Folktales and Education: Role of Bhutanese Folktales in Value Transmission

This paper begins by introducing Meme ‘Haylain’ Happiness, a concept drawn from a Bhutanese folktale about an old man, Meme Haylay Haylay, who exchanges his turquoise for a song, and happily returns home singing the song. It questions whether we are ready to pursue happiness in our daily life like Meme Haylay Haylay who had realized that more happiness would flow from singing a song than from guarding the turquoise. The paper then explores the roles of Bhutanese oral tradition in educating children who could not avail themselves of either monastic or modern education. It argues that modern education, which primarily provides secular, pluralistic, egalitarian and market values necessary for running economic, political and legal institutions and the machinery of the modern nation-state is deficient in many ways; it is the oral tradition which fills this gap by inculcating universal, humanistic and Bhutanese values. It also discusses the main functions of Bhutanese folktales which are about trivial events but embedded with multi-layered meanings of great moral and social importance, with experiences drawn from daily life. The common motifs of the tales are chosen to relate them to the daily realities of the Bhutanese people. Lastly, this paper makes some policy recommendations to promote, document, disseminate and study the Bhutanese folktales through the mass media such as the press, radio, TV, internet, and film industry

Reducing CO2 Emissions in the Upper Midwest: Technology, Resources, Economics, and Policy

We develop scenarios for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector in the upper Midwest (Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Manitoba) by 80% relative to 1990 levels. The report has three major components: 1) an inventory of CO2 emissions from all fossil fuel combustion in the region from 1960-2001, subdividing by economic sector and specific electricity generating station; 2) an evaluation of all electricity resources in the region and all technologies for utilizing them, taking into account the overall scale of the resource, technology costs, and other issues that influence the selection of a certain technology; and 3) the development of a simulation model to examine the impact of various factors (policies, prices, technologies, resources) on the regional electricity supply and its emissions from 2005-2055.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Distributed Resources Shift Paradigms on Power System Design, Planning, and Operation: An Application of the GAP Model

Power systems have evolved following a century-old paradigm of planning and operating a grid based on large central generation plants connected to load centers through a transmission grid and distribution lines with radial flows. This paradigm is being challenged by the development and diffusion of modular generation and storage technologies. We use a novel approach to assess the sequencing and pacing of centralized, distributed, and off-grid electrification strategies by developing and employing the grid and access planning (GAP) model. GAP is a capacity expansion model to jointly assess operation and investment in utility-scale generation, transmission, distribution, and demand-side resources. This paper conceptually studies the investment and operation decisions for a power system with and without distributed resources. Contrary to the current practice, we find hybrid systems that pair grid connections with distributed energy resources (DERs) are the preferred mode of electricity supply for greenfield expansion under conservative reductions in photovoltaic panel (PV) and energy storage prices. We also find that when distributed PV and storage are employed in power system expansion, there are savings of 15%-20% mostly in capital deferment and reduced diesel use. Results show that enhanced financing mechanisms for DER PV and storage could enable 50%-60% of additional deployment and save 15 /MWh in system costs. These results have important implications to reform current utility business models in developed power systems and to guide the development of electrification strategies in underdeveloped grids

Aging in Japan

In this paper, Dr. Ibe addresses some of the problems confronting Japan today, among them pensions, long-term care, housing policies and the legal system. Of surprise to a reader from the West who may assume that Asia is still under the influence of Confucian rules of filial duty is Dr. Ibe's contention that "there is almost no continuity of values between the old and young." He is particularly concerned about the decline in births, and what he regards as the loss of "self confidence" on the part of Japanese men

Focal Spot, Spring 1995

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/focal_spot_archives/1069/thumbnail.jp

Did Ebola emerge in West Africa by a policy-driven phase change in agroecology? Ebola's social context

SCOPUS: no.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Barnes Hospital Bulletin

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_barnes_bulletin/1034/thumbnail.jp

RFID chips: Future technology on everyone’s lips

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is considered a technology of the future, but RFID chips have long established themselves in our everyday lives. RFID systems combine the physical world of a product with the virtual world of digital data. Projects based on RFID far transcend simply replacing the bar code, and in fact represent a new all-encompassing structural concept. The RFID market is faced with the conflicting demands for cheap solutions on the one hand and guaranteed high-level security, which is predicated on additional investment, on the other. The retail trade is playing a decisive part in the broad-based roll-out of RFID projects. Beyond deployment in the retail market, though, RFID will soon be considered an indispensable part of the entire value chain in all sectors of the economy.information- and communication technology; ICT; e-business; e-commerce; B2C-e-commerce; internet; retail; supply chain management; tag

Deep Space Network information system architecture study

The purpose of this article is to describe an architecture for the Deep Space Network (DSN) information system in the years 2000-2010 and to provide guidelines for its evolution during the 1990s. The study scope is defined to be from the front-end areas at the antennas to the end users (spacecraft teams, principal investigators, archival storage systems, and non-NASA partners). The architectural vision provides guidance for major DSN implementation efforts during the next decade. A strong motivation for the study is an expected dramatic improvement in information-systems technologies, such as the following: computer processing, automation technology (including knowledge-based systems), networking and data transport, software and hardware engineering, and human-interface technology. The proposed Ground Information System has the following major features: unified architecture from the front-end area to the end user; open-systems standards to achieve interoperability; DSN production of level 0 data; delivery of level 0 data from the Deep Space Communications Complex, if desired; dedicated telemetry processors for each receiver; security against unauthorized access and errors; and highly automated monitor and control