Research Symposium-2010
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Item An Academic Attendance Tracking System(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Fernando, N.N.C.; Dissanayake, B.A.K.Most of the academic institutions in Sri Lanka use pen and paper to track attendance of students. When working with primary materials there can be wrong calculations, students can cheat lecturers, consume a lot of time to sign and sometimes reduce attention to the lectures. Therefore to assist this process a computerized attendance monitoring system is required. Basically this system is intended for the universities but also it suites for the schools as well. This proposed system is capable of tracking students' attendance with the help of a fingerprint scanner and a personal computer. There are two major parts in this project. The first part is tracking students' attendance in the lectures by using a fingerprint reader and storing the data in a database. To develop this functionality vb.net was used as the computer language and mySQL was used as the database server. The second part consists of a website which allows students to view their attendance as well as lecturers to view their students' attendance in the lectures. Through the website the administrator can send SMS to the students who have not obtained eighty percent of attendance level and generate reports for the administration purposes. PHP was used as the main language to develop this system. The system is also capable to handle user management functionalities such as adding a new user, deleting a user, change attendance, changing user details and adding or deleting data in the database. The work presented here describes the testing and evaluation of the system on a sample data set gathered from Uva Wellassa University. This project developed a prototype for the future implementation of student attendance monitoring system and a technology based reliable solution to support the university students' attendance tracking process. Key words: mySQL, PHPItem Advanced Failover and Failback Management in Server System(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Sabethan, V.; Kumarapathirana, K.P.S.D.Failover is the capability to automatically switch over to an extra application server which is in standby mode, upon the failure or abnormal termination of the original ipplication server. This happens without human interference and generally without giving the warning. Failback involves the process of restoring a system in a state of failover back to its original state. When a failure occurred in local server, it will be put in suspended state by making its fence lower. At the same time, the recovery member's state will be active to receive connections by making its fence up. It will activate the recovery server. Though there are many failover failback systems, it is very essential to enhance the features of the present system. The proposed system will provide enhanced performance, efficient resource utilization, advanced communication between agents, higher availability and reliability. Shoal-C++, the proposed cluster management framework, provides the foundation for network configuration, and dynamic and autonomous cluster formation. The ultimate goals of the system is to build a library, which consist of GMS client API and GMS SPI. Each machine in the group/network has implemented the signals Join, Joined and ready, Failure suspected, Failure notify, Failure recovery and Planned shutdown in their application to successful identify the nodes and get work done. Grouping of servers (Clustering) gives solution to solve two significant problems: fault tolerance and load balancing. The existing Shoal-C++ is concentrated on the component fail over, but the mirrored component is started from its beginning at failover and fallback implementation. Key words: Failback, Failover, Shoal-C++Item Agricultural Market Information System with Integrated Forecasting and Short Message Service (SMS) Accessibility(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Kadigamugedara, C.S.K.; Subhashini, L.D.C.S.Agriculture remains the major livelihood in most of the developing countries in Asian and Pacific region even at present. One of the major problems among the farmers of developing countries is the lack of knowledge of the market of their products. Farmer's participation in market is poor and they are being forced to sell their products to local middlemen at dumped prices. The Agricultural Market Information System with Integrated Forecasting and Short Message Service (SMS) Accessibility project presents an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solution to the problem by giving the timely and unbiased Agricultural Marketing Information. It helps farmers to gain profitable decisions in the short term on when and which market to produce, what price to produce and what price to expect. A GSM modem and an SMS Gateway application are used to send and receive the SMS messages. The Time series algorithm model was constructed to forecast the agricultural products' market prices. Through the empirical data testing, the average relative error was 2.91% for Samba Rice, which shows that this model can achieve good predicted results. This time series forecasting model can be used in forecasting the prices of various types of agricultural products, with a premise that having enough data of agricultural products in the model training to determine the model structure and parameters. Key words: Time series forecasting model, GSM modem, SMSItem Analysis of Output Fluctuations and Reasons, Caused by the Change of Labor Shift in the Sri Lankan Apparel Industry (With Reference to Board of Investment Registered Garments)(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Kshemendra, M.M.P.; Siyambalapitiya, J.The purpose of this research was to identify whether the output of the shift based apparel industries vary with the change of labor shifts and identify and analyze the reasons that affect on output of the each labor shifts. This research paper developed a model to examine the effect of factors that are related to the output variances of Board of Investment registered garment industries. The designed model was tested by selecting five shift based apparel-manufacturing firms from five export-processing zones. The data are collected primary and secondary sources, primary data gathered from sewing machine operators by using questionnaire. The output of the day shift having strong positive relationship with machine operator's efficiency other than the other factors but night shift output will be depend on few more factors than the sewing machine operators efficiency. Key Words: Output Fluctuations, Day Shift and Night Shift, Operation, Material Delay, Machine Breakdown, IncentivesItem Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Replanting Decision by Tea Small Holders in Yatinuwara Divisional Secretariat Division(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Weerasinghe, W.M.H.P.; Obeysekera, K.G.B.; Dharmadasa, A.P.I.S.Tea is the third largest foreign exchange earner in Sri Lanka and 74% of the total tea production in the country comes from tea small holdings sector. Despite superiority of tea small holders in numerous ways to the plantation sector, this sector is not free from problems. In conformity to national policy, 2% of the existing tea extent has to be annually replanted in order to maintain the tea extent to obtain maximum yield. However, present annual replanting rate in the tea small holdings sector is 0.8%. The low levels of decision making on replanting in tea small holdings is a factor responsible for not reaching desirable replanting rate. Considering this, a research was carried out in Yatinuwara Divisional Secretariat division in Kandy district, to identify the factors that affect on decision making on replanting. Sixty tea small holders were selected from Gannoruwa, Manikdiwele and Dhanthure by using the stratified random sampling technique and the data were analyzed using descriptive techniques and regression analysis. Present study identified that income sources other than tea, replanting subsidy, cost of replanting, price of green tea leaves, labour availability, credit facilities, and tea land size significantly affect on replanting decision of tea small holders. More specifically, one unit change in income sources other than tea, replanting subsidy, labour availability, and credit facilities lead to average change in replanting decision by 22.08, 0.00018, 16.00 and 10.80 units respectively, while age of tea small holder, cost of replanting, price of green tea leaves and tea land size negatively related to replanting decision. The study strongly recommends that increase in replanting subsidy and provision of credit facilities at a low interest rate should be considered to maintain an acceptable replanting rate. Key words: Replanting rate, Stratified random sample method, Regression analysis, Replanting subsidyItem Analysis of Yield and Some Physicochemical Properties of Tallow Rendered from Leather Industry Waste(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Vinothsanker, S.; Wickramasinghe, W.; Samaraweera, A.M.; Cyril, H.WFlesh samples collected from fleshing waste of leather factory were heated and tallow was collected as melted fat. The tallow yields were compared on the basis of gender, region, and species. There are significant differences (P<0.05) in tallow yields obtained from cattle with respect to gender and region (Up country and low country), There is no significant difference (P< 0.05) among tallow extracted from males and females of buffalo as well as between the tallow from cattle (Low country) and buffalo (Low Country). The iodine, saponification, acid values and free fatty acid and % of crude fat contents were169.2, 301.0 mg KOH/g, 51.78 mg KOH/g, 0.5 as % of oleic acid and 37.66% respectively. Ash value and moisture contents were 0.16 mg/g and 1.38% respectively. Extracted tallow complies with the CODEX standards except for acid and saponification value for edible fats but cannot be recommended for human consumption unless further investigations for mineral contamination are conducted. Higher saponification values lower the suitability of tallow for soap and candle production. Key words: Tallow, Rendering, Yield, QualityItem Analyzing the Effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation Micro Financing Project (PAMP) Conducted by Central Bank of Sri Lanka; with Special Reference to the Badulla District(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Kariyawasam, K.H.G.T.D.; Deyshappriya, N.P.R.Poverty alleviation is a one of the most debatable topic in the recent literature as poverty adversely affect to the living condition of individuals and the development process of country as well. In the Sri Lankan context, PAMP project is one of the poverty alleviation project implemented recently which included the provision of collateral free loans to poor people in rural areas. The borrowers organized into small groups and it reduced the risk of default. It targeted one of the most helpless groups in society - women, who live in households with little or almost no assets by providing opportunities for self-employment. The research was buildup based on the poor people, who barrowed loan from loan scheme. The objective of this study is to investigate whether it has been achieved the main objectives of Project and how it affects the living condition of the poor people in selected areas in Badulla District. The study is based on field works with questionnaires filled by beneficiaries and direct interviews with project officers. Random sampling technique has been employed to select the sample.After analyzing the data by using descriptive techniques, it has been observed that project has enhanced the living condition of the poor people. It has not only helped the poor people to uplift their standard of living, but also helped them to empower themselves and improve the saving ability. Therefore the study strongly recommends widely spread similar poverty alleviation projects managed by the government in order to eradicate the rural poverty. Key words: Rural poverty, Poverty alleviation, Isuru Loan Scheme, Random Sampling TechniquesItem Analyzing the Performance of mahinda chintana Diary villages in Batticaloa District(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Asoomath, N.; Mahusoon, M.M.; Lavanya, S.Dairy sector is the most important of all livestock sub sectors and it has a great impact on the rural economy. The domestic milk production only constitutes about 26 percent of the country's requirement. Dairy village programme was introduced in 2005 by the President Mahinda Rajapakse in order to develop the dairy industry, and is being implemented by the Department of Animal Production and Health, Sri Lanka. In the present study, the performance of dairy village programme implemented in Batticaloa district was assessed through a field survey to evaluate the success of "Mahinda Chintana" programme. A total of 150 dairy farmers from 15 dairy villages including seven veterinary ranges in the Batticaloa district were randomly selected and interviewed using a formal questionnaire for collecting data on socio economic condition, details of dairy cattle, management practices, problems faced by the dairy farmers and extension services. About 66% of the respondents have prior experience in dairy cattle management. Fifty six percent of the farmers were small holders of dairy cattle and 35% were medium size holders. Almost 42% of the respondents practiced fully intensive rearing system while 39% were adopting tethering system. 48% farmers have got primary education and 7% of them were not even schooled. Concentrates feed was given by 75% of the dairy farmers. Constraints reported by the farmers were high cost for concentrate feeds, low price for milk, lack of grasses and grass land, lack of credit facilities, and drought. The implementation of dairy villages has increased the annual income of the farmers significantly due to better technical knowledge on management practices, pasture and fodder production, better health care practices etc. The management systems, however, were very poor (58%) in some aspects such as rearing system and feeding of the dairy cattle. The programme would perform better if the management aspects could be improved. Key words: Dairy village, Dairy cattle, Dairy farmers, Mahinda Chintana, Management practicesItem Ascorbic Acid and Antioxidant Level of Ceylon Olive (Elaeocarpus serratus) as Affected by Variety, Stage of Maturity at Harvest and Different Methods of Preservation(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Rasanayaka, R.M.D.D.M.; Sarananda, K.H.; Ranawana, S.R.W.M.C.J.K.There has been growing interest in the beneficial health effects of edible fruits as well as certain beverages. Their protective mechanisms against chronic-degenerative diseases are thought to be attributed to the presence of natural antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. In this study attempts were made to investigate. the dynamics of changes in ascorbic acid, antioxidant activity, pH, titratable acidity and Total Soluble Solids (TSS) in two varieties of Ceylon Olive (Elaeocarpus serratus); Pol weralu and Heen weralu and to evaluate the quality of Ready to Serve (RTS) drinks prepared from both varieties. Ready to serve drinks made of olive have evaluated for sensory attributes. The level of ascorbic acid was measured using 2, 6-Dichlorophenol-Indopenol (DCPIP) method. Methanolic extracts of fruits and RTS drinks were analyzed by DPPH (1, 1-dipheny1-2- picrylhydrazyl) antioxidant assay. The highest content of ascorbic acid was detected in mature fruits of Heen weralu (66.15 mg per 100 g), while it was lowest (27.30 mg per 100 g) in Pol weralu at ripe. Ascorbic acid contents in RTS drinks Pol weralu and Heen weralu were 13.3 mg per 100 ml and 27.65 mg per 100 ml respectively as compared to 27.30 mg per 100 g and 43.40 mg per 100 g in ripe fruits. The highest value of TSS (17.05) and pH (4) was observed in full ripe Heen weralu. The IC50 (inhibition concentration 50) which represent the antioxidant activity of the methanolic extracts of Po! weralu and Heen weralu were 6.68 and 5.54 mg/ml respectively. Result confirmed that among two varieties, Heen weralu was best in terms of antioxidant activity for both fruit and RTS drink. RTS drink (Heen weralu) was the best sample which showed the highest rank sum value for sensory attributes. Key words: Ceylon Olive (Elaeocarpus serratus), Ascorbic acid, Antioxidant activity, IC50 (inhibition concentration)Item Assessment of Adoption of Fair Trade Quality Standard in the Corporate Tea Sector in Sri Lanka(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Senarath, S.M.S.; Athauda, A.M.T.P.In addition to conventional tea production which contributes mainly to the standard industrial tea sector, the percentage of value addition has to be gradually increased to maintain higher end market at profitable levels. It is important that value addition is coupled with other strong consumer requirements and expectations such as environment protection and bio diversity maintenance of eco systems towards combating global warming, offering social responsibility to the workers and beneficial health to consumers, convenience and sensory satisfaction. Obtaining Fairtrade quality standard appeared to be a strategic tool used in value addition of tea industry to compete in the international tea market from which Sri Lanka earns foreign exchange as a main source of export income. This study examines the factors affecting adoption of Fairtrade Quality Standard (FQS) in the Sri Lankan corporate tea sector. The identification of the constraints for obtaining Fairtrade certificate is also targeted by the study. A questionnaire based study was carried out to collect data from 35 randomly selected tea estates in up country. Multiple Linear Regression was used to identify the factors affecting the adoption of Fairtrade quality standard. Descriptive statistical method was also used to identify constraints in obtaining Fairtrade certificate and adoptability of each standards of Fairtrade. Results of Binary Logistic Regression reveal that adopting of Fairtrade quality standard in the corporate tea sector is significantly determined by attitude, working experience of the estate manager, revenue of the estate and number of employees in the estate. The most important constraints perceived by the corporate sector tea estates were low market share in global market, lack of finance and unawareness of the workers about Fairtrade. Some of the standards like no child labour, non-discrimination, environmental friendly farming practices and safe working conditions can be observed in most of the estates. Key words: Adoption, Fairtrade, Quality Standard, Value AdditionItem Automated Attendance System Using Webcam Based Barcode Reader(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Kulathilaka, S.H.S.; Udawatta, L.; Piyathilaka, J.M.L.C.; Ekanayake, R.M.T.C.B.; Nihmiya, A.R.Maintaining attendance of the employee's and hours worked require an accurate means for the effective operation of any business or government agency. So they necessitate the use of simpler and effective systems as a replacement to the existing ones according to the ongoing growth of technology. Automated attendance system using webcam based barcode reader is one of the relevant solution for existing system, which can extract and decode the sequence of the barcode on a cluttered background and store the decode value with time and date. It is composed of four functions: barcode localization from the raw image, transformation of the localized barcode, decoding the sequence and storing the decoding data with other relevant data of employer attendance. The localization method is based on detecting the areas with the maximum density difference in two normal directions. The transformation method, capable of identifying any orientation, is based on the Hough line detection method. Using a variation of the Hough transformation noise is removed and distortions are reduced. This results in a more robust barcode scanning system. The decoding method is based on mathematical modelling of the EAN-13 barcode type and the database handling method is based on the ADO.NET technology in Visual Basic for interacts with the Microsoft Access database. The algorithms used in the barcode reader have been tested on number of images with an accuracy of more than eighty present. The system finds quite an important application in Payroll calculation and also viability in commercial applications. Primary application that has focused on is to maintain attendance of employees in an office. Key words: Barcode Localization, Barcode Reorganization, Webcam, Hough Transformation, EAN-13 barcodeItem Automated Cephalometric Analysis in Orthodontics Using Artificial Neural Network(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Ariyarathna, G.D.W.M.; Karunananda, A.S.This work demonstrates the use of Neural Network approach, which is being developed to promote the automated identification and localization of cephelametric landmarks in orthodontics. Orthodontics is a specialty of dentistry that is concerned with the study and treatment of malocclusions (improper bites), which may be a result of tooth irregularity, disproportionate jaw improved bite (occlusion). Identification and localization of cephelametric landmarks has become an important clinical task in orthodontics. The conventional method of locating landmarks depends on manual tracing of the radiographic images. Since this is time consuming and error proven, the demand for completely automated analysis and diagnostic tasks has increased. In this respect, an intelligent cephalometric analysis is one of the main goals to be reached in orthodontics in near future. This work critically reviews four major problems in cephelametric analysis namely; precision of landmark identification and localization, enormous time consumption, human errors and need for continuous support from experts. We argue that, issue of lack of autonomated solutions for cephelametric analysis has been the main problem.Conventional approaches lack generality, adaptability and flexibility, since it is difficult for them to learn the environment changes and they do not provide facilities to automate the analysis process to improve the accuracy of landmark detection. There have been several previous attempts to automate cephalometric analysis with the use of hand crafted algorithms, mathematical or mtatistical models and artificial intelligence techniques such as neural networks, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic. Nevertheless, in all cases accuracy was the same or worse than that of manual identification. Therefore this investigation aimed at proposing an Artificial Neural Network approach to computerize the cephalometric analysis. It is evident from the literature that, neural network approach can introduce very high level of autonomy and accuracy in modeling real world problems. The proposed system automates cephalometric analysis along four dimensions; image acquisition: capturing and scanning cephalograms, image processing and computer vision: image analyzing, edge detecting and extracting landmarks, ANN training: classifying landmarks according to their geometrical specifications and pinpointing the land marks by calculating the center of gravity in each cluster. The users of the system would be orthodontists. This system has been implemented as a desktop application which automatically analyzes the cephelametric land marks according to their geometrical classifications. Key words: Automated cephalometric analysis, Artificial neural networkItem Automated Hospital Management System – Hospital Net(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Amarasinghe, N.W.T.L.; Makalanda, G.S.Most of the people in our country get treatments from the government hospitals which are operating most of the processes manually such as making appointments, taking records of the patients, recording the history of the disease etc. It is a time consuming process where difficulties in controlling information, lack of security of personal details and record duplication occur. The automated hospital management system called "Hospital Net" was developed to solve the above mentioned problems in a government hospital. This system can handle the procedures of controlling • patients' registration, managing patient's history of diseases, recording patient's admission details, managing patient prescription details and testing details. This software has the facility to keep a unique ID number for a patient and transfer the details to relevant sections automatically. For instance an OPD doctor can receive the details of patients who are assigned to him before the patient is admitted. A nurse can check the assigned prescription of each patient with the system. Doctors can search daily diagnosis details of each patient in the ward. Both the hospital and the community will be benefitted through this "Hospital Net" since it makes the system very efficient. Key Words: Automated Hospital Management System, Hospital NetItem Automatic Counting for Entry Point(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Fairoos, M.A.; Udawatta, L.; Piyathilaka, J.M.L.C.; Ekanayake, R.M.T.C.B.; Nihmiya, A.R.An automated occupant counter is a device used to count the number of people walking through a door. Most of the time, this system is used at the entrance of a building so that the total number of people occupied can be recorded. This occupant counting system will be useful for many sectors. Especially, it may be important for marketing research, pedestrian traffic management, tourist flow estimation or in security application in an emergency situation and more. For example in case of an evacuation need it is possible to know how many people are trapped inside a building to execute a prompt evacuation plan. The system has two sensing elements and two signal processing channels arranged such that a PIC16F84 microcontroller produces signals of opposite polarities in the two channels. A method of monitoring a passageway and an alarm management unit associated with an integrated system are also provided. An alarm signal is delivered only in the event that the two signals of opposite polarities are cutting simultaneously. Disturbances, such as component noise, which affect only one channel cannot give rise to an alarm, nor can power supply disturbances which produce signals of the same polarity in both channels. There will be also provided an automated occupant counter system for determining a direction of travel of human including first and second human detection devices and a controller. The controller provides an output representative of a direction of travel in response to the outputs of the first and second human detection devices and then that will display on LCD. Further, there will be a rotating gate set up to control the passengers to move one by one in an overcrowded situation. Key words: Microcontroller, Occupant counter, Signal processingItem An Autonomous Assistant Service Robot for an Office Environment(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Kulathunga, A.G.R.; Udawatta, L.; Piyathilaka, J.M.L.C.; Ekanayake, R.M.T.C.B.; Nihmiya, A.R.Recently, Autonomous humanoid robotics technology is being expected to provide various services in human living environments. But the commercial availability of these types of robots is still not considerable, due to many unsolved problems in this research area. Self-localization and navigation of mobile robots are most challenging problems. So researchers have introduced many advanced navigation systems. This paper presents a system of pre defined map base indoor navigation robot for known environment. The robot operates on a floor tile grid and uses sensor base technique for path planning. There is an array of reflective IR sensors for tracing line and counting the grid edges. The robot considers starting position as an absolute reference point. While navigating, processing unit updates the x, y coordinates and verify with defined map, thus it can obtain accurate path to the destination. Robots' linear motion control was done by comparing speeds of the main wheels using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technique. A closed loop Proportional Integral (PI) control system was used to synchronize speed of dual wheels. Omni directional wheel was used to reduce slip. The destination selection and robot navigation were controlled by a control panel with a graphical display. The robot delivers documents while keeping them inside a password secured cabin. Speaking ability enhance user friendliness of robot. Further the Current Date, Time, Temperature and Location were displaying to more favorable in the office environment. The control unit consists of a set of PIC Microcontrollers which were programmed in C Language by using I2C and RS232 communication protocols. The algorithm of this robot was designed to demonstrate inside an office building. Its' maximum linear velocity is 0.26 ms-lby navigating on a 5mm grid line .The minimum position error is within one tile. In this method the navigation errors wouldn't be cumulative. Key words: Robot localization and navigation, Autonomous service robot, grid based navigation, closed loop feedback systemItem Business Logic Based Clinic Management System Facilitated with Short Message Service(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Gunasinghe, R.M.; Subhashini, L.D.C.S.This project focuses on main problems and certain neglected significant key factors in Sri Lankan health sector. It also addresses the difficulties experienced by main parties involved in hospital activities. This web application is proposed as a clinic management system as a solution for such problems. The clinic management system called "Widu Suwa Sahana" is business logic based web application. Two business rules were found in the hospital visits which are relevant to Sri Lankan health sector. Widu Suwa Sahana is a unique system compared to available systems. It can be used in all categories of hospitals in Sri Lanka. Because of the business logics the system is rich in flexibility, adaptability and user friendliness. There is no need of a skilled person to operate the system. Therefore anybody can use the system according to the permissions given. Fewer amounts of inputs have to be included for regular users while other inputs are handled by the system automatically. Finally, patients' history can be used for prediction purposes as well as for doctors to take better decisions on the patients. Patients do not need to travel for registration or examination of test reports. Short message service is used for necessary information and notification sending. Key words: web application, clinic management, short message serviceItem A Case Study : Factors Affecting on Milk Production of Contract Farmers’ of the Swiss Cheese Company Private Limited in Nuwara-eliya District(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Rifky, A.L.M.; Samaraweera, A.M.; Jayasinghe, J.V.L.C.; Mahipala, M.B.P.K.This study investigated the factors affecting on milk production of the contract dairy cattle farmers' of Swiss Cheese Company Pvt. Ltd. in Nuwara-eliya district. A field survey was carried out using 50 farmers in Queensberry, Bogahawatta, Maskeliya, Kellewatta and Rozella villages. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used. The investigated farmers were virtually landless and farming is done in extremely small (118±8.7 m2) block of land, in most cases owned by commercial tea plantations. Herd size was found to be 2.26±0.18 with low number of lactating cows (1.0±0.12). Although, almost all cattle farmers practice stall feeding (96%), majority of them (68%) depend entirely on naturally grown low quality, mix weeds. The roughage and concentrate offered were 47.8±4.35 and 1.1±0.09 kg/cow/d, respectively. Although, the temperate cross bred dairy cows managed were at their 4±0.4th parity, the milk production was found to be considerably low (6.7±0.78 L/cow and 9.2±1.14 L/herd). Age at first calving was 34±0.2 and the calving interval was 14±0.2 in months. Cost benefit analysis showed that the B/C ratio (per herd) was 2.36±0.359, thus the farmers gain profits from cattle keeping. The regression analysis reviled that calving interval, percentage lactating cows, expenditure, on concentrate, Al, veterinary service and the amount of roughage offered are the factors that significantly (P<0.05) affect on herd milk production. Farmers' knowledge in cattle keeping was found to be significantly low possibly due to low level of formal education. According to perception of farmers', lack of capital for improve housing facilities, unavailability of forage source, low milk productivity of cattle and low farm-gate milk price were identified as constraints in cattle farming in the studied area. Herd milk production from contract farmers could be improved by introduction of better feeding (i.e. concentrate and roughage) strategies. Key words: Cattle, Milk production, Feeding, Calving interval, ExpenditureItem Change Management in the Context of ERP System Implementations(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Suraweera, T.; Kumarapperuma, C.U.; Wijayasinghe, P.M.T.; Madhushani, P.L.B.; Jayathilaka, Y.C.P.; De Silva, G.H.K.Today's business organizations invest vast sums of money in Information Technology (IT) implementation projects in order to gain competitive advantage. The current organizational context indicates a wide spread adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in spite of their increasing cost. However large number of ERP system implementation projects fail and poor change management practices associated have been identified as one of the major factors behind ERP project failures. This research focuses on exploring the role of change management in the context of ERP implementation projects in Sri Lankan business organizations. The primary objective of this research is to identify and fill the significant knowledge gap between change management and ERP implementation processes. The specific objectives of this research are threefold: to study the level of influence of change management in the process of ERP implementation, to identify how change management process influences ERP implementation process and to identify relationships between ERP implementation process and change management process. The case study methodology was adopted in this research since the focus of this study is on a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context. The findings of this study reveal that the ERP implementation process and change management process employed by the case study organizations notably deviate from theoretical framework due to contextual differences. The change management process is a continuous process as the enterprise systems are implemented in a modular basis and continue to improve in current turbulent business environment. The outcomes of this research would provide a guide in identifying the relationship between phases of change management and ERP system implementation processes and lead to increase the success rate of ERP implementation projects through effective change management practices. Key words: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Change managementItem Changes in Quality Parameters of Palmyrah Ready-To-Serve (RTS) Beverage during Storage(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Nilugin, S.E.; Mahendran, T.A study was conducted to asses the changes in quality parameters of palmyrah ready-to-serve (RTS) beverage during storage. Palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer L.) fruits are under-utilized. It is rich in vitamin A and C. The presence of natural colour pigments, its volatile constituents and the sweet taste serves as positive factors in formulating a beverage of high organoleptic properties. In this study, the RTS beverage was formulated using palmyrah fruit pulp at different concentrations of 10, 12 and 14% and stored at two different conditions of ambient temperature (30°C) and refrigeration temperature (5°C) for a period of twelve weeks. These blends were tested for physico-chemical qualities, organoleptic characteristics, microbial counts and shelf life throughout storage period. Physico-chemical analysis revealed that, the ascorbic acid, total sugar, total soluble solids and pH had declining trend whereas the titratable acidity had increasing trend with the storage period at both temperatures in all treated samples. Compared to the samples stored at 30°C, the samples stored at 5°C showed the better performance in maintaining the qualities. Among the tested treatments, the loss of total sugar and ascorbic acid content was 3.55% and 4.42% respectively which was considerably lower in the RTS beverage having 12% of palmyrah pulp and stored at 5°C whereas the titratable acidity was increased gradually by 0.04% during the storage period. Sensory evaluation showed that the qualities of the formulated blends retained stable for twelve weeks period under refrigeration storage than that of ambient storage. Compared to other treatments the RTS blend made with 12% of pulp and stored at 5°C obtained highest overall acceptability. There was no any deleterious effect on the quality of stored blends at both temperatures by microbes. Based on these results the RTS beverage made with 12% of pulp concentration and stored at 5°C was selected as best treatment to extend the shelf life without any significant changes in qualities. Keywords: Microbial qualities, Palmyrah, Physico-chemical characteristics, Ready¬to-serve beverage, Sensory attributes, Shelf lifeItem Changes in Total Factor Productivity Growth and Technological Progress in Paddy Sector of Sri Lanka(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2010) Thayaparan, A.The objective of this study is to analyze regional differences in total factor productivity, efficiency and technological change in the paddy sector by using Malmquist productivity indices (Total factor productivity index) for the period 2002 -2008. For this purpose, panel data were collected for seven districts from annual reports of Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Department of Agriculture. Due to the non-availability of reliable input price data the study uses data envelopment analysis to derive Malmquist productivity index and it examines efficiency change, technical change, pure efficiency change and scale change in the paddy sector of Sri Lanka. Based on the results, it was found that over the period, total factor productivity growth was positive and on average, technical efficiency change contributes 0.6% to the 0.5% of the total factor productivity growth while pure technical efficiency change did not contributes to increase it. Therefore, most of the total factor productivity growth measured for paddy production is ascribable to the technical efficiency change and it was achieved by the scale change. On the contrary, the effects of technical change actually lower the total factor productivity index by 0.1 %. The period of positive growth coincided with an increase in usage of fertilizer and new rice varieties while the declines may have been caused by intensification of paddy production in other districts. Certain districts such as Polonnaruwa, Ampara, Hambantota and Anuradhpura, exhibited slightly higher rates of total factor productivity change than others, which seems to have been contributed by higher investment in irrigation, increased adoption of tractors, higher population density and a better agro climatic environment. This good performance of the paddy sector was due to good progress in technical efficiency change rather than technical change. This study highlights the fact that technical change has been the main constraint of achievement of high levels of productivity during the reference period in Sri Lanka Key words: Malmquist index, Technical efficiency change, Technical change, Data envelopment analysis