Radiação fotossinteticamente ativa incidente e Refletida acima e abaixo do dossel de floresta de Mata Atlântica em Coruripe, Alagoas

The study of solar radiation is important to understand the several physical, chemical and biological processes that occur in the biosphere, particularly in the forest. The objective of this study has been to evaluate the temporal evolution of incident and reflected Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) above and below the canopy of the Mata Atlantica forest. The study has been conducted in a Private Reserve Natural Heritage, located in the Coruripe city, Alagoas, during the period from October 2009 to September 2010, based on the PAR (2, 13, 26 m) observations obtained at the micrometeorological station, installed on a 24 meters high tower (10° 17' 36"S, 36° 17' 24"W, 160 m asl). According to the results the incident and reflected PAR outside (PAR↓_Ext and PAR↑_Ext) and inside (PAR↑_Spf) forest follow the seasonality imposed by the apparent motion of the Sun. The higher PAR values occur during the dry season, exceeding 600 and 12 W m-2, and during the wet season these averages was less than 300 and 8.0 W m-2, influenced by cloudiness. At the beginning and ending of sunlight time PAR↑_Spf values near zero were measured. The opposite measurements of about 14 W m-2, around 12 h (November and December) were observed

Exploring Constraints and Catalysts: A Comprehensive Analysis of Technology Adoption in Sri Lankan Small and Medium Enterprises

Purpose: Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are considered as the backbone of the economy, however they face many difficulties and challenges for their survival. Adapting to changing technology is one of the primary challenges SMEs face. Globally new technologies such as social media and e-commerce have become the trend in contemporary business activities in Business to Consumer (B2C) communications for SMEs. The study aims to find the factors affecting to the adoption of technology in SME sector in an emerging economy, Sri Lanka. Design: The study utilized Technology, Organizational, and Environmental (TOE) model. The data was collected from 102 SME owners in Western province Sri Lanka who are registered as SME sectors with less than 50 employees.  Qualitative data were collected from 7 SME owners through semi-structured interviews to evaluate new opportunities can gain via technology adaptation and to evaluate the impact of performance via technology adaptation in SME sector in Sri Lanka. Findings: Descriptive statistics revealed that there are substantial disparities in how organizations and the environment adapt to new technologies. The ordinal regression analysis emphasised that organizational and environmental factors significantly influence on adaption of technology. Content analysis revealed that SMEs have gained many new opportunities via adaption of technology such as expand their businesses from local to global using e-commerce platform and online money transactions. Social media has made direct business to business instant contact. Further, transparency of business transactions increase trust with suppliers and customers. Implications: The SME sector needs both new technology and updates existing technology status and guided towards modernization and continuous improvement process. Finding of this study will give policy makers and government officials on strengthening and arming SME sector with technology to face challenge and complete with local and international competition