Search

This research paper aimed to develop a training curriculum to enhance the competency of music teachers in Buriram Province who graduated from Rajabhat University and became professional teachers in active learning management. The study involved 50 music teachers who participated in workshops and academic exchange forums. The training curriculum consisted of eight components, including the development of active learning unit plans and lesson plans. The research instruments used were the training curriculum, the active learning unit plan assessment form, and the active learning lesson plan assessment form. The use of the curriculum resulted in positive outcomes, with most of the active learning unit plans receiving high assessment scores, and the academic exchange forums effectively showcased best practices. This study provides insights into the development of a training curriculum aimed at enhancing the competencies of music teachers in active learning management, which can be adapted to other teaching fields.

Research about identity has undergone a discursive turn in recent years, with a shift from conceptualising identity as an essentialistic, pre-existing construct that drives social interaction, to a more fluid and hybrid construct that is constituted through discourse. As a result, a number of recent studies investigating the construction of international student identities have supposedly adhered to this latter, postmodernist-inspired notion of identity in their analyses. However, upon closer examination, these studies appear to be premised on the assumption that what international students say can be "equated" with their identities, without critical attention being paid to the way in which identities emerge as a conjoint construct through interaction. In this paper, it is argued that identities are invariably jointly constructed by participants through discourse, even in interviews and focus groups where the researcher is ostensibly taking a neutral stance, and thus more attention needs to be paid to the ways in which identities are discursively negotiated through interaction. (Contains 5 notes.)

The fighting fish Betta splendens is a freshwater species from Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. This fish has been domesticated for 1000 years and bred for fighting, various colours, body size and fin types for 600 years. It is one of the most important fish species cultured for the world ornamental fish market. This fish is easy to culture, highly fecund and displays great morphological diversity. Its biology has been studied for over 100 years. Recently, its compact genome and transcriptomes have been sequenced. Genome editing with CRISPR/cas9 has been applied to knock out genes in this fish. Its diverse phenotypes, including colours, colour patterns, fin types, and aggressive behaviour, are complementary to those of other model animals. Therefore, this fish could be the next important model organism for studying phenotypic variation and aggressive behaviour. In this paper, we synthesized knowledge about its aquaculture, biology, genetics, genomic tools, phenotypes and novel insights on phenotypic variation, sex determination and aggression. We hope that the information described in this paper will facilitate genetic studies on phenotypic variations in aquaculture and aggressive behaviour in other species, including humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an ethnographer's reconstruction of his experience in Thailand with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the flux of opposing biases he was subject to as a black African on one hand and a farang development expert on the other. The paper discusses how racial thinking affected dynamics in the UN office and in the field, and how and why those dynamics played out differently over the course of the project. It describes racial hierarchies and meanings situated in this particular country and era as a contribution to an unfinished anthropological inquiry: how blackness and whiteness are intimately woven into the everyday practices of development bureaucracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we return to a well-worn but still very live debate: the issue of the 'development' impacts of migration. Drawing on fieldwork in three villages in Northeast Thailand where domestic and some international migration are commonplace, we focus on two often under-examined aspects of migration: the affects of migration, and in particular the affective labour that makes migration possible; and the effects of migration on farming and agriculture. We argue that migration has manifold, under-appreciated impacts on those who remain in the village, whose futures may be curtailed and aspirations thwarted. Non-migrants are not just 'left behind' in the passive sense, they may experience migration as actively constraining and limiting. There are also hidden effects of migration on farming that run counter to agrarian transition pathways promoted by many governments and multilateral agencies. We conclude by identifying three gaps in migration research that sit behind our discussion of the affects and effects of migration: the gap between production/work and reproduction/care; between migrants/the mobile and non-migrants/the immobile; and between migrant and non-migrant spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-border trade between Thailand and Malaysia makes up a large volume of the land import/export in Southeast Asia, and economic value has steadily increased up until the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread across the world. This paper presents the issues with and guidelines for the development of the Thai crossborder trade checkpoint between Thailand and Malaysia. In addition, it uses qualitative methods through indepth interviews and focus groups and analyzes data using descriptive and content analysis. In addition, the study found there are several problems with Thai's cross-border trade checkpoint, such as a lack of equipment for inspectors, the fact that officers are not given a job description, and the need to develop more infrastructure. The Thai government should prepare all facilities and provide training to gain more knowledge about relevant laws, and it should set up one government unit/department for cross-border trade management with management authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioethicists and philosophers dominate the on-going debate on human enhancement. They have debated the definition of human enhancement as well as the potential impacts of human enhancement technologies (such as pharmaceutical enhancements or pre-natal selection). These discussions have percolated, through bioethics bodies and bioethics recommendations, policy makers and have eventually been translated into policy. While some suggestions have been based largely in Western liberal democracies, others have deliberated the geopolitical consequences of human enhancement technologies. This paper argues that the present debate currently lacks perspectives from developing countries. It begins by introducing the current debate on human enhancement and recognizes Allen Buchanan's well-raised concerns on how these technologies may potentially cause new injustices for low- and middle-income countries ('developing countries'). It then provides two arguments calling for further research into human enhancement from the perspective of developing countries. First, this paper will argue that the current frames with which enhancement technologies are viewed are inherently neoliberal and require change. The second argument shows how the potential impacts of human enhancement technologies in developing countries have not been fully realized by analyzing how human enhancement technologies will impact Thailand, a developing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's highly globalised, increasingly interlinked and extremely competitive auto industry, it is important to understand how some countries succeed in adopting the latest technologies while others are left behind. The creation of a competitive auto industry requires a deep supply chain. One that can compete in the global automotive space and develop and apply technologies as well as penetrate niche markets. Building on comparative research, this article seeks to understand the factors and power relations that led to the deepening of the Thai auto sector, specifically of its automotive component manufacturers, and how South Africa can learn from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional economics has long shown that entrepreneurship plays a critical role in the pursuit of economic development and wellbeing. At the same time, entrepreneurship is complex and evolving. The path between entrepreneurship and wellbeing is not clear-cut, and not all types of entrepreneurial activity are correlated with economic growth. Failure to acknowledge this heterogeneity has important consequences for entrepreneurship policy and human development, particularly where gender is concerned. The paper treats the complexities involved in defining and conceptualizing entrepreneurship, setting the stage for a focus on the gender dimension. As female entrepreneurial activity has risen in many countries around the world, it is important to acknowledge the diversity of such activity and the ways it does (or does not) correspond to an increase in human freedom. Highlighting the differences between necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship, this paper illustrates the formal and informal institutions that shape gender inequity in the entrepreneurial environment. It concludes with some suggestions for addressing this important issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the run up to the financial crisis of 2007–2009 many developing nations were subject to massive inflows of capital, capital that their financial systems found difficult to absorb. One of a number of policy options to respond to such inflows is unremunerated reserve requirements (URR). Two countries, Colombia and Thailand, deployed URR in the second half of the decade. This paper analyses the effectiveness of the URR in those two instances. We find that URRs were modestly successful in Colombia and Thailand. In Colombia, the controls were able stem an asset bubble in the stock market. In Thailand, the URR reduced the overall volume of flows, and the announcement of the URR caused a sharp drop in asset prices. However, some of the other goals of capital controls were not fulfilled. The results in this paper demonstrate that there is still a role for capital controls in the twenty-first century, but such controls should be more sophisticated than in years past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes two innovative and linked approaches to teaching and student learning in the environmental and development geography of the Mekong region, a region remote from students’ normal experiential options. The first approach is field-based learning through Field Schools carried out in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. The second approach is a structured role-playing web-based simulation exercise (e-Sim) on Mekong Basin environmental management challenges. This paper discusses the complementarities of these approaches and considers the degree to which these two experiential approaches to teaching and learning have contributed to key competences, namely cross-cultural communication and understanding, multi-disciplinary approaches to environment and development, and regional knowledge of Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case of higher educational development in Thailand is intriguing in the sense that the country, with the deep religious root of Buddhism, was never colonized; however, the shadow of Westernization in the higher education system is strongly evident. The functions of Thai higher education have played a crucial role in shaping the country's modern society in political, economic, and social aspects. The five terms of the state, the university, society, changing environments, and higher education functionality are adopted as a conceptual ground of the investigation. The intertwined roles and power relationships of the three actors—the state, the university, and society—surrounding by the changing environments at global, regional, and local levels have largely influenced and determined the functionality of universities in the country's development. The paper investigates the actions and interactions among these three factors under the changing environments that have shaped the major shifts and incidents of the country's development. It highlights the universities' functions in modern Thai society in the different eras. With the conceptual framework, the historical account of Thai higher educational development is analyzed through six phases: (1) Buddhism and Thai higher learning; (2) the threat of colonialism; (3) the Siamese Revolution and the end of absolute monarchy; (4) the Cold War and the military regime; (5) the Student Uprising, democracy, and soaring population; and (6) the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 and the forces of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The garment industry was once the leading manufacturing-based export sector of Thailand. While its international competitiveness has been diminishing since the 1990s primarily due to increases in wage levels, it nevertheless remains an important source of income for a large number of workers. Given this fact, we look at what survival strategies garment suppliers have adopted. In particular, this paper will examine the Thai garment industry from a global value chains perspective, and determine whether upgrading in process, products or functions has occurred. In this context, the paper shows that the Thai garment industry has been stagnating in terms of process and product upgrading. This, in turn, has induced suppliers to move to rural areas where cheaper labour, including migrant labour, is more readily available. We attempt to provide a more evidence-based account of this industrial relocation using unpublished data. Functional upgrading in more locally oriented production networks has occurred; however, competition in such functions has also increased, leading to price-based competition and the erosion of economic rents of network co-ordinators. The paper further argues that informalisation is becoming more common in production and employment relationships, and concludes that such strategies may not be viable in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper broadly examines the history of Thailand's models of development from the fall of the absolute monarchy in 1932 to the present. It asks two questions: First, what have the models been? How do they interact? And how successful have they been? Second, to what extent has partisanship entered into Thailand's development debate? The paper argues that Thailand's current development strategy has enabled the country to achieve a relative degree of success in achieving economic growth. Nevertheless, Thailand continues to encounter economic problems - felt mostly amongst the lower classes. Moreover, there is today a clash in development models, which is based more on political ideology rather than economic efficiency. As such, development debates in Thailand have become part and parcel of the post-2006 political acrimony which continues to engulf the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-colonial critiques of development reveal the neo-colonial potential of the development project, embedded in the imbalances of power in relations between West and East, First World and Third World. One of the core responses to the challenge of such a critique has been to turn to new participatory approaches that privilege local knowledges, locally defined needs and priorities, above the vagaries of aid agencies or the ‘expertise’ of development professionals. In this paper I argue that such a shift in development discourse and method has had a significant impact on the discursive practices of professionalism and professional responsibility. Drawing on ethnographic research with development professionals in northern Thailand, I argue that participation has emerged as a new orthodoxy among development professionals who seek to identify themselves as ethical and moral agents of an emancipatory development project. The rise of such orthodoxy has had clear impacts in terms of fostering the emergence of local organization and advocacy groups. At the same time, however, this paper considers how a ‘pro-local’ orthodoxy may also be having dis-enabling effects for the very project of emancipation that professionals wish to carry out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the role of population mobility in the transformation of the Mae Sa village community in Mae Rim District of Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand. Data for the analysis derive from an in-depth investigation in 1976–1977 and successive studies over the following 22 years including a substantial reinvestigation in 1995–1996. In these two decades, the village has been transformed from a traditional agricultural community to a ‘modern’ rural community with considerable employment outside the village and other links to the outside world. The paper discusses the complexity of the in- and out- migration process and the significance of the roles played by permanent and non-permanent migration in the transformation of the village resource base and social institutions. Special attention is given to social relations at the individual, family and community levels with implications on the definition of movement for the people of Mae Sa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-term international voluntary service is frequently linked to development discourse in the literature on volunteer tourism and the marketing materials of organizations that offer short-term volunteer opportunities. This paper explores the relationship between volunteer tourism and development in Thailand, and assesses the role played by development in the motivations and experiences of volunteers. Based on interviews with 55 volunteer tourists in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai, this paper argues that although development remains an important element of voluntary service in some parts of the world, the expectations, activities, and impacts of volunteer tourists in Thailand are best understood through the framework of international community service rather than through a developmental framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on multiple tourism destinations was a striking reminder of the vulnerability of tourism-dependent destination communities to shocks and stressors. However, the causal drivers of destination vulnerability remain under-researched. Furthermore, there are few studies that systematically apply and test the usefulness of new theoretical frameworks in assessing real-world problems like vulnerability to natural hazards. This crucial step in social theory development is often overlooked. In this paper we redress these fundamental gaps by “operationalising” the newDestination Sustainability Framework(DSF). TheDSFis used to guide a case study-based comparative destination vulnerability assessment (DVA) of the tsunami-affected destinations of Khao Lak, Patong and Phi Phi Don in Thailand to better understand destination vulnerability and its evolution in different places and developmental contexts. The findings indicate that destination vulnerability is created and perpetuated by a combination of multiple, dynamic and interacting factors, including geographical exposure, destination-specific development characteristics, social structures and governance processes. Underlying these factors and processes are competing stakeholder agendas and actions, historically-embedded cultural norms, institutional preferences and power structures that entrench and perpetuate unequal access to resources, all of which play out at multiple scales of social organisation over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate farmers’ risk aversion using the equally likely certainty equivalent approach and the negative exponential utility function to identify risk preference classification. Design/methodology/approach – Stochastic efficiency with respect to a function is applied to determine the risk efficient farming systems for the farmers in central and north-east regions of Thailand. Findings – The study results showed that maize followed by sorghum is the most risk efficient farming system for the extremely risk averse rain-fed farmers in the central region of Thailand. Intensive planting of wet rice and dry rice cultivation is preferred by the extremely risk averse central region irrigated farmers. Wet rice and cassava together with raising small herd of cattle is the most economically viable farming system for the extremely risk averse rain-fed farmers in the north-east region, while two rice crops with raising cattle is preferred by the extremely risk averse north-east irrigated farmers of Thailand. Originality/value – The findings of this study provide useful information to reinforce the empirical basis for risk analysis for Thai farmers. The results will provide more accurate information regarding risk at the farm level to policy makers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many foreign aid agencies promote peacebuilding as a global policy objective. This paper considers how they have fared in practice in subnational, “peripheral” conflicts in Asia that have relatively low international profiles, using case material from Aceh in Indonesia, the Far South of Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Foreign aid has supported long-term economic growth in these countries but typically failed to address peacebuilding concerns or associated inequalities between ethnic groups. Many barriers limit the scope to promote peacebuilding, stemming from recipient governments’ reluctance to accept external involvement and from aid agencies’ own limitations. Those agencies that do address conflict concerns tend not to use technical peacebuilding tools or methodologies. Instead, they prioritize the root causes of conflicts, recognizing human rights protection and equality of opportunity as policy aims. They also devise responses locally, build good relationships with governments, and work incrementally from a strong knowledge base. Wider adoption of similar policy objectives and practice would enable further small-scale peacebuilding initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to analyze the impact of railway development on economic growth in the case of Thailand by measuring the total factor productivity (TFP) levels during 1993-2015 among seven sectors contributing to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The findings indicate that investment in railway development increases capital stock growth, whereas, the opposite is true for the subsequent period. The standard approach is applied to analyze the effect of railway capital stock measurement on Thailand's economy. The empirical results suggest directional causality between railway capital stock and the economic growth of Thailand. As such, the growth of railway capital stock and stock per capita aims to achieve long-run economic growth. Improving the railway network creates railway capital stock accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Under what conditions does economic growth benefit the poor? One way to answer this question is to identify and compare positive and negative outlier areas, those that experience greater and lesser poverty reduction, respectively, compared to what was anticipated given their levels of economic growth. The more similar these areas, the more leverage there is to unearth the factors that allow the poor to benefit from growth. In this paper, we employ an inductive approach to glean possible pathways out of poverty from two highly similar underdeveloped neighboring provinces in northeastern Thailand. Using extensive fieldwork and interviews, we explore factors that can account for one province reducing poverty at a quicker pace than expected, even as the other failed to channel its faster growth into significant poverty reduction. Our study finds that in Surin province, because a strong network of local NGOs was working closely with provincial leadership, national policies that targeted the poor found fertile ground and thrived. Small-scale, low-tech, rural-based initiatives including organic rice, handicraft production, and rural tourism helped drive initially high levels of poverty down. Though many in Si-Saket also pursued many of these initiatives, they were structured in ways that promoted economic growth but largely prevented poor farmers from benefitting. Further research can examine whether this kind of “micro-oriented” path to rapid rural poverty reduction is useful in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Productivity has posed issues for global countries in terms of promoting older employment due to an emergence of questions regarding production efficiency. Individual characteristics result in varying production efficiencies, which in turn provide different levels of productivity. Taking this concern into account, we are here to examine the characteristics of older workers who provide high productivity in order to seek recommendations for fostering decent work for them. We utilized the dataset collected from the pilot service companies in Thailand who participated in a national initiative program for employing older people. A total of 204 older workers and their characters were then observed. Those characters were analyzed by the Generalized Ordered Logit Regression (gologit) model. Empirical findings indicate that allocating work that is related to communication and coordination to older workers would enhance odd ratio of their productivity by as much as 4.79 times compared to general tasks. Furthermore, employing older individuals on a part-time basis tends to generate higher-level productivity than full-time employment. We also found that gender and age differences have no significant effect on productivity in the service sector as people age, and factors related to types of employment, education, health, and financial status are also a precise determinant for the productivity of older workers. This would suggest that the work design for the older workers must be in line with the aforementioned determinants. In addition, the government initiatives utilizing key findings from this study to boost older workers' productivity should give priority on tax incentives, promoting and advocating for employment equality, and vocationalization programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the meaning of poverty in different periods, as defined by the use of language. It examines the creation of codes as a representation of escape from poverty. The author shows variations in the meaning of poverty in Thai society as three overlapping layers: deprivation, used to evaluate the poor in a straightforward way; development poverty, used for negotiating with the government in the sense of receiving development benefits; and social poverty, used to set social hierarchies. All three meanings have become integrated and have been selectively used in differing contexts in everyday life. However, they each share the feature of comparing differing degrees of wealth relating directly to divisions in social class. This reflects people's awareness of the poverty gap in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Protected areas are a key tool for conservation policy but their economic impacts are not well understood. This paper presents new evidence about the local effects of strictly protected areas in Thailand, combining data on socioeconomic outcomes from a poverty mapping study with satellite-based estimates of forest cover. The selective placement of protected areas is addressed by controlling for characteristics which drove both protection and development and by instrumenting for protection with priority watershed status. The estimates indicate that protected areas increased average consumption and lowered poverty rates, despite imposing binding constraints on agricultural land availability. Socioeconomic gains are likely explained by increased tourism in and around protected areas. However, net impacts are largest at intermediate distances from major cities, highlighting that the spatial patterns of both costs and benefits are important for efforts to minimize conservation-development tradeoffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines members of the Chinese diaspora who exited China in 1949 (or shortly thereafter) when the Communists swept over the mainland. Having settling in northern Thailand's Golden Triangle around 1964, these Yunnan Chinese established viable communities in the mountains drawing on traditional cultural knowledge about hill farming and diverse crops, as well as extensive ethnic networks based on their multi-layered Chinese identity. By focusing on production of cash crops such as lychees, tangerines, ginger root, and bamboo shoots, they developed a sustainable rural livelihood that can be described as environmentally friendly, economically profitable, and socio-culturally self-renewing. This study examines issues related to sustainable agriculture or livelihoods and the ambiguous meanings of "development." My ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in Banmai Nongbua Village, Chaiprakarn Ampore, Chiang Mai Province in December 2002 and in the summers of 2003, 2004, and 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite slow development of Thai economic history scholarship, research output in the last three decades has shed new light and improved arguments on classic debates using novel primary sources and quantitative methods. This article traces the evolution of three Thai economic history debates from the late‐nineteenth and twentieth centuries: (1) factors behind Thailand's slow economic growth; (2) the reluctance of rural workers to move into urban employment; and (3) the Thai government's failure to invest in large‐scale irrigation projects. The article concludes with a discussion of current challenges facing Thai economic history research and suggestions to move the discipline forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reasons why some countries outperform others in international football games warrant exploration. In this article, we argue that the synergy of economic development, democratic experience, football association duration, and low income inequality improves the performance of men's national football teams. Contemporary professional football is a typical "club good" that encourages members to act collectively by watching games, organizing associations, and investing in talent and capital for team success. We hypothesize that economic development sustains professional football, particularly in democratic regimes that allow collective action through football associations. Wealthy democracies most effectively shape institutional incentives that improve the transparency, fairness, and competitiveness of leagues and contribute to their prosperity, benefiting the talent pool for national football teams. In addition, income inequality excludes the talents from the poor and reduces national football performance. We used panel data from 119 countries for the period from 1999 to 2014 as well as fixed-effects models to verify our hypotheses. The result confirms that democracy improves national football performance. During this period, for instance, Panama, a young democracy, got 13.2% increase in estimated ln FIFA scores. By contrast, Thailand, becoming autocracy in 2007, experienced 12.6% decrease in estimated ln FIFA scores. Democracy stock also moderated the effects of a long football association history to improve national football performance. In addition, reduced income inequality increased performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Northern Thailand's Chiang Khong district, which lies along the banks of the Mekong River and the Thai‐Lao border, an community‐based environmental movement under the leadership of the Rak Chiang Khong conservation group emerged in response to processes that have appropriated territories traditionally used by locals for state‐led economic exploitation. The Rak Chiang Khong has put up fierce opposition to large‐scale development projects such as the China‐led navigation project, which planned to blast ecologically and culturally significant rapids, and hydropower dam development along the Mekong River. As a result, local‐level governance arrangements of the transboundary commons in Chiang Khong have shifted to counter threats both within and beyond the borders of Thailand. Through adapting fishing arrangements, engaging in community‐led research and establishing village conservation zones, overlapping forms of territorialisation have emerged in response to socio‐ecological changes to the river. These new forms of territorialisation are produced by complex configurations of political, cultural, and ecological histories, politicaleconomic changes, and transboundary dynamics. These territorial strategies have been key towards reclaiming the transboundary commons of the Mekong River for riparian communities, and providing a deeper understanding of the values that drive community involvement in the transboundary environmental governance of the Mekong River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People living with HIV (PLHIV) with oral problems usually suffer from malnutrition due to difficulties in chewing and swallowing, which lead to undernutrition. In addition, hyperglycemia is one of the major problems among PLHIV receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Up to now, in Thailand there is still a lack of specialized food products for PLHIV with oral problems that can be easily chewed and swallowed to prevent their malnutrition. This study aimed to develop high protein food products in the form of snack with artificial sweeteners, and to determine the levels of acceptance (taste, flavor, color, texture and overall satisfaction) by PLHIV with oral problems. Soybean milk pudding was selected as the food product since it is the most favored snack among PLHIV. All 3 high protein snacks (containing sugar, sucralose, and stevioside) were developed for 30 PLHIV with oral problems, and their sensory perceptions were evaluated. Results revealed there were no significant differences in all aspects of sensory perceptions between the 3 high protein snacks, except for color (p<0.05). In addition, overall satisfaction scores of all 3 high protein snacks were deemed to be acceptable by all PLHIV participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyze the effect of the income distribution between labor and capital on the growth performance of Thailand from a post Keynesian view. It rests on the theoretical model of Bhaduri and Marglin (1990) to see if an increase in the labor income share has a sufficient positive effect on consumption to offset a negative effect on investment and export demand. In order to investigate the question empirically we adopt and develop the approach of Stockhammer, Onaran, and Ederer (2009). Several measures of the labor income share are calculated to take into account the fact that wage labor represents only half of the total labor force and check the robustness of our results. We also introduce a new treatment of external trade to better integrate the price competitiveness of Thailand. The econometric investigation shows that the growth regime is profit-led over the period 1970–2011, which shows that rebalancing the Thai economy will be difficult and requires an overall change of strategy going beyond a simple prolabor policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaculture is equated with the reduction of poverty by intergovernmental agencies such as the FAO, which advocate the promotion of small-scale aquaculture through project-based interventions. There is a lack of convincing empirical evidence to support the efficacy of this type of intervention, however. Meanwhile, commercial cultured freshwater fish production has increased hugely throughout Asia, despite limited direct donor or government support. Its impact with respect to poverty also remains ambiguous, however. This article critically evaluates the developmental impacts of both immanent and interventionist forms of aquaculture and advances finely nuanced interpretations of both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trafficking literature often mentions underage prostitution, where paedophilia and virginity sale are considered particularly appalling examples of sex trafficking. At the same time it is ubiquitously assumed that underage prostitution, epitomised by the sale of virgins as elite commodities within sex trafficking, results in considerable profits for traffickers and exploiters. I argue that such views reflect a tacit projection of classic economic theory onto migration and sex commerce. This confuses more than explains how virginity sale operates within a commercial sex market as well as how social actors within this market understand such social practices. Drawing on detailed ethnographic accounts of how the trade in virgins is taking place along the Thai-Lao border, I elucidate how recruitment, value and exchange are socially and culturally embedded practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The speed at which international supermarkets chains have integrated themselves into Thai diets and food practices is without prior historical precedent. This article uses ethnographic data from Chiang Mai, Thailand, to examine how values surrounding food and food cultures are being sustained, are adapting and are being transformed. It examines both supermarkets and fresh markets as places where the values unfold in different ways. In discussing the sometimes competing, intermingling and mutating values, a Conventions Theory approach is adopted. The theory facilitates a discussion of the monetary, social and cultural evaluations of Chiang Mai’s food markets. In doing so it is argued that the conventions theoretical approach could usefully be extended from western settings to take account of non-western development trajectories and culture-economy interdependencies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thai, a tonal language, has its own distinctive alphabetic orthography. The study investigates reading and spelling development in Thai children, with an aim of examining the grain size that is predominantly used when reading and spelling. Furthermore, word and nonword lists were developed to examine the acquisition of the complex system of vowels and tone rules in Thai. Reading and spelling of words and nonwords were assessed in 60 Thai children ranging in age from 7 to 9 years 8 months from Grade(s) 1, 2, and 3. A lexicality effect was found for both reading and spelling. Spelling lagged behind reading in the Grade 1 children. Development rapidly increased between the youngest Grade 1 children and the older Grade 2 and 3 children. For word reading there were significantly more lexical errors than phonological errors. Beginning readers appear to predominantly use a larger lexico-syllabic grain size to read Thai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology has been proclaimed as a new technology that could bridge the gap between the rich and the poor countries. Indeed many countries in Asia are fast developing their nanotechnological capabilities. However, one needs to take into consideration the role that culture and values play in adoption of nanotechnological policies, keeping in mind that technology and culture are deeply dependent on each other. I offer a criticism of the dependency theory in economic development, which says that there is an unbridgeable divide that the poorer countries cannot cross. As with other powerful technologies, nanotechnology can create as many problems as solutions. I concentrate how insights from the Buddhist tradition, prevalent in Thailand, could illuminate how nanotechnology could be introduced into the lifeworld of a people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cleft lip and palate are major public health concerns in Thailand, particularly in the north-east. The challenge for a developing country is to adapt to its unique environment the form of multidisciplinary care of patients with clefts in industrialised nations. An epidemiological study of the incidence of clefts was made by reviewing previous studies conducted in Thailand as a guide to development of a prospective multicentre study. As a result, a system for the care of patients with clefts has been developed by the Cleft Center in Khon Kaen University. The new aims of cleft care in Thailand are to establish and develop specialised cleft centres and supportive systems for interdisciplinary management, adopt protocols for long-term guidelines, provide education programmes about clefts, develop a database, and conduct relevant research projects. Other key factors in its success are the multicentre project, collaboration, fund raising, and good public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted in 31 Karen tribal villages in Northern Thailand in 1999–2000 to address the question of why some villages have a relatively high prevalence of illicit drug use compared with others? Data were gathered from village leaders, residents, and through observations by field workers and the researchers, and included demographic, economic, and infrastructure development, and social and acculturation measures. Overall, few village-level variables were related significantly to drug use in the villages; those that were included: 1) better access to elementary education reported by ‘‘high drug’’ villages (81%) in comparison with ‘‘low drug’’ villages (29%) and 2) high drug villages reported having more alcoholic residents than low drug villages. The findings provide some support for the hypothesis that illicit drug use is positively associated with socioeconomic development, acculturation, and socialization into mainstream attitudes, values, and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]