Staff Development Center Research Forum

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The decline of Instrumental fields in music Education in Sri Lankan Universities
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Vaheesan, T.
Background: This survey is based on Swami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic studies. In university department of music subject like, Vocal music, Violin, Mruthangam and Veena are taught and special degree in the fine Arts is given in special (course) subjects and Bachelor of fine Arts degree is given to them. In these fields many students follow courses to these music fields about 70 to 80 students are admitted. Among them, most of the students choose vocal music instead of Violin, Miruthangam, Veena fields. When we consider the music field, the musical instruments also play a major role. Music is praised to be equal to God (PanchapakesaIyer, 1953) while considering Carnatic music, it not only includes Vocal music, it includes instrumental music as well. Any music which sanctifies it with swarams and varnams and give a pleasant feeling to the ear, is a sacred music (Ramanuja Iyangar, 1986)In today’s musical world instruments not only remain as helping instruments like veena and violin have become so popular as to conduct main music recitals Music is beyond language (Sundaraam1993). Its soul depends on composing music. Aim: Aim of this study is creating awareness among the students to take this subject as their main field and increasing number of students to select this field as well as Artist. Methodology: The first year music students who learn music at Swami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic students were selected for this research. The questionnaire was given to them and the answers got from them. Besides this discussions were conducted among them regarding the selection of subjects. Results: For this survey while having discussions with the students and giving questions to them and getting answers from them many students have showed their liking to select Instrumental music fields but while considering job opportunities they select vocal music even though it is against their course of study they expect to get jobs in vocal music fields. Conclusion: The Instrumental such as Violin, Miruthangam, veena subjects must be included in the school. That will be increase the Instrumental artists same as music artists.
A Critical Inquiry into the Concept of Art
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Piyananda Thero, Wilgamuwe
Art is the medium of entertainment which should be experienced within an awaken mind. There are various forms of art including drama, poetry, music, sculpture, dance, literature, films etc. The modern day scholars have classified all these forms of art into numerous categories such as Visual Arts, Auditory Arts, Verbal Arts, Mix Arts, Fine Arts and Applied Arts. All these forms of art used for the same purpose, i.e. providing an aesthetic experience in order to heighten the wisdom. Various factors and incidences in society make contributions for a production of art to be made. Among them, people's life styles, beliefs, religion, the need to address the mental excitements of artists and environmental as well as geo-political factors are of enormous importance. Hence, it could be safely argued that a production of art is inevitable a property of the whole society and that such productions of art should address the conditions of the contemporary society. Since, art is one of the most important moving factors of culture, any study of the historical background of any country could not disregard art. Even though the primary purpose of art is to enlighten the mind, it appears that in the present society, it is primarily used only for personal satisfaction and entertainment. Given this background, the present study seeks to inquire into the phenomenon of art in a comprehensive way especially with regard to the functions and purpose of art and the ways in which forms of art could be used for the betterment of the society.
Bile Reflux and Quality of Life after Retro gastric Retro colic Gastrojejunostomy in Whipple Procedure
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Siriwardhana, R.
Introduction: Whipple surgery is a complex procedure done for pancreatic cancer. Main problem in long term survivors is delayed gastric emptying and bile reflux which is to cause chronic gastritis, gastric ulcers, reflux oesophagitis and Barrett’s oesophagus As our preferred technique we have adapted a technique of performing retro colic posterior gastrojejunostomy over the last 2 years. In this technique the small bowel loop is anastomosed to the posterior wall of the stomach. Then the distal stomach with the gastro jejunostomy is pulled through a window in the transverse mesocolon and anchored. This study was designed to assess the macro and microscopic outcome. Methods: All patients who had undergone Whipple procedure from June 2012 to June 2014 will be included. Patients with recurrence, ones who had chemotherapy within last three months, and ones who have undergone the surgery within the last 3 months will be excluded. Informed written consent will be obtained All will undergo endoscopy observing the appearance of gastric mucosa and severity of bile reflux objectively. Five punch-biopsy specimens will be taken from the stomach in accordance to the recommended biopsy sites. Specimens will be fixed and stained in H & E and modified Giemsa stains. Bile reflux index (BRI) will be calculated using a standard formula. Severity of dyspeptic symptoms will be calculated with the “Nepean Dyspepsia Index- Short form (NDI-SF)” Questionnaire. Based on the findings we will be able to objectively evaluate the clinical and histological outcome of the procedure.
Deep learned Visual Model for Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Kumarika, B.M.T.; Dias, N.G.J.
Background and rationale: The modern hand gesture recognition approaches can be classified as ‘contact’ and ‘vision’ based. Contact based approaches like Data Glove require a physical contact which can cause health issues and uncomfortable for some users. In contrast, users wear nothing in vision-based approaches where camera(s) capture the images of hands interacting with computers (Dan & Mohod, 2014).Therefore, vision-based approach is simple, natural and convenient. However, challenges to be addressed include illumination change, varying sizes of hand gestures, background clutters in visual patternidentification(Symonidis K,2000). Aim:Therefore, thepractical applicationof computer vision-based hand gesture recognition systems necessitates an efficient algorithm capable ofhandling those challenges. Theoretic al underpinning / Conceptual framework: As a solution to the complexity of the problem this research proposes Deep Neural Network (DNN) as robust, deep learned visual model. Deep learning attempts to model high-level abstractions (features) in data by using a biologically inspired model. In deep learning, the visual cortex of our brain is well-studied and shows a sequence of areas each of which contains a representation of the input, and signals flow from one to the next. Thus, each level of this feature hierarchy represents the input at a different level of abstraction, with more abstract features further up in the hierarchy, defined in terms of the lower-level ones where classification will be easy. Proposedmethodology:Created database of the hand gesture images is used for training and testing. Greedy layer-wise training is used to avoid the problems of training deep net in supervised fashion such as slow training, over fitting and unlabelled data. The results will be compared with test data which is a 15% of the data set.The results of the two tests oftraditional networksand deep network willalsobecompared. Expected outcomes: This will provide a robust Deep Neural Network as an efficient visual pattern recognition algorithm for real time hand gesture recognition.
Implementing Newborn Hearing Screening at the University Pediatric Unit of the North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Ragama
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Chandrasekara, J.M.A.U.; Jayasena, B.N.; Illeperuma, D.; de Silva, D.; Chathurika, E.
Background and rationale:Hearing loss is a multifaceted condition with profound medical, social, and cultural implications (Smith et al., 2005). If hearing loss is not detected in infancy, it can lead to delayed speech and language acquisition, impaired social and emotional development and poor academic performance. Adverse consequences of late detection is minimized when hearing is screened by as early as 1 month of age. However, very few state sector hospitals in Sri Lanka implement hearing screening. Hence it is essential that newborn hearing screening programmes are implemented in a wider scale. Aim: This study aims to initiate a newborn hearing screening programme at the North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Ragama by identifying hearing impairment among all newborn well-babies and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) babies-University Pediatric Unit. Conceptual framework: The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) recommends a 1-3-6 benchmark on infant hearing. This includes screening hearing of all newborns no later than 1 month of age; those not passing screening to have a diagnostic hearing evaluation no later than 3 months of age; infants with confirmed hearing loss to receive appropriate intervention no later than 6 months of age(JCIH, 2007). Proposed Methodology: Hearing screening will be conducted using Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) for well-babies and a combination of OAE and Auditory brainstem Response (ABR) for babies admitted to the NICU. Those who fail the initial screenwill be rescreened at no later than 1 month of age. Those who fail the rescreen will be referred for detailed audiological evaluation by 3 months of age. The gathered data will be subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. Expected outcomes: The proposed study will provide an initiative step towards including newborn hearing screening as a compulsory component to the hospital’s newborn care services.
A Critical Inquiry into the Concept of Art
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Piyananda Thero, Wilgamuwe
Art is the medium of entertainment which should be experienced within an awaken mind. There are various forms of art including drama, poetry, music, sculpture, dance, literature, films etc. The modern day scholars have classified all these forms of art into numerous categories such as Visual Arts, Auditory Arts, Verbal Arts, Mix Arts, Fine Arts and Applied Arts. All these forms of art used for the same purpose, i.e. providing an aesthetic experience in order to heighten the wisdom. Various factors and incidences in society make contributions for a production of art to be made. Among them, people's life styles, beliefs, religion, the need to address the mental excitements of artists and environmental as well as geo-political factors are of enormous importance. Hence, it could be safely argued that a production of art is inevitable a property of the whole society and that such productions of art should address the conditions of the contemporary society. Since, art is one of the most important moving factors of culture, any study of the historical background of any country could not disregard art. Even though the primary purpose of art is to enlighten the mind, it appears that in the present society, it is primarily used only for personal satisfaction and entertainment. Given this background, the present study seeks to inquire into the phenomenon of art in a comprehensive way especially with regard to the functions and purpose of art and the ways in which forms of art could be used for the betterment of the society.
Impact of employee and employer behaviour on work performance with the mediating effect of employee relationship: reference to the sigala sutta, worshiping to six directions
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Padmasiri, M.K.D.
Background and rationale: This study is deductive in nature because researcher will test established concept in religion perspective. In sigala sutta preached by Lord Buddha invented worshiping six direction (Sadisa Namaskaraya) including employee employer (management) behaviour in down direction within six directions. Sutta describes how should be the behaviour of employee and employer. Aim: Therefore the purpose of this study is finding how employee and employer behaviour impact on work performance with the mediating effect of employee relationship. Theoretical underpinning/ Conceptual framework: As the independent variables employee and employer behaviour impact on work performance but through employee relationship. Through this study researcher’s attempt was create a bridge between management and religious concepts. The employer’s behaviour; give duties based on capability, provide sufficient food and pay, provide medical treatment, share any extra profit with employee, and grant holidays and special allowances and employee has certain behaviour; be punctual, leave from work after the employer left, be sincere and trustworthy, complete duties, don’t take things without acknowledgement of employer and speak in praise about his employer. Proposed methodology: To measure these each variable researcher will use standard questionnaire to collect data form machine operators of selected Apparel sector organization. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Structural Equation Model will use to measure collected data. Expected outcomes: Intended outcome is there is a positive relationship between employee and employer behaviour on employee relationship resulting on work performance.
Role of Koothu performance in the process of community building
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Vivanantharasa, T.
Background and rationale:Koothu is the traditional theatre of the Tamils of Sri Lanka and currently it is in practice in the different layers of the society (Jeyasangar, 2003).Even though the war affected the people a lot at the community level, which is the bastion of Koothu, it survives with its traditional nature. The complex functions and the influences of Koothu in a community are not fully identified and studied in the Sri Lankan Tamil context. Aim:Therefore, the aim ofthis study is to analyze how Koothu is prevailing in the society. Know the strategy is much needed and bring the above knowledge to use in theatre arts is the most wanted aim. Theoretical underpinning: Community theatre is moving, pertinent, powerful and effective in strengthening the groups of people it caters to(Eugene and Van Ervin, 2001).The knowledge has been used as a guideline in this study. NgugiWa Thiongo’s writings on Kamirithu community theatre, Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, Augusto Boal’s “Theatre the Oppressed”, Sivagnanam Jeyasankar’s “Reformulation of community theatre based on Koothu are the studies discussed about community theatre as social process have been introduced in literature. Proposed methodology:Community action research is a collaborativeapproach in investigation that provides people with the means to take systematic action to resolve specific problems (Stringer E.T, 1996). Survey will be conducted among the performers and people taken for the study and information will be collected about their methods of performance, staging, and observing Koothu. Intense case studies will be made to understand and interpret the experiences of the performers and audience. Expected outcomes: The finding of this study will be used as an emerging process in reconciliation activitiesas per the society’s requirement in different circumstances.
Impact of Job Satisfaction on Job Performance with Reference to Public Banks in Sri Lanka
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayarathna, S.M.D.Y.
To attain a competitive advantage and remain in the competitive market, organizations should focus on the employee job satisfaction and job performance. Job Satisfaction is one of the most significant attitudes of the employees of an organization and it describes whether the employees are happy, asserted, and fulfilling their desires and needs at work. The organizations are challenged, as they have to make the employee’s satisfied in their job. So, they will perform better and consequently organization will achieve their competitive edge. Thus, achieving job performance of the employees has been significant for both private and public organizations. Hence, it is needed to investigate how the satisfaction of the employees of the public banks affects the job performance of their employees. As such, the objective of this research is to investigate the impact of job satisfaction on job performance of the public banks in Colombo District. The independent variable of the study is job satisfaction and the dependent variable is job performance. The reliability of the instruments are to be tested against the survey data. This study focuses on hypothesis testing and is a correlational study. The research is to be conducted in the natural environment where work proceeds normally, with less interference of the researchers (non contrived setting). Data will be collected from individuals: employees of the public banks, and the study is cross sectional. The population of the study will be Managerial, Executive and Non Executive employees in the public banks operating in Colombo district of Sri Lanka. It is expected to collect data by distributing from 400 self administered anonymous questionnaires. Data used for the analysis will be primary data. The analysis will be done by simple regression models using the software SPSS 20.0.
Devolution of Power, Gender and Female Representation in Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka: Special References with Southern Provincial Council
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Damayanthi, M.K.N.
Reduce or avoid gender based discrimination and gender issues, equity and high level of participation are some of key expectations of the power devolution. To fulfil the requirement of power devolution the Provincial Councils were established in 1987 in according to the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. However, from the initial stage of the Provincial Councils, it shows that fewer number of female representatives were included in the nomination list and negligible number of females were elected. Major objective of this study is to examine the present scenario of the female representation in Provincial Council system and examine factors affecting on less female representation in Provincial Councils. This study limits to Southern Provincial Council election in 2014. Data collected through official sources of the Election Commissioner General, questionnaire survey on randomly selected voters in Gonapeenuwal Divisional Secretariat Division in Galle District and interviews with randomly selected politicians in Southern Provincial Council. Study results shows that, 9 percent of the female candidates were include in nomination lists of the number of parties and contest for the 2014 Provincial Council election in Southern Province. However, only 1.8 percent (01) female representative was selected as a member of Southern Provincial Council. As revealed by the field survey, proportional electoral system, political system, media campaign specially social media campaign, cultural and social barriers and image of the candidates were negatively influence in female representatives in Southern Provincial Council election in 2014.
Correlation of Ligand Donicity with Catalytic Activity in a Series of Gold (I) Carbene and Phosphine Complexes
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Mathota Arachchige, Y.L.N.; Slaughter, L.M.
Catalytic activities of transition metal complexes are influenced by both steric and electronic effects arising from ancillary ligands. In the case of linear gold (I) complexes, the available evidence suggests that ligand electronic effects are more important. However, available methods to investigate the donor abilities of ligands are not easily conducted with gold (I) complexes. In this study, the donor abilities of selected carbene ligands, including N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), abnormal N-heterocyclic carbenes (aNHCs), and acyclic diaminocarbenes (ADCs), as well as phosphine ligands, at a gold (I) center were studied. Methyl isocyanide adducts and 1,3- diisopropylbenzimidazolin-2-ylidene (i Pr2-bimy) adducts of a series of gold complexes were synthesized as IR probes and 13C NMR probes, respectively. The gold-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization of alkynes, which is known to be accelerated by strong donor ligands, showed an inverse relationship between the Δν of the MeNC IR probe and the reaction rate. The same trend was observed with the 13C NMR probe, but the MeNC IR probes gave a better correlation with catalytic rates. Explanations of the observed donicity trends in terms of bonding effects will be discussed.
Sri Lankan University Students’ Smartphone usage to enhance Their Educational and Skill Development and the Features (Apps) Used by them
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayawardhana, K.G.L.A.N.S.
A smartphone (or smart phone) is a mobile phone with more advanced computing capability and connectivity than basic feature phones. By now, smart phone has become indispensable tool for university students as it facilitates and assists their learning process and the day to day life as well. The development of mobile wireless technologies has generated a considerable amount of excitement among university students and academics because it results in shifting the academic environment from traditional settings to mobile learning (m-learning) settings. So the researcher is going to conduct a research on “Sri Lankan University Students’ Smartphone usage to enhance Their Educational and Skill Development and the Features (Apps) Used by them” based on five research questions as How Smart Phone usage facilitate Sri Lankan University Students’ day to day life? To which extent Sri Lankan University Students use Smart Phones to enhance their Educational development? What are the features (apps) use to enhance their Educational development? To which extent Sri Lankan University Students use Smart Phones to enhance their skill development? & what are the apps use to enhance their skill development? And the objectives of the study is to find out how Smart Phone usage facilitate Sri Lankan University Students’ day to day life , to find out to which extent Sri Lankan University Students use Smart Phones to enhance their Educational Development, to find out what are the features (apps) use to enhance their Educational development, to find out which extent Sri Lankan University Students use Smart Phones to enhance their skill development, & to find out what are the apps use to enhance their skill development. To achieve these objectives, primary data will be collected through Questionnaires and the secondary data will be collected through books, newspapers, web sources and Publications. Three hundred (300) questionnaires will be given to randomly selected group (20 university students from each fifteen (15) State Universities in Sri Lanka (Eastern University of Sri Lanka, University of Colombo, University of Kelaniya, University of Peradeniya, University of Sri Jayawardhanapura, University of Moratuwa, University of Rajarata, University of Ruhuna, Open University of Sri Lanka, University of Visual and Performing Arts, Sabaragamuwa University, Wayamba University, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, University of Uva Wellassa, and University of Jaffna.)
Effectiveness of computer based accounting in business firms of eastern province
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Thayaraj, M.S.
Background: Accounting is an important part of every company thus; businesses are required to keep proper books of accounts.(Section 123 of the Companies Code (1963), Act 179). According to Omar, B (2009) Accounting refers to “The process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed and rational decisions”. Pacioli father of double entry book keeping system, today also his system still using. “Accounting can be divided into two basic categories: those which apply manual accounting and those which prefer Computer Based Accountings” (Weber, 2010). Aim: Therefore, this study aims is to evaluate the effectiveness of computer based accounting in business firms of eastern province Conceptual framework: the conceptual model proposes how effectiveness of computer based accounting in business firms impacts on performance. Accordingly, learning organization and organizational support influences to effectiveness of computer based accounting (CBA). The possibility theory is used to define the conceptual model. The contingency theory it hypothesized that organizational structure is function of context which context is simultaneously determined by the external environment, history and other organizational factors (Fiedler, 1964). Researchers have interpreted organizational structure to include the formal and informal information and decisionmaking methods that govern the allocation of organizational assets. The basic contingency framework consists of environment factors and firm-specific factors that affect to competitive strategy. The competitive strategy is effectiveness of computer based accounting (CBA) affected by learning organization and organizational support. Proposed methodology: This study considers the staff who worked under the department of accounts and information technology under the selected firms. 100 organisations are the sample size in the various districts in the eastern province. The Primary data will be collect through the questionnaire. The Secondary data collect through the sources of publications, company’s annual report and internet. Data analysis in this case was done quantitatively with statistical techniques such as the statistical package for social scientists (SPSS). The use of table, frequencies and percentages was employed in the analysis so as to ensure accuracy, adequacy and completeness of the study. Expected outcomes: The findings of this study will be helpful to the various business organization for evaluate the effectiveness of computer based accounting.
Adoption of Green Supply Chain Practices in Manufacturing Companies in Sri Lanka
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayarathna, B.C.P.
The concept of Green Supply Chain Management is being discussing by the researchers today more than ever before. It is because of environmental issues raised through the process of delivering the products to end user. It becomes one of the main sources of serious environmental problems. Therefore most of the organizations tend to accept the green practices as a concern to environmental sustainability. Therefore this study aims to identify the level of adoption of green supply chain practices of manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka and to identify the key derivers that influence to adopt green supply chain practices of manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka. For this purpose structured questionnaire is used to collect data from the sample of ISO 14000 certified manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka and structural equation model is used to analyze data. Theoretical scope of the study includes identifying external factors based on institutional theory and internal factors based on resource based view for adopting green supply chain practices while empirical scope is narrow down to the manufacturing companies of Sri Lanka. Identifying the trend that the world need to be changed for environmental aspects due to global issues, it is important to study the green supply chain management since it is one of the ways to reduce environmental impacts of firms’ operations and for sustainability. And also the findings of the study will be more contributed to enhance the adoption of green supply chain practices by manufacturers, suppliers and the government.
A Study of Sinhala Spelling Error Patterns for Spelling Error Correction
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Wijekoon, H.
Spelling error detection & correction techniques are used widely by word processing, machine translation, information retrieval and natural language processing systems. Even though it is straight forward to verify a misspelled word by looking up in a word dictionary, it is very hard to suggest the best correction. For a morphologically rich and a complex Indic language like Sinhala a probabilistic method is the best approach for qualifying the best correction for a detected misspelled word over the other existing methods. This research intends to identify & analyze non-word spelling error patterns in Sinhala. A word dictionary will be used to identify the errors and a special software tool will be developed in order to record statistical data regarding the spelling errors of Sinhala documents. This tool will be used by a Sinhala language expert to record data related to spelling errors in a selected sample of documents. Errors will be categorized into different types along with statistical results and will be analyzed. The reasons of language specific error patterns will be discussed and a weight based decision tree format will be derived as an outcome which can be used to find the best correction from a word dictionary to replace a misspelled word.
Characterization of the Temperate Phage vB_RleM_PPF1 and its Site-Specific Integration into the Genome of Rhizobium leguminosarum Strain F1
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Halmillawewa, A.P.; Restrepo-Córdoba, M.; Perry, B.J.; Yost, C.K.; Hynes, M.F.
The presence of prophages in a genome can contribute in increasing the bacterial fitness and ecological success in an environment that contains closely related phages. The temperate phage PPF1 was isolated from a lysogenized strain of Rhizobium leguminosarum F1. The complete genome sequence of Myoviridae phage PPF1 was determined using 454-Pyrosequencing technology. PPF1 is the first available complete genome sequence of a Rhizobium leguminosarum temperate phage (GenBank accession no: KJ746502) and the integration site and possible mechanism of integration of this phage has been identified. PPF1 is capable of efficiently lysogenizing the R. leguminosarum strain F1, and can be induced from its lysogenized host using UV irradiation. The genome of PPF1 is 54,506 bp in length with an average G+C content of 61.9%. The ORF predictions of the PPF1 genome revealed the presence of 94 putative proteinencoding genes and 74.5% of these predicted ORFs share homology at the protein level with previously reported sequences in the database. However, putative functions could only be assigned to 25.5% (24 ORFs) of the predicted genes. The site-specific recombination system of the phage targets an integration site that lies within a putative tRNA-Pro (CGG) gene in R. leguminosarum F1. Upon integration, the phage is capable of restoring the disrupted tRNA gene, owing to the 50 bp homologous sequence (att core region) it shares with its rhizobial host genome. The predicted att site of temperate phage PPF1 share a sequence similarity with the targeted att site of previously characterized Sinorhizobium meliloti phage 16-3. In spite of phage PPF1's propensity for lysogenizing host strains, including strains on which it does not form visible plaques, there has thus far been no evidence of the presence of similar phages integrated into completed genomes of R. leguminosarum and related phages. The site specificity of insertion of this phage could be used to create single copy integration vectors for genetic work in R. leguminosarum.
Measurement Assisted Robotic Assembly of Fuselage Skin Panels
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayaweera, N.
Geometrically complex structural components are extensively used in the assembly of airframe structures. Currently the application of robotics to the assembly of such structures has been limited and the assembly of aero-structure components is primarily a skilled manual process. The use of manual handling represents a significant health and safety risk and an increased likelihood of damaging components during the assembly process. The compliance of components is significant and the resulting geometric and positional uncertainty within the assembly is such that conventional robotic pick and place approaches cannot be used as it is impossible to pre-define and fix the exact position of parts within the assembly. Using product specific fixtures and templates can solve this problem, but this significantly increases cost and reduces flexibility. This paper addresses the above problems by using a novel combination of standard low cost industrial robots, low cost sensors and a mathematical ‘best-fit’ algorithm. During the assembly process the location of existing part-to-part holes and edges are measured to provide alignment points for individual components within the structure and the data obtained is processed through a ‘best-fit’ mathematical algorithm to calculate the relative component positions required for an optimal assembly. The developed methodology has been evaluated and demonstrated using real airframe components and results are presented. The assembly experiments presented have confirmed that it is possible to assemble aero-structure components within aerospace production specifications.
Awareness of Sexual Education to Conceived Women and all through Enriching Dramatic Dance of ‘Sabaragamu Dola Upatha’ by Charmer
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Salgamuwa, D.W.
‘Sabaragamuwa Dola Upatha’ which is cited as an inspiring dramatic shanthikarma has been conducted in the Sabaramuwa Province of Sri Lanka for centuries. This provides counseling and awareness on issues and complications related to Sexual Education and pregnancy. Therefore, a valuable question arises is whether the society is aware about this Shanthikarma? Is this important to modern society? If so why is this so important? Therefore, this research attempts to provide an in-depth analysis of this cultural event that could make an impact to reduce mother and baby mortality ratio and raise sexual and academic education in society. According to the World Bank report 2014 and the UNDP report, Sri Lankan mortality ratio is high. Sexual education is not given due emphasis in the National curriculum of Sri Lanka. Though this Shanthikarma is limited only to the Sabaragamuwa Province, it is essential to expand it to all communities. The objectives of this research are to find how important the Sabaragamu Dola Upatha is to the present society to reduce the questions on sexual education. To achieve these objectives, primary data will be collected through questionnaires and secondary data will be collected through books, newspapers, Publications and ancient writings. Two hundred (200) questionnaires will be given randomly to selected groups like aged group interviews where live in Sabaragmu Province, professionals, students, husbands and youth. Outcome of this research will ensure the importance to expand this dramatic dance in island wide and make awareness among all. Counseling through a dramatic dance would be a better way to cogent and convince on sexual education simply through a Charmer.
Value Relevance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Sri Lankan Listed Companies
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Senani, K.G.P.
Background : Accounting was well known as a record keeping method and then evolved up to a decision making tool. Therefore information which is generated through a systematic process plays a vital role in decision making process, known as value relevance information. Accounting standards direct the accounting function and IFRSs were implemented to have consistency of that information around the world. Sri Lanka transformed from Sri Lanka Accounting Standards to IFRS since 01st January 2012. Studies from many countries have been focused to measure the value relevance with their transformation and concluded with different results. Hence this study will be a value creating study in Sri Lankan context. Aim : Accordingly this study attempts to identify the value relevance of IFRS adoption in Sri Lankan listed companies. Conceptual Framework : This study will evaluate the value relevance of IFRS adoption in Sri Lankan listed companies. Therefore accounting information is taken as the independent information and market price is considered as the dependent variable. Year-end book value per share and earnings per share are used as the value relevant accounting information and share price at the date of publishing annual reports to the public is taken as the market value. Size, growth and leverage of organisations are considered as control variables which could have an impact on share price other than accounting information. Proposed Methodology : Population of the study consists 294 companies which is the total number of companies listed in Colombo stock exchange as at 05th August 2015 and 167 companies are qualified for the sample. Study period covers five years from 2010/11 to 2014/15 which is divided into two namely pre-adoption period and post-adoption period to the IFRS implementation. Study will execute price model in valuation to express the impact of accounting information to the market value and the explanatory power of this model will be compared for above two periods. Expected Outcome : The findings of this study will be beneficial for the users of accounting information in common and specially for the investors who are mainly depend on available information. Further study will be useful for regulators to measure the effectiveness of this implementation in Sri Lankan context.
Validation of the Sinhala translation of ‘Low Anterior Resection Syndrome’ (LARS) Questioner
(Staff Development Center, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Chandrasinghe, P.C.
Low Anterior Resection Syndrome (LARS) is a collection of troublesome symptoms that patients experience after surgical removal of the rectum for rectal cancer. The LARS questioner is a self-administered tool that has been widely used and validated in different settings after being translated to several languages. The study aims to validate the Sinhala translation of the said questionnaire. This will be a validation study conducted at the Professorial Surgical Unit of the North Colombo Teaching Hospital. English version of the LARS questionaire will be translated to Sinhala and backward translated by independent translators and assessed by an expert panel. Questioner will be given to patients who have undergone low anterior resection between years 2000 and 2015 as a self-administered questionnaire after obtaining written informed consent. Data analysis is based on the LARS scoring protocol for each question. Principal component analysis will be used to identify the underlying themes measured or captured by the questionnaire. The validity and reliability will be assessed by Cronabach's alpha, interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Pearson's correlation coefficient. A reliability of more than 0.7 is generally considered adequate prior to using a validated psychometric tool.