Implementing Knowledge Management

The growing reliance on intellectual assets to gain competitive advantage has necessitated the development and implementation of knowledge management systems in order to collect, organize and transfer all of the knowledge accumulated by modern organizations.  This study is presented as a consolidation of previous research performed in this area, and integrates this work with a meta-analysis of two real life case studies.  The corresponding results suggest that the tacit/explicit dimension of knowledge is a strong indicator of the type of knowledge management strategy a given company should follow

The Dynamics And Protection Of Local Culture Under Globalization On Lanta Island In Southern Thailand

This study aims to study how Lanta Islanders in southern Thailand can maintain their traditions and culture under globalization. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 30 islanders on Lanta Island and used content analysis to analyze the resulting data. The researchers found that, after the tourism boom and globalization came to Lanta Island, many foreign travelers have visited the island, causing local people to change their own way of life to support tourism. However, with government support, the local culture is still alive. The local people have maintained their culture in many ways, such as transmitting their culture to their children and mixing with Thai. We conclude that the Lanta Islanders still maintain their traditions and culture while learning about the world outside the island by adapting themselves in various ways to develop a mixed culture to live under globalization

Methane conversion to synthesis gas over platinum supported on rare earth oxides

The central theme of this research is to study methane conversion to synthesis gas focusing on the redox capabilities of cerium oxide. Reaction of methane with platinum or ruthenium supported on Ce_(1-x)Zr_xO_2 (x=0, 0.2, 0.5) in the absence of gaseous oxygen was studied in a packed-bed reactor at 550-700°C. The oxidation of methane utilized lattice oxygen of the support, which was subsequently restored by reacting with oxygen in a separate step. Thus, by using theredox property of cerium oxide, methane oxidation can be carried out by air without diluting the product with nitrogen. Addition of ZrO_2 into CeO_2 increased the reducibility of the oxide as well as the rate of methane oxidation but decreased the selectivity to CO and H_2. The rate of oxidation was initially very fast but slowed down as the oxide support became progressively reduced. On the other hand, the selectivity increased with the reduction of the support and sharply rose to over 90% as the support attained 10%,40%, and 65% degree of reduction for the oxide compositions x=0, 0.2, and 0.5, respectively. Partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas over 0.5wt% Pt/Al_2O_3 and 0.5wt% PtfCeO_2 catalysts was studied in a packed-bed reactor. At temperatures up to 650°C, the PtfCeO_2 catalyst gave higher conversion and higher selectivity but the activity and selectivity became comparable to those of Pt/Al_2O_3 above 700°C. The Pt/CeO_2 catalyst also maintained high conversion and high selectivity when the CH_4:O_2 feed ratio varied from 1.7 to 2.3 while the Pt/Al_2O_3 catalyst had considerably lower selectivity under methane-rich conditions. The effect of reducibility of support on the catalytic activity was discussed. A multiple microreactor system for parallel testing of heterogeneous catalysts was developed. The reactor system was composed of nine tubular microreactors housed in a single wider tube and used a multiposition valve to conduct the reaction products sequentially from each microreactor to a mass spectrometer for analysis. The catalyst samples were prepared in the form of thin films coated on quartz rods for convenience of preparation and loading samples in the reactors. The system was tested with the reaction of methane reforming with carbon dioxide over Pt/Ce_(1-x)Gd_xO_(2-0.5x) and Pt/Ce_(1-x)Sm_xO_(2-0.5x) at 650°C and 700°C. The measurements showed that Pt/CeO_2 had the highest activity and, generally, the activity increased with cerium oxide content. After exposure to the feed stream for 2-3 hours at 700°C, most catalysts suffered significant deactivation with the exception of the mixed oxides with 25-85% samarium oxide that maintained relatively stable activity

Local Wisdom: The Development Of Community Culture And Production Processes In Thailand

The objective of this research was to study the development of production processes and community culture in the Songkhla Lake Basin in southern Thailand. We used a qualitative method and did in-depth interviews with 25 local community leaders in 25 communities surrounding the lake. We found that the concept of community culture was developed through local community leaders to the agricultural production by using culture to run the production process, which is based on the concept of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. From this study, the authors found that this development has led to a decrease in residents’ use of technology and a return to the use of labor. The development also reduces the use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides. People have returned to the use of herbs for curing disease in humans and animals. In addition, the development helps people save on production costs and reduce pollution

The Favorite Cultural Places And Traditional Activities Of Travelers: A Case Study Of Songkhla Province, Thailand

The manuscript entitled The Favorite Cultural Places And Traditional Activities Of Travelers:  A Case Study Of Songkhla Province, Thailand was retracted on September 11, 2014. Please contact our office at [email protected] for more information.

Health Impact Perceived by University Students at Three Sites in Asia : Two Years Into the Pandemic

Two years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, education in universities is still being disrupted. Prolonged exposure to the pandemic situation may result in health-related problems for university students. In January 2022, we conducted an online survey in three universities in Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam for a rapid assessment of students’ perceived impacts on their health conditions. In total, 159 students from the three sites responded. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. A third of the respondents reported that their health condition was impacted, while female students perceived more impact on health than males (p<0.001). Over half of the respondents reported experiencing some stress, while students living in the dormitory had a higher tendency to perceive stress (p<0.05). Moreover, students in higher grades tended to have higher perceived stress (p<0.01) and higher perceived worry (p<0.001). There were also significant differences in the level of perceived health impact, stress, and worry for the future among the students from the three sites, probably due to the characteristics of respondents in each site. These findings imply the need to address not only the quality of education but also to improve health support services for students on the campus

Relationship Between Knowledge on English Grammar and Vocabulary and the Ability to Translate Texts

The purpose of this research was to investigate 1) the relationship between the knowledge of grammatical structures and translation ability, 2) the relationship between the knowledge of vocabulary and translation ability, and 3) the relationship between the knowledge of grammatical structures and vocabulary, and the translation ability of Master of Arts students in the Program of Translation for Education and Business at King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok. The samples, selected using purposive sampling, were ten students in the aforementioned program in the Faculty of Applied Arts, in academic year 2015. The research instruments were multiple-choice grammar, multiple-choice vocabulary, and written translation tests. The statistical analyses employed were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and simple and multiple regression analyses. The results showed that 1) the students’ knowledge of grammar had a positive relationship with their translation ability and could be used for the prediction of translation ability at 30.80 percent; 2) their knowledge of vocabulary had a positive relationship with translation ability and could be used for predicting their ability to translate at 24.70 percent; and 3) together, the students’ knowledge of grammar and vocabulary had a positive relationship with their translation ability and could be used to predict their ability to translate English texts at 29.10 percent. It was found that the score for the students’ knowledge of grammar was a more effective predictive score for their translation ability than their vocabulary score. However, there was only a slight difference between the ability to predict translation ability when using the students’ knowledge of grammar score alone and when using the scores for both grammatical and vocabulary knowledge together

Investigation of the Parameters Affecting the Die Failure in High Extrusion Ratio of Aluminium Square Hollow Profile by Using Viscoplastic Finite Element Modelling

The increase of the aluminium profile consumption required the efficient manufacturing process in order to support the aluminium profile product and capacity requirement. The life-time of the extrusion die was one of the important factors that could influence the productivity and quality of the aluminium profiles. This paper was the study of the effect of the extrusion speed on the extrusion load, temperature distributions and the stress concentration in the pothole die. The aluminium square hollow profile size 1.7x1.7 inch with the wall-thickness of 0.7 mm was used in this study. The aluminium initial billet was made of AA6063-T5, which has the diameter of 127 mm and length of 508 mm. This process has the extrusion ratio of about 106, which is considered to be extremely high. Viscoplastic Finite Element Modelling (FEM) was employed to simulate the aluminium hot extrusion process and investigate the results. The simulation results demonstrated that the extrusion load and temperature over the whole extrusion process was not uniform, and the die stress analysis could predict the weak area in the porthole die

Histological study of seventeen organs from dugong (Dugong dugon)

Background Dugongs are marine mammals with a crescent-shaped tail fluke and a concave trailing margin that belong to the family Dugongidae., They are distributed widely in the warm coastal waters of the Indo-Pacific region. Importantly, the population of dugongs has decreased over the past decades as they have been classified as rare marine mammals. Previous studies have investigated the habitat and genetic diversity of dugongs. However, a comprehensive histological investigation of their tissue has not yet been conducted. This study provides unique insight into the organs of dugongs and compares them with other mammal species. Methods Tissue sections were stained with Harris’s hematoxylin and eosin Y. The histological structure of 17 organ tissues obtained from eight systems was included in this study. Tissue sections were obtained from the urinary system (kidney), muscular system (striated skeletal muscle and smooth muscle), cardiovascular system (cardiac muscle (ventricle), coronary artery, and coronary vein), respiratory system (trachea and lung), gastrointestinal system (esophagus, stomach, small intestine, liver, and pancreas), reproductive system (testis), lymphatic system (spleen and thymus), and endocrine system (pancreas). Results While most structures were similar to those of other mammal species, there were some differences in the tissue sections of dugongs when compared with other mammalian species and manatees. These include the kidneys of dugongs, which were non-lobular and had a smooth, elongated exterior resulting in a long medullary crest, whereas the dugong pyloric epithelium did not have overlying stratified squamous cells and was noticably different from the Florida manatee. Discussion Histological information obtained from various organs of the dugong can serve as an essential foundation of basal data for future microanatomical studies. This information can also be used as high-value data in the diagnosis and pathogenesis of sick dugongs or those with an unknown cause of death