Tag: Thammasat University

QR code has now been utilized to verify the authenticity of bird’s nests or swallow nests using cloud technology. This award-winning innovation showcases the potential of Thai research to be commercially developed in order to meet the needs of consumers in the digital age. It will be exhibited at the Future Thailand event organized by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation (MHESI).

Mr. Jakkrit Thavorn, a professor in the Department of Organization, entrepreneurship, and Human Resource Management, Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, and a researcher and developer of “EBN-QR: Edible QR Code for Authenticity Verification of Bird’s Nests using Cloud Technology,” states that EBN-QR is a biodegradable QR code that its paper, glue, and ink can be consumed without altering the taste of the nest.

The QR code label is an innovation designed to support the verification of production for consumers who purchase and consume or process health-promoting food. It will be attached to each bird’s nest, allowing consumers to scan it using their smartphones to access relevant important information. This information will be connected to cloud technology, including farm location data, production standards, production processes, farm care, and nest cleanliness and safety. This verification system helps promote sustainable commercial bird farming, creating a balance between industrial growth and environmental conservation.

In the United States, there are also edible labels, which are used to check if the medication is suitable for the patient and to verify if it is genuine or counterfeit. Similarly, EBN-QR is used to check the items that need to be consumed. Thai bird’s nest is also a high-value export product of the country. If counterfeit goods are received, their nutritional value will likely be compromised.

In addition to ensuring customer safety and highlighting the qualities of the bird’s nests, the QR codes will eliminate the need for plastic labels, which take a long time to decompose. Moreover, everyone needs to consider climate change and try to cut back on plastic waste.

EBN-QR has received an award from “The 17th International Warsaw Invention Show” (IWIS 2023), an international exhibition of inventions held in Warsaw, Poland.

‘Blockchain’, an advanced data storage technology that has been reconditioned as a tool to support direct democracy. The use of ‘blockchain’ in supporting elections is considered a tendency or trend of the era. Currently, there are many countries that use it.

For Thailand, recently, a research team from Thammasat University by the Office of Business Incubation Center and Intellectual Property has invented, developed, and designed to adopt blockchain technology in election process under the project, “Online Election System Using Blockchain via THAIVOTE.io”, which has been piloted and becoming a compelling social innovation.

In terms of development, Thammasat started the “Online Election System Using Blockchain via THAIVOTE.io” back in 2017 under the budget from the Department of Physical Education. It later has been progressively improved and officially piloted for actual usage in the ‘Surat Thani Public Health Saving and Credit Cooperative Committee’ 2019 election.

Thammasat has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Surat Thani Public Health Saving and Credit Cooperative Limited to organize elections of the chairperson of the committee, committee, and auditors through the first blockchain-based online election system which is continuously adopted every year.

“With the largeness in size of the province having nearly 30 polling stations scattered around with some on islands, this projects difficulties and huge budget on management and organizing elections each year, and that some members of the cooperative are medical personnel who were unable to vote at the polling station in time. Cooperative executives therefore, collaborate with Thammasat University to develop a blockchain-based online voting system that cooperative members can use to vote conveniently. The vote counting is accurate, fast and reliable,” said Prof. Dr. Anat Limakdet, Director of the Center of Intellectual Property and Business Incubation and a member of the research team mentioned about spatial limitations in the past.

Prof. Dr. Anant went on to say that the THAIVOTE.io election system is an innovation that is distinctive to conventional electronic election systems, which is mostly centralized. This may lead to doubts on safety and transparency. The system may be hacked and targeted by outside parties, and system administrator or central administration may access the voting database which can cause distortion in the election results.

However, the election system is blockchain-based. The data is therefore encrypted and stored in a distributed database on a public blockchain. Data stored in each node once accepted by the network cannot be altered which makes the data to be highly secured and reliable. The distributed data storage on blockchain does not require a middleman.

“Blockchain-based elections will help reduce the problem of hacking occurred on the election system which consequently prevent interference in election results, including confidentiality of voters’ profile and voting information thus, helps eliminate issues of delays and errors in vote counting, increase convenience and save costs for both the election organizing agency and the voters,” explained Prof. Dr. Anant.

The success leads to the expansion of application to other elections. In the past, Thammasat has organized online elections through THAIVOTE.io for various savings cooperative groups such as Surat Thani Public Health Saving and Credit Cooperatives Limited, Ministry of Justice Saving and Credit Cooperative Limited, the Communications Authority of Thailand Saving and Credit Cooperative and The Saving co-operatives limited of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives.

To the extent of the election process, it is all controlled through a program on the blockchain which has predetermined information on voters, candidates, start and end times of the election. When voting day arrives, the system will function automatically and eligible people can use their smartphones or notebooks to vote through the website. Each individual can verify their identities prior to voting in various ways, such as using a pre-set-up password or confirming with an OTP from your registered phone number, including identity verification with ID card and facial recognition. When election time ends, the system automatically shuts down. Once the information stored on the blockchain is complete, results can be announced in less than 15 minutes.

The “Online Election System on Blockchain via THAIVOTE.io” project is considered a social innovation of Thailand. Recently, it just won an honorable mention award from the Democratic Innovation Contest 2023 of the Secretariat of the House of Representatives.

Students from the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University won the first prize in the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) mock trial competition organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Thailand (ICRC) and the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University. The members of the Thammasat University competition team include Injin Khai, first year student of the Business Law major (International Program), Kanpitcha Rachasiha, second year student of Business Law major (International Program), and Thanakit Saeju, third year student of Business Law major (International Program)

The awards received are First Place Award, Best Memorial for Defendant Award and Best Mooter Award.

Understanding what is ‘Mock Trial Competition’

The mock trial competition is an activity that simulates court cases. Thanakit said that we have an opportunity to take on the role of an attorney for the plaintiff or defendant in that case. This activity is very beneficial to legal education as students will have the opportunity to develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, as well as research skills on legal topics related to simulated cases. The International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Competition 2023 deals with international humanitarian law. The case must be presented and prepared in English. It promotes and develops students’ language skills also.

Sharing experiences from the mock trial competition

In this competition, Kanpitcha Rachasiha and Injin Khai participated in the competition as advocates and Thanakit Saeju participated in the competition as a researcher and petition drafter.

“Every team member has a responsibility to share their opinions and adapt the law to the facts to create a defense in the memorial brief. Researchers and petition drafters will help find more information including checking the content and overall orderliness of the summary statement. In addition, the advocate has a duty to present the defenses in the draft summary statement to the court orally,” Kanpitcha said.

Injin added that researching legal arguments can be quite challenging. This is because this year the issue is the law on armed conflict and naval warfare in which the team comprehensively prepared for the competition both conducting research and finding research information within a limited time. It is considered a key to the victory this time.

The feeling of winning the championship

“I feel so overwhelmed and grateful that I can’t put it into words. Every team member was extremely dedicated to this competition, even though every step of preparation was made under time pressure. However, receiving this award shows the success of our dedication and determination. And most importantly, it is a driving force for us to move forward fully in the mock trial competition in the future,” Kanpitcha said.

With sexual violence widely occurring in Thai society and the problem of accessing various assistance is the source of the research study “LAW-U: Legal Guidance Through Artificial Intelligence Chatbot for Sexual Violence Victims and Survivors”. In Thai, “LAW-U” is pronounced similarly to “Ror-Yuu” meaning “I will wait for you,” which reflects the chatbot’s unconditional support to its users. It was invented by Worada Sokatiyanurak, Nittayapa Klangpornkhun, Adirek Moolthuli, Pongphan Pienpanich, Prof. Dr. Lalin Korwutthikulrungsi, Nantawat Saksakulkunakorn, Pornkanok Chairuangsri and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jaturong Tantibundit, researchers from Thammasat University. The objective of the research study is to create and develop a virtual chatbot that can provide legal advice to survivors of sexual violence of all genders, ages and sexual orientations.

The highlight of the LAW-U chatbot is that it provides service to all users equally and gives legal advice to users without special privileges, being neutral and accurate, taking into consideration personal details, not putting pressure on users in identifying their genders, not requiring to mention the user’s full name or occupation, meaning users can maintain their anonymity. The advice given by LAW-U will closely resemble the user’s situation, thus giving the user complete convenience in consultation.

This research is the first ever study of a chatbot model for sexual violence law counseling in Thailand. There are things to consider as follows:

1. Most model development consists of a process of direct comparison with user data similarity scores and matching Supreme Court cases which is accumulated through the identification of frequently encountered keywords. Although adding and using synonyms increases accuracy, this expanded model’s training methods on the other hand can increase the matching accuracy even further.

2. Information gathered from cases in the Supreme Court which is only publicly-available information. Therefore, some information is missing due to the confidentiality of the parties in the case or information not detailed and declared in the abbreviation. For example, there may be missing information regarding the sex of the victim and plaintiff, their age, and whether the victim has provided such information to the police, thus leaving a gap in LAW-U learning practice.

3. The chatbot is not available for users with visual impairments and some cognitions. However, LAW-U is hoped to be able to support all survivors of sexual violence. This target group will not be ignored, therefore future developments may focus on adding automatic speech recognition technology and voice-enabled conversation.

4. Information about sexual violence among LGBTQ+ should be given as equal importance as typical gender relationships. The LAW-U chatbot should be trained to prepare for text input and all possible situations when receiving information about incidents of sexual violence from users.

5. Collecting real-life test subjects can help adding new sets of information and expand the scope of LAW-U training situations to improve the accuracy of matching with unpredictable real-life events. The information received will be more current than information gathered from the Supreme Court in the past. It provides information on changing cultural contexts and social characteristics. It is an important part of education. This is because the latest amendments in legal provisions are more relevant to a progressing world.

6.LAW-U is currently available as an extension of legal professionals and is expected to not be able to replace these experts. However, this does not imply that chatbots should not be developed further to provide more detailed and accurate legal advice.

For future directions, the researchers wish to expand the chatbot to be able to communicate in English language as the study aims to have everyone in Thailand use LAW-U when receiving legal advice on gender-based violence.

Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University in collaboration with Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music and partner universities from abroad organized an international academic conference in Language Education and Thai Studies on the topic “Diversity and Perspectives in Language Education and Thai studies” at Iconsiam, Khlong San District, Bangkok.

This international academic conference is one of the side activities celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhan aKrom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra. The objective is to provide an opportunity for those interested, both Thais and foreigners, to present contents, concepts, theories, and educational methods related to the science of language education and issues related to Thai studies which have developed and changed. This is regarded as the dissemination of knowledge and the exchange of diverse perspectives and ideas in order to expand the knowledge in such sciences and education on a large scale.

Within the conference, there were music and cultural performances such as classical music performances in the ‘Kaew Kanlaya’ song and the ‘Saeng Nueng Kue Rung Ngam’ song french edition from the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music and the Kritdaphinihan dance performance from the Faculty of Liberal Arts students, Thammasat University.

In addition, there was an exhibition to promote Thai culture to the world, such as basketry, inhaler making, street food, Thai handicrafts and traditional dance, and the literary work by HRH “The Little Prince, The Young Future King” book translated into English, French and Chinese.

Phanwira Ngaoprasert, a 3rd year student in Interior Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University received the 1st prize with the work, “MECHAIR” from the 1st Futuretech Design Talent Award 2023, a furniture design project for GEN Z under the concept of flexibility in use, environmentally friendly, reflecting identity, with convenience and technology. Over 20 institutions submitted their entries to the contest organized at the FUTURETECH Showroom.

The Story Behind ‘MECHAIR’

MECHAIR derived from the concept of Origami, the art of paper folding and inspired by taking diagrams from leaf shapes into designing a portable chair that is flexible for Gen Z. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic that causes many people or organizations to work from home and encounter problems that need to be stuffy working in the room and not socializing.

MECHAIR provides you the flexibility to work anywhere, whether on the skytrain or in the middle of a meadow in a park. It adds more options to work, making the life of the user more inspirational. It also has a folding function and supports comfortable portability with a glimpse of fashion in mind.

The Uniqueness of ‘MECHAIR’

The highlight is the shape of the chair derived from the diagram of the leaf combined with a folding technique based on the art of origami. This makes the work unique and flexible to use, and supports a variety of functions that include folding, carrying, and sitting with up to 3 types of adjustment: upright position, reclining position and taken as an extra chair.

MECHAIR helps users sit more comfortably and can be carried to sit and work outside the home, not feeling stuffy working only in a square room. In addition, the chair is made from PET plastic, a recycled material. This makes this furniture unique in terms of saving the world as well. Currently, MECHAIR is in the experimental stage where testings are undertaken in order to ensure the meeting of the needs of GEN Z according to the initial concept prescribed.

“I feel so proud of myself. Thank you to my friends, family and professors who have been mentoring and encouraging me in creating the work. In addition, supplementary knowledge has also been added by the committee, as well as friends and seniors from other universities who participated in the contest. This makes my design perspective more open and more open to comments,” said Panwira Ngaoprasert.

“Galactic4”, a team of 4 second-year students in Computer Engineering, Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT), Thammasat University won the first prize in the Astrobee Robot Programming Competition of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) operating on the International Space Station (ISS) to perform the assigned mission under the “The 4th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge” project.

The project is a collaboration between the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and partner agencies in organizing a competition to search for “Thailand Youth Representative Team” to participate in the international championship round at the Tsukuba Space Center, Japan.

For the competition under “The 4th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge” project, there were a total of 182 teams participating. The contestants had to write a robot controller program using JAVA to control the Astrobee robot. In which the “Galactic4” team from SIIT Thammasat, consisting of Natthawin Yamprasert, Dechatorn Dasri, Kasidit Sanrak and Chiwanon Chulikorn, was able to successfully win the championship and received a prize worth 20,000 Thai baht with a certificate and will represent the Thailand youth team to participate in the international championship round with teams from Kibo-ABC member countries such as USA, Japan, Singapore, Australia, etc.

Natthawin Yamprasert, second-year computer engineering student, SIIT, as the leader of the Galactic4 team revealed that the challenge of the competition is a computer programming mission in a simulation system to control the Astrobee astronaut assistant robot to solve the simulated chemical leak incident inside the space station which is written using an essential language like JAVA that is taught in SIIT during the first year.

Natthawin said that for such a competition, he heard the news about the recruitment from his parents. Therefore, he joined a group with his second year classmates at SIIT, Thammasat University to try adopting and applying what he learned in real life by starting from roughly planning the workflow and using the free time during the semester break to split work. Each person will start with writing their own program and later being put together for testing in the simulation system until the results are obtained, then continue to be improved and developed.

“In fact, our work was completed and operational within the first two weeks of the competition and although the result was quite good we thought that it could still be better, so we continued to make improvements until the final stage of submitting the work, ”Natthawin stated.

Natthawin said that the Galactic4 team intends to move forward as robustly as possible as a representative of Thailand. From now on it is necessary to manage the training schedule along with studying and adapting to the new rules which, of course, may have to be more tiring. However, it is a positive encouragement that I believe will be a good opportunity to open up new experiences.

Natthawin also said that in terms of programming with JAVA, even though he had studied and had basic knowledge of this subject in the beginning but received more skill enhancement from attending classes in the Faculty. Another key factor is unity in working together as a team. Within the fence of SIIT is an opportunity that allows me to get to know a group of teammates that all share similar learning habits and that each person has different skills and hidden abilities awaiting to be brought out for real use exactly like with this competition.

“This achievement would not be successful with just one of us but the talent and energy of each and every member. At the same time, we do not underestimate ourselves, the game and the rules. If we stop after the first time we finish and think it’s completely fine. But when we think we can do better and we want to be ahead of others, we then keep doing and continue to develop further until the best version is achieved,” Nattawin said.

Thammasat University in collaboration with the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security hosted the 15th National Conference on Persons with Disabilities for the year 2023 (NCPD2023) on the 4th floor of the SC3 Building, Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus, with the objective of exchanging knowledge in research, academic, innovation and technology development in promoting and developing the quality of life for the people with disabilities. This provides opportunities for disability organizations and related agencies to share experiences between each other, including communicating the knowledge of the organization to the public through academic seminars in more diverse dimensions.

Thammasat University has been driving the goal of equality to create an educational space for all groups of people both at the policy level, and in the development of projects and innovations for people with disabilities. Physically, the university uses the concept of “Universal Design” to create access to environments and resources that provide full participation for everyone to use conveniently and equally within all university programs and activities. There is also support for educational welfare for students with disabilities with a quota for students with disabilities to study in each faculty, including the Disabled Student Services Center (DSS Center) that is modern and equipped with full-service facilities.

Assoc. Prof. Gasinee Witoonchart, Rector of Thammasat University, said that Thammasat University is ready to move forward with determination to be the leader of an educational institution for all people through creating a learning space that responds to various lifestyles so that all communities can live together equally and sustainably without leaving anyone behind. This is in line with the drive towards sustainable development goals, SDG10: Reduce Inequality.

In addition to policies and guidelines at the university level, Thammasat as well always develop new projects and innovations for people with disabilities to ensure equality and happiness of everyone in Thammasat, such as the production of handicapped care aids and the innovation of the Rangsit Model of the Research Unit in Social Design, etc.

“From the great commitment and determination of Thammasat University as a result, we are the first university to receive the Friendly Design Award. It is also the only university in Thailand that has received this award for five years in a row, which is more than half a decade since the university has been advancing society as the leader of an educational institution for all people. From now on, Thammasat University will continue to develop society according to the aspiration that strives to promote equality for all groups of people, both nationally and globally, “Assoc. Prof. Gasinee said.

For the 15th National Symposium on Persons with Disabilities under the theme of “Promoting the Well-being of Persons with Disabilities through Innovation and Sustainable Development”, there were many interesting lectures and Ted Talks on social issues and development in disability research and innovation, such as a special talk on “Well-being Promotion for Persons with Disabilities through Innovation and Sustainable Development” from UNDP Resident Representative to Thailand and a special lecture on “The Social Movement of Disability in the Disruptive World” by Ms. Yukiko Nakanishi from the Deputy Chairperson of DPI Japan.

In addition, the event also featured academic and research articles, exchange of experiences and good lessons on persons with disabilities, demonstration of skills and competences with underlying disabilities, including having an exhibition of work and selling products which are works from various groups of people with disabilities as well.

For the year 2024, Thammasat University handed over the flag to Udon Thani Rajabhat University in hosting the 16th National Academic Seminar on Persons with Disabilities.

A smart sensor to measure blood glucose levels (MyA1c) was developed by Prof. Dr. Kesara Na Bangchang, professor at Chulabhorn International College of Medicine, Thammasat University and the research team. This innovation was initiated to diagnose diabetes, and to assess and control treatment in patients with diabetes (Point-of-Care test).

Measurement of blood sugar levels, which is glucose that binds to the red blood cells (Hemoglobin A1c: HbA1c), in that the measurement value is stable, showing the average amount of blood sugar over a period of 2 to 3 months without being affected by various factors, especially food. It is similar to measuring blood glucose levels. This is the standard method currently used to diagnose and control diabetes in which patients must refrain from food 8 to 12 hours before the examination.

Commonly, the standard methods for measuring HbA1c levels require analysis. only in the laboratory by complex tools, High Pressure Liquid Chromatography which is expensive and requires a large amount of blood, as well as takes a long time to analyze. Patients will need to be examined at a specific hospital or laboratory, and are needed to wait for the results for about 1 day, which is inconvenient in practice.

The developed test kit is designed to be easy to use, convenient, giving immediate results, accurate, precise and highly specific. It is capable of measuring hemoglobin levels in the blood together with HbA1c levels at a low price and cost-effectiveness. The kit uses only 20 microliters of blood drawn from a fingertip in which diabetic patients can regularly check their HbA1c levels at home to provide information to physicians for treatment, giving immediate test results within 30 seconds.

The examination was based on the principle of specific HbA1c conductivity measurements and high sensitivity with a sensor connected to an electrode made of carbon tube coated with gold nanoparticles prepared from the peel of passion fruit (Green chemistry), which is the part that are not needed and must be disposed of to replace the use of conventional chemical synthesis processes that require toxic chemicals.

The cost of the examination is very low compared to the same type of test kit that sells a whole unit specifically for detecting HbA1c, which costs from 5,000-12,000 Thai baht. It has been developed to be able to apply to various kinds of examinations using the same tool in the form of a smartphone used in the daily life of the user and only downloading a specific application for testing.

Users can purchase only an electrical signal detector that costs no more than 300 Thai baht which can be used at least 500 times, and an electrode (electrode: blue.o4kr) that is specific to measuring HbA1c, costing about 10 Thai baht, one-time use and a drop of blood from the fingertip to test. In addition, the advantage of smart sensors is that in the future, users will also be able to download applications for other tests developed by the researchers using the same mobile phone as a platform, for example: such as screening for kidney disease (Microalbumin), Tumor markers examination of various types of cancer, Dementia examination and the detection of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables, etc.

The smart sensor for measuring blood glucose levels (MyA1c) was awarded a gold medal and Honorary Gold Medal, Gold Medal Award with the Congratulations of the Jury from the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva.