Turkey from 1800-1900 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Turkey from 1800-1900 - Research Paper Example In 1800 the Empire had a population of about 20 million. The capital of this empire was the present day capital of Turkey, Istanbul and it was renowned throughout the nineteenth century for its wealth and sophistication, and also for the cosmopolitan mix of different nationalities, cultures and religions that gathered there. The dominant religion was Islam, and this rested on a long tradition of Islamic rulers called Caliphs and Sultans, supported by generally Islamic state laws. There were other religions that flourished in this empire too: â€Å"about three fourths Muslim and the rest divided between Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian and Coptic Christians as well as a prosperous Jewish community." The nineteenth century was a period of reform and renewal in the Ottoman Empire. Historians have recorded the achievements of a number of Islamic leaders who worked towards the twin goal of modernizing the government and institutions of the Empire and maintaining a moderate Islamic society. The rulers took on a personal responsibility for the welfare of their subjects, in accordance with Islamic tradition and this meant that many benefits such as transport, education, health and all kinds of government services were provided by the ruling Sultans. iii This moral obligation was a very important aspect in Turkey at the time, because without it, the people would have suffered under a despotic rule, with few rights, and at risk of exploitation. Thanks to Islamic values, which stipulate that patriarchs are responsible for others less powerful than themselves, there was a desire to do good works and take care of peoples’ needs. A notable feature of the society in Turkey during the e very early part of the nineteenth century is that the Muslim community had many privileges in comparison with the other religious groups. The political reforms of the nineteenth century, called Tanzimat, aimed to reduce these differences by creating a more neutral legal and social framework, which was applicable to all religions equally. This resulted in a separation between Islam and the state, and it has helped to produce the modern Turkey that we see today – broadly Islamic, but at the same time able to operate on a secular system that is quite close to European norms. It could be said that the late Ottoman Empire period in Turkey was an â€Å"attempt to integrate the Western system with moral content appropriate to the Islamic and Ottoman context.†iv There were a number of rebellions and especially attempts by fundamentalist Muslims to retain a more conservative and religious style of state administration, but these were squashed. Reflection Turkey, and the connect ed countries that formed the Ottoman Empire, is a very interesting region of the world because it sits at the margin between East and West, and at the meeting point between three of the great world religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Given that location, its history is bound to be greatly influenced by religious ideas. In studying this topic I have become aware of the long and glorious history that Islam has had, and the way that people in Turkey tried to construct a broadly Islamic society, but one which tolerated other religions and tried to make space for a neutral state system, rather than an overtly Islamic one. For this reason I think that the moderate form of Islam that became the norm in Turkey was very, very important not only for the way that modern Turkey was created, but also for the whole Eastern European region. When one looks at the harsh regimes that exist in Saudi Arabia, or in an even more extreme form in Afghanistan, for example,

Comparative Economics Studies of China and India Essay Example for Free

Comparative Economics Studies of China and India Essay In 1950, China and India was the two developing countries with largest resources in term of land and labor. At that time, they both had the comparable economic structures and degree of development. However, with the difference mainly in political systems, in which China is Socialist Communist government, while India adopt parliamentary democracy, and specific countries’ development policy, it leads to the difference in the rate of growth in industrialization in particular countries. The dissimilarities in political system account for the rate of decision making process. It is the particular reason China had its development policy change in 1978, which undertake export-oriented policy creating special economic zones (SEZs), result in being one of the fastest growing countries in the past 30 years, while In the case of India, before 1991, the economic growth is considerably low, referring as â€Å"Hindu rate of growth†, reflects slow growth in industrialization. After 1991, India had its economic reform policies, Industrialization begin to grow once more, especially with the support of SEZ Act in 2005. It is still questioned whether India could follow China in growth of industrialization due to poor quality of infrastructure and protesting in land acquisition. Introduction The development policy of China and India had it starting point since India’s independency in 1947 and China’s liberation in 1950. These two countries had merely identical initial position in term of economic structures. GDP per capita of China and India, using prices at 1960, were estimated to be 65 US dollar and 62 US dollar respectively. Also, total labor working in industry was 11 percent in India, while it was only 7 percent in China. Moreover, 9 percent of total output was generated in Large-scale manufacturing and utilities, similar to 6% in India. Likewise, Both China and India economies characterized by mass rural poverty under feudal mode of protection in the country side. However, the gap of industrialization between two countries began to widen during 1970s. As in 1980, there was a substantial disparity in percentage share of GDP, only 21. 9 percent in India, compare to 48. 5% in China (Saith, 2008. ) Why was the gap broadened due to similar economic structures? This paper focuses on the reason behind the different rate of industrialization that leads to discrepancy in economic growth. The first section analyzes about the distinction of Chinese and India’s political system, autocratic socialist versus parliamentary democracy, and how it affect the decision making process of two countries. Next section examines various policies of each country, including Import substitution policy of India during 1950-1990, China reform in 1979 with special economic zones (SEZs) and SEZ Act of India in 2005 and the success or failure of those policies. The third Section discusses the policy of land acquisition of China and India that contribute to industrial district. Section four reviews quality of infrastructure of two countries that affect the industrialization accordingly. The Final section concludes the paper. Political Systems There is a distinct political system between China and India. China or PRC is considered as a single-socialist party, in which general secretary of communist party is the president of PRC. This gives total power to communist party to rule over country, although there are minorities of eight other political parties. Furthermore, having economic reform in1978, it gave provincial leader powers to allocate resources in their province. Local economic performances among states evolved into the essential criterion to evaluate lower-level officials. These economic performances included GDP growth, to steel produced, the miles of road constructed (Li amp; Zhou, 2004. ) It created competition among state official to compete for promotion in to higher level, which increase efficiency in each states. Li and Zhou (2004) used data from 28 provincial units from 1979-1995, estimated with regressions, showing that annual growth rate of GDP has positive relationship with promotion (15 %. ) Moreover, with average growth rate over 5 years, result in positive relationship more than double of the result of annual growth rate (33%. In contrast, India constitutes a parliamentary multi-party democracy which more than 40 political parties. It can be said that Indian politics is dominated by duopoly of National Congress party and BJP party. However, those small regional parties still possess some political power as no parties have votes enough for being one-party government. After 1992, Indian politics have become politics of caste factions. Candi dates for legislative assembly seats have been selected from local faction leaders who have local ote banks in specific caste and community. There is no party which can be one-party dominance except being head of multi-party coalition (Stern, 2000. ) Also, with numerous political parties, those parties choose to play vote bank politics. Sometimes they prefer not to afflict with their vote banks, although it is better in terms of society (Inhovi, 2009. ) Moreover, the composition of state power of China and India which it was created during achieving independence or liberation is what make it difference between two political system. In India, the independence movement was supervised mainly by the people in the middle and upper castes. By this I mean, in the post-independence period, people in middle and upper castes can retain their power, while protecting their benefits. As a result, the Indian institutional framework is taking as a constraint toward industrialization and economic growth (Saith, 2008) On the other hand; revolutionary communist party led by Mao Zedong has taken control over china in 1950. Those powers were in the hand of the poor peasant and workers. Prior Status-quo and political structures were overthrown during the revolutionary under socialism. Therefore, the Chinese could adjust their institutional framework so that it is suitable for development of the countries. With the dissimilarity in political system, it leads to the differentiation in the decision making process. For China, which political system is one-party domination, the decision for policies can be made in the communist party as less transaction cost of negotiation among political parties and no obstacle from institutional framework and status-quo. But for India, having duopoly in politics with coalition of multi-party government, culture of patron-client relationship and vote banks system, such decision on policies takes longer time as high negotiation cost between political parties, and it might has conflict with their vote banks (Inhovi, 2009 . ) In addition, China had dual-track implementing system in decision making process, in which State Planning Committee (SPC) make important decision on policies. It also monitors and implements the policy, supporting by powerful party structure, result in successful solutions in terms of growth and infrastructure development. While, India had separated institutions of decision making process and implementation on policies. Strategic Plans were constructed by working groups, including representative of line ministries, technical experts and others. However, in reality, the implementation was deviated from the plan. In addition, past Indian development plans only pointed out directions but not specific goals, making implementation process harder. The distinct model of decision making process would affect both developments policies and infrastructure of both countries that lead to difference growth of industrialization and economic performance (Kimamp; Nangia, 2008. Development Policies In 1950s, India led by Nehru Gandhi launch first development plan, in which its objective was to promote industrialization which large investment were made basic industries. It was known as Import Substitution Policy (ISI). Self-reliance on industrial goods was their prime target. As a consequence, government placed heavy pro tection against domestic industries with licenses, permits and quotas. Only manufactured goods that improve productivity of industrial goods were allowed to import. The development of industrial sector was portrayed by central planning which controlled private sector through license and permits and massive investment in public sector, including specific industries exclusively reserved (McMillanamp; Naughton, 1992. ) Consequently, India industrialized that its industries mostly produce everything from tinned fruit to nuclear energy (Stern, 2000). However, the rate of industrialization is slow as in behalf of non-comparative advantage and high costs of producing goods. Still, average annual GDP growth in industrial sector in real term from 1951-1960 was 5. 7% (Reserved bank of India, 2011. ) At the same time, China had its development policy slightly differentiate from India. China also had development policy centrally planned. However, it relied on the collectivization of agricultural sector, using surplus on development of producing raw materials, investment goods industries and larger-scale, capital intensive industry. All trade of China was co ntrolled by foreign trade corporations, which indeed owned by ministry of Foreign trade. It regulated all imports and exports to specific quantitative guidelines. Similar to India, China’s export and import is irrelevant to country’s comparative advantage (Branstetteramp; Lardy, 2006. ) Then, in 1970s, there’s a turning point in Chinese economy. China, led by Deng Xiaoping, had a several economic reforms especially creating â€Å"special economic zones. † These zones were enacted for which foreign firms receive preferential tax and administrative treatment and given an unusually free hand in their operations (Branstetteramp; Lardy, 2006. ) By that time, there were 4 zones: Shenzen, Zhuhai, Xiamen and Shantou. The prime objective of SEZs was to serve as a bridge to introducing foreign capital, technology and knowledge and management know-how (Roychoudhury, 2010. ) These special economic zones had several advantages. First, each of the zones is extremely large in terms of geographical area; for instance, 2000 square kilometers in Shenzen. It creates cost advantage of economies of scale for industrial sector both internal and external, and low transportation cost among suppliers. Second, they locate in the coastal area, having ports and transport networks. Also, these zones were established near major cities or countries; for example, Shenzen neighbor Hongkong, and Xiamen borders Taiwan. It could attract foreign investment from nearby cities, boast industrialization in SEZs. Moreover, foreign industries received preferential tax in corporate tax rate; the actual tax burden is 11%, while domestic industry paid 23% in actual tax burden, although nowadays, the preferential tax had been lifted except few high-technology sector and small enterprises (Guoamp; Feng, 2007. SEZs helped foster rapid industrialization in China within its area; incentivize foreign investors using comparative advantage of cheap labor costs. Along with the assistance of import policy in 1987, which granted imports of raw materials, parts and components for exporting production purpose tax-free, China industrial sector emerged as low-wage assembly services (Branstetteramp; Lardy, 2006. ) As a result, SEZs growth has been enormous, as an example of Shenzen, which aver age annual GDP growth rate from 1980-2005 was 27%, later referred as â€Å"Shenzen Speed† (Guoamp; Feng, 2007. Later on, China has gained benefit from importing technical knowledge contained in capital goods, parts and components; as a result, some of the industry has shifted from assembling and processing services to self-manufacturing (Branstetteramp; Lardy, 2006. ) By the end of 2005, there are five Shenzen brands with sale more than 10 billion Yuan. The actual use of foreign capital inShenzen has increased to $3. 3 billion in 2006, compare to $153. 7 million in 1979 (Guoamp; Feng, 2007. ) 7% of gross world FDI flows in 2009 went in to China, increase significantly from 1% in 1980. In 2008, China had its share of world GDP in PPP basis of nearly 12% compare to 2% in 1980. China’s real GDP has increased average over 10% annually (Roychoudhury, 2010. ) SEZs policy has proved its own successful, accelerating industrialization and economic growth in China in the past 30 years. In contrast, coping with Hindu rate of growth for over 40 years, 3 percent per annum from 1947 to 1975 and 5 percent per annum from 1976-1991, India had its economic reform later in 1991, starting trade liberalization to oster industrialization and economic growth, including abolishing of industrial licensing, decreasing tariff protection, removing industries reserved for public sector and small-scale sector and liberalizing foreign direct investment. Before trade liberalization, the import substitution policy proved to be inefficiency due to licensing policy, high cost of producing, inflexibility of labor market and non-incentive for efficiency improvement (Ahluwalia, 2002. ) Companie s paid no attention on management training, quality control and advertising because there is only few or no competitor due to licensing policy and tariff protection. As in 1970s, Indian market for industrial goods soon exhausted as domestic market is small and low competitiveness against other companies in the world market. GDP growth in industrial sector of India from 1971-1980 is only 4. 3% especially growth from 1970-1976 is only 3. 4%, compare to 5. 9% and 6. 2% for growth from 1951-1960 and 1961-1970 respectively (reserved Bank of India, 2011. ) As a consequent, industrial licensing has been nullified, replaced by new competition law to increase competitive environment in domestic and international market. Moreover, 15 industries in public sector that was reserved exclusively, such as iron and steel, air transport services, have been opened for private companies to invest. Also, some of productions reserved for small-scale sector have been removed as those productions have export potential. Moreover, import licensing against capital goods and intermediate goods were removed in 1993, and quantitative restrictions on imports of manufactured consumer goods were abolished in 2001. It increased competitiveness for domestic industry, forcing to compete with other companies in global markets. In addition, Average tariff rate has reduced from 72. 5% in 1991-1992 to 15 percent in 2004, which will increase competition in domestic markets. However, the average tariff was considered high, comparing to China (Ahluwalia, 2002. ) The growth in economy and industrialization in India in late 2000s also partly came from â€Å"Special Economic Zones† or SEZ. In 2005, Government of India has passed SEZ A, which it goals was to incentivize local and foreign investors and promote export. There are numerous benefits investing under special economic zones.. Firstly, the government provided duty free import of goods for development, operation and maintenance of SEZ units. Secondly, income tax on export in the first 5 years is exempted, and 50% exempted in year 6TH -10TH and 50% of the export ploughed back export profit for year 11TH-15TH. Third, SEZs units also exempted from central sales tax, service tax and minimum alternate tax. Moreover, SEZs units could borrow from external commercial borrowing up to 500 million dollars in a year without maturity restriction. In addition, SEZs unit gain benefit from single window clearance for central and state approvals, which reduce transaction cost of dealing with governments (SEZ India website, 2011. ) The SEZs policy in India is quite similar to SEZs policy in China; however, there are some distinctions between two countries. First, SEZs units in China mostly produce industrial products or consider in industrial sector, while in India, it can be both industrial sector and service sector. IT/ITES/Electronic hardware Technology parks accounted for 61. 3% of formal approvals of SEZs.

My Antonia Essay: Women on the Frontier -- My Antonia Essays

Women on the Frontier in My Ántonia In 1891, marking the elimination of "free land," the Census Bureau announced that the frontier no longer existed (Takaki, A Different Mirror, 225). The end of the frontier meant the constant impoverishment, instead of the wealth they had dreamed of, for a large number of immigrants from the Old World: they came too late. My Ántonia, however, illuminates another frontier, a frontier within America that most immigrants had to face. It was the frontier between "Americans" and "foreigners." The immigrants were still "foreign" to the "Americans" who came and settled earlier. They had to overcome the language and cultural barrier and struggle against the harsh conditions of life. The novel focuses on the ironic moment that the frontier spirit - a uniquely American one - is realized through "foreigners." Furthermore, it is women, the "hired girls," who are put in the foreground in the novel. What has made America is the foreign within, or rather, the foreign women on the fron tier. The division between the "Americans" and the "foreigners" is found throughout the novel. Even though naturalized, immigrants are still "Bohemians," "Russians," "Norwegians," and so on. They are foreigners in conception as Jim Burden's grandmother says, "If these foreigners [Norwegians] are so clannish, Mr. Bushy, we'll have to have an American graveyard that will be more liberal-minded...."(emphasis mine 73). According to her, the demarcation between foreigners and Americans is purely cultural: as far as foreigners are not clannish and liberal-minded like "Americans... ...an: the heterogeneity within one Bohemian-American family. Children learn Bohemian, the parents' mother tongue, first, and English when they go to school. They eat both American and Bohemian food. Mother from country and father from city, children are open to a wide experience than their parents. Ántonia's first daughter, although married and left the house, is another significant heterogeneity of the family. As the first Mormons scattered sunflowers seeds on their ways to freedom, Ántonia, a woman on the frontier, has raised many future citizens of America. Even though they claimed the end of the frontier, her children might confront another kind of frontier, but it is clear that it is not the same frontier on which their mother has had to stand. The frontier comes back, but always in a different shape.

Dangers of Online Dating Essay

In this article the author was relating teenage obesity to some of the dangerous activities that teens may be experimenting with. The authors theory was that since sometimes teenagers who are obese may be socially isolated, they may do things to try to fit in with the crowd. Also being socially isolated may cause stress. Some of these things may include experimenting with drugs and alcohol. One of these drugs might be cigarettes which can become very dangerous to an obese person because of the health risks involved. And it was said that although skinnier girls are more likely to have ever had sex, it was said that when an obese girl did have intercourse it will be more likely to happen under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. Both of those are dangerous and cause these girls to be at risk or pregnancy or STD’s. This article could affect many of the overweight girls that are on this college campus. I believe that many people are introduced to the drug and alcohol world around this time in their life. And in college you need to protect yourself twice as much if you decide to engage in those activities, especially if you are at a college party or in a unfamiliar setting. Also many students start feeling the stress when they come to college and realize the work load. A way of coping with stress is substance use. Therefore, once again every body needs to be safe and smart when it comes to drug and alcohol use. The safest way is not to use drugs and alcohol. It ensures sober sex and a sober safe night.

Alternative Method for Onsite Sewage Disposal

WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT DESIGN Term Paper 1 ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR ONSITE SEWAGE DISPOSAL (29 Pages) March 2nd, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION3 2. INFORMATION4 3. 1 Soil Absorption System in a septic tank4 3. 2 Soil Failures6 3. 3 Soils7 3. ALTERNATIVE METHODS FOR ONSITE TREATMENTS 8 AND SYSTEMS OF DISPOSALS 4. 4 Alternative method for soil treatment and disposal systems8 4. 5 Alternative treatment devices13 4. 6 In-house alteration of wastewater16 4. REGULATION OF ALTERNATIVE ONSITE SYSTEMS21 5. CONCLUSION22 6. 7 Funding of existing state onsite programs22 6. Operation and maintenance22 6. 9 Failing systems23 6. 10 Water Conservation24 References25 List of Figures26 1. 0 INTRODCUTION Nearly 30% of the homes in the United States of America depend on onsite wastewater treatment and disposal. This percentage remained constant for the last two decades and is also estimated to be constant in the coming future. It is estimated that up to one half of the septic tanks do not perf orm perfectly or may even fail even before their expected life. The risk of contamination of ground water and surface water quality increases with the failing of an onsite system.These result in degradation of water quality, health hazards, outbreak of diseases and lowered property values. Nationally septic tank leachate is the most frequently reported cause for the contamination of the ground water and consumption of contaminated ground water is responsible for over 50% of all reported outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Lack of affordable and effective onsite sewage disposal is a national issue. Less than 35% of the land in the United States of America is suitable for conventional septic tank soil absorption systems.These limitations and requirements have resulted in developing many alternatives for onsite technologies. This study discusses recent research on alternative onsite technologies. 2. INFORMATION 2. 1 Soil Absorption System in a Septic Tank The soil absorption system in a septic tank is one of the most common treatment systems onsite. This soil absorption system consists of a septic tank, a water tight container which is usually large, and a field of soil absorption. It also contains a series of perforated pipes that are buried in the soil. This system performs two functions, the treatment of wastewater and the disposal.The septic tank provides biological treatment by removing large solids and greases. Further treatment followed by the final disposal is provided by the soil absorption field. A septic tank is made up of a large container which is water tight (usually 1000gal). This container is generally buried slightly below the ground and also adjacent to the building to which it is serving. The greases and fats are collected in a layer on the upper liquid surface whereas the solids settle to the bottom of the tank. For the liquid to be discharged from the layers between the solids and the scum, an outlet is constructed in the septic tank.For approx imately every three years, the solids and scum are pumped from the tank. The treatment or stabilization of contaminants in the wastewater are treated by anaerobic microorganisms. This process occurs in the absence of O2. The soil absorption field consists of a series of pipes. These pipes are placed in trenches which are usually 2 to 3 feet wide and 2 to 4 feet deep. These pipes are perforated. The pipes are placed in Gravel and it is covered with top soil. The effluent from the septic tank first flows down to the pipes, then out of the perforations and finally is absorbed by the adjacent soil.The microorganisms in the soil below the trenches absorb and treat the organic material in the effluent. This treated water percolates into ground water or may also evaporate. 2. 2 FAILURES The main causes for the failure of the system are * The water table being very high. * The surrounding soil being impermeable. * Improper Construction * Lacking in maintenance of the tank. The failed system can usually be defined as * When sewage effluent is collected on the surface of the ground. * When the wastewater is no longer being evacuated by the toilets or drainage systems.Main Causes for these types of Failures * Clogging of the Soil under the system * The rising of the water table to very close of the distribution trenches. * The soil being impermeable. The Clogging of the soil is being considered as the unavoidable occurrence for a soil absorption system over a period. The design of the system, the maintenance of the tank, and the characteristics and amount of wastewater being treated greatly influence the rate of clogging. The immediate clogging of the soil is also occurred when proper pumping of the septic tank is neglected.If the soil under the field of soil absorption is too permeable, even then the system failures occur. If this happens then the effluent directly enters the ground water without proper treatment in the soil. In this case it becomes more difficult to id entify, as there are no problems that can be found out or noticed in the disposal system. A sample of ground water may be taken to detect such failures. 2. 3 SOILS The ultimate disposal of the liquid part of the wastes treatment process depends mainly on soil for all onsite systems. The soil also provides the ultimate treatment in most of the onsite systems.The wastewater is made free of contaminant particles when the contaminants pass through soil by contact with the aerobic microorganisms and also absorption to soil particles. The pathogens and contaminants are completely removed from the wastewater if it travels slowly through 2 to 4 feet of unsaturated soil. If at all the wastewater is travelled quickly the treatment is not done completely and resulting in the contamination of the underground water. Even if the wastewater travels too slowly the saturation of the soil takes place aerobic treatment will also not take place.The time at which the wastewater is to be passed should be determined by the soil permeability. It is mainly affected by texture and structure of the soil. The texture of the soil means the physical nature of the soil with respect to portions of sand, silt and clay. The travelling of the water depends on the particle size of the soil. It travels quickly through the coarse soil and slowly in clayey soils. Soils whose structure is stable will allow more water to pass through than that of those soils whose structure is unstable.The kind of soil absorption system that has to be determined is mainly based on the characteristics of the soil. 3. 0 ALTERNATIVE METHODS FOR ONSITE TREATMENTS AND SYSTEMS OF DISPOSALS The conventional septic tank absorption system is used in less than 35% of the land in the United States of America. There are some areas that are not suitable for the conventional absorption system because of the soil. For the past several years alternative methods to the conventional method of absorption system have been provided to de velop effective sewage treatment to those soils which were formerly not suitable.Most of the alternative methods are still in the experimental stage. This chapter describes the ongoing status of the research being carried out on a number of alternative methods to the conventional septic tank-soil absorption system. The alternative systems for the soil absorption system are divided into three groups * Alternative method for soil treatment and disposal systems * Alternative treatment devices * Alteration of wastewater in-house 3. 1 ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR SOIL TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL SYSTEMS The main factor in identifying the onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems is the soil.For this reason, the research has been primarily focused mainly on developing alternative soil absorption methods. Five alternatives to the standard soil absorption field are described here. Of which three of them are the alternative methods of distributing effluent to standard soil absorption field, a mound or fill system, and an evapotranspiration system. Soil Clogging over time is an unavoidable occurrence for soil absorption systems. This problem is caused by the manner in which effluent Is delivered to the system.The flows occur to a soil absorption field when the effluent is displaced from a septic tank by a water use event in the household. Such low volumes and irregular waste utilize only a small portion of the disposal trench area on all times. These cause clogging, progressive creeping failure and localized overloading. The following figure illustrates how the progressive failure reaches a state of equilibrium along the entire absorption field with respect to the time. To provide more uniform application of effluent over the complete trench area two systems have been developed. The two systems are Dosing system and Pressure Distribution systems.DOSING SYSTEMS The dosing systems are present in the dosing tank. These dosing systems store the pretreated effluent and apply large d oses to the soil absorption field by gravity, siphon or pump at regular intervals of time. The surface of the soil is returned to an unsaturated condition by allowing the system to drain. The soil type determines the frequency of dosing. It usually ranges from one to four doses per day. EALUATION: The specific cause for soil clogging is not well understood, and some question still exists whether dosing is effective or not. Clogging still occurs in dosing systems as well as standard systems.More research and careful tracking of installed systems is necessary. An additional dosing chamber and pump adds up to approximately $880 to $1000 to the price of the standard system. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington State Guidelines for dosing systems have been issued. There are 57 systems on the state inventory. PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS Pressure distribution systems like the dosing system store pretreated effluent for periodic distribution to the soil absorption field. Diameters of small radiu s are used to pump the effluent over the entire absorption field. The pressure distribution system provides the most uniform distribution.Such accurate distribution avoids the localized overloading problems. The additional benefit of dosing are also achieved with the Pressure Distribution system. EVALUATION: The Pressure distribution systems are mostly suitable for permeable and coarse textured soils. This is because they improve the potential for treatment by the distribution of the effluent evenly over the entire absorption field and reduce the potential for direct bypass of effluent to the ground water. The installation cost, operational cost and the maintenance cost are much more in a pressure distribution system when compared with the gravity system.This is because of the additional cost of the dosing chamber and pumps which approximately adds to $800 to $1000 to the price of a standard system. The cost of installation of the absorption field is similar to that of the standard field. It is obvious that these systems result in the most effective treatment in coarse textured soils, but it is not clear whether or not the life of the absorption field is long lasted in fine grained soils. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington State Guidelines for pressure distribution Systems have been issued (revised SEPT 1984).There are a total of 52 systems on the state inventory. ALTERNATING DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS The effluent is not stored by the alternating distribution systems. Instead the disposing of the pretreated effluent is carried out between two separate absorption fields. These absorption fields are constructed in close proximity and the fields are usually alternated annually. This allows the unused field to drain and aerobic decomposition of clogging mat to take place. The residential systems are generally constructed with two equal fields each containing 75% to 100% of the required surface area.EVALUATION: Washington alternative system guidelines require each component field to contain 100% of the area required for a single field. In a conventional system it is also required that the soil meet its standards. Hence the installation cost is more and the benefit received is the increased life time of the absorption field. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington state guidelines have been issued. There are two systems on the state inventory. MOUND OR FILL SYSTEMS This is a pressure distribution system installed in a mound constructed on top of the natural soil.Such systems are used when the GWL is too close to the surface or when the soil is not permeable enough or is too permeable. This mound is constructed of a coarse grained material usually sand through which the pretreated effluent travels before it reaches the original surface of the soil. Vegetable cover and top soil are used to cover the mound. Usually the soil absorption field is constructed below the top soil. The mound system is placed on the top of the top soil layer and thus gains the additional be nefit of this soil layer for the treatment.The treated effluent is dispersed over laterally through the top soil until it is absorbed into the sub soil. EVALUATION: These mound systems have emerged as an effective alternative for sites whose soils are unsuitable. Anyhow construction of a mound requires the transportation of large amounts of new soil to the site and the mound must be carefully designed and constructed properly in order to see that no problem occurs in the future. The design and installation cost of the mound system can cost between $4000to$8000. Therefore this the last option for installation.REGULATORY STATUS: Final state guidelines have been issued for the mound systems and there are 257 systems on the state inventory. EVAPOTRANSPIRATION BEDS The evapotranspiration beds discharge the wastes into the air instead of the soil. The use of such beds is not allowed in those areas where the annual evaporation is more than the annual precipitation. These beds are lined wit h water tight materials such as plastic, filled with crushed rock and sand, and again covered with top soil. Perforated pipe lines are used distribute pretreated effluents to the bed as in the conventional absorption system.EVALUATION: Testing of 17systems took place in Easter Oregon and that revealed out poor performance. All but one of the systems developed holes in the linear. They allowed the untreated effluent to enter the ground water. REGULATORY STATUS: An experimental system permit would be required for installation of the evapotranspiration beds. 3. 2 ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT DEVICES The focus has mainly been on the disposal systems in an onsite research in the USA. However there has been some interest in reducing the clogging of soil absorption fields. This has led to in improving the quality or purity of the effluent from treatment devices.If the purity of the effluent is improved then the clogging in coarse unstructured soils is reduced. There are 2 devices in the pretreatm ent of wastewater, the septic tank and the aerobic tank. To provide an extra treatment to the effluents from septic tank and aerobic tank several technologies have been developed. Some of the devices are capable enough to produce the effluent suitable for surface discharge. However the surface discharge is not allowed in all states and so these types of systems can be utilized to improve the performance of the soil absorption field. AEROBIC TANKSAn aerobic tank is a watertight container which runs on the mechanism where the wastewater comes in contact with air. The decomposition of waste products takes place when they are in contact with the air. The separation of the solids and greases take place and the liquid waste is discharged into a disposal system. The solids must be pumped from the final chamber regularly. Aerobic tanks can reduce the BOD by 85% to 98% under ideal conditions and also reduce the Suspended Solids by 40% to 80%. A septic tank reduces BOD by 25% to 65% and suspe nded solids by 40% to 80%.EVALUATION: Aerobic treatment devices are sensitive to any changes in the quantity of wastewater or the characteristics of the wastewater they are treating. In normal conditions, the effluent has not been shown to be of a higher purity than the septic tank effluent and the purity of the septic tank changes vastly with time. These are mechanical devices which require skilled men to operate it and also to maintain it. Since the aerobic tanks need regular inspections and frequent maintenances, they are best suited for conditions where the management is done by Wastewater Management District or utility.REGULATORY STATUS: Final state guidelines were issued in 1975 for the aerobic devices. No systems are illustrated on the state inventory. ANAEROBIC FILTERS These filters are mainly designed to provide secondary treatment to septic tank effluent before they discharge to a soil absorption system. The filter is a water tight container which is filled with crushed ro ck or other soil type which will support microbial growth. Effluent is treated when it comes in contact with anaerobic organisms on the surfaces of the anaerobic filters. EVALUATION: Development is still in the experimental stage for small residential systems.It is reported that anaerobic filters can reduce the BOD of septic tank effluent by 30% to 80% and can further reduce fecal coliform by 43% to 95%. No additional source of energy is required and the maintenance cost is almost similar to that for a septic tank. Cost Estimations are not available. More research and field tests are needed. REFULATORY STATUS: No state guidelines are there for anaerobic filters and an experimental system permit would be required. SAND FILTERS Many sand filter designs have been installed on an experimental basis for residential onsite use.Sand filters operate by directing pretreated effluent into or onto a layer of sand allowing it to drain through the sand where aerobic decomposition of the wastewat er takes place and collecting the filtrate in a perforated pipe at the bottom of the filter. Filters may be constructed either above or below the ground. The systems that are constructed below the ground can be contained in a water tight vault or can also be uncontained in direct contact with the surrounding soil. Some filters send back part of the filtrate through the filter for further treatment. The liquid filtrate is ultimately disposed of in a soil absorption field.Sand filters are capable of producing very high quality of effluent with reported BOD and SS reductions of 99% and 97%, respectively. EVALUATION: The Oregon Department of Environmental quality has conducted extensive research into the use of sand filters for residential use. Their research has shown good success at improving the ability of soils to accept and treat effluent on sites with soils that are not acceptable for the conventional systems. In cases where the soil conditions are very poor, an installation of sa nd filter is made to treat the effluent coming out of the septic tank before the disposal in the mound system.However this system might cost up to $1000. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington State interim guidelines for sand filters have been issued and are currently being revised. 3. 3 IN-HOUSE ALTERATION OF WASTEWATER The main factors that are taken into consideration when designing onsite treatment and disposal systems are the quantity and quality of the wastewater being treated. These factors also have an important effect on the long term performance of those systems. Wastewater is created and its characteristics are determined by the water use habits of the residents belonging to the household.The quality of the wastewater is also influenced by the water use habits of the residents. One technique of altering the waste stream is one technique considered to permit onsite treatment and disposal on sites with less suitable soils. HOUSEHOLD WASTEWATER CHARACTERISTICS Household wastewater c haracteristics vary widely with the time of day and the season. Wastewater from residential houses is affected by high utilization of water like the day of wash, holidays and guests and periods of no flow in times of vacations. Below are given the values of average residential wastewater.Typical household wastewater is 99. 9% water by weight, and 0. 02% to 0. 03% suspended solids, plus minor amounts of other soluble and insoluble organic and inorganic substances. Wastewater also contains bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms from the digestive tract, respiratory tract and skin. Some of the physical and chemical characteristics of wastewater produced by various activities are listed below. TABLE 3. 1 HOUSEHOLD WASTEWATER – PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION ACTIVITY| BIOLOGICAL OXYGEN DEMAND| SUSPENDED SOILS| Kitchen activities| 42%| 27%| Bathing and showering| 6. %| 6. 8%| Clothes washing| 29. 9%| 31. 3%| Toilet Flushing| 21. 8%| 35. 8%| TOTAL| 100%| 100%| WASTE SEGREGATI ON Toilet flushes or black wastes contribute approximately 35% of the water, 36% of the suspended solids, and 68% of the total nitrogen to the household waste stream. The volume and pollutant load of remaining water which is called grey water is reduced if the toilet wastes are treated separately without using water. VAULT PRIVIES Vault privies and holding tank systems store the waste products from toilet in a storage vessel which is water tight and is pumped out periodically?EVALUATION: The storage systems are generally used to correct a temporarily correct a failing system but not always applicable to residential uses. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington state guidelines have been issued and the use is restricted to non-residential applications. INCINERATING TOILETS The use of natural gas and electricity is made to incinerate toilet wastes in the incinerating toilets. In these toilets the solids are reduced to ash and the liquids are evaporated and vented to the outside. Later the ash i s disposed of at regular intervals of time.EVALUATION: Incinerating systems consume energy either from electricity or from natural gas and should go through a fifteen minutes treatment cycle after every use. Five to Six units installed in Kentucky in the early 1970s had been abandoned by 1978 because of high operation costs, associated doors and frequent problems of repairs. REGULATORY STATUS: Washington state interim guidelines for incinerating toilets were issued. BIOLOGICAL TOILETS Biological toilets treat human wastes by composting. Composting takes place under specific conditions of temperature, moisture, exposure to Oxygen and the availability of carbon and nitrogen.This process of composting usually results in a relatively dry end product which is free from harmful components. This end product is intended for disposal as a soil additive. To assure successful treatment of wastes, proper maintenance of design and operation of composting toilets within the composting chamber. Th ere are two common designs used, (1) small units where the entire unit is on the floor in the toilet room and (2) large toilets where the composting unit is below the floor. EVALUATION: Even though they have been in use for many years, the design of composting or biological toilets is still evolving.Field testing in the United States of America has resulted in some problems. Two studies sponsored by U. S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and conducted in California and Oregon report generally poor performance including certain problems like excess buildup of liquid, problems caused by insects and rodents, structural failures and incomplete treatment of wastes. For certain units to operate efficiently an added heat and forced ventilation are required. REGULATORY STATUS: No existing regulations in the state of Ohio. GREYWATER TREATMENT AND DISPOSALGrey water contains concentrations of organic materials, solids, nutrients and fecal bacteria which require treatment to that of the t otal household wastewater. A significant amount of wastewater created can be reduced by segregating the waste. EVALUATION: Even though the conventional treatment and disposal methods are required, the segregation of black wastes allows the size of the system to be reduced significantly. Septic tank size can be reduced by 50% and the capacity of the soil absorption field can be reduced by 40%. REGULATORY STATUS: Guidelines for grey water treatment are included in the state regulations. . REGULATION OF ALTERNATIVE ONSITE SYSTEMS To prevent the spread of diseases, the need for regulation of onsite sewage disposal became necessary. However specific construction requirements are many times difficult to justify in terms of preventing the spread of diseases. This difficulty led to vast differences in policy and allowed regulations to be influenced by political purposes as well as public health purposes. A national survey of existing state codes in 1947 found considerable variation in requi rements for onsite sewage disposal systems (Weibel, 1947, in Kreissl, 1982a).These findings prompted the U. S. Public Health Service to become involved, and in 1957 they published the Manual of Septic-Tank Practice. A survey of all the states was conducted in 1971 and showed that most state codes had incorporated the recommendations of the manual (Patterson, 1971, in Kreissl, 1984). Since that time, states have been revising their codes in response to local experience and new research. In 1980 the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency published a Design Manual for Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Disposal.Newer or â€Å"alternative† onsite treatment technologies are more complex than that of the conventional systems and incorporate pumps, recirculation piping, aeration, and other features (e. g. , greater generation of residuals) that require ongoing or periodic monitoring and maintenance. However, the current management programs of most of the jurisdictions do not typically o versee routine operation and maintenance activities or detect and respond to changes in wastewater loads that can overwhelm a system. In addition, in many cases onsite system planning and siting functions are not linked to larger ground water and watershed protection programs.The challenge for onsite treatment regulators in the new millennium will be to improve traditional health based programs for ground water and surface water protection while embracing a vigorous role in protecting and restoring the nation's watersheds. 5. CONCLUSION There are important problems not addressed by existing regulations 5. 1 Funding of Existing State Onsite Programs The Department of Social and Health Services currently has 1. 8 staff statewide for the entire onsite program. Department officials estimate that 4 to 5 full time staff would be required to adequately perform the state’s duties (Lenning, 1987). . 2 Operation and Maintenance The U. S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Design Man ual for Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Systems (1980) suggests that there are three distinct phases in the life of onsite systems that required to be controlled. * Installation * Operation * Maintenance The above phases of installation, operational cost and maintenance cost cause problems that may result in system failures that threaten public health or damage the environment. Guidelines for alternative and experimental systems require some monitoring of operation as mentioned in Section 4. 2.The difference between using an onsite system and being connected to a municipal sewer is usually not known to the home owners. Careful operation and careful maintenance is required for an onsite system to function properly. For example, there might be a serious effect on the operation of an onsite system with the use of garbage grinders or excessive water volumes (Refer Chapter 3. 3). An important maintenance function for most of the systems is pumping of septic tank. If this is not done properly it may result in the rapid failure of the soil treatment and disposal system (Refer Chapter 2. 2).Special operation and maintenance requirements are present in most alternative systems so that they can function properly. As of now there are no statewide requirements for operation and maintenance of conventional or alternative onsite systems. There are two possibilities to control the onsite system operation and maintenance. * Regular Inspection and documentation of maintenance * Community or regional wastewater management districts REGULAR INSPECTION AND DOCUMENTATION OF MAINTENANCE To adequately protect public health and the environment regular maintenance of the onsite wastewater systems is required.In some areas, the local governments require the property owners to provide local health authorities with evidence that their wastewater system is being operated and maintained properly. Inspections are conducted by health officials or licensed individuals, such as plumbe rs who are well trained and also are certified to carry out inspections. COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS In the previous days onsite wastewater systems were considered temporary solutions until one of the areas were sewered. From then they have become an important wastewater treatment practice for many areas.The induced and often dramatic growth can be reduced with onsite system in low density areas. With the help of an onsite system the high costs for the construction of the traditional centralized sewer and treatment systems can also be reduced. The degradation of the ground water and the environment can be avoided if the management district sees that the maintenance of the onsite systems within the district is functioning properly or not. In some states wastewater management districts have been formed using a combination of alternative including individual and communal systems. . 3 FAILING SYSTEMS The repairs are usually difficult when a system fails because of its high repairing cost. The health officials find it difficult in the issues of failing systems. They are difficult to detect the cause of the failure and are even more difficult rectify the defect or to repair it. There are two regulatory problems, related to alternate systems that arise when a system fails. * If there is not enough land to construct an approved replacement system then a failing system may be located on this lot.If there is flexibility in the guidelines for the application of an alternative system or replacement systems, then this could allow people to improve their wastewater treatment system even if they are not able to meet all applications. * The Property owner not being able to afford the cost of an approved replacement system Some funding assistance is required to help low income householders to rectify the onsite system deficiencies. For example if the failing system is located on soil that is not suitable for a conventional system, an alternative syste m may be required.The installation cost and operational cost are very high for alternative systems. 5. 4 WATER CONSERVATION The advantages of water conservation on the treatment of soil and disposal systems are described in section 3. 3. Some of the advantages of water conservation are. * The performance of soil absorption system is increased. * Savings in energy costs * Potential for correcting a system which is failing Several applications for water conservation to regulate to onsite regulations are: * Regulations allow for soil-absorption field sizes to be decreased when it can be shown that low water use fixtures require a decrease.However some officials might be hesitant to permit the decreases in soil absorption field size fearing that the occupants in future might install non efficient fixtures and cause the system to fail. * Water conservation can be a cost effective method for correcting the failures of the system (Refer section 3. 3). There are currently no state guideline s for the application of this method. * Some states like Oregon and California have enacted a legislation which requires the installation of some water efficient fixtures in new construction (Puget Sound Water Quality, 1986). REFERENCES 1.Metcalf and Eddy (2002) Wastewater Engineering: Treatment, Disposal and Reuse, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York, New York 2. Syed R Qasim, Wastewater Treatment Plants- Planning, Design and Operation, Second Edition. 3. Wikipedia www. wikipedia. org 4. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) FIGURES 1. Typical Septic Tank – Soil Absorption System 2. Septic Tank (Adapted from Environmental Protection Agency, 1980) 3. Soil Absorption Field Cross Section 4. Typical Dosing Chamber with Pump 5. Mound System 6. Aerobic Treatment Unit (Aerobic Tank) 7. Sand Filter 8. Biological Toilets

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International financial markets - Essay Example It was in this in this meeting gathering that the Bretton Woods system was born. Initially, this has initiated an acceleration of global activity. However as the system progresses, its flaws surfaced out so intensely that the former United States President Richard Nixon sentenced it to its demise on August 1971. Though the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, two financing institutions that were born because of the system are still existent, the initial system that they adopted were substantially altered by Nixon’s cessation of gold standard. Adam Smith, the father of economics, and his contemporary thinkers, has started recognizing and studying on the benefits from international trade and capital mobility. Though overseas trading has already been practiced centuries earlier before their era, there was no formal academic and scientific study for this. Smith, in his pioneering investigation on the British economy, has plotted out a fertile condition for nations to maximize their gains: the presence of a sufficiently functioning international monetary system that promotes and facilitates trade and efficient allocation of capital (Ferderer, 2002, p.1). The 18th century admired the prospects for mutual gain that they get from free trade between nations (Understanding economics, 2006). In the past 200 years, capital mobility in large quantities and allocation of these to lucrative and promising investments became a tool that altered the standard of living. Effectiveness of financial institutions should then be measured by the contributions that they give to this process and eventually to a country’s growth and employment (Eatwell & Taylor, 1999). They should then adapt a financial system that will facilitate the flow of capital and investment. In 1717 Sir Isaac Newton ‘accidentally’ adopted a de facto gold standard that later became the monetary regime in those times. The renowned scientist, a master of the mint, set the gold price

Honda Malaysia Essay Example for Free

Honda Malaysia Essay Honda made its first foray into Malaysia in the 1960s, establishing Kah Motors Sdn Bhd as the distributor for its products. On 15 November 2000, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. of Japan cooperates with DRB-HICOM Berhad and Oriental Holdings Berhad, and then Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd was established. Since then, Honda Malaysia has been a strong and active player in the Malaysian automobile market. In 2003, the company set up a manufacturing plant in Malacca. Spread over 80 acres of land, the Pegoh Plant has a total built-up area of 13 acres and rolled out its first car, a CR-V, in January 2003 . With this plant, not only is Honda Malaysia optimistic of achieving high sales every year, it has further strengthened Hondas reputation in Malaysia. By 2010, over 225,000 cars had been managed to sell by Honda Malaysia. It also received the ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 accreditations because of its good Environment Management System and Quality Control. The slogan of Honda is â€Å"The Power of Dreams†, their aim is to change the dreams into reality. One of their dream is making all cars as green as the forest, and now they are achieving this slowly. The Honda Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system incorporates two power sources, producing a synergised technology to enhance driving performance and environmental protection. IMA system not only gives superb fuel efficiency, it helps to save the environment by cutting down on carbon dioxide discharges while enabling a sporty driving experience. With having this technology, Honda managed to reach another landmark in the Malaysian automobile. Honda’s hybrid model was first launched in December 2010. Its advanced technology and stylish designed had attracted people from making an order of 500 units within the first 10 days of launching. Advanced performance, futuristic designed, comfortable are the elements that Honda cars can always have high market share in the non national car segment. All Honda cars come with the i-VTEC engine, which is famous because of its perfect balance of high performance and fuel economy. Honda Cars produce various models which are Civic, Civic Hybrid, City, Accord, CR-V, CR-Z, Freed, Insight, Jazz, Jazz Hybrid, Stream. These models are produced to fulfil various type of customer. As an example, Accord is more spacious, sporty, and powerful, it is mostly designed for men. City is more affordable and its size engine range is lower. While Freed can contain 6 peoples, it is more suitable for those who have big family. Safety also one of the most important element when Honda are developing cars. Honda insist of making cars with high levels of safety to ensure everyone can have a safe and pleasant journey whenever they go. Honda’s G-CON (G-Force Control) technology is developed to scatter and absorb impact energy, reducing injuries and significantly improving safety for everyone involved in an impact, be it the driver, passenger or the pedestrian. VSA(Vehicle Stability Assist) technology keeps driver and passengers safe by keeping the vehicle stable and preventing skidding to avoid accidents. Honda established an indoor all-weather vehicle-to-vehicle crash test facility located at the Tochigi Research and Development Centre, Japan. The centre conducts a diverse range of crash test from a variety of directions and weathers, at varying speeds and vehicles of different sizes to better understand, design, and protect against real world collisions. It is also equipped with the technology to capture different viewpoints and scenarios of tests conducted. Once the customer purchase car, Honda believes a lifelong relationship with the customer begins, so it is important for Honda to build an on-going relationship through high quality after-sales services. To provide optimal standard of sales and high quality after-sales service, Honda Malaysia offers the 3S – Sales, Service and Spare Parts facilities at 56 of the 59 Honda dealerships across Malaysia. The 3S concept is a constituent of Honda Malaysia’s policy of prioritising customer satisfaction while creating an enjoyable customer experience.

Unemployment in Rwanda

Unemployment in Rwanda Rwanda is one of the smallest low income African countries and a post- conflict country that shares boundaries with Uganda in north, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in west, Burundi in south and Tanzania in east, Having emerged from the 1994 genocide and civil conflict and wars which claimed over one million people dead and left the socio-economic infrastructure completely smashed. The country suffered from harsh deficits which includes skilled human capital and this is largely for technical professions (RoR: 2008). According to the 2002 census of Population and Housing, Rwanda`s Population was estimated at 10,4 million and with the population density of 321 persons per square kilometre. The country`s Population grew rapidly from a small size Population of 2 million in 1962 to over 10 million in 2010. The country has a relatively high rate population growth of 2.9% which could carry on the population to sixteen million in the year 2020, if this pace or speed is maintained. The population is predominately young with an average age of about 20 years of old with about 60% of the total population less than 19 years old with significant implications for young people `s unemployment (RoR:2002). The young people in Rwanda represents hope for the future as a resource that holds a big reserve of human energy, and they can play a big role particularly in developing the economy. Rwanda being one of the poorest countries in the world and much of her population is largely dependent on subsistence farming or agriculture in general. The formal industrial and employment is slightly developed and nearly non-existent outside the few larger urban areas basically Kigali main capital city, followed by smaller cities such as Huye, Cyangugu, Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, Gitarama, Kibuye and Rwamagana. Over the past decades ,the youth in Rwanda have depended so much on employment generated by the Public Sector as the sole employer mainly due to ineffective policy framework that would facilitate the processes of generating employment ( RoR: 2005 ). Lack of active government input and facilitation has been one of the top most challenging factors among others. In the process of improving the lives and the standards of the population in Rwanda, the country has embarked on supporting and facilitating the informal sector as a means to generate more employment opportunities to vulnerable people especially the youth and has implemented policies to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other Rural Development Programmes like Vision Umurenge, Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) and the Vision 2020 as a framework to achieve the overall development in Rwanda ( RoR: 1999). Rwanda is trying to change from an aid dependent country into a middle income country by developing its human capital with skills in different capacities to enhance employment creation for the entire population which is dominated by the youth. The Government of Rwanda established five year action plan for youth employment promotion and the strategies which is meant to help in developing her human capital by empowering the young people in the labour market so as to get decent jobs (RoR:2008). It is in this regard that, the government has developed a number of vocational training institutions in all five Provinces (that makes up Rwanda) purposely to help the young people to gain certain level of skills to enable them become self-employed and make use of their effort in development. Nicola, (2005), argues that vocational education normally is projected to make young people become self reliant. This supports the argument that vocational education for young people is to become creative with necessary skills that enables them to start their own undertakings. However, many studies in developing countries show numerous constraints in vocational training institutions, a situation whereby vocational training graduates hardly succeed when trying to seek economic activities or create employment, (Haan,2006).Yet the main goal of vocational training institutions is to prepare young people to fit in the labour market. Based on the above views, this will necessitate the researcher to draw attention to the perceptions of the trainees from vocational institutions. The case of Rwanda`s vocational education system which lacks a sound and stable standard setting in place, this has created problems of low quality education that is somewhat not relevant to the current labour market which is competitive and tight as a result of large labour force supply in the country. 1.2 Statement of the problem It is claimed that, young people always consider gaining skills as sole source of solving the unemployment problem for them and it is regarded as a form of transition for them to join the independent life style. Sen.(1997), argues that skills and knowledge can enhance human capability, a situation whereby young people can be able to make their own choices to lead lives they have reason to value. A recent initiative of the government of Rwanda to address the rampant unemployment trend in the labour market among the young people is the setting up of Workforce Development Authority (WDA). This institution was set up to improve the standards of vocational institutions in a country and play a regulatory role and working under the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public Service and Labour but still a lot is missing due to; limited qualified personnel in training programmes, lack of experience for young people seeking employment, Inadequate skills to prepare the young people with enoug h capability upon the labour market standards , poor education system (RoR: 2010). The high rate of unemployment in Rwanda is a result of poor education system which prepares young people basically for white collar jobs which have been declining across time.( RoR: 2002). The country`s formal unemployment rate is 15.5% and this impacts on nearly 696,260 persons (RoR:2005). The government of Rwanda has embarked on increasing expenditure on education sector and this has led to increased labour force supply from vocational training institutions. This has also led to increased demand for jobs within a tight labour market of Rwanda that is actually dependent on public jobs. This has led to a large crowd of unemployed young people based on the fact that the labour force supply exceeded the labour demands in the labour market and as a result of poor education system ,there is often smaller number of young graduates who are able to create their own employment. In Rwanda, the private sector is mainly underdeveloped and this is also one of the major cause of a large crowd of unemployed young people in a country. In this case, the public sector remains the principal employer compared to the formal private sector (segment) yet public sector employs a small fraction of the employable inhabitants (RoR: 2007). The agricultural sector is the largest employer among the sectors in the country, but this sector is largely less productive and this is due to smaller range (size) of land share as per-person in the country, the land is often very small with less than 1 (one) hectare per-person/ inhabitant. This contributes to low output and low incomes to the rural dwellers, who are the majority of whom the young people and women, such people would be employed in other sectors ( RoR: 2002). The economically active and dynamic population that is active is estimated at 4,493,000 and among those 45% are men and 55% are women counter- parts. out of the above population, 2,334,000 are in the age bracket of young people in the country ranging from 15-29 years of age, where as 1,153,000 are under 20 years of age (RoR:2004). Besides that, because of poor education and curriculum systems, the skills and competencies acquired by the young people from the vocational training institutions do not match with the requirements of labour market mainly because VET graduates often lack some confidence to stand on their own capabilities to start self-employment. The issue of self-employment has been worsened by the general lack of active labour market policies in place to facilitate the creation of employment for young people and active youth employment promotion policies in place which can also influence the decisions to avail credits and information pertaining job opportunities for unemployed young people from vocational training who may be troubled by the lack of initial capital to start the entrepreneurship businesses (RoR: 2008). As it was suggested and adopted by UNESCO (1974) in a vital recommendation that, technical and vocational education is an essential component of general education and as a system of preparing for occupational-workers and as a mechanism to shrink the mismatches involving trainings and employment. Many young people are said to be trapped-up and hardly make it to start self-employment in the labour market. Thus, this study seeks to assess the effectiveness of vocational training institutions in building human capital as well as their capabilities in terms of giving the necessary skills and competencies required by young people to be self-employed in the labour market and the necessary strategies to alleviate the above constraints faced by the young people in the labour market. 1.3 Research objective and research questions 1.3.1 Main objective of the research The objective of this research paper is to assess the labour market situation for the young people in Rwanda with reference of Gasabo District in Kigali-City. Emphasis is given to young people who graduate from vocational education and training going into self-employment. It tries to discover the mismatch between skills young people have and the desired competencies for self-employment in the current labour market. 1.3.2 Specific objectives of the research To identify the journeys into self-employment taken by young people from vocational education and training in Rwanda, To find out the perceptions of young people over the challenges they face during the course of training and how well education and training has prepared them for those challenges, To analyse the major challenges the young people encounter when taking their journeys to self- employment, To suggest policy recommendations to be adopted so as to improve the labour market situations for the young people in Rwanda. 1.3.3 Research Questions What are the economic journeys taken by young people from vocational training into self-employment in Rwanda? What are the perceptions of young people over the challenges they face during the course of training and how well education and training has prepared them for those challenges? What are the major constraints the young people encounter when taking their journeys to self-employment? What policy recommendations should be made to encourage an environment of adequate skills and capability desired in the labour market? 1.4 Relevance and justification of the research study The research study is relevant as it tries to make a good understanding of the concepts of self-employment developed by training and a labour market concept which is rather weak among several vocational training institutions in Rwanda. This paper provides response to the common mismatch of skills acquired from vocational institutions that impinges so much on the position of young people in Rwanda`s current labour market. It will also enable the concerned parties to recognize whether self-employment policies and programmes in place are relevant towards addressing the high rate of unemployment among the young people in Rwanda. It will create a platform to initiate debates on youth employment promotion policies which might be useful in addressing the unemployment problem which has affected the young people in Rwanda`s labour market and the world of work in a global perspective. Besides that, this research provides useful literature and knowledge for future reviews based on the theoretical views and opinions of several cited authors from the world of academia that are included in this research paper. This research study is also relevant especially when it seeks to make policy recommendations as an aspect that will help in building institutional capacities and as well as building human capabilities. 1.5 Research Methodology and sources of data. The research is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected from respondents from the chosen area of study comprising of the beneficiaries of training programmes. The researcher identified young individuals who are graduates from vocational training institutions. The total number of interviewee was thirty five (35) respondents from Gasabo District and Government officials. This helped the researcher to collect data on the quality of the education system provided by the vocational training education institutions in Rwanda and was able to capture information on the perceptions of young people on the standards of the education system provided to them, after they graduate and how it is helpful or inadequate in as far as labour market is concerned. 1.5.1 Sample size and sampling procedures The ideal exercise in a research study is to find data from the whole population. This would guarantee maximum coverage/ treatment of population concerned in the research study. However, due to lack of resources, it was not feasible to study the whole population; In this case, a sample size was then deemed necessary and essential to satisfy the researcher`s study. With the use of purposive sampling method, respondents presumed to have clear/understandable and enough information concerning the economic journeys of the young people into self-employment were consulted. To get rich and enough information about young peoples transition into self employment, I purposively selected thirty (30) self-employed young respondents. For better understanding what the government is doing / planning to encourage self employment to young people in Rwanda, I selected 5 Government officials, two from the Ministry of Public Service and Labour, one official from the Ministry of Youth and two officials from the Ministry of Education and were interviewed. Thus, the sample size of the study totalled to 35 respondents. The selection of 30 young respondents that were interviewed fell in age range of 15-35 years old as being stipulated by Rwandan constitution of 2003-2004 determining who the youth are. 1.5.2 Research techniques Interviews To get primary data, it was decided to interview 35 respondents. Before holding interviews with respondents, the researcher had first to make contacts with the help of telephones calls. Using interview guide, the researcher interviewed 30 young self-employed people in Gasabo District. To know what the government is doing or planning for self employment for young people in Rwanda, 2 officials from the Ministry of Public Services and Labour, 2 officials from the Ministry of Education and 1 official from the Ministry of Youth were also interviewed. Semi-structured interviews each lasting for up 30-35 minutes were conducted. The interview questions varied in form and emphasis based on the interviewee but were based on the research questions mentioned above. In some cases, some prompts were incorporated, for example, around the nature of self-employment and the transition of young people as a starting point for informants giving their views about self-employment as a form of employment in the labour market. With respect to the qualitative practice (Davies: 1997), a mostly unrestricted/open-ended interview timetable was used to guide the conversation and discussion. The interview calendar was purposefully considered to allow informants to articulate/express themselves unreservedly and to raise their personal issues and concerns relating to the transition of young people towards self- employment in the real world of work. The interview schedules helped very the researcher to understand as well as studying the attitudes, values, beliefs and motives the young people have in as far as self-employment is concerned. The study interviews were conducted in English, but in some cases Kinyarwanda (local language) was used, with the interview transcripts which was translated into English afterwards. Desk study For the concern of secondary data collection, a desk study was used. The study concentrated on secondary data from diverse sources, but mainly from the ISS/Erasmus University library, official government publications/documents from Rwanda related to the issue of investigation, Internet sources was very crucial among other sources, Many reports and other relevant sources were also consulted during the research paper writing period. 1.6 Scope and limitations of the research study This research study focuses on the young self-employed people, and who have above average levels of education in Rwanda taking Gasabo District in Kigali-City as a case study. Due to time restriction and inadequate resources/funds, the research study could not cover the entire country, the research was conducted in Gasabo District in Kigali- City. Gasabo District being surrounded by the three Districts that constitute Kigali-City Mayor ship was considered because of the following reasons: Gasabo District is situated in the centre of Kigali-city where most of the commercial activities and many businesses takes palace, and as well government administrative offices and none governmental organization offices are located. The district is presumed to be having somewhat/ fairly well developed infrastructures in place as well as road networks, water, electricity with the planned settlements and more easily reached communities and this can facilitate those who seek self-employment and as well as employment creation per se. In this case the young people after their training may decide to stay around with their relatives while trying to find what to do in their bid to seek self-employment in tight labour market. Gasabo District was chosen because the district is presumed with a big number of young people that are self-employed relatively bigger compared to Nyarugenge and Kicukiro Districts that also make up Kigali-City. Gasabo Districts takes a bigger part of Kigali-city. Pertaining to the limitations, the researcher came across quite a lot of challenges. Which created some unexpected inconvenience in the field during data collection and they may included; Bureaucratic tendencies from some of the selected interviewees especially government officials was the most problem that frustrated the researcher so much. The scheduling of appointments with the respondents was proved to be time consuming and took most of the researchers time. However, to overcome this, several appointments were made and this pro-longed the time of data collection than the earlier planned time. Further to that, with the introductory letter from ISS/Erasmus university stating the intention of the research, several respondents started welcoming the researcher and they could spare 20-35 minutes for discussion during interviews. Language problem also delayed the progress of data collection in the field at several instances. This is mainly for the reason that most of the Official documents are prepared in French and the responses of the young people were given in Kinyarwanda Language. Irrespective of such difficulties and challenges the researcher encountered in the process of data collection, on the other hand, the data collection went well because some friends of mine helped me in translating a number of helpful related materials such as policy documents from French to English and some from Kinyarwanda into English. Samer and Bennell (2001:7) pointed out that there are generally serious inconveniences with the way in which persons are selected and traced, This implies that, the samples size were biased and not really representative of the whole population size of the young self-employed people under investigation. In this case, there could be many other young people who might have come up with different views and responses during data collection. 1.7 The organization of the research paper This research paper is structured into five chapters. Chapter 1 presents a general idea of what this research paper expected to find out and how to tackle it. It includes the general introduction of the research, problem statement of the research, the relevance and justification of the research study, objectives and research questions of the research study. It also highlights the scope and limitations of the research, the research methods and the research techniques that were used in collecting the desired data. Chapter 2 is made up of the conceptual and theoretical framework of the research. This section presents in length and gives a discussion on the concepts used according to a number of scholars. Basically this chapter concentrates rigorously on the associated concepts like: youth, transition from school-to-work, self-employment, competencies, skills, determinants of self-employment, social networks, importance of self-employment and limitations/ barriers that self-employed young people are troubled with and employment search theory. Chapter 3 presents an overview of VET programmes in the Rwandan context by giving the general picture of TVET education system pertaining to vocational education and training provided to the young people in Rwanda (TVET as an umbrella for VET programmes). Chapter 4 presents research findings and interpretations. It starts by presenting the general profile and the structure of Gasabo District as the case study for this research. It evidently shows how the collected data was analysed in connection to research questions, the economic journeys young people take to become self-employed, perceptions and expectations of the young people, forms of economic activities being done by the young people in the context of Rwanda`s labour market, factors contributing to long duration of transition to self-employment among the young people in Gasabo District. Chapter 5 offers some of the critical reflections on the research findings and recommendations and general conclusion that covers a summary of responses to the research questions and objectives of this research study. Chapter 2: Conceptual and Theoretical Framework 2.1 Introduction This chapter presents the conceptual and theoretical frameworks and which also provides a basis for this research. It covers concepts such as; youth in other words who are the young people?, Skills, competencies, self-employment, wage employment, determinants of self-employment, social-networks, importance of self-employment, limitations/ barriers of self-employment and that is also followed be the employment search theory. 2.2 Working concepts and definitions 2.2.1 Youth The concept of youth/ young people varies from one community to another, depending on customs and traditions, social behaviour and location (Curtain: 2001). According to the United Nations (UN), the standard clarity of youth comprises of people aged between 15-24 years old. However, In Rwandan context, with reference to the current constitution version 2003-2004, it defines youth as a fraction of people aged between15-35 year old. 2.2.2 Skills As cited by Awortwe-Abban (2009) in the words of Nelson and Winter in their perspective of evolutionary theory, they defined the concept of skill as a capability for smooth progression of coordinated performance that is normally effective relatively to its objectives, given the context in which it often occurs (Awortwe-Abban: 2009). In this case, individuals or young people may be able to engage themselves in different undertakings whereby, they can be able to discover, consider and at the same time evaluate possible likely changes in their ways of doing things. This concept of skill is applicable to this research study mainly because without provision of proper and adequate skills such as technical skills, business skills and many other skills to young people, entering the labour market could be difficult. This could also be a hindrance to labour supply in any labour market and self-employment opportunities per se. thus, many opportunities could remain idle and untapped mainly not b ecause of restrictions but due of lack of skills desired in the labour market. 2.2.3 Competence This concept of competence refers to a certain level of standardized requirement for an individual to practically perform a specific occupation or a task in a world of work. However, competencies are often judged as a combination of knowledge and skills required for an individual to perform a specific role adequately and professionally (Raven and Stephenson: 2001). This concept is applicable in this research study because, it is part of the training output acquired during the period of career training from vocational training institutions. And once young people are not given chance to learn some of the desired competences which would make them ready to be self-employed, they can always remain unemployed and dependants on the existing employers of the formal sector and informal sector. According to Eraut (2003), competence is defined as; the ability of individuals to perform errands and roles necessary and obligatory to the expected standards while Mandon et al (1998) admittedly, pointed out that, competence refers to the capacity of a person to do something. It should however be noted that competence is viewed as being holistic because it is comprised of the subject matter of knowledge, abilities and qualities of doing work or any activity in a diverse manner. However, for purposes of this study, the concept of competence could imply as the capability to apply knowledge and skills in practice. In this case, lack of vocational based training competencies could hinder the economic journeys that young people make to start self-employment in a tight in labour market. In other words, why the very people who are prepared for self-employment find it so cumbersome join the labour market. In this case, the research findings will provide suitable answers to such alarming is sues. 2.2.4 Self-employment From economic perspective, self-employment is a form of economic activity that provides the opportunity for individuals to improve their quality of life and/or for exploring creative entrepreneurial opportunities (Bryson and White: 1996). They argue that self-employment especially among the young people is considered mostly to be economically vulnerable and this could be a result of lack of improved economic policies and programmes that promote and facilitate self- employment amongst the young people through the provision of access to credit and business development services, networking as well as other forms of support. The young people consider self-employment as their best preference. This is based on the competencies they are given from the training which also allows them to venture into new small economic activities or entrepreneurial activities . There is also a range of motivating factors such as; the desire for self-expression and independence (Bryson and White: 1996 ). The purpose of self-employment as a concept in this study is to address the journeys and transitions that young people take in order to start their own employment that is related to their professions, skills and competences they possess as VET graduates. Despite the fact that, all VET young graduates are trained to be in specific occupations many fail to become self-employed rapidly. This will be evidenced in the subsequent chapters. 2.2.5 Wage employment This is a form of employment where a person receives wages in return for selling his/her own labour. Wage employment also occurs in both the formal and informal economy. Blanchflower (2000) pointed out that, many young people start out in wage employment and switch to self-employment at some point in their career. this could be a reason of financial constraints and it happens when your entrepreneurs wants to build up savings in their first job/employment. The difference of wage employment and self-employment is that wage employment involves less risks than self-employment in the labour market. 2.3 Transition from school-to-work/ labour market Conceptually, the transition from school-to-work is considered as a new development which is associated with change of life in development. In addition to that, it is also seen as a period where by individuals leave formal education and join the labour market. This form of transition takes place at any level of education. The school-to-work agenda gives chance to a number of long standing issues concerning schooling, employment creation and training programmes. These issues are now seen as part of a distinct practice and process. According to (OECD, 1998) the transition from school to work is defined as that period between the end of compulsory education and accomplishment of steady employment opportunity. The success of transition from school-to-work for young people highly depend on how such young people are able to secure economic activities and any other form of employment occupation in world of work that is gainful, which is the principal aim for young people when they finish formal education. For the case of developing countries like Rwanda respectively, the possibilities of employment opportunities are largely embedded in the informal sector, which is predominant in the labour market of Rwanda and this is because there are few opportunities in the formal sector of the economy (Nwuke: 2002). The young people often desire to be helped in taking helpful actions when they are to discover how to make satisfying lives on their own sake. In this case, the school-to-work transition for young people requires steady forms of mentoring and apprenticeship programs to become the core practices in the whole process which pertains school-to-work- transition in the labour market. Active labour market policies can also play an essential role in facilitating the transition school to the world of work. These policies mainly include formal employment and self-employment policies (Higgins, 2001: 110). The relevance of such policies is that they play an imperative role by incorporating the needy young people who fails to be absorbed into the labour market with some skills which enables young people to be more active. Such policies would include individuals capabilities. Blackely, (1990) pointed out that, such policies can facilitate the process of economic journeys by leading to programmes which makes economic journeys for young people successful and productive. 2.4 Determinants of self-employment for the young people Different factors determine self-employment outcomes for young people in both formal and informal sectors in developing countries. For self-employment to prevail in any economic situation, the following factors seem to be crucial: Access to credit and business development services such as basic business skills, business experience and availability of market opportunities play a fundamental role in the establishment and exploitation of gainful employment to young people (Chigunta et al. 2002: 25). Access to finances is a decisive factor for the creation of self-employment to the young people. However, young men and women often faced with the general lack to access credit in order to start their own entrepreneurial businesses and often they do not have collateral securities to have access to credits from formal financial institutions. This has been the case in many countries including the common wealth