A normalisation procedure for biaxial bias extension tests

Biaxial Bias Extension tests have been performed on a plain-weave carbon fibre engineering fabric. The test results have been normalised using both the upper and lower bound method proposed by Potluri et al. and also using a novel alternative normalisation method based on energy arguments. The normalised results from both methods are compared and discussed

Household water security through stored rainwater and consumer acceptability: a case study of the Anuradhapura District

Rainwater harvesting has increased in popularity in Sri Lanka over the past two decades due to the number of water supply projects funded by the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The stored rainwater can provide accessible, reliable, timely and adequate supplies of water to households but there are uncertainties as to safety, in terms of water quality, and consumer acceptability. A study was, therefore, conducted in the Anuradhapura District, in the dry zone, to assess consumer acceptability of stored rainwater for household purposes and to conduct rainwater quality tests in a laboratory. The majority of households in Anuradhapura meet their drinking water requirements from protected wells (59.6 %). Prior to the project, people greatly preferred open wells as a source of domestic water, followed by tubewells, because they believed that water in open wells is of good quality and drinkable. However, stored rainwater has become the priority source now, especially through roof rainwater harvesting (RRWH), which is used during the dry periods. The study revealed that more than 85 % of households use stored rainwater for drinking although some have concerns over the quality and only drink it after boiling. The easy accessibility of water and the assurance by the project team that it is of good quality are the main reasons that people are willing to drink it. The acceptability of stored rainwater for consumption was very high in water-scarce areas and with the increasing distance to the nearest and alternative sources of good-quality water. Of those who felt that they had adequate water, 84 % of the sample households found it adequate in the wet season but only 21 % in the dry season. Water quality analysis revealed that the chemical and physical quality of stored rainwater is within the acceptable range with respect to Sri Lankan Standards, SLS: 614, for potable water quality (SLIS 1983). Other domestic water sources exceeded standards for electrical conductivity, total alkalinity, hardness, ammonium nitrogen, fluorides and total iron. However, stored rainwater was of lower biological quality than other domestic water sources.Length: pp.87-97Domestic waterWater securityWater harvestingWater qualityRural areasCase studies

Engineering Adaptive Model-Driven User Interfaces

Software applications that are very large-scale, can encompass hundreds of complex user interfaces (UIs). Such applications are commonly sold as feature-bloated off-the-shelf products to be used by people with variable needs in the required features and layout preferences. Although many UI adaptation approaches were proposed, several gaps and limitations including: extensibility and integration in legacy systems, still need to be addressed in the state-of-the-art adaptive UI development systems. This paper presents Role-Based UI Simplification (RBUIS) as a mechanism for increasing usability through adaptive behaviour by providing end-users with a minimal feature-set and an optimal layout, based on the context-of- use. RBUIS uses an interpreted runtime model-driven approach based on the Cedar Architecture, and is supported by the integrated development environment (IDE), Cedar Studio. RBUIS was evaluated by integrating it into OFBiz, an open-source ERP system. The integration method was assessed and measured by establishing and applying technical metrics. Afterwards, a usability study was carried out to evaluate whether UIs simplified with RBUIS show an improvement over their initial counterparts. This study leveraged questionnaires, checking task completion times and output quality, and eye-tracking. The results showed that UIs simplified with RBUIS significantly improve end-user efficiency, effectiveness, and perceived usability

Using interpreted runtime models for devising adaptive user interfaces of enterprise applications

Although proposed to accommodate new technologies and the continuous evolution of business processes and business rules, current model-driven approaches do not meet the flexibility and dynamic needs of feature-rich enterprise applications. This paper illustrates the use of interpreted runtime models instead of static models or generative runtime models, i.e. those that depend on code generation. The benefit of interpreting runtime models is illustrated in two enterprise user interface (UI) scenarios requiring adaptive capabilities. Concerned with devising a tool-supported methodology to accommodate such advanced adaptive user interface scenarios, we propose an adaptive UI architecture and the meta-model for such UIs. We called our architecture Custom Enterprise Development Adaptive Architecture (CEDAR). The applicability and performance of the proposed approach are evaluated by a case study

Eucalyptus AND Acacia SPECIES AND FUTURE STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVEMENT IN THE UP COUNTRY OF SRI LANKA

Most of the arable lands in up country are used for tea and some other cash crops likevegetables. The land available for commercial reforestation is marginal and degraded.However, commercially valuable tree species like EIII"(//Y/IIIIS and Acacia are planted in thetea plantations as an additional income source: to produce a significant timber and fuelwood production.Naturally available tree species cannot be cultivated commercially due to their slow growthand poor timber quality. Furthermore, Mirhrlia champaca, Ccdrella 1001/(/ andArtocarpus heterophyltus that arc loculiscd to up country show slow growth and aretherefore very difficult to plant as commercial trees.Fast growing Eucatvptus and Acacia species have been introduced to up country in theIRO()s. E. grandis and E. microcorys species are planted in the up country in large-scaleindustrial plantations and in the farmlands, Hence they produce significant production forthe.timber market. Acacia species are not planted widely in this zone but there will be ahigh potential for the species A. mclauoxylon in the future as a furniture timber tree.Genetic improvement of Elim/Y/IIIIS started in 19XOs. E.gr(///(/is, E.lllil"rocorys, E.clocziana and E. urophylla have shown promising growth in the species trials.Provenances of E. graudis from northern Queensland and provenances or E. micrororysfrom northern New South Wales have performed well. Broad range provenances of A.mclanoxvlon trial have been established in the recent past.A long term breeding programme for Eigrandis was formulated in 1994. The firstgeneration progeny trial was established in 1995 in the upcountry intermediate zone.Hence, it is proposed to convert that to a seedling seed orchard in the future. Two seedproduction areas for each species were established in two different climatic zones, Upcountry intermediate and wet zone for immediate seed requirements.Present activities of tree improvement in the up country and future improvement strategiesand plans will he discussed.

TEAK SECOND ROTATION ESTABLISHMENT EXPERIMENT IN DRY ZONE OF SRI LANKA

Teak (Tectona grandis) is a tree species which grows well in the dry zone of Sri Lanka.During 1960s and 70s nearly 40,000 hectares have been planted with this species ascommercial plantations in nutrients rich burnt soil in the low country intermediate and dryzone areas. Most of the established plantations are now in a stage to do the final felling.The micro environmental conditions of the plantations has changed due to differentenvironmental changes such as frequent fire, nutrient removal by harvesting etc. Thereforethe second rotation establishment of the same species seem to be a problem.A field experiment on the second rotation establishment was carried out at Timbolkettiya,Embilipitiya in 1995. Two different propagule types, three different land preparationmethods and four different fertilizer applications were applied in a split split plot design.The propagule type potted stumps (p> 0.05) were far superior to the normal bare rootedstumps in terms of survival percentage and plant's initial growth after the second monsoonrains. In general deep soil loosening (45 em hole) had the highest survival (81 %) and thefastest plant growth (95 ern) compared to the standard 30 em hole (58% survival and 72cm height). A significant difference (p > 0.05) was not observed between differentinorganic fertilizer levels. This could have been due to the adverse environmentalconditions which prevailed during the experimental period. The survival for potted plantswas 86% while it was only 42% for bare rooted stumps. Further, the potted plants reached95 cm height compared to 72 em for stumps.

Development of a rapid environmental assessment methodology for roads sector rehabilitation projects

The concern for the environment is ever growing and counter measures are also taken by manycountries to minimize environmental impacts arising from developmental activities. One tool utilised toensure that developments are sustainable is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which hasbeen a mandatory requirement in Sri Lanka since 1993. However, due to considerable time taken bythe EIA process particularly for extensive projects such as road sector projects concerns have beenraised as to the delays caused by the process which in certain instances might even cause loss offoreign funds. Although detailed assessments are required in some cases it is not always true. Roadrehabilitation projects do not fall into the category of prescribed projects of the National EnvironmentalAct unless sensitive areas are involved and resettlement of more than 100 families are involved.However, foreign funding agencies generally require an environmental assessment of even suchprojects prior to approving of funding which generally cause delays since environmental assessorstend to follow tile same pattern of assessment for all projects regardless of the scope. Numerousmethods have evolved over the years to conduct EIAs some ct'which address environmental impact assessment of sectoral projects particularly water resource development projects which are ratherconvenient to use. However thus far such methods have not been developed for road sector projects.The present study was conducted to develop a Rapid Environment Assessment (REA) technique forthe Sri Lankan road rehabilitation projects where such a tool is yet to immerge. The REA was designedfrom the information collected from literature survey, questionnaire surveys of affected communities,field observations and subject experts' interviews. Three actual rehabilitation projects were studiedfor this purpose. Based on the information first the activities relevant to all the road rehabilitationprojects were listed with the assistance received from the field engineers. Then those activities whichhave no significant impacts were taken out keeping only the activities causing impacts forconsideration.The designed tool in this study is armed with both primary and secondary impacts whichcan arise from specific activities of road rehabilitation projects as well with proposed mitigatory measureswhich can minimize these impacts. The REA is not only comprehensive but also user friendly asactivities and impacts are predetermined and linked to each other so that the users do not have toprepare their own checklists of activities or environmental aspects. It's handy and small. It's generalin usage and could be used in any site of road rehabilitation projects. It's concise as only those activitieswith significant impacts are chosen and included.From surveys it was also discovered that to avoid unnecessary oppositions and social commotion,which would hinder the rehabilitation projects compensation should be decided and granted at theplanning stage itself. It is also highly recommended that a strong monitoring system is utilized. If anyof the proposed mitigatory measures is not effective in neutralizing the impacts, a search for newmeasures is recommended and REA is to be updated accordingly. As REA is not available for roadrehabilitation projects at present in Sri Lanka the tool designed in my study could be taken for futureroad rehabilitation projects to minimize the disadvantages of ElA. However, it should note that theREA is to be used only by experts in order to be effective and accurate.