Factors Influence on Changes of Population Growth in Sri Lanka: From 1970 to 2019

This research held in Sri Lanka since the population growth has changed during 1970 – 2019 period due to various factors. Factors influence on changes of population growth rate in any country is caused to create social and economic problems. Then, if it has changed what factors are influencing, should be studied. Therefore, this research aims to identify the reasonable factors behind the changes in Sri Lankan population growth rate through around a half-century. Secondary data from the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) and annual data from 1970 to 2019 from official websites of the United Nations were used for the main analysis. Data processing and analysis were performed by using descriptive-quantitative method and multiple regression analysis. The result of this research indicates that changes of population growth rate in Sri Lanka is significantly affected by crude birth rate, crude death rate and infant mortality rate. The multiple regression analysis had fitted a good model that explains 95.5 percent of total variability of the population growth rate. The findings show that the decline of the population growth rate was highly influenced by the decline of the crude birth rate. Therefore, the researcher recommends that Sri Lankan government should take an action to aware of the people to increasing the fertility rate of Sri Lanka. It should be implemented awareness programs related to fertility and reproductive health among both males and females in reproductive age groups and make policies to re-structure the education system in Sri Lanka.  KEYWORDS: Factors Influence, Population growth rate, Crude birth rate, Crude death rate, Infant mortality rat

Use of the BT2 water line list to determine the rotational temperature and H2O column density of the circumstellar envelope on five dates

BT2 is the most accurate and complete synthetic water line list in existence; it includes over 505 million transitions. BT2 spectra generated at various temperatures and column densities were fitted to observed H band spectra of V838 Mon recorded on 5 dates between 20 Nov. 2002 and 25 Dec. 2004. Five absorption features in the observed spectra were identified as being due to water. With one exception, where there was a single strong water line, all of the featues were blends of water lines. 17 individual water lines were assigned and the rotational temperatures and H2O column densities of the circumstellar ejected envelope were determined for each of the five dates

DETERMINANTS OF THE ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGY BASED SELF-BANKING SYSTEM - EVIDENCE FROM SRI LANKA

Banking industry is a crucial industry in the Sri Lankan economy. With the development of technology, the self-banking concept has been introduced in the island and it has now become an integral part to both customers as well as the banking institutions. Therefore, this study focused on the determinants of the technology based self-banking system in Sri Lanka. The main objective of the study was to identify whether usefulness, ease of use, risk and contribution of banking institutions can be a determinant on the adoption of the self-banking system in Sri Lanka. This research tries to make an extension to the Technology Acceptance Model introduced by Davis, (1989). The quantitative data were gathered using a structured questionnaire and the sample size was 164. Cluster sampling was used. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analytical methods were applied to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that there was a moderately high level of self-banking adoption. Furthermore, there is a significantly strong positive relationship between perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use with the adoption of self-banking, while the risk and contribution of banking institutions imply a weak positive relationship with the adoption of self-banking. On one hand, the Multiple regression analysis recognized that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are significant determinants for the adoption of self-banking. On the other hand, the risk and contribution of banking institutions do not determine cause of adoption of self-banking. Moreover, usefulness determines the increment in the adoption level of customers more than the ease of use. According to the results of the study, it can be suggested to the banking authorities to build and maintain self-banking technologies in a way that they would increase the usefulness to the customers.   Keywords: Self-banking, Self-service banking, Technology Acceptance Mode

Social Capital and Access to Credit by Farmer Based Organizations in the Karaga District of Northern Ghana

Farmer Based Organization (FBO) is one of the key support service actors in agricultural value chains in developing economies. The dimensions of the FBOs that constitute social capital and how they enhance access to credit are the concern of this study.  Information was collected from 210 FBO members and non-members in the Karaga district of Northern Ghana, where FBO activities and agricultural credit services have increased in the last decade. The analytical methods used include principal component analysis-PCA and logistic regression analysis (logit model). The major finding was that the dimensions of social capital such as homogeneity, network connection, level of trust, collective action and the respect for contract had positive significant effect on access to credit. Given the positive effect of the FBOs’ social capital on access to credit, it is recommended that FBO members should make conscious effort to strengthen their FBOs along the social capital dimensions. Officers of financial service organizations tasked to prime FBOs for agricultural credit programs should prime them based on these dimensions. Keywords: social capital dimensions, FBOs, access to credit, social network

Unraveling the Infrared Transient VVV-WIT-06: The Case for the Origin as a Classical Nova

Indexación: Scopus.E.Y.H. acknowledges the support provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-1613472 and by the Florida Space Grant Consortium. L.G. acknowledges support from the FINCA visitor programme. The research work at the Physical Research Laboratory is funded by the Department of Space, Government of India. Facility: Magellan: Baade(FIRE).The enigmatic near-infrared transient VVV-WIT-06 underwent a large-amplitude eruption of unclear origin in 2013 July. Based on its light curve properties and late-time post-outburst spectra, various possibilities have been proposed in the literature for the origin of the object, namely a Type I supernova, a classical nova (CN), or a violent stellar merger event. We show that, of these possibilities, an origin in a CN outburst convincingly explains the observed properties of VVV-WIT-06. We estimate that the absolute K-band magnitude of the nova at maximum was M k = -8.2 ±0.5, its distance d = 13.35 ±2.18 kpc, and the extinction A v = 15.0 ±0.55 mag. © 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aae5d

Predicting initial client engagement with community mental health services by routinely measured data

Engagement is a determinant of how well a person will respond to professional input. This study investigates whether, in practice, routinely measured data predict initial client engagement with community mental health services. Engagement, problem severity, client characteristics, and duration before the first contact were measured at team entrance with clients (n = 529) of three community mental health teams. Regression analysis was used to predict engagement. Gender, age, referrer, having children, having a partner, and ethnicity showed a minor relationship with engagement. Higher problem severity measured by the team members with the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales, being referred for having psychiatric problems and/or causing severe and long-lasting trouble (as ‘assessed’ by the often non-professional referrer), and a longer duration between enrollment and the first conversation with a client, were indicative for a lower engagement. The final model explained 19.2 % of the variance in engagement. It can be concluded that initial client engagement with community mental health services can be predicted, in part, by routinely measured data. The findings can be used by community mental healthcare teams to create an awareness system

Recovery in supported accommodations:A scoping review and synthesis of interventions for people with severe mental illness

Research on the recovery domains beside clinical recovery of people with severe mental illness in need of supported accommodations is limited. The aim of this study was (1) to investigate which recovery interventions exist for this group of people and (2) to explore the scientific evidence. We conducted a scoping review, including studies with different designs, evaluating the effectiveness the recovery interventions available. The search resulted in 53 eligible articles of which 22 focused on societal recovery, six on personal recovery, five on functional recovery, 13 on lifestyle-interventions, and seven on creative and spiritual interventions. About a quarter of these interventions showed added value and half of them initial promising results. The research in this area is still limited, but a number of recovery promoting interventions on other areas than clinical recovery have been developed and evaluated. Further innovation and research to strengthen and repeat the evidence are needed

Regulation of Iron-Related Molecules In the Rat Hippocampus: Sex- and Age-Associated Differences

Iron accumulation, especially that of free oxidized ferrous iron, has been shown to induce tissue oxidative damage and contribute to brain aging and the development of neurodegenerative disease. Here we examine whether sex and advanced age affect the expression of iron-related molecules that participate in regulating free iron levels (heme oxygenase I (HOI), iron-regulatory protein I (IRPI), and ferritin heavy chain (FTH)) and whether changes in the expression of these molecules are associated with differences in the expression of alpha-synuclein (ASN) which is thought to be a critical regulator in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration. Using a well-established aging animal model, we demonstrate that the expression of HOI, FTH, and IRPI mRNAs is higher in the female hippocampus than that observed in male Fischer 344/NNiaHSD x Brown Norway/BiNia (F344BN) rats, regardless of age group. Consistent with these sexassociated alterations in iron-related regulators, the expression of ASN mRNA and protein in the female hippocampus was lower than that found in male rats. These results suggest a sex-dependent difference in regulating the expression of molecules involved in iron metabolism and neurodegeneration. A similar finding in humans, if present, may help to shed light on why sex may affect the incidence of neurodegenerative disorders