COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION OF SELECTED URANIUM COMPOUNDS WITH APPLICATION FOR CLEAN ENERGY

The focus of this thesis mainly revolves investigation of the thermal properties of triuranium octoxide (U3O8), uranium di-aluminide (UAl2), U3O8-Mo, and U3O8-Al nuclear fuels. They have significant importance in the nuclear industry related to their fuel applications for research and test reactors. This study is carried out mainly using density functional theory (DFT) based calculations within the first principles framework to bring an insight into the molecular level contribution to their heat transport. Furthermore, an experimental evaluation is performed with U3O8, U3O8-Mo, and U3O8-Al, and these results are compared with the theoretical predictions. The theoretical calculations on U3O8 reveal that the strong anharmonicity in the Grüneisen parameter is the origin of its low thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the directional dependence of the group velocity triggers the anisotropic nature of its thermal conductivity. This work experimentally demonstrated a significant thermal conductivity enhancement in U3O8 with added Al or Mo. The experimental band gap measurements and the DFT-based computational predictions on the electronic and optical properties proved U3O8 to be a semiconductor with an indirect bandgap. The structural and mechanical properties and the time-dependent thermal conductivities of UAl2 are assessed computationally. The research findings reveal that both the acoustic and optical modes of the phonon vibrations give a considerable impact on total thermal conductivity. Furthermore, the electronic contribution to the total thermal conductivity in UAl2 is shown to be getting more robust with increasing temperature

Incidence of Bladder Cancer in Sri Lanka: Analysis of the Cancer Registry Data and Review of the Incidence of Bladder Cancer in the South Asian Population

PurposeTo investigate the incidence of bladder cancer (BC) in Sri Lanka and to compare risk factors and outcomes with those of other South Asian nations and South Asian migrants to the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US).Materials and MethodsThe incidence of BC in Sri Lanka was examined by using two separate cancer registry databases over a 5-year period. Smoking rates were compiled by using a population-based survey from 2001 to 2009 and the relative risk was calculated by using published data.ResultsA total of 637 new cases of BC were diagnosed over the 5-year period. Sri Lankan BC incidence increased from 1985 but remained low (1.36 and 0.3 per 100,000 in males and females) and was similar to the incidence in other South Asian countries. The incidence was lower, however, than in migrant populations in the US and the UK. In densely populated districts of Sri Lanka, these rates almost doubled. Urothelial carcinoma accounted for 72%. The prevalence of male smokers in Sri Lanka was 39%, whereas Pakistan had higher smoking rates with a 6-fold increase in BC.ConclusionsSri Lankan BC incidence was low, similar to other South Asian countries (apart from Pakistan), but the actual incidence is likely higher than the cancer registry rates. Smoking is likely to be the main risk factor for BC. Possible under-reporting in rural areas could account for the low rates of BC in Sri Lanka. Any genetic or environmental protective effects of BC in South Asians seem to be lost on migration to the UK or the US and with higher levels of smoking, as seen in Pakistan

Site Catchment Analysis of Mahalena Cave of Rajagala, Sri Lanka: With Special Reference to the Prehistoric and Anuradhapura Phase

The systematic archaeological survey was carried out around the 0-10 km radius of Mahalena cave site. Documentation of natural resources available within the estimated radius. A few satellite settlements or supportive settlements were identified within the radius of Mahalena cave. The chief aim of this research is to understand the suitability of the landscape and natural resources available within the vicinity of this archaeological site. Mahalena cave site was subjected to large-scale excavation for several seasons by Sri Lankan and Indian archaeologists. A Few seasons of detailed excavations have provided us with sufficient data to study the resource exploitation pattern around the Mahalena cave. The study of the resource exploitation pattern or site catchment study is one of the important tools to reconstruct the economy of ancient settlers of any particular region. Resources lying within the economic range of individual archaeological sites support ancient inhabitants for their day-to-day living. The current research will be helpful in identifying suitable factors which lead the Prehistoric and Early Historic inhabitants of the Mahalena cave to choose this particular location for their settlement.  DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v08i02.1

Digitalization-A Strategic Approach to Promote the Hospitality Industry in Order to Increase Tourism in Sri Lanka with Monetary Gain

The purpose of this research was to empower hospitality management and because of that increase tourism attraction. In 2018 direct contribution to GDP was 4.9% It was decrease to 4.3% after the 2019 Easter attack. In 2020 this hugely decreased to 0.8% according to the Tourism Authority of Sri Lanka. Covid 19 impact was affected by that. This study aims at explaining in detail how technology can use to improve the tourism sector. Therefore, the digitalized hotel management system was implemented as a solution for that

DIVERSITY OF TERRESTRIAL FERN SPECIES IN A SUBMONTANE SECONDARY FOREST AT UPPER HANTANA

Although there are many fern species at the secondary forest of Upper Hantana area, theirdistribution and the diversity has not been studied adequately. In the Upper Hantana areamany of the habitats are under threat due to human activities and therefore, most of thesefern species are at a risk. Therefore, it is very importarit to conserve these fern species andfor this purpose, it is necessary to identify all the ferns in the area and their distribution.The objectives of this study were to find out the fern diversity in the Upper Hantana areaand to find out microhabitat requirements of these fern species.Forty-five, 2x4cm2 quadrates were established at different sites i.e, at the roadside,streamside and in the forest interior of the study site. All the fern species in these quadrateswere identified and recorded.Results revealed that the species, genera and family diversities were high at Upper Hantanaarea. A total of 29 species belonging to 17 genera and 13 families were recorded from thearea. Out of 29 species 53% were recorded from roadside while 34% and 17% wererecorded from streamside and forest interior respectively. With respect to the 13 familiesrecorded 48% were found at roadside, 35% from the streamside and 17% from the forestinterior.As there were more fern species at roadside, these may easily be disturbed with increasedhuman activities.

Identification of hospital cardiac services for acute myocardial infarction using individual patient discharge data

Background: The availability of hospital cardiac services may vary between hospitals and influence care processes and outcomes. However, data on available cardiac services are restricted to a limited number of services collected by the American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey. We developed an alternative method to identify hospital services using individual patient discharge data for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the Premier Healthcare Database. Methods and Results: Thirty-five inpatient cardiac services relevant for AMI care were identified using American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines. Thirty-one of these services could be defined using patient-level administrative data codes, such as International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification and Current Procedural Terminology codes. A hospital was classified as providing a service if it had ≥5 instances for the service in the Premier database from 2009 to 2011. Using this system, the availability of these services among 432 Premier hospitals ranged from 100% (services such as chest X-ray) to 1.2% (heart transplant service). To measure the accuracy of this method using administrative data, we calculated agreement between the AHA survey and Premier for a subset of 16 services defined by both sources. There was a high percentage of agreement (≥80%) for 11 of 16 (68.8%) services, moderate agreement for 3 of 16 (18.8%) services, and low agreement (≤50%) for 2 of 16 services (12.5%). Conclusions: The availability of cardiac services for AMI care varies widely among hospitals. Using individual patient discharge data is a feasible method to identify these cardiac services, particularly for those services pertaining to inpatient care.Tiffany E. Chang, Harlan M. Krumholz, Shu-Xia Li, John Martin, Isuru Ranasingh

One Digital Platform to Seek Quality Education for Everyone

The primary goal of this digital educational platform is to deliver high-quality educational possibilities to people looking for a degree or similar graded programs, tuition classes, and postgraduate programs provided by universities internationally and nationally. Furthermore, by advertising on our web platform, educational institutions will be able to improve the popularity of their courses and services.  There will also be the opportunity to donate financial contributions to campaigns or organizations that will help persons in need of educational assistance. In addition, our development team proposed an idea about a component called volunteer support, which allows users to join up as volunteers for specific organizational initiatives that promote educational campaigns. There will also be several account types for system administrators, users searching for services, and organizations promoting educational programs and volunteer opportunities. The account's capabilities differ depending on the type of user account. The primary objectives of this thesis are to provide the concept of a system that simplifies the process of locating and advertising educational needs, opportunities, and services while providing a way to help people in need of a helping hand