The impact of hotel attributes on room rate in star graded hotels in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how the availability or absence of different hotel attributes affect the room rate during a given period. This study identified the impact of various hotel attributes on the room rate. Research methodology: Published data on available hotel attributes, and room rates of selected room categories of star-graded hotels in Colombo district, Sri Lanka, were gathered online through booking.com. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method was used to estimate the impact of key determinants under hotel amenities, quality signals, and locational attributes. Results: The results revealed eleven key attributes of the room rate in star-graded hotels, illustrating the positive impact from seven determinants and the negative impact from four determinants. Hotel class or star grade was the most significant determinant in the room rate, which generally determines the pricing behavior and service quality and most of the attributes and characteristics in a hotel. Availability of a business center, location of the hotel, fitness center/spa, total number of rooms in the hotel, room size, and view from room also significantly determined the room rate. Limitations: Booking.com, as the most popular Online Travel Agent (OTA) used in Sri Lanka, it was assumed that the information is frequently updated. The study was extended for the hotels in the Colombo district, and hence, the results were based on the point data, which may not be an islandwide representation or year through data. Contribution: As theoretical applications are underused in pricing and revenue decisions in the Sri Lankan hotel sector, results will lead to advance the decision making of practitioners, and this study will be a complement to the lack of literature in the field of revenue management in Sri Lankan context and may encourage future researchers laying an inspiring beginning.&nbsp

Contribution of Wild Collected Underutilised Crops in Rural Food and Income Security in Sri Lanka

This study focused on investigation of role of wild collected underutilised crops (UC)in rural food and income security with special concern to the availability of those crops atrespective village markets. It analysed the availability of wild collected products in the sellingstocks of traditional sellers in respective village markets. Wellawaya Divisional SecretariatDivision in Moneragala district in Uva Province of Sri Lanka was seleted for the study. Rapidmarket chain analysis was the principal tool equipped for this investigation. Data collectionwas conducted by using primary data collection methods mostly under uncontrolledenvironments. Number of key informant interviews with upstream agents, focus groupdiscussions with collectors and informal discussions with few sellers were done. In addition,a few telephone interviews were conducted with key agricultural actors in the area.Galsiyabala, Palu, Weera, Polpala, Binkohoba, Kithual products and curry leaves(Karapincha) were the key wild collections available in the markets. However, thecontribution from the forest varied from around (40% to 100%). In general, males engage inwild collection by making significant damages to those trees due to falling of trees andcutting main branches. Reasonable proactive strategies are not yet adapted to ensuresustainable utilisation of wild resources rather than penalties by courts when collectors arecaptured by Forest Department officers. People practice this as a souces of part-time seasonalincome. Though income is seasonal, they receive higher values by selling some traditionalmedicinal products under informal fixed prices. The price of all other products is determinedby traders where collectors have minimum bargaining power in this context.Keywords: Underutilised crops, Wild collections, Rural households, Food security, Incomesecurit

Lichen floral studies on Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. tree trunk in different eco - regions of Sri Lanka

Information on lichen flora in Sri Lanka is scarce. Therefore a study was carried out to investigatelichens growing on a tree species common to all five eco regions (Montane, Wet, Intermediate, Aridand Dry zone) of Sri Lanka. The common tree species found in all regions was Artocarpusheterophyllus Lam. (jak). Lichen flora found on bark of jak trees between 1.5 m and 2 rn above theground level was studied. Six hundred and sixty three specimens from hundred and twenty trees werestudied. Twenty five genera and thirteen families were found among them. Twenty genera werefound to be crustose and five were folioses. No fruticose lichen was found in any region. Of allidentified lichens 40% were belonged to the family Graphidaceae and it was the most frequentlyfound lichen family in all regions and the second highest (17%) was belonged to family Phyciaceae.The most frequently found genus was Graphis.Heterodermia and Pertusaria were found only in montane zone while Leptogium was found only inlowland wet zone. Thelotrema. Ocellularia. Myriotrema and Chrysothrix were found only inIntermediate zonc. Parntelia was restricted to wet zone while Dirinaria, Dimerella and Porinawere restricted to dry zone, Differences in distribution of some of these lichens can be explainedwith rain fall, temperature and humidity.

Sustainable regeneration of high-performance LiCoO2 from completely failed lithium-ion batteries

Utilising the solid-state synthesis method is an easy and effective way to recycle spent lithium-ion batteries. However, verifying its direct repair effects on completely exhausting cathode materials is necessary. In this work, the optimal conditions for direct repair of completely failed cathode materials by solid-state synthesis are explored. The discharge capacity of spent LiCoO2 cathode material is recovered from 21.7 mAh g−1 to 138.9 mAh g−1 under the optimal regeneration conditions of 850 °C and n(Li)/n(Co) ratio of 1:1. The regenerated materials show excellent electrochemical performance, even greater than the commercial LiCoO2. In addition, based on the whole closed-loop recycling process, the economic and environmental effects of various recycling techniques and raw materials used in the battery production process are assessed, confirming the superior economic and environmental feasibility of direct regeneration method

IFNAR1-Signalling Obstructs ICOS-mediated Humoral Immunity during Non-lethal Blood-Stage Plasmodium Infection

Funding: This work was funded by a Career Development Fellowship (1028634) and a project grant (GRNT1028641) awarded to AHa by the Australian National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC). IS was supported by The University of Queensland Centennial and IPRS Scholarships. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Subcellular optogenetic inhibition of G proteins generates signaling gradients and cell migration

Cells sense gradients of extracellular cues and generate polarized responses such as cell migration and neurite initiation. There is static information on the intracellular signaling molecules involved in these responses, but how they dynamically orchestrate polarized cell behaviors is not well understood. A limitation has been the lack of methods to exert spatial and temporal control over specific signaling molecules inside a living cell. Here we introduce optogenetic tools that act downstream of native G protein–coupled receptor (GPCRs) and provide direct control over the activity of endogenous heterotrimeric G protein subunits. Light-triggered recruitment of a truncated regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) protein or a Gβγ-sequestering domain to a selected region on the plasma membrane results in localized inhibition of G protein signaling. In immune cells exposed to spatially uniform chemoattractants, these optogenetic tools allow us to create reversible gradients of signaling activity. Migratory responses generated by this approach show that a gradient of active G protein αi and βγ subunits is sufficient to generate directed cell migration. They also provide the most direct evidence so for a global inhibition pathway triggered by Gi signaling in directional sensing and adaptation. These optogenetic tools can be applied to interrogate the mechanistic basis of other GPCR-modulated cellular functions

Young elephants in a large herd maintain high levels of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus-specific antibodies and do not succumb to fatal haemorrhagic disease

Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs) have co-existed with elephants for millions of years, yet may cause fatal haemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD), typically in elephants between 1 and 10 years of age. EEHV is omnipresent in (sub)adult elephants, and young elephants with low EEHV-specific antibody levels are at risk for EEHV-HD, suggesting that fatal disease may occur due to an insufficiently controlled primary infection. To further address this hypothesis, sera of three large elephant cohorts were subjected to a multiple EEHV species ELISA: (I) 96 Asian elephants between 0 and 57 years, including 13 EEHV-HD fatalities, from European zoo herds typically sized five to six elephants, (II) a herd of 64 orphaned elephants aged 0–15 years at the Elephant Transit Home in Sri Lanka and (III) 31 elephants aged 8–63 years, part of a large herd of 93 elephants at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka. All Sri Lankan elephants showed high EEHV-specific antibody levels regardless of their age. While antibody levels of most European zoo elephants were comparable to those of Sri Lankan elephants, the average antibody level of the European juveniles (1–5 years of age) was significantly lower than those of age-matched Sri Lankan individuals. Moreover, the European juveniles showed a gradual decrease between 1 and 4 years of age, to be attributed to waning maternal antibodies. Maintenance of high levels of antibodies in spite of waning maternal antibodies in young Sri Lankan elephants is likely due to the larger herd size that increases the likelihood of contact with EEHV-shedding elephants. Together with the observation that low levels of EEHV-specific antibodies correlate with increased numbers of EEHV-HD fatalities, these results suggest that infection in presence of high maternal antibody levels may protect calves from developing EEHV-HD, while at the same time activating an immune response protective in future encounters with this virus