Exploring Thai Cultural Identity through the Remakes of Korean Dramas : A Study of Transnational and Hybrid Culture on Thai Television

This thesis adopts the perspectives of media and cultural studies to interrogate ‘cultural identity’ and ‘cultural hybridity’ through an analysis of the influence of South Korean popular culture on contemporary Thai media production and audience reception. It posits that the deeply hybridized nature of Thai media, especially television drama, can be taken as a starting point to interrogate questions of Thai cultural identity in relation to authenticity, diversity and hybridity. Although Thai media have long been influenced by different cultures, typically from Western and East Asian countries, the official television remakes of foreign materials started as late as 2012 after the influx of South Korean pop culture, or the so-called ‘Korean Wave’, into the country. Hence to explore the features and definitions of Thai culture and to reveal the appropriation of foreign culture, as well as negotiation and reception in Thai contexts, three first remakes of South Korean television dramas in Thai versions, namely The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, Autumn in my Heart and Full House, are studied through three approaches: textual analysis, interviews with Thai remake directors and focus groups with Thai audiences. The findings from this analysis reveal that none of above-mentioned remakes fully follows the form and content of the original versions. Each has been revised, yet with a differing degree of cultural adaptation based on the directors’ own experiences and understandings of their national culture. In terms of audience reception, although Thai audiences in this study also hold a variety of differing views on Thai culture, they share similar opinions regarding Thai remakes of Korean dramas. To them, television is more of a local than a global medium. No matter how much they appreciate Korean television drama, if it is transformed into a Thai version and is called a Thai product, Thai audiences will expect to see what they believe to be Thai culture rather than other cultures. Thai remakes with a greater degree of localisation prove preferable to remakes that offer less adaptation. Disagreement regarding Thai cultural interpretation from Thai producers and audiences provides evidence that the definition of Thai culture is subjective, variable, and sometimes inseparable from other cultures. Furthermore, it suggests that a definition of ‘true’ or ‘authentic’ Thai culture is difficult to achieve. Despite this, however, Thai culture, by law, is something Thai people feel obligated to preserve. Therefore in order to search for a consensus on the definition of Thai culture or what to preserve, instead of describing Thai culture with tangible criteria and characteristics, this thesis alternatively suggests it is necessary to take into account the dimensions of subjectivity, flexibility and hybridity in viewing Thai culture

Lógica de swipe em smartphones no consumo de conteúdos por parte dos jovens

Numa sociedade de rápido desenvolvimento tecnológico, associado ao crescente uso do smartphone, surgem novos hábitos específicos de interação e consumo de conteúdos, nomeadamente, através de gestos baseados no toque. Um destes novos hábitos de interação é o swipe - movimento rápido efetuado com o polegar. Este gesto permite aos seus utilizadores tomar decisões de forma rápida, espontânea e decisiva, o que pode não remeter a lógica de swipe somente para uma vertente técnica de interação, mas também associar a mesma a possíveis mudanças comportamentais na interação com os conteúdos. Este estudo tem como propósito perceber se esta lógica de interação está implícita nos jovens, se fazem uso dela regularmente, e se terá implicações no consumo de conteúdos por parte dos mesmos. De forma a atingir este objetivo, foi solicitado a 34 estudantes do Departamento de Comunicação e Arte da Universidade de Aveiro que efetuassem um teste, com recurso a eye tracker, onde tiveram que completar as tarefas propostas, sendo que as mesmas podiam ser efetuadas com, ou sem recurso à lógica de swipe. Os resultados obtidos levam a concluir que os participantes com sistema operativo android não estão familiarizados com a lógica de swipe. Por outro lado, os participantes com sistema operativo iOS estão familiarizados e utilizaram esta lógica para completar as tarefas que lhes foram propostas. Por fim, os resultados também mostram que os participantes conseguiram efetuar as tarefas de forma mais eficiente recorrendo a esta lógica de interação.In a society of quick technological development, coupled with the growing use of smartphones, new habits of interaction and consumption of contents arise, namely, through gestures based on touch. One of these new habits of interaction is the swipe - quick movement done with the thumb. This gesture allows users to make decisions quickly, spontaneously and decisively, which may not only refer to the swipe logic as a technical aspect of interaction, but also to associate it with possible behavioral changes in the interaction with contents. The aim of this study was to understand if this interaction logic is implicit in the young, if they use it regularly, and if it has implications in the way they interact with them. In order to reach this goal, 34 students from the Department of Communication and Art of the University of Aveiro were asked to take a test using the eye tracker, where they had to complete the proposed tasks, which could be solved with or without the swipe logic. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that participants with android operating system are not familiar with the swipe logic. On the other hand, the participants with the iOS operating system showed to be familiar with this logic and have used it to complete the tasks that have been proposed. Finally, the results also showed that participants were able to perform tasks more efficiently using this interaction logic.Mestrado em Comunicação Multimédi

PROCEEDINGS Arts in History, Culture, Philosophy, Education, and Heritage

It is a great pleasure to welcome all of you to the beautiful city of Surakarta. Surakarta is a historic city with two great palaces located at the north and south of the city. It is a place for the International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Arts Creation and Studies (IICACS) since 2016. This is the second year of the conference. In this occasion we would like to thank to the many people involved in the planning of the events over the past years, from members of Organizing Committee, to Steering committee, and professional researchers and academic who made efforts to participate in this event. We also would like to offer special thanks to the guest speakers Phakamas Jirajarupat, Ph.D (Thailand) and - Prof. Jose S. Buenconsejo, Ph.D (Philippines) who travelled from far a way to dedicate their presentations, to the speakers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia,and from Mexico to whom we cannot mention them individually. This conference has significant meanings to all of us who made endeavor in our career. We provide opportunity to these people to exchange ideas, reflections, and findings in order to develop our fields. By attending this conference, we hope that we can strengthen network that will be beneficial for the better future. More specifically, we expect that this conference can facilitate all of participants to develop international forum that will foster better understanding to conduct collaborative works. In the spirit of friendship and international collaborations, and with the expectation of your active participation, I would like to express the warmest regards to you

A Framework for Gamification of Human Joint Remote Rehabilitation, Incorporating Non-Invasive Sensors

Patients who have suffered soft tissue injuries or undergone surgery often experience reduced muscle strength, flexibility, and pain in the affected area, which can interfere with daily activities. Rehabilitation exercises are crucial in reducing symptoms and returning patients to normal activities. This research presents a framework for human joint rehabilitation that enables clinicians to set engaging gamified rehabilitation tasks for their patients utilising non-invasive sensors and machine learning algorithms

Animating the Ethical Demand:Exploring user dispositions in industry innovation cases through animation-based sketching

This paper addresses the challenge of attaining ethical user stances during the design process of products and services and proposes animation-based sketching as a design method, which supports elaborating and examining different ethical stances towards the user. The discussion is qualified by an empirical study of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in a Triple Helix constellation. Using a three-week long innovation workshop, UCrAc, involving 16 Danish companies and organisations and 142 students as empirical data, we discuss how animation-based sketching can explore not yet existing user dispositions, as well as create an incentive for ethical conduct in development and innovation processes. The ethical fulcrum evolves around Løgstrup's Ethical Demand and his notion of spontaneous life manifestations. From this, three ethical stances are developed; apathy, sympathy and empathy. By exploring both apathetic and sympathetic views, the ethical reflections are more nuanced as a result of actually seeing the user experience simulated through different user dispositions. Exploring the three ethical stances by visualising real use cases with the technologies simulated as already being implemented makes the life manifestations of the users in context visible. We present and discuss how animation-based sketching can support the elaboration and examination of different ethical stances towards the user in the product and service development process. Finally we present a framework for creating narrative representations of emerging technology use cases, which invite to reflection upon the ethics of the user experience.</jats:p

A Different Path: The Minority Muslim Experience in Southeast Asia

This thesis looks at the three significant Muslim minority communities in Vietnam, Cambodia and Southern Thailand from the perspective of living in a predominantly monocultural, non-Muslim society, and how they function economically, socially, religiously and politically in this context. It particularly focuses on the time period from 1945 to the present day, from the end of the Second World War and the post-colonial era as this is a significant break-point and begins the recent era of local societies. The end of the Second World War brought about significant change in all three countries. All three had been occupied by the Japanese. (Thailand had joined an alliance with the Japanese, but this was a face-saving accommodation, leading to de facto Japanese government and rule.) After the Japanese defeat, the French colonial power attempted to reassert itself in Indo-China, followed by a similar American exercise of influence. In Thailand, a return to independence saw Thailand become a close ally and client state of the USA, a bulwark against Communist insurgency in the rest of Southeast Asia. By 1975 all three states were free of foreign control, and pursued policies of self-determination and independent development, albeit in dramatically different ways. I examine this situation from Muslim perspectives, from the governing policies of the states themselves and from the viewpoint of the non-Muslim majority citizens of the states. I endeavour to identify common themes and strategies and divergent reactions to their lived environment. I seek to answer the question: how have long-existing Muslim minorities come to terms with their environment in the societies of Southeast Asia that have a dominant, if not monocultural ethos, what will this mean for their future in the region, and what is its impact on the Muslim and global community? There are two distinct and clearly identifiable ethnic groups – the lowland Cham of Vietnam and Cambodia’s Mekong Delta and the Malay Muslims of the Southern border provinces of Thailand. The first group are ethnically homogenous, although split in two by a political border that can be rigid but is also a fluid means of communication and economic activity. The second are also ethnically homogenous, but exist within the borders of modern Thailand, where they vary from the majority population in language, economic status, allegiance to and treatment by the Thai state. By understanding the way in which these groups exist, survive, accommodate (or resist) their non-Muslim state and government structures, I draw conclusions about the success and future development of these societies – and of course, their failures. There are also interesting lessons to learn for multicultural societies coming to terms with Muslim minorities, and other Muslims working to develop in a non-Muslim environment. Although these groups are relatively small and have a low profile in the Muslim world, they are also deeply rooted, having been resident in their areas for significantly longer than the modern states that now surround them

MOBILE ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING (MALL):Teacher uses of smartphone applications (apps) to support undergraduate students’ English as a Foreign Language (EFL) vocabulary development

The purpose of this study is to highlight how smartphones, specifically smartphone applications, can be integrated into the vocabulary development of adult English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or English for Academic Studies (EAS) context. In the literature on Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), it is largely claimed that the development of language-related technology is on the increase and that the number of tech-savvy students will also grow in the future. These ubiquitous tools, which may also be defined as widely-used, could potentially improve teaching and learning outcomes in vocabulary development, especially through applications installed on smartphones. However, schools and other higher education institutes have not yet fully integrated these devices into their courses and have mostly perceived them as distractors. Moreover, there is limited research on how smartphones could be utilised sensibly, both inside and outside the classroom. This study, therefore, aims to explore methods and approaches which could facilitate vocabulary development and pre-teach EAP words outside the classroom through smartphone applications, while saving in-class time for other activities. The focus in the present study is on vocabulary development, as it is considered to be a priority area in language learning. The majority of language teachers and applied linguistic researchers have recognised the importance of vocabulary learning and aim to promote it further. McCarthy (1990) promotes the idea further, stating that the single, biggest component of any language course through the experience of most language teachers is vocabulary. It is the knowledge of words, which expresses a wide range of meaning. The participants in the present study were required to develop their academic vocabulary, this being a common problem area for EFL learners. Academic vocabulary development is important for them, because when submitting academic assignments, learners have a pressing need to use advanced level academic vocabulary items. This study was conducted using a case-study approach focusing on 20 EFL students at a university in Britain who were attending Pre-sessional EAP classes during the period of the study. Uses of smartphone applications were developed by the teacher, who also acted as the researcher in this study. The focus has been on the students’ perceptions, opinions and overall experience of using these smartphone applications in their EAP vocabulary development, as well as how effective they were. The intention was to discover how the tools can be incorporated into the learning process. The data were collected through questionnaires, a pre-test and a post-test, interviews, diaries and the researcher’s logbook. The latter included a written report of the students’ daily activities and learning experiences, their challenges and success/lack of success in learning. The study provides a rich description and analysis of the effectiveness of smartphone applications in vocabulary development mainly through qualitative data analysis. Limited use of quantitative analysis is made when reporting through numbers and percentages as well as displaying figures. It is anticipated that the results of the study will help to determine the appropriate use of smartphone applications in the vocabulary development of adult EFL students

Advanced document data extraction techniques to improve supply chain performance

In this thesis, a novel machine learning technique to extract text-based information from scanned images has been developed. This information extraction is performed in the context of scanned invoices and bills used in financial transactions. These financial transactions contain a considerable amount of data that must be extracted, refined, and stored digitally before it can be used for analysis. Converting this data into a digital format is often a time-consuming process. Automation and data optimisation show promise as methods for reducing the time required and the cost of Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes, especially Supplier Invoice Management (SIM), Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM) and Supply Chain procurement processes. This thesis uses a cross-disciplinary approach involving Computer Science and Operational Management to explore the benefit of automated invoice data extraction in business and its impact on SCM. The study adopts a multimethod approach based on empirical research, surveys, and interviews performed on selected companies.The expert system developed in this thesis focuses on two distinct areas of research: Text/Object Detection and Text Extraction. For Text/Object Detection, the Faster R-CNN model was analysed. While this model yields outstanding results in terms of object detection, it is limited by poor performance when image quality is low. The Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) model is proposed in response to this limitation. The GAN model is a generator network that is implemented with the help of the Faster R-CNN model and a discriminator that relies on PatchGAN. The output of the GAN model is text data with bonding boxes. For text extraction from the bounding box, a novel data extraction framework consisting of various processes including XML processing in case of existing OCR engine, bounding box pre-processing, text clean up, OCR error correction, spell check, type check, pattern-based matching, and finally, a learning mechanism for automatizing future data extraction was designed. Whichever fields the system can extract successfully are provided in key-value format.The efficiency of the proposed system was validated using existing datasets such as SROIE and VATI. Real-time data was validated using invoices that were collected by two companies that provide invoice automation services in various countries. Currently, these scanned invoices are sent to an OCR system such as OmniPage, Tesseract, or ABBYY FRE to extract text blocks and later, a rule-based engine is used to extract relevant data. While the system’s methodology is robust, the companies surveyed were not satisfied with its accuracy. Thus, they sought out new, optimized solutions. To confirm the results, the engines were used to return XML-based files with text and metadata identified. The output XML data was then fed into this new system for information extraction. This system uses the existing OCR engine and a novel, self-adaptive, learning-based OCR engine. This new engine is based on the GAN model for better text identification. Experiments were conducted on various invoice formats to further test and refine its extraction capabilities. For cost optimisation and the analysis of spend classification, additional data were provided by another company in London that holds expertise in reducing their clients' procurement costs. This data was fed into our system to get a deeper level of spend classification and categorisation. This helped the company to reduce its reliance on human effort and allowed for greater efficiency in comparison with the process of performing similar tasks manually using excel sheets and Business Intelligence (BI) tools.The intention behind the development of this novel methodology was twofold. First, to test and develop a novel solution that does not depend on any specific OCR technology. Second, to increase the information extraction accuracy factor over that of existing methodologies. Finally, it evaluates the real-world need for the system and the impact it would have on SCM. This newly developed method is generic and can extract text from any given invoice, making it a valuable tool for optimizing SCM. In addition, the system uses a template-matching approach to ensure the quality of the extracted information