Enhancing Employability of Management Graduates of State Universities in Sri Lanka: An Examination of Job Market Requirements

Higher education helps in enhancing the human resources required for development. Universities and higher education institutes play a vital role in disseminating and creating knowledge through teaching and research, contributing to the development of any country. The quality and relevance of the output (graduates) of higher education institutes need to be enhanced to increase graduates’ employability. Graduate unemployment has become a significant problem in Sri Lanka. If graduates are unemployed, this will directly and negatively influence economic development. The main objectives of this study are to identify job market requirements of the industry and factors affecting the success of the graduates’ interviews. This study used qualitative research methods as a mono method.  Data were collected using advertisements from two selected leading English and Sinhala weekend newspapers published from October 2019 to January 2020, and in-depth interviews were conducted with selected Human Resource managers. Newspaper analysis and job market requirement analysis were done using an inductive thematic analysis approach. Five core skills were identified as the job market requirements, namely, problem-solving skills, communication skills, numeracy skills, computer skills, and interpersonal skills. Leadership qualities, communication and presentation ability, teamwork, interpersonal relations, practical knowledge, positive attitudes, hardworking characteristics, well-preparedness at the interview, and a clear understanding of the graduate's career path mainly affect the graduate interview's success. The study proposes policy measures to improve the employability of management graduates of state universities in Sri Lanka.  Keywords: Employability, Management Graduates, State Universities, job market requirements, Sri Lank

The Feminist Approach to Value Chain Membership: Case of Small-Scale Fishery Value Chains in Sri Lanka

The fisheries sectorof Sri Lanka means of livelihoodfor 2.6 million peopleand the vast majority of themare involved in small scale fisheries. The study was taken up with the objectivesof to identify social &political membership status of small scale fishery value chain members, to assess the level of decision making power of both men and women, identification of the governance: who has power to decide what to produce, when to market, what price, to whom to sell and evaluate the level of entrepreneurship and level of leadership of both men and women in small scale fishery valuechain.The study methodology included rapid market chain analysis to collect primary dataThe study identifies the majority of value chain members of small scale fisheries are having strong membership status in both social and political aspects and decision-making power of production, distribution &marketing decisions are mainly governing by men while women invest their resources, making decisions in relation to fish processing activities, very little on retailing and have autonomy in household income managing. And also,in analysis of both level of entrepreneurship &level of leadership, women got high score than male.Further, limited number of studies touched thisarea and our efforts tried toidentify gaps of feminism in small scale fisheries &empower the role of women by providingequal opportunities

Strategic Adaptions on Climate Shocks in Malleable Employment of Fishing Community by E–Skill Inventory: A Case of Southern Coast of Sri Lanka

Changes of weather pattern and unpredictable occurrence of storms, rough sea and cycloneconditions have become a greater complication for fishing community in southern coast of Sri Lanka. Climatic differences created peak and off season for the fishing community in marine. The study was based on Sothern coastwhere consist of long tradition of fishing, economical & social hotspot of fisheries&aims to investigate the responses of fishermen and women on climate shocks & strategic intervention for mitigate the risks. 90value chain actors were used to in-depth analysis while majority didn’t perform any productive activity to generate money or to mitigate the risks of climate shocks. The study identified that people who do nothing in off season cause to create social unrest. Female actors more malleable in labor than male while females are more vulnerable to climatic shocks. Only limited number of people with strong social bonds were able to manage the disaster burden engaging cottage fish processing & boat repairing. During a shock condition relying on past savings cause debt trap due to less current productivity. Strategic intervention by Decisionsupport system with built skill inventory identified to mitigate the employment malleability. Further, it can be developed as an E-Employment bazaar where create a common platform, link potential employers and fishing community. Registered fishing community members will categorize under different skill levels which creates potential employment opportunities for both men and women. Development of E-Employment bazaar on mobile platform tend to more user friendly and attract more actors

Nutrition Value Chain Analysis: Place of Women Fish Processors

The fisheries value chain of Sri Lanka consists of stakeholders who participate inthe coordinated production and value-adding activities which fulfilling the country’s animal proteinrequirement by 60%(DOFA,2016). The study was taken up with the objectivesofto assess thenutrition value: nutrient density, food safety, food quality, quantity, prices, profit/,market margin,to identify the points where safety, quantity, quality, prices, profit/market margin enhanced or diminishedin the fishery value chain and to determinethe time allocation of each value chain actorsof both sexes for each activity.The methodology included four case studies and focus group discussions based on both dry fish and Maldives fish value chains in Southern coastal area. And its figure outthat processing of dry fish and Maldives fish is done with more female participation while male are allocating more time as producer, collector, retailer/ wholesaler and exporter. The women processors were more economic concern and they are not paying much attention on quality raw materials, hygienic practices and this is same in collector, retailer/wholesaler level. But at the exporter level due to high legislations; more concerning on safe food production. Even fisheries sector supply country’s protein demand by quantitatively; minimization of nutrition loss or sustaining the quality of final products throughout the value chain is not at optimum levelwhile intermediaries earning high profit and consumers have to pay higher price for low safe products. Therefore, proper policy framework is essential to effectively link all stakeholdersto promote safe fish nutrient value chain

The Feminist Approach to Value Chain Membership: Case of Small Scale Fishery Value Chains in Sri Lanka

The fisheries sector of Sri Lanka means of livelihood for 2.6 million people and the vast majority of them are involved in small scale fisheries. The study was taken up with the objectives of to identify social &political membership status of small scale fishery value chain members, to assess the level of decision making power of both men and women, identification of the governance: who has power to decide what to produce, when to market, what price, to whom to sell and evaluate the level of entrepreneurship and level of leadership of both men and women in small scale fishery value chain. The study methodology included rapid market chain analysis to collect primary data and assessment of the level of decision making power & identification of the governance was done by using the Gender in Value Chains Practical Toolkit (Agri-ProFocus 2012). The study identifies the majority of value chain members of small scale fisheries are having strong membership status in both social and political aspects and decision-making power of production, distribution &marketing decisions are mainly governing by men while women invest their resources, making decisions in relation to fish processing activities, very little on retailing and have autonomy in household income managing. And also in analysis of both level of entrepreneurship &level of leadership, women got high score than male. Further, limited number of studies touched this area and our efforts tried to identify gaps of feminism in small scale fisheries &empower the role of women by providing equal opportunities

Impact of in vivo lymphodepletion on outcome in children with nonmalignant disorders receiving peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) with in vivo lymphodepletion can provide faster neutrophil recovery with limited risk of severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in children with nonmalignant disorders (NMDs). We aimed to provide an historical comparison of these 2 strategies regarding the prevalence of GVHD, viral reactivation, timing of immune reconstitution, and final outcomes. Data on 98 children undergoing PBSCT were collected from 5 European pediatric transplantation centers. Only patients with NMDs receiving treosulfan or myeloablative busulfan conditioning and 9-10/10 HLA-matched transplant were included. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to in vivo lymphodepletion with antithymocyte globulin (ATG) or with alemtuzumab. We compared rates of acute and chronic GVHD; Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and adenovirus reactivation; chimerism; lymphocyte recovery; overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) between the 2 groups. The rate of severe acute GVHD (grade III-IV) was significantly higher in patients receiving ATG (26% vs 10% in alemtuzumab recipients; P <.05), whereas viral reactivations occurred with a similar rate in the 2 groups (alemtuzumab, 56%; ATG, 57%). Alemtuzumab was the major risk factor for delayed T cell immune reconstitution in the first 3 months after transplantation (odds ratio [OR], 6.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.8 to 19; P <.005). Extended chronic GVHD, ADV reactivation, slower CD3(+) cell recovery, and HLA-mismatch reduced the probability of survival. Infections were the main cause of mortality in our cohort, and delayed T cell recovery was significantly associated with mortality in multivariate analysis (OR, 12; 95% CI, 1.2 to 114; P <.05). Ultimately, no differences in OS and EFS survival were seen between the ATG and alemtuzumab groups. ATG and alemtuzumab showed similar impacts on outcomes of children undergoing PBSCT for NMDs. The 2 strategies of in vivo lymphodepletion showed specific drawbacks that were counterbalanced by benefits that ultimately led to a comparable survival rate. A patient-centered lymphodepletion strategy can be advised in children undergoing PBSCT for NMDs, by favoring T cell recovery in the presence of invasive infection or GVHD prevention in high-risk mismatched donor transplantation. (C) 2021 The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Transplantation and immunomodulatio

Impact of pulmonary exposure to gold core silver nanoparticles of different size and capping agents on cardiovascular injury

Background:The uses of engineered nanomaterials have expanded in biomedical technology and consumer manufacturing. Furthermore, pulmonary exposure to various engineered nanomaterials has, likewise, demonstrated the ability to exacerbate cardiac ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, the influence of particle size or capping agent remains unclear. In an effort to address these influences we explored response to 2 different size gold core nanosilver particles (AgNP) with two different capping agents at 2 different time points. We hypothesized that a pulmonary exposure to AgNP induces cardiovascular toxicity influenced by inflammation and vascular dysfunction resulting in expansion of cardiac I/R Injury that is sensitive to particle size and the capping agent. Methods: Male Sprague–Dawley rats were exposed to 200 μg of 20 or 110 nm polyvinylprryolidone (PVP) or citrate capped AgNP. One and 7 days following intratracheal instillation serum was analyzed for concentrations of selected cytokines; cardiac I/R injury and isolated coronary artery and aorta segment were assessed for constrictor responses and endothelial dependent relaxation and endothelial independent nitric oxide dependent relaxation. Results: AgNP instillation resulted in modest increase in selected serum cytokines with elevations in IL-2, IL-18, and IL-6. Instillation resulted in a derangement of vascular responses to constrictors serotonin or phenylephrine, as well as endothelial dependent relaxations with acetylcholine or endothelial independent relaxations by sodium nitroprusside in a capping and size dependent manner. Exposure to both 20 and 110 nm AgNP resulted in exacerbation cardiac I/R injury 1 day following IT instillation independent of capping agent with 20 nm AgNP inducing marginally greater injury. Seven days following IT instillation the expansion of I/R injury persisted but the greatest injury was associated with exposure to 110 nm PVP capped AgNP resulted in nearly a two-fold larger infarct size compared to naïve. Conclusions: Exposure to AgNP may result in vascular dysfunction, a potentially maladaptive sensitization of the immune system to respond to a secondary insult (e.g., cardiac I/R) which may drive expansion of I/R injury at 1 and 7 days following IT instillation where the extent of injury could be correlated with capping agents and AgNP size.This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences U19ES019525, U01ES020127, U19ES019544 and East Carolina Universit

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for severe autoimmune diseases in children : a review of current literature, registry activity and future directions on behalf of the autoimmune diseases and paediatric diseases working parties of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Although modern clinical management strategies have improved the outcome of paediatric patients with severe autoimmune and inflammatory diseases over recent decades, a proportion will experience ongoing or recurrent/relapsing disease activity despite multiple therapies often leading to irreversible organ damage, and compromised quality of life, growth/development and long-term survival. Autologous and allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) have been used successfully to induce disease control and often apparent cure of severe treatment-refractory autoimmune diseases (ADs) in children. However, transplant-related outcomes are disease-dependent and long-term outcome data are limited in respect to efficacy and safety. Moreover, balancing risks of HSCT against AD prognosis with continually evolving non-transplant options is challenging. This review appraises published literature on HSCT strategies and outcomes in individual paediatric ADs. We also provide a summary of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Registry, where 343 HSCT procedures (176 autologous and 167 allogeneic) have been reported in 326 children (<18 years) for a range of AD indications. HSCT is a promising treatment modality, with potential long-term disease control or cure, but therapy-related morbidity and mortality need to be reduced. Further research is warranted to establish the position of HSCT in paediatric ADs via registries and prospective clinical studies to support evidence-based interspeciality guidelines and recommendations

Population pharmacokinetics of subcutaneous alemtuzumab in kidney transplantation

Aim: Alemtuzumab is a monoclonal antibody used as induction immunosuppressive therapy in kidney transplantation. It targets CD52 on lymphocytes, inducing profound immune cell depletion upon administration. Owing to its off-label status in kidney transplantation, its pharmacokinetic characteristics are largely unknown in this setting, and its current fixed dosing algorithm originates from other populations. We developed a population pharmacokinetic model for alemtuzumab in kidney transplant recipients and investigated the potential of personalized alemtuzumab therapy. Methods: In total, 362 pharmacokinetic observations drawn 0-165 days after transplantation were available from 61 adult kidney transplant recipients who received two consecutive doses of 15 mg alemtuzumab subcutaneously. A population pharmacokinetic model was developed using nonlinear mixed-effects modelling and applied to simulate various dosing regimens. Results: The alemtuzumab concentration-time data were best described by a two-compartmental model with first-order absorption and parallel first-order and time-varying concentration-dependent elimination, with between-subject variability on the first-order elimination (39.6%) and central distribution volume (39.6%). Alemtuzumab pharmacokinetics varied with body size, rendering lighter individuals exposed to lympholytic alemtuzumab concentrations (>0.1 mg/L) for prolonged durations as compared to their heavier peers. This between-subject variability could be reduced through lean bodyweight-adjusted dosing, showing a twofold to threefold reduction in the slope of the median alemtuzumab exposure over the bodyweight range. Conclusion: Alemtuzumab displays substantial pharmacokinetic variability in kidney transplant recipients, which may warrant a personalized treatment strategy. Lean bodyweight-adjusted dosing poses an option for individualized dosing, but further evaluation of its potential clinical benefit is warranted