Exploring Nowcasting Techniques for Real-Time GDP Estimation in Bhutan

In various policy institutions, current estimates of quarterly GDP growth are frequently employed to advise decision makers on the current state of the economy. The bridge equation serves as a fundamental model for nowcasting, elucidating GDP growth through the utilization of time-aggregated business cycle indicators. Recent academic literature has shown significant interest in an alternative method for nowcasting known as mixed-data sampling, abbreviated as MIDAS. Given this context, the paper examines the following questions: How can we estimate the annual GDP of Bhutan through MIDAS and bridge equations? Do they matter for nowcasting GDP growth in practice? By addressing these questions, the study aims to to provide insights into the application and comparative efficacy of these nowcasting techniques in an empirical context

Dietary Habits of adolescents in higher secondary school in Bhutan: An In-Depth Analysis of Nationally Representative Data

Bhutan is a small landlocked country that lies between the two most populous countries in the world India and China, with a total area of 38,394 square kilometers. A peaceful mountainous kingdom in the Himalayas mandated free education to all children of school-going age up to the 12th standard. Recognizing that education is the fundamental link to national progress, the Royal Government of Bhutan has always and will continue to emphasize education as a priority sector, In doing so, through a dynamic professional health system in the country, Bhutan has made enormous strides in the field of education that promote healthy and happy school children.  However, as Bhutan steadily proceeds along its development path, substantial challenges remain, including the dietary habits of an adolescent in higher secondary schools. Therefore, this paper intends to explore the dietary habits among adolescents in higher secondary school. And this will contribute empirical data evidence for the policy framers and implements of the nutrition department at higher authority and school level to improve the dietary habits of adolescents

Membrane capacitive deionisation as an alternative to the 2nd pass for seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant for bromide removal

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Most Australian surface and ground waters have relatively high concentration of bromide between 400 and 8000 μg/L and even higher concentration in seawater between 60,000–78,000 μg/L. Although bromide is not regulated, even at low concentrations of 50–100 μg/L, it can lead to the formation of several types of harmful disinfection by-products (DBPs) during the disinfection process. One of the major concerns with brominated DBPs is the formation of bromate (BrO3−), a serious carcinogen that is formed when water containing a high concentration of bromide is disinfected. As a result, bromate is highly regulated in Australian water standards with the maximum concentration of 20 μg/L in the drinking water. Since seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plays an important role in augmenting fresh water supplies in Australia, SWRO plants in Australia usually adopt 2nd pass brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) for effective bromide removal, which is not only energy-intensive to operate but also has higher capital cost. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of membrane capacitive deionisation (MCDI) as one of the alternatives to the 2nd pass BWRO for effective bromide removal in a more energy efficient way

Bhutanese Teachers' Pedagogical Orientation in the Primary Classes: A Factor on Quality Education

In recent years, Bhutan has taken huge steps to provide education to all Bhutanese children. However, the poor performance of the high school graduates in the Call Centre interview and their failure to get selected for employment due to their poor communication skills in English ignited widespread debate amongst the general public on the quality of education in Bhutan. Educators believe that this claimed decline is a misperception rather than the reality. Thus, this paper attempts to study this issue by examining the pedagogical practices in primary schools through teaching observations and interviews with a sample of teachers from different schools in western Bhutan. The findings indicate that teacher dominated lessons generally prevail in the primary classrooms with detrimental student learning outcomes. This situation has implications about teacher education programmes and other stakeholders. Thus, it sends a message that there is a risk of declining quality in education if appropriate measures are not adopted

Risk factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in Bhutan: An analysis of the 2014 Bhutan STEPS Survey data

Suicide is a major public health problem globally. Data on the factors influencing suicidal behaviours that can inform prevention policies are limited in Bhutan. This study used the dataset of the nationally-representative Bhutan STEPS Survey conducted in 2014 that assessed the non-communicable disease risk factors. Using a backward elimination approach, multiple logistic regression analysis accounting for the complex survey design was performed to identify the factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adults separately. The prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt was 3.1% and 0.7%, respectively. We found female gender, being unemployed, low and middle household income than high household income, and having a family history of suicide were associated with higher odds of having suicidal ideation. Younger age and alcohol consumption were associated with both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. While those from the middle-income group compared to those in the high-income group had reduced odds of attempting suicide. The findings can help inform policy investments for suicide prevention. Prevention programs that target young people, females, and low socioeconomic groups, and aimed to reduce harmful alcohol use can help prevent suicidal behaviours

Reuse of municipal wastewater via membrane capacitive deionization using ion-selective polymer-coated carbon electrodes in pilot-scale

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. This study investigated membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) at a pilot-scale using ion-selective polymer-coated carbon electrodes for wastewater reuse. Several issues have been addressed to verify the suitability of MCDI for wastewater reclamation: electrosorption performance, removal efficiency and selectivity of ions present in wastewater, optimization of operating conditions, and performance degradation in long-term caused by the accumulation of organic contaminants. The coated electrodes had better adsorption capacities and charge efficiencies than the conventional MCDI system, which was attributed to their low electrical resistance induced by the thin coated layer. The pilot-scale MCDI test cell involved 50 pairs of anion- and cation-selective electrodes and achieved good removal efficiency of ions from the wastewater effluent, particularly for problematic charged impurities, such as nitrate (NO3−) (up to 91.08% of NO3− was removed). Increasing the flow rate and reducing the applied potential were shown to be efficient for achieving better water quality by enhancing the NO3− selectivity. Last, the 15 d operation showed good reproducibility in electrosorption and regeneration for the coated electrodes, despite the fact that high concentrations of organics were contained in the wastewater feed solution (12.4 mg/L of dissolved organic carbon)

Effect of Brine Water on Discharge of Cations in Membrane Capacitive Deionization and Its Implications on Nitrogen Recovery from Wastewater

© 2019 American Chemical Society. We examined the desorption behavior of cations in membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) from the cathode into high-concentration brine through a cation-exchange membrane (CEM) brine, during mineral recovery. Several major issues were explored to demonstrate the suitability of the mineral recovery process: discharge behavior using different solution chemistries, desorption efficiencies of various regeneration methods for the enrichment of ions, and desorption selectivity among selected cations. The desorption efficiency was hampered when the adsorbed cations migrated toward the brine solution against a higher ionic-strength gradient and was further lowered by the enhanced membrane resistance under the low concentration of the adsorbed ions on the cathode. Furthermore, the electrochemically adsorbed ions were limitedly discharged by the cost-effective regeneration method (short-circuiting). The cations were preferentially released in the order of K+ > Na+ > Mg2+, as mainly determined by their physiochemical properties such as diffusion rate and charge valence, whereas the influence of permselectivity through the CEM was insignificant. Furthermore, through the ammonium recovery tests, a high concentration of ammonium brine was obtained from wastewater through a successive five-cycle-operation due to its selective desorption over the sodium ions present. However, the incomplete discharge of ions from the electrode was a challenging issue to overcome for the use of MCDI for ammonium recovery