WORK-LIFE BALANCE ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE WITH THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF JOB SATISFACTION IN THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL IN THE WESTERN PROVINCE

In the contemporary and dynamic landscape of modern employees, the problem of work-life balance has emerged as a prominent and multifaceted challenge confronted by employees across the globe. The research endeavored to explore the nexus between work-life balance and employee performance, with a particular focus on the mediating role of job satisfaction, within the context of the provincial council employees in the western province of Sri Lanka. The construct of work-life balance, as investigated in this study, encompasses several key factors, namely personality, emotional intelligence, and job-related stress. The research centered on Management Service Officers within the provincial council of the western province, and it employed a convenience sampling method to select a sample size of 320 respondents. Data collection was facilitated through the administration of structured questionnaires. Job satisfaction was discovered to be a mediator in this study and statistical analyses such as Pearson Correlation, Regression, and Sobel test were used. There is a direct relationship that can be statistically significant between work-life balance factors and employee performance. Also, job satisfaction had mediation and a significant relationship with emotional intelligence and employee performance. However, personality on job satisfaction and job-related stress on job satisfaction were not statistically significant. Based on the research, it was found that there was an impact on work-life balance and job satisfaction as a mediator. Furthermore, the findings of this study would be used as a guideline for employees in the provincial council to identify their problems and the ways to resolve those problems referential material for their studies of future researchers

3-D SHEAR WAVE VELOCITY STRUCTURES OF THE CRUST AND UPPER MANTLE BENEATH CASCADIA AND NEW ZEALAND FROM FULL-WAVE AMBIENT NOISE TOMOGRAPHY

The (de)hydration process and the amount of hydrated sediment carried by the downgoing oceanic plate play a key role in the subduction dynamics. The deformation and (de)hydration of the downgoing tectonic plates, as well as the seismic, tsunami, volcanic hazards, in Cascadia and the New Zealand regions are not fully understood, partly due to a lack of combined studies of onshore and offshore data. In order to address these questions, we developed a 3-D high-resolution shear wave velocity model beneath Cascadia, the North and the South Islands of New Zealand, extending from offshore to onshore, with the use of full-wave ambient noise tomographic method and joint inversion with active seismic data. We extracted the empirical Green’s functions from continuous seismic records on the vertical components between each station pair that provide high-quality Rayleigh-wave signals at periods of 4-50 s for Cascadia and 5-150 s for the New Zealand. We simulate wave propagation using finite-difference method to generate station Strain Green’s Tensors and synthetic waveforms. The phase delays of Rayleigh waves between the observed and synthetic data are measured at multiple period ranges. We then invert for the velocity perturbations from the reference model and progressively improve the model resolution. Our tomographic imaging shows many regional- and local-scale low-velocity features, which are possibly related to slab (de)hydration from the oceanic plate to the overriding plate. Moreover, seismic lows atop the plate interface beneath the forearc, indicating fluid-rich sediments subducted and overthrusted at the accretionary wedge. Furthermore, high shear wave velocity patches at the depths of 35-100 km beneath South Island of New Zealand, indicating the Pacific slab being segmented due to stretch during initiation of plate margins and due to current plate motions. Finally, the relatively low shear wave velocities at 100- 200 km depth beneath the South Island of New Zealand, indicating possible asthenospheric upwelling. Our full-wave tomographic models provide new constraints on our understanding of plate deformation, (de)hydration, slab segmentation, and asthenospheric upwelling beneath Cascadia and the New Zealand regions

Search for Neutrino Oscillations in the Appearance Channel Anti Muon Neutrion Going to Anti Electron Neutrino and Measurements of Neutrino-Carbon Cross Sections.

This document describes the results of a neutrino oscillation experiment in the channel \bar\nu\sb{\mu} \to \ \bar\nu\sb{\rm e} and measurements of neutrino-carbon cross sections. This is an accelerator based experiment performed using \nu\sb{\rm e}, \ \bar\nu\sb{\mu} and \nu\sb{\mu} neutrinos from the LAMPF A-6 beam stop. The \bar\nu\sb{\mu} were used to look for neutrino oscillations and the \mu\sb{\rm e} were used to measure the neutrino-carbon cross sections. The main features of the detector are its large mass of liquid scintillator (180 tons of mineral oil with 0.03 g/l b-PBD added), recording of history before and after a prompt event, good particle identification and an active cosmic-ray anticoincidence shield. The detector is located 29.8 m from the neutrino source. The 1220 photomultiplier tubes on the inside of the tank provide 25% photocathode coverage with uniform spacing. If \bar\nu\sb{\mu} oscillates into \bar\nu\sb{\rm e}, the positron from the reaction \bar\nu\sb{\rm e}p $\to$ e\sp+n followed by a 2.2 MeV gamma ray is the event signature for oscillations. There is no significant \bar\nu\sb{\rm e} production at the beam stop. An analysis of data taken in 1994 yields 7 events consistent with neutrino oscillations with an estimated background of 1.1 events. If we interpret these events as arising from neutrino oscillations the 90% confidence level upper limit of the oscillation probability is 10.3 $\times$ 10\sp{-3} and the 90% confidence level lower limit is 3.4 $\times$ 10\sp{-3}. In a separate analysis, 283 $\pm$ 27 \sp{12}C(\nu\sb{\rm e},e\sp-)\sp{12}N\sb{\rm g.s.} events with subsequent \sp{12}N(\beta\sp+)\sp{12}C were observed. The measured total cross section is (9.0 $\pm$ 0.8(stat.) $\pm$ 0.8(syst.)) $\times$ 10\sp{-42} cm\sp2. Also 138 $\pm$ 43 events were observed for the reaction \nu\sbsp{\rm e}{12}C \to \ \sp{12} N*e\sp- and the resulting cross section is (5.0 $\pm$ 1.6(stat.) $\pm$ 0.5(syst.)) $\times$ 10\sp{-42} cm\sp2. The ratio of the exclusive events to inclusive events is 0.67 $\pm$ 0.08(stat.) $\pm$ 0.06(syst.). These cross sections are in good agreement with theoretical calculations and other experimental measurements

Deep learning based pilot assignment in massive MIMO systems

Abstract. This thesis proposes a solution to the pilot contamination problem in massive multiple-input multiple-output systems by intelligently reusing pilot sequences using deep learning. The considered single-cell network is a massive machine-type communication system that has multiple sectors, each equipped with a uniform linear array antenna. Channels between the base station and the user equipment are modeled as spatially correlated and directive, where the angular domain interference primarily dictates pilot contamination. The main idea behind the proposed solution is that pilot sequences can be shared by a set of user equipment that do not have overlapping angle-of-arrival ranges at the base station, without causing significant mutual interference. The problem is formulated as a regression problem where the loss function represents the total pilot contamination in the network. A deep feedforward neural network architecture is used with the unsupervised learning approach to solve the problem, where the channel covariance matrices estimated at the base station are used as the input. A tailored training approach is proposed that is made up of two strategies as follows. First, the neural network is trained with constrained user equipment locations where the constraint gradually changes as the learning progresses. Second, the input data is rearranged to make the feature extraction easier for the neural network. Numerical experiments show that the proposed solution performs close to the exhaustive search solution when trained on a single network instance. When trained on a batch of training samples and validated on a batch of previously unseen samples, the proposed method generalizes well and subsequently performs on par with existing solutions.Syväoppimiseen pohjautuva pilottien allokointi massiivisissa moniantennijärjestelmissä. Tiivistelmä. Tässä opinnäytetyössä ehdotetaan ratkaisua pilottisekvenssien keskinäisen häiriön vaimentamiseksi massiivisissa moniantennijärjestelmissä pilottisekvenssien älykkäällä uudelleenkäytöllä syväoppimisen avulla. Tarkasteltu yksisoluinen verkko on massiivinen konetietoliikennejärjestelmä, jakaantuen useaan sektoriin, joista kukin toimii lineaarisella ryhmäantennilla. Tukiaseman ja käyttäjälaitteiden väliset kanavat ovat korreloituneita tilatasossa sekä suuntavia, joissa kulmatason häiriö on ensisijainen pilottihäiriön lähde. Ehdotetun ratkaisun pääajatus on, että pilottisekvenssit voidaan jakaa sellaisten käyttäjälaitteiden kanssa, joilla ei ole päällekkäisiä saapumiskulma-alueita tukiasemalla, täten aiheuttamatta merkittäviä keskinäisiä häiriöitä. Ongelma muotoillaan regressio-ongelmaksi, jossa kustannusfunktio edustaa verkon pilottihäiriön kokonaismäärää. Ongelman ratkaisemiseksi käytetään syvää eteenpäin kytkettyä neuroverkkoarkkitehtuuria ohjaamattoman oppimisen kanssa, jossa tulona käytetään tukiasemassa arvioituja kanavakovarianssimatriiseja. Työssä ehdotetaan kahta räätälöityä oppimisstrategiaa. Ensin neuroverkkoa koulutetaan rajoitetuilla käyttäjälaitteiden sijainneilla, joissa rajoitus muuttuu vähitellen oppimisen edetessä. Toiseksi syöttödata järjestetään uudelleen, jotta piirteiden erottaminen neuroverkolle olisi helpompaa. Numeeriset kokeet osoittavat, että ratkaisu on lähes optimaalinen, kun se koulutetaan yhteen verkkorealisaatioon. Kun ehdotettu menetelmä koulutetaan käyttäen harjoitusnäytteitä, ehdotettu menetelmä yleistyy hyvin uusiin näytteisiin sekä antaa yhtä hyvän suorituskyvyn kuin olemassa olevat ratkaisut

Effects of the withdrawal of vitamin trace mineral mixture from broiler finisher diet supplemented with phytase on growth performance, visceral organ weights and feed cost

Objective of this study was to determine the effects of the withdrawal of vitamin trace mineral mixture (VTM) from a broiler finisher diet supplemented with phytase on growth performance, visceral organ weights and feed cost. Giving a completely randomize design in 2 (0 or 1000 FTU phytase /Kg) * 2 (0 or 2.5 g VTM/kg) factorial arrangement, 128 broiler chicks received one of the four experimental diets ad libitum, from day 23-43. Withdrawal of VTM reduced feed intake, live weight and weight gain while increasing the relative weight of the visceral organs. Removal of VTM reduced the tibia length but had no effect on ash content. Costs per Kg empty carcass and Kg of saleable carcass were lowest when VTM free diet was supplemented with phytase. It is concluded that, despite inferior growth performance, withdrawal of VTM is financially profitable if the diet is supplemented with phytase supplemented

AROGYA Intelligent Health Care Application

People of today pay less attention to their daily diet due to their busy lifestyles. Therefore, there is a great tendency to contract chronic non-communicable diseases. Furthermore, the lack of nutritious meals and daily exercise causes chronic non-communicable diseases in people with no age difference. In our first part, we developed to predict specialization in cardiology using symptoms. However, when we refer to a doctor, we must at least know what specialist should know based on their symptoms. In addition, there is a problem with the recipe. If the pharmacist has misread the prescription given by the doctor, patients can receive bad medications, leading to terrible side effects and even death due to careless writing by the doctor. As a solution, an application function can be proposed that will be developed in the project and the function should be able to improve the readability and intelligibility of the patient with prescription drugs. Therefore, the patient always knows the prescribed medications through the application to avoid the problem mentioned above. According to the 2016 pharmaceutical magazine, there are cholesterol and diabetic patients suffering mainly from chronic non-communicable diseases in Sri Lanka

Wireless Sensor Network transport protocol: A critical review

The transport protocols for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) play vital role in achieving the high performance together with longevity of the network. The researchers are continuously contributing in developing new transport layer protocols based on different principles and architectures enabling different combinations of technical features. The uniqueness of each new protocol more or less lies in these functional features, which can be commonly classified based on their proficiencies in fulfilling congestion control, reliability support, and prioritization. The performance of these protocols has been evaluated using dissimilar set of experimental/simulation parameters, thus there is no well defined benchmark for experimental/simulation settings. The researchers working in this area have to compare the performance of the new protocol with the existing protocols to prove that new protocol is better. However, one of the major challenges faced by the researchers is investigating the performance of all the existing protocols, which have been tested in different simulation environments. This leads the significance of having a well-defined benchmark for the experimental/simulation settings. If the future researchers simulate their protocols according to a standard set of simulation/experimental settings, the performance of those protocols can be directly compared with each other just using the published simulation results.This article offers a twofold contribution to support researchers working in the area of WSN transport protocol design. First, we extensively review the technical features of existing transport protocols and suggest a generic framework for a WSN transport protocol, which offers a strong groundwork for the new researchers to identify the open research issues. Second we analyse the experimental settings, focused application areas and the addressed performance criteria of existing protocols; thus suggest a benchmark of experimental/simulation settings for evaluating prospective transport protocols

SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES OF 3-ALKYLBENZOXAZABOROLES

Dioxaboroles, or boronate esters, are widely used to construct organic molecular architectures, such as covalent organic frameworks, due to their dynamic covalent nature. Oxazaboroles are structurally similar to dioxaboroles in which one oxygen atom is replaced by a nitrogen atom. This motif is expected to have overlapping properties of dioxaboroles, but they have yet to be incorporated into molecular architectures. Therefore, there may exist the potential for benzoxazaboroles to be used in the construction of covalent organic frameworks. With the additional valence of the nitrogen atom there is also the possibility of further functionalization and tuning of electronic properties. Previously, our research group has explored the preliminary synthesis and characterization of several benzoxazaboroles. In the current work we have synthesized several new benzoxazaboroles using 2-(alkylamino)phenols and phenylboronic acid derivatives. bis(Benzoxazaborole)s were synthesized using 2-aminophenol or 2-(alkylamino)phenols and diboronic acids. Characterization of benzoxazaboroles and bis(benzoxazaborole)s was carried out using 1H NMR, 13C NMR, UV-visible, and fluorescence spectroscopic methods. X-ray crystallographic analysis was also used for structural identification. Furthermore, dynamic covalent exchange reactions were conducted with 3-(alkyl)benzoxazaboroles and benzodioxaboroles to determine equilibrium constants and Gibbs free energy values for the benzoxazaborole exchange reactions. Finally, computational calculations of benzoxazaboroles and bis(benzoxazaborole)s were utilized to support and add to the experimental results. This includes calculations of bond lengths, HOMO-LUMO energies, and Gibbs free energy values for benzoxazaborole exchange reactions

LCART: A Cross-layered Transport Protocol for Heterogeneous WSN

Lightweight Congestion Aware Reliable Transport protocol (LCART) is based on cross-layering the prevalent or reciprocal functionalities of Transport, MAC and Wireless-Physical layers in order to achieve energy efficiency and meeting QoS objectives of heterogeneous WSN1 including multimedia. LCART intelligently overcomes network congestion by the simultaneous use of Packet Service Time, Packet Inter Arrival Time, Buffer Occupancy Level and Channel Loading threshold limits and ensures packet level reliability by the use of β parameter entirely being dictated by the nature of traffic flow. LCART has been evaluated against TCP-Westwood+ (TCP-WW+), TCPWestwood (TCP-WW), TCPNewReno and TCPReno for 24 mote ad-hoc topology. The results reveal that LCART outperforms others by exhibiting highest good throughput of 0.3112 Mbps, average End to-End (E-2-E) packet latency of <; 80 msec for multimedia and <; 130 msec for scalar information, 1.014% average percentage packet drop and overall exhibits energy efficient behavior

Editorial: Focus on Peer Leaders and Peer Learning in Different National and Disciplinary Contexts

Welcome to Volume 15 of the Journal of Peer Learning