IPRC - 2015

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2015 General Election and Political Cartoons
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Aththanayaka, M.
A political cartoonist can express in one drawing an idea which may require a thousand words. In this study, while establishing this potential of the cartoonist, the researcher focuses on how political ideology is represented through cartoons. The sample for the study consists of cartoons which were published during the period starting from the date on which the nominations were given for the 2015 general election (i.e 14-07-2015) to the day of the election (i.c 17-08-2015). The content analysis was done using the cartoons which appeared on the newspapers with the largest number of sales in Sri Lanka. These newspapers were selected based on the report of the Sri Lanka press council. The content of a political cartoon can be categorized into six parts i.e symbol, labels, caption, exaggeration, common method and dialogue. When analyzing the political cartoons according to these categories, it becomes apparent that the political cartoons represent the political ideology espoused by the particular newspaper. This was clearly identified according to the time frame of the study and by the day of the election.
Abstract on Global Knowledge Sharing for Implementing a Digital Manufacturing Lab (FabLab) for Rural Development in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Hettiarachchi, C.; Palapathwala, P.; Srinath, G.
Digital Manufacturing is changing the way the world has seen manufacturing by sharing designs and blueprints over the internet. It will be possible to digitally print 3 -dimensional objects locally from anywhere ―print almost anything‖. According to Anderson (2012) digital revolution in fabrication technology interpreted as the third industrial revolution. Started as project at MIT, the concepts of digital manufacturing is spreading all over the world in the form of Fabrication Laboratory (FabLaB). A group of Sri Lankan Social Scientists from Sri Lanka, Europe and United States has been conducting a project to explore the opportunities for digital manufacturing in post -conflict economic development in Sri Lanka & being a manufacturing based economy, digital fabrication technologies can be used small scale industries such as artificial limbs, prosthetics in cost effective manner .The group has been collaborating over the internet in setting up of a FabLaB for empowerment and economic development of a rural community in Sri Lanka. The objectives of the project are to share knowledge, enhance innovation and technology transfer in community development, to engage multi- stakeholders including Universities, the government, private sector, NGOs, community and other key players. This paper will discuss the objectives, process, progress and challenges in this project. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the use of Web technologies in conducting a global knowledge sharing project and also to discuss the power of digital manufacturing to empower rural community in developing country context. The paper will discuss the dimensions of project covering the planning process, implementation strategies, challenges faced and expected outcome.
Accountability in Local Government Institutions of Sri Lanka: A Study of the Hali-Ela Pradeshiya Sabha
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Kanchana, D.G.
Accountability was a basic argument of establishing the local government system in Sri Lanka with some adjustments in time to time. Currently, accountability does not mean that just being showing the accounts to the hierarchical institutions and the local government institutions have to be accountable in a pluralistic way. In other words, there are dimensions of accountability namely; Political accountability, Legal accountability, Administrative accountability, Professional accountability and Social accountability. All these dimensions of accountability are questionable in local government institutions of Sri Lanka. This study has questioned that why and how these dimensions of accountability are in problematic by giving special reference to the Hali-Ela Pradeshiya Sabha which is being challenged by a lot of criticisms due to inability of maintaining the proper accountability. This Hali-Ela Pradeshiya Sabha is located in Badulla District, which belongs to Uva Province. The legal background of all establishments of the Pradeshiya Sabhas is same but the way of functioning is not equal at all. Accountability issues in Pradeshiya Sabhas may arise not only because of the laws and regulations, structure, selection process of members, human and physical resources, etc., but also because of institutional culture, population matters, ethnic diversity and environmental factors. Especially, the institutional culture always depends on the characteristics such as workers‘ attitudes, environmental surroundings, ethnic diversity, etc. The Hali-Ela Pradeshiya Sabha area has been selected as the study area since it includes all these ethnic and cultural diversities and therefore the people‘s needs are also complex in nature. The Hali- Ela Pradeshiya Sabha has to be proactive to provide the services to the people by ensuring the accountability. The study conducted based on the qualitative data. In data collection, content analysis and case study method have been used. The use of case study method to analyze the critical information related to the practical scenario of the accountability of this institution was helpful. The descriptive analysis method has been used in the data analysis. The findings show that all forms of accountabilities have been challenged due to inadequate communication among political representatives, administrators and people in the Pradeshiya Sabha area. Not only due to political and administrative conflicts for the Pradeshiya Sabha functions, there cannot be seen collective actions towards enhancing the accountability while providing a quality service delivery to the public.
Acidification and neutralization potentials of rainwater at University of Peradeniya
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Kumari, D.M.R.A.; Liyandeniya, A.B.; Priyantha, N.
Constituents present in rainwater affects compositional changes leading to acidification or neutralization, and hence the quantification of constituents in rain water. In this respect, the purpose of the present study was to establish a relationship between acidification and neutralization potential of rainwater particulates via bulk precipitation and ambient air quality via dry deposition. Analysis of 30 samples of bulk deposition and 11 samples of dry deposition collected during the four month period from May to September, 2013 at the University of Peradeniya premises for main ions responsible for acidification and neutralization reveals that Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, NH4 +, NO3  and SO4 2- were major ions present in the samples, and further, Ca2+ and NH4 + dominated constituents for neutralization of rainwater acidity, while NO3  and SO4 2- led to high level of acidity. The regression analysis between the summation of the concentrations of NO3  and SO4 2− vs. the summation of the concentrations of Ca2+ and NH4 + reveals that there is a significant correlation with r = 0.66 for bulk precipitation although the correlation is not good for dry deposition with r = 0.38. This difference can be attributed to the different deposition rates of particulates present in ambient air. . Regression analysis applied on each variable demonstrates that, Ca2+ can be present as CaSO4 and Ca(NO3)2 and NH4 + can be present as (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3. Further analysis of the results of compositional variables indicates that 53.3% of SO4 2 can be explained by Ca2+ and NH4 +in bulk precipitation, among which 47.5% appears as CaSO4 and only 5.8% as (NH4)2SO4. Further, only 19% of the NO3  is explained by both Ca2+ and NH4 + out of which 6% appears as Ca(NO3)2 and 13% as NH4NO3. In dry deposition, 33.5% of SO4 2 and 95.4% NO3  were explained by the above two cationic independent parameters, and 33% of SO4 2 appears as CaSO4 and only about 0.5% as (NH4)2SO4. Among 95.4% of explained NO3 , 39.2% appears as Ca(NO3)2 and 56.2% NH4NO3. The linear regression analysis suggests that, Ca2+ is involved in a higher percentage (62.5%) for the neutralization process, whereas the involvement of NH4 + is at lower level of 37.5%.
Acknowledgements: National Research Council (NRC TO 14-04) is gratefully acknowledged. Awareness among Sri Lankan first time mothers’ informal identification of newborns’ hearing difficulties and /or hearing disabilities by themselves
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Senanayake, S.M.A.I.
Early identify of hearing difficulties and/or disabilities among newborns are very essential to provide or guide them to further management and/ or rehabilitation options as soon as possible. Hence it is vital step to natural growth of speech and language without any failures. For the study three (3) midwifes were selected by using cluster sampling method. Midwifes were asked to provide list of mothers who become first time mothers during last twelve months time. Sixty (60) mothers were selected by simple random sampling methods via the list of names which was given by midwifes of each district of western province. Selected mothers were asked to complete questioners. The questioner was mainly in two parts; including personal details and the knowledge of identification hearing difficulties among the infants. Based on the information which was given by participants data analyzed by manually. Manually analyzed data concluded that maternal awareness of the identification of hearing difficulties among infants was not affected by geographical area of the mothers or age of the mothers. But it was highly influenced by the level of education of the participants. Readiness or/ and willingness of the acceptance of the new information through professionals or social and public Medias are predisposed by Education level of the mothers‘. Even though they reached their Ordinary Level education, it was not helped to achieve satisfactory level of the score for the questionnaires regarding readiness or/ and willingness of the acceptance of the new information through professionals or social and public Medias of deification of newborns‘ hearing difficulties and /or hearing disabilities by themselves. Respectively it was below 75%. Further there should be national protocol to promote raising awareness among mothers to early identification of their newborns‘ hearing difficulties by themselves. Therefore, usage of island- wild data prevalence is must hence to create more convenient picture regarding the results of the study.
Adoption of Green Information Technology in Sri Lankan Banks
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Fernando, M.I.; Wijayanayake, W.M.J.I.
It is important for organizations to operate within a certain level of equilibrium where both financial and environmental performance of a business are achieved while remaining competitive. The notion of Green Information Technology is gaining considerable attention and emphasis due to its impact on cost effectiveness of business undertakings and environmental sustainability. The IT sector has taken this initiative quite early and has been working towards a sustainable development model which was later termed as the ―Green Information Technology‖. Today, Green IT has evolved to become one of the major IT initiatives that focus towards ecological sustainability. The ―Green IT Readiness‖ has sprung up as a framework as a result of this initiative to guide organization to achieve their Green objectives. The objective of this research was to study the factors that could be used to promote Green IT adoption in Sri Lankan banking sector. After critically reviewing related literature, four effective factors were identified to promote Green IT adoption, which are Awareness, Stakeholder Pressure, Administration and Technology adoption. A conceptual framework was developed using above factors and a questionnaire was developed to collect data. Employees of IT Divisions of Lanka Clear and three banks were selected for data collection. Online survey was carried out among employees of selected organizations through e-mails to validate the proposed conceptual framework. The data analysis concluded that Administration (r=0.677) and Technology adoption (r=0.673) have a Strong Positive Relationship while Awareness and Stakeholder Pressure (r=0.557) are having a Positive Moderate Relationship with Green IT adoption. Administration had the highest and Stakeholder Pressure had the lowest correlation values with Green IT adoption.
The African Sri Lankans: Culture, Community and Continuity
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Mandy, L.
The Afrikans* currently living in Sri Lanka are a diverse group. Some are students, some are members of diplomatic missions and embassies. Most of these Afrikans intend to return to their home countries once they have attained their goals in Sri Lanka. Those Afrikans who have lived in Sri Lanka for most if not all of their lives have a different and fascinating history. It starts with their origins, which are often unclear. It continues with the name used to classify them- ‗Kaffir‘ (Kapiri in Sinhala)- which is a derogatory term. This history includes the capture, forced migration, and enslavement of their ancestors by Afrikan, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch, and British profiteers and by wealthy Sri Lankan and Indian royalty, merchants, and landholders. It continues with success in surviving and prospering in a foreign land amidst differing cultures, languages, and holding a different status within the caste systems in Sri Lanka. And as we view the Afrikan Sri Lankans today, we see them in communities in various parts of Sri Lanka. They are continuing to assimilate successfully into the larger society while, in many cases, retaining distinctive Afrikan physical features and cultural forms. This presentation discusses the Afrikan Sri Lankans through an Afrikancentered lens that focuses on their history, present situations, and futures from their own perspective. Afrikan-centered theory uses Afrikan values as theoretical and experiential frameworks through which to understand the trials and triumphs of Afrikan peoples wherever they are found. Photos of members of the various communities will be used to illustrate aspects of the assimilation and acculturation processes in which they are engaged. Questions that remain unanswered regarding their past will be raised and discussed. *The spelling of ‗Afrikans‘ with a ‗k‘ rather than with a ‗c‘ as in ‗Africans‘ is purposely done. Its use is explained in the paper.
Analyzing utility of waiting lines: a case study
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Weerarathne, U.A.G.W.; Abeygunawardena, R.A.B.
Queuing systems play a major role in most of commercial activities. Queues may occur due to lack of resources and hence queueing analysis depicts great importance to maintain balance between the available resources and the outside demands. Banks deal with waiting lines in their daily routine due to slow service, inappropriate number of servers, customers‘ varying requirements and etc. This study is concentrated on the utility of existing queueing system of a state bank in Kelaniya division. Formerly a survey was carried out to know whether the customers are satisfied with the existing queueing system. The results of the survey highlighted that the customers of the bank are not satisfied about the queuing system in the bank and however they are satisfied about the overall service provided. Therefore, it is important to analyze the utility of the existing queueing system. The current queueing system of the study is acting as a single channel waiting line system. Number of arrivals per minute and number of departures after getting service per minute was recorded for main 3 counters and total data set consist of 489 records. The data showed Poisson arrivals and exponential service times for the counters. The scenario was analyzed using queueing theory approaches with M/ M/ 1 queueing models regardless of customers‘ queueing behaviors and service requirements. The utilization waiting time in each queue, and the average number of customers waiting in the queue were found in the study. The findings intended that, two waiting lines out of three lines considered in the study were very busy and the third queue was the effective line. But the effective queue was also time consuming. i.e. the customers who ever joins the waiting line would have to wait nearly 13 minutes in the queue and 15 minutes in the system implying that the existing queueing system is not appropriate to handle the congestion occur in the bank for monetary transactions.
The ancient manuscript available in Temple Libraries in Marata district
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Sewwandi, H.K.I.
Religions establishment such as temples and monasteries in Sri Lanka could be recognized as knowledge an information centers where manuscript are collected organized and disseminated for the benefit of people. In these institutions the knowledge produces by the nation. The collected and protected in the formed manuscripts. Monastery libraries are common to all districts in the country. Among this district a Matara district places a significant role in the collection and preservation of manuscript culture in Sri Lanka. The main objective of the research was to identify the ancient manuscript collection in the temple libraries in Matara district. The other objectives were to identify the type of manuscript available and the subject content in the manuscript. The method of research was the survey method and data for the study was gathered from a selected sample of 16, temples in a Matara district. Primary data was collected using direct participation, interviews and observation. Further secondary data was gathered through literature survey. It was identified that these collection include Ola leaf as well as paper manuscripts. In addition few text books, newspapers and periodicals were who found in these collections. Further it was revealed that majority of temples in the sample had palm leaf manuscripts on varies subjects such as Buddhism, history, indigenous medicine, astrology, astronomy.
Antibacterial activity of extract of leaves of Atalantia ceylanica (Yakinaran)
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Munasinghe, D.A.L.; Karunarathna, E.D.C.; Sudesh, A.D.H.
Antibacterial activity of leaves of Atalantia ceylanica was tested qualitatively against 05 bacterial strains with the modified plate method at Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Institute. The steam of boiled leaves and extract are used by certain villagers as a traditional treatment for healing respiratory ailments such as influenza. Even though natural flora may be effective in curing health defects, scientific studies on subject is limited. Thus the study was arranged to fill the gap for certain extent to harness natural resources effectively in health. So as the study was aimed to investigate the antibacterial properties of Atlanta leaves. The plates, prepared with the watery extract of boiled leaves, which comprised of neat concentration of raw leaf materials and Mueller-Hinton agar were inoculated with laboratory stored standard bacterial strains including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus separately, which can cause respiratory as well as gastro- intestinal symptoms. For the control test, distilled water was used to make plates instead of watery leaf extract. Even after the duplicated experiment, no strain was found to be inhibited by the leaf materials, which indicated that the neat concentration of raw chemical compound of particular leaves have no inhibitory action on tested strains. As the respiratory infection is not only caused by bacteria but also by viruses, perhaps phytochemicals might have possessed antiviral as well as antibacterial properties on organisms other than the tested strains. Occasionally the chemicals of the particular plant leaves might have possessed certain antiinflammatory features to control respiratory symptoms. Nevertheless it was clear that the chemical compounds of the distillation of leaves of Atalantia ceylanica had no significant inhibitory effect on the growth of tested strains. The same experiment was carried out early for the steam of particular leaf and the results were found to be the same.
Antifeedant and antifungal activity of heartwood extracts of tea cultivars against Glyptotermes dilatatus Bugnion and Popoff and Fusarium sp.
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Senanayak, P.D.; Mohotti, K.M.; Paranagama, P.A.
The low country live wood termite, Glyptotermes dilatatus is an economically important insect pest of low grown tea. The termite colony initiated by a pair of alates in rotted tea stumps move to the heartwood by making feeding galleries. They disperse wood rot fungi while feeding on heart wood of tea bush. The damage symptoms vary with the type of cultivar. Objective of the present study is to study the chemical constituents in susceptible and resistant cultivars. Extracts of the debarked healthy stems of tea cultivars, TRI 2023 & TRI 4042 (susceptible) and TRI 2027 & TRI 4049 (resistant) were evaluated for the antifeedant and antifungal activities against G. dilatatus and Fusarium sp. which is common in the termite body, termite galleries and rotted tea stems using no choice feeding bioassay and antifungal assay respectively. Extract of TRI 2027 obtained using CHCl3 showed a higher antifeedant activity (P<0.05, LSD) against G. dilatatus than that of TRI 2023, TRI 4042 or TRI 4049. The highest antifungal activity was observed in the extracts of both resistant cultivars (TRI 2027, TRI 4049) than that of susceptible cultivars (P<0.05, Tukeys mean separation test). Fractionation of stem extract of TRI 2027 indicated that caffeine is one of the major bioactive compounds that showing antifeedant and antifungal activities. Antifeedant and antifungal activities were detected at 160 mg/ mL and 0.8 mg/ mL concentrations respectively. Mean caffeine contents of heartwood of resistant and susceptible cultivars were quantified using colorimetric method. Results revealed that the caffeine content of resistant cultivars TRI 2027 and TRI 4049 (0.52±0.26, 0.34± 0.07 mg/g) were greater ( t=3.28,df= 14, P=0.0055) than that of the susceptible cultivars, TRI 2023 and TRI 4042 (0.21±0.08, 0.22±0.01 mg/g) resulting a strong positive correlation between caffeine content and antifeedant and antifungal activities of the extracts of heartwood of tea cultivars. Hence caffeine is proven to be potential biochemical parameter to evaluate resistance of tea cultivars against G. dilatatus and Fusarium sp.
Antioxidant active novel secondary metabolite from endolichenic fungus, Penicillium citrinum, inhabiting the lichen, Pamotrema sp. available in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Samanthi, K.A.U.; Wickramarachchi, S.; Wijerathne, E.M.K.; Paranagama, P.A.
Antioxidant activities of phenolic extracts of guava leaf, coconut cake, rice bran and sesame cake obtained using subcritical water and ethanol: water (70:30 v/v)
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Senanayake, C.M.; Jayawardena, B.M.; Senavirathne, K.N.
Application of written-bell discounting techniques for smoothing in part of speech tagging algorithm for Sinhala language
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayaweera, M.P.; Dias, N.G.J.
Are we different from you: changing facets of Kaffir community in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Dissanayake, P.; Premarathne, P.
Kaffir community is a unique socio-cultural group in Sri Lankan society. Though the term ―kaffir‖ is a derogatory term for African people, Sri Lankan Kaffirs use it to introduce themselves. They have accustomed to Sri Lankan culture while preserving their racial identity. A majority of Kaffirs can be seen in Puttalam currently. The objective of this study was to identify their cultural changes and contemporary problems in their daily life. A qualitative descriptive study has been conducted at the Siranbiadiya village in Puttalam area from August to December 2014. 42 villagers from the total of 22 family units including men and women considering their age were selected randomly with their consent. A pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire and focus group discussions were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS and thematic analysis. The majority of the sample was females (54.76%) and most of the villagers were daily paid labourers. Only 08% of the community was engaged in government and private sector and 76.2% earn below Rs.10, 000.00 per month. The mean age was 35 years and the majority had not completed secondary education. In the study sample, 73.8% were Sri Lankan kaffirs and others were Sinhalese due to the cultural assimilation through marriages. This community has high integration with catholic religion and rituals. Among them, attitudes in younger generations are different from elders towards the perseverance of their culture because of the social stigma. Elders are worrying about dying culture and their unique identity while younger generation pays resistance to the cultural preservation. Name changes, following popular cultures and migrating to cities are high among youth. This community faces different psycho-social problems due to economic hardships, social stigma and discriminatory social interactions. Increasing demands of their culture in the academic field also has created problems for them as they become a hotspot for researchers. This study reveals Kaffirs seeking sovereignty of their community. Provisions for reducing social stigma, cultural acceptance and financial assistance for livelihood development are vital to achieving the psycho-social well-being of this community.
Assessing the Impact of Causes for Low Labour Productivity in Garment Industry in Katunayake Free Trade Zone
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Vithanage, J.K.
Sri Lanka‘s rate of open unemployment compared with other countries in the Asian region has been considerably high throughout the decades after 1950s. For solving this problem industrialization was promoted, first, following import substitution industries and then, particularly after 1977 adopting a policy of following export oriented industrialization. Most of the industries started under this latter policy were labour intensive industries. Out of them garment industry became the most prominent and absorbed a considerable rate of labour, providing employment particularly for females. Now this industry has become highly competitive since other similar countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam etc. too have expanded this industry and are competing with the Sri Lankan products in the same western world markets. This study through literature review mainly identified low level of labour productivity as the most significant factor that has greatly reduced the competitive strength of the Sri Lankan garment industry. Accordingly, the study was carried out setting five specific research objectives and condensing them into three major hypotheses. Hypotheses were tested by collecting information taking a convenient sample of 98 operational grade workers in the garment factories in the Katunayake Free trade Zone, through administering a questionnaire for which the validity and reliability were tested with Cronbatch‘s Alpha method. In addition, various secondary data sources were also used. As such a mixed methodology of inductive and deductive was employed in carrying out this study. The study going to a deeper level identified a number of factors which have contributed to lessen the labour productivity particularly of operational level workers in the industry. Accordingly, certain problems related to factory layout have mainly contributed to reduce the labour productivity. Among other factors that have contributed to reduce productivity, the study found that lesser degree of motivation prevailed among workers, high labour turnover, less improvement of skills, inadequate salary levels and time based payment methods including various harassments and suffering from poor working and living conditions. Finally, study based on its research findings, a set of policy recommendations are given along with suggesting some areas for further research to make the Sri Lankan garment industry to be more competitive.
Assessing toxicity of selected textile industry effluents reaching Kelani River using a plant based bioassay
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Hemachandra, C.K.; Pathiratne, A.
Textile industry effluents that are discharged in high volumes into inland waters may contain complex mixtures of toxic substances that could pose health impacts to biota inhabiting receiving waters. Conventional effluent quality assessments such as physico-chemical characterization may not be adequate to evaluate their biological effects. In the present study, potential toxicity of selected textile industry effluents discharged into Kelani River were assessed by a plant based bioassay using Allium cepa (onion) as the test organism. Effluents were collected from the discharging points of two textile industries in three sampling occasions covering mostly dry periods. Onion bulbs were exposed to the effluents under undiluted and diluted (1:8) conditions using aged tap water as the dilution media. Toxicity endpoints were root growth, mitotic index, occurrence of chromosomal aberrations and nuclear abnormalities. A. cepa root tip cells exposed to undiluted effluents from both industries caused significant (p<0.05) root growth inhibition, mitotic depression compared to that of the controls along with a significant (p<0.05) induction in the occurrence of condensed nuclei at each sampling occasion indicating cytotoxic effects. Moreover, undiluted effluents significantly (p<0.05) induced chromosomal abnormalities with further induction in micronuclei in the root tip cells indicating genotoxicity. Exposure of onion bulbs to the 1:8 diluted effluents also showed significant alterations of toxicity end points depending on the effluent type and sampling occasion. The results revealed that 1:8 dilution was not adequate to eliminate the cytotoxicity/genotoxicity induced by the effluents completely. Physicochemical characterization of the effluents showed that heavy metal levels generally comply with the national tolerance limits for effluent discharge into surface waters. However, color measurements and chemical oxygen demand levels did not comply with the tolerance limits in most of the cases indicating that highly oxidizable organics including textile dyes might have contributed to the observed toxicity. Present study showed the necessity of incorporating bioassays into effluent monitoring programs for more realistic effluent quality assessments, considering ecosystem and public health. This study was funded by the National Research Council research grant 11-11 and National Science Foundation equipment grant RG/2011/EQ/16.
Assessment of Nutritional Status of Adolescents in Kandy district- Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Kumburegama, S.; Sharmila, K.L.H.
The term adolescence is commonly used to describe the transition stage between childhood and adulthood. Although 21% of the population of Sri Lanka consists of adolescents, studies on nutritional status among this group are limited. The general objective was to assess the nutritional status of grade 11 students. The descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in grade eleven classes in government schools in type 1AB and 1C. 12 different schools were selected randomly. BMI was calculated and nutritional status was assessed using the age and sex specific BMI- percentiles growth charts and WHO cutoff marks. The prevalence of thinness (<5th percentile) was 49%, the prevalence of risk of overweight (85th -95th percentile) was 6.5%, and prevalence of overweight (>95th) was 2.1%. Boys were at higher risk of both underweight and overweight than girls. The nutritional status showed statistically significant associations with maternal education level and the number of siblings in the family. Of all the students, 32.3% were not satisfied with their current body weight and most of them were girls (39.5%). Of the students who belonged to risk of overweight category 64% were not following any weight related practices. Over half of the risk of overweight students‘ (60%) perception was that they belonged to normal weight category and 50% of overweight students assumed that their body weight is within the normal range and the other 50% assumed that they are in risk of overweight. But none of the overweight students perceived that they are overweight. Skipping breakfast was the major problem (36.7%). Under nutrition, risk of being overweight and overweight are the problems of adolescence. Awareness, health education and focused interventions are timely requirement to minimize health related problems of adolescents in Sri Lanka.
Assessment of possible social and entomological risk factors affecting transmission of dengue in the District of Gampaha
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Withanage, G.P.W.K.; Abeyewickreme, W.; Hapugoda, M.D.
Dengue is the most important mosquito-borne viral infection transmitted to humans in Sri Lanka causing more than 30,000 cases annually. The objective of the study was to identify possible social and entomological risk factors affecting transmission of dengue in Gampaha district where the second highest number of dengue cases recorded during last ten years. Four Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas were selected based on annual number of dengue cases greater than 250 for last ten years. One GramaNiladhari (GN) division was selected from each MOH area as a study area where the highest number of dengue incidents reported. In each study area, a cluster of 150 households was selected and household and entomological surveys were conducted. The selected areas were Eriyawatiya (Kelaniya MOH), Welikadamulla (Wattala MOH), Akbar town (Mahara MOH), and 3-Kurana (Negombo MOH) GN divisions. There were 2577 population in 600 households in the study areas and 53.5% were females. Average size of a homestead was 17 perches and most of the households (98%-588/600) were individual house. Main vegetations in the homesteads were grass and bushes (97%-583/600) and potential breeding places of dengue vector mosquitoes were observed in 96.1% (577/600) households. Main dengue vector mosquito present in the captured Aedes adult mosquitoes was Aedes albopictusis (92.9%-183/197). Most prominent breeding places were discarded bottles and tins (4.0%-15/371), plant axils (9.7%-36/371), plastic containers (26.4%-98/371), and roof gutters (4.3%-16/371) in the observed premises and 9.2% (34/371) were Aedes larvae positive. Most frequent mosquito preventive measure was bed-nets (30.3%-182/600), but mosquito coils (30.8%-185/600) and vaporizers (17.6%- 106/600) were frequently used. Participants have adequate knowledge about the disease, but they neglect preventive measures and highly depend on government vector control programs. Unplanned households, crowded conditions, poor waste management systems, and negligence to pursue preventive measures may be possible risk factors and therefore, frequent encouragement is needed to control dengue transmission.
Assessment of Satisfaction of the Participants in 16th Colombo International Book Fair
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayasekara, P.K.
The Colombo International Book Fair (CIBF) has been, the Sri Lanka‘s premier national book fair organized annually by Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association since 1999. The 16th CIBF was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), Colombo, Sri Lanka, from September 10th to 17th 2014 from 9.00 am to 9.00 pm., which comprised over 400 stalls consisted with local and foreign publishers. Other than selling books with discounts, it provides opportunities for author and reader discussions, book signing, great variety of food stalls and some other carnival-like activities. The number of participants to the CIBF is not good evidence about the successfulness of it. User satisfaction is one way criteria to measure the successfulness. Thus, objective of this research is to measure the user satisfaction about the 16th CIBF. Data was collected using an online questionnaire which developed using Google forms. The target group was the members in a Facebook group called "Poth Kiyawana Aya" that consists of 54,901 members in September 2014. The objective of this group is to share ideas about books among friends around the world. The URL of the online questionnaire was published in that Facebook group to get responses. 526 people have responded to the questionnaire within a one week period. 42% respondents were not satisfied with the support provided by the staff in the stalls and 36% said that they received satisfactory support. The overall satisfaction about the 16th CIBF was 37.9% and nearly half of the visitors (51.6%) was not satisfied about it. Overcrowding was the major reason behind less satisfaction. Increase the duration of the exhibition and spacious stalls will reduce the overcrowding. The organizers must develop plans to reduce queue time at the entrance and at the cashier and providing proper parking facilities will help to increase the customer satisfaction.