199 research outputs found

    Unheard Voices in the Trans-Himalayan Politics - Tibetan Reincarnation and the Larger Political Goal of CCP

    Get PDF
    This research paper through empirical research aims to analyze the unique tradition of the reincarnation system of Tibetan Buddhism since the 11th century and the role of China. The first part of the paper will deal with the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the various traditional methods used to recognize the reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism starting from 11th century to present, as rituals are playing a vital role in the process of finding Trulku or reincarnation of enlightened individuals at the time of death of an individual. The second part will examine the role of CCP in Tibetan reincarnation through its state-approved religious laws, how CCP is planning to recognize the 14th Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to fulfill the larger political goal of Chinese Communist Party. The third part aims to understand China’s cultural assimilation policy in Tibet, similar to that of the ‘Go West Han population’ employed in Xinjiang

    An evaluation of the effectiveness of a protected area management Model in Bhutan: A case study of Phrumsengla National Park, Central Bhutan.

    Get PDF
    Phrumsengla National Park (PNP), located in central Bhutan, is an important protected area due to its biodiversity and as a source of natural resources for local communities. The focus of this research was to study the effectiveness of PNP management under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources - World Commission on Protected Areas’ framework. Document analysis and semi-structured interviews provided the data. The interviews were conducted with staff from different levels of government, and community members. An in-depth interview was conducted with officials from Wildlife Conservation Division, Policy and Planning Division and park officials. A total of twelve community respondents representing all four districts and seven geogs (block of communities) living inside and in buffer areas were interviewed. It was found that the management of the PNP was geared to achieve its mandates of biodiversity conservation, and also to benefit the rural population dependent on PNP’s natural resources. Park officials count the recent tiger survey and physical boundary demarcation as recent achievement. The communities saw the management of the PNP as protecting trees for their sustainable utilisation, and for most of them, PNP’s Integrated Conservation and Development Program was identified as benefiting rural communities. On the other hand, the management plan (2008-2013) was not fully implemented due to lack of resources and technical skills. Multiple challenges and issues were identified that affected overall management effectiveness: the national highway, construction of new roads, poaching, illegal timber harvesting, human-wildlife conflict and conflict of interests between the PNP management and local communities. It was also found that the failure of management plan implementation was due to absence of support and monitoring from central agencies. The research findings led to recommendations being made to address the issues identified

    How can behavioural finance help us in better understanding the recent global financial crisis?

    Get PDF
    The recent global financial crisis calls for a need to adopt a more interdisciplinary approach to the study of economics and finance by focussing also on the individual and social psychology that drives the actions of market participants. Behavioural finance offers such a perspective by drawing on the fields of psychology and the other social sciences to explain how investors are led to make less than rational investment decisions and how these could aggregate to less than rational market outcomes, like periods of excessive investor euphoria preceding a financial crisis. This paper draws on the existing literature in behavioural finance and particularly on the two models of information cascade by Bikchandani et al. (1992) and limits to arbitrage by De Long et al. (1990) to provide a better understanding of the underlying reasons behind the recent global financial crisis. The paper concludes with a view to inform policy of the ways it can curb speculative excesses and prevent events like the recent global financial crisis. Keywords: Investor psychology, information cascade, social contagion, limits to arbitrage, noise trader risk

    How can behavioral finance help us in better understanding the recent global financial crisis?

    Get PDF
    The recent global financial crisis calls for a need to adopt a more interdisciplinary approach to the study ofeconomics and finance by focussing also on the individual and social psychology that drives the actions ofmarket participants. Behavioural finance offers such a perspective by drawing on the fields of psychologyand the other social sciences to explain how investors are led to make less than rational investmentdecisions and how these could aggregate to less than rational market outcomes, like periods of excessiveinvestor euphoria preceding a financial crisis. This paper draws on the existing literature in behaviouralfinance and particularly on the two models of “information cascade by Bikchandani et al. (1992) and“limits to arbitrage†by De Long et al. (1990) to provide a better understanding of the underlying reasonsbehind the recent global financial crisis. The paper concludes with a view to inform policy of the ways itcan curb speculative excesses and prevent events like the recent global financial crisis.Keywords: Investor psychology, information cascade, social contagion, limits to arbitrage, noise trader risk

    Assessment of seismic performance of reinforced concrete frame buildings with or without infill wall in Bhutan

    Get PDF
    This study is the first comprehensive research work undertaken on the seismic performance of the masonry infilled reinforced concrete frame buildings in Bhutan. An extensive numerical investigation is carried out and probabilistically predicted the damages of the existing buildings in Bhutan under the expected earthquake ground motions. The findings from this study would go a long way in saving the lives of the people and their properties from the earthquakes in the future

    Developing healthier communities through education and empowerment "user's manual?

    Get PDF
    Developing healthier communities through education and empowerment "user's manual

    Spatial modeling for soil erosion assessment in upper lam phra phloeng watershed, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

    Get PDF

    Who should be responsible for our general well-being? A Gross National Happiness approach to promoting a responsive and sustainable business community / Dorji Wangchuk and Thinley Tobgay

    Get PDF
    Roles and responsibilities of the business community towards society are underexplored and least understood by the business community as well as by the society in general. In the absence of any guideline on the societal responsibilities of the business community in Bhutan, an intellectual gap possibly exists between the ideology of Gross National Happiness and the roles of the business community. Thus, this review explores the tangible societal responsibilities of the business community. It also discusses the long-established arguments on the roles of business to society beyond profit-making and maximizing its financial well-being. Using keywords such as the business community, well-being, social responsibilities, Buddhist economics, western economies, and sustainable business, 114 articles were retrieved from the web-based resources. The data generated thus were analysed using the constant comparison analysis of QUAL approach. The finding indicates that the societal responsibility of the business community is an oxymoron conceptually. The paper also addresses the principles of Gross National Happiness as an approach to promoting an active and sustainable business community. However, indepth research is necessary to understand the roles and responsibilities of the business community in the context of Gross National Happiness

    Practice of Robots Exclusion Protocol in Bhutan

    Get PDF
    Most of the search engines rely on the web robots to collect information from the web. The web is open access and unregulated which makes it easier for the robots to crawl and index all the contents of websites so easily. But not all wish to get their websites and web pages indexed by web crawlers. The diverse crawling activities can be regulated and managed by deploying the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP) in a file called robots.txt in the server. The method used is a de-facto standard and most of the ethical robots will follow the rules specified in the file. In Bhutan, there are many websites and in order to regulate those bots, the usage of the robots.txt file in the websites are not known since no study has been carried out till date. The main aim of the paper is to investigate the use of robots.txt files in various organizations’ websites in Bhutan. And further, to analyze its content present in the file if it exist. A total of 50 websites from various sectors like colleges, government ministries, autonomous agencies, corporations and newspaper agencies were selected for the investigation to check the usage of the file. Moreover, the files were further studied and analyzed for its file size, types of robots specified, and correct use of the file. The result showed that that almost 70% of the websites investigated are using the default robots.txt file generally created by the Joomla and Word press Content Management Systems (CMS) which ultimately specifies that there is a usage of the file. But on the other hand, the file is not really taken into seriously and almost 70% of it lacks major and best protocols defined in it that will help define the access and denial to various resources to various types of robots available on the web. Approximately 30% of the URLs adopted for the study show that the REP file is not added in their web server, thus providing unregulated access of resources to all types of web robots. Keywords: Crawler, robots.txt, search engines, robots exclusion protocol, indexing DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-35-01 Publication date: December 31st 202

    Examining the evidence that testing benefits subsequent information retrieval

    Get PDF
    This study examines the effect of frequent testing on students’ ability to retain the vocabulary and grammar materials learned in the classroom. A quasi-experimental research was employed, involving a sample of 50 Thai vocational students that was purposively recruited for this study. They were divided into two groups, each comprising 25 students. The experimental group received a test and corrective feedback after each unit of the course while the control group did not receive any unit test. The retention test scores were then compared to gauge the performance of the experimental and control groups. In doing this, the experimental group significantly outscored the control group in the retention test. The study found that frequent testing of the students in the course of their study had helped them retain vocabulary and grammar knowledge. The frequent testing may, therefore, be considered as one of the teaching methods to help students to have better retention of vocabulary and grammar knowledge
    • …
    corecore