Reviewing International Encounters (RIE - 2018)

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    Identify the Satisfaction of Travel Destination Attributes on International Tourists’ Revisit Intention: Special Reference to Arugambay Tourism Zone
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Gunarathna, K.M.L.M.M.
    International tourism market performs most prominent role in the economy of developed as well as developing countries including Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka entered to the international tourism market in 1960, presently tourism industry is considered as one of the major foreign currency earners in the local economy. However, as compared to the other South East Asian region, Sri Lanka has not yet tapped into its full potential in the global market. Hence, tourism industry should pay more attention to explore the reasons why people travel and what are the satisfaction level of each travel destination attributes and the re-visit of the tourists in order to increase the tourists’ arrivals, earnings and global market share and reduce the costs. Tourists’ satisfaction and revisit intention play an important role in marketing the travel destination attributes. Hence, understanding the revisit intention is one of the dominant issues because repeat visitors provide more revenue and minimize the cost. Usually, tourism industry requires high level of promotional costs. To reduce this promotional cost, it is necessity to identify the satisfaction level of the travel destination attributes for each destination and revisit intention of the international tourists. This assist to ascertain for tourism planners and marketers about the most and least important attributes in a destination in order to develop and maintain a better tourism destination by reducing the promotional costs. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the satisfaction of travel destination attributes on international tourists’ revisit intention in Arugambay tourism zone. International tourists, who visited Arugambay, were the target population of this study. Primary data was collected through the structured questionnaires by using simple random sampling procedure to select the sample size of 100. Non-parametric analysis was used to achieve the objective of this study. According to the results, respondents rated high weather/climate, opportunity for adventure, relaxation and tourists’ activities offered in the area as attributes that affected them the most in visiting the Arugambay zone. On the other hand, culture and transportation were rated as the least significant attributes that affected their visit
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    The Use of Prohibited Substances in Playing Games: Special Reference to Asian Games
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Wickramaratne, P.D.V.C.
    Human being has participated in games mealy for enjoyment. In later times they have participated in games in order to select the strong person or to select the protector in times of war. In 1896 at the beginning of modern Olympics, the father of the Olympics Lord Pirre De Kubotin started that “Participation is more important in games than the victory” This statement is valid not only for Olympic Games, but also for all kind of sports events. But in modern times, that view has changed gaining the victory has been the greatest aim. The competition faced obtaining this victory has encouraged players not only to undergo training in sports, obtain more nutritious food engaging in the technological methods, but also to get addicted to taking prohibited substances. The aim of this research is to find out the tendency of usage of prohibited substances among the players (men and women) who participated in past 10 Asian games. This research is based on secondary data obtained from the past 10 years of Asian games held in the Asian countries. Data were analysed using descriptive research method. Players have used various stimulants to increase their talents at the Asian games and the usage has come down in the present days. The prohibited stimulants that have been named have changed time to time. Today wide range of tests have introduced to find whether players have used strong stimulants
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    The Fanaticism of Cricket Fans’ Impact on Brand Recall of Advertised Brand While Cricket Match Being Telecasted
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Senanayake, R.M.C.A.; Ramanayaka, A.R.N.D.; Sbeykoon, A.M.S.J.P.
    Cricket fans have a doubt when they sit in front of the TV to watch the game .It is about what actually are they watching either match or TV Commercials (TVC .)Therefore, this study was mainly focused to find the impact of “Fanaticism” (FAN) on “Brand Recall” (BR) of products which being telecasted during the cricket match subjectively with L shape (LS) vs Full Frame (FF)2 Secondly, to develop an empirical instrument to measure “fanaticism ”as a latent concept to confirm which type of TVC more impact on BR. This study was based to the hypothesis of FF TVC makes relatively more benefits in terms of BR than LS TVC does. First, exploratory factor analyses (EFA )procedure was used to reduce the dimension on the 58-items in questionnaire . We found statistical evidence to reduce the 58 items in to 43 items which have over 0.7 eigenvalue and over 0.75 Cronbach's Alpha value averagely . Second, data were collected by reduced questioner from 200 respondents who in boy’s hostel of the University. We used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA )approach using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM )procedure for parcel the items with minimum error in each measurement. The IFI (0.918 =FF, .725= LS) value and TLI (0.902=FF, 078= LS) value close to 1 indicates that goodness fit of the empirical model with conceptualized model. On the other hand, RMSEA value is less than 0.8 indicates that close fit of the model in relation to the degree of freedom. The estimated value of each hypothesized relationship of conceptualized models were statistically significant except the relationship between “Attitudinal Loyalty” and indicator called “Q19.5. There is a negative relationship between BR and FAN, on the other hand the negativity is grater with LS TVCs (-0.585) than FF TVCs (-0.472). According to the convergent validity is based on average variance extracted (AVE) and only one construct called “Attribute” is failed to establish as a good construct in the model. This results brake the common acceptation of marketers who pursue their marketing objectives via FF TVCs during the matches
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    Support from School Counseling Service to Overcome Mental Inconvenience in Schools: With Special Reference to Sri Lanka
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Subasinghe, W.
    This paper focuses on school counseling and its effect on student’s educational efficiency. Counseling is an outside support that is given by the qualified person on professional counseling to encourage human life as quality way. Guidance and psychotherapy are other fields relates to counseling. All human being can be faced by the mental troublesomeness in complex social inter-relationships. It can be happened with children, young people, students, professionals, elders so on. Currently; students have high expectations in their life. On the other hand; parents force them to work hardly to reach to their expectations. Within this multifaceted inspirations and other social issues and problems make many inconveniences among the students
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    Causes and Consequences of Exclusion of Plantation Community from the Public Sector Service Delivery
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Damayanthi, M.K.N.
    The plantation sector covers 4.4% (901,647 people) of the total population in Sri Lanka and it mainly comprises with Indian Tamils while including smaller number of Sinhalese. This community has been isolated from mainstream of social, political, economic and development process of the country and plantation management has been completely control their whole life and work. In addition, they have been provided inadequate basic social service from public sector and excluded from some of public service delivery. Therefore, this study focuses to examine the factors contributing for exclusion of plantation community from public service delivery and what are the effects created by them at local level. Both primary and secondary data were used for the research and mixed method is employed for the analysis. Primary data and information collected through questionnaire survey (374 households) and focus group discussions in Palindanuwara and Mathugama Divisional Secretariat Divisions in Kaluthara District. The collected data and information will triangulate through in-depth interviews (26) and key informant discussions (16) with former public representatives and officials of local government authorities, officials in Divisional Secretariats and field officers and trade union leaders. In addition relevant acts, ordinance and other official documents will use to collect data. Descriptive method and simple statistical analysis are employed to analyze qualitative and quantitative data respectively. Research findings reveals that plantation community exclude from some public service delivery, due to legal barriers, behavior and attitudes of relevant public officials and plantation management. Lack of supervision of filed officers is another strong cause for exclude the plantation community from public services. Consequently they suffer from lack of infrastructure facilities and deprived by basic needs. As a results, they act as passive citizens rather than being an active citizens
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    A Study on Theoretical Aspects of Post War Peacebuilding
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Thalpawila, O.N.
    Post-conflict peacebuilding processes have received wide recognition in the last two decades since the escalation of a number of intrastate conflicts in different parts of the world. Though several countries have concluded peace accords to control the recurring violence, new conflicts keep cropping up across the globe now and then and therefore the issue is now drawing greater attention. In Sri Lanka the civil war ended in 2009 and still there are some critics on peacebuilding process. The objective of this paper is to examine the theoretical aspects of the post-conflict peacebuilding as a direction for ongoing peace process in Sri Lanka. The secondary data have been purely based for this study and they were collected from the UN publications as well as other scholarly published works. The failures of the current prevailing strategies compelled the UN to adjust its own strategies for consolidating peace. It has been generally agreed that the concept of post-conflict peacebuilding was popularised by the United Nations with the work of Boutros Ghali and further developed by following several UN documents. The UN approach on post-conflict peacebuilding, focus on several key areas such as security, political setup, development, humanitarian aspects and human rights etc. Later, while agreeing with the UN notion, several institutions and scholars also developed some new ideas on post-conflict peacebuilding according to their experiences and so modified and elaborated the concept. For instance, they added the concept of transitional justice, which looks into the issues of justice, truth telling and reconciliation, as these are considered essential elements of peacebuilding. This development could be seen when the great powers intervened in the state building of certain fragile states in the late 1990s. For instance, Ramsbotham, Miall and Woodhouse presented a post-war reconstruction/withdrawal matrix in 2011, which details several phases in security, law and order, government, economy, society and international intervention transition sectors. Finally, the study identifies some important characteristics of the concept. First, post-conflict peacebuilding is a significant long term process largely initiated in the context of negative peace, aiming to create positive peace in order to produce a sustainable peace. The post-conflict peacebuilding activities address two aspects of working areas. Firstly, it addresses the immediate outcomes of the war such as in the fields of the security sector, repatriation of refugees and resettlement of IDPs, physical reconstruction, etc., which connect to the humanitarian aspects. Secondly, it overcomes the structural violence and issues in the political, economic, and psycho/social areas by removing structural contradictions and injustice to achieve positive peace in conflict affected societies
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    LibQUAL Analysis of Library Services in University Libraries in Sri Lanka
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Wanigasooriya, Priyanwada
    Currently, in an ‘open/service-oriented information society' technology has increased access to content by bringing up information resources to one's fingertips and the provision of such services are increasingly becoming the signifier of excellence of quality. Therefore, over the years, the role of conventional university libraries has led to sophisticated service centers superseding the traditional storehouse concept. Thus compared to the global situation, university libraries in Sri Lanka have attempted to provide overall best services for their targeted users. But, in the Sri Lankan context some questions such as what are the users’ right information desires, are these desires being fulfilled, what are the evaluation criteria for library quality, what are the reasons for the lack of frequent library usage and why do people gradually drop out from libraries, what steps have to be taken to provide better services and how to retain registered users while attracting new ones remain unanswered. For an understanding of these matters and how the existing shortcomings can be fixed, sound studies are vital. This study aimed to evaluate the user perception and overall quality of services at university libraries in Sri Lanka. It provided suggestions to overcome identified difficulties encountered during the reception of library services. As the first LibQUAL survey conducted in Sri Lanka, this survey helped to assess current service performance (perceived services), users’ minimum and maximum (desired services) expectations and service quality gaps (adequacy and superiority) of their main user groups. The study concluded that there were only seven (31%) propositions in the entire survey that the users' minimum expectations were met. They included giving users’ individual attention, employees’ knowledge to answer users’ questions and their caring fashion, remote accessibility of electronic resources, quiet comfortable and inviting location which inspires studying and learning. Comparing “library as place” and “effect of service”, “information control" dimension received lowest perceived performance level at the survey. In contrast, a number of user expectations on resources (printed/electronic), library website and information searching tools were fewer satisfaction areas. Users mostly complained on issues related to locating materials and the fact that, they were less aware about the resources and services that the libraries offered. Furthermore, the majority of users negatively responded on internet related matters, unavailability of sufficient books for their own field of study in Sinhala language, noisy environment since people can be loud, telephone conversations and user behaviors. From users’ views libraries could not meet minimum users’ expectations except in some cases. Finally, the examination of users’ minimum expectations showed that the proposition of “making information easily accessible for independent use” was most important and the proposition of “giving users individual attention” was relatively less important. This study mainly identified 15 service areas which were in need of improvement. Continuous formal and attractive online and offline user education programs, sufficient staff training to upgrade their professional knowledge and inculcate positive attitudes among them, the increment of the minimum staff requirements especially for IT related purposes, the renovation and proper maintenance of library buildings and repair of the equipment which were vital to providing effective services for users. In addition to that, frequent user survey is also essential for the better understanding of users ever-changing desires.
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    Some Salient Points to be Considered in Designing and Developing Undergraduate Honors Curriculums: An Experience from BA Honors Degree in Library and Information Science (LIS) in the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Weerasooriya, W.A.
    Designing and developing curriculum is more rigorous when the subject fields are too philosophical, theory bound and non-job focused. However, this situation is not there when the subject is job or professional oriented. The principal objective of this paper is to investigate the salient points to be considered when designing and developing honors curriculums, to examine the qualities like pragmatic value, appropriateness, suitability and the motivational factors impounded on the curriculum. Survey method adopted and content analysis, interviews, discussion and observation were commenced a few months back with the purpose of collecting primary data. Data and information related to the researcher’s experiences in designing and developing curriculums, and the exposure in pedagogy, advice, consultations, industry experience, interactive communication with the students and the major stakeholders were very useful for this research. There are some hard and soft points to be considered when designing curriculums. Soft points are more significance than the hard points. Some of the soft points are student’s skills, competencies, attitudinal and behavioral conducts, leadership, communication skills, perseverance etc. This factor has been validated by the views, pointed out by the key library employers. Experience of a job is another point and therefore the Industrial Training (IT) has been made as compulsory. Particular point here is that the students go three days to recognized library and information centers for the training while the other two days taking part for the lectures. Additionally, two to four hour period, the Academic Training Advisor of the Department holds Practical Training Discussion (PTD) with the students. For the evaluation purpose, the students are asked to submit an innovative training report, a project proposal for developing a new library, a library newsletter, report containing the duty list for library attendants, Assistants including Assistant Librarians and with curriculum vitae of the students. Both IT and PTD are targeted to develop the soft skills of the students. It was planned to inculcate and develop the five points like 1. Subject knowledge and practical exposure 2. Attitudes and behaviors 3. Skills and competencies 4. Mindset and vision, and 5 World of work and experience through the syllabus, classroom discussions, IT, PTD and so on. More attempts have to be made use the syllabus as well all through other strategies. These five sets are discussed in the Sri Lanka Qualification Framework (SLQF) of UGC Sri Lanka. 7 independent assignments are embedded in the syllabus for group work and individual work for developing soft skills. Through stakeholder analysis, it has been found those points depicted are better to use when design and developing a curriculum.
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    A New Model for the Library Science Education and Research in Sri Lanka
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Weerasinghe, M.K.
    Introduction Library education in Sri Lanka was commenced in 1950s. The first library education programme was started at the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1957. The University of Peradeniya started a postgraduate course in Library Science in 1961 and it was abandoned due to lack of trained teachers in 1965. Junior Universities of Ceylon was started a diploma course in Library Science in 1968 and it also ended in 1970 due to lack of lectures. Meantime Library Association started Diploma course in 1960 in English medium. 1973 can be considered as the one of land marked year of the library education in Sri Lanka because the University of Kelaniya started a degree programme in Library Science. In 1993 the University of Colombo started a Master programme in Library and Information Science in English medium. Meantime National Library Services Board also started number of short term training courses and correspondent course in the discipline in 1987. Another land mark of library education of Si Lanka was establishment of National Institute for Library and Information Science in 1999 with the major aim of provide manpower facilities for library sector in the country. In addition to this there are number of governmental bodies in the country organize short term programme in the field of Library and Information Science in time to time. The principal purpose of the paper was to develop a model for the enhancement off library education in Sri Lanka. The paper explores the initiation and gradual development of library education in Sri Lanka. Objectives of the study 1-Investigate historical development of library education in Sri Lanka, 2-Study the land mark of library education in Sri Lanka 3-Study the drawback and impact of library education in the country 4-Suggest a new model for coordination of institutions in library education and research. Methodology in this research the author intended to use qualitative approach to test the outcomes of the research. Outcomes the main drawback found in the study was the lack of effective coordination among sister institutions on library education. It was identified that slow growth of research output. The other principal outcome found in the study were the identification of sister organization devoted to library education along with their contributions, historical development library education in the country, the barriers and obstacles faced related to the enhancement of education and research in Library and Information Science. One of the other main findings in the study was the role of the national library in education and research in Library and Information Science. The researcher suggests that coordination of library education should be performed by the National Library of Sri Lanka through the proposed new National Library model. The outcomes of the research will be useful to different groups of people in Sri Lanka
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    Chinese Soft Power Strategies Towards Sri Lanka and Its Implications on International Politics
    (Reviewing International Encounters 2018,The Research Center for Social Sciences (RCSS), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Gunasena, J.T.S.
    Chinese involvement in South Asia has been perceived as a threat by certain regional and extra regional powers such as India and the U.S.A. whereas China proclaimed it as a peaceful invitation for mutual co-existence with the rest of the world which was embraced by many smaller powers such as Sri Lanka. This attachment between China and Sri Lanka specially during latter’s post-conflict period since 2009 had created certain clashes of interests among above mentioned regional and extra regional powers whereas Sri Lanka provided the platform for these controversies which resulted even some negative implications on the conduct of Sri Lankan policies. The main focus of this study is to identify the impact of China’s soft power usage and the implication of it on the Sri Lankan external and internal relations. One objective is to identify strategies used by China in terms of trade and investments to influence Sri Lanka by means of soft power and another objective is to determine the implications of it on international politics. Content analysis has been used in order to analyse secondary data collected through data triangulation method available in different data sources such as government publications, books, interviews, historical records, speeches, and web. The content analysis evaluates document texts and test theoretical underpinnings of the particular issue to understand data more comprehensively. Soft power strategy used by China has been significant role in the form of investments, development grant, cultural donations, bilateral trade agreements and consolidation of diplomatic and political relations that has been remarkable feature in post- conflict period of Sri Lanka. During the previous government in Sri Lanka pro Chinese policies were strengthened due to the high interest of Rajapaksha government for bilateral loans, which came with no political strings and repayment period is negotiable and China tries to spread its power through bilateral loans to developing countries. This unexpected strategic presence of the China in Sri Lanka was much disturbing for the implementation of India-Sri Lanka relations and the U.S –Sri Lanka which were under anxiety. Chinese presence has been always seen as a vital threat by the international community since it’s so called peaceful development has identified as a smart strategy with hidden security goals. Both India and the U.S.A created difficulty for Sri Lanka in the form of human rights allegations during the conflict and even call for Security Council resolutions for an international investigation in to it. On the other hand, China's strategy of non-interference has implied that it has no ambition to interfere in to domestic political issues in Sri Lanka. China is highly concerned of the fact that if it can’t be the hegemon in South Asia, it won’t allow anybody else to do so. It is clear that China effectively used trade and investments compared to India and the U.S.A. But Sri Lanka has to be more cautious in maintaining balanced relationship with all the countries since China is not that much reliable partner in the light of rapidly changing international politics