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Innovations from the North to go South
Contest brings out different inventions
Autsadaporn Kamthai
The Northern region selection is part of the 4th Thailand
Innovation Awards initiated by Science Association of Thailand (under Royal
Patronage) in cooperation with National Innovation Assembly, Thai Health
Foundation and Department of Intellectual Property. The final will be held
in the mid of October at Impact Muang Thong Thani, Bangkok.
 A
student from Phetchabun Rajabhat University explains the operation of the
silk worm collecting machine.
All regional selection rounds were done during National
Science Week looking for the most intelligent innovations in each region to
compete in the national innovation competition in Bangkok.
The competition is exclusively for university students
who are aged under 28 years old. It is divided into three fields including
engineering and technological innovation, innovation involved with
biological and physical science and health innovation.
Innovations from the Faculty of Science and Technology,
Phetchabun Rajabhat University were very prominent amongst the entries and
they were chosen as the winner, and first and second runners-up for the
engineering and technological innovation competition. The winner was a silk
worm-collecting machine while the first runner-up was a fish scale removing
machine and the second runner-up was a machine to mix and fill soil into the
planting bags. For more information, please contact Ajarn Wiroj
Chok-u-domchai at 0-1888-8115.
For health innovations, an artificial tear formula
produced from Kritosan Gel from faculty of Pharmacy, Chiang Mai University
was judged the winner.
For innovations related with biological and physical science, this was
won by the Science Faculty, Naresuan University.
15th International AIDS Conference highlights presented in Chiang Mai
The August Monthly NGO Forum on “Perspectives on the
15th International AIDS Conference” will be held at the Health and
Development Networks (HDN) Office, on Ratchaphakhinai Road, on Tuesday,
August 31 from 4-6 p.m.
The HDN invites the community to join the monthly NGO
Forum to share conference highlights from the 15th International AIDS
Conference.
A panel of conference participants will share their
perspectives on key developments, commitments made and other emerging issues
raised during the conference.
The panelists include representatives from the areas of
harm reduction, human rights, sex workers, treatment, youth, and the HDN
perspective. HDN will present its activities, including the official, HDN
produced conference newspaper, ‘The Correspondent’ (you can read the
newspaper online at www.hdnet.org). It will also make available to the
community a large number of different publications in Thai and English that
were collected and brought back from the conference.
At the forum, HDN will introduce the Asia program
manager, Patty Weisenfeld, of the Female Health Foundation and she will
speak on the foundation’s work.
Call 053-418-438 or email to reserve a seat. The HDN team
would very much appreciate it if you could register before coming. It cannot
guarantee hand-outs of materials for those participants who arrive late or
do not register.
Respect paid to fallen Japanese soldiers from WW II
Ceremonies at Wat Muen Sarn in Chiang Mai
Nopniwat Krailerg
Kana Satthra (faithful group) of Wat Muen Sarn and a
Japanese NGO held a merit-making ceremony to mark the 59th anniversary of WW
II at Wat Muen Sarn, located in Tambon Hai Ya, the city center of Chiang
Mai, and to honour the Japanese dead.
 Japanese
visitors pay respect and pray for “May Peace Prevail on Earth”, among
them the Japanese Consul to Chiang Mai Saburo Sato and his wife Mishiko.
Wat Muen Sarn is a historical temple. During WW II,
Japanese troops were stationed inside the Wat before marching further
through Mae Hong Son province. An annual merit-making ceremony was held on
August 15. An exhibition was set up to provide the historical background.
Japanese weapons and accessories were displayed, as well as old Japanese
banknote produced at Wat Muen Sarn. In those days, apart from Japanese
troops situated at the Wat, there were also a field hospital and a banknote
printing factory.
 Guests
and visitors register at the scene of the Memorial.
Phrakru Sutthijittapirat, the abbot of Wat Muen Sarn, and Pol. Lt. Col.
Cherdchai Chomthawach who founded the WW II museum in Mae Hong Son said that
during that time, many Japanese soldiers died here. Phrakru Opas Kanaphiban,
the abbot of Wat Muen Sarn at that time, collected all the remains of these
Japanese soldiers, and held a merit-making ceremony every year for the
deceased Japanese soldiers. Once people in Japan heard about this, they have
come to participate in the ceremony in increasing numbers.
Government aims for
‘health society’ by 2015
The Public Health Ministry recently unveiled plans which
aim to see a dramatic improvement in the nation’s health by the year 2015,
while bringing Thai life expectancy in line with other countries in the
region.
Opening an academic seminar for medical administrators,
Deputy Public Health Minister Anuthin Chanveerakul painted a worrying
picture of the state of the nation’s health.
At 60.2 years, average life expectancy was below than
that of Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia, while new lifestyle-related diseases
were rising in line with globalization, and disease control was becoming
increasingly complex.
Each year nearly 80,000 Thais die from cancer, high blood
pressure and heart disease, or an average of 200 deaths per day. Anuthin
said that unless the situation was addressed as a matter of urgency, the
nation’s future development would suffer.
Under the Ministry of Public Health’s ‘Healthy
Thailand’ strategies, the government will work to promote healthy
behaviors, and reduce risk factors by 2015 in accordance with United
Nations’ sustainable development goals.
The ‘Healthy Thailand’ plans, which will be put into
action this year, will see coordination between various related agencies.
Focusing on five key areas - exercise, food safety, mental health,
environmental health, and the reduction of diseases, such as cancer and
diabetes - the plans will pave the way for Thailand’s hosting of the World
Health Organization’s global health promotion conference next year. (TNA)
More spa therapists to be trained
The Chiang Mai Labor Skill Development Center plans to
train more spa therapists and hotel workers to cater for the country’s
fast growing spa and hotel businesses.
There is high demand for spa therapists in Thailand’s
tourist towns where the service industry, like spas and hotels, are proving
very lucrative, according to Arin Chuchot, the director of the Chiang Mai
Labor Skill Center.
The center has already trained 100 spa therapists to work
in the southern province of Phuket. But there is still a high demand there
for more to be trained. According to research on the service industry in
Chiang Mai, there is also a shortage of trained hotel workers there.
The center plans to provide training for female inmates
in the Chiang Mai prison so that they can help fill the demand for
housekeeping workers in the hotels. This would also mean that they can
support their families after their release, the director said.
Other plans include training more construction workers,
as Chiang Mai has several construction projects in the pipeline including a
national convention center, a handicrafts center and five-star hotels. (TNA)
Raffles LaSalle Grand Opening
on Friday, August 27, in Chiang Mai
Degrees in Design and Fashion become even more possible in the North
Staff reporters
Those who drive regularly along Nimmanhemin Road will
have noticed the facade of the Wang Khum Building has changed during the
last two months. The windows are most elegantly dressed, with exquisite
materials on fashion models, and are changed on a regular basis. There is
also a new sign proclaiming Raffles LaSalle, International Design School.
 Krerkrit
Saiyao (O), Career Consultant of Raffles LaSalle in Chiang Mai in front of
the trendy office windows.
Inside there are light colors, stylish chairs, lamps,
comfortable seating and lots of most trendy magazines everywhere. I was
greeted by Krerkrit Saiyao (O), their Career Consultant who enlightened me
with regards to the Raffles LaSalle and the career opportunities they offer.
Raffles LaSalle is a recognized International Design
School originally from Singapore but has already established itself
successfully in Bangkok. It is an educational institute, dedicated to
professional design disciplines in Fashion Design, Fashion Marketing and
Management, Interior Design, Multimedia, and Graphic and Product Design.
The Chiang Mai office at Soi Nimmanhemin will act as an
admission and information office for the company, which will enable Chiang
Mai students to receive an insight on fashion and make it possible for them
to receive first hand information on how to become a designer for any kind
of material or multi media.
Their two year advanced diploma is conferred by the
Quebec Ministry of Higher Education and Science and gives the students the
possibility to continue their studies at other universities overseas with
which the LaSalle College Group has an agreement, or continue one more year
to receive a Bachelors Degree which is validated by Middlesex University,
London, or by the Curtin University in Australia.
All classes are taught in English and they follow an
international curriculum. Fees for such a two year advanced diploma are
600,000 baht, but the certificate course over one and a half years is only
400,000 baht.
The Grand Opening celebration of the Chiang Mai Admission Office of the
Raffles LaSalle International Design School will be on Friday, August 27,
with VIP’s such as Suratep Tanprasert, Secretary General, Office of the
Private Education Commission; Alvin Lee, Vice President Asia Pacific in
charge of all Raffles LaSalle schools in the Asia Pacific Region as well as
VIP’s from Chiang Mai. Raffles La Salle Fashion Lecturer Bernas Chan will
perform a Dance with Fabrics and a Fashion Show by Akarat Varinsathian,
their Award Winning Alumnus will conclude the evening.
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