IPRC - 2016
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/157
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Item A Study on the Contribution of Medical Faculties’ Library Services and How Does it Fulfil the Requirements of Medical Students’ Necessersities: A Case Study on University of Kelaniya and University of Sri Jayawardhanapura(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kumara, T.U.The main objective of this study is to identify the library services provided by the Medical Faculty libraries. Other objective of this study are to examin the collection of books in libraries to check the quality and quantity of resources necessersities of the students who are using libraries, to identify the way of providing information regarding newly introduced books, to indentify the mutual understanding between students and officers at libraries, to study the service in the magazine section, and to examin the readers’ attitudes. The samples consisted of the medical students of University of Sri Jayewardenepura and University of Kelaniya.Questionnaiers were distributed as a main part of data collection method.Secondary data were gathered by using of internet resources, books, magazines and articles and data were analyzed using Excel. It was revealed that a large amount of students of the medical faculties are using faculty libraries to gain the information. Also it was recorded that students are highly referring the. Printed media to obtain the knowledge than the electronic media. Moreover, the capacity and fastness of lending sections of said libraries are not sufficient to fulfill the students’ requirements. The Magazine section was used by less number of students. However, it was also it was revealed that the students had satisfied attitudes towards the libraries. This study made recommendations as; expanding the opening hours to create an effective information services, increasing the quantity of books at lending sections, implementing the consultations programmes for readers, and improving the internet facilities.Item Prevalence of NS-1 Status of Clinically Suspected Dengue Patients in a Selected Out-Patient Setting(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kodikara, K.; Jayathilake, S.; Kumarasinghe, B.; Muhandiramlage, T.; Gunesakera, D.; Fujii, Y.Dengue infection is one of the rapidly emerging arboviral infections in the world. It is a cause of significant morbidity and mortality especially in developing countries. Although most dengue infections are asymptomatic, dengue fever can be manifested with or without complications. Early diagnosis of dengue is important both clinicians and the patients, where appropriate management of dengue patients reduces both morbidity and mortality. Traditionally dengue infection is clinically suspected with full blood count aided by clinical features although dengue infection cannot be confirmed by either of these methods. Confirmatory tests for detection of the dengue virus are by virus isolation or by nucleic acid detection. which are not suitable for routine diagnosis. NS-1 rapid antigen test has become available for early detection of dengue NS1 antigen, which can be performed at the point of care. Estimate the prevalence of NS1 positivity in dengue suspected patients with acute febrile illness in a selected study setting Blood samples from clinically suspected patients within the first five days of fever were sent for NS1 diagnosis to the molecular laboratory in the department of Biochemistry Faculty of Medicine Ragama. Clinical diagnosis was made by a medical officer. Serum was used for the NS1 diagnosis using Inbios Diagnostic kit (USA). 22.2% of samples were tested positive for NS-1 antigen in a total of 54 samples collected. There were 53.7% males. 9.2% patients were below 10 years of age, 37% patients between 11-20 years of age, 20.3% patients between 21-30 years and 31.4% patients above 31 years of age. 30 % of patients between 11-20 years were NS-1 positive. 36.3 % of patients between 21-30 years of age and 11.7% patients above 31 years of age were also NS-1 positive. NS-1 antigen prevalence was highest among patients between the ages of 11-30 years. Initial clinical assessment of dengue infections is of low specificity as the disease manifests as an undifferentiated febrile illness. Therefore, the inclusion of an antigen test will improve the specificity of diagnosis in a similar out-patient setting which will enable clinicians to make decisions on the further management of the condition.Item T-Moms for Restaurants(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Medhavi, Y.A.U.; Wijegunasekara, M.C.The aim of this study was to identify the drawbacks of a restaurant order management system and suggest a solution. Several such systems were studied and it was identified that customers waiting time to receive an order is considerably high. This is because during peak hours the waiter staff is not sufficient and the service offered is not to the required standard. In addition, the paper menus can be flimsy, hard to navigate, and outdated. To reduce customer’s wait times, management must ensure sufficient staff to present during peak hours and that they are properly trained to provide excellent customer service. These staffing issues can lead to substantial costs for the business. As a result, the Tablet based Menu and Order Management System (T-MOMS) was implemented to resolve these problems using mobile devices. The T-MOMS contains four systems, a mobile application for customers and three web based systems for the admin panel, kitchen and cashier. The order is taken by a mobile device namely, a tablet placed on the restaurant table which acts as a waiter. The mobile application is started by a waiter by logging into the system and assigning the table number and a waiter identification. The waiter identification and table number are saved in the application until that particular waiter logs out. The mobile application has four subsystems namely, display subsystem, assistance subsystem, commenting subsystem and ordering subsystem. The display subsystem displays the complete restaurant menu by categories, special offers’ information and allows the customer to browse all the currently available menu items by category. The assistance subsystem allows the customer to call a waiter for any assistance needed. The commenting subsystem allows customers to create user accounts for adding comments and share experience on Facebook/Twitter. The ordering subsystem allows to select the desired items and make the order. Once the customer makes the order, first he will be able to view the order information that he has ordered including the payment with/without tax and service charge. After the customer confirms the order, the order is transmitted to the kitchen department via Internet for meal preparation. The kitchen web system displays all order information that are received from the tablets. This include the customer details, table number, the waiter identification and the details of the order. After the order is prepared, the waiter will deliver the order to the customer. At the same time, the cashier web system receives the details of the delivered order and the bill is prepared. The web based admin panel system allows the restaurant’s management to add/view/remove/ update menu items and waiters, view reservation information and their cooking status/payment status, update service charge/tax, viewing revenue information over a time period. The T-MOMS system consists of a central server and a database. All ordering and expenditure information is stored in a central database. Eclipse and PHPStorm used as the IDEs. Mainly used languages are HTML, JavaScript, PHP, JAVA, XML. The menu application is designed to be used on 7" tablets as well as it will be supported on smaller screen sizes. As future development, features such as restaurant statistics should be implemented, paying the bill directly through the menu application should be created.Item Effective Study Skills Instruction in English for Academic Purpose (EAP): Facilitating Positive Mindset for Student-Centered Learning in Tertiary Education(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Edirisinghe, N.Transition from secondary education to tertiary education pose a major challenge to many students who undergo not only a change in the medium of instruction but also a pedagogical shift from traditional Teacher Centered Learning (TCL) in the classroom to Student Centered Learning (SCL). In Sri Lanka, English language, generally perceived negatively as ‘kaduwa’, being the current Academic Lingua Franca further discourages many students who have previously studied in their mother tongue, Sinhala or Tamil. Particularly, during the first semester of the academic year, as cited in Hassanbeigi et al (2011), students often encounter problems related to concentration, memory, note taking, test strategies, test anxiety, motivation and attitude, reading and selecting major ideas, organizing and processing information and time management which result in underachievement and failure. In this context, the research aims to determine the implications of effective Study Skills instruction to foster positive academic mindset towards SCL in First-year students. In this action research, a sample group of 150 first-year students from Higher National Diploma in English course of Advanced Technological Institute- Kegalle, a statutory tertiary education body, were selected from two batches. Initially a Study Skills self-assessment test was given to the participants followed by a series of lectures conducted on note taking, critical reading and essay writing and presentation skills. Simultaneously, scores of two assignments given for two course modules in the first-year first semester were evaluated. The same procedure was repeated for the participants for the next batch followed by practice sessions with more emphasis on collaborative learning. At the end of each semester, a post self-assessment test was conducted along with face to face interviews with six lecturers of the particular modules. Majority of the participants perceived Study Skills as a positive step in enhancing academic performance and self-confidence of students. While Study Skill instruction with lectures failed to bring a significant change in the assignment scores, with practice sessions including collaborative learning activities the participants managed to improve considerably. Therefore, it was evident that Study Skill instruction coupled with collaborative learning is more effective in creating a positive attitude towards learning in SCL environment and enhancing academic performance of the students in their first semester of the academic year.Item An Investigative Study of the Conflict Resolution Approaches Included in Dhammapada(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Sobhitha Thero, KarandagollePeople of the many countries in the world are involved in internal and external conflicts that are interpersonal and ethnic, economic and social. Therefore, modern scholars have introduced so many conflict resolution theories, such as Human Need theory, Principled Negotiation theory, Community Relation theory, Identity theory, Inter-Cultural Miscommunication theory and Conflict Transformation theory to avoid those conflicts. The Lord Buddha has always paved the way to solve problems that are interpersonal and ethnic economic and social throughout his preaching' In the Dhammapada there are ways and methods which help to resolve conflict for the purpose of benefitting society. Especially the Lord Buddha has composed the stanzas attractively, regarding resolving the conflict which has raised interpersonal conflicts between various people, groups and states. Those methods help to experience happiness, do day-to-day activities with an awakened mind, not be shaken by sadness and be involved in winning and losing. So, we can understand that Dhammapada highlights conflict resolution rather than giving advice. For an example, “Nahi verena verāni-sammantīdha kudācanaṃ Averenacasammanti-esadhammo sanantano” (Yamaka Vagga 5 stanza) ‘Hatred never ceases through hatred in this world, through love (mettā) alone they cease. This is an eternal law.’ Two women avenged themselves in the course of two successive births. In their third birth however, they were compelled to meet the Buddha, who pacified them by preaching to them and advising them not to retaliate. On that occasion Lord Buddha solved that conflict as mediator by using a transformation approach. It is the same as the modern approach called conflict transformation theory. In that way we can find out the conflict resolution approaches in Dhammapada. I specifically try to show that the approaches in Dhammapada are similar to traditional and modern approaches or filled with concepts and theories which can be used for conflict resolution beyond traditional and modern approaches. I examine the Dhammapada to try to adduce optimum treatments and ways to avoid conflicts raised in society and understand primary sources of conflicts. In addition one of the main purposes of this research is to use the Dhammapada to investigate new approaches which help to prevent people from engaging in conflict and suffering.Item The Most Effective Barrier, do Undergraduate Students Encounter When Taking Online Courses Offered by University(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Wehigaldeniya, D.; Arachchige, O.; Pitigala, G.As the popularity of the Internet grows, so does the potential for online learning. A great deal of evidence exists which shows that no significant differences should be expected regarding the effectiveness of well-designed online learning compared with well-designed in-person learning (Clark, 1983). The advent of new technologies are providing educators with opportunities to create a variety of effective learning environments, however, many adults students still prefer traditional, academic settings. The purpose of this study is to analyze student barriers to the online courses in the University. This research further aimed to understand which students will face barriers when attempting to learn online, what are those barriers and ultimate aime is to identify how we can help individuals in their learning? The main objective in this study is to identify most effective barrier faced by undergraduate students when taking online courses offered by university. Research sample unit based on infinite universe. It may be changing every time. Therefore, researcher choose snowball sampling method. The purpose of collecting this demographic data was to increase external validity for generalizability applications. According to above research design the researcher has to get four objectives for this study. The methodology applied in the four heading such as source of data. After that the researcher has selected study samples and collected primary data under the observation method. Furthermore researcher has identified independent and dependent variables. Finally analysis this data factor lording method, a frequency by ANOVA. To gain a better understanding about online course retention rates, participants were asked to respond to an item about their experience with online education. Items were meant to distinguish groups of students by their experience with online learning. By dividing research study participants into groups, the researcher was better able to grasp the differences between perceived and actual barriers to online education.Item වියපත්වූවන් මුහුණදෙනු ලබන මනෝ-සමාජීය ගැටලු හඳුනා ගැනීම කඹුරුපිටිය ප්රාදේශීය කොට්ඨාශය ඇසුරින්(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Hettiarachchi, P.C.Item The Relationship Between Liquidity and Profitability: Empirical Evidence from Banks in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Madhushani, N.; Wellappuli, N.Banking sector plays a crucial role in the financial system of a country and provides significant contribution to the development of the economy. Importantly, this study investigates the relationship between liquidity and profitability of banks in Sri Lanka for the period of five years from 2011 to 2015. Moreover, this study attempt to find significant differences in liquidity and profitability among the selected banks. Data was gathered from annual reports of 10 selected banks in Sri Lanka. For data analyzing it employed descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis, and ANOVA analysis. This study used current ratio and cash ratio as liquidity measures while profitability was measured by return on assets and return on equity. Further firm size was used as control variable. The findings of this study revealed that there is a significant and positive relationship between liquidity and return on assets while liquidity has an insignificant and positive relationship with return on equity. The impact of firm size on profitability is significant and positive. Moreover, there are significant differences in liquidity, profitability and firm size among the selected banks in Sri Lanka. These findings reveal that banks should pay attention in liquidity management and adopt efficient liquidity management techniques to maintain adequate liquidity level for maximizing its profitability.Item Eliminating female Aedes mosquitoes by spiking blood meals with toxicants as a sex separation method in the context of the sterile insect technique and Incompatible Insect Technique(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Ranathunga, R.M.T.B.; Gunathilaka, P.A.D.H.N.; Udayanga, N.W.B.A.L.; Wijegunawardena, N.D.A.; Abeyewickreme, W.Ivermectin and spinosad have longevity reducing effects in several insect species, including disease transmitting mosquitoes after feeding blood contaminated with above toxicants on hosts. Therefore, this approach could play an enormous role in mosquito control operations by its use in the female elimination process during mass-rearing, enabling the release of only sterile males in the context of the sterile insect technique (SIT) and incompatible insect technique (IIT) with Wolbachia bacterium. Blood meals of cattle origin were spiked with diffeerenct concentrations (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 ppm) of Ivermectin (Ivotec, 1% w/v) and Spinosad (Spinosyn, 12% w/v) and offered to a batch of adult Ae. aegypti (n = 300) and Ae. albopictus (n = 300) having 1:1 sex ratio in order to obtain an optimal dose for quick and total female elimination. After 24 hours all remaining females and males were aspirated out and transferred in to new cages separately. An additional blood meal with the initially fed concentrations of ivermectin and spinosad was provided after 24 hours, followed by a 48-hour observation of mortality. This experiment was repeated by feeding cattle blood containing a mixture of ivermectin and spinosad in 1:1 ratio from each concentration. Spiked blood with 8 ppm ivermectin and spinosad killed all the fed females of Ae aegypti and Ae. abopictus within 24 to 48 hours. It was observed that the number of fed females gradually increased, when decreasing the toxicity in combination of ivermectin and spinosad (1:1) in blood for both species. Male mortality did not show any significant differences during the study. Mixed feeding of blood with 8 ppm ivermectin and 8 ppm spinosad have shown as the viable treatment to eliminate female Ae aegypti and Ae. abopictus from laboratory colonies.Item A Comparative Study of Hindi and Sinhala Idioms: With Reference to Selected Idioms in Connection with Human Body Parts(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Gunarathne, M.C.Idioms plays an inseparable role in Hindi and Sinhala languages which are belong to Indo- Aryan language family. In these two languages there are various idioms which indicate human body parts with related to their own culture. The purpose of this study is to examine how body parts have been used in Hindi and Sinhala idioms. Dictionaries of idioms have been used as primary resource. Books and magazines related to Sinhala and Hindi literature have been used as secondary resource. This paper indicates that there are some idioms which have been based on the same human body part as well as in some causes different body parts have been used to convey the same meaning. This paper highlights that there are more Hindi Idioms which are based on human body parts rather than in Sinhala. It also highlights that some idioms based on body parts such as ‘mɑ̃g bhərnɑː’ (married woman) are difficult to understand without knowing the cultural background of the language. Another finding of this research is that there are more Hindi idioms on body parts which conveys more than one meaning but in Sinhala language it is hard to find such causes. The above mentioned findings of this paper help us to understand Hindi and Sinhala idioms based on body parts according to the cultural background of its’ own.Item An Examination of the Holistic Development of Adolescence and the Creative Process in Dance Education(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Vitharana, W.The psychologist Jean Piaget called the cognitive development changes during adolescence the formal operations stage, during which adolescents become adept at mentally manipulating the world around them and systematically manipulating variables during scientific experimentation. Adolescence is also a time for rapid psychological development. There are certain characteristics of adolescence holistic development that are more deep-seated in culture than in human biology or psychological structures. Learning has been defined as the "symbolic and behavioral heritage received from the past that provides a community framework for what is valued”. Precept is learned and socially shared, and it affects all aspects of an individual's life. Social responsibilities, sexual expression, and belief system development, for instance, are all things that are likely to vary by evolution. Combinations of behavioral studies have demonstrated that the development of executive functions, i.e. cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills, that enable the control and coordination of thoughts and behavior are generally associated with the preferential. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychological foundation of adolescence within the creative process in dance and to examine how the creation of dance affects holistic development in Adolescence. The Method of study is qualitative and the data analysis is based on content analysis. Dance educators may find this information useful to design dance curriculum. The growing body of knowledge on dance and learning may help educators to find effective ways in which dance can facilitate learning during adolescence. This study contributes to our understanding of how learning takes place through movement-creation, and provides evidence that helps dance educators to be advocates for the integration of Sri Lankan art forms into the secondary school curriculum. While it is likely that dance has many links with learning in traditional academic settings, this focus has practical benefits because public education, in general, privileges adolescence development.Item Intelligent Sorting System for Curriculum Vitae using Natural Language Processing(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Weerasooriya, T.Natural language Processing (NLP) has undergone tremendous development over the past few decades. The logic behind sentence analysis plays a vital role in NLP applications. The present study makes use of Stanford CoreNLP, an NLP tool that enables Parts-of-Speech (POS) tagging and NamedEntity Tagging to extract the essential information from a curriculum vitae (CV), followed by ranking the best candidates according to the information included in the CV. The system design is as follows: the proposed system initially categorizes the candidates according to the post applied. The second step checks for the basic qualifications required by the company. If the basic requirements are not met, the CV is rejected. The third step uses POS tagging to interpret and assign marks for each section in the CV. The extracurricular activities section is grammatically ambiguous as it contains achievements in sports, clubs and societies. The research was aimed at classifying the extracurricular activities using a mix of rule based parsers and the NamedEntity Tagger. Firstly, the sentence is passed through the rule based parser, which classifies it as a sport or a club activity (using a word match specific to each group). The category which has the highest match is given ¾ mark of the decision. The NamedEntity tagger searches the sentence for any sports or organizations, and the classification is given a ¼ point in the decision. The sentence is categorized into the relevant category depending on the highest score. During testing, in a CV which contained 28 extracurricular activities, the system classified 14 achievements in Sports and 14 achievements in Clubs and Societies. However, the correct classification should be 17 in Sports and 11 achievements in Clubs and Societies. The methodology would succeed in sorting ambiguous sentences, where a corpus based method would fail (i.e. “Compered at Kelani Hockey 6’s”. The keyword of the sentence is Hockey, but it is not an achievement in sports). Being an adaptable system using NLP, it could be customized to assign a weighted score for specific keywords depending on the requirement of the organization. The fourth step is to assign a total score to the CV. At the end of the cycle, the system would output the list of the top 50 CVs qualified for the post. This system was tested with a sample data set from the CV bank of the Career Fair 2015 (CF) of the University of Kelaniya. The manual CV sorting process of the CF required at least 2 minutes per CV and each CV was sorted individually. The system was less time consuming, more organized and efficient.Item Heritage Management Issues of Pidurangala Beritage Site(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Rathnayake, S.Pidurangala is a heritage site, which is situated very close to Sigiriya world heritage site. Pidurangala has a direct link with king Kashyapa and the Sigiriya kingdom. Though Sigiriya is a world heritage site and a famous tourist attraction, Pidurangala is not much popular as a heritage site among visitors. The main objective of this study was to identify the heritage management issues of Pidurangala and secondary objective was to introduce a proper heritage management plan to attract visitors. The research problem was “what are the issues related to heritage management in Piduranagala?” Both primary and secondary sources were used to collect data. Printed media (books) and electronic media (internet) were used as primary sources and field observation was used as the secondary source. There were many issues related to heritage management in Pidurangala site. No proper site interpretation, cleaning and maintenance issues, inadequate infrastructure and sanitary facilities, vandalism are some major problems. It is important to avoid these issues and rearrange the site. A proper management plan can be introduced using the following steps: 1. Welcoming the visitors and fulfilling their requirements 2. Defining the value of the site 3. Proper maintenance 4. Prevention of vandalism 5. Visitor management Greeting of the guests, establishing infrastructure facilities, introducing proper a security system, gardening and landscaping, introducing a signage system, developing secondary attractions are some recommendations for a proper heritage management plan for the Pidurangala heritage site.Item Influencing Factors for The Adaptation of Mobile Phone Banking App Case Study for ABC Bank PLC(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Vincent, C.; Wijayanayake, A.ABC Bank PLC introduced a mobile application referred as “Mobile App” software application designed to run on smart phones. The focus of this research is to evaluate influencing factors for the adoption of this mobile banking app in the context of registered retail mobile banking users of ABC Bank PLC and thereby to identify the relationship between the factors. The conceptual frame work was developed bases on the concept of Parasuraman’s (1988) SERVQUAL model measuring the relationship between the mobile banking application and its impact on customer adaptation to the mobile banking app. According to the critical literature review five dimensions were identified as important for customer adoption to internet banking (Mobile App) namely Awareness, Reliability, Perceived Value, Ease of use and Social influences. The research data was collected from actual mobile banking app users both customers and employees from ABC Bank PLC. The researcher was able to collect 73 positive responses to the questionnaire which was circulated among the target group. The reliability as measured by Cronbach’s alpha for the hypothesis which met the minimum requirement. The descriptive analysis of data has been done to evaluate the research findings. The Pearson correlation and regression analysis found all 05 dimensions have a positive impact on the adaptation of mobile banking app. The R2 coefficient revealed that the Social influence and Ease-of-use having highest influences. The limitation of the study is that it was focusing on the mobile banking app uses of ABC Bank PLC, where the scope of the study is much limited. The study provides a comprehensive understanding of Influencing factors affecting the adaptation of mobile banking app at ABC bank PLC, enabling the bank to simulate Product Development and Marketing strategy.Item The Significance of Promoting Lesser-Known Intangible Heritage in Cultural Tourism Perspective: with Special Reference to Hewagam Korale(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Embuldeniya, P.Hewagam Korale has significances from archaeological, historical and anthropological aspects which are directly related to Sri Lankan culture. The research area belongs to Palle Pattu, Meda Pattu and Udugaha Pattu of Hewagam Korale is located at Colombo district in Western Province, Sri Lanka. The main objective of this research is to explicate the lesser-known intangible heritage, and promoting lesser-known intangible heritage of Palle Pattu, Meda Pattu and Udugaha Pattu in cultural tourism perspective. This research is based on cults, rituals and believes on gods and goddess with the collected data from the field research and library survey methods. Communities of the research area are engaged with various cults, rituals and believes on gods and goddess, such as; cult of god Vishnu, god Katharagama, god Gambhara, god Ranwala, god Dedimunda and goddess Pattini. Among these, cult of god Ranwala and goddess Pattini are famous cults which are connected with diverse ritual methods. Various lesser-known ritual methods were taken place in this area with Perahera ceremonies, Gammadu, Devadana (Almsgiving), lightning oil lamps and puhul lamps, and offering harvest, flowers, fruits, cloths and jewelries. Apart from these special worshiping methods which have ranged historical background, there are other unique features and intangible significance can be seen in this research area. At present, Colombo district is not functioned as an intangible cultural tourist attraction. Nevertheless, this area has an opportunity to promote lesser-known intangible heritage in cultural tourism perspective which can be developed both domestic and foreign tourists’ attraction to Colombo district in different and innovative approach by developing a museum on cults, rituals and believes, presenting cultural programs on ritual methods and folk stories, promoting the Perahera pageant season of devala, and safeguarding intangible heritage by documenting the ritual methods as video and audio mode. Hence, aspects of heritage and functions of intangible heritage in the study area, importance of safeguarding intangible heritage, and proposal for promoting lesser-known intangible heritage of Colombo District through Palle Pattu, Meda Pattu and Udugaha Pattu; have been discussed in this research.Item Analysis of Cause and Effect of Boko Haram Insurgency in North-East Nigeria(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Baba, I.This work analyzed the causes of Boko Haram insurgency in North-East Nigeria. It examined the effects of the insurgency in the same region of the country. The research was carried out with the use of library based documentation analysis, and with the use of secondary sources of data collection. Academic write-ups in journals, magazines, newspapers, periodicals, reading manuals as well as internet based information provided the data utilized in this research. The research found out that Boko Haram insurgency in North-East Nigeria was incubated and hatched by both remote and immediate causes. Remote causes of the insurgency as this research discovered include illiteracy, poverty and unemployment among the youth in the region. The research also found out that alleged extra judicial killings of some of the sect members and summary execution of its leader during its first combatant confrontation with the Nigerian government forces in Markas and other areas in Maiduguri the Borno state capital in July 2009, triggered a full blown insurgency in the North-East region of Nigeria. The rise in number the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), as well as grave waste of lives and properties were some of the effects of the insurgency in this region of Nigeria. This research made a number of recommendations among which the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the establishment of an independent commission to rebuild the North-East region especially Borno and Yobe States which were the seriously affected states in the region.Item Usage of Ashta Kshēra in Shodhana Karma and medical preparations based on Carakasaṃhitā(Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Institute, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Abeysooriya, S.R.; Nuwansiri, L.S.B.; Pathirana, K.P.M.P.Eight types of Kshēra mentioned in Carakasaṃhitā are called Ashta Kshēra. Milk of sheep, she-goat, cow, she-buffalo, she-camel, she-elephant, mare and women have been included under Ashta Kshēra. Their properties include madhura rasa, snighdha and shīta guna, vrunhana, prīnana, jēvanīya, Ojaskara, medhya, balya, manaskara and raktapittahara. Amlapitta, Gulma, Udara, Atīsāra, Vidvibhandha, Arsa and Krimi are common indications in Pāchana Vyuha. Pāndu, Shōtha, Dāha, Raktapitta in Raktasanvahana Vyuha and Ksīna, Kshata, Jwara, Rājayākshama, Unmāda, Apasmara, Kāsa, Shōsa, Yonīdosa, Shukradosa, Mutraroga, Vātaroga, and Vātapittavikāra include other indications. Data were collected according to medical preparations and shodhana karma of Ashtakshēra which are mentioned in Caraka Saṃhitā and analyzed with proper variations. Ashtakshēra (Ak) is used in Kashāya (kshērakashāya), Grita, Thaila, Rasāyana and Avaleha in different percentages. Ak contains 54.22% of grita, 21.68% of kashāya, 16.87% of thaila and 3.61% of rasāyana and avaleha. 97.78% of grita(s) contain cows’ milk (CM) and 2.22% of them contain goat’s milk (GM). CM contains 66.67% of Avaleha(s) and 33.33% of them contain GM. 100% of Kashāya(s), Thaila(s) and Rasāyana Preparations contain CM. Vamana, Virechana, Vasti and Nasya are the shodhana procedures which use Ak. Ak contains 56.67% of vasti(s), 16.67% of virechana(s), 13.33% of Nasya(s) and 3.33% of Vamana(s). CM is used in 85% of vasti(s) and GM is in 15% of them. 100% of nasya(s) virechana(s) and vamana(s) contain CM. In conclusion, cows’ milk is the ordinary type of kshēra used in shodhana karma and medical preparations. Other types of milk are used individually for several types of diseases. But they are not recommended for shodhana karma and medical preparations except CM and GM. Vasti and gritha are the predominant shodhana karma and medical preparation which uses Ashta Kshēra.Item A Study of Prepositional Errors in Writing in English as a Second Language(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Premasiri, J.A.; Premarathne, C.D.H.M.A research study was undertaken to identify the prepositional errors in writing in English made by the undergraduates of the Faculty of Agriculture, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and to find out the reasons why they commit such mistakes and to recommend remedial measures to overcome the problem. A pre-test, an intermediate test and a post-test were administered during the survey period. The pre-Test was conducted as soon as the students entered the Faculty of Agriculture and an intermediate test after one week of the first semester and the post test at the end of the studies in the first year. A questionnaire survey was undertaken among the sampled group of 42 students as well as 5 students in the Faculty of Agriculture, 19 English teachers in two schools in the Anuradhapura District, and 4 Lecturers and 2 Instructors in English of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. Frequencies and percentages of each category were computed for categorical variable and differences between categories were tested using Chi-square Kit. The results revealed the problematic areas of learning prepositions, and other relevant information with regard to the learning area and the external factors. However English in the surrounding, lack of English teachers, teaching methodology and classroom environment were identified as some of the problems the students have had.Item බී.එස්. බ්ලුම්ගේ අධ්යාපන අරමුණු වර්ගීකරණය සහ ස්ටැනිස්ලාවුස්කිගේ රූපණ විධික්රමයෙහි දක්නට ලැබෙන සාම්යතා පිළිබඳ විශ්ලේෂණාත්මක අධ්යයනයක්(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kodagoda, A.Item An Error Analysis of Japanese Business Letters Written by Undergraduates Learning Japanese as A Foreign Language in The University of Kelaniya(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Balasooriya, B.A.D.N.The technique of writing Japanese business letters is very helpful for students who learn Japanese as a foreign language, especially if they wish to work for a Japanese company. With the aim of improving knowledge on business Japanese, a new Japanese course called “Business Japanese” was started in Kelaniya University in 2014. But the area of writing business letters is identified as a difficult area for students to master, although there are many books about techniques of business writing in Japanese. Most of the time students tend to memorize the examples that are given in text books and if they memorize it incorrectly that mistake will be made by them repeatedly. So this paper aims to specifically extract the errors found in the business letter writings of students, examine the frequency of errors and to point out often committed errors. In this paper, examples of errors made by undergraduates who are specializing in Japanese language, in writing Japanese business letters were collected, analyzed, and evaluated. The data were collected from a course taught in the first semester of 2016, and consisted of errors in internal and external letters written as practice on the use of honorific expressions. Many types of errors related to word choice were found. In particular, inappropriate combinations of recipient name and honorific title, inappropriate combinations of verbs and objects, mixing of respectful and humble language, and insufficient understanding of fundamental Japanese constructions were prevalent. Other types of mistakes included inappropriate layout, incorrect use of abbreviations, and incorrect use of Arabic and Japanese numerals. There was a tendency to make the same mistakes repeatedly, and it was concluded that the guidance offered by textbook examples is insufficient and that systematic training in formal written Japanese is desirable.