DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR AN INCLINED STEP-GRATE COMPOST VESSEL TO TREAT URBAN SOLID WASTES

There are several methods and systems of managing urban solid wastes. Aerobie systemsor managing wastes arc less expensive and the composition of wastes in most Sri Lankancities is conducive to compost making since the biodegradable component is high,The total quantity of organic matter generated in the urban centres if used as compost willstill not satisfy the demand for it. These basic problems could he solved by makingcompost [rom biodegradable urban wastes. facilitating the management of these wastes andalso providing organic matter for long awaited sustained and assured agriculturalproduction in Sri Lanka.The development of a feasible system or compost making was the challenge taken up by theDcpnruucnt or Agricultural Engineering. A series of studies were undertaken to determinesome of the major parameters to rcalise the concept of an inclined step-grate compostmakingvessel.The studies indicate that (l.'i% moisture content should be maintained for optimumconditions for compost making, The bulk density increases with time and It is inverselyproportional to mass, Within the first 20 days of degradation or mixed wastes. most of thevolatile solids react producing largely carbon dioxide and water, The generated heat fromthis reaction actuates the process or evaporating excess moisture. The reduction in massand increase in density can be expressed mathematically.A calculation or heat and mass balances was obtained for a 3-meter pile of wastes, Thesecalculations were based on data obtained from an Engineering Model. Several or the majorparameters such as the retention time. suction. heating and cooling system for moisturecontrol were developed to design a versatile bio-reactor to produce compost for treatingwastes aerobically.

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

Building local capacities in the operation and management of an integrated solid waste management programme; Experience of Ampara District, Eastern Sri Lanka

Open dumping and burning of wastes in the environmental sensitive areas were common practices in almost all the local authorities in Ampara district. It had become a big threat to public health, the beautiful natural environment and to the local economy. The Local Authorities of the District often faced severe difficulties in the management of solid waste in an environmentally, socially and economically feasible manner. The lack of technical and financial capacities to apply and practice the newly developed waste management guidelines and policies further aggravated this situation.Having identified the gravity  and the importance of this serious environmental issue, the Department of Assistant Commissioner of Local Government of Ampara District, with the financial assistance of the European Union and the technical assistance of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), is currently implementing an Integrated Solid Waste Management Programme (ISWMP) in 12 local authorities of the District. This ISWMP is completely being operated with the full coordination of the District Office of the Central Environmental Authority, Ampara. The UNOPS, as part of its technical assistance, has constructed solid waste management facilities such as 7 engineered landfills, one Waste Transfer Station, 4 Recycling Centers, 5 compost yards, well developed collection systems  as well as provided with capability building/training assistance aiming to establish an effective and efficient solid waste management system for the District. These  facilities are now completed,  already in use and operational. With these facilities in place, and with the continued support from UNOPS in providing institutional and capacity building assistance to the LA officers and staff, haphazard dumping and littering of waste in certain areas of the LAs have now been stopped. Thus 45,000 urban households or 58% of the total urban population are benefitted under thisprogramme with a total collection of 137tonnes of wastes per day through this programme. Out of this 137tonnes of waste, 59 tonnes are collected from cluster systems involving five local authorities while the balance from the other non-clustered Local Authorities.The paper will also present the processes and methodologies to improve the landfill practices from the open dumping practices to controlled tipping and then to engineered landfills  among the implementing local authorities. It will also highlight interventions/strategies to ensure sustainability of the operation and their management through the introduction of a User Fee system/Service Charge which is currently being implemented in 04  Local Authorities. This collected User Fee covers about 80% of cost of collection of waste which would otherwise been spent through their normal budget.Key words: Integrated Solid Waste Management, Ampara, haphazard dumping, controlled tipping, engineered landfill

Climate change and agricultural adaptation in Sri Lanka: a review

Climate change is inevitable and will continue into the next century. Since the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka is one of the most vulnerable to climate change, a thorough understanding of climate transition is critical for formulating effective adaptation strategies. This paper provides an overview of the status of climate change and adaptation in the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka. The review clearly indicates that climate change is taking place in Sri Lanka in terms of rainfall variability and an increase in climate extremes and warming. A number of planned and reactive adaptation responses stemming from policy and farm-level decisions are reported. These adaptation efforts were fragmented and lacked a coherent connection to the national development policies and strategies. Research efforts are needed to develop and identify adaptation approaches and practices that are feasible for smallholder farmers, particularly in the dry zone where paddy and other food crops are predominately cultivated. To achieve the envisaged growth in the agricultural sector, rigorous efforts are necessary to mainstream climate change adaptation into national development policies and ensure that they are implemented at national, regional and local levels

Fabrication of Pt/Ru Nanoparticle Pair Arrays with Controlled Separation and their Electrocatalytic Properties

Aiming at the investigation of spillover and transport effects in electrocatalytic reactions on bimetallic catalyst electrodes, we have prepared novel, nanostructured electrodes consisting of arrays of homogeneously distributed pairs of Pt and Ru nanodisks of uniform size and with controlled separation on planar glassy carbon substrates. The nanodisk arrays (disk diameter approximate to 60 nm) were fabricated by hole-mask colloidal lithography; the separation between pairs of Pt and Ru disks was varied from -25 nm (overlapping) via +25 nm to +50 nm. Morphology and (surface) composition of the Pt/Ru nanodisk arrays Were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, and X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy, the electrochemical/electrocatalytic properties were explored by cyclic voltammetry, COad monolayer oxidation ("COad stripping"), and potentiodynamic hydrogen oxidation. Detailed analysis of the 2 COad oxidation peaks revealed that on all bimetallic pairs these cannot be reproduced by superposition of the peaks obtained on electrodes with Pt/Pt or Ru/Ru pairs, pointing to effective Pt-Ru interactions even between rather distant pairs (50 nm). Possible reasons for this observation and its relevance for the understanding of previous reports of highly active catalysts with separate Pt and Ru nanoparticles are discussed. The results clearly demonstrate that this preparation method is perfectly suited for fabrication of planar model electrodes with well-defined arrays of bimetallic nanodisk pairs, which opens up new possibilities for model studies of electrochemical/electrocatalytic reactions

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

25th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting: CNS-2016

Abstracts of the 25th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting: CNS-2016 Seogwipo City, Jeju-do, South Korea. 2–7 July 201

25th annual computational neuroscience meeting: CNS-2016

The same neuron may play different functional roles in the neural circuits to which it belongs. For example, neurons in the Tritonia pedal ganglia may participate in variable phases of the swim motor rhythms [1]. While such neuronal functional variability is likely to play a major role the delivery of the functionality of neural systems, it is difficult to study it in most nervous systems. We work on the pyloric rhythm network of the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion (STG) [2]. Typically network models of the STG treat neurons of the same functional type as a single model neuron (e.g. PD neurons), assuming the same conductance parameters for these neurons and implying their synchronous firing [3, 4]. However, simultaneous recording of PD neurons shows differences between the timings of spikes of these neurons. This may indicate functional variability of these neurons. Here we modelled separately the two PD neurons of the STG in a multi-neuron model of the pyloric network. Our neuron models comply with known correlations between conductance parameters of ionic currents. Our results reproduce the experimental finding of increasing spike time distance between spikes originating from the two model PD neurons during their synchronised burst phase. The PD neuron with the larger calcium conductance generates its spikes before the other PD neuron. Larger potassium conductance values in the follower neuron imply longer delays between spikes, see Fig. 17.Neuromodulators change the conductance parameters of neurons and maintain the ratios of these parameters [5]. Our results show that such changes may shift the individual contribution of two PD neurons to the PD-phase of the pyloric rhythm altering their functionality within this rhythm. Our work paves the way towards an accessible experimental and computational framework for the analysis of the mechanisms and impact of functional variability of neurons within the neural circuits to which they belong