A preliminary assessment of the economic impact of conservation of knucles range of forest on rural communities in the vicinity

Conservation decisions are always made giving emphasis to long standing benefits and welfare of the whole society. But, some of the immediate adverse effects such as income losses due to conservation programs have to be borne by rural communities living in the vicinity of the forests. As experiences have shown, it is very unlikely that a conservation program will achieve its objectives unless the impact of the program on rural communities is assessed and alternative policy measures are taken to alleviate these negative effects. The objective of this study is to investigate the fanning systems of some selected villages in the Knuckles region and make a preliminary assessment on how the proposed conservation program is likely to affect the rural economy. Data were collected by conducting a survey in three grama niladhari divisions, namely, Meeraure, Narangamuwa and Ranamure. A farming system approach was adopted to describe the economic activities. Total revenue and total money income earned by farming, forest bound activities and off-farm activities were estimated. Average percentage loss of income under different assumed degrees of protection was assessed since no detailed conservation plan was proposed as yet. The results reveal that farming systems of the area consist of two resource bases, namely, village and forest Village based activities contribute 58.27 per cent of the total revenue and forest based activities contribute 41.73 per cent, on average. Among forest based activities, cardamom is the only activity which accounted for a significant income loss if banned under a conservation program. It contributes to a significant percentage of the total revenue as well as money income. Therefore, even under the lowest degree of protection, 25.78 per cent of the total revenue is expected to be lost. Since cardamom is die highest income earning activity, banning this will have serious implications on the economy. This study therefore, suggests investigating the possible alternative methods of cultivating cardamom in systems such as agro-forestry with minimum damage to the forest ecosystem. Further, it will be worthwhile to study the current resource utilization within the village resources systems in order to find out ways to improve the efficiency of resources utilization, so that the rural communities will be able to compensate part of the lost income

Shape optimisation with multiresolution subdivision surfaces and immersed finite elements

We develop a new optimisation technique that combines multiresolution subdivision surfaces for boundary description with immersed finite elements for the discretisation of the primal and adjoint problems of optimisation. Similar to wavelets multiresolution surfaces represent the domain boundary using a coarse control mesh and a sequence of detail vectors. Based on the multiresolution decomposition efficient and fast algorithms are available for reconstructing control meshes of varying fineness. During shape optimisation the vertex coordinates of control meshes are updated using the computed shape gradient information. By virtue of the multiresolution editing semantics, updating the coarse control mesh vertex coordinates leads to large-scale geometry changes and, conversely, updating the fine control mesh coordinates leads to small-scale geometry changes. In our computations we start by optimising the coarsest control mesh and refine it each time the cost function reaches a minimum. This approach effectively prevents the appearance of non-physical boundary geometry oscillations and control mesh pathologies, like inverted elements. Independent of the fineness of the control mesh used for optimisation, on the immersed finite element grid the domain boundary is always represented with a relatively fine control mesh of fixed resolution. With the immersed finite element method there is no need to maintain an analysis suitable domain mesh. In some of the presented two- and three-dimensional elasticity examples the topology derivative is used for creating new holes inside the domain.The partial support of the EPSRC through grant # EP/G008531/1 and EC through Marie Curie Actions (IAPP) program CASOPT project are gratefully acknowledged.This is the final version of the article. It was first available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2015.11.01

Factors influencing Solar Energy Technology adoption by Households in Western Province Sri Lanka

The acceptance and slow growth of solar energy is a major barrier for the Sri Lanka’s expansion of Solar. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that important when adopting to solar energy technology. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Diffusion of Innovation (DOI), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Transaction Cost Economics theory (TCE) are the theories that used to develop the research foundation. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 384 household respondents. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesis. The result of the study indicates that perceived ease of use has the most significant impact on adopting to solar energy technology. Awareness of the technology and relative advantage become second and third influential factors of adoption. Perceived behavioral control also has a positive impact on adoption to solar energy technology while cost shows a negative impact. From a managerial viewpoint these findings can be used for implementing the solar energy technology as a household renewable energy source for upcoming future energy crisis. Though geographical unfairness act as the main limitation, since the high density of population, income level and urbanization of observed area, the result can be generalized to the urbanized households.KeywordsAdoption; Relative advantage; Perceived behavioral control; Perceived ease of use, Awareness; Cost; Solar energ

Generation gap, gender and shopping enjoyment of shopping mall visitors in western province Sri Lanka

Purpose: Going shopping is a major source of relaxation as well as a daily household chore. However, shopping enjoyment is a burgeoning and rather novel concept, and thus, there is a lack of studies within the cohort, especially with regard to the comparison of the shopping experiences of different generations. This paper explores the nature of shopping enjoyment and measures the impact of the generation gap and gender on visitors’ shopping enjoyment in shopping malls, which records a thriving interest. Design/methodology/approach: In a qualitative survey deploying a convenience sample, 379 usable responses were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from shopping mall visitors in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. Data were analyzed using SPSS (21.0). Findings: Findings of the study indicated that all four generations considered the atmosphere and the environment to be the most important dimensions. Empirical evidence further suggested that Generation Z and Y have the highest enjoyment in their shopping journey within malls compared to other generations, confirming that youth shoppers are the emerging target group for such businesses. Interestingly, it evidenced that shopping is not remaining as a gendered activity anymore, since it is pleasurable for both females and males. Originality: This paper makes a significant contribution to the field by studying shopping enjoyment as a multi-dimensional construct in relation to four generations while being the first such attempt at studying this phenomenon. Implications: Findings are useful for retailers to identify target customers and lucrative markets. Further, shopping malls are required to design to provide more experiences and engagements to customers as a space for pleasure, enjoyment, and entertainment. &nbsp

Eco-Tourism for Sustainable Development Case study in Knuckles Mountain Forest in Sri Lanka

Eco-tourism has become an important economic activity and it providesopportunities for visitors to experience powerful manifestations of nature, culture and tolearn about the importance of biodiversity conservation. Ecological-based tourism couldbenefit the community and environment in a sustainable and community-friendlymanner. Knuckles mountain range, which is blended with natural and cultural resources,is considered as an attractive ecotourism destination place in Sri Lanka. The objectivesof this study were to identify existing eco-tourism activities in the region and introducethe eco-tourism for the sustainability of the Knuckles forest and the peripheralcommunity. Data was collected using a field survey, participatory rural appraisal andinformal meetings with stakeholders and publish materials. Field survey was conductedwithin two village clusters namely Meemure and Reveston. Five villagers were selectedfrom one cluster and 10 households were selected from each village.Research findings show that the lack of awareness and lack of availability ofproper information are the most common causes for the less tourist arrival to this area.The majority of the visitors are local tourists who come in small groups. These visitorsexpect improvement of infrastructure and strengthening of the institutional capacity toenable the environment of local people to interpret the ecological and social heritage.Based on the findings of the study the most important issues that should be taken intoconsideration in promoting tourism in Knuckles are: strengthening the institutionalcapacities of relevant stakeholders, developments of infrastructure in the area, publicizeKnuckles range in the media, encourage villagers to participate in eco-tourism activities.This alternative benefit will help to the peripheral community to sustain theirlivelihoods, forest resource management and help social, economic and environmentsustainability in the Knuckles area.Key words: Eco-tourism and sustainable development, Community development,Sustainable forest managemen

Wireless sensor network based system for underground chemical plume tracking, A

A real-time subsurface chemical plume monitoring and tracking system is being developed that uses wireless-sensor networking to automatically extract data from underground chemical sensors. This system is aimed at tracking plumes caused by the release of toxic chemicals and biological agents into the environment as a result of accidental spills and improper disposal. Current practice involves manual collection of samples from monitoring wells followed by laboratory analysis, an expensive process taking days to weeks; such a delay reduces the effectiveness of mitigation techniques as well. Virtual Sensor Networks (VSN), a novel resource efficient approach for sensor networking being developed to track the migrating underground plumes, will be applicable to a broad class of problems. Laboratory based experiments and simulations are in progress to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach for large-scale plume tracking.This research is supported in part by Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation.1st place, ISTeC Student Research Poster Contest (April 7, 2008)

Diatom frustules enhancing the efficiency of gel polymer electrolyte based dye-sensitized solar cells with multilayer photoelectrodes

The incorporation of nanostructures that improve light scattering and dye adsorption has been suggested for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), but the manufacture of photonic and nanostructured materials with the desired properties is not an easy task. In nature, however, the process of light-harvesting for photosynthesis has, in some cases, evolved structures with remarkable wavelength-sensitive light-trapping properties. The present work is focused on enhancing the efficiency of quasi solid-state DSSCs by capitalizing on the light trapping properties of diatom frustules since they provide complex 3-dimensional structures for scattering and trapping light. This study reports a promising approach to prepare TiO2 nanocrystal (14 nm) based photo-electrodes by utilizing the waveguiding and photon localization effects of nanostructured diatom frustules for enhancing light harvesting without deteriorating the electron conduction. Single and double-layered photo-electrodes were prepared with different frustule/nanocrystal combinations and conformations on transparent conductive oxide substrates. This study clearly reports impressive efficiency and short circuit current density enhancements of about 35% and 39%, respectively, due to the incorporation of diatom frustules extracted from a ubiquitous species. The SEM images obtained in this work reveal that the produced thin films had a remarkable surface coverage of evenly distributed frustules within the TiO2 nanoparticle layer. To the best of our knowledge, this study reports the first quasi solid-state DSSC based on a photo-electrode with incorporated bio-formed nanostructures

Evaluation of the effect of plant growth retardants on vegetative growth, yield components, seed quality and crop maturity of kabuli chickpea

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