Simplified model to estimate impact on coastal water resources and loss of shore line land due to climate change and sea level rise

This paper presents a review of past to current observations in the study of climate change and sea-level rise. It appraised the relationship between climate change and sea-level rise, and other drivers on the climate system and factors contributing to sea-level rise. It also highlighting various impacts of climate change and sea-level rise and suggesting short to long term strategies for effective coastal management.A model was developed to provide an estimation of present sea-level rise invariably indicating how much land is lost and how much effect it will have on the water table and rivers especially in coastal areas where there is no data available. To obtain these estimates, numerical modelling was carried out using parameters selected during the study. These parameters with the help of a conversion table produced initial data which were then applied to available Wellington region data for scenarios of 0.5m, 1.0m and 1.5m sea-level rise. Model testing was carried out to measure loss of land and effect of on water table, and satisfactory results were obtained and presented here in. This model hopes to aid in the decision making process of what adaptation methods to employ or implement in certain coastal areas

A study of the classification of the ceraphronidae (Hymenoptera)

Imperial Users onl

Analysis on Supercapacitor Assisted Low Dropout (SCALDO) Regulators

State-of-the-art electronic systems employ three fundamental techniques for DC-DC converters: (a) switch-mode power supplies (SMPS); (b) linear power supplies; (c) switched capacitor (charge pump) converters. In practical systems, these three techniques are mixed to provide a complex, but elegant, overall solution, with energy efficiency, effective PCB footprint, noise and transient performance to suit different electronic circuit blocks. Switching regulators have relatively high end-to-end efficiency, in the range of 70 to 93%, but can have issues with output noise and EMI/RFI emissions. Switched capacitor converters use a set of capacitors for energy storage and conversion. In general, linear regulators have low efficiencies in the range 30 to 60%. However, they have outstanding output characteristics such as low noise, excellent transient response to load current fluctuations, design simplicity and low cost design which are far superior to SMPS. Given the complex situation in switch-mode converters, low dropout (LDO) regulators were introduced to address the equirements of noise-sensitive and fast transient loads in portable devices. A typical commercial off-the-shelf LDO has its input voltage slightly higher than the desired regulated output for optimal efficiency. The approximate efficiency of a linear regulator, if the power consumed by the control circuits is negligible, can be expressed by the ratio of Vo/Vin. A very low frequency supercapacitor circulation technique can be combined with commercial low dropout regulator ICs to significantly increase the end-to-end efficiency by a multiplication factor in the range of 1.33 to 3, compared to the efficiency of a linear regulator circuit with the same input-output voltages. In this patented supercapacitor-assisted low dropout (SCALDO) regulator technique developed by a research team at the University of Waikato, supercapacitors are used as lossless voltage droppers, and the energy reuse occurs at very low frequencies in the range of less than ten hertz, eliminating RFI/EMI concerns. This SCALDO technique opens up a new approach to design step-down, DC-DC converters suitable for processor power supplies with very high end-to-end efficiency which is closer to the efficiencies of practical switching regulators, while maintaining the superior output specifications of a linear design. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that the SCALDO technique is not a variation of well-known switched capacitor DC-DC converters. In this thesis, the basic SCALDO concept is further developed to achieve generalised topologies, with the relevant theory that can be applied to a converter with any input-output step-down voltage combination. For these generalised topologies, some important design parameters, such as the number of supercapacitors, switching matrix details and efficiency improvement factors, are derived to form the basis of designing SCALDO regulators. With the availability of commercial LDO ICs with output current ratings up to 10 A, and thin-prole supercapacitors with DC voltage ratings from 2.3 to 5.5 V, several practically useful, medium-current SCALDO prototypes: 12V-to-5V, 5V-to-2V, 5.5V-to-3.3V have been developed. Experimental studies were carried out on these SCALDO prototypes to quantify performance in terms of line regulation, load regulation, efficiency and transient response. In order to accurately predict the performance and associated waveforms of the individual phases (charge, discharge and transition) of the SCALDO regulator, Laplace transform-based theory for supercapacitor circulation is developed, and analytical predictions are compared with experimental measurements for a 12V-to-5V prototype. The analytical results tallied well with the practical waveforms observed in a 12V-to-5V converter, indicating that the SCALDO technique can be generalized to other versatile configurations, and confirming that the simplified assumptions used to describe the circuit elements are reasonable and justifiable. After analysing the performance of several SCALDO prototypes, some practical issues in designing SCALDO regulators have been identified. These relate to power losses and implications for future development of the SCALDO design

An assessment of the impact of environmental factors on the quality of post-mortem DNA profiling.

DNA profiling has ignited public interest and consequently their expectations for the capabilities of forensic criminal and science investigations. The prospect of characterising the genetic makeup of individuals or trace samples from a wide variety of depositional and post-mortem circumstances raises the question of how reliable the methods are given the potential for prolonged exposure to variation in environmental factors, i.e. temperature, pH, UV irradiation and humidity, that are known to induce damage to DNA. Thus, it is crucial to verify the validity of the DNA profiling for characterising the genetic makeup of post-mortem tissues. This project aimed to assess the reliability of sequence and microsatellite based genotyping of tissues (muscle, hair and bone) sampled from carcasses over a two year post-mortem period. This assessment investigated the impact of environment induced DNA degradation in the local geographic region that is typical of the circumstances that confront forensic practitioners in southern Australia and to utilise rigorous controls by studying animals whose time of death and burial was known and for which we had pre-decay tissue samples available. A ‘body farm’ with 12 pig carcasses on the northern Adelaide plains, ~60km north of Adelaide, which has a typical southern Australian Mediterranean climate, i.e. cold wet winters and hot dry summers. Pigs (Sus scrofa) were used as an experimental analogue for human subjects because of the logistical and ethical reasons. The pig carcasses were allocated among three treatments: four were left on the surface, four were buried at 1m depth, and four were buried at 2 m depth. These ‘burial’ conditions mimic a range of conditions encountered typically in forensic and archaeological studies. Cortical bone samples were taken from each pig carcass at one week, one month, three months, six months, one year and two years post-mortem and muscle and hair over the same sampling period for as long as those tissue types were present. A set of PCR primers to amplify two (short and a long) fragments from the hypervariable part of the mitochondrial control region (HVRI) that is used in forensic and evolutionary studies of humans and many other mammal species were developed. Also a panel of four pig microsatellite loci with fluorescent labels to facilitate automated multiplex genotyping. These loci matched as closely as possible the core motifs and allele lengths typical of the commercially available microsatellite marker kits used in Australian forensic science labs so that our experiments were as good a model as possible of the human forensic DNA technology. In this study it was possible to retrieve samples from muscle tissue up to 90 days, hair up to one year and bone at two years post-mortem. The analyses showed that the long and short HVRI region PCR fragments were only amplifiable up to 30 days from muscle tissue and that these fragments were amplifiable up to one year from hair. In contrast, in cortical bone both PCR fragments were amplifiable up to two years. The long fragment disappeared in muscle tissue completely after 30 days and in hair after six months. However, the long fragment was present in cortical bone even at two years. Overall, there was a general trend of loss of concentration of both the long and short fragments over time. Comparisons of the HVRI nucleotide sequences among tissues sampled from individual animals showed substitution changes in muscles as early as 30 days (3 out of 6 individuals) and hair at six months (1 out of 6 individuals). In contrast, in cortical bone substitutions first appeared at 365 days (1 out of 6 individuals). The most common substitution observed in all tissues types was the C-T transition, with A-G transversions observed in two episodes and C-A transversion observed in one episode. Analyses of microsatellite genotypes in muscle tissues showed high allele peaks on chromatograms up to day seven samples. However, by three months PCR was not successful from muscle tissue. While, bone tissue had lower allele peak heights compared to the muscle tissues, alleles were detectable up to six months. Allele drop out occurred for one animal (at 2 meters) in muscle tissue at the dinucleotide locus and for another animal (kept on surface) also in muscle tissue at a tetranucleotide locus. Stuttering was observed for a single animal at dinucleotide locus in muscle tissue (buried sample 2 meter depth). No stuttering or allele drop outs were seen in the bone tissue. Overall the four loci completely disappeared after 30 days in muscle tissue and after 180 days in bone tissue. In summary, analyses showed that post-mortem DNA degradation was present in all the three tissue types (muscle, hair and bone). The types of damage identified were DNA fragmentation, nucleotide substitutions and DNA loss, which resulted in a diminished frequency of successful PCR for mitochondrial and nuclear markers over time and stuttering and allele drop out in microsatellite genotyping. In addition, two nucleotide substitutions were concentrated in ‘hotspots’ that correlate with sites of elevated mutation rate in vivo. Also the frequency of successful PCR of longer nuclear and mitochondrial PCR products declined markedly more quickly than for shorter products. These changes were first observed at much shorter post mortem intervals in muscle and much longer post mortem intervals in hair and bone tissue. When considering the carcass deposition treatments, tissues that were retrieved from buried carcases showed higher levels of DNA degradation compared to tissues retrieved from carcases left on the surface. Overall, muscle tissue is a good source for DNA analysis in immediate post mortem samples, whereas hair and bone tissue are good source for DNA analysis from older samples. When comparing the microsatellite genotyping and mtDNA analyses, mtDNA is a reliable source for DNA analysis from tissue recovered from bodies that had decayed for longer post-mortem durations such as months to years, whereas microsatellite genotyping gives reliable results for tissue from shorter post mortem intervals (hours to few days). Therefore it is recommended that when analysing mtDNA sequences, cloning and sequencing PCR products can help to identify the base pair substitutions especially for tissue retrieved from longer post mortem intervals. In addition, increasing the template DNA concentrations and "neutralising" co-extracted DNA inhibitors should be considered when dealing with tissue from longer post mortem intervals. Finally, the more stringent protocols used in ancient DNA studies should be considered when dealing with tissue with much longer post mortem intervals in forensic settings.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Medical Sciences, 200

Environmental Performance of Backyard Poultry Production System in Sri Lanka

Livestock production systems exert severe negative impacts on environment. In the light of projected increase in livestock product consumption, production systems that exert lower environmental impacts are to be identified and promoted. Despite the recent popularity of intensive poultry production systems, backyard poultry production systems (BY) still play an important role in socio-economic fabric of rural communities. However, environmental performance of BY are less documented. Objective of this study was to ascertain environmental performance of BY in Sri Lanka. Two hundred and ninety five backyard poultry farms in ten districts of six provinces were selected using three stage random sampling technique (provinces, districts and farms). Production performance and information related to spent litter disposal practices, the level of dust emission, presence of mal-odour and phenotypical characters of the flocks were collected. Based on an emission factor reported in literature, ammonia emission was estimated to as high as 21 g of NH3 N per dozen of eggs. Emission rate was significantly higher for those who considered backyard poultry keeping a hobby than those who considered it an additional income source or the main income source. Emission rate was significantly lower when purchased supplemental feeds were given than when not (18 and 22 g NH3 N/dozen egg, respectively). Ammonia smell was felt just outside the pens of the 60% of the farms. Risk of polluting water resources was found to be high in 28% of farms which used to dump spent litter indiscriminately. Dust emission was judged at a problematic level in 46% of the poultry houses, among them 73% considered backyard poultry an additional income source. Flocks in 94% farms were comprised of genetically non-descriptive birds of numerous crosses. NH3 smell was felt at 12% the houses which practice backyard poultry production. However, only a 50% of them admitted that they normally sense ammonia smell at their houses. BY was identified as an important mean of conserving livestock biodiversity. Environmental performance parameters such as ammonia emission, risk of polluting water resources and dust emission of BY were concluded to be weak.Keywords: Ammonia, Backyard, Dust, Environment, Poultr

Continuities and Discontinuities of Life of Military War Widows in the Post- war Sri Lankan Society

This article is a result of a study on the war widows of fallen security personals attached to tri forces (Navy, Air and Army) of Sri Lanka. The civil conflict which prevailed for three decades in Sri Lanka ended up with many post war issues in different fields such as peace building, addressing the issues of war affected people etc. War widows are considered as one of the issues during and after arm conflicts and many studies have been conducted in order to investigate the issues of the war widows as well as many facilitating and supportive progarmmes have been organized to address these issues. However, the challenges faced by the military war widows in post-war society in Sri Lanka have not being studied adequately. Hence, this study has examined the challenges of military war widows encountering as a result of continuity and discontinuity of their life circle referring to their life course. It has identified three broad challenges faced by military war widows namely the social challenges, economic challenges and psychological challenges. The study which has employed both the secondary and primary data collection approach has concluded with that the gender roles attached to men and women influence in continuing the life as a widow and it sometimes discontinue the women empowerment such as participating into community events and it creates vulnerability of women’s decision making as a widow

PEOPLES PARTICIPATION IN FOREST RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT A CASE STUDY IN POLPITHIGAMA, KURUNEGALA

This paper illustrates the results of a study carried out by the Forest Department aimed at reestahlishmentof vegetation covers on state owned barren lands as well as under-developedprivate land through people's participation. The study area was at Polpithigama. inKuruncgala District situated adjacent to Pallekclc Forest Reserve (11.000 hectare) inKurunegala and Anuradhapura Districts. The settlers of Polpithigama are second and thirdgeneration families migrated from neighbouring villages within last 2-3 decades. Eight)'seven percent 01" villages were subsistence farmers. The majority belongs to underprivileged state 01" the society. Except the Funeral Aid Society. there were no other SOCIalorganisations.The management interventions of the Extension unit of the divisional forest office inKurunegala included formation of farmers organisations. block planting. homesteaddevelopment and nursery establishmentBlock planting. homestead development and nursery management were major activitiescarried out under this trial. Out of 127 farmers 76 participated in this programme and 38hectare of land was planted with Acasia oriculiformis. Sixty one (61 o/c) percent of blockswere successfully intereropped with vegetables, pulses and other short term crops. Totalseedling requirement (ISO.OOCll was provided by the village nursery maintained hy farmersociety. Land clearing, soil preparation, planting and other all activities were carried out bythe participation of the farmers and their families. Maintenance and protection were clone byfarmers. It was observed that the average income of farmer has increased by 37'lc during thefirst year and by 21St and IYlc during second and third years respectively. Sixty eightpercent of the farmers had developed their homesteads very satisfactorily. The observationshave revealed that. vegetation cover and soil fertility has improved and soil erosion is undercontrol. Micro-climate of the area also has changed desirablyAccording to the estimates, Forest Department's contribution to the programme was Rs.294,000.00. Participants contribution was Rs.716,7X2.00 which included establishment andmaintenance costs for 3 years. Therefore this study clearly disclosed that i I the properextension programmes were conducted and farmers were motivated. it is possible to seekactive participation of farmers Ior development of forest resources.

CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS OF ADOPTING FAIR VALUE ACCOUNTING FOR REAL ESTATE VALUATION IN PUBLIC LISTED COMPANIES - SRI LANKA

Abstract: Sri Lanka adopted IFRS with effect from 1st January 2012.With IFRS gaining rapid acceptance across the globe with over a 100 countries adopting it, Sri Lanka too is now in line with the global trend in enabling a common language for financial reporting processes following the adoption of IFRS. The Adoption of IFRS is a major breakthrough for companies in Sri Lanka as they will have a common, high quality and internationally accepted set of accounting and financial reporting standards and is also seen as a way forward to bring in ‘more credibility’ to financial reporting in the country. However, there are challenges and barriers to Sri Lanka in the process of adopting IFRS. Hence, this research was aimed to analyze Challenges and Barriers of Adopting Fair Value Accounting for Real Estate Assets Valuation in Sri Lanka Public Listed Companies. To accomplish this purpose, three objectives were developed and to achieve the objectives eighteen (18) hypotheses were developed and tested. The first objective was to find out the major determinant factors of adopting FVA for Real Estate Valuation. That was basically achieved through a solid literature review related to the problem statement. Accordingly five firms based characteristics and three behavioral factors of managers for of adopting FVA for Real Estate Valuation were identified. Second objective was tested to identify the relationship between firms based characteristics and behavioral factors of managers for of adopting FVA for Real Estate Valuation. Accordingly fifteen hypotheses were developed on firms based characteristics in terms of Firm Size, Leverage, Profitability, Amount of Real Estate and Extent of Expertise for Fair Value Accounting. The results obtained for all fifteen hypotheses were significant. Thus, the proposed link between firms based characteristics and behavioral factors of managers for adopting FVA for Real Estate Valuation was fully supported. Third objective was to identify the relationship between behavioural factors of managers and adoptability of FVA for Real Estate Valuation in PLCs’ in Sri Lanka. As per that, Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Perceived Behavioural Control were considered as behavioural factors of managers as suggested in literature chapter. Three hypotheses were tested and all of them were significant to confirm the proposed link between behavioural factors of managers and adoptability of FVA for Real Estate Valuation in PLCs’ in Sri Lanka. The results obtained for second and third objectives, confirmed the barriers and challenges of adopting FVA for Real Estate Valuation in Sri Lankan context. Perceived Control is the most influencing factor, followed by Subjective Norms and Attitudes .As far as exogenous factors : firms based characteristics and endogenous factors: behavioral factors of managers for adopting FVA for Real Estate Valuation are concerned; Extent of Expertise for Fair Value Accounting has the most significant influence on Attitudes of mangers. Level of Leverage of company determines the Perceived Control of managers in the process of Fair Value adoptability. At the same time, Firm Size has a significant impact on Subjective Norms of managers in the process respectively.Key words: IFRS-FVA, Real Estate Valuation, Public Listed Companies in Sri Lanka, Firm Based Characteristics, Managers’ Behavioral Factors