Nutritive Value and Silage Quality in Fodder Sorghum (\u3cem\u3eSorghum bicolor\u3c/em\u3e), Maize (\u3cem\u3eZea mays\u3c/em\u3e) and Hybrid Napier (\u3cem\u3ePennisetum americarnum\u3c/em\u3e × \u3cem\u3eP. purpureum\u3c/em\u3e) Grown in Sri Lanka

For continuous genetic improvement of cows, nutrition and management conditions should be improved to allow cow to produce its inherited potential production. However, many farmers not pay desired attention on forage quality and one of the main reasons for the low productivity of dairy cattle is under nutrition. Therefore, production of high quality fodder varieties is vital for strengthening the dairy sector in Sri Lanka. Hybrid Napier var. CO-3 is widely used for cattle feeding in Sri Lanka. It is important to find out other forage varieties with maximum nutritive values and minimum anti-nutritive factors which can be used as a cattle feed. Sorghum is a crop for semi-arid regions in tropical and sub-tropical zones which can be grown successfully throughout the country both under irrigated and rain-fed conditions. In addition, it has shown a huge potential to produce high green fodder yields. Maize is one of the most important plants grown for fodder production in the world. It possesses most of the characteristics of an ideal type of fodder and forage plant. Hence, this field research was conducted to investigate the possibilities in use of fodder Sorghum var. sugargraze and Maize var. pacific 984 as green fodder and/or silage in Sri Lank

Effects of recreational camping on the environmental values of national parks in Sri Lanka

Camping is a popular activity in the contemporary nature-based tourism domain and rapidly gaining momentum as a key recreational activity in Sri Lanka’s national parks (NPs). Recreational uses such as camping in natural areas can induce significant and often localised resource impacts that can affect soil, vegetation, wildlife and water, with the severity of such impacts varying according to the intensity of use. Hence, monitoring of the biophysical conditions of campsites has become an important component in the reserve management agenda in many places, especially in developed countries. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the biophysical impacts associated with the recreation ecology of camping in Sri Lanka. Ten campsites from three dry zone NPs were selected to assess biophysical impacts of camping activities. Field measurements were based on the fixed radial transect method. Gathered data included the total area of the campsite, erosion potential measured as the area of exposed soil (devoid of vegetation or organic litter), number of exposed roots and human damage to trees, number of fireplaces/ fire scars on the ground, visual counts of litter, soil compaction measured by penetrometer, loss of woody debris. This study reports significant levels of environmental degradation related to all the indictors of biophysical impacts at both high and low use campsites. There was no evidence for any difference in the level of environmental degradation associated with high and low use campsites. The loss of natural values associated with campsites negatively impacted visitors’ nature-based experience. These findings highlight the importance of managing biophysical impacts in campsites to provide a high-quality visitor experience, while sustainably managing tourism activities in NPs

Evaluation of Community Resilience Aspects of Sri Lankan Coastal Districts

This research is carried out to evaluate important community resilience aspects of coastal districts in Sri Lanka and to provide suitable recommendations to strengthen them. After carrying out an indepth literature survey and interviewing key personnel who are involved in the field of Disaster Management and Disaster Risk Reduction, existing status of the coastal hazards, multi-hazard assessments, early warning mechanisms, national policies, guidelines and efforts and regional cooperation were identified. During the literature survey, it was observed that Sri Lanka has developed a Hazard profile for the country and has an Early Warning Dissemination System which seems to function quite well by the book. What is more, the country is in the process of orienting the existing national policies and guidelines with the post 2015 global standards such as the Sendai framework and Sustainable Development Goals. Sri Lanka being a member of Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) and Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) depicts that the country has a good regional cooperation in terms of Early Warning. Even though Sri Lanka lacks efficient and sustainable resilience mechanisms focused on the coastal communities, national efforts are underway to build up the coastal resilience. Training and public awareness campaigns, efficient funds, properly maintained hierarchy and concern to the coastal ecosystems are some of the enablers identified in this study which are associated in building coastal resilience. Developing and updating a multi-hazard map, improving the interagency cooperation and driving towards a people-centred Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS) are some of the recommendations given after the analysi

PREDICTIve MODELS FOR MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW) GENERATION AND COMPOSITION

To develop an effective municipal solid waste management strategy for a givencommunity, it is essential to know the amount of waste generated and the composition of',the waste stream at a given time and to identify a mechanism for reliable estimation offuture waste quantities and compositions. It has been shown in literature that the amountof waste generated in a country is proportional to its population and the mean livingstandards of the people or their income in addition to many other demographic factorsThis paper presents the findings of a study carried out in a suburban Municipal area inSri Lanka to develop a predictive model to estimate waste generation patterns at a giventime. Here, an attempt was made to analyse the quantity and composition of wastegeneration in a sample of households in the study area over a time period and relate thisto various demographic factors. Over 300 households were studied for this purpose.Through regression analysis the ,amount of waste and waste composition was related tothe demographic factors. It describes the basis for the sample selection, socio-economicparameters used for modeling and the methodology adopted for effective data collection.Stratified random sampling methodology based on Municipal wards and property valuewas used for the data collection. A technique that consider both the number ofhouseholds in a particular income group (property value range) and the standarddeviation of property values within a given income group was used to determine theappropriate sample sizes for each municipal ward.The per-capita waste generation and average composition of waste generated werederived by analysing descriptive statistics. Organic waste constitutes the largestcomponent of the generated waste in the area and regression analysis shows that the percapitageneration of organic waste per day in kg decreases as the number of persons perhousehold increases. It is also shown that the generation of organic and paper waste perhousehold very clearly increases with the increase in property value.

First results from the VIRIAL survey: the stellar content of UVJUVJ-selected quiescent galaxies at 1.5<z<21.5 < z < 2 from KMOS

We investigate the stellar populations of 25 massive, galaxies ($\log[M_\ast/M_\odot] \geq 10.9$) at $1.5 < z < 2$ using data obtained with the K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS) on the ESO VLT. Targets were selected to be quiescent based on their broadband colors and redshifts using data from the 3D-HST grism survey. The mean redshift of our sample is $\bar{z} = 1.75$, where KMOS YJ-band data probe age- and metallicity-sensitive absorption features in the rest-frame optical, including the $G$ band, Fe I, and high-order Balmer lines. Fitting simple stellar population models to a stack of our KMOS spectra, we derive a mean age of $1.03^{+0.13}_{-0.08}$ Gyr. We confirm previous results suggesting a correlation between color and age for quiescent galaxies, finding mean ages of $1.22^{+0.56}_{-0.19}$ Gyr and $0.85^{+0.08}_{-0.05}$ Gyr for the reddest and bluest galaxies in our sample. Combining our KMOS measurements with those obtained from previous studies at $0.2 < z < 2$ we find evidence for a $2-3$ Gyr spread in the formation epoch of massive galaxies. At $z < 1$ the measured stellar ages are consistent with passive evolution, while at $1 < z \lesssim2$ they appear to saturate at $\sim$1 Gyr, which likely reflects changing demographics of the (mean) progenitor population. By comparing to star-formation histories inferred for "normal" star-forming galaxies, we show that the timescales required to form massive galaxies at $z \gtrsim 1.5$ are consistent with the enhanced $\alpha$-element abundances found in massive local early-type galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Policy conflict analysis for diffserv quality of service management

Policy-based management provides the ability to (re-)configure differentiated services networks so that desired Quality of Service (QoS) goals are achieved. This requires implementing network provisioning decisions, performing admission control, and adapting bandwidth allocation to emerging traffic demands. A policy-based approach facilitates flexibility and adaptability as policies can be dynamically changed without modifying the underlying implementation. However, inconsistencies may arise in the policy specification. In this paper we provide a comprehensive set of QoS policies for managing Differentiated Services (DiffServ) networks, and classify the possible conflicts that can arise between them. We demonstrate the use of Event Calculus and formal reasoning for the analysis of both static and dynamic conflicts in a semi-automated fashion. In addition, we present a conflict analysis tool that provides network administrators with a user-friendly environment for determining and resolving potential inconsistencies. The tool has been extensively tested with large numbers of policies over a range of conflict types

Household packaging waste management

Household packaging waste (HPW) has an important environmental impact and economic relevance. Thus there are networks of collection points (named “ecopontos” in Portugal) where HPW may be deposited for collection by waste management companies. In order to optimize HPW logistics, accurate estimates of the waste generation rates are needed to calculate the number of collections required for each ecoponto in a given period of time. The most important factors to estimate HPW generation rates are linked to the characteristics of the population and the social and economic activities around each ecoponto location. We developed multiple linear regression models and artificial neural networks models to forecast the number of collections per year required for each location. For operational short term planning purposes, these forecasts need to be adjusted for seasonality in order to determine the required number of collections for the relevant planning period. In this paper we describe the methodology used to obtain these forecasts.This research has been partially supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Water Quality in Selected Locations of the Kalu Ganga

Out of the 103 rivers in the country Kalu Ganga is one of the main rivers in Sri Lanka with a length of 129km and a drainage area of 2720 km2. It has the highest discharge volume with a mean annual discharge volume to sea totaling to 8183 mcm.  Kalu Ganga originates from the central hills of mountain Sri Pada situated 2100 m above sea level and falls to the sea in Kalutara.The purpose of this research is to analyze the current water quality situation of the Kalu Ganga River and its suitability for  human consumption purposes (by comparing with the CEA and SLS standards). It is also the purpose of this research to locate the areas where the river is exposed to massive degradation in water quality and identify the main sources of pollution in those areas.The research study was conducted in the middle and lower reaches of the Kalu Ganga basin. The study was conducted in two phases, the feasibility phase and the detail phase. The water quality of the river was tested using physical, chemical and biological parameters. The water samples from the relevant sampling points were obtained and analyzed in the period between February 2012 and August 2012. For the feasibility study, 13 sampling locations were selected along the main river and at locations where certain tributaries fall to the main river. The sampling points were in a stretch from Ratnapura to Kalutara with approximate distance of about 6-8 km from each sampling point to another. The sampling points for the feasibility study was selected based on  criteria such as regional population, land use pattern along the river basin, water intake points of the NWS&amp;DB and previous studies. The parameters tested in the feasibility study were temperature, turbidity, TDS, E. Conductivity, pH, Chloride, Floride, Nitrate, Nitrite, Sulphate, Total Iron, Total Phosphate, Total hardness, Alkalinity, Heavy Metals, COD, BOD, DO, Total coli form and  E.coli.  The detail study was conducted based on the results of the feasibility study.Based on the results obtained the temperature of the river had an average value of 24̊   C and the pH values were within the range allowed in the CEA standard in most of the locations. The DO levels of the water was greater than the standard values while the BOD values in the river was lower than the standard value prescribed by the CEA standards. The COD values were comparatively higher in the river outfall (46.2mg/l) and in the Nathupana bridge (14.4mg/l) due to the industries located in the surrounding area, but the values were within the standard prescribed by the CEA. The river was not polluted much with the presence of heavy metals. The total coliform count was well below the standard level, while the fecal coliform count was above the standard level especially during the high flow period mainly in sampling points near tributaries. Based on the results obtained from the feasibility study it was decided to concentrate the detail study in the lower reaches of the middle basin and the lower basin of the main river. The sampling points were  located in areas from Horana to Kalutara. When selecting sampling points major effluent discharging industries in the river basin were selected as additional sampling points, to identify the affect of the final effluent on the water quality of the river. In total 11 sampling points were selected for the detail study. In the detail study certain parameters tested in the feasibility study was excluded due to tested results being lower than the minimum allowable levels in the standards. New parameters were included in the detail study based on the industries selected. The newly included parameters were free ammonia, color, sulphides, TOC, oil and grease, surfactants, phenolitic compounds and PAH.Keywords: Water quality, BOD, COD, industry effluent

The KMOS^3D Survey: design, first results, and the evolution of galaxy kinematics from 0.7<z<2.7

We present the KMOS^3D survey, a new integral field survey of over 600 galaxies at 0.7<z<2.7 using KMOS at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The KMOS^3D survey utilizes synergies with multi-wavelength ground and space-based surveys to trace the evolution of spatially-resolved kinematics and star formation from a homogeneous sample over 5 Gyrs of cosmic history. Targets, drawn from a mass-selected parent sample from the 3D-HST survey, cover the star formation-stellar mass ($M_*$) and rest-frame $(U-V)-M_*$ planes uniformly. We describe the selection of targets, the observations, and the data reduction. In the first year of data we detect Halpha emission in 191 $M_*=3\times10^{9}-7\times10^{11}$ Msun galaxies at z=0.7-1.1 and z=1.9-2.7. In the current sample 83% of the resolved galaxies are rotation-dominated, determined from a continuous velocity gradient and $v_{rot}/\sigma>1$, implying that the star-forming 'main sequence' (MS) is primarily composed of rotating galaxies at both redshift regimes. When considering additional stricter criteria, the Halpha kinematic maps indicate at least ~70% of the resolved galaxies are disk-like systems. Our high-quality KMOS data confirm the elevated velocity dispersions reported in previous IFS studies at z>0.7. For rotation-dominated disks, the average intrinsic velocity dispersion decreases by a factor of two from 50 km/s at z~2.3 to 25 km/s at z~0.9 while the rotational velocities at the two redshifts are comparable. Combined with existing results spanning z~0-3, disk velocity dispersions follow an approximate (1+z) evolution that is consistent with the dependence of velocity dispersion on gas fractions predicted by marginally-stable disk theory.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, 1 Appendix; Accepted to ApJ November 2