The very first series of Thai queer cinemas--what was happening in the 1980s?

"In this paper, the dominant images representing queerness in the first series of queer melodramas, The Last Song—the very first Kathoey or male-to-female transgender thematic film in Thai film history—and its sequel Tortured Love, will be analysed and studied as to how these films reflected the Thais’ attitudes toward queerness in the 1980s."AsiaPacifiQueer Network, Australian National Universit

Association of antioxidant status and inflammatory markers with metabolic syndrome in Thais

Background: An oxidant/antioxidant disequilibrium has been suggested as having a role in the pathogenesis of some diseases. Metabolic syndrome (MS) is significantly associated with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The pathogenesis of MS is complex and not well understood. The purposes of the present study were to compare enzymatic and non-enzyme antioxidants, anthropometric, hematological, and biochemical findings between subjects with MS and without MS and to evaluate the relationship between antioxidant status and hematological parameters with the components of MS. Methods: Metabolic syndrome was assessed by using the modified National Cholesterol Education Program, Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Three hundred Thais, 124 with MS and 176 without MS, were included in the study. Each subject was tested for erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, (GPX), catalase (CAT), albumin and vitamin C levels, and hematological findings. Results: Subjects with MS had lower SOD and CAT levels than those without MS (p < 0.01). Subjects with MS had lower vitamin C and albumin levels than those without MS (p < 0.05). The hematological findings were not significantly different between those with and without MS except the white blood cell (WBC) count which was significantly higher in those with MS. SOD and CAT levels were significantly positively associated with HDL-C levels and negatively associated with components of MS. After adjusting for potential covariates, we found lower SOD and vitamin C levels and higher WBC counts were significantly associated with MS (p < 0.05). Conclusions: These findings suggest an alteration in antioxidant status and an increase in inflammatory markers are associated with MS and its components among Thais; subjects with MS may be more likely to have oxidative stress problems

The Roles of Filmmaking as a Tool for Youth Learning and Cultural Exchange: Two Nations One Mind Film Contest Project

The Two Nations One Mind film contest was launched by the collaboration between Pukyong National University (PKNU) in Busan, The Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) in Bangkok, Thailand. The project was funded mainly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, South Korea. The intention of the project was to increase the recognition of Korea in Thailand through co-production filmmaking between university students from the two countries. This paper aims to look at the feedback from the project participants from both nations as to how international co-productions resulted in cultural exchange and international youth cooperation. The paper also examines the films produced from the project,Blossom, Different (Yet) the Same, Two Taste, Two Nations and When I Was There, for how they reflect the elements of transnational cinema. The comments from the films’ audience were also taken as part of the data

Usage motivation of a new health application in the elderly and the general public through family institution and social media channels

The purpose of this study was to explore usage motivation and satisfaction of a new health application among the elderly in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The sampled population included elderly individuals living in the region, and the data were collected using a questionnaire. The resulting data were then analyzed statistically using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The results of the study revealed that the motivation for using the new health application was overall at a very good level. When considered in different aspects, motivation for application usage and self-care were found at a very good level, while the motivation from the application’s benefits and in recommendation or referral were found at a good level. As for usage behavior, users of the new health application were found to use it approximately 4 times per day. The outcomes of the hypothesis tests also revealed that the motivation from the application’s benefits and application usage were found to positively affect the usage satisfaction in terms of the decision to use with statistical significance level of .01. Motivation from the application’s benefits and self-care were also found to positively affect usage satisfaction in terms of usage frequency (times/day) with statistical significance level of .01

Simultaneous Confidence Intervals for the Ratios of the Means of Zero-Inflated Gamma Distributions and Its Application

Heavy rain in September (the middle of the rainy season in Thailand) can cause unexpected events and natural disasters such as flooding in many areas of the country. Rainfall series that contain both zero and positive values belong to the zero-inflated gamma distribution, which combines the binomial and gamma distributions. Precipitation in various areas of a country can be estimated by using simultaneous confidence intervals (CIs) for the ratios of the means of multiple zero-inflated gamma populations. Herein, we propose six simultaneous CIs constructed using the fiducial generalized CI method, Bayesian and highest posterior density (HPD) interval methods based on the Jeffreys’rule or uniform prior, and method of variance estimates recovery (MOVER). The performances of the proposed simultaneous CI methods were evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulation in terms of the coverage probabilities and expected lengths. The results from a comparative simulation study show that the HPD interval based on the Jeffreys’rule prior performed the best in most cases, while in some situations, the fiducial generalized CI performed well. All of the methods were applied to estimate the simultaneous CIs for the ratios of the means of natural rainfall data from six regions in Thailand

Simultaneous Confidence Intervals for the Ratios of the Means of Zero-Inflated Gamma Distributions and Its Application

Heavy rain in September (the middle of the rainy season in Thailand) can cause unexpected events and natural disasters such as flooding in many areas of the country. Rainfall series that contain both zero and positive values belong to the zero-inflated gamma distribution, which combines the binomial and gamma distributions. Precipitation in various areas of a country can be estimated by using simultaneous confidence intervals (CIs) for the ratios of the means of multiple zero-inflated gamma populations. Herein, we propose six simultaneous CIs constructed using the fiducial generalized CI method, Bayesian and highest posterior density (HPD) interval methods based on the Jeffreys’rule or uniform prior, and method of variance estimates recovery (MOVER). The performances of the proposed simultaneous CI methods were evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulation in terms of the coverage probabilities and expected lengths. The results from a comparative simulation study show that the HPD interval based on the Jeffreys’rule prior performed the best in most cases, while in some situations, the fiducial generalized CI performed well. All of the methods were applied to estimate the simultaneous CIs for the ratios of the means of natural rainfall data from six regions in Thailand

Confidence Interval Estimation for the Common Mean of Several Zero-Inflated Gamma Distributions

In this study, we propose estimates for the confidence interval for the common mean of several zero-inflated gamma (ZIG) distributions based on the fiducial generalized confidence interval (GCI) and Bayesian and highest posterior density (HPD) methods based on the Jeffreys rule or uniform prior. Their performances in terms of their coverage probabilities and expected lengths are compared via a Monte Carlo simulation study. For almost all of the scenarios considered, the simulation results show that the fiducial GCI performed better than the Bayesian and HPD methods. Daily rainfall data from Chiang Mai Province, Thailand that contains several zero entries and follows a ZIG distribution is used to test the efficacies of the methods in real-world situations