HPV 16 and 18, the important oncogenic HPV type, were observed in 64.8% of HSIL cases. Interestingly, a high proportion of multiple infections was found in this study and more than ten types could be detected in one case. Therefore, HPV infection screening program in women is essential, particularly in Thailand. Effective primary and secondary prevention campaigns that reinforce HPV screening for HPV detection and typing may be decrease the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in the future and may lead to significantly improve the quality of life in Thai women.

• Anatomy and Cell Biology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.367-373
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• 2023

One of the main parameters in the analysis of skeletal remains in forensic anthropological cases is the estimation of age. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between age and the fusion status of the sternal junction. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 184 sterna from 94 females and 90 males obtained from known-age cadavers in the Thai population. By direct observation, the fusion stage of the manubrio-sternal and sterno-xiphoidal junctions was studied and divided into unfused and fused joints. The results showed that a large proportion of the sterna remain unfused throughout adulthood, with fusion observed in both young and old cadavers. Insignificant differences in the rate of fusion, the sexes and ages were observed. None of the sterna under 30 years of age in females and 32 years of age in males showed fusion of the manubrio-sternal and sterno-xiphoidal junctions. Based on the variability of the sternal fusions observed in this study, we highlighted a very limited role of the sternum alone in the estimation of age in the Thai population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8837-8842
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• 2014

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an important cause of liver cancer in Thailand. The highest prevalence of anti-HCV positive among Thai blood donors is found in the northeastern region. The present analysis of the genotype distribution among anti-HCV positive northeastern-Thai blood donors was conducted to provide a base for the epidemiological pattern of HCV infection in this region. Materials and Methods: A total of 112 HCV seropositive healthy blood donors were randomly selected and tested for the presence of HCV-RNA by RT-PCR. HCV-RNA positive samples were genotyped by direct sequencing at core region genomes and confirmed by phylogenetic analysis. Results: HCV viremia was found in 94.6% (106/112) of HCV seropositive blood donors. There were 3 major genotypes distributed among this population. HCV genotype 3a was the most prevalent (71.7%) followed by genotypes 1a (7.5%), 1b (7.5%), 6i (3.8%), 6f (2.8%) and 6n (1.9%). Conclusions: HCV genotype 3a in asymptomatic infections in northeastern Thailand is significantly higher than other previous reports. Subgenotype 6 prevalence is less than in neighboring countries and distribution patterns differ. The findings are relevant as predictors for using interferon therapy in this population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1273-1276
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• 2012

Purpose: The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) has been increasing in Asian countries including Thailand. Double contrast barium enema (DCBE) is one of the investigation tools used in CRC screening. This study aimed to determine the incidence of colorectal neoplasm detected at screening by DCBE in Thai people. Methods: The computerized radiology database of screening DCBE in Thai adults between June 2009 and October 2011 at the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, was reviewed. DCBE examination performed in a surveillance program after curative CRC resection or the removal of colorectal polyps was also considered as a screening DCBE. Results: A total of 819 screening DCBEs performed during this 28-month period were analyzed. The mean age of patients was $59.8{\pm}13.6$ years. Of the total, 467 (57%) were male. A family history of CRC and a previous history of curative CRC resection or polyp removal were noted in 34 patients (4%) and 124 patients (15%), respectively. A total of 31 patients (3.8%; 95%CI = 2.7%-5.3%) were reported to have colorectal polyp or mass demonstrated on DCBE. Of these, follow-up endoscopy was performed in 20 cases (65%). According to pathological results, the incidence of advanced adenoma and CRC detected at screening DCBE was 0.7% (95%CI = 0.3%-1.6%; n=6) and 0.4% (95%CI = 0.1%-1.1%; n=3), respectively. Conclusions: The screening DCBE performed in Thai adults had a diagnostic yield of 0.7% for advanced adenoma and 0.4% for CRC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1361-1364
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• 2012

Background: Results of screening colonoscopy from Western countries reported adenoma detection rates (ADRs) of 30-40% while those from Asia had ADR as low as 10%. There have been limited data regarding screening colonoscopy in Thailand. The objectives of this study were therefore to determine polyp and adenoma detection rates in Thai people, to evaluate the incidence of colorectal cancer detected during screening colonoscopy and to determine the endoscopic findings of the polyps which might have some impact on endoscopists to perform polypectomy. Materials & Methods: This study was a retrospective electronic chart review of asymptomatic Thai adults who underwent screening colonoscopy in our endoscopic center from June 2007 to October 2010.Results: A total of 1,594 cases were reviewed. The patients had an average age of $58.3{\pm}10.5$ years (range 27-82) and 55.5% were female. Most of the cases (83.8%) were handled by staff who were endoscopists. A total of 488 patients (30.6%) were reported to have colonic polyps. Left-sided colon was the most common site (45.1%), followed by right-sided colon (36.5%) and the rectum (18%). Those polyps were removed in 97.5% of cases and 88.5 % of the polyps were sent for histopathology (data lost 11.5%). Two hundred and sixty three cases had adenomatous polyps, accounting for 16.5 % ADR. Advanced adenomas were detected in 43 cases (2.6%). Hyperplastic polyps were mainly located distal to the splenic flexure of the colon whereas adenomas were found throughout the large intestine. Ten cases (0.6%) were found to have colorectal cancer. Four advanced adenomas and two malignant polyps were reported in lesions ${\leq}$ 5 mm. Conclusion: The polyp detection rate, adenoma detection rate, advanced adenoma detection rate and colorectal cancer detection rate in the screening colonoscopy of Thai adults were 30.9%, 16.5%, 2.6% and 0.6% respectively. Malignant transformation was detected regardless of the size and location of the polyps. Therefore, new technology would play an important role indistinguishing polyps.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.127-165
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• 2014

This article regards the phase of political confrontations in Thailand and Burma as a prolonged and inconclusive political struggle between national revolution forces and civil revolution forces. It argues that in Thai case, anti-monarchy constitutional revolution has led to a right-wing national revolution based on state nationalism consolidating capitalist economic system by Sarit's military coup, while in Burmese case, anti-British imperialism movement in colonial era has resulted in a left-wing national revolution grounded on state nationalism associating with socialist economic system by Ne Win's military coup. It is also interesting to note that the two cases experienced state nationalism denying autonomous civil society as a process of nation-building in spite of their contrasting ideologies. In both cases, it became inevitable to have national revolution forces clinging to official nationalism and state nationalism confronting with civil revolution forces seeking popular nationalism and liberal nationalism. In particular, unlike Burmese society, Thai society, without colonial history has never experienced a civil war mobilizing anti-colonial popular nationalism including ethnic revolt. This article considers Dankwart Rustow's argument that national unity as a background condition must precede all the other phases of democratization, but that otherwise its timing is irrelevant. In this context, Thai democratization without national unity which began earlier than Burmese is taking a backward step. For the time being, there would be no solution map to overcome severe political polarization between the right-wing national revolution forces defending official nationalism cum state nationalism and the civil revolution forces trying to go beyond official nationalism towards popular nationalism cum liberal nationalism. In contrast, paradoxically belated Burmese democratization has just taken a big leap in escaping from serious and inconclusive nature of political struggle between the left-wing national revolution forces to defend official nationalism cum state nationalism and civil revolution based on popular nationalism cum liberal nationalism towards a reconciliation phase in order to seek solutions for internal conflicts. The two case studies imply that national unity is not a background condition, but a consequence of the process of political polarization and reconciliation between national revolution forces and civil revolution forces.