• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.223-262
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• 2010

This paper has been written to find facts about the image of earth goddess broadly found in the Southeast Asia. The research findings are as follows: Firstly, the image of earth goddess wringing her hair is phenomenally discovered in both Buddhist temple murals and independent shrines in Thailand. This phenomenon is common in other Indochinese Buddhist countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Secondly, the life of Buddha including the story of the victory over Mara is found in such Buddhist canons as Mahavastu, Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara, Nidanakatha and Patamasambodhi. Among the canons, the story of the victory over Mara is described in differently ways. Earth becomes personified as the goddess in later version. The main cause to expel Mara's army also changes from sound to water. Patamasambodhi is most closely associated with the iconography of the earth goddess of Southeast Asia. Thirdly, Vessantara Jataka and Indian ancient customs tell us that a merit maker performs a rite of pouring water on the earth as an evidence for merit-making. This rite is a key to understanding the meaning of the scene where the earth goddess expels Mara's army into the flood by wringing her hair. The earth goddess is personified from the earth upon which the merit water is poured. Water soaked in her hair is the very holy water poured by the Buddha whenever he made a merit in his former lives. The amount of water flowed from the hair of the earth goddess representing the amount of his merit making was so huge and enough to defeat the Mara's army and for the Buddha to reach the Enlightenment. This legend explains the significance of the notion of merit in the Theravada Buddhist countries such as Thailand and Myanmar where the water pouring rites still take place and the images of the hair wringing earth goddess are commonly discovered. Fourthly, the first image of the earth goddess as the witness of merits for the Buddha appeared in some Gandharan Buddhist sculptures in the form of devotional gesture with her both hands pressed together and the upper half of her body above the ground. The appearance is in accordance with the description of her in the Lalitavistara canon. In later periods, the form changed into various types and finally the image of the earth goddess wringing her hair appeared in Southeast Asia around 11 century C.E. Some researchers argue this image form of the earth goddess shows the influence from China or India. However, the arguments are considered to be hypothetical as they have no strong evidence to prove. Finally, the modern image of earth goddess shows richer and more dynamic expression compared with its predecessors. Especially, outstanding is the standing earth goddess images found in the scene of the victory over Mara in many temple murals of central region of Thailand. The earth goddess in her voluptuous body shape is usually depicted as wringing her hair with her arms wide open in a posture of S curve. This appearance strongly reminds us of the postures of Salabhanjika and Tribhanga originated from Indian art. The adoption presumably has been made to signify her fertile and affluent characteristics.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.95-107
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• 2012

As BTX-A, which has been known to be the most effective treatment for ADSD, is not effective in treating vocal tremors, voice assessment must be employed to perform differential diagnosis of SD and vocal tremor in an accurate fashion. In this study, the characteristics of vocal changes after botulinum toxin injection were compared by analyzing the voice characteristics resulting from the presence of vocal tremors using objective analysis devices, with the aim of helping to provide prognoses and to determine remedial effects in clinical cases comprising patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia accompanied by voice tremors. Respiratory function tests, aerodynamic analysis, electroglottography (EGG), acoustic analysis, auditory perception tests, and K-VHI had been conducted at intervals of four, eight, and twelve weeks before and after injection, targeting a group of 17 ADSD female patients (a ADSD group of four with vocal tremor and a ADSD group of 13 without voice tremor). For average FVC and FEV1, the T group showed statistically significant low averages compared with the NT group, whereas the T group showed statistically significant high average ATRI compared with the NT group. In addition, the T group showed a statistically significant Fatr, lower than that of the NT group. For the ADSD group of patients with voice tremor, their vocal tremor remained unchanged despite noticeable decrease in wringing voices. In other words, as the vocal tremor and wringing voices are two distinctive features, there is a need for the two features to be targeted separately for differential diagnosis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2010

Green tobacco sickness (GTS) is known as an occupational disease among tobacco harvesters, and a form of acute nicotine intoxication by the absorption of nicotine through the skin from the wet green tobacco plant. On the assumption that GTS may occur by inhalation as well as absorption of nicotine, we measured the airborne nicotine concentration in tobacco field and the processing room of tobacco leaves. We measured the airborne nicotine concentrations in the tobacco field and processing room between 13 and 30 July 2008. All sampling and analyses of airborne nicotine were conducted according to the manual of analytic methods of NIOSH 2551, and we sampled 2 times at 11 points in the tobacco field by area sampling. The sampling in the processing room of tobacco leaves was conducted at 3 points, and earlymorning dew was collected from the tobacco by wringing the moisture into specimen bottles. The airborne nicotine concentration [geometric mean (geometric standard deviation)] in the tobacco field in the P.M. was higher [49.2 mg/$m^3$ (1.3)] than the A.M. concentration [43.4 mg/$m^3$ (1.4)]. Similarly, the nicotine concentration in the processing room of tobacco leaves was 224.4 mg/$m^3$ (1.2), and the concentration of nicotine in the dew was 64.7 mg/${\ell}$ (1.7). Based on our results, the airborne nicotine concentration in the tobacco field and the processing room of tobacco leaves were 100 and 400 times higher than the occupational recommended values (TLV-TWA of 0.5 mg/$m^3$), respectively. In the future, it is hoped that epidemiologic studies and environmental measurements will be conducted for GTS which occurs by inhalation of nicotine. If GTS is confirmed to occur by inhalation of nicotine, respiratory and dermal protective equipment must be distributed.