Komsak Meksamoot

Design of a compact biconical antenna for UWB applications

This paper presents the study, design, fabrication, and measurement of a vertically polarized compact biconical antenna that can be used as a reference antenna. The study from simulation results suggest that the optimal antenna shall have the flare angle of 60° which gave the most stable vertical beamwidth in the broadside direction and the fewest ripples in the main beam region, a cone length of one wavelength of center frequency (7 GHz) to make the antenna most compact, and the feed gap was 0.5 mm. The return loss was −10 dB on average across the bandwidth. The simulation results were validated by the experiments. The fabricated antennas worked across 2–12 GHz as desired, and were used as reference antennas especially for UWB 3.1–10.6 GHz applications.

A circularly polarized conical beam spherical slot array antenna

The authors proposed a circularly polarized conical beam spherical slot array antenna for applications of low bit rate or low gain/temperature ratio (G/T) land mobile satellite communication and broadcasting services in addition to wireless local area network base stations (see Krairiksh, M. et al., Int. J. Electronics, vol.86, no.7, p.815-23, 1999). The advantage of this antenna is that the structure is simple and suitable for mass production and the feeding structure is also simple. From preliminary results, the radiation pattern appears to be a conical beam (see Phongcharoenpanich, C. et al., IEICE Trans. Electronics, vol.E82-C, no.7, p.1242-7, 1999). This paper presents the theory and experiment of a circularly polarized conical beam spherical slot array antenna. The theoretical result is carried out by means of the method of moments. With the aid of the dyadic Greens function, the integral equations of the unknown currents are solved by using entire domain basis functions and Galerkins method. The theoretical results of the radiation pattern, elevation angle and directivity, input impedance and axial ratio are illustrated. The experimental results agreed satisfactorily with the theoretical ones.

Application of CBR techniques in elderly falling risk for physiotherapist assessment and support

With the aging population increasing at a faster r ate the muscular skeletal system disorder caused by falling is becoming a challenging problem to health providers. In Thailand there is lack of training of therapists to assist the elderly people following fall injuries. The need for innovative approaches to help with the care of elderly is required. This paper addresses this issue by describing a decision support system based on a case based reasoning paradigm to support the physiotherapists in their care for the elderly.

Fall-risk screening system framework for physiotherapy care of elderly

Highlights? The decline in musculoskeletal system in the aging population is the biggest cause of injury death in older people. ? Current demand for physiotherapists outstrips current supply. ? The innovative approach is described which combines a risk assessment of the elderly with a case based reasoning system. ? The proposed approach supports physiotherapists and improves the health care of older people. In 2008 the global older population (aged 65 and over) was estimated to be about 7% of the worlds population; it is estimated to reach 2 billion by 2050 accounting for 22% of the world total population. This demographic trend sets new challenges to health services and policies, and imposes a significant financial and social burden on economies as a whole. The decline in musculoskeletal system in the aging population is the biggest cause of injury death in older people who require effective physiotherapy treatment. However the current demand for physiotherapists outstrips current supply. To address this problem this paper described an innovative approach which consists of a screening risk assessment of the elderly which can be combined with a case based reasoning system to support physiotherapist in managing the care of the elderly following a fall. Although the study is based on a small cohort of the Thai population it is believed that this approach can address the shortage of physiotherapists and bring a significant improvement in the health care of older people.

The ASEAN Economic Community 2015: a case study of challenges in Thai higher education

This paper presents an overview of Thailand’s higher education system with regard to the challenges and opportunities presented by the forthcoming AEC 2015. The research is based on three main perspectives; policy, management and practice. A case study analysis of one faculty’s preparedness for the AEC 2015. The paper concludes by showing that Thailand is partially prepared for the AEC 2015, but suggests mobility presented by the free flow of students, staff and finance throughout the ASEAN region is a significant force for educational change and requires an alignment of policy, management and practice.

Characteristics of polarization diversity bi-directional antenna in expressway environment

A polarization diversity bi-directional antenna is proposed to be used as the cell station antenna in the expressway environment. The gain patterns are simulated by wire-grid modeling. The experimental radiation pattern and SWR agree reasonably with the simulated results which validates the accuracy of the wire-grid modeling. The bi-directional pattern and good diversity performance of this proposed antenna ensure that this antenna is a promising candidate for the cell station antennas in the expressway environment.

Case-based reasoning system for Screening Falling Risk of Thai elderly

The effect of a fall towards an older person can be devastating and lead to loss of independence and reduce his/her quality of life. Furthermore, the cumulative effect of falls and resulting injuries can consume a disproportionate amount of health care resources. However, the number of physiotherapists is not sufficient to provide the necessary care for the increasing number of aging population. The governmental agencies try to solve the urgent problem by reducing the demand of the medical expert with the trained physiotherapist. This research outlines a Falling Risk Screening System to diagnose falling patterns in elderly people using Motion Capture Technology. The idea is to integrate an appropriate procedure including case based reasoning and motion capture to provide a decision support system. The diagnosis information derived from the process of case based reasoning helps support the physiotherapist to determine serious falling risks in the elderly and recommend guidelines for medical treatment. In this study, the limited sample data leads to use stratified 10-fold cross-validation method for performance evaluation of the CBRs retrieval mechanism. It demonstrates the very high performance, 81.67% of accuracy.

Managing School Safety in Thailand: Assessing the Implications and Potential of a Lean Thinking Framework

Child injuries are replacing infectious disease as the leading cause of mortality in developing countries. As school is one of the environments where children spend significant time during their formative years, school safety should be effectively managed, promoted, and prioritized. In Thailand however, school safety is considered to be of low priority compared with other educational issues, lacking effective policy, and with schools struggling to justify safety costs. This article proposes a novel application of lean thinking to control the cost, bureaucracy, and waste associated with managing and administering a safe school. Through a case study in northern Thailand, one primary school’s current safety scenario is reviewed with regard to people, finance, and operations, before applying a lean framework to improve the handling of safety suggestions. Results show significant capacity to improve the management of school safety, along with management implications and potential to expand the framework beyond Thailand.

Clustering the clusters – knowledge enhancing tool for diagnosing elderly falling risk

Falls which affect the musculoskeletal system are the leading cause of injury in people over 65 years. To address the growing problem of falls in an ageing society and to support and improve the healthcare service provided, a diagnostic tool is required. This study proposes a new approach to analyse and diagnose the risks associated with elderly falling by applying K-means clustering to cluster and assess the fall risks data of elderly Thai people, captured using motion capture technology. These clusters are mapped into two-dimensional space using self-organising map (SOM). The resulting 95.45% accuracy suggests that the two-stage clustering technique is applicable and useful in managing fall risks which can then be included in decision support system to assist physiotherapists, in recommending a customised rehabilitation programme.

A framework for improving school safety management: applying lean thinking to a case study in Thailand

School safety is critical to education, but is rarely managed effectively. In Thailand, school safety is lower priority than other educational issues, lacking effective policy, and with schools struggling to justify safety costs. This paper outlines a novel application of lean thinking, which aims to control costs, bureaucracy and waste associated with managing school safety. A Thai primary school is the case study, where current safety is reviewed with regard to key aspects of management, including people, finance and operations. Lean thinking is applied to improve safety management and results show significant potential, along with management implications and future recommendations.