Creating Equal Opportunities: Evaluating Physical Facilities for Undergraduate Students with Special Needs

Every individual in the world desires to carry out their daily tasks with ease. The surrounding environment plays a crucial role in facilitating this. While able-bodied individuals seamlessly navigate their surroundings, people with special needs often face significant challenges in meeting their requirements. Therefore, it is essential for them to have a moral understanding of the support they receive from their environment. The main objective of this research is to investigate the available physical facilities that were provided to the visually impaired and physically disabled undergraduates by their universities. The purposive sample contained 100 differently abled undergraduates from five universities namely; Sri Jayewardenepura, Colombo, Kelaniya, Jaffna, and Eastern university. A structured interview schedule was used for data collection. According to the results, students had a certain level of awareness regarding library facilities (46%), elevator facilities (53%), cafeteria facilities (75%) and sanitary facilities (67%). They have a moderate level of satisfaction on access to the library (30%), lecture halls (22%), gymnasium (41%) and hostels (29%) at their respective universities. Results revealed that there are some issues that visually impaired students face during their education that need to be addressed. Implementing equal opportunities is essential to create a user-friendly environment at universities and hostels to provide the students a satisfactory experience during their university education in spite of the disability. DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v08i02.0

Range Extension and Vocalisation of Endangered Shrub Frog, Pseudophilautus zorro (Amphibia: Rachophoridae) in Sri Lanka

Gannoruwa shrub frog, Pseudophilautus zorro, is an endemic species known only from four locations in and around Kandy, Gannoruwa forest, home gardens in Triverton estate, Hanthana and Udawaththakele forest reserves. Despite their cryptic nature calling males are conspicuous once identified their vocalisation. Hence, we describe their vocalisation and acoustic characters. We recorded P. zorro from Hanthana (80.6141° E, 7.2497° N; 700 m a.s.l.) and measured six common call characters of 92 calls from four males. We identified four call types based on wave form structure and spectrogram. Type 1 calls were the most frequently emitted call type (93% of 518 calls recorded) having the average call duration 5.1±1.2 mili-seconds. Vocalising frequency of the species ranged between 3,100 Hz and 3,600 Hz. During our field excursions in 2014-2017, we heard similar vocalisation in two sites well away from its known range, Katugasthota (80.6199° E, 7.3302° N; 470 m a.s.l) and Ovilikanda (80.5926° E, 7.4538° E; 470 m a.s.l). We confirm the identity as P. zorro using the morphological characters. Again, on 18th September, 2014 we sighted the species during an excursion to Kukulamalpotha (80.7819° E, 7.5527° N; 460 m a.s.l) in Knuckles reserve. Since the site was very far from the known range of P. zorro, we obtained toe tips from two individuals and confirm their identity genetically by having 0% uncorrected pairwise genetic distance for 16S gene fragment (~510 bp). With three new found locations their Extent of Occurrence and Area of Occupancy has been increased by 14 times (from 20 km2 to 291 km2) and by 2 times (from 16 km2 to 28 km2) respectively. New found populations considerably expanded the species-range and the knowledge of their vocalisation can further use to explore new populations. This study confirms that P. zorro is not restricted as previously thought.Keywords: New population, Bioacoustics, Shrub frogs, Extent of occurrenc

Coastal wetlands mitigate storm flooding and associated costs in estuaries

As storm-driven coastal flooding increases under climate change, wetlands such as saltmarshes are held as a nature-based solution. Yet evidence supporting wetlands' storm protection role in estuaries—where both waves and upstream surge drive coastal flooding—remains scarce. Here we address this gap using numerical hydrodynamic models within eight contextually diverse estuaries, simulating storms of varying intensity and coupling flood predictions to damage valuation. Saltmarshes reduced flooding across all studied estuaries and particularly for the largest—100 year—storms, for which they mitigated average flood extents by 35% and damages by 37% ($8.4 M). Across all storm scenarios, wetlands delivered mean annual damage savings of$2.7 M per estuary, exceeding annualised values of better studied wetland services such as carbon storage. Spatial decomposition of processes revealed flood mitigation arose from both localised wave attenuation and estuary-scale surge attenuation, with the latter process dominating: mean flood reductions were 17% in the sheltered top third of estuaries, compared to 8% near wave-exposed estuary mouths. Saltmarshes therefore play a generalised role in mitigating storm flooding and associated costs in estuaries via multi-scale processes. Ecosystem service modelling must integrate processes operating across scales or risk grossly underestimating the value of nature-based solutions to the growing threat of storm-driven coastal flooding

Evaluating Sustainable Options for Valorization of Rice By-Products in Sri Lanka: An Approach for a Circular Business Model

Due to the significant quantities of waste generated by the Sri Lankan rice industry, circular bioeconomy methodologies were applied to examine value-adding entrepreneurial activities for rice industry by-products (RIB). The study was conceived after scouring the existing literature on agricultural waste management and interviewing experts in the field and the rice industry. In the first phase, the suitability of valorizing alternatives for RIB was considered via a multi-criteria decision-making method. Valorization options, such as biochar production, energy purposes, composting, and other activities, were evaluated using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) based on four criteria, namely environmental, social, technical, and economic issues. The results indicated that the highest priority should be given to environmental, social, and economic considerations, with local priority vectors of 0.5887, 0.2552, and 0.0955, respectively. It was found that biochar production is the optimal valorization strategy for managing RIB in Sri Lanka. From these findings, the development of a sustainable business model for making biochar out of RIB was done based on commercial motivations and value addition in biochar manufacturing processes. The Business Model Canvas elements played a vital role in categorizing and interpreting the case study data. Though the RIB seems undervalued at present, it was found that as a direct result of environmental concerns, several stakeholders have developed RIB valorization with an emphasis on bioenergy generation and biochar production. Adequate subsidies (technology and knowledge), standard regulations, more collective actions for creating economies of scale, and marketing strategies (consumer awareness) are all necessary for the successful implementation of sustainable circular business models

Finding needles in haystacks: linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi

DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Re-annotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi

Fungal diversity notes 929–1035: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungi

This article is the ninth in the series of Fungal Diversity Notes, where 107 taxa distributed in three phyla, nine classes, 31 orders and 57 families are described and illustrated. Taxa described in the present study include 12 new genera, 74 new species, three new combinations, two reference specimens, a re-circumscription of the epitype, and 15 records of sexualasexual morph connections, new hosts and new geographical distributions. Twelve new genera comprise Brunneofusispora, Brunneomurispora, Liua, Lonicericola, Neoeutypella, Paratrimmatostroma, Parazalerion, Proliferophorum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis, Septomelanconiella, Velebitea and Vicosamyces. Seventy-four new species are Agaricus memnonius, A. langensis, Aleurodiscus patagonicus, Amanita flavoalba, A. subtropicana, Amphisphaeria mangrovei, Baorangia major, Bartalinia kunmingensis, Brunneofusispora sinensis, Brunneomurispora lonicerae, Capronia camelliaeyunnanensis, Clavulina thindii, Coniochaeta simbalensis, Conlarium thailandense, Coprinus trigonosporus, Liua muriformis, Cyphellophora filicis, Cytospora ulmicola, Dacrymyces invisibilis, Dictyocheirospora metroxylonis, Distoseptispora thysanolaenae, Emericellopsis koreana, Galiicola baoshanensis, Hygrocybe lucida, Hypoxylon teeravasati, Hyweljonesia indica, Keissleriella caraganae, Lactarius olivaceopallidus, Lactifluus midnapurensis, Lembosia brigadeirensis, Leptosphaeria urticae, Lonicericola hyaloseptispora, Lophiotrema mucilaginosis, Marasmiellus bicoloripes, Marasmius indojasminodorus, Micropeltis phetchaburiensis, Mucor orantomantidis, Murilentithecium lonicerae, Neobambusicola brunnea, Neoeutypella baoshanensis, Neoroussoella heveae, Neosetophoma lonicerae, Ophiobolus malleolus, Parabambusicola thysanolaenae, Paratrimmatostroma kunmingensis, Parazalerion indica, Penicillium dokdoense, Peroneutypa mangrovei, Phaeosphaeria cycadis, Phanerochaete australosanguinea, Plectosphaerella kunmingensis, Plenodomus artemisiae, P. lijiangensis, Proliferophorum thailandicum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis kaveriana, Pseudohelicomyces menglunicus, Pseudoplagiostoma mangiferae, Robillarda mangiferae, Roussoella elaeicola, Russula choptae, R. uttarakhandia, Septomelanconiella thailandica, Spencermartinsia acericola, Sphaerellopsis isthmospora, Thozetella lithocarpi, Trechispora echinospora, Tremellochaete atlantica, Trichoderma koreanum, T. pinicola, T. rugulosum, Velebitea chrysotexta, Vicosamyces venturisporus, Wojnowiciella kunmingensis and Zopfiella indica. Three new combinations are Baorangia rufomaculata, Lanmaoa pallidorosea and Wojnowiciella rosicola. The reference specimens of Canalisporium kenyense and Tamsiniella labiosa are designated. The epitype of Sarcopeziza sicula is re-circumscribed based on cyto- and histochemical analyses. The sexual-asexual morph connection of Plenodomus sinensis is reported from ferns and Cirsium for the first time. In addition, the new host records and country records are Amanita altipes, A. melleialba, Amarenomyces dactylidis, Chaetosphaeria panamensis, Coniella vitis, Coprinopsis kubickae, Dothiorella sarmentorum, Leptobacillium leptobactrum var. calidus, Muyocopron lithocarpi, Neoroussoella solani, Periconia cortaderiae, Phragmocamarosporium hederae, Sphaerellopsis paraphysata and Sphaeropsis eucalypticola

Finding needles in haystacks: Linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi

DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Reannotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi.B.R. and C.L.S. acknowledge support from the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Library of MedicinePeer Reviewe