Thailand's Ajarn: tracing material-semiotic relationships in Thai Higher Education

Thailand aspires to be a high-income nation through higher education global reform. This article explores Ajarn, the entry-level role and venerated honorific title for university academic faculty in Thailand, who, we contend, are key to international progress. It seeks to explain the relational symmetry between their role and the broader challenges encountered in Thai HE. Using a literature review drawn from sociolinguistics and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) semiotics, furthered by Bruno Latour, John Law, and Michel Callon, we adopt a theoretical material-semiotic approach to trace problems influencing Ajarn. We conclude with recommendations to support Thai HE reforms for collaboration on a global stage. In doing so, we offer an appreciation of the cultural complexity, sociolinguistic history, and capital of the Ajarn role. Indeed, greater cross-cultural understanding of this is needed, as we move, within Thailand, towards transformation in a more internationalised, therefore global, educational system. Journal of Mass Communication, Vol 10: 1 (Pages 157-203). THAIJO

'Reinventing' Thai universities: Ajarn, Thailand 4.0 and cross-cultural communication implications for international academia

Thai higher education (Thai HE) is changing. Thailand 4.0, a socioeconomic and educational development policy of the Thai Government, wants universities to ‘reinvent’ themselves into the world’s top - 100 and so draw closer to international ideas of quality assurance, research, impact and teaching. This has, for example, led to a radical proposed revolution in mid - 2020 for Thailand’s academic ranking system, one that is both unexpected and unprepared for. Therefore, using a literature review, alongside policy analysis, we describe publicly available information on Thai academic systems and question the forthcoming proposed changes against the pre-existing systems for academic progression. Through this, we debate the academic expectations and traditions in Thai HE. These are unique, a reflection of a country that prides itself as never having been colonised, yet favouring the borrowing, rejecting and reinterpretation of other academic systems. We propose consideration ofthe cross - cultural communication implications for Thai HE is needed, as it seeks to move towards an international setting. Then, we conclude that critical restructuring of academic ranks would create a more progressive educational policy, in line with international ideas of academia. Meanwhile, it raises further implications for cross - cultural collaboration, as well as communication, which has the potential for a lucrative knowledge exchange between institutes of learning in western higher education and Thailand

Nematode-based indices in soil ecology: Application, utility, and future directions

14 Pág.The health and functioning of soil ecosystems are the foundation of sustainable food production and land management. Of key importance in achieving sustainability, is the frequent measurement of soil health, and indices based on the community structure of nematodes are amongst the most widely used toolsets by soil ecologists. Thirty years after the development of the Maturity Index, we aimed to evaluate the application, utility, and future directions of nematode-based indices (NBIs). This review focused on NBIs that are calculated using the coloniser-persister classification of nematodes. Data from 672 empirical studies in terrestrial environments revealed that the NBIs presented a dissimilar usage trend. The Channel Index and Metabolic Footprints showed the strongest increase in application rates over time, thus indicating a greater interest in studying decomposition pathways and ecosystem functioning, respectively. Furthermore, nematode-based indices were mostly applied in agricultural systems associated with herbaceous crops and in studies investigating, for example, soil nutrient enrichment following manure and/or inorganic fertilizer application. We further provide a framework for selecting a focus-orientated subset of NBIs for testing hypotheses based on the underlying ecological mechanisms. Also, we highlight important considerations, including the unexpected behaviour of some nematode taxa, in the interpretation of NBIs. The improvement of NBIs relies on advancing our understanding of the autecology of nematodes. Finally, we deliver insight into the further development of NBIs considering recent methodological advancements. We highlight that NBIs have been and might become increasingly important in providing valuable information on soil ecosystem health and functioning, especially considering the urgent need for more sustainable land use.The contribution of JHS was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) — :— Project no. 420414676: “The self-regulatory potential of agro-ecosystems: Using nematodes as indicators for legume disease suppressive soils”.Peer reviewe

Analysis of Outcomes in Ischemic vs Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation A Report From the GARFIELD-AF Registry

IMPORTANCE Congestive heart failure (CHF) is commonly associated with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), and their combination may affect treatment strategies and outcomes