The Labour and Human Rights issues in Sri Lankan global supplier companies of UK multinationals: The influencing factors

This thesis focuses on analysing the labour and human rights (L&HR) issues in Sri Lankan supplier companies of UK multinationals (MNCs) and the influencing factors that shape such issues. It specifically examines the influences of global value chain (GVC) governance structures, institutional forces and legitimacy seeking intentions of MNCs on L&HR issues in garment, rubber and tea sectors. The thesis is based on three theoretical domains; Global value chain framework, Institutional theory and Legitimacy theory. It uses a qualitative research methodology discharged through three stages. First, mapping of GVCs with investigatory methods, second, a case study analysis of L&HR issues based on interviews and third, an analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports by MNCs using content analysis. Data were analysed in an evaluative manner to arrive at the findings. The findings showed that the three sectors have different GVC governance structures which influence the sector-specific L&HR issues differently. The common L&HR issues were low wages, forced labour, job insecurities and violation of freedom of association. They were found to be influenced by different levels of institutional fields in political, legal, regulatory, socio-cultural and religious aspects. CSR reporting by MNCs was found to be focussing on positive aspects (legitimising) while lacking information on fundamental L&HR issues leaving a gap between the reporting and reality. The findings reinforce and supple the concepts of the three theoretical domains. The contributions include evaluating the influence of GVC governance structures on L&HR issues, analysing L&HR issues particularly in plantation sectors in Sri Lanka and identifying the gap between CSR reporting and reality. Influences of paternalism, religious humanitarianism and religious fatalism on L&HR issues were identified too. The influential factors and their interactions are complex where GVC governance structures, institutional influences in UK and SL and legitimacy seeking behaviour of MNCs all affect workers on the ground level. The most influential factors, however, are specifically connected to local social, cultural and religious norms which seems to override the voluntary governance mechanisms of MNCs and any local laws or regulations. The thesis calls for future research and policy implications that would enable holistic and integrated approaches (at both national and transnational levels) to alleviate the L&HR issues

Assessing the Financial Vulnerability of Not-for-Profit Organisations in the Australian Aged Care Sector

This study addresses the measurement of financial vulnerability (FV) of aged care non-profit organisations (NFPs) in Australia by creating a revised multi-dimensional framework and the development of an FV index and FV scores. In addition to its methodological contribution, the study assesses the extent of FV faced by aged care NFPs, using annual reporting data collected from 200 organisations in the period from 2017 to 2019. The results suggest aged care NFPs hold a limited capacity to withstand financial shocks and provide an alarming message on the high level of FV risks faced by all NFPs. This study contributes to the literature in several ways: (1) by examining the conceptual and empirical disjuncture among the dimensions developed for measuring financial health in the NFP sector; (2) by providing evidence to the limited literature on measuring the extent of FV in the NFP sector, especially as related to the Australian aged care sector; and (3) by extending the literature on the risk associated with outsourcing public sector service delivery. Consequently, the study provides new insights to allow the Australian government to identify potential risks associated with outsourced government service delivery.   DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v08i02.12 &nbsp

Transparency and disclosure in supply chains: modern slavery and worker voice

Under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA), large British companies are required to report on their efforts to monitor and protect the labour rights of their employees and workers on an annual basis. There are however criticisms. First, there is no requirement to audit Modern Slavery statements and this raises question over the credibility of the information that companies report. Second, the MSA is a soft governance tool that allows too much reporting flexibility. While the original intention behind this was to encourage companies to get to know their supply chains in the first place and subsequently focus on improving their reporting over time, there have been general calls to tighten up the non-mandatory reporting requirements of the MSA in the hope that this would in turn result in better quality of reporting. In this report, we present the key findings for our detailed examination of the Modern Slavery Statements of the largest 100 British companies. In order to examine the statements, we devised a detailed index, based on (a) the mandatory and optional aspects of the Modern Slavery Act (2015, s. 54), (b) content recommended by CORE (2017) and (c) additional criteria based on consultation with The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, an internationally based labour rights NGO with an office in London. We focus on 6 information categories. Apart from the General Information, which covers mostly mandatory disclosures, the remaining five categories were optional under section 54. These five categories are: Organisation and Structure of Supply chains, OS; Due Diligence, DD; Risk Assessment, RA; Codes of Conduct/Policies/Strategy(ies), CPS; and Training collaboration, TC. We find that of the five non-mandatory information categories, companies prioritise reporting on two: RA procedures and DD processes These are the categories of most importance to investors. We find that any changes to reporting on these two categories are positively linked to reporting on CPS but not to those on OS and TC. While the level of reporting for all the three latter categories were lower than reporting on RA and DD, the reason why changes in CPS is closely linked those of the RA and DD lies in the way companies report to illustrate their parallel efforts to devise the necessary CPS to support the outcome of RA and facilitate the implementation of DD processes. However, the same could not be said about OS and TC. It was evident that while companies are reluctant to draw attention to potential challenges and problematic areas along their supply chains, they show limited efforts on their training programmes, raising questions over how in-depth corporate efforts have been in changing their culture on labour rights issues and/or perhaps the more serious challenges that they encounter in the process of devising training programmes. While our findings reveal an interesting reporting pattern, we can see areas that we still have very limited knowledge of before any meaningful proposals can be made to move the labour rights reporting agenda forward. We anticipate that there are complexities and challenges that companies face along their supply chains, especially in areas that are outside their national jurisdictions and where the legal framework can be either weak or non-existent and/or regional norms and cultures are in a way that can make it controversial or costly for companies to devise training programmes at local level

The Impact of Greenery in the Window View on Visual Sustained Attention with Special Reference to Classrooms of Children with Down Syndrome

One in every 700 babies worldwide is born with an intellectual disability such as Down Syndrome (DS), Autism Spectrum disorders, Cerebral Palsy etc. Architecture significantly enhances users’ development skills by leveraging the environment to fulfill their mental and psychological needs, particularly by boosting sustained attention in learning spaces. Based on existing literature, this research focused on the impact of greenery in window view of the classroom on visual sustained attention (VSA) of children with DS. Data of 19 participants (10 male, 9 female) of a selected school in the ages of 9 – 16 years (mean age – 11.42 years) was collected on existing and introduced levels of greenery in window view using three dimensional simulations and analysed. The study revealed that the introduction of 40% to 60% of greenery at far view depth (Scenario B) has a positive impact on VSA over both the existing window view (Scenario A) and the window view with 80% to 100% greenery (Scenario C). However, scenario C did not show any positive impact over scenario B as assumed. One reason for this could be the inclusion of the sky view in scenario B, and the findings indicate that introduction of greenery in the window view has a positive impact on VSA of children with DS, if the sky view is maintained. These findings can be used towards a design framework for classrooms in the future contexts of education in Sri Lanka

The prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms in patients with cancer treated in a Tertiary health care facility in Southern Sri Lanka

Depression is a common co-morbidity of cancer. Further, depression and cancer are significant public health issues. Depressive symptoms are found to cause deterioration of quality of life (QoL), leading to physical disabilities/impairments, poor drug adherence, prolonged hospitalization, shortened survival time and risk of suicides.  This study identified the prevalence of depressive symptoms and explored correlates of depressive symptoms among patients with cancer in Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted with a sample of 393 cancer patients undergoing treatment at a tertiary care hospital in Southern Sri Lanka. An interviewer-administered questionnaire and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) were used to collect information on prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms. Basic descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficients were used in the statistical analysis. The mean age of the sample was 56 ±11.9 years and 59% were women. Elevated depressive symptoms (CES-D score ≥ 16) were found in 8.4% of the patients (95% CI: 5.3%, 10.7%).  Patients who reported having any form of impairments scored high on CES-D, compared to those with no physical impairments (p < 0.01). Patients with low income as well as those with low education had higher scores in CES-D scale. Depressive symptomatology appears to be a considerable health issue in this group.  Correlates of depressive symptoms include poor income, low education level, and self-reported physical impairments; these correlates need to be considered in psychological interventions of patients with cancer.         KEYWORDS: Cancer, CES-D, depressive symptoms, impairments, Sri Lanka &nbsp

Effects of non-financial performance management and risk disclosures on not-for-profit financial vulnerability: Evidence from the Australian aged care not-for-profit sector

Research Questions: To what extent are NFPs in the Australian aged care sector engage in non-financial performance and risk disclosures in their annual reports? What is the effect of non-financial performance and risk disclosures on the extent of financial vulnerability (FV)? Motivation: Research on measuring and understanding the determinants of FV or financial crisis within the not-for-profit (NFP) sector is both scant and limited. To address these gaps in the literature, the paper investigates the extent to which NFPs in the Australian aged care sector make voluntary disclosures related to non-financial performance management (NFPM) and risk information disclosures and examined the impact of NFPM and risk disclosures on the extent of FV in the Australian aged care NFP sector. Idea: The NFPM and risk information disclosures expected to be negatively associated with FV or financial crisis. Data: Data for the study is taken from publicly available database, the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission website, and quantitative content analysis was conducted to measure the extent of non-financial disclosures using data collected from the audited annual reports issued by 200 aged care NFPs for the years 2018 and 2019. Tools: The dependent variable of this study is the extent of FV that has been measured using the proposed multi-dimensional FV framework. Descriptive statistics, such as, provides mean, median, standard deviation, maximum and minimum values to recognise nature and extent of NFPM and risk information disclosures. For the inferential statistics, the study analyses the research model using multiple regression analysis. Findings: Panel regression results indicate inadequate disclosures of NFPM, and risk information are associated with the extent of FV of NFPs in the Australian aged care sector. The study identifies that only beneficial reporting, such as NFPM reporting and beneficial risk information, helps reduce the extent of FV in the NFP sector. Contribution: the study provides novel insights into the relationship between voluntary non-financial information disclosures (i.e., disclosures of NFPM and risk information) and the extent of FV in the NFP sector. Moreover, it provides a key contribution from the NFP context by recognising a positive and significant association between voluntary risk information reporting and the extent of FV in the NFP sector

ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF LEAVES, SKIN, FLESH AND SEEDS OF SRI LANKAN VARIETY OF CUCURBITA MOSCHATA

Reactive oxygen species are continuously produced by normal physiological activities of the human body and these cause damage to the cell membrane and biomolecules and thereby resulting chronic diseases. Antioxidants are scavengers of such free radicals and could combat oxidative stress. In spite of the advances in modern medicine, plant based remedies are increasingly sort after due to their lesser side effects. The antioxidants capacity and antimicrobial properties of ethyl acetate, acetone and methanol extracts of seeds, leaves, flesh and skin of the Sri Lankan variety of Cucerbita moschata were investigate. The ethyl acetate extracts of leaves gave the highest rate of change of reducing power with concentration (0.1625 ml/mg) in Fe3+ reducing power assay and the highest hydroxyl radical activity (72.8±3.8%). The acetone extract of leaves gave the highest rate of change of radical scavenging activity with concentration (7.016 ml/mg) during DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging assay. Ethyl acetate extract of leaves also showed the highest phenolic content (42.4±2.4 mg (PGE/g)) and highest flavonoid content (40.2±0.6 mg (QE)/g). All extracts of skin and seeds as well as the methanol extract of leaves and acetone extract of flesh showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis. The three extracts of skin and the acetone extract of leaves showed antibacterial activity against the Escherichia coli

A Model Based on Mechanics to Predict Settlements in Bioreactor Landfills

Prediction of waste settlement behavior during the construction phase of a landfill is vital to effective functioning of leachate recirculation systems and gas collection pipe network, yet prediction of waste settlement is complex and difficult to perform. Few models, are currently available which can be used to calculate landfill settlement of the entire waste thickness after closure without accounting for variation in density and other parameters with depth. By starting after closure, these models do not account for settlements during construction. The use of entire depth does not allow for the calculation of strains at different depths. When landfills are operated as bioreactors, waste decomposition and gas production are accelerated making the problem more complicated. Rapid degradation results in a significant impact on waste properties, settlement and stability. Accurate prediction of this rapid change in volume is of importance in estimating airspace, planning construction sequence, designing covers as well as planning for expansions. This paper focuses on the behavior of the density and settlements of waste with time and space and proposes a new mathematical model based on mechanics which is capable of computing settlements during construction of landfills. The impact of leachate recirculation and different waste types on settlement behavior of a landfill is also accounted in the proposed model

Soil Microbial Activity with Depth in Claypan Soils of Southeast Kansas

Enzyme activities in soil indicate the relative activities of microbes, which include bacteria, fungi, algae, and other organisms. Changes in soil management alter the composition and activity of soil microbes. Plants rely on soil microbes to break down soil nutrients, and make those nutrients available for plant growth. Symbiotic relationships between soil microbes and plants enhance plant growth and productivity. Alternatively, antagonistic relationships between the soil microbial community and plants limit plant production. Soil dwellers such as nematodes or disease-causing fungi such as Macrophomina phaseolina (the fungus responsible for charcoal rot) can be particularly deleterious to crop growth and yield. Changes in the soil microbial community impact crop performance through the synergistic or antagonistic relationships between crop plants and soil biological activity. Our research is designed to explore soil microbial activity, assess changes in the potential activities of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes involved in nutrient acquisition in the soil, and determine their potential impact on the productive capacity of soil

Key Components of Healthy Soils and Their Role in Crop Production

Soil health is a confusing term that means different things to different people. To a crop producer, healthy soils are critical for good crop growth and yield. Some soil properties include soil texture, such as the relative percentage of sand, silt and clay; the water content; nutrient levels; organic carbon content; the microbial community; and microbial activity. These properties are determinants of soil health. Our research confirmed that changes in soil management affect the composition and activity of soil microorganisms in surface soils. Greater concentrations of microbial biomass and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) in the no-till agricultural system indicated healthier soils in this system. Our research also indicated microbial properties in subsurface soils were determined by parent materials and weathering