Knowledge and Attitudes on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and its Associated Factors among a Selected Population of Pregnant Mothers Attending Antenatal Clinics in Mathugama, Western Province of Sri Lanka

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) has become an emerging metabolic disorder around the world leading to type 2 diabetes mellitus in two generations, including the mother and the offspring. Complications associated with GDM can be prevented by proper management of the disease. This study aimed to assess knowledge and attitudes on GDM and its associated factors in a selected population of pregnant mothers in Sri Lanka. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among eight antenatal clinics in the Mathugama Medical Officer of Health (MOH) area, Sri Lanka. Pregnant mothers of less than 20 weeks of gestation (n=150) attending the above clinics were selected by convenience sampling. A pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. The SPSS version 23 was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, visual binning, independent sample t-test and bivariate correlation were used as statistical tools. Results: Only 4.7% of participants had developed GDM previously. The mean gestational age of the study participants was 12±5 weeks. The mean percentage knowledge score regarding GDM was 36.1±23.3%. Only 20.0% had good knowledge and 35.3% had poor knowledge about GDM. Age (p=0.017), level of education (p=0.024), history of GDM (p=0.033), and family history of diabetes mellitus (p=0.025) had significant associations with the knowledge on GDM. In addition, positive correlations were found between the mean knowledge score for GDM and gestational age (p=0.001), and the gravidity (p=0.018) of the participants (p<0.05). Conclusions: Only a minority of the study group (20.0%) had good knowledge about GDM while, more than 50.0% of the participants showed positive attitude towards the management of GDM. Therefore, taking measures to enhance the pregnant mothers’ knowledge regarding GDM is a timely and important action that ultimately leads to healthy pregnancy outcomes. Keywords: Gestational diabetes mellitus, Pregnant mothers, Knowledge, Attitudes, Associated factor

Presence of Actinomycetes in agarwood tissues of Aquilaria crassna: A preliminary study

Agarwood is a valuable resin produced inside certain tree species of the family Thymalaeaceae distributed in the Asian region. Agarwood production occurs as a defense mechanism when the trees are under physical or biological stresses. However, the formation of agarwood resins in significant extractable quantities due to natural stress conditions is rare; therefore, the farmers use various methods to induce its formation artificially. Certain fungal species such as Fusarium and Aspergillus become more popular among them to produce high-quality agarwood. However, studies are rare on using other microbial organisms such as Actinomycetes, which exhibit properties of both bacteria and fungi. Among the agarwood-producing species, Aquilaria crassna is one of Asia's most commonly planted species for agarwood production. This species was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2012 for mid and lower elevations of the wet zone. Due to the lack of studies on agarwood resin formation by non-fungal microbial methods, the present study attempted to identify the presence of Actinomycetes species in agarwood resinous tissues of A. crassna. Agarwood resinous tissue samples were collected from four plantations in the wet zone of the country. Surface sterilized, small sized tissues were placed on starch casein agar medium and incubated at room temperature for ten days. Using the morphological and microscopic characteristics, it was possible to identify Nocardia, Psuedonocardia, and three Streptomyces species with varying abundance. The species level should be confirmed using molecular analysis, and their potential for agarwood resin formation inducement should be tested by re-inoculating to the healthy A. crassna trees

Techno-economic feasibility study on lightning protection of overhead transmission line having multi-chamber insulator arresters (mcia)

Transmission lines are a key factor of the transmission network of a country which connects Grid Substations and the Power stations. Performance of transmission lines has a great impact on reliability aspects of a particular power supply system of a country. Unreliable transmission lines can lead to partial or even total power failures resulting with great financial losses. Radially connected power stations can be isolated from the transmission network by tripping the connected lines to the transmission system. The lightning back flashover effects are recognized as one of the major causes of transmission line outages. Several types of solutions are presently available to address the issue of lightning back flashovers. Installing of Transmission Line Arresters (TLA) is of great popularity due to its good performance, with low cost compared to the other traditional solutions. However, latest technology called “Multi Chamber System (MCS)” are now being widely used worldwide to protect transmission lines as well as distribution lines from lightning surges including direct and indirect lightning surges. A novel technology, extension of MCS, Multi Chamber Insulator Arresters (MCIA) are the latest arrester technology which has great advantages over all the traditional surge mitigation techniques including installation of TLAs. This report describes a case study which was carried out on one of a critical 132kV transmission line of the Sri Lankan transmission network, having several past records of lightning back flashover related outages resulting with partial system failures. The study described in this report is mainly focuses on the way of analyzing the back flashover events by transient modeling and subsequent simulation of the selected transmission line in an electromagnetic transient computer program. The study uses the Power System CAD (PSCAD) software program as the software tool for the purpose of modeling and simulation of selected 132kV, Mathugama-Kukle transmission line. Simulation of the created transmission line model is carried out with and without MCIA model to evaluate the improvements in lightning back flashover performance after installation of MCIAs in the selected transmission line. The result of the simulations shows that the installation of 06 Nos. of MCIAs on all phases of a selected tower improves the back flashover mitigation performance on the same tower as well as the towers on the either sides of the selected tower. Thus, lightning performance of the selected transmission line is improved

Climate Variability and Drought in the Past 30 Years in Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

The study carried out in order to analyze climate variability and drought in Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Hence, a number of analyses, such as: the Precipitation Concentration Index (PCI) and Coefficient of Variation (CV) methods are used for rainfall variability, Markov chain second order method were used in order to analysis dry spell length, while standardized rainfall anomaly were used for drought severity class. From the analysis the annual rainfall was less variable for all stations; while the seasonal variability was higher as computed using both PCI and CV methods. When the main rainy season variability was compared with the second rainy season “Belg”, the second rainy season was more variable for all stations. As a result, PCI value showed that Belg rainfall varied from moderate concentration to high concentration. By using INSTAT software, the historical onset and cessation date and characteristics of dry spells were investigated. It is understood that the main rainy season starts on the 174th day of the year and stops on the early second decade of September. But the variability of onset rainfall is high it may lag up to 1 month while cession data is not exceed 15 days for all stations. The 5 day probability of dry spell in the area is more than 75% even during rainy season, while 30 day dry spell is not exceed 50% even during dry season. Most of the drought years were associated for each station; even if for some station the occurrence of drought year varies by one year. But 1965, 1972-73, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1994, 1995, 2001-02, 2009 and 2014/15 show that almost all station indict there was drought index in the study area even though the drought severity degree was different. The drought frequency and intensity in central rift valley of Ethiopia is increasing trend, among 31 severe droughts 21 of them happened before 1980. Keywords: Rainfall variability, Drought, SPI, PCI, Dry spell

BENCHMARKING MEDIUM VOLTAGE FEEDERS USING DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS: CASE STUDY

Presently there is no any proper method of finding performance of Medium voltage feeders except the number of feeder failures. Therefore available limited resources are not utilized for the most required feeders and also various issues and contradictions are occurred among Engineers when giving targets to be achieved for feeders. By identifying actual performance of feeders, system improvements can be done to the most needed feeders using limited resources. Performance benchmarking can be used to identify actual performance of feeders. Results of such benchmarking studies allow the organization to compare feeders with themselves and identify poorly performing feeders. Then the limited resources can be used to develop poorly performing feeders therefore both Utility and Consumers can get maximum benefit from available limited resources. In order to produce a suitable benchmarking methodology this dissertation focuses on prominent benchmarking techniques used in international regulatory regime and analyses the applicability to Medium Voltage Feeders. Through the analysis Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method was selected. Correlation analysis and DEA analysis with different models were carried out. Then the base model was selected for the analysis and relative performance of 32 Medium voltage feeders of Western Province South-I of CEB were evaluated using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Relative efficiency scores can be identified for each feeder. This paper also discusses the classification of Feeders according to the sensitivity analysis. Generally, the study concludes that DEA analysis can be carried out to evaluate the performance of Medium Voltage Feeders. The evaluation can be carried out once a year or once in two years with the medium voltage Distribution Development Plan in order to identify the performance of feeders and utilized the available limited resources efficiently

Mapping vulnerability to multiple hazards in the Savanna Ecosystem in Ghana

The interior savannah ecosystem in Ghana is subjected to a number of hazards, including droughts, windstorms, high temperatures and heavy rainfall, the frequency and intensity of which are projected to increase during the 21st century as a result of climate variability and change. Vulnerabilities to these hazards vary, both spatially and temporally, due to differences in susceptibilities and adaptive capacities. Many mapping exercises in Ghana have considered the impacts of single hazards on single sectors, particularly agriculture. But the hazards often occur concurrently or alternately, and have varying degrees of impacts on different sectors. The impacts also interact. These interactions make mapping of the vulnerabilities of multiple sectors to multiple hazards imperative. This paper presents an analysis of the spatial dimension of vulnerabilities by mapping vulnerability of sectors that support livelihood activities at a single point in time, using the Upper East Region of Ghana as a case study. Data colected to develop the maps were largely quantitative and from secondary sources. Other data drew on fieldwork undertaken in the region from July - September 2013. Quantitative values were assigned to qualitative categorical data as the mapping process is necessarily quantitative. Data were divided into susceptibility and adaptive capacity indicators and mapped in ArcGIS 10.2 using weighted linear sum aggregation. Agriculture was found to be the most vulnerable sector in all districts of the Upper East Region and experienced the greatest shocks from all hazards. Although all districts were vulnerable, the Talensi, Nabdam, Garu-Temapane and Kassena-Nankana West Districts were most vulnerable. Findings highlight the need for more targeted interventions to build adaptive capacity in light of the spatial distributions of vulnerabilities to hazards across sectors

The multisensory science and aesthetics of teaware

The last few years have seen a marked growth of research interest in the study of the influence of the drinking vessel on the consumer's experience of a wide range of different beverages, ranging from wine to beer, and from coffee to hot chocolate. Until recently, however, far less research has been directed toward studying the impact of the drinking vessel on people's experience of tea, no matter whether served hot, as an iced tea, or as a sparkling tea beverage. Nevertheless, an emerging body of rigorous scientific research now demonstrates the significant impact that the material properties of the drinking vessel, and the semantic associations that different groups of consumers may have with it, can exert over both the sensory discriminative and hedonic aspects of the tea-drinking experience. This narrative historical review therefore summarizes what is currently known concerning the impact of the drinking vessel on the tea-drinking experience, and a number of relevant directions for future research are also recommended. Given the breadth of the scope, the focus is primarily on the contemporary service of the hot beverage in the West

Assessing the Social, Economic, and Environmental Impacts of Flood Disasters in the Mathugama Region, Sri Lanka

Flooding is among the most destructive natural hazards worldwide, with Sri Lanka experiencing frequent and severe flood events that significantly disrupt communities and livelihoods. The Mathugama Divisional Secretariat has recently faced notable physical and human challenges due to recurrent floods. This study aims to comprehensively assess the social, economic, and environmental impacts of flood disasters in the Mathugama area. In addition, it seeks to propose effective strategies and recommendations for minimizing future flood-related damages. The research utilizes a mixed-methods approach, gathering primary data through questionnaires, interviews, direct observations, and group discussions, alongside secondary data from published literature and official reports. Analytical tools such as MS Excel and ArcGIS 10.8 were employed to process and interpret both qualitative and quantitative data. The findings highlight the multifaceted consequences of flooding on local populations, infrastructure, and the environment, and offer actionable insights to enhance flood management and resilience in the region

Drought Indication in Lake Hawassa Watershed, Southern Ethiopia

Trend analysis was conducted by using nonparametric trend tests (Mann-Kendall and Sen’s slope). Lake Hawassa watershed station showed statistically significant downward trend from January to April, October, and December, and upward trend from May up to September and November. For the metrological drought severity and occurrence analysis, SPI at 3 month time scales was applied by dividing the whole period in to seven equal time periods. By analyzing the drought severity, it was observed that drought severity is increasing with time for near normal except for 2070s and 2080s, increasing with time for moderate drought, and constant for extreme droughts 2020s and 2030s and vice versa for severe drought. The drought occurrence in the study area experience mostly near normal drought that account at least 43% for all time periods, severe that account at least 27%, moderate that account at least 11% and null except for 2020s and 2030s for extreme drought. The observed inter-annual variability in the study area mostly experienced near normal inter-annual variability (about 73.33%).                                Keywords: drought, Climate change, SPI and Lake Hawassa watershed DOI: 10.7176/JETP/12-4-01 Publication date:October 31st 202

The Savings Motives: With Special Reference to Households in Kalutara District

AbstractThe household saving is a decision which is taken by the people to postpone their consumption of current income. Savings can be considered as one of the crucial tools which households utilized to accomplish their financial expectations in order to improve their financial wellbeing. There are many ways of accumulating or investing money, which can be identified as the deposits in bank accounts or building society accounts to saving in pensions, save in credit unions, invest in the stock market and many other saving sources. This study is an inspection of saving motives of Sri Lankan household in present economic situation. Briefly it can be explained, the harvest of the research will provid the answer to the question of what is the most significantly affected saving motive which stimulate/ encourage people to save money? And it will be further declared how do these saving motives vary when household characteristics differ? As a conclusion it can be stated that this study is seeking answers for why do people save money in a broader sense (Research Problem). And the answer for, of what is the most significantly affected saving motive to stimulate people, for savings? The main purpose of this paper is to examine the most significant savings motive among households in Kalutara District. Data were collected through questionnaires by using hundred respondents. The factor analysis is explored to examine, what is the most significant savings motive among pre-determined savings motives of bequest, precautionary and life cycle using SPSS 17. It has been identified the most significant savings motive of households in Kalutara district is the precautionary savings motiveKeywords: Savings Behavior, Savings Motives, Factor Analysi