Risk of Forest Fire in Uva Province of Sri Lanka

The forest fire is influenced by both natural and human factors. Previous studies proved that most of the forest fires are caused by human factors in Sri Lanka. The increasing trend of temperature, dry spells and less rainfall and humidity might be the triggering factors for spreading the forest fire. The objective of this research is to examine the causes of forest fire in Badulla and Moneragala districts of the Uva province in Sri Lanka and to examine the measures that can be taken to minimise it. Apart from the secondary data the primary data was obtained through questionnaire survey and focused group interviews. The questionnaire survey has been conducted for Haldummulla and Ella DS divisions from Badulla district, and Moneragala, Wellawaya, and Buttala DS divisions from Moneragala district. 30 households have been surveyed from the random sampling. 93% respondents stated that the forest fire occurs from June to September and with the peak in August. The high temperature, less rainfall and the low humidity are recorded in this month. During this period entire area of Uva province get dry due to the inverse direction of the monsoon rainfall. Dry mix evergreen and sub mountain forests are predominant in this area. 87% respondents stated that forest fire is purposely done for hunting purposes. Animals such as bulls, rabbits, deer, and pheasants are targeted by hunters. Some wild animals come to eat the ashes after burn the forest. People set up the animal-traps to capture animals when they fire the forest. 26% said that forest fire is done for making “jungle-based feedings” for cattle herds. They expect fresh grass to bloom in the rainy season by setting fires in the dry season. Burning of degraded forests for shifting cultivation and Bee honey collection are the other reasons. They put smoke to remove flies, but after collecting beehive they drop the firing stuffs in the forest. Forest fires rarely pose any threat to human life or property. Environmental damage and economic losses caused by forest fires might be greater in many forms. When a forest fire occurs, the Forest department and Disaster management centre send the SMS message to aware the community. The notice boards with essential information are set-up in the forest fire sensitive areas. There is a model village in Sadinnawala, demonstrating the fire breaks such as (Green belts; corridors with Hana trees) and (Mix belts; corridors without and with floras) as Buffer zones to minimise the forest fires. Theses barricades are maintained by the Forest Department with the support of the village community.Keywords: Forest fire, Human factors, Risk, Green belt, Model villag

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

Hydro-Meteorological Disaster Incidents and Associated Weather Systems in Sri Lanka

This paper presents a comprehensive seasonal analysis of disaster incidents with their associated weather systems happened in Sri Lanka since 1907 to 2019. Disaster incidents and weather records were collected from different reliable sources and analysed with the observed weather systems to understand the formation and development of the weather systems. According to the observations, frequent hydro-meteorological hazards experienced by the country are extreme winds, floods, and landslides. The seasonal analysis shows that majority of these hydro-meteorological disasters have occurred during the southwest monsoon, where the weather was mainly dominated by the monsoon winds entering from the southwest of Sri Lanka which creates torrential rainfall mainly in the wet zone of the country. The frequency of formation of depression and deep depression, from 1907 to 2019 shows that most of these are formed in the Bay of Bengal (BoB), North Indian Ocean, from October to January while having the highest frequency in November followed by December. The study will help to understand the possible damages, and thereby help the community to be prepared for such future hazards. The need for a central platform for generating timely impact-based warnings and helping the community to act was also identified. Further, the census block can be suggested as the smallest; Micro-Geographic Incident Response Unit (MG-IRU) to grant the decision-making power and connect the institution and community in the disaster risk management process.</p

IMPORTANCE OF VEHICLES EMISSION INVENTORY FOR ECO·FRIENDL Y ENVIRONMENT

According to available literature, air pollution in developing countries accounts for largeamount of excess deaths, very high medical costs and lost productivity every year. Owingto rapidly increasing vehicle numbers and very limited use of emission controltechnologies, motor vehicles are emerging as the largest source of urban air in thedeveloping countries and threatening eco-friendly environments.Vehicle emission standards, now in effect in all industrialized countries, have beenadopted in many developing countries. Sri Lanka too has adopted emission standards forall vehicles, but those standards are yet to be effectively enforced. Further, there is nomechanism to evaluate the benefits due to emission control strategies as no reliableemission inventory is available, specially to estimate local concentration levels. .At present estimation of vehicle emission in Sri Lanka is done based on aggregatevehicles types or based on the total fuel sales. A inventory to assess the relativecontribution from different vehicle types and identify emission loads on differentlocalities are essential for planning and assessing of control strategies. A detailed vehicleemission inventory will be helpful to take action to reduce air pollution, noise and otheradverse environments impacts of road transport and create eco friendly environments.This paper presents a methodology used for preparation of a vehicle emission inventorythat could be used for estimating vehicle emission with respect to special distribution. Itis proposed to modify the transport-planning model, Trans Plan, developed by theUniversity of Moratuwa. This inventory would be developed with provision toaccommodate improved vehicle emission factor for different vehicle types and trafficconditions. This inventory would be capable of estimating emission load due to traffic onany road link categorized as a National road. Provision is available to estimate the hourlyemission load distribution for situations where traffic flow distributions are available.Inventory out put are presented in a GIS platform

ANALYSIS OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS IN WELL WATER IN THE VICINITY OF AN INDUSTRIAL ZONE AND ANALYSING SOURCES AND EFFECTS

The Ratmalana - Moratuwa area located in the south of Colombo has developed as anindustrial residential suburb of Colombo in the 1950's. It has been revealed that theenvironmental problems in the area are very acute due to the activities of large number ofindustries. About 150 industries arc densely packed, within this area. Most of the industries.are non-agro based industries. They can be catcgoriscd into several groups such as paintindustries, galvanising industries, asbestos industries, dyeing and finishing,pharmaceutical industries and battery manufacturing industries. According to aninvestigation of discharges produced in the area :: was found that major part of the effluentwas released via surface drainage to Lunawa and Bolgoda Lake. The main issue associatedwith this industrial pollution is water contamination. Even though many studies have bccncarried out on surface water contamination, studies on ground water contamination havenot been done in detail. The intention of this study was to, analyse ground water samples atvarious sites of the industrial zone and to relate the results to thc present industrialactivities of the area. From these studies it was found that the chemical oxygen demand(COD), levels far exceed the acceptable portable water quality standards, indicating highchemical pollution. In addition it was found that Chemical pollutants arc present in theground water. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) has exceeded the tolerant limits forportable water level at several locations. The trace metals that exceed the levels arc Zn, Fe,Cd, Pb, and Ni which had not been noted in a previous study done by De Silva et al.( 1986).Low pH values- in some of the samples indicate water contamination with acids. SOl\1esamples have been contaminated with acids and it was revealed by low pl l of sonicsamples, Most industries in the area dispose their effluents directly in to thc drainagesystem without any prior treatments. Ground water contamination is thought to be a directconsequence of these inefficient effluent systems. This study discusses the analytical resultsof water samples taken from various locations of the industrial area and described theindustrial activities ill the area that might have caused this ground water contamination,and discusses possible health effects due to use of polluted watcr as a source of portablewater in this well water.

BAT: block analytics tool integrated with blockchain based IoT platform

The Internet of Things (IoT) is currently the paradigm of connectivity and driving force behind the state-of-art applications and services. However, the exponential growth of the number of IoT devices and services, their distributed nature, and scarcity of resources has increased the number of security and privacy concerns ranging from the risks of unauthorized data alterations to the potential discrimination enabled by data analytics over sensitive information. A blockchain based IoT-platform is introduced to address these issues. Built upon the tamper-proof architecture, the access management mechanisms ensure the authenticity and integrity of data. Moreover, a novel approach called Block Analytics Tool (BAT), integrated with the platform is proposed to analyze and make predictions on data stored on blockchain. BAT enables the data-analysis applications to be developed using the data stored in the platform in an optimized manner acting as an interface to off-chain processing. A pharmaceutical supply chain is the use case scenario to show the functionality of the proposed platform. Furthermore, a model to forecast the demand of the pharmaceutical drugs is investigated using a real-world data set to demonstrate the functionality of BAT. Finally, the performance of BAT integrated with the platform is evaluated

DEVELOPMENT OF A FUNGAL INOCULUM FOR EFFICIENT PHOSPHATE UTILIZATION IN AGRICULTURE

With the aim of developing an environment friendly P biofertilizer, phosphate solubilizing fungi (PSF) were isolated from Sri Lankan soil. A total of 12 fungal isolates, showing phosphate solubilizing activities were isolated from bulk and rhizosphere soils of different agro-ecological zones. The best 11 P solubilizers selected  by three levels of screening were further evaluated  for  their efficiency  inphosphate solubilization in Pikovskaya liquid media containing tricalcium phosphate and High Grade Eppawala Rock Phosphate (HERP) using two parameters: solubilized P concentration and media pH due to organic acid production.  In contrast to all isolates being  able to mediate high amount of P solubilization in PVK medium,  they were less efficient in solubilizing HERP in modified PVK medium. Among the 11 PSF, fungal isolate KBF4 accounted for the highest Ca3(PO4)2 solubilization while  KBF2 accounted for the highest HERP solubilization. Acidification of the culture media seemed to be the main mechanism of P solubilization in both media indicating a significant pH decrease of the culture supernatants.  A significant correlation between the quantity of P solubilized and the pH decrease in PVK liquid media containing Ca3(PO4)2 was observed.  This relationship was not significant in HERP medium indicating other possible mechanism of phosphate solubilization

INVESTIGATION OF COST EFFECTIVE SEED PROPAGATION METHODS FOR THE MEDICINAL UANA Coscinium fenestratum Colebr. (Menispennaceae)

Coscinium fenestratum colebr. (Menispermaceae) is a widely used medicinal liana in SriLanka and South Asian region. Due to heavy and indiscriminate harvesting from naturalpopulations, this species is endangered in Sri Lanka. In order to reduce the pressure onnatural populations, we attempted to develop rapid and cost effective seed germinationmethods to raise new plants for restoration and rehabilitation programs.Seeds of C. fenestratum showed all hallmarks of "recalcitrant" seed characters.Considering there initial moisture content and moisture losses. The moisture content offresh seeds was 31 ± 0.6 %. The best method to.conserve moisture content of seeds above25% during storage was by maintaining them in a humid chamber. The viability of seedsdecreased progressively with storage time and the associated moisture loss. Forty daysafter storage, the highest viability (89%) was recorded when seeds were stored in amoisture chamber while the least viability (30%) was recorded when seeds were storedunder ambient conditions. Sixty two percent of seed viability was shown when seeds werestored in polythene bags while the viability was 41% when seeds were stored in paperbags.Bioassays carried out using seeds of Brassica junceae revealed the presence ofgermination inhibitors in the endosperm and the embryo of C. fenestratum seeds.Germination percentage of B. junceae seeds (used as an indicator to check the inhibitoryaction of C. fenestratum seed) soaked with the water extracts of the endosperm and theembryo of C.fenestratuin were 17% and 25% respectively. B. junceae seeds showcJ 88%germination percentage in the control experiment where the seeds were soaked in water.In order to evaluate the best seed treatment method that enhance the germination success,fresh seeds were subjected to soaking in a range of gibberllic acid solutions (1500 ppm,2000 ppm, 2500 ppm and 3000 ppm) for 12 hours, mechanical cracking of the seed coat,soaking in tap water for 12 and 24 hours and exposure to sunlight followed by soaking intap water for 12 hours. The highest germination percentage (27%) was shown when seedswere soaked in 2000 ppm gebberllic acid for 12 hours. In all other treatments thepercentage germination was less than 10%.

CONSTRUCTION OF A PRECISE GROWTH MODEL TO PREDICT THE NDIVIDUAL STEM VOLUME OF Alstonia macrophylla WALL. EX G. DON

In order to reduce the pressure on existing Natural Forests in Sri Lanka,Forest Department promoted growing timber species as plantations and inhome gardens. Among the suggested species Alstonia macrophylla(Hawarinuga) has recently become popular due to its fast growth rate, ease ofestablishment and timber value. There are about 1913 ha extent of Alstoniamacrophylla plantations at the end of the year 1998 maintained by the ForestDepartment of Sri Lanka. However, this figure must be higher than thatbecause many other private organizations are establishing Alstoniamacrophylla plantations in the wet zone in large scale. This species is alsogrown in home gardens, alleys and borders as non-blocks (non-plantations).However, at present there is no method at present for estimating the stemvolume of this species, which is considered as the most important variable incommercial forestry. Therefore a mathematical model was constructed in thisstudy to predict the individual stem volume of Alstonia macrophylla treesgrown in plantations.Since Alstonia macrophylla is widely found in wet zone of Sri Lanka, studysites were selected from Galle (two even-aged plantations from Pituwala andWattehena Beats) districts. The ages of these plantations were 19 and 16respectively. Ten 0.02 ha circular plots with slope correction were randomlylaid out for each plantation, in order to measure the necessary parametersfrom the individual trees. Diameter at breast height (dbh), total height andheight to the crown base of all the trees inside the plots were measured.Newton's formula was used in this research because it is the most accuratemethod. In order to calculate the volume using the Newton's formula, thestem of each tree was hypothetically divided into 4 -5 sections. Then thebottom, mid and top diameters and section lengths were measured usingSpeigal Relascope and Blume Leiss Altimeter respectively. The final sectionof the tree was assumed as a cone and only the bottom diameter and heightwere used in that particular section. The total volume of each section wasestimated by adding the section volumes calculated using Newton's formulato the volume of the final section.First a theoretical model structure was developed using the relationship ofform factor with volume, height and area at the base. Regression analysis wasused to fit the data into the model. Untransformed as well as transformedcombinations of all variables were tested. In this procedure the combinedvariable (basal area * tree height) was always kept as the first explanatoryvariable. After trying with many combinations of selected variables withvolume, final model was selected using its compatibility with the real world,R2 values, and residual distributions, model bias value and modelingefficiency. The selected models at the preliminary stage indicated very highperformance and insignificant bias. In order to select a final one, the abovemodels were validated with a new set of data. The final selected model in thisstudy to predict the individual stem volume with insignificant bias ofAlstonia macrophylla is; --.jv= 0.659 log BA *Ht + 0.00404 ...fer h