Aspects Associated with Nesting Ecology of Indian Blackbird (Turdus merula kinnisii) in Tropical Montane Cloud Forests of Horton Plains National Park of Sri Lanka

Breeding ecology of Indian Blackbird (Turdus merula kinnisii) was studied at the tropical montane cloud forests of Horton Plains National Park, situated in the highland plateau of the central highlands, from September 2015 to August 2018 within three consecutive days per month. This sub species is endemic to montane forests of Sri Lanka. There are two breeding seasons from March to April and August to September. There was a research gap about the breeding ecology of Blackbird in Sri Lanka. The objective was to conduct a detailed study about breeding ecology. Three habitats were selected within HPNP as cloud forest, cloud forest die-back and grassland habitat. Nests were located by following individuals and searching the vegetation. The location of the nests were marked by a GPS (Garmin eTrex 10). Tree species, nest height, diameter at breast height (DBH) was measured after the birds leaving the nest. Nest concealment, distance from the nest tree to the adjacent tree, nearest road or walking path and water source, was measured. Disturbances for the nests were observed and recorded. Nests accessible from the ground were only taken for inner nest parameters. In this study 30 nests were observed. Most of the nests were located at cloud forest habitat (n=26).They preferred seven plant species to construct their nests. Neolitsea fuscata was their major nesting plant. The nest height was 3.87±1.42 m and the nesting tree height was 7.01±1.71 m. The nests were located in the middle of the trees (relative height=0.56±0.18). Nest concealment was 14.33±4.30%. They highly preferred medium sized trees which were situated at shady habitats near water sources. The nest was a densely built cup with a volume of 936.4±157.5 cm3. Sometimes there were dummy nests around the original nest to protect from predator attacks. They spent 7 to 9 days to complete the nest. The incubation ranged from 16 to 18 days. Nestling period ranged from 13 to 15 days. The adults considered sole care of the young until it become an adult. Nesting success was 73%. Corvus splendens was recorded as the major predator. Present study reveals that cloud forest habitat as the most suitable habitat to construct the nests of Blackbird. Hence, the protection of cloud forest habitat is the assurance of their future generations.Keywords: Indian blackbird (Turdus merula kinnisii), Endemic subspecies, Tropical montane cloud forests, Horton Plains National Park, Breeding ecolog

Effects of joint orientation in tunneling

This research is focused on the effects of joint orientation with respect to the direction of tunnel axis. It is expected that the stability of surrounding rock is affected by the strike and dip of the joints and the direction of the tunnel axis, whether it is with the dip or against dip etc. similarly the spacing of joints will also affect the stability. The orientation of joints in different directions can form blocks liable to fall. The objective of this research project is to determine the degree of influence of joints' strike and dip orientation in tunneling. Field works related to this project was carried out at the Bogala Graphite Lanka Ltd. Tunnel mapping and other observations related to the project were made at 489.6m level in Bogata mine. Models were made with joint spacing of 15mm with two joint sets (joint sets parallel to tunnel axis and joint sets perpendicular to tunnel axis). Tunnels were created with 90mm diameter with dip angles of joints are 00,300,600,and 900. The tunnels models are loaded using UCS machine and observed the behavior of rock mass around the tunnels during loading. From the results the most preferable dip angle for the joint strike perpendicular to the tunnel axis would be the 900 and for the joint strike parallel to the tunnel axis would be 00

Hydrogeological condition and groundwater quality distribution in the tsunami affected Southern coastal area of Sri Lanka

Groundwater monitoring in the tsunami affected southern coastal Weligama bay area was conductedduring May 2005 to July 2006 to determine the hydrogeological conditions and groundwater quality byselecting 90 dug wells where water level, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS)and pH was measured in monthly interval. The Weligama bay area is located in latitudes and longitudesof 80°22', 5°97'. The dug wells are sunk into the permeable quaternary sand deposits in the coastalmargin at Weligama Bay area is very permeable and-hydro-geological conditions are very favorablefor saltwater intrusion.The study helped to prepare groundwater isograph map and the distribution ofEC, TDS and pH mapsusing the GIS package MAPINFO. Groundwater isograph map help to identify groundwater distributionof the coastal area of Weligama. There exist a closed relationship between topographical map &groundwater contour map.The results of the study revealed that the Electrical conductivity of well water in all wells situated inthe Tsunami affected Zone are turned to be saline (EC in average increases from 150011 Siemens perem to around 4000 ~l siemens /cm.). According to the hydrographs prepared during the study period,unconfined quaternary aquifer ground water level intimately related to atmospheric precipitation. Thecharacteristic of the hydrograph provides a conclusion, that the recharge of unconfined ground waterin quaternary aquifer takes place during the period of monsoon rain and quality of ground water dueto tsunami has not changed specially.

Multi-fingered haptic palpation utilizing granular jamming stiffness feedback actuators

This paper describes a multi-fingered haptic palpation method using stiffness feedback actuators for simulating tissue palpation procedures in traditional and in robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. Soft tissue stiffness is simulated by changing the stiffness property of the actuator during palpation. For the first time, granular jamming and pneumatic air actuation are combined to realize stiffness modulation. The stiffness feedback actuator is validated by stiffness measurements in indentation tests and through stiffness discrimination based on a user study. According to the indentation test results, the introduction of a pneumatic chamber to granular jamming can amplify the stiffness variation range and reduce hysteresis of the actuator. The advantage of multi-fingered palpation using the proposed actuators is proven by the comparison of the results of the stiffness discrimination performance using two-fingered (sensitivity: 82.2%, specificity: 88.9%, positive predicative value: 80.0%, accuracy: 85.4%, time: 4.84 s) and single-fingered (sensitivity: 76.4%, specificity: 85.7%, positive predicative value: 75.3%, accuracy: 81.8%, time: 7.48 s) stiffness feedback

Using Visual Cues to Enhance Haptic Feedback for Palpation on Virtual Model of Soft Tissue

This paper explores methods that make use of visual cues aimed at generating actual haptic sensation to the user, namely pseudo-haptics. We propose a new pseudo-haptic feedback based method capable of conveying 3D haptic information and combining visual haptics with force feedback to enhance the user’s haptic experience. We focused on an application related to tumor identification during palpation and evaluated the proposed method in an experimental study where users interacted with a haptic device and graphical interface while exploring a virtual model of soft tissue, which represented stiffness distribution of a silicone phantom tissue with embedded hard inclusions. The performance of hard inclusion detection using force feedback only, pseudo-haptic feedback only, and the combination of the two feedbacks were compared with the direct hand touch. The combination method and direct hand touch had no significant difference in the detection results. Compared with the force feedback alone, our method increased the sensitivity by 5%, the positive predictive value by 4%, and decreased detection time by 48.7%. The proposed methodology has great potential for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery and in all applications where remote haptic feedback is needed

Social capital improvement for protected area management: A study with regarded to Hurulu International Biosphere Reserve.

Recent years, there was a rapid growth of interest in the term social capital in biodiversity conservation as well as protected area management. Hence, this study was conducted to examine existing social networks, to find out how social capital contributes to alleviate poverty and to identify the issues related to social capital improvement related to peripheral communities in “Hurulu” forest in Sri Lanka.The study was carried out in  Habarana  GN division in  Polonnaruwa  district during May to October in 2011. One hundred and fourteen households were selected by using simple random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics as well as developed indices such as poverty and social capital were  used to analysis the data. Out  of  16 functioning societies, seven were active and prominent. Functions of these societies were loans providing, act as an intermediate, provide materials and trainings, help to funeral occasions, protect the “Hurulu”  forest reserve, and maintaining community places.  Maranadara  and Buddhist societies were the most important and strong networks in this area. Some rural societies were not function well.The poverty index for Habarana  GN division was 24.79. Most of organizations were recorded high social capital index, indicating about high potential of poverty alleviation. Based on the findings, social capital is correlated with age and health of the members. The obstacles such as lack of awareness about the importance of the rural societies,  weak governance system, and bureaucratic nature were identified for development of social capital. Increasing social capital is caused to reduce external pressure on protected area as well as increasing local people involvement in conservation management.Key words: Social capital, Hurulu, biosphere reserve, poverty, index, protected area

Synchronizing and protection relay for distributed generators

This document contains an introduction about our final year project which is synchronizing and protection relay for distributed generators. The design procedure, current results and further enhancements are also included in this document

Effects of joint orientation in tunneling

This research is focused on the effects of joint orientation with respect to the direction of tunnel axis. It is expected that the stability of surrounding rock is affected by the strike and dip of the joints and the direction of the tunnel axis, whether it is with the dip or against dip etc. similarly the spacing of joints will also affect the stability. The orientation of joints in different directions can form blocks liable to fall. The objective of this research project is to determine the degree of influence of joints' strike and dip orientation in tunneling. Field works related to this project was carried out at the Bogala Graphite Lanka Ltd. Tunnel mapping and other observations related to the project were made at 489.6m level in Bogata mine. Models were made with joint spacing of 15mm with two joint sets (joint sets parallel to tunnel axis and joint sets perpendicular to tunnel axis). Tunnels were created with 90mm diameter with dip angles of joints are 00,300,600,and 900. The tunnels models are loaded using UCS machine and observed the behavior of rock mass around the tunnels during loading. From the results the most preferable dip angle for the joint strike perpendicular to the tunnel axis would be the 900 and for the joint strike parallel to the tunnel axis would be 00