Mineralogical and Geochemical Characteristics of Carbonate Rocks for Lime Industry in Ban Pong, Chiang Mai Province, Northern Thailand

One of the oldest lime manufactures in Chiang Mai Province is located in a hillside village, Ban Pong, Hang Dong District, the western part of Chiang Mai City. Villagers still have conserved traditional production methods using wood-fired kilns and the primary material selection, an Ordovician marble. There are 2 massive amounts of carbonate rocks distributed in Chiang Mai Province; Permian limestone and Ordovician marble. However, the Ordovician carbonate rocks in Ban Pong were selected to produce high-quality lime by their primitive method (man-made) for a long time. Petrographical studies suggest that the Ordovician rock samples show a granoblastic texture with a slightly foliation represents by mica flakes. They are made up mainly of calcite, with very small amounts of quartz, muscovite, talc, and opaque minerals that can be identified as marble. The mineral compositions are according to the value of CaO, SiO2, Al2O3, K2O, and Fe2O3 in whole-rock analysis by XRF. The geochemical data suggest that marble in the Ban Pong area has a high CaO ratio and contains small amounts of muscovite, quartz, talc, and opaque minerals that may reduce the decomposition temperature during the calcination process. The Ordovician marble in Ban Pong is an appropriate raw material for traditional lime manufacture to saving energy in the production system. HIGHLIGHTS Limestone has been a geologic material in the lime industry from the past to the presence of human society Villagers in Ban Pong (Chiang Mai Province, Thailand) selected the western Ordovician limestone mountains to produce lime by a primitive process instead of the eastern Permian limestone mountains The mineral- and chemical compositions of the Ordovician limestones were intensively analyzed to characterize the suitable raw materials for a primitive lime kiln The mineral composition indicated that the Ordovician limestone in this area is metamorphosed into an impure fine-grained marble GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

21the Wheelchair Project Case Study: Leveraging Collaborative Efforts and Partnerships to Provide Assitive Devices for People Affected by Disability in Thailand and Southeast Asia

Many people affected by disability require assistive devices, particularly mobility aids, in order to live independently and fully integrate into their communities. Throughout the world, numerous methods have been implemented in facilitating the provision of these devices to people affected by disabilities. This case study intends use the Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development Wheelchair Project, located in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to evaluate the viability and efficacy of mobility-provision programs which adapt wheelchairs and other assistive devices not originally intended for the end user. Programs which must “retro-adapt” equipment, like the Wheelchair Project, rely heavily on medical and mechanical expertise to identify the recipients’ needs and safely modify the device accordingly. By examining the distribution statistics from the Wheelchair Project over its 20 years of operation and the needs of the disability community reported by the National Statistics Office of Thailand alongside a cost-benefit analysis of the declared value provided versus operational cost, this case-study systematically details the scope and financial viability of this approach. While not without constraints, this model succeeds in effectively capitalizing on available resources (both in regard to physical equipment as well as professional expertise) to meet the needs of those affected by disabilities in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Although still limited in size and reach, the Wheelchair Project demonstrably shows its viability and the potential this approach presents given the right circumstances.

Prevalence of Microsporum canis from Pet Cats in Small Animal Hospitals, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Dermatophytosis is a disease caused by dermatophytes, a group of fungi that can cause disease both in humans and animals. The important genera that are pathogenic in animals include Trichophyton and Microsporum. Microsporum canis is an important species because it can cause zoonosis and is commonly found in domestic animals. Cats, which live very close to humans, may expose humans to this pathogen. This research focused on the epidemiology of M. canis found in cats. Hair samples were collected via the Mackenzie technique from cats with and without skin lesions, preliminarily examined with 10% KOH preparation, and cultured for fungal identification. Samples were confirmed with molecular techniques including polymerase chain reaction, gel electrophoresis, and sequencing. Samples were collected from 138 cats located in 93 households, 43 from cats with skin lesions (31.16%) and 95 from cats without skin lesions (68.84%). Eighteen cats with lesions (13.04%) and ten cats without lesions (7.2%) were found to carry M. canis. In eleven of the eighteen cats both with skin lesions and positive for M. canis (61.11%), the pathogen was found both at the site of the lesion and at other sites in the body. Because the pathogen can be found in the hair of cats with and without skin lesions, owners, keepers, veterinarians, and others who come into contact with these animals are at risk of infection if they are not aware or do not take precautions after contact with them.

Assessing Spatiotemporal Built-up Dynamics in Chiang Mai City, Thailand using Entropy approach

The rates of urban dynamics affecting by industrialization, urban agglomeration, and large-scale migration turn its behaviour from monocentric to polycentric metropolitan resulting in unprecedented urban growth. Therefore, the present study incorporated an entropy-based approach to measure the degree of compactness and dispersiveness of urban development in Chiang Mai City. The Object-based machine learning was deployed for the image classifications with an overall accuracy above the minimum requirements (i.e., 90%) and kappa statistic of agreement above 0.85. The study reveals that Chiang Mai city has undergone urban development outskirts from the urban centre (CBD) and north and south-west direction from the CBD. A considerable increase in urban demographic and physical urban patches was observed in last 1998 to 2018. The research emphasized the significant role of Shannon Entropy to analyze the built-up growth supplemented by Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) in respective zones and geographical directions.

Integration of breast cancer care in a middle-income country: learning from Suandok Breast Cancer Network (SBCN)

Background Breast cancer incidence in Northern Thailand has shown a continuous increase since records began in 1983. In 2002 the urgency of the situation prompted Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital to initiate the Suandok Breast Cancer Network (SBCN). Methods The SBCN is a not-for-profit organization in the university hospital which serves as a training and education center and provides highly specialized medical care for patients in Chiang Mai and in 5 provinces of northern Thailand, with the key mission of improving breast cancer care. The short-term goal was to overcome the barriers to engagement with breast cancer and its treatment and the long-term goal was to increase the overall survival rate of breast cancer patients in our region. Results We enrolled breast cancer patients treated at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital between January 2006 and December 2015 and divided into 2 cohorts: 1485 patients who were diagnosed from 2006 to 2009 (cohort 1: early implementation of SBCN) and 2383 patients who were diagnosed from 2010 to 2015 (cohort 2: full implementation of SBCN). Criteria to measure improved cancer waiting time (CWT) would include: time to diagnosis, time to surgery, and time to radiotherapy. The 5-year overall survival (OS) of the cohort 2 was higher than that in cohort 1, at 73.8 (72.0–75.5) compared to 71.5 (69.2–73.7) (p-value = 0.03). Conclusions Reasons behind the success of project include the uniformity of care encouragement, service network development and timely access to each step of breast cancer management. The model used in SBCN could be adopted as a learning guide to improve healthcare access and outcome for breast cancer patients in low- to middle-income countries.

Estimation of Travel Demand for Bangkok–Chiang Mai Hyperloop Using Traveler Surveys

Hyperloop, projected as fast and efficient, and envisaged as the future of high-speed transportation, does not have much published information about its demand estimation. This paper aims to estimate the willingness of air and car passengers to shift to hyperloop. A nested logit model was used to analyze stated preference data gathered from the air and car travelers along the Bangkok–Chiang Mai sector in Thailand. The variables contributing the most to the modal shift towards hyperloop are total travel cost, total travel time, monthly income, gender, education level, bearer of trip expenses, and number of trips in the last 6 months and duration of stay at the destination. The highest value of elasticity for hyperloop is obtained for the total travel cost followed by total travel time and monthly income. It is concluded that hyperloop will be the predominant mode of transportation between the Bangkok–Chiang Mai sectors with a modal share of almost 50% by the year 2025. Survey results also revealed that the preferences of the passengers in order of priorities for long distance travel are comfort, low travel cost, less travel time, safety, high frequency of travel mode and low CO2 emission. The main contribution of this paper is to provide an insight on factors that may contribute towards a possible shift in mode from car and air to hyperloop. The study will be beneficial to policy makers in developing a strategy for a more efficient mass transportation system using new and emerging technologies.

Possibilities for Decentralisation in Thailand: A View from Chiang Mai

In this article we examine radical proposals for political, administrative and fiscal decentralisation in Thailand which were developed for Chiang Mai as a potential model for Thailand as a whole. They lay emphasis on local self-government and citizen participation. We argue that these proposals offer a way forward for a Thai decentralisation process that has yet to proceed to the extent envisaged when it was commenced in the 1990s as part of democratisation, embraced most notably in the 1997 Constitution. Moreover, this process, we argue, offers a way out of the extreme confrontation between the yellow and red factions that has troubled Thailand since 2005. As Thailand returns to civilian rule after five years of military government, and local and provincial government comes once more to the fore, we argue that the Chiang Mai Metropolitan Administration Bill of 2013 offer more local democracy as well as imaginative ways of recruiting the enthusiasm of local stakeholders in a system designed to link provincial and local authorities, and the citizenry, in a virtuous circle of democracy and development.

Emergence of Multiple Novel Inter-Genotype Recombinant Strains of Human Astroviruses Detected in Pediatric Patients With Acute Gastroenteritis in Thailand

Objective: Human astrovirus (HAstV) is recognized as an important cause of acute gastroenteritis in children. Recombination between different genotypes of HAstV can contribute to diversity and evolution of the virus. This study aimed to investigate the emergence of HAstV recombinant strains in pediatric patients hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in Chiang Mai, Thailand, spanning 2011–2020.Methods: A total of 92 archival HAstV strains collected from pediatric patients with acute gastroenteritis during 2011–2020 were further characterized to identify the recombinant strains. The ORF1b and ORF2 junction region of each strain was amplified and sequenced. The obtained sequences were analyzed in comparison with the reference sequences retrieved from GenBank database. Their genotypes were assigned using MEGA X software based on the partial ORF1b (RdRp) and ORF2 (capsid) regions, and the recombination breakpoints of recombinant strains were determined by SimPlot and RDP4 analyses.Results: Five inter-genotype recombinant strains with three recombination patterns of ORF1b/ORF2 of classic HAstV, HAstV8/HAstV1, HAstV8/HAstV3, and HAstV3/HAstV2, were detected. The recombination breakpoints of all strains were located at the 3′-end region of ORF1b close to the ORF1b/ORF2 junction.Conclusion: Several novel inter-genotype recombinant strains of classic HAstV genotypes were detected in pediatric patients with acute gastroenteritis in Chiang Mai, Thailand, during the period of 10 years from 2011 to 2020.