E- Learning in Higher Education Institutions and Its Determinants

In the knowledge era, the e-learning has become vital. E-learning incorporates numerous tools that provide academic institutions efficient and effective ways to store, manage, share its academic resources and knowledge and supplement their traditional way of teaching. The adoption of e-learning has become a requirement at universities as it is enhancing the teaching and learning environment.The students’ viewpoints, lecturers’ performance, characteristics of LMS and support of university that play a significant role in determining e-learning implementation. In conclusion, universities should support e-learning deployment through improving learners’ viewpoints, must ensure that lecturers are entirely on board regarding the implementation of e-learning, should guarantee the quality of the utilized system, must highlight the importance of LMS on curriculum and provide good enough service for effective LMS implementation in blended learning environment. Keywords: E-Learning, Blended Learning, Determinants of E-Learnin

Introducing dental students to e-learning at a South African University

This article serves to report on the introduction of an innovative ‘blended learning’ approach in the Paediatric Dentistry Department at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Cape Town, South Africa. This intervention was the first of its kind to be introduced at UWC’s dentistry faculty. Methods Educational resources were placed online to supplement didactic and clinical teaching and in so-doing, compensate for the lack of chair side teaching. An online learning platform was thus provided for students to engage with. Results Forty-seven percent of students accessed the site. The evaluation of the course by these 4th and 5th year students was mostly positive. Students who did not access the site provided a variety of reasons for not doing so, with the main reasons being the ‘lack of time’ (40%) and ‘lack of IT resources’ (41%). Conclusion This intervention highlighted the fact that ‘blended learning’ definitely has its place in the dentistry curriculum, especially if minor issues like access to resources can be addressed. The Paediatric Dentistry department at the University of Western Cape is continually pursuing current trends in teaching to provide an education that is on par with global standards

Undergraduates’ Use Behavior of Learning Management Systems: A Sri Lankan Perspective

This research aims to explore the perceptions of students in using Learning Management System (LMS) in order to enhance the learning process of students, especially those undergraduates in government universities in Sri Lanka. Almost all government universities in Sri Lanka have implemented LMS for students to make their learning process interactive and engaging. These higher educational institutions have made considerable amount of investments in terms of finance and other resources, but the benefits enjoyed by these institutions and student are far below expectations unless the usage of such systems are made compulsory. Therefore, although many studies have been conducted overseas, it is of high recognition that a study is very much needed to understand the reason(s) for low usage by students in Sri Lankan free education context. Quantitative study based on self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted. Out of the 15 government universities in Sri Lanka, 03 were selected. Results from 344 valid responses reveals that Attitude, Experience and Anxiety significantly influence the students’ use behaviour of LMS in Sri Lankan universities, while Efficacy and Collaboration do not have any impact. The research identifies what factors would influence these students’ use behaviour of LMS in state universities. Variables Students’ Attitude towards LMS, Efficacy, Experience, Anxiety and Collaboration with Lecturers and Students are considered to be the predictor variables and their influence and impact on Use Behaviour of LMS (predicted variable) is studied. Keywords:Undergraduates’ Perspectives, Learning Management Systems, Use Behaviour, Sri Lankan Universities

HINOKITIOL-AMELIORATED DIETHYLNITROSAMINE-INDUCED HEPATOCARCINOGENESIS THROUGH ANTIOXIDANT MECHANISM IN RATS: IN VITRO AND IN VIVO STUDY

Objective: Chemoprevention seems to be the best strategy for lowering the incidence of liver cancer. Therefore, this study has been initiated to investigate the hinokitiol (HIOL) supplementation which could prevent oxidative stress induced by hepatocarcinogen, diethylnitrosamine (DEN) in rats.Methods: The biochemical parameters such as tissue damaging enzymes, namely, alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and attack-free period and enzymatic antioxidants, namely, glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and histopathological changes were estimated.Results: DEN-treated rats shows increased ALT, ALP, and AST and decreased GSH, GST, CAT, GPx, GR, and SOD activities in liver tissues. The DEN-treated group (200 mg/kg body weight single intraperitoneal injection) with phenobarbital 0.05% orally showed the severe histopathological lesions in liver tissue. Whereas, the groups received HIOL along with DEN shown a comparatively lesser damage. Here, the HIOL supplementation ameliorated the biochemical parameters as well as evoked enzymatic antioxidants in DEN-induced rats to the control values.Conclusion: The HIOL possesses potent antioxidant property, in this credence to that conception, the treatment with HIOL may prevent the development of chemical-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in rats by free radical scavenging mechanism

School teachers’ intention to use E-Learning systems in Sri Lanka: a modified tam approach

Rapid expansion of Internet technology has made the human life much easier and efficient and also heavily influence in any business activity; education sector is not an exception to this. Governments of all countries have now started to pay attention to deliver education at more convenient method; one of them is the use of technology called e-learning (electronic learning). Success of such effort by such governments and educational institutions are very much dependent on the acceptance of the system by its direct users. When it comes to the acceptance of technology, maturing stage is seen in developed countries to study the factors influencing such acceptance however a little is known about developing countries, in the case of Sri Lanka little. This study aims to address this gap by delineating the factors influencing teachers’ intention to use e-learning systems in Sri Lankan school. This study deployed Technology Adoption Model (TAM) and did an amendment to fit Sri Lankan context and found that Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use and Facilitating Condition are positively and significantly influencing such intention

Small and medium entrepreneurs’ perspective on E-commerce in eastern province of Sri Lanka

Even though there is a rapid development of social commerce, developing countries are still confronted by infrastructural and cultural issues related to the acceptance of e-commerce. Since Sri Lanka is a developing country, the acceptance of e-commerce by the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is still in challenge by such barriers; it is now applying models for the acceptance of new technologies by SMEs. The paper aims to discuss these types of issues. This research study is endeavoring to develop a model, with the ideas of existing models on e-commerce, which will be applied with Sri Lankan conditions. The data collected by a survey is composed with prior models in e-commerce area to investigate this study, and it has been empirically tested to recommend an innovative model. The findings of this research reveal that poor awareness of the advantages of the e-commerce and organizational issues lined with its applications are the reasons for most of the e-commerce obstacles in Sri Lanka. The findings and suggestions of this study, can be applicable to other developing countries as well. This paper is giving a better representation of Sri Lankan market. Lastly the paper deliberates probable upcoming guidelines of this research, as well as its boundaries. This research supports to the hypothetical basis of information systems and e-commerce acceptance studies through recommending and testing a pre-acceptance model for e-commerce. The acceptance of e-commerce in SMEs in Sri Lanka has not been considerably inspected. It is obvious that the SMEs in Sri Lanka play a significant role in its economies. The findings of this study demonstrate a substantial affiliation between organizational readiness and the acceptance of e-commerce and validate the positive relationship between readiness of e-commerce and its acceptance

Students’ Perspectives on Use Behaviour of Learning Management Systems in Sri Lankan Universities

This research aims to explore the perceptions of students in using Learning Management System (LMS) in order to enhance the learning process of undergraduates in government universities in Sri Lanka.Many universities in Sri Lanka have implemented LMS to make their learning interactive and engaging.These institutions have made considerable amount of investments in terms of finance and other resources but the benefits enjoyed are far below expectations.Hence, it is of high recognition that a study is very much needed to understand the reason(s) for such low usage in Sri Lankan free education context. Quantitative study based on self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted.Out of the 15 government universities in Sri Lanka, 03 were selected. Results from 344 valid responses reveals that Attitude, Experience and Anxiety significantly influence the students’ use behaviour of LMS in Sri Lankan universities, while Efficacy and Collaboration do not have any impact. The research identifies what factors would influence these students’ use behaviour of LMS in state universities. Variables Students’ Attitude towards LMS, Efficacy, Experience, Anxiety and Collaboration with Lecturers and Students are considered to be the predictor variables and their influence and impact on Use Behaviour of LMS (predicted variable) is studied

Knowledge and Practices Regarding Self-Management of Minor Ailments among Pregnant Mothers

Background:  During pregnancy, mother faces many minor discomforts due to physiological, ana­tomical, psychological, biochemical and immunological adaptations occurs in their body. The wellbeing of pregnant mothers is threatened due to these minor discomforts and lead to un­neces­sary hospitalization. This study was aimed to assess the knowledge and practices regarding self-management of minor discomforts among preg­nant mothers attending to selected Antenatal Clinics (ANC), Medical Officer of Health (MOH) area, Batticaloa.     Subjects and Method: A cross sectional des­crip­tive study was conducted in selected ante­natal clinics among all registered antenatal mot­hers (n=238) attending to these ANCs. A vali­dated and pretested interviewer administered ques­­­­tionnaire was used to collect the data. Know­ledge on self-management of minor dis­orders was dependent variable and independent vari­ables were the sociodemographic status, eco­no­mic status and obstetric details of pregnant mot­hers. Descriptive and inferential statistic was per­form­ed to analyze the relevant data.   Results: Nearly half of the participants (54.6%) were in 20–29 years and 62% of them were primiparous mot­hers. Around 93% of them were experienced nausea and vomiting during their pregnancy and among them all were reported nausea and vomit­ing has been occurred during their 1st trimester. About 75% of them mentioned that home reme­dies are the best way to self-manage the minor dis­­­com­forts. The mean know­ledge score on minor discomforts and self-management was 12.16 (SD= 14.64). Majority of participants (94.1%) scored less than 50%. Knowledge score was sig­ni­fi­cantly associated with participant’s ethnicity, reli­gion, monthly income, educational level and their parity.Conclusion: The prevalence of minor dis­com­forts among pregnant mothers was high and preg­nant mothers have expressed that minor dis­comforts can be managed with home remedies. Further, knowledge level regarding minor dis­com­forts and their self-management was in­ade­quate.Keywords: Antenatal mothers, minor discomforts, knowledge, self-management, Sri LankaCorrespondence: Gnanaselvam Kisokanth. Department of Clinical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Email: [email protected]  Mobile: +94772228330Journal of Maternal and Child Health (2020), 05(03): 303-312https://doi.org/10.26911/thejmch.2020.05.03.09 

Synthesis, spectroscopy and X-​ray crystal structure of 9-​methyl-​3-​(2-​thienyl)​thieno[3,​2-​e]​[1,​2,​4]​triazolo[4,​3-​c]​pyrimidine-​8-​carboxylic acid ethyl ester

The synthesis of the target compd. was achieved by a reaction of 4-​cyano-​5-​[(ethoxymethylene)​amino]​-​3-​methyl-​2-​thiophenecarboxylic acid Et ester with 2-​thiophenecarboxylic acid hydrazide. The product thus obtained was confirmed by elemental anal., IR, 1H-​NMR, 13C-​NMR and X-​ray crystal structure anal. [i.e., 9-​methyl-​3-​(2-​thienyl)​thieno[3,​2-​e]​-​1,​2,​4-​triazolo[4,​3-​c]​pyrimidine-​8-​carboxylic acid Et ester]​. There are two independent mols. in the asym. unit exhibiting intermol. C-​H...N, C-​H...O interactions with addnl. π-​π interaction that further helps in stabilizing the supramol. structure

Sustainable mitigation strategies for urban heat island effects in urban areas

The globe is at a crossroads in terms of the urban heat island effect, with rising surface temperatures due to urbanization and an expanding built environment. This cause-and-effect connection may be linked to weather-related dangers, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks. Urbanization and industrialization will not lead to a secure and sustainable future. Finding solutions to problems such as the heat island effect is at the forefront of scientific research and policy development. Sustainable ways to decrease urban heat island impacts are a core principle for urban planners. This literature study examines the benefits of adding green infrastructure and sustainable materials in built-up areas to reduce the urban heat island effect. Materials such as reflective street pavements, coating materials including light-colored paint, phase-change materials, color-changing paint, fluorescence paint, and energy-efficient appliances are considered sustainable materials, whereas green infrastructure like green roofs, green walls, green parking and pavements, and shaded streets are considered to mitigate the urban heat island effect. The hurdles to the widespread adoption of such practices include a lack of governmental legislation, insufficient technological development, an erroneous estimation of economic gains, and unwillingness on the part of impacted parties