Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-155). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

The Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) plays a vital role in the livelihoods and economy of those living on the Indian subcontinent, including the small, mountainous country of Bhutan. The ISM fluctuates over varying temporal scales and its variability is related to many internal and external factors including the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). In 2015, a Super El Niño occurred in the tropical Pacific alongside a positive IOD in the Indian Ocean and was followed in 2016 by a simultaneous La Niña and negative IOD. These events had worldwide repercussions. However, it is unclear how the ISM was affected during this time, both at a regional scale over the whole ISM area and at a local scale over Bhutan. First, an evaluation of data products comparing ERA5 reanalysis, TRMM and GPM satellite, and GPCC precipitation products against weather station measurements from Bhutan, showed that ERA5 reanalysis was the most suitable product to investigate ISM change in these two years. Using the reanalysis datasets, it was shown that there was disruption to the ISM during this period, with a late onset of the monsoon in 2015, a shifted monsoon flow in July 2015 and in August 2016 and a late withdrawal in 2016. However, this resulted in neither a monsoon surplus nor deficit across both years but instead large spatial-temporal variability. It is possible to attribute some of the regional scale changes to the ENSO and IOD events, but the expected impact of a simultaneous ENSO and IOD events are not recognisable. This may be due to a supposed weakening of the ENSO/ISM relationship and it is likely that 2015/16 monsoon disruption was driven by a combination of factors alongside ENSO and the IOD, including varying boundary conditions, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation, and more. At a local scale, the intricate topography and orographic processes ongoing within Bhutan further amplified or dampened the already altered ISM. Whilst ENSO and IOD driven monsoon variability can be recognised at a regional scale, a direct link between ENSO and IOD activity and changes to the monsoon at a local scale over Bhutan is hard to distinguish. It is unknown how the ISM, ENSO, and the IOD will evolve under a future changing climate and therefore this presents a concern to Bhutan with its inherent vulnerability to monsoon variability.

Every child has the right to be protected from abuse, violence and exploitation. Children in Bhutan today have rights by law not to be subject to physical abuse, yet UNICEF statistics show that over 64% of children have been physically abused at least once in their lives. There are four types of child maltreatment, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. This study focuses on physical abuse. According to the Youth Development Fund of Bhutan there is a lack of knowledge to address child protection issues in the country. The aim was to investigate the radiographers experience and perceived responsibility when suspecting child abuse. A qualitative interview study with inductive approach was used to answer the study’s purpose. Five radiographers were interviewed at the national referral hospital in Thimphu. The result shows that there is a lack of knowledge about child abuse, but the radiographers are aware of their responsibility by law to report suspected cases of child abuse. The radiographers perceive that their responsibility lay in taking as good images as possible. The radiographers are doing their best with the resources available but that is not enough to protect the children against violence. / Varje barn har rätt att skyddas mot misshandel, våld och exploatering. Barn i Bhutan har idag rätt att inte utsättas för fysiskt våld men statistik från UNICEF visar att över 64% av barnen har utstått fysiskt våld minst en gång i livet. Det finns fyra typer av barnmisshandel, fysiskt våld, psykiskt våld, sexuella övergrepp och försummelse. Denna studie fokuserar på fysiskt våld. Enligt Bhutans ungdomsutvecklingsfond (YDF) finns brist på kunskap för att ta itu med barnsäkerhetsfrågor i landet. Syftet med studien är att undersöka radiografers erfarenheter och hur de uppfattat sitt ansvar vid misstänkta fall av barnmisshandel. En kvalitativ intervjustudie med en induktiv ansats användes för att besvara studiens syfte. Fem radiografer intervjuades på sjukhuset i Thimphu. Resultatet visar att kunskapen om barnmisshandel är bristfälliga men att radiograferna är väl medvetna om sin skyldighet enligt lag att rapportera misstänkta barnmisshandelsfall. Radiograferna uppfattar att deras ansvar ligger i att ta så bra bilder som möjligt. Radiograferna gör sitt bästa med de resurser som finns tillgängliga men det räcker inte för att skydda barnen från våld.

This study explores the effectiveness of the out-country training programs, undertaken by the Ministry of Education personnel in Bhutan, between the period 1999 and 2003. The particular emphasis is on the Transfer of Learning. The transfer literature shows that there are several factors affecting the transfer process (Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Cheng & Ho, 2001). They range from trainees� personal characteristics through training design to organisational support. The transfer process is also said to differ according to the types of organisations, types of training, and duration of training (Holton et al., 2003). While some factors can be influenced by the organisation, some may be beyond the control of the organisation. Therefore, transfer evaluation should focus on those parts of the transfer system that the organisation can influence (Noe, 2000). Baldwin and Ford�s (1988) theoretical framework was adapted to help answer the research questions. This framework is based on the concept that the transfer of learning is governed by several pre-conditions viz. pre-training motivation, training design and work environment factors. These three pre-conditions consist of several factors, and have been placed under three stages of the training process: pre-training, training and post-training. Through the perspectives of trainees and their supervisors, this research can look back into all the three stages of the transfer system and identify what parts of the transfer system need intervention (Holton et al., 2003). Both quantitative data and qualitative data have been used. Quantitative data were collected using a trainee survey questionnaire, and the qualitative data were gathered using trainee in-depth personal interview and supervisor structured interview. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive normative figures, means, percentages, tables and graphs. The Software Product for Social Studies (SPSS) has been used to generate the descriptive figures, means and percentages. On the other hand, dominant themes of the qualitative data have been extracted and grouped in rank order. The training process was split into three main stages, pre-training, training and post-training, in order to assess the effectiveness of the whole training process through self-reported data. The questions were geared towards ascertaining the trainees� motivational level prior to training, quality of training and work environment factors that have affected the process of transfer. Overall, the trainees participated in their training with a good level of pre-training motivation. However, trainees� attitude towards their training changed once they experienced the training. For example, the level of perceived ability to transfer learning to workplaces by the trainees in the academic category reduced after they experienced the training. Perceived utility of the training differed between job utility and career utility. While trainees in all the categories foresaw job utility of their training to be positive, a few trainees in the technical category did not foresee career utility of their training. There are several direct and indirect factors that affected the transfer process. The direct factors include excessive workload, inadequate requisite materials and mismatch of jobs and skills after training. On the other hand, the indirect factors range from lack of clearly laid training objectives to lack of monitoring and evaluation after training. The lack of these main elements in HR system limited opportunities for trainees and their supervisors to ensure transfer of learning acquired from training. On the whole, the out-country training programs were effective. However, there is a great scope for optimising the benefits of out-country training programs and enhancing the rate of transfer. The Ministry of Education needs to streamline and strengthen its HRD system, particularly in terms of clearly identifying training objectives and pursuing monitoring and evaluation after the training.

In order to have a successful outcome and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the development of the hydropower sector is important. This as the hydropower contributes to the socioeconomic development and economic growth, as well as to have an efficient implementation of the SDGs. Nevertheless, the desired outcome of a hydropower development, which in fact will contribute to the other sectors. Thereby, dam governance is important in the success and an important mechanism as to find the balance in the hydropower projects. Since a good dam governance has the potential to create the achievement in both a hydropower development and Agenda 2030.  In relation to the research questions of this study, the importance of dam governance is discussed and analyzed in the success of a hydropower development and in the relation to the implementation of the SDGs.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-161). Print copy also available.

This essay is a comparative case study of the democratization in Bhutan and Burkina Faso. The question this essay ask of its theories and empirical facts are that of ; what kind of similarities can be found in two cases so different, regarding their modern democratization process. To answer that question, two theories are used. Dankwart A. Rustows four phases of democratization and Samuel P. Huntingtons waves of democratization. They are later compared to the empirical data of Bhutan and Burkina Fasos political development and historical backgrounds to democracy. Whilst comparing them, similarities are found in that of leaders institutionalizing the democratic process, and in the rise of new political forums where the democratic process is being applied to actual political problems and then resolved and worked with by politicians. This research concludes with Bhutan being the exception to the democratic process, having had monarks giving up their absolute power to benefit the democratic process, whereas the former leader of Burkina Faso who institutionalized democratic process used it to gain and sustain his own power of the state.

xxxix, 729 p. : ill. (some col.) / Kurtop is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by approximately 15,000 people in Northeastern Bhutan. This dissertation is the first descriptive grammar of the language, based on extensive fieldwork and community-driven language documentation in Bhutan. When possible, analyses are presented in typological and historical/comparative perspectives and illustrated with ample data, drawn mainly from texts but also elicitation as need be. Within Tibeto-Burman, Kurtop has been placed within the East Bodish sub-branch. Data presented in this study support this placement and confirm previous observations that the East Bodish languages are close relatives, but not direct descendants of Classical Tibetan. The link between the current East Bodish languages and Bhutanese prehistory remains unclear but the Kurtop grammar is a first step at understanding the historical relations. The most remarkable aspect of Kurtop phonology is the tonal system, which is contrastive following the sonorants, but incipient following the obstruents, except the palatal fricative, for which tone has completely replaced a previous contrast in voicing. Tone is present only on the first syllable of stems, where vowels are also slightly longer. Kurtop is agglutinating and polysynthetic. Words generally consist of two or three syllables, but may be as long as five or six, depending mainly on suffixing morphology. Like most languages of South Asia, Kurtop exhibits verb-final syntax and the typological correlations that follow, including postposition (or relator noun constructions), auxiliaries after the verb, and sentence-final particles. The case marking system is 'pragmatic' ergative, where an ergative marker is required in some transitive contexts, but not in others. In other contexts, including for some intransitive verbs, the ergative signals a variety of pragmatic or semantic factors. This ergative system, though typologically unusual, is characteristic of many Tibeto-Burman languages, including neighboring Dzongkha and Tshangla. Nominalization and clause-chaining are two essential components of Kurtop syntax, constituting a majority of clauses and a diachronic source for much of the main clause grammar. The evidential/mirative system in Kurtop is also of typological interest, encoding a wide range of values pertaining to speaker expectation as well as mirativity and source of knowledge. / Committee in charge: Scott DeLancey, Chairperson and Advisor; Spike Gildea, Member; Doris Payne, Member; Gyoung-Ah Lee, Member; William Ayres, Outside Member

abstract: The Himalaya are the archetypal example of a continental collision belt, formed by the ongoing convergence between India and Eurasia. Boasting some of the highest and most rugged topography on Earth, there is currently no consensus on how climatic and tectonic processes have combined to shape its topographic evolution. The Kingdom of Bhutan in the eastern Himalaya provides a unique opportunity to study the interconnections among Himalayan climate, topography, erosion, and tectonics. The eastern Himalaya are remarkably different from the rest of the orogen, most strikingly due to the presence of the Shillong Plateau to the south of the Himalayan rangefront. The tectonic structures associated with the Shillong Plateau have accommodated convergence between India and Eurasia and created a natural experiment to test the possible response of the Himalaya to a reduction in local shortening. In addition, the position and orientation of the plateau topography has intercepted moisture once bound for the Himalaya and created a natural experiment to test the possible response of the range to a reduction in rainfall. I focused this study around the gently rolling landscapes found in the middle of the otherwise extremely rugged Bhutan Himalaya, with the understanding that these landscapes likely record a recent change in the evolution of the range. I have used geochronometric, thermochronometric, and cosmogenic nuclide techniques, combined with thermal-kinematic and landscape evolution models to draw three primary conclusions. 1) The cooling histories of bedrock samples from the hinterland of the Bhutan Himalaya show a protracted decrease in erosion rate from the Middle Miocene toward the Pliocene. I have attributed this change to a reduction in shortening rates across the Himalayan mountain belt, due to increased accommodation of shortening across the Shillong Plateau. 2) The low-relief landscapes of Bhutan were likely created by backtilting and surface uplift produced by an active, blind, hinterland duplex. These landscapes were formed during surface uplift, which initiated ca. 1.5 Ma and has totaled 800 m. 3) Millennial-scale erosion rates are coupled with modern rainfall rates. Non-linear relationships between topographic metrics and erosion rates, suggest a fundamental difference in the mode of river incision within the drier interior of Bhutan and the wetter foothills. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Geological Sciences 2014

Taking GDP growth and inflation as endogenous variables, this paper employs a Structural VAR from Baumeister and Hamilton (2015, 2019) to identify aggregate demand and aggregate supply shocks for Bhutan, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that 94 percent of the GDP growth plunge in 2020 is attributable to a fall in aggregate supply. The higher inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also implies a negative supply shock. Although the magnitudes differ, characterizing the COVID-19 pandemic in Bhutan as a supply shock coincides with preceding episodes that were also primarily driven by supply shocks.