Latest news with #SilpakornUniversity
Borneo Post
10-08-2025
- Business
- Borneo Post
Curtin Malaysia students win best presentation at International Chemical Engineering Summer Programme in Thailand
MIRI (Aug 10): Five undergraduate students from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at Curtin University Malaysia recently participated in the prestigious 'Chemical Engineering Entech Summer Programme' in Thailand. Hosted by Silpakorn University and supported by Nagoya University (Japan) and Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), the four-day programme brought together participants from Curtin Malaysia, Kumamoto University (Japan), and Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP). The event combined academic immersion, cultural exploration, and international networking to offer a transformative global learning experience. During the programme, students engaged in hands-on sustainability workshops, field visits, and research presentations led by renowned academics including Prof Armando T. Quitain from Kumamoto University, and Assoc Prof Dr Worapon Kiatkittipong of Silpakorn University. The Curtin Malaysia team clinched the Best Presentation Award for their creative engineering solution focused on enhancing coconut sugar production using sustainable techniques. Participants were also immersed in Thai culture – crafting traditional desserts and tie-dye fabrics at Tara House & Water Sports, and exploring iconic attractions such as the Amphawa Floating Market and the vibrant Maeklong Railway Market. The programme concluded with a visit to Phra Pathommachedi, one of the tallest Buddhist stupas in the world – a fitting end to a journey that combined engineering insight and cultural discovery. Assoc Prof Bridgid Chin from Curtin Malaysia's Department of Chemical and Energy Engineering, who accompanied the students, praised the programme for providing global exposure and supporting the university's commitment to produce industry-ready graduates. 'This programme exemplifies the kind of high-impact, cross-cultural learning we strive to offer at Curtin Malaysia. It is an important part of nurturing globally competent engineers equipped to solve real-world problems,' she said. She added that Curtin Malaysia looks forward to such international collaborations, empowering students with the skills, mindset, and global perspective needed to thrive in the evolving fields of engineering and sustainability.
Bangkok Post
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Bangkok Post
Art competition winners on display at BACC
A total of 18 winning artworks from "MR. D.I.Y. Art Competition 2025" will be exhibited at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Pathumwan intersection, from tomorrow until Aug 17. The competition accepted more than 1,000 entries from across the country and 52 of them reached the final round before a panel of distinguished experts handpicked the winning works across various categories. The panel includes Asst Prof Vichaya Mukdamanee from Silpakorn University, Asst Prof Sitthitham Rohitasuk from Srinakharinwirot University and Supachok Chumsai Na Ayudhya from Silpakorn University. The artworks were created under the theme "Identity And Diversity" by students and members of the public. The theme offered an open framework for contestants to interpret in their own ways, both conceptually and technically. It also allowed the submitted works to communicate through various lenses, cultural differences, social identity or personal identity, as seen from each artist's perspective. This was reflected in the diverse range of styles and techniques, including oil paintings, acrylics, printmaking and mixed media. Each piece carried its own distinctive quality and demonstrated strong artistic intention. The first prize winner in the "Student Category" is Pain Is Temporary by Kittiya Reangrob, who reflected her experience growing up as a woman in a working-class family, shaped by loss, poverty and social pressure. The first prize in the "Public Category" went to Traces Of Love by Asmawee Karee, who used an urban Muslim community in Bangkok to symbolically represent his hometown, expressing a sense of longing and nostalgia. Also, artworks by 34 finalists are simultaneously exhibited at Palette Artspace, Sukhumvit 55. Visit
CNN
31-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
4,000-year-old teeth reveal the earliest use of this psychoactive substance
For the first time, archaeologists have used advanced scientific techniques on 4,000-year-old dental plaque to confirm traces of betel nut chewing in ancient Thai communities. Betel nuts are usually chewed as 'quids,' a mix of slaked lime and ground betel nuts—which contain psychoactive compounds that boost energy, alertness, euphoria, and relaxation—wrapped in a betel leaf. The stimulant, which can leave a red, brown or black stain on the teeth, is thought to be the world's fourth most commonly used psychoactive substance, after caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine, with hundreds of millions of users globally. In the past, betel nuts have been identified at archaeological sites via plant fragments or stained teeth, offering circumstantial evidence that its use goes back at least 8,000 years. But using advanced scientific techniques, an international team of researchers has identified betel nut chewing in an individual with no dental discoloration. The study, published Thursday in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, provides the earliest direct biochemical proof of betel nut consumption in Southeast Asia, predating previous evidence by at least 1,000 years, said author Piyawit Moonkham, an archaeologist at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. The discovery of 'invisible' traces of betel nut chewing in the molars demonstrates that for some prehistoric practices, 'the visible evidence that we have might not tell us the whole story,' Moonkham said. Highly sensitive and minimally invasive, the method requires only tiny samples of plaque and offers a 'fascinating' way of finding more clues about the past, said Thanik Lertcharnrit, an associate professor at Silpakorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and an expert in Southeast Asian archaeology, who was not involved in the study. 'In terms of methodology, we have very few, if any, archaeologists using that kind of scientific technique, the residue analysis, to infer the life, the tradition, the culture of the (prehistoric) people,' said Lertcharnrit. 'This paper represents a pioneer; it's state of the art in terms of archaeological research in mainland South Asia, particularly in Thailand.' Researchers began collecting ancient dental plaque, known as calculus, from Nong Ratchawat, a Neolithic burial site in central Thailand, in 2021. The team removed tiny, five-milligram scrapes of plaque from 36 dental samples, taken from six individuals. The method, called liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), extracts, separates, and identifies chemical compounds by measuring how heavy the molecule is compared with its electrical charge. But before testing the ancient samples, the team needed a control sample — something they could compare the results with and demonstrate what traces of betel nut liquid might look like. 'We tried to mimic the culture of chewing,' said Moonkham, adding that in addition to the core ingredients of dried betel nut, red limestone paste, and piper betel leaves, they included catechu bark and tobacco in some of their control samples, and ground the ingredients together with human saliva. The modern control samples were tested first to validate the method before the dental samples were analyzed. They detected trace plant alkaloids – including betel nut's main psychoactive compounds, arecoline and arecaidine – in three samples from one individual known as 'Burial 11,' likely a woman aged around 25. Researchers say the benefit of the technique is that it doesn't destroy the original samples, leaving the remains intact for future study. LC-MS is currently used in a variety of fields, including pharmaceuticals, food safety, and environmental testing. But its use in archaeology so far has been limited, said Dr. Melandri Vlok, bioarchaeologist and a lecturer in anatomy and physiology at Charles Sturt University in Australia. 'A lot of the work that's been done using this (method) is looking for proteins in dental calculus for dietary reasons. So, using it to pick up these compounds that get trapped in the dental plaque, that's what's really innovative here. Nobody has done this before,' said Vlok. There's a reason it isn't common: the method requires expensive machinery—such as an Orbitrap, one of the most advanced mass spectrometers on the market, which identifies molecules by measuring the mass-to-charge ratio—that many researchers don't have access to, she added. 'It's starting to be used more routinely by some of the bigger labs, like Harvard and Max Planck — which makes this research even more amazing, because this is a paper with a Thai first-author, which is great,' she said. 'Seeing this research come from within the region is actually the thing that excites me the most.' The team on this paper included researchers from eight institutions across three continents, and the chemical residue analysis was conducted at Washington State University, where Moonkham studied for his PhD. The study's control samples, which created a 'standard' to test against, are another novelty, and future studies could refine this even further by considering how the compounds degrade over thousands of years, said Vlok. 'This is a method that I can definitely see being used quite frequently from now on in the region,' she added. While betel nuts have long been linked to hospitality and religious rituals, much of the research in recent years has focused on its classification as a carcinogen and the correlation between betel quid use and oral cancers. 'Betel nut chewing has significant implications for people's health,' said Vlok. 'It's something that affects millions of people in tropical Asia-Pacific today, but we don't really know how long people have been doing this for.' Better understanding where the tradition comes from, and how and why people are using it, could help address some of these concerns, she added. In Thailand, Moonkham says the practice has been strongly discouraged by the government since the 1940s, and while it's still popular in rural areas, it's now uncommon in cities and with younger generations. Although he recognizes the potential health hazards, Moonkham believes the practice has been overly 'demonized' and hopes research like this can show the long history of betel nuts in Thailand, and their importance in society. He has a personal attachment to the practice, too: he has childhood memories of his grandparents often chewing betel quids, usually while gossiping with friends or relaxing after a family meal. 'I asked my grandmother once, 'Why do you chew it?' And she responded, because it cleans the teeth and it helps me relax,' Moonkham recalled. 'When she chewed it, she tended to share with a friend, family, or colleagues. I think it's significant in the way it creates a social bond.' Researchers are still exploring possible reasons for the absence of tooth stains in the individual they examined, which they speculate could be due to different chewing methods, cleaning habits, or decay over the thousands of years since. Further research could help narrow down the possibilities. The team plans to analyze more individuals from the Nong Ratchawat site, where a further 150 individuals could be tested for signs of betel nut use, and Moonkham intends to dig deeper into the social, religious and medicinal roles of betel nut in ancient societies in future projects. The technique could also be applied to a wide range of plant and food residues, opening new avenues for understanding ancient practices. 'I think people tend to neglect the social and cultural aspect of plants,' said Moonkham. 'It's important to understand the whole perspective.'
Bangkok Post
07-07-2025
- General
- Bangkok Post
Diminishing roots of Tai Ahom language and its links with Thailand
The influence of ancient Tai culture in India and Thailand is evident in their language. People from Assam, a state in the northeast of India, for example call themselves "axomiya", with roots from the Tai Ahom community. Tai language belongs to the Tai Kadai family and has three branches; Southwestern, Central, and Northern. Thai falls in the Southwestern group. Everyday terms have been retained in both Tai Ahom and Thai, illustrating the deep linguistic connection between the Tai peoples of Northeast India and Thailand. The Tai Ahom trace their origins to the Mong Mao region, located in present-day Dehong, Yunnan province of China, or the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar. Their settlement in Assam and subsequent assimilation with local peoples created an enduring cultural and historical bridge between the Tai world of Southeast Asia and Northeast India. However, their traditional language is diminishing as modernisation remains a threat to indigenous culture. Dr Damrongphon Inchan, the dean of the Faculty of Archaeology (Department of Anthropology), Silpakorn University, and also co-author of Festival Of Joys: Dai/Tai/Thai Songkran And BohagBihu Of The Tai Ahomstates, said: "Ahom people cannot communicate in Ahom language except the priest who can read ancient scripts and practise rituals. It is not commonly spoken now. Only some people who get training can speak to the priest's family." The paper was presented at the 3rd Colloquium on the Dai's History and Culture (CDHC) in Yunnan, China, in April. Dr Damrongphon also participated in an international seminar titled "Recent Archaeological Pursuits In Burial Traditions Of South Asia And Southeast Asia" in Assam, India, in May. Despite later assimilation with the local Assamese population, Tai Ahoms retained certain customs, rituals and festivals, some of which remain similar to those practised by Tai peoples in Thailand, such as the New Year "Sonkranti festival" and Assamese Bihu. The Tai Ahom connection to both Thailand and Northeast India is rooted in their origins as part of broader Tai migrations from southern China and northern Southeast Asia, which included the territories of present-day Thailand. In the early 13th century, a Tai prince named Sukaphaa led a migration from this area, moving through northern Myanmar and eventually settling in Assam, India, in 1228. This migration was part of a broader movement of Tai peoples during the 11th to 13th centuries, when various Tai groups dispersed from southern China and northern Southeast Asia into regions that now comprise Thailand, Laos and Northeast India. The reasons for these migrations likely included pressures from the expanding Chinese empire and the search for new lands suitable for wet-rice cultivation. The Tai Ahom established a powerful kingdom in Assam that lasted nearly 600 years (1228–1826), paralleling the rise of Tai-led kingdoms in Thailand such as Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. The Tai Ahoms brought with them traditions, language and wet-rice agriculture -- cultural features shared with Tai groups in Thailand and neighbouring regions. The Tai Ahom community's advancements in literature shows a record of their history. The Buranjis chronicles reveal their history and culture written in their language and later translated into modern-day Assamese. Dr Damrongphon said that he wants to revive Ahom language and history. He believes that through conferences and collaboration with the Tai community, their language and culture can be revived.
The Print
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Print
Assam's Tezpur University inks MoU with Thai varsity for joint research, exchange programmes
Tezpur (Assam), May 23 (PTI) Assam's Tezpur University has signed an MouU with Bangkok-based Silpakorn University for academic collaboration, joint research initiatives and faculty and student exchange programmes. The agreement between the two institutions was signed on Friday at the President's Office, Silpakorn University, in Thailand, according to a statement.
