Attitudes of Undergraduates towards Improving English Language Skills and Influence on Business Productivity: A Case Study of Faculty of Applied Sciences, USJP.

AbstractMany large and medium scale businesses operating in Sri Lanka at present have a global aspiration. Even if a company has a domestic focus, the employee base may comprise of individuals from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Moreover, with globalization having gathered pace, the customers being those from around the world and different language originations is often inevitable and beyond the control of a business entity. Hence, there is an immense significance in the use of a common language in business interactions. English is used as a lingua franca among most of the business communities today. In this regard, it is a pre-requisite for potential employees in similar contexts to have English language competency.However, a considerable percentage of the Sri Lankan undergraduates, who will soon become internal stakeholders of various businesses have a tendency to lack the desired level of English language skills. Assessing the attitudes of undergraduates is vital in this regard. This study aims at understanding the perceptions of the undergraduates towards improving their English language skills exploring the views and practices of the undergraduates of the Faculty of Applied Sciences in the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. The study obtained primary data via observations and a questionnaire survey; a statistical analysis was carried out to analyze any gaps in the attitudes of the undergraduates. Detailed findings of the study are discussed in the research paper. The analysis revealed a clear excuse-making attitude among the undergraduates. This gap in their attitudes needs to be closed and their minds need be nurtured to achieve enhanced business productivity in the future through an employee base with improved linguistic capacity.Keywords: Business Productivity, English, Common Language, Attitudes, Undergraduate

An optimal admission control protocol for heterogeneous multicast streaming services

We investigate optimal call admission control (CAC) policy for multicast streaming services (MSS) in 3rd generation (3G) and beyond wireless mobile networks. Several MSS sessions are supported simultaneously in a bandwidth-limited network. Active sessions are those that are currently serving some users, and inactive sessions are those that are currently not serving any users. An admission decision in MSS is required only when an inactive session is requested, unlike in unicasting. For this reason, if a user request for an inactive MSS session arrives, we should make an admission decision in anticipation of (i) the possible reward earned based on users served during a session active time generated by accepting it, and (ii) the influence of the session active time upon the future status of network bandwidth and admission decisions. Our objective is to determine when to admit or block a user asking an inactive MSS session to achieve the optimality in rewards. We formulate this problem as a semi-Markov decision process (SMDP), and a value iteration algorithm is used to obtain an optimal stationary deterministic policy. We also derive the user blocking probability of the optimal policy by analyzing an embedded Markov chain induced by it.http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=26hb201

Constipation in Children: Novel Insight Into Epidemiology, Pathophysiology and Management

Constipation in children is a common health problem affecting 0.7% to 29.6% children across the world. Exact etiology for developing symptoms is not clear in children and the majority is considered to have functional constipation. Alteration of rectal and pelvic floor function through the brain-gut axis seems to play a crucial role in the etiology. The diagnosis is often a symptom-based clinical process. Recently developed Rome III diagnostic criteria looks promising, both in clinical and research fields. Laboratory investigations such as barium enema, colonoscopy, anorectal manometry and colonic transit studies are rarely indicated except in those who do not respond to standard management. Treatment of childhood constipation involves several facets including education and demystification, toilet training, rational use of laxatives for disimpaction and maintenance and regular follow-up. Surgical options should be considered only when medical therapy fails in long standing constipation. Since most of the management strategies of childhood constipation are not evidence-based, high-quality randomized controlled trials are required to assess the efficacy of currently available or newly emerging therapeutic options. Contrary to the common belief that children outgrow constipation as they grow up, a sizable percentage continue to have symptoms beyond puberty

Cyclic vomiting syndrome is a prevalent and under-recognized condition in the gastroenterology outpatient clinic

Background Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID) characterized by intermittent episodes of nausea and vomiting. Our aim was to report its prevalence and associated features. Methods Data concerning demographics, symptoms, and psychiatric comorbidity were collected. Symptoms compatible with CVS were classified as per Rome III criteria. We recorded whether a diagnosis of CVS was considered in patients after negative investigation. We compared demographics and association with other FGIDs in patients with and without CVS. Key Results 920 of 1002 patients provided data. Of the 920 patients, 112 (12.2%) had symptoms compatible with CVS. Thirteen (11.6%) of these had an organic cause for their symptoms, but 99 patients (88.4%) were deemed to have CVS (prevalence=10.8%). Organic causes for symptoms compatible with CVS included gastroparesis, large hiatus hernia, achalasia, and small bowel obstruction. Only 39.4% of patients with CVS were asked about vomiting symptoms at their initial consultation, and a diagnosis of CVS was considered in only four (4.0%) of the 99 patients. CVS was associated with younger age, tobacco smoking, never having married, psychiatric comorbidity, and presence of symptoms compatible with other FGIDs (P≤.01). Conclusions and Inferences Prevalence of CVS in this outpatient gastroenterology adult population was 10.8%. Identified associations included younger age, tobacco smoking, psychiatric comorbidity, and symptoms compatible with other FGIDs. The condition was considered as a possible diagnosis in <5% of patients who met the diagnostic criteria

Epidemiological and pathophysiological aspects of abdominal pain predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders in children and adolescents: a Sri Lankan perspective

Abdominal pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders (AP-FGIDs) are a worldwide pediatric problem with uncertain pathology. Main objectives of this thesis were to assess epidemiology, risk factors and underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of AP-FGIDs. A systematic review and meta-analysis revealed a wide variation in prevalence of IBS in Asian children (2.8% to 25.7%). An epidemiological study in Sri Lankan children revealed AP-FGIDs in 12.5%. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was the commonest AP-FGID. Constipation-predominant, diarrhea-predominant and mixed IBS had equal distributions. Intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms were common in affected children. Recognized risk factors for AP-FGIDs were female sex, exposure to stressful life events and physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Another study revealed lower HRQoL scores for physical, emotional, social and school functioning in teenagers with AP-FGIDs. Their healthcare consultation was 28%. The symptoms associated with healthcare consultation were abdominal bloating and vomiting. The lower HRQoL was an important determinant of healthcare consultation. This was more than the severity of symptoms. Using ultrasound, four studies have shown decreased gastric emptying and antral motility in children with all four types of AP-FGIDs, functional abdominal pain (FAP), IBS, functional dyspepsia (FD) and abdominal migraine (AM). Gastric emptying negatively correlated with severity of symptoms in FAP, FD and AM. Children with IBS exposed to emotional stress had a significantly lower gastric emptying rate. The relationship between abnormal motility and emotional stress suggests the possibility of altered brain-gut functions in pathogenesis

Mechanism of Interannual Cross-Equatorial Overturning Anomalies in the Pacific Ocean

Recent evidence shows that the variability of meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the Indian and Pacific Oceans (PMOC) is characterized by a prominent deep cross-equatorial cell (CEC) spanning the tropics between 20S and 20N, but the mechanism responsible for this CEC is not understood. Using version 4.2 of the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) state estimate, our investigation shows the mechanism responsible for CEC can be conceptualized by following mechanistic chain: 1) Anomalous winds produce equatorially antisymmetric anomalies of zonal mean sea surface temperature (SST) in the Pacific Ocean, 2) These temperature anomalies generate equatorially antisymmetric anomalies of sea surface height (SSH), 3) The SSH anomalies generate a cross-equatorial flow in the upper Pacific Ocean, and 4) This anomalous cross-equatorial flow in the upper layers drives compensating circulation in the deep Pacific