British Administration in the Kandyan Provinces of Sri Lanka, 1815-1833, With Special Reference to Social Change.

The main theme of this study is an examination of the impact of political change on the Kandyan socio-economic and political system, with particular attention to the manner in which that system was subject to a gradual weakening under British rule from 1815 to 1833. For a better understanding of the main issues examined later, the first chapter analyses the nature of the traditional Kandyan socioeconomic and political system. Chapter two examines the cession of the Kandyan Kingdom to the British in 1815. The collaboration of the Kandyan nobility with the British ended in a rebellion in 1817-18, the suppression of which resulted in weakening the position of the nobles and established British power on firmer grounds. The corresponding administrative changes, which are examined in chapter three, created dual structures. However, the British administrative superstructure gradually penetrated the indigenous administrative system. Chapter four examines British economic policy. The regularization of the taxation system disturbed the traditional land tenure system and extensive utilization of raiakariya resulted in much oppression for the inhabitants. The opening of coffee plantations - a new phenomenon in the economic field - involved a dichotomous development in the Kandyan economy. The next chapter concentrates on British social policy. Although the British tended to protect many Kandyan social institutions on political grounds, the overall effect of their administration was to weaken them. The last chapter examines the manner in which the Colebrooke-Cameron reforms further promoted the developments and changes which were already taking place in the Kandyan society. In the conclusion, the changes that the Kandyan society underwent during this period are analysed in a more general context, particularly as one stage of a process of modernization under the impact of colonial rule

Determinants of Student Performance in an Undergraduate Financial Accounting Class

This study investigates the effects of class size, high school accounting, aptitude and attitude on learning , measured by the difference between post-test and pre-test scores, in an undergraduate financial accounting class, after controlling for students' major and semester level. Statistical analysis showed that scores of students in small classes improved by 48%, while scores of students in the large classes improved by 6% percent, implying a decline in learning by 88% by shifting to larger classes. High school accounting was found to improve pre- and post-test scores but the improvement on their post-test scores was significantly lower, implying a diminishing effect of high school accounting on performance as the complexity of the course material increases. We also found that midterm grade (aptitude) and changes in perception about the relevance of the class on business-related issues (attitude) motivate learning.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Forty Years of Distance Education: Challenges and implications at the Open University of Sri Lanka

Commencing its activities in 1980, the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) has expanded over the years embracing emerging technologies periodically, undergoing a series of technological adoptions gradually through Generations of Distance Education (GDE). The aim of this study is to assess the current status of OUSL, based on Taylor’s conceptual framework of GDE, identify the challenges faced during these technological transformations, and how those challenges were mitigated during its forty years of existence as a single-mode national open and distance learning university in Sri Lanka. This study employs a qualitative research design based on reflective practices of the researchers, narrative accounts of past decision makers, reflections of academics and administrators, and cross-referenced with documentary evidences. The findings show how the OUSL has advanced towards the fifth GDE, amidst challenges and finally propose mitigation strategies that would be useful for future technological interventions

Selection of the Optimal Personalized Treatment from Multiple Treatments with Right-censored Multivariate Outcome Measures

We propose a novel personalized concept for the optimal treatment selection for a situation where the response is a multivariate vector, that could contain right-censored variables such as survival time. The proposed method can be applied with any number of treatments and outcome variables, under a broad set of models. Following a working semiparametric Single Index Model that relates covariates and responses, we first define a patient-specific composite score, constructed from individual covariates. We then estimate conditional means of each response, given the patient score, correspond to each treatment, using a nonparametric smooth estimator. Next, a rank aggregation technique is applied to estimate an ordering of treatments based on ranked lists of treatment performance measures given by conditional means. We handle the right-censored data by incorporating the inverse probability of censoring weighting to the corresponding estimators. An empirical study illustrates the performance of the proposed method in finite sample problems. To show the applicability of the proposed procedure for real data, we also present a data analysis using HIV clinical trial data, that contained a right-censored survival event as one of the endpoints

Multi-beam 4 GHz Microwave Apertures Using Current-Mode DFT Approximation on 65 nm CMOS

A current-mode CMOS design is proposed for realizing receive mode multi-beams in the analog domain using a novel DFT approximation. High-bandwidth CMOS RF transistors are employed in low-voltage current mirrors to achieve bandwidths exceeding 4 GHz with good beam fidelity. Current mirrors realize the coefficients of the considered DFT approximation, which take simple values in $\{0, \pm1, \pm2\}$ only. This allows high bandwidths realizations using simple circuitry without needing phase-shifters or delays. The proposed design is used as a method to efficiently achieve spatial discrete Fourier transform operation across a ULA to obtain multiple simultaneous RF beams. An example using 1.2 V current-mode approximate DFT on 65 nm CMOS, with BSIM4 models from the RF kit, show potential operation up to 4 GHz with eight independent aperture beams.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, In: IEEE International Microwave Symposium 201

Group testing models with unknown link function

Group testing through the use of pooling has proven to be an efficient method of reducing the time and cost associated with screening for a binary characteristic of interest such as infection status. A topic of key interest in this area involves the development of regression models that relate the individual level covariates to the binary pool testing responses. The research in this area has primarily focused on parametric regression models. In this poster, we will introduce a new estimation method which can handle multi-dimensional covariates while assuming the link is unknown. The asymptotic properties of our estimators are also presented. We investigate the performance of our method through simulation and by applying it to a hepatitis data set obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey