ARS - 2011
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/169
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Item English Language: A viable communication tool for sustainable development(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Zakayo, M.A.Today, the English Language has become the most popular language in the world as a meaningful tool to develop mutual understanding and cooperation among nations. No country in the world can avoid using English. Countries that rejected English initially, like Russia, Japan and China, are now expanding their English education to cope with the international development needs. Sustainability is a challenge facing every country today. There are threats to environment and ecosystem because of global warming, rising sea level and desertification; hence earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, cyclones and floods are very frequent. Consequently, countries are looking for avenues to solve the problems in order to sustain development. Today, Sustainable Development is an international issue. A country cannot achieve much in protecting the ecosystem alone because the world is rapidly becoming a global village. Every country in the world is dependent on others. Carbon dioxide emissions from European factories contribute to the increasing temperature in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The answer to this problem is a global outlook. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of English communication skills as a tool of disseminating knowledge in international forums as regards problems of development and how development can be sustained in and among nations. Literature in English as a tool for communication will be used for this study. It was found that the introduction of compulsory English education in all countries, as is done in Sri Lanka for university students, will be a milestone in achieving mutual understanding and cooperation in the future world that will bridge the communication gap between nations and peoples, and, thus, help in sustaining development and solving the problems of development easily.Item මිනිස් ක්රියාකාරකම් තුළින් ශ්රී ලංකාවේ නායයෑම් වලට සිදුවන බලපෑම් පිළිබඳ අධ්යයනයක් (පේරාදෙණිය නගරය ඇසුරින්)(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Werake, W.M.M.S.Item Individual factors and student involvement in extracurricular activities(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Wijewantha, P.Universities are not only places of knowledge creation and dissemination but they have a broad mission: developing and molding a “whole student”. Extracurricular activities are activities performed by students, outside the realm of the normal curriculum of university education. A deep investigation using available sources of literature indicates that there is a knowledge gap especially in the Sri Lankan context, with respect to factors affecting student involvement in extracurricular activities within the university. Primary data for the study were collected through a self developed, personally administered structured questionnaire. Circumstances justified that this study should be conducted among the 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates when considering the Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya. The sampling technique t used could be identified as Systematic Sampling, which is a Complex or Restricted Probability Sampling Method. A sample of 100 undergraduates was selected for the study. Based on the study, it was concluded that there is no association between the individual factors of gender, ethnicity, religion, school attended, location of home town and family income level, whereas there is an association between the relationship status of undergraduates and their involvement in extracurricular activities. Further this creates the need to investigate whether the extracurricular activities available for students at university will develop the employable undergraduate required by the world of work.Item Issues and challenges of rural educational development with special reference to Education Division in Mawanella(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Wijethunga, W.T.A.W.; Thennakoon, T.M.S.P.K.Education receives a prominent place in society among other social concerns, due to its significance from the social development perspective. Although there were many efforts taken by the government to develop education, yet many issues and challenges in rural educational secto should be addressed. Educational improvement and then rural development cannot be expected, without identifying these issues and solving challenges particularly in rural school education. Therefore, the present study is specifically geared to identify the current issues and challenges towards the improvement of rural school education, illustrate the spatial distribution of rural schools in the study area and suggest the feasible solutions for the identified issues. Two schools in Mawanella Educational Zone were selected for this study. Stratified random sampling was used to cover 6% of the students, 20% of their parents, and teachers were also selected. Six different methods were employed to collect data: pilot survey, interviews, discussions, case studies, observations and questionnaire survey and photographs. The findings of this study were in close relationship with factors such as number of members in the family, parent‟s occupation, income and educational attainment of the student etc. Further, the study ascertained the way in which attitudes of parents and students influence the development of rural education. Problems related to student learning process and their adverse effects on educational development were also identified. Close proximity among schools, decreasing demand for rural schools, reduction of student‟s performance level, lack of resources, relationship of parents and teachers, poor functioning of school development societies and negative attitudes towards rural schools, were also highlighted as challenges of rural educational development.Item An investigation of WAP based applications in Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Wijesinghe, H.; Wickramarachchi, A.P.R.; Jayalal, S.Mobile usage around the world, including Sri Lanka, has been growing rapidly. Statistics show that 428 million mobile devices were sold in the first quarter of 2011. In addition to voice based services, mobile service providers are offering services based on Wireless Access Protocol (WAP), mobile broadband, mobile television etc. WAP is one of the most commonly used data transfering technoloies. Email by mobile phones, e-commerce transactions, tracking stock markets, music downloads, and providing news headlines and sports scores are some of the examples of WAP based applications. A number of studies have shown that there is a high, positive influence of WAP based mobile commerce applications on business and society today. As Internet penetration rates are low is Sri Lanka, WAP could be a viable alternative to access e- commerce application. It should be noted that the majority of mobile phones support WAP. Previous studies have indicated that use of WAP based applications is very popular in many countries. A preliminary survey was conducted to determine usage of WAP based application by mobile phone users in selected areas of Sri Lanka. However, it was found that usage of such applications is very low. The initial findings of this research have shown that mobile users‟ poor knowledge of WAP technology, lack of awareness of the availabe WAP based applications, reluctance to use WAP because availability of Internet access through other ways, vary low bandwith on WAP when accessing the Internet, unavailability of high quality WAP based applications and small size of mobile phone screens as main reasons for poor WAP based application usage in Sri Lanka. Small customber base may discourage service providers in promoting and facilitiating use of such applications.Mobile usage around the world, including Sri Lanka, has been growing rapidly. Statistics show that 428 million mobile devices were sold in the first quarter of 2011. In addition to voice based services, mobile service providers are offering services based on Wireless Access Protocol (WAP), mobile broadband, mobile television etc. WAP is one of the most commonly used data transfering technoloies. Email by mobile phones, e-commerce transactions, tracking stock markets, music downloads, and providing news headlines and sports scores are some of the examples of WAP based applications. A number of studies have shown that there is a high, positive influence of WAP based mobile commerce applications on business and society today. As Internet penetration rates are low is Sri Lanka, WAP could be a viable alternative to access e- commerce application. It should be noted that the majority of mobile phones support WAP. Previous studies have indicated that use of WAP based applications is very popular in many countries. A preliminary survey was conducted to determine usage of WAP based application by mobile phone users in selected areas of Sri Lanka. However, it was found that usage of such applications is very low. The initial findings of this research have shown that mobile users‟ poor knowledge of WAP technology, lack of awareness of the availabe WAP based applications, reluctance to use WAP because availability of Internet access through other ways, vary low bandwith on WAP when accessing the Internet, unavailability of high quality WAP based applications and small size of mobile phone screens as main reasons for poor WAP based application usage in Sri Lanka. Small customber base may discourage service providers in promoting and facilitiating use of such applications.Item Socio economic and psychological issues faced by families with loss or disappearance due to the civil conflict in Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Wijepala, U.S.The internal civil conflict in Sri Lanka, which prevailed for about three decades has significantly impacted psycho-socioeconomic devastation of the country. Among the reasons which created the psycho-socioeconomic devastation during the conflicting period were: anxiety of sudden death, extreme suspicion of others, brutal killings in and out of the battlefield, destruction and deprivation of property, displacement, disappearances, and restriction of access to social facilities. Those matters have led to the emergence of war-widows, female-headed families, trauma and psychological impairrments. This research was conducted to study socioeconomic and psychological issues faced by the families that faced loss or disappearance of family members. The study was focused to investigate issues face by the families of government military forces. The research used random sampling method following which Eheliyagoda divisional secretariat area in Rathnapura district was selected as the sample; 25 families were selected randomly from the secondary data available at the divisional secretariat office and those families were interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire. 06 individual case studies were also conducted to understand the issues more deeply. The quantitative dada was analysed using SPSS package and qualitative data was analysed in narrative form. According to the results of the research, especially the widows and children have been suffering from social insecurity, marginalization and harassment in society in contrast to the high social image of war heroes. Delay of due compensation grants was identified as a key factor to shatter their economic stability. In some instances, widows have been used to engage in prostitution when their psycho-socioeconomic carrying capacities were exacerbated. Symptoms of the effects on children include being inclined to violence and stubbornness as well as being excluded from social norms and traditions. Sometimes parents of military combatants too, showed traumatic behaviour. All these effects are regarded here as structural violence, and hence threats to the social structure.Item Anatomical dimension of the Caudate lobe of the liver(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Widanagama, M.A.; Prabodha, L.B.L.; Palahepitiya, K.N.; Nanayakkara, B.G.; Ilayperuma, I.; Hasan, R.On the posterior surface of the liver, the Caudate lobe lies between the inferior vena cava and the fissure for the ligamentum venosum. It is connected to the right lobe of the liver by the Caudate process. However, functionally it belongs to the left lobe. In left hepatic lobectomy, the left lobe together with most of the Caudate lobe is removed. Furthermore, the diameters of right lobe and Caudate lobe have been used to distinguish between the normal and cirrhotic livers. This study was carried out to establish the anatomical dimensions of the Caudate lobe in a group of adult Sri Lankans. A total of 26 apparently healthy livers obtained from formalin fixed cadavers were studied. The Caudate lobe was measured along its maximum antero-posterior and transverse diameters using a sliding caliper capable of measuring to the nearest 0.01 mm. Maximum transverse diameter of the right lobe of the liver was taken to compare the ratio between the right lobe and the Caudate lobe. The mean maximum antero-posterior and transverse diameters of the Caudate lobe was 51.6 ± 4.6 mm and 27.6 ± 4.5 mm respectively. The transverse diameter of the right lobe was 85.05± 13.2 mm. The mean ratio of the transverse diameter of the Caudate lobe to that of the right lobe was found to be 0.32 ± .06. The results of the study demonstrate the anatomical dimensions established for the Caudate lobe for a group of adult Sri Lankan population. These data will facilitate in improving the outcome of surgical procedures of the liver.Item An interesting application of statistics in the area of environmental sustainability(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Wickremasinghe, W.N.Environmental Sustainability is a major component of sustainable development. Except a few industrial giants, a majority of others in Asia relatively lags behind in economic performance. On the other hand, socio-political instability is also a common grievance in Asia. However, all Asian countries or groups of them tend to have common attitudes towards the environment, due to the wide range of cultural practices in Asia and as a result they are relatively richer in environment sustainability. In this study, 7 environment indicators for 33 Asian countries are analyzed using a factor analysis with varimax rotation and the countries are grouped according to simple factor scores obtained from the three main factors explaining 78% of the total variation. Possible reasons for the three clusters are explored with the help of records of history and culture. Common attitudes driven by cultural heritage are thought to be the key for similar behavior with respect to environment sustainability.Item Influence of human dimensions on product quality(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Wickramasinghe, V.Organisations are facing an increasing struggle to survive and gain competitive advantage in the ever expanding and competitive global marketplace. Further, state intervention in local markets has diminished, and organisations confront an increasing number of competitors. In the circumstances, many countries have embraced quality management concepts in order to improve their competitiveness in international as well as local markets. The literature suggests that human dimensions influence product quality and in turn, influence firm performance. However, a limited number of studies had empirically investigated the relationship between human dimensions and product quality. In the above context, the objective of the current study is to investigate the relationship between product quality and six human dimensions, namely: leadership, strategic human resource planning, human resource information and documentation, human resource development, supplier relationship, and customer relationship in the Sri Lankan context. Thirty five export apparel firms that have implemented a formal quality management programme and that has been running for at least three years participated in the study. After a thorough review of literature, product quality was measured in terms of on-time delivery, customer complaints, and reject and rework rate, as those were identified as more common measures of product quality. For this study, it is hypothesised that each human dimension (leadership, strategic human resource planning, human resource information and documentation, human resource development, supplier relationship, and customer relationship) will significantly predict product quality. It was found that leadership has the greatest impact on product quality, followed by human resource development and customer relationship. A discussion on the implications of the findings and research areas for further enquiry and understanding will be presented.Item Moderating effect of organizational support on relationships between behavioral factors in lean implemented textile and apparel firms(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Wickramasinghe, G.L.D.The purpose of this research is to investigate the moderating effect of POS on the relationship between PDM and social exchange processes in the lean implemented Sri Lankan textile and apparel firms. Although numerous empirical studies pertaining to the textile and apparel industry have been published, relatively little is known about behavioral management concepts such as PDM, POS in textile and apparel firms in Sri Lanka. Many elements of the present consensus developed from studies in the West may not be directly applicable to developing countries. It is likely that differences in macro-environmental factors, such as national culture, may render the commonly accepted Western notions of behavioral management philosophy less appropriate in Asian developing nations such as Sri Lanka. A sample of twelve firms that have implemented lean manufacturing systems at least for 12 months was selected for the study. A random sample of 616 shop-floor employees from the above twelve firms responded. The self-administrated survey questionnaire was used for data collection. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS. The findings showed a significant positive relationship between PDM and social exchange process. Further, it was found that the above relationship is moderated by the employee‟s perception of perceived organizational support. Overall, this study demonstrates empirical support for the link between PDM and social exchange process. It was also found that POS moderates the relationship between PDM and social exchange process in the lean implemented firms. Managers and organizations will benefit from the understanding of the relationship between POS, PDM, and social exchange process of the employees before implementing such practices.