ICACT 2018
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Item An Initial Study on Understanding the Effect of Questions Structure on Students' Exam Performance(3rd International Conference on Advances in Computing and Technology (ICACT ‒ 2018), Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2018) Wijesinghe, S.; Irosha, K.P.C.; Rupasinghe, T.The main challenge in evaluating students’ performance is creating effective assessments which appraises students’ learning rather than their memory power and the practice. According to education theories, creative and carefully designed assessments can clearly evaluate the degree of learning in students. “Scaffolding” which refers to the degree to which a question guides the student through the problem-solving process is a widely used method in aiding students’ learning and conceptual understanding and assessing students’ performance in Science and Technology education. The objective of the current study was to understand the impact of exam question structure on the performance of first year undergraduates specifically focusing on understanding the effect of scaffolded questions. In the current Sri Lankan science education context, there is only a limited number of research studies that are available which provides an insight into the relationship between students’ performance and question features. Current study which was designed to address this issue was conducted as a part of the Chemistry for Technology course at the Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. In this study, two different structures of the same questions were given to students as a part of an in class quiz. First one was a direct question and the second version (scaffolded question) included the same question in a step by step manner and in the latter version, students had to answer several steps to solve the problem. Marks obtained for the two versions were averaged and compared to investigate whether there is any significance of the structure of the questions towards the performance of students. Average mark for the scaffolded question was 82(±20) and the direct question was 71(±35). According to the results, it was clear that the students meet a considerable difficulty in the understanding the direct questions and the scaffolding of questions results in an increase of the performance of students. According to preliminary data, it can be concluded that scaffolding of questions preferentially assist students performance at examinations and surface features such as the structure of the question can play a key role in students’ performance at the examinations. Further studies are currently being conducted to understand whether there is any specific correlation between the improvement in performance as a consequence of scaffolding with the gender, school district and students’ English literacy.Item Investigation of the Impact of Clay as a Bulking Agent for Food Waste Composting at a Controlled Raised-up Temperature(3rd International Conference on Advances in Computing and Technology (ICACT ‒ 2018), Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2018) Jayawardana, M.D.S.B.; Milani, Y.; Silva, C.D.; Wijesinghe, S.In agriculture, the nourishing and substantial quality of soil can be upgraded through transfiguring organic matter in food waste into humus like substance, which is called food waste composting. This is very important as food waste leads to cause odor and pollute the environment. The moisture content (MC), nitrogen content, C/N ratio and aeration in the compost material can be altered through various bulking agents used during the process. The usage of these bulking agents enhances the biodegradation of food waste and transformation of it into effective compost. Therefore, the entire composting process relies on the indispensable role of the bulking agents. Thus, this study was ultimately aimed to evaluate the influence of using clay as the bulking agent for food waste composting at a controlled high temperature (500C). Here a controlled raised-up temperature was used to lead rapid activation of thermophilic microbes. A consecutive five-day study was carried out to analyze the fluctuations of PH, MC and organic matter content (OMC) by preparing composting feedstock using clay as the bulking agent in four different weight percentages (0%, 5%, 10% and 25%). Using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) surface morphology of the samples was analyzed at the initial stage and after five days composting. The analysis of physical parameters was evident that the organic matter was effectively converted to compost at 500C as all the parameters followed the corresponding gradual fluctuations which are presented at the quality compost production. According to the results, no effect was found from clay to control the PH of the composting process of food waste samples. With the increasing of clay percentage there was no significant change of PH was noticed compared to the blank waste sample. With the increment of the clay percentage of the composting feedstock, initial MC was dropped. Furthermore, by the increasing of the clay content of the samples MC was highly reduced. Similarly, OMC was also drastically decreased with the upswing of clay percentage. According to the observations, it can be concluded that clay has been acted as a good bulking agent to food waste composting. At this elevated temperature Food waste composting process had shown a significantly improvement. Presently, further studies are being carried out to further optimize the percentage of clay for food waste composting process at elevated temperature.Item A Preliminary Investigation of Surface Bound Iron in Mica to Develop a Methodology Combined with Magnetism to Remove Contaminated Mica from Industrial Minerals(3rd International Conference on Advances in Computing and Technology (ICACT ‒ 2018), Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2018) Dassanayake, K.L.M.; Subasingha, S.A.S.; Wijesinghe, S.Sri Lanka is a country rich with industrial minerals. Mica is one of readily available industrial mineral which belongs to a group of sheet silicate (phyllosilicate) contained Aluminum (Al), Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Potassium (K), Sodium (Na) etc. as abundant elements. Mica could be easily identified by its unique flaky structure. The most common types of mica in Sri Lanka are phlogopite (blackish brown) and biotite (brownish ash). Kuruwita, Balangoda, Haputhale and Mathale areas are well-known for Mica deposits in Sri Lanka to date. If we consider the industrial use of mica, it has been frequently used in paint industry to produce exterior paints due to its ability to create a protective coating against the extreme weather conditions like rain and ultraviolet light. Mica is a good electrical insulator and a good thermal conductor also mica powder is used as a glitter to decorate pots. Although Mica is useful when it’s present as the pure mineral, a huge lose is caused in mineral industry when it is contaminated with other industrial minerals such as Calcite, Dolomite, and Kaolin. The presence of mica in trace amounts in other minerals reduces the quality of the products like in paint, ceramic and glass industries which use the above stated industrial minerals as raw materials. Therefore, the objective of the current study is to develop a methodology to remove contaminated mica form other industrial minerals although it’s present in trace levels. Herein, we have investigated about the content of surface bound Iron in mica that can be used to develop a technique combined with magnetism. As the initial stage of the procedure, surface bound iron percentages of phlogopite and biotite were determined by using UV-visible spectroscopy at 510 nm wavelength. Analysis was carried out according to the Beer-Lambert law by using a previously calculated factor from Fe2+ standards. Average surface bound iron percentage for phlogopite yield to be 0.36 (± 0.02) % while that the percentage for biotite was 0.62 (±0.01) %. According to the results observed, it seemed that these percentages of iron on outer structure of mica may be attracted to a strong magnetic field. Thus it can be concluded that surface bound iron content can be used to separate contaminated industrial minerals. Currently, further studies are being conducted using high performance techniques such as XRF to gain more insight into this.