Research Symposium-2011
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Item Influence of Vermicompost Technology on Solubility of Eppawala Rock Phosphate(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Rathnayake, R.M.N.; Gunathilaka, R.P.D.; Senarathne, S.H.S.Note: See the PDF Version This study was conducted to determine the influence of vermicompost technology on solubility of ERP. Earthworms play a major role in vermicomposting. The most common type of earthworms used for vermicomposting is brandling worms (Eisenia foetida). Food is ingested through the mouth into a stomach (crop), which retains food and has the ability to expand. From there, food goes into the gizzard where sand and muscular contractions churn the food and increase the surface area. From there, food enters the intestine which has the ability to absorb food, then food exits through the anus. This final product consists of low power organic acids, like Malate, Oxalate, Citrate, etc. This low power organic acid is helps to increase the solubility of ERP. ERP is currently mined for use as a fertilizer for perennial crops such as tea, rubber and coconut. This is gives considerable value to the country because Phosphate deposits are non-renewable and dwindling resources in the world like fossil fuel. Also this is very economically important natural resource in Sri Lanka. Current production is 25 000 metric tonnes per year while reserves are 40 million metric tonnes. This saves nearly Rs 20 billion annually spent for importing fertilizer. This is important for providing the Phosphorus (P) fertilizer requirement, because P plays an important role in many physiological and bio chemical functions that are important to plants and animals. Major problem can be seen in ERP is the less solubility. The core bodies at Eppawala contain 42% P2O5 and citric acid solubility of different components varies from 4 to 6%. The parent rocks are mainly made up of calcite, dolomite and apatite, with lesser amounts of ilmenite, magnetite, pyrite, forsterite, phlogopite, enstatite, magnesite, diopside, tremolite and spine!. The Eppawala rocks are characterized by low silica (0.41%), high phosphorous (10.58%) and high strontium content (Gunawardena, 2003). Therefore in this study, an experiment was made to increase the availability of P by using vermicomposting.Item Background investigation of Career Development initiatives and outcomes: A special reference to Commercial Banks in Uva Province(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Sutha, JNote: See the PDF Version In a highly competitive era, and a complex business environment, organizations not only stick with local market, but also try to expand in to the international/ global markets, by using different corporate-level strategies. If the organization is to cope with these dynamic changes in the local as well as international markets it is important that it manages its people in a proper way by establishing human resource strategies at different levels especially with regards to planning and managing their careers (Baruch, 2004). According to the resource based view approach, human resource is considered as a valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable resource. A good programmer of career planning enables the organization to empower their own human capital and thereby encouraging the spirit of creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation among their employees. A well-structured career development system facilitates the organization to enhance their in-house talent for staffing and promotion by matching the experience, skills, and aspirations of individuals to the needs of the organizations. Therefore, considering the importance of the career development, this paper developed a model to identify the different types of initiatives of career development, its outcomes and the necessity to maintain sustainability in career development in organizations. Commercial banks in the Uva province were chosen for this study where this conceptual model was empirically applied and tested upon. In this context, a 'career' has been defined as a lifelong process made up of a sequence of activities and related attitudes or behaviors that take place in a person's work life (Hail and Associates, 1986). According to the Leibowitz et al. (1986) the career development involves an organized, formalized, planned effort to achieve a balance between the individual's career needs and the organization's work force requirements. Obviously, with proper career planning and career management, an individual expects to harvest the result of such investment by attaining career development. Greenhaus, Callanan and Godshalk (2000) suggests that career development is an ongoing process by which individuals progress through a series of stages, each of which is characterized by a relatively unique set of issues, themes, and tasks. Furthermore, Hall and Associates (1986) define career development as the outcome emanating from the interaction of individual career planning and institutional career management processes. This idea of career planning and development initiatives fostering organizational effectiveness depends on the organization's ability to transform employees from a traditional pattern of expectation to one of increased responsibility for their own career growth and development (Martin et al., 2001). Apart from that Chen et al. (2004) surveyed the capability of career development programmers in responding to career needs at different career stages and the influence on job satisfaction, professional development and productivity among the R&D personnel. Furthermore, Noordin et al., 2002 have stated that career development opportunities support career commitment initiatives among employees. Therefore, based on the literature survey, this study took career planning and career management as input variables, career development as an intervening variable and Job satisfaction, job performance and career commitment as output variables. This study mainly focused on to determine the impact of (a) career development initiatives on career development and (b) career development on career outcome of employees' in Commercial Banks in Uva Province, to assess the degree of linkage between career planning and career development, career management and career development in Commercial Banks at Uva Province, to assess the degree of linkage between career development and job satisfaction, job performance, and career commitment in Commercial Banks at Uva province.Item Promoting Value-added Tourism in Sri Lanka using Michael Porter’s Value chain model(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Perera, S.S.N.; Fernando, M.T.N.; De Silva, Y.R.P.Note: See the PDF Version Tourism has been identified as one of the booming industries in Sri Lanka. In fact, revenue of U.S. $ 585m is projected to be earned through tourism in 2011. The study focuses on adding value to the tourism industry whenever it is possible. Michael Porter's value chain analysis (1985) has been used as the key model in identifying the value triggers. While the research reveals many positive aspects of the tourism industry as a whole, there are main weaknesses such as the inappropriate behavior of the locals at the presence of tourists that tarnishes the image of the country. For a tourism-based economy to sustain itself in local communities, the residents must be willing partners in the process. Their attitudes toward tourism and perceptions of its impact on community life must be continually assessed (Allen et al., 1988). Value addition in this industry should be viewed as a collective effort. The extent of vertical integration of the value chain is very significant for a number of the international tour operators (Kreag. 2001).Tourism businesses depend Extensively on each other as well as on other businesses, government and residents of the local community (Stynes., 1999). All the human resources, services and the products that tourists consume should be reviewed to ensure that they are willing to pay extra for the satisfaction that they receive. These linkages, however, only benefit the local economy if local products and services contribute significantly to the value added (Granzin & Jesupatham., 1999). On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the country to ensure that the revenue thus generated retains in the country. The long-term sustainability of tourism rests on the ability of community leaders and tourism professionals to maximize its benefits and minimize its costs. The achievement of maximum value addition in tourism by stimulating the synergies between the public sector agencies and ministries that impact on tourism is compounded by the fact that the role of the private sector will also have to be taken into consideration.Item Use of Personality for Managing Conflicts to Increase the Productivity in Sri Lankan food Processing Sector(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Patalee, M.A.B.; Athauda, A.M.T.P.Note: See the PDF Version Organizational conflict is considered as legitimate, inevitable, and even a positive indicator of effective organization management (Rahim, 2002). Organizational conflict occurs when members engage in activities that are incompatible with those of colleagues within their network, members of other collectives, or unaffiliated individuals who utilize the services or products of the organization (Roloff, 1987). Conflict management is the practice of identifying and handling conflict in a sensible, fair and efficient manner (Ma, 2003). It is now recognized that conflict within certain limits is essential to productivity. Conflict management involves designing effective macro-level strategies to minimize the dysfunction of conflict and enhancing the constructive functions of conflict in order to enhance learning and effectiveness in an organization (Rahim, 2002). The most accepted model for conflict management has been designed by Thomas in 1976 (Ma, 2003). He identifies five different conflict handling styles based on two dimensions. They are Assertiveness and Cooperativeness (Figure 1). High Accommodating Collaborating Cooperativeness Compromising (Concern for others) oi(ling Competing Low Low High Assertiveness (Concern for self) Figurel: two dimensional models of Conflict Handling Styles Conflict styles refer to specific behavioral patterns that one prefers to employ when addressing conflict situations (Ma, 2003). Early studies supported a relationship between personality dimensions and the five styles of handling interpersonal conflict, while others have reported weak relationships between personality and styles of conflict handling (Ma and Kao, 2008). When considered the Sri Lankan food processing sector, it can be categorized into a large number of sub sectors including fresh fruit and vegetables, poultry/meat, processed meat and fish, dairy products, biscuit and confectionary, bakery and flour Based products, non-alcoholic beverages, and coconut products etc. Total contribution of the sector to GDP is 8.4billion (Anon, 2010). There are approximately 100,000people are employed in agro-industrial and food processing industries (Sellahewa, 2009) and it is accounted 24.2% of the total workforce offering immense employment opportunities emphasizes the importance of food processing sector to the economy of the country. However, the presence of conflicts result in high labour turnover, job dissatisfaction and declined productivity in the food processing sector as in any other sector. According to the statistics of department of labour, fifteen strikes were recorded including food processing sector in 2010 (Anon, 2010).The objective of this study was to find out how the productivity of food processing sector can be increased by revealing the relationship between personality and individuals, preferred conflict managing styles.Item Collaborative Knowledge Centralization Approach via self Propagating Multi Agent Community Development(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Koggalahew, D.N.; Amararachchi, J.L.; Pilapitiya, S.U.; Tharanga, K.G.D.Note: See the PDF Version Most researchers in Artificial Intelligence to date, have dealt with developing theories, techniques, and systems to study and understand the behavior and reasoning properties of a single cognitive entity. Al has matured, and its' endeavors were capable of addressing more complex, realistic, and large-scale problems. Such problems are beyond the capabilities of an individual agent. The capacity of an intelligent agent is limited by its knowledge and its computing resources Sycara, 1998). Multi agent systems can be defined as loosely coupled networks of independent entities called agents, which have individual capabilities, knowledge and resources, and which interact to share their knowledge and resources, and to solve problems beyond their individual capabilities (Wikipedia, 2010). The issue of knowledge sharing has been an important topic in multi-agent research. SESEME will address most of the above mentioned limitations in this domain and the final deliverable will be an agent society which is capable of self-learning and training new agents. Agents' communication is one of the defining characteristics of a multi agent system. In traditional linguistic analysis, the communication is taken to have a certain form (syntax), to carry a certain meaning (semantics), and to be influenced by various circumstances of the communication. SESEME can be differentiated from many other past efforts that have been carried on. SESEME addresses the problem of self-learning by agent itself (Capable of taking the knowledge as it is and no human enrolment).Efficient Methodology of Knowledge Representation using ontology and its own experience. Introducing a new methodology of knowledge distribution and train other agents. Instantiate new agents relevant to the domain. The system starts its learning process once it receives a text document (in .doc, pdf and .html formats) or even it receives an URL from the domain expert. First the system identifies the given content by using natural language processing and it ignores the ambiguity, complexity and the conflicts among the read content. The read content will be used to create or update its knowledge over the specified domain. The Centralized Self learning module (CESLM) is been facilitated with some additional features like adoption of existing ontology and domain experts feedbacks. Each sub agent consists of an ontology that represents its basic knowledge retrieved from CESLM and the system facilitates the updating of sub agent's knowledgeItem Intelligent Ontology based Question Answering System for Medical Domain(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Koggalahewa, D.N.; Amararachchi, J.L.; Tharanga, K.G.D.; Pilapitiya, S.U.Note: See the PDF Version Irrespective of the domain, the main aim of a Question Answering system is getting a question from the user, comprehending it, searching the answer in an efficient way and presenting the answers to the user. Many methods have been devised for this purpose. This basic idea is using ontology for representing the knowledge and developing the knowledge base. Although the ultimate aim of question answering is finding the exact answer to any question in any context. In today's world of automated content processing, this is inherently a hard task because without a restriction imposed either on the question type or on the user's vocabulary, the question answering process gets a big hit even at the question interpretation phase. The published medical literature and online medical resources are important sources to help physicians make decisions in patient treatment Cimino et al., 2003. Question answering is a rapid-developing technique that automatically analyses thousands of articles to generate a short text, ideally, in less than a few seconds, to answer questions posed by physicians. Such a technique provides a practical alternative that allows physicians to efficiently seek information at point of patient care. Physicians usually have limited time to browse the retrieved information. For example, studies found that physicians spend on average two minutes or less seeking an answer to a question, and that if a search takes longer, it is likely to be abandoned (Radomski, 1986). Although there are a number of annotated medical knowledge databases available for physicians to use, studies found that most of the resources are not frequently used by physicians in large hospitals due to busy work schedule in their lives (Sackett et al., 2000). Physicians often need to consult literature for the latest information in patient care (Siang et al,. 2001). Information retrieval systems (e.g., PubMed) are frequently used by physicians. Another evaluation study showed that it took an average of more than 30 minutes for a healthcare provider to search for answer from the PubMed, which means "information seeking is practical only 'after hours' and not in the clinical setting" (Wikipedia, 2010).Item Quality evaluation of an Airline: A Modeling Approach(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Perera, S.S.N.; Dissanayake, Suranga; Pradeep, B.N.P.Note: See the PDF Version The delivery of high quality service became a marketing requirement among air carriers as a result of competitive pressure. Empirical studies on demand for airline services show that service quality is central to the choice of airlines fot both business and leisure travelers (Bureau of Transport and communications Economics, 1994). According to Butler and Keller (1992), only the customer can truly define service quality in the airline industry. Some argue that quality in the airline industry is difficult to describe and measure due to its heterogeneity, intangibility and inseparability. Most of the work done on service quality has assumed the attributes of service quality are independent. However, intuitively it would seem that many of attributes have some degree of inter-dependence which is not properly evaluated using conventional additive measures. This study aims to evaluate the service quality of an airline using a mathematical modeling approach. Service quality is a composite of different attributes; among them many intangible attributes are difficult to measure. Factor analysis is initially used to extract some independent common factors and fuzzy measures were calculated to evaluate the performance of inter-dependent attributes in each common factor. The study also examines the positioning of the airline relative to three other airlines. A pair-wise comparison approach was adopted to determine the relative weights between each factor to position the three airlines. The result suggests that other than a few service attributes like In-flight entertainment and seating comfort, passengers are satisfied with most of the attributes.Item Forecasting Foreign Exchange Rate using the Kalman Filter Approach(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Mapatuna, P.T.; Rajapaksha, R.R.L.U.I.; Wijerathne, J.K.Note: See the PDF Version The key element to fuel the 'price trend analysis' is the financial tick data (trade data). Tick data has several challenging features of which we intend to consider the most prominent setback when analyzing the price trend, which is data corruption and outliers. This will be our primary concern when building the model. There are different noises found in financial tick data namely process noise, measurement noise and arrival noise. These noises have been broadly studied in the engineering field for the case of an identified deterministic system. The Kalman filter was invented to approximate the state vector of a linear deterministic system in the presence of the process, measurement, and arrival noise. The Kalman filter has been applied in the field of econometrics for the case when a deterministic system is unknown and must be estimated from the data (Lumengo, 2008; Martinelli, 1995). Many different methods have been offered to deal with signal mining problems in common and trend estimation has also received a great deal of attention especially when the interest is focused on forecasting turning points. In spite of all the differences among methods, one common feature remains in most of them. This is that trends tend to extrapolate themselves into the future as a line with a slope that depends on the recent past information. Although this is an optimal (eg. in a Mean Square Error sense) and a sensible way to progress, it can be systematically erroneous when turning points are at hand. Hence modeling the trend accurately was second principal concern. The Kalman filter was incorporated in order to reduce the noise in the measurements and to obtain forecasted values of the exchange rates.Item E-Solution for the Newspaper Industry in Sri Lanka: A Feasibility Analysis through Case Studies(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Walpitagamage, S.Y,; Kekiriwaragodage, S.S.; Ranasinghe, R.A.D.T.N.; Ambagala, A.P.A.C.; Kahandawaarachchi, C.; Thelijjagoda, S.Note: See the PDF Version E-commerce can be defined as buying and selling of products with financial transaction over electronic systems such as the internet and other computer networks (Schneider, 2007). It is one of the rapid development mechanisms in the Sri Lankan economy. On the other hand a newspaper is a regularly established publication which contains essentially news, information and advertising, usually printed on relatively inexpensive basis (Wikipedia, 2011). Even with technological advancements in the world, the Sri Lankan newspaper industry still depends on traditional methods. Hence, the Sri Lankan newspaper industry faces many problems, especially inefficiency in the business process and the dissatisfaction of industry stakeholders. However the demand for the newspapers is still high. Therefore, the use of E-commerce in its business process can easily increase the efficiency of the Sri Lankan newspaper industry. This paper focuses on identifying a feasible E-commerce solution to the Sri Lankan newspaper industry. Therefore, paper examines the general process of newspaper industry and its issues. The research concludes with the identified feasible E-commerce solution to the newspaper industry in Sri Lanka. The solution is carefully designed into E-commerce application call E -Ad Center to offer solutions to the problems currently faced by the industry.Item Development of an Actuarially Fair Crop Insurance Model for Paddy Fields in Hambantota and Ampara Districts(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Wickramaarachchi, W.P.T.M.; Perera, T.N.S.; Perera, S.S.N.Note: See the PDF Version Sri Lanka, like most of the countries in the Asian region has an agricultural economy and plays a huge role in the nation's economy and social development. Rice is the dominant food in Sri Lankan society for thousands of years, according to many historical sources. That was identified by all the governments came into power after 1948 and has implemented various programs to develop the rice production in the country. At present rice has become the staple food of the 19 million people in Sri Lanka and its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is approximately 18%. It is the livelihood of more than 1.8 million farmers and more than 30% of the total labor force is directly or indirectly involved in the paddy field sector. Agro-Climatically, the year is divided into two seasons coinciding with the monsoons as "Maha" and "Yala" and rice lands are cultivated in these two seasons. But annual losses in paddy field sector is huge in Sri Lanka due to unexpected bad weather, adverse prices of paddy, damages from insects and other various diseases. If the farmers come across with huge losses, they are helpless and always looking for a financial assistant from an external party. All over the world, the use of Crop Insurance as a risk management tool has grown rapidly in recent years (Munich Re, 2009). In most countries, this kind of insurance policy was introduced almost four decades ago. But Sri Lanka, even though we have a great agriculture history, still been seeking for a proper insurance program to fulfill poor farmers by financing them if they incurred a loss in their paddy production. This research is based on development of a Group Crop Insurance Model for paddy field sector in Hambantota and Ampara districts by using farm visited data gathered in the month of June, 2011.The samples were not randomly selected according few limitations. Our budget was not satisfactory to conduct a huge survey by assigning reasonable number of human resources. The other main problem we came across was the limited available time. However, two samples with sample sizes of fifty were selected from each districts such that Damana division in Ampara and Tissamaharama division in Hambantota.Item Forecasting Foreign Direct Investment Inflow to Sri Lanka: Hybrid ARIMA-Neural Network model(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Perera, S.S.N.; Karunathunge, G.N.; Chathurdarshi, G.T.B.G.Note: See the PDF Version FDI is known as that "Investment made by multinational business enterprises in foreign countries to control assets and manage production activities in those countries" (Bashier and Talal, 2007). Foreign direct investment consists of three major components. Those are equity capital, reinvestment earnings and other capital used in various intra company debt transactions. In 1977, the Sri Lankan government made changes in its economic policies to establish an investment friendly economic environment. Sri Lanka reached its highest FDI inflow of US dollars 752.2 million in 2008. The objective of the research is to build a model to forecast future FDI inflow to Sri Lanka. Research has been carried out using different methods such as the univariate ARIMA model (Bashier and Talal, 2007), the double exponential smoothing model (Kumar et al., 2009) and the neural network model (Pradhan, 2010) to forecast FDI inflow to other countries. To the best knowledge of the authors, this study could be the first to forecast FDI inflows in Sri Lanka using a combination of an ARIMA model and a neural network model. In this study, an ARIMA model is fitted through the Box-Jenkins procedure and then the back propagation neural network procedure is applied to remove the lack of accuracy due to the small sample size. The data set employed consists of annual foreign direct investment inflow to Sri Lanka from 1978 to 2010.Item Production of New Dairy Product, “Yogocurd”: A Development Through Combination of Yoghurt and Curd(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Sampath, R.D.S.D.; Imbulegama, I.G.M.W.Milk is an essential component of the human diet and many dairy products are available in the market with different forms of value addition. Yoghurt is one of the most popular fermented dairy products produced from cow milk which suits for the palate of most consumers due to its unique sensory qualities. Curd is the main fermented product produced from buffalo milk in Sri Lanka with excellent market demand. Both, yoghurt and curd can uplift the shelf life of the milk from one day to approximately one week. Also these products have the ability to attract consumers who do not like to drink fresh milk. Yoghurt and curd are usually found in the market and consumed as unique products separately. Moreover, the raw materials, fermentative bacteria, incubation time, temperature, storage conditions and the sensory qualities of these two products are far different. The Yogocurd is an attempt to develop a dairy product with two layers of yoghurt and curd which are separated by a thick colorful jelly layer within one container. The final product of this research, Yogocurd is a new dairy product, which consumers could enjoy the sensory and nutritional qualities of both yoghurt and curd in one cup instead of buying two products separately.Item Determination of Optimum Time-Temperature Combination for HTST Pasteurization to Extend Shelf Life of Liquid Milk Obtained From Kandy District(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Vidanapathirana, J.; Deshapriya, R.M.C.; Silva, K.F.S.T.Note: See the PDF Version Milk is one of the most nutritionally complete natural liquid foods that consist of all the required nutrients including high quality proteins, minerals and vitamins. Heat treatments are generally used in the dairy industry for preheating, thermization, pasteurization, sterilization, ultra high temperature treatment and ultra-pasteurization. According to the available information, the present pasteurization process employed in Sri Lanka is not officially validated with regards to the objectives achievable. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine suitable pasteurization parameters applicable under the prevalent Sri Lankan conditions in the Kandy District.Item A Study on Attributes of Undergraduates and Lecturers Towards Objective Fulfillment of Course Units Offered by Department of English Language Teaching, Sabaragamuwa University(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K.; Abewickrama, R.Note: See the PDF Version English has incorporated in Sri Lankan education domain in the colonial era and currently, English as a Second Language (ESL) plays a major role not only in education but in all the aspects of the society. Moreover, a working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions such as engineering, medicine and information Technology; as a consequence over a billion people speak English to at least a basic level. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations. English has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modem era, Since English it is more widely spoken. Although it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language. Being a highly influenced language and having tremendous power as a symbol of states, English plays an important role in the university system in Sri Lanka. If students are not equipped with English language competency in university level, they have to undergo number of difficulties (CRNC, 1968). Being one of the scholarly institutions, which is highly responsible in producing graduates who are capable of bridging the language gap in Sri Lankan context, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (SUSL) has inherited the only all English Language Teaching Department (ELTD) in Sri Lankan university system in the year 2005 at the place of English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU). As a department functions under the Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages, it serves in two ways: firstly by offering English as a Second language for all the students in their first two academic years and secondly by offering English as a core subject under major or minor streams in Bachelor of Arts special (languages) degree programme. The prime objective of establishing ELTD is to create future English teachers with perfect English knowledge to the society filling the gap already existing in the field. However, none of the researches have been conducted to explore the fulfillment of the objectives of course unites offered by ELTD. Therefore, researcher decided to conduct a survey in order to identify the current situation of ELTD at SUSL. The research problem was formulated as whether ELTD has reached its objectives regarding the Core English Language (CEL) and English Studies (ENG). The study was conducted with the prime objective of exploring the fulfillment of the objectives of course units CEL and ENG offered by ELTD discovering the attitudes of undergraduates and lectures at SUSL.Item Developing Literacy in Undergraduates of Level One English Proficiency- Application of ‘Reading to Learn’ Methodology(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Hussain, Z.D.Note: See the PDF Version The problem of this research concerns a set of students, existent at any Sri Lankan university at any given point in time. They are the students of very weak English proficiency, or of Level I proficiency, according to the English leveling system followed by the universities. This research makes this particular group its focus in view of future English Medium Instruction (EMI) developments that may arise in the Sri Lankan university system. The problem of this study is the underdeveloped English literacy (reading and writing) evident in Level 1 students. The term 'English Literacy' here refers to the ability to read and write in the English Language. When a student opts for English Medium education that undergraduate will be required to complete a considerable amount of reading and writing tasks in order to achieve academic success. Thus the aim of this study is to examine one methodology to address the above mentioned problem with the objective of helping level 1 students develop reading- writing skills in English for academic success. It is common knowledge that university education requires a high degree of reading and writing. As Chen and Donin (1997) pointed out 'Reading constitutes a major part of schooling, especially at the university level. ' and they add that 'By reading the texts, students are expected to either develop or to review concepts on their own.' The development of concepts and the reviewing to a considerable extent is presented through the written work of the students. In his description on the standard of literacy in higher education Rose says a student at this level should be able to 'read complex academic texts with a high level of understanding' and 'use academic conventions and objective academic language to demonstrate their mastery of a topic or inform and influence their reader.' Thus if students are unable to meet the reading and writing demands of higher education, they will be at a clear disadvantage in meeting the demands of English medium tertiary education. In fact the primary goal of the methodology which this research followed is 'to provide access to tertiary study...' (Rose et al., 2003). The past research that is the Systematic Functional Linguistics based 'Reading to Learn' methodology, on which this study is modeled was implemented mostly with students having a literacy disadvantage which hindered their being successful in their respective educational programs. All these studies claim to have successfully achieved or considerably neared their goals of enabling such students to read and write texts which would have been considered impossible tasks from the stand point of the students' level of language proficiency. The English literacy disadvantage in the Sri Lankan undergraduates who belong to the lowest rung in English proficiency and the encouraging results produced by the past studies on the implementation of the 'Reading to Learn' methodology based on Systematic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to develop English literacy in its subjects prompted me to research on the effects of this methodology on the students studying in my level 1 English language class in the University of Colombo.Item Development of Fast and Low Cost vision-Based 3D Scanner for Surface Registration of 3d Shapes(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Piyathilaka, J.M.L.C.; Ekanayake, R.M.T.C.B.Note: See the PDF Version A 3D scanner is a device that inspects three dimensional objects to collect data on its shape and possibly its appearance .The collected data can then be used to re-engineer, three dimensional models useful for wide variety of applications. Unlike conventional 2D scanners used in office environment which can only scan plane objects like images on paper, these devices are used extensively by the entertainment industry in the production of movies and video games. Other common applications of this technology include industrial design, orthotics and prosthetics, reverse engineering and prototyping, quality control/inspection and documentation of cultural artifacts. 3D scanning technology can be used to produce highly value added products in existing local industries. Potential uses of 3D scanning technology in the Sri Lankan industries are endless. Reconstruct replicas of precious artifacts, national monuments are possible applications. These replicated models have higher demand in local and international markets. Another application area is the garment industry. The 3D scanner enables us to examine the human body in ways never before possible, including the shape of a cross section, slice area, surface area, and volume. This not only makes the body measurement process much more convenient for the customer, it also estimates the need for changing rooms. This technology can be used to manufacture custom stitched highly value added garments for international markets. 3D scanning can also be used in quality control and inspection. It can precisely analyze the "as built" condition of parts after they have been manufactured. Typically, non- contact technology is used to quickly inspect the overall shape and size of parts, quickly detecting issues such as overall scale issues. 3D scanners existing in the market are in the range $100k to $400k. In our previous research (Ranasinghe et al., 2010) we developed a scanner projecting laser beam onto the object and capturing video sequence while rotating the platform via a stepper motor. Recorded video sequence is then processed to construct the 3D shape of the object. Main limitation of this project's outcome was that scanning process took more than 3 minutes to complete, dimensions of the object were not recorded and image processing and surface construction was done off-line. In the present research, we further developed the existing system in order to overcome these limitations. We introduced a spiral shaped platform that replaced the circular platform. Since the radius of the used spiral shaped platform changes as a function of rotation angle we were able to record the rotational angle real time by image processing the video. Also the known dimensions of the spiral shaped platform are used to calibrate the dimensions of the scanning object. Introduction of the spiral shaped platform reduced the scanning time considerably and allowed recording the dimension of the objects real-time.Item Algorithmic Aspects of Trees in Graph Theory: Identification and Application(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Gamachchige, N.T.S.G.; Udagedara, D.T.Note: See the PDF Version With the rapid advances of the computer technology, Mathematics and Computer Science have developed into two entirely separate disciplines. Since graphical approach lend themselves naturally as model for a variety of situations, including the hardware of computer and certain aspects of computer software, Graph Theory plays an increasingly important role within Computer Science. In the study of graphs, it soon becomes evident that efficient algorithms are necessary for solving problems of any significant magnitude. It has become fashionable to mention that there are applications of Graph Theory to some areas of Physics, Chemistry, Computer technology, Electrical and civil engineering, Sociology and Economics. Computers have made our daily activities easier with fast and highly accurate outcome. Since we find the applications of Graph Theory in almost all areas, using the computer to solve practical problems makes our task easy. Transforming of our problems into a form that can be understood by the computer is the task of a computer language. Algorithms are used for that purpose. This research consists of Algorithmic aspect of Trees in Graph Theory and is designed to emphasize the close tie between the theoretical and algorithmic aspect of Trees in Graph Theory. Rather than employing a specific computer language for presenting algorithms, the steps were used that are common to many languages. This research has introduced few algorithms, based on properties of Trees in Graph Theory, for practical problems which we often come across. A complexity analysis is also given for each algorithm. The main objective is to recognize the algorithms to solve real world problems using the properties of Trees in Graph Theory and the other objective is to apply these algorithms to solve some problems in day to day life.Item A Study on Factors Affecting Adoption of Maximum Residue Level in Tea Estate Sector with Special Reference to Kandy District(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Rathnayaka, R.M.S.D.; Gunathilaka, R.P.D.; Kithsiri, K.H.S.K.Note: See the PDF Version With the globalization of food and beverage industry, international organizations and food importing countries from every part of the world are concerned more about the food safety and have imposed very stringent regulations aiming a higher level of food safety. In recent past, Japan & EU have stipulated the Maximum Residue Levels (MRL) for various pesticides including some of which are used in tea fields. Conversely, it may not only the Japan and EU but in future all other tea importing countries would impose such stringent safety laws and regulations for our tea (Premathilaka, 2007). Sri Lankan tea could expect a bright future only if it can comply with international standards at both field and factory levels. Our rigorous efforts have to be made to avoid all possible ways of build-up of residues. In this context, it is very important to follow all TRI recommendations on pesticides to ensure that Sri Lanka still produces the "cleanest tea in the world" (Premathilaka, 2007). Therefore, adoption of MRL by the tea estate sector is imperative to open more of the world markets for Sri Lankan tea and gives a much needed competitive edge. This study was conducted to assess the factors affecting for adoption to of tea by the tea estate sector.Item Impact of labour Out- Migration on Household Income: A Study in Tea Estate Sector in Badulla District(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Dharmadasa, R.A.P.I.S.; Deyshappriya, N.P.R.; Withanage, N.S.Note: See the PDF Version Labour migration from agricultural sector to other sectors in developing countries has become a trend as migration has a positive impact on households' income. As migration is a viable opportunity to better their economic status, family members who migrate often diversify the sources of income and risk their households. More in the context, tea plantation sector of Sri Lanka is now experiencing labor shortages due to labor outmigration from the sector. Low profile stigma attached to plantation worker and poverty among the workers has compelled them to migrate in search of better opportunities outside this sector. Migration outflows come along with certain monetary inflows. Remittances from migration increase the household welfare (Massey et al., 1993). In the long term migration and the remittances of migrants may play a large role in the household's development strategy (Rozella et al., 2003). Therefore, finding the impact of labor migration from tea plantation sector would offer a better contribution to the migration studies.Item Investigating Variation of Microbial Biomass in Plantation Forests with Age(Uva Wellassa University of Srilanka, 2011) Premetilake, M.M.S.N.; Rathnayake, R.R.; Kulasooriya, S.A.; Perera, G.A.D.Note: See the PDF Version Soil organic carbon is the basis of sustainable agriculture and is important for chemical, physical and biological fertility. Consequently, carbon soil fertility could be improved more via sequestering. The role of microorganisms is important for carbon sequestration in soil compared to other factors. Thus, by increasing the activity of microorganisms we can increase carbon sequestration and soil fertility. Plantation forests were originally established in Sri Lanka to provide industrial timber and fuel wood. There are also other uses such as wind protection, bee keeping and oil extraction and moreover they provide invaluable ecosystem services. At present, sites available for reforestation in Sri Lanka are generally poor in nutrients and fertilizer application is required for better growth of seedlings. A novel approach of research at the IFS is the application of beneficial microbial consortia as biofilm biofertilizers for sustainable agriculture (Seneviratne et al., 2011). These are low cost and are eco-friendly. The shifts in composition and function of the microbial community in response to different stages of forest regeneration play an important role in determining rates of C changes (loss or gain) in the soil (Plante at al., 2005). Hence the long term goal of this study is to produce biofilm bio fertilizer for forest plantations to improve their yields. This would be more beneficial, less expensive and have no detrimental effects to the ecosystems. The biofilm bio fertilizer will be prepared using the microorganisms that have the capability of sequestering more carbon than the others. In this process, identification of the microorganisms and the factors affecting them is a crucial component. There are no studies conducted on this regard in Sri Lankan plantation forests yet. In the current study we investigated how the microbial biomass carbon (MBC) varies in Eucalyptus grandis forests in Sri Lanka with their age. Improved Carbon sequestration in forests would deliver better yields and would assist in minimizing climate change and support in obtaining foreign currency via carbon trading.