ON MASTURBATION: RELIGIOUS PURITY AND INSTITUTIONAL HEGEMONY IN ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS AND BUDDHISM

This paper analyzes the attitudes to masturbation in the Abrahamic religions and Buddhism. Textual interpretation has been used to scrutinize the primary sources within religious texts, while Weber’s ideas on legitimacy and domination have been employed to elucidate the effect of religious injunctions against masturbation. The findings reveal that the primary sources used to condemn masturbation in Abrahamic religion is not clear, and so it should not be considered dogmatically. The interpretations of those sources draw connection between masturbation and such ideas as lust and impurity, which are measured with reference to a spiritual elite. Buddhism sees sexual desire in relation to suffering that must be able to overcome for those who desire enlightenment. Though its theological background is different the Buddhist examples help clarify the Abrahamic worldviews on masturbation. Moreover, the holy status of Catholic priests and Buddhist monks, who are viewed as a spiritual elite, is achieved by abstaining from sex and masturbation, and this hierarchy serves to designate as sinful and impure the practice of masturbation

Community-Based Creative Tourism Management to Enhance Local Sustainable Development in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand

Encouraging local people to participate in tourism planning and management can enhance local sustainable development because the host community plays a major role in the future direction of tourism (Murphy, 1985 and Mowforth and Munt, 1998). However, tourism sites in developing countries have limitations in terms of local participatory actions (Tosun, 2000). From the 1990s onwards, creative tourism has increased in popularity in many places around the world. This is thought to be due to its generation of profits that can be used to develop and preserve communities and provide a motivation for local participation. Previous studies have indicated creative tourism is one appropriate solution for challenges in cultural tourism because it can respond to the needs of cultural-based tourism sites to revive and differentiate themselves and provide for active tourists’ needs. There have only been a few studies that have explored the links between sustainable development and creative tourism (Solène, 2011; and Vide 2013). No study has yet linked community-based management with creative tourism. In this study, grounded theory was applied to provide an intensive explanation of the phenomenon and to produce a framework to assist with sustainable development in a community that has value in terms of local wisdom and culture in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. It presents the factors and processes of community-based creative tourism management which can encourage a higher level of local participatory action and lead to local sustainable development. It is the result of collaboration among local stakeholders, residents and tourism networks and was produced to create a sustainable process of community-based development and management of creative tourism activities that provide valuable knowledge and skills for tourists while developing and preserving the community. The research results can add to previous literature with a new theoretical perspective into community-based creative tourism management in rural areas.Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University, Thailan

Soluble inhibitors generated during hydrothermal pretreatment of oil palm mesocarp fiber suppressed the catalytic activity of Acremonium cellulase

Oil palm mesocarp fiber was subjected to hydrothermal pretreatment under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. The pretreated slurries were separated by filtration, pretreated liquids and solids were characterized. An enzymatic digestibility study was performed for both pretreated slurries and solids to understand the effect of soluble inhibitors generated during the pretreatment process. The highest glucose yield obtained from pretreated slurries was 70.1%, and gradually decreased with higher pretreatment severities. The highest glucose yield obtained in pretreated solids was 100%, after pretreatment at 210 °C for 20 min. In order to study the inhibitory effects of compounds generated during pretreatment with cellulase, technical grade solutions that mimic the pretreated liquid were prepared and their effect on Acremonium cellulase activity was monitored using Avicel. Xylo-oligomers and tannic acid were identified as powerful inhibitors of Acremonium cellulase, and the lowest hydrolysis rate of Avicel of 0.18 g/g-glucose released/L/h was obtained from tannic acid

Synthesis and Investigation of Tetrahydro-β-carboline Derivatives as Inhibitors of Plant Pathogenic Fungi

A series of tetrahydro-ß-carbolines substituted with an alkyl or acyl side chain was synthesized and screened for its antifungal activity against plant pathogenic fungi (Bipolaris oryzae, Curvularia lunata, Fusarium semitectum, and Fusarium fujikuroi). The structure activity relationship revealed that the substituent at the piperidine nitrogen plays an important role for increasing antifungal activities. In this series, 2-octyl-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole (3g) displayed potent antifungal activities with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.1 μg/mL, including good inhibitory activity to the radial growth of fungus at a concentration of 100 μg/mL compared to amphotericin B

First-lactation milk fat-to-protein ratio in tropically-raised dairy cows: environmental and genetic influences

The objective of this research was to determine factors influencing to fat-to-protein ratio (FPR) in the first-lactation of dairy cows raised in tropical climate. The dataset included fat percentage, protein percentage, and FPR values from 160,506 records representing 23,201 first-lactation cows that calved between 1993 and 2017. These cows originated from 508 farms in all regions of Thailand. The data were analyzed using the general linear model procedure in the R program. The models included herd-year-season of records, and breed group as fixed effects, and age at calving and days in milk as covariates. The result showed that the average fat percentage, protein percentage, and FPR were 3.560±0.960, 3.130±0.390 and 1.150±0.330, respectively. Effects of herd-year-season of records, breed group, age at calving, and days in milk were highly significant for all traits (P<0.05). Cows containing less than 87.50% Holstein Friesian (HF) blood gave fat percentage, protein percentage and FPR higher than 93.75%HF and 87.50-93.74%HF. The FPR was highest in the winter and lowest in the summer. In conclusion, present results indicated that fat percentage, protein percentage and FPR are clearly influenced by both genetic and non-genetic factors. Therefore, development of different breed, feeding systems, according to season and herd is needed to produce quality of fat and protein percentage

บรรจุภัณฑ์ชานอ้อยต้านเชื้อราด้วยสารสกัดจากขมิ้นชันสำหรับเพาะผักสลัดกรีนคอส

โครงงานพิเศษ (วท.บ.) -- มหาวิทยาลัยเทคโนโลยีราชมงคลพระนคร, 2561The purpose of this research was to develop bagasse packaging antagonizing fungi with turmeric extract for Green Cos Lettuce cultivation. The bagasse package would incorporated with fungistatic turmeric extract, instead of using chemicals, at concentrations 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 and 20,000 ppm. The packaging characteristics, efficiency of turmeric extract, and the growth of Green Cos Lettuce determined into the percentage of germination, height measurement, fungi, contamination characteristic were tested under the presence and absent antifungal bagasse The plant seedling spreading onto the surface, of the packaging with turmeric extracts could be excelled for -their growth, with the induction of germination rate of 92-97 percentages. Turmeric extracts at concentrations of 15,000 and 20,000 ppm had also expel the emergence of Penicillum sp. inhibit Rhizopus sp., and slow down Colletotrichum sp. Moreover, the turmeric extract caused packaging decaying by itself slowly, possibly helping in common airborne mold prevention. This green safe material showed the respectably effective for Green Cos Lettuce seedling especially for the fungal pathogen contamination during implantations. This research based on using natural extracts and natural fibers from agricultural waste is thus being ecofriendly nonchemical application of packaging product with easily digested for decent, consumers who love their health and care environment.Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakho

Target Identification of 22-(4-Pyridinecarbonyl) Jorunnamycin A, a Tetrahydroisoquinoline Derivative from the Sponge <i>Xestospongia</i> sp., in Mediating Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Cell Apoptosis

A dysregulation of the cell-death mechanism contributes to poor prognosis in lung cancer. New potent chemotherapeutic agents targeting apoptosis-deregulating molecules have been discovered. In this study, 22-(4-pyridinecarbonyl) jorunnamycin A (22-(4′py)-JA), a synthetic derivative of bistetrahydroisoquinolinequinone from the Thai blue sponge, was semisynthesized by the Steglich esterification method, and its pharmacological mechanism in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was elucidated by a network pharmacology approach. All predicted targets of 22-(4′py)-JA and genes related to NSCLC were retrieved from drug-target and gene databases. A total of 78 core targets were identified, and their associations were analyzed by STRING and Cytoscape. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses revealed that molecules in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling were potential targets of 22-(4′py)-JA in the induction of NSCLC apoptosis. In silico molecular docking analysis displayed a possible interaction of ERK1/2 and MEK1 with 22-(4′py)-JA. In vitro anticancer activity showed that 22-(4′py)-JA has strong cytotoxic and apoptosis-inducing effects in H460, H292 and A549 NSCLC cells. Furthermore, immunoblotting confirmed that 22-(4′py)-JA induced apoptotic cell death in an ERK/MEK/Bcl-2-dependent manner. The present study demonstrated that 22-(4′py)-JA exhibited a potent anticancer effect that could be further developed for clinical application and showed that network pharmacology approaches are a powerful tool to illustrate the molecular pathways of new drugs or compounds