Landscape Based Mitigation Design for Addressing the Human Elephant Conflict in Katupotha Area in Puttalam District

The connection between Human elephant conflict (HEC) is quite old in Sri Lanka. Elephants and peoplehave some similar ecological needs therefore, conflict between the two species is unavoidable when theycoexist in the same area. Katupotha is one of the villages that has HEC in Sri Lanka belonging to thePuttalam district and located 29.2 and 4 kilometers away from the Anamaduwa and Pallama respectively.Mainly, elephants enter the village through a place in Rathambala stream where there is less depth andwidth. According to the villagers, elephants are coming there in every year during the month of August,when the rain is very low. Therefore, the landscape solution was designed mainly to fulfill the elephants’water and food requirements. To avoid the entering of elephants to the village, the landscape of theRathambala oya area was changed by creating water features, fruiting areas, and bio fences

Landscape-Based Mitigation Strategy for Addressing Human-Elephant Conflict in Horowpathana, Sri Lanka: A Comprehensive Study

Horowpathana has been identified as a hotspot of human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka's north-centralprovince, where quick intervention is required. But Sri Lanka never had a consolidated action plan toaddress the problem. This study deals with the question of how landscape architects can contribute tomitigating the problem in the area. It aims to create a design proposal that facilitates elephant requirementsand offers functions and recreation for the residents at the same time. The design is based on the method ofanimal-centred design. The study demonstrates that such conflicts can be resolved through preciselandscape design that considers the issue on the specific site. Effective implementation requires stronggovernance structures and policy support from stakeholders like governmental institutions, conservationorganizations, and academics. Collaboration between infrastructure developers and conservationists canreduce the harmful effects of development projects on wildlife by employing proper design methodologiesand undertaking further research to assure establishment efficacy

Suitability of Soil Washed Sand as Fine Aggregates to Replace River Sand in the Concrete

This paper presents a study on suitability of replacing river sand with soil washed sand as fine aggregate in concrete. The study was based on a comparison of concrete performance produced from river sand and soil washed sand obtained from four locations in Sri Lanka; Homagama, Rathnapura, Anuradhapura and Bandarawela. Several standard tests including Sieve analysis, Slump test and Compressive strength were conducted in order to check the workability, particle size distribution and compressive strength of M25 grade concrete. From the test results, it was found that percentages of coarse sand, medium sand and fine sand present in soil washed sand are higher than that of river sand, while highly coarse sand percentage was higher for the soil samples extracted from Rathnapura and Bandarawela areas compared to river sand. Slump test results showed that the concrete produced from river sand has a lower slump value compared to that of concrete produced from soil washed sand, suggesting that washed soil sand could possess higher workability. Test results showed that specimen cubes have achieved the target strength of M25 grade concrete even though compressive strength of concrete produced from soil washed sand was about 10% lesser compared that of river sand at 7 days, 14 days and 28 days’ strength

Addressing Human-Elephant Conflict in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve Area: A Comprehensive Study on Landscape Design Approaches

Human-elephant conflict is a major problem in Sri Lanka which has existed since recent past times and now it has increased. Sinharaja rainforest is a tropical rainforest and it has two male elephants who have special concerns due to the limited number of wet zone elephants in Sri Lanka. Because of roads and tea plantations their natural corridors have been blocked. Therefore those elephants tend to enter residential areas and plantations. As landscaping solutions maintaining their corridors with their favourite trees and grasses leads the elephants through only the corridors and avoid entering the other areas. To join the forest fragments onboth sides of the road, an eco-bridge can be used. To enhance tourism around the forest reserve, elephantwatching stations can be established. White colour rounded or sharp stones can be used as a buffer zone.Besides, to prevent elephants from entering roads, Citrus bio fences can be established

Blockchain and smart contracts : a solution for payment issues in construction supply chains

The construction industry has dynamic supply chains with multiple suppliers usually engaged in short-term relationships. Government legislation, novel types of payment agreements, conventional information technology solutions, and supply chain management best practices have endeavoured to solve payment-related financial issues in the construction industry, which are mainly caused by the complexities of the construction supply chain. Nevertheless, payment-related issues persist as one of the key challenges in the industry. Applications of blockchain technology–a trusted, distributed data storing mechanism–along with smart contracts are gaining focus as solutions for complex interorganisational processes. A smart contract is a self-executing script that codifies a set of rules or agreements between multiple parties and runs across the blockchain network. This paper identifies the suitability of blockchain and smart contract technologies in solving payment issues in the construction industry. An expert forum of construction industry stakeholders served as the primary data collection method through a structured questionnaire. The key finding of the paper is that blockchain and smart contract powered solutions can significantly mitigate the payment and related financial issues in the construction industry, including partial payments, nonpayments, cost of finance, long payment cycle, retention, and security of payments

Research Paper for Australian Human Rights Commission (National Children's Commissioner): Effective support and early intervention approaches to offending behaviour by children and innovative international responses to serious offending by children and young people

This literature review outlines the arguments for raising the age of criminal responsibility for children in Australia from 10 years to at least 14 years of age. It advocates for systems reform so that young offenders are diverted away from the criminal justice system. Ecological Systems Theory postulates that a child’s development involves a complex interrelated systems of social relations. Using this as a base, this review highlights how key structural drivers such as health, mental disability, family and societal factors underlie some offending behaviours

Young elephants in a large herd maintain high levels of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus-specific antibodies and do not succumb to fatal haemorrhagic disease

Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs) have co-existed with elephants for millions of years, yet may cause fatal haemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD), typically in elephants between 1 and 10 years of age. EEHV is omnipresent in (sub)adult elephants, and young elephants with low EEHV-specific antibody levels are at risk for EEHV-HD, suggesting that fatal disease may occur due to an insufficiently controlled primary infection. To further address this hypothesis, sera of three large elephant cohorts were subjected to a multiple EEHV species ELISA: (I) 96 Asian elephants between 0 and 57 years, including 13 EEHV-HD fatalities, from European zoo herds typically sized five to six elephants, (II) a herd of 64 orphaned elephants aged 0–15 years at the Elephant Transit Home in Sri Lanka and (III) 31 elephants aged 8–63 years, part of a large herd of 93 elephants at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka. All Sri Lankan elephants showed high EEHV-specific antibody levels regardless of their age. While antibody levels of most European zoo elephants were comparable to those of Sri Lankan elephants, the average antibody level of the European juveniles (1–5 years of age) was significantly lower than those of age-matched Sri Lankan individuals. Moreover, the European juveniles showed a gradual decrease between 1 and 4 years of age, to be attributed to waning maternal antibodies. Maintenance of high levels of antibodies in spite of waning maternal antibodies in young Sri Lankan elephants is likely due to the larger herd size that increases the likelihood of contact with EEHV-shedding elephants. Together with the observation that low levels of EEHV-specific antibodies correlate with increased numbers of EEHV-HD fatalities, these results suggest that infection in presence of high maternal antibody levels may protect calves from developing EEHV-HD, while at the same time activating an immune response protective in future encounters with this virus.http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tbedhj2022Veterinary Tropical Disease

Young elephants in a large herd maintain high levels of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus-specific antibodies and do not succumb to fatal haemorrhagic disease

Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs) have co-existed with elephants for millions of years, yet may cause fatal haemorrhagic disease (EEHV-HD), typically in elephants between 1 and 10 years of age. EEHV is omnipresent in (sub)adult elephants, and young elephants with low EEHV-specific antibody levels are at risk for EEHV-HD, suggesting that fatal disease may occur due to an insufficiently controlled primary infection. To further address this hypothesis, sera of three large elephant cohorts were subjected to a multiple EEHV species ELISA: (I) 96 Asian elephants between 0 and 57 years, including 13 EEHV-HD fatalities, from European zoo herds typically sized five to six elephants, (II) a herd of 64 orphaned elephants aged 0–15 years at the Elephant Transit Home in Sri Lanka and (III) 31 elephants aged 8–63 years, part of a large herd of 93 elephants at Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Sri Lanka. All Sri Lankan elephants showed high EEHV-specific antibody levels regardless of their age. While antibody levels of most European zoo elephants were comparable to those of Sri Lankan elephants, the average antibody level of the European juveniles (1–5 years of age) was significantly lower than those of age-matched Sri Lankan individuals. Moreover, the European juveniles showed a gradual decrease between 1 and 4 years of age, to be attributed to waning maternal antibodies. Maintenance of high levels of antibodies in spite of waning maternal antibodies in young Sri Lankan elephants is likely due to the larger herd size that increases the likelihood of contact with EEHV-shedding elephants. Together with the observation that low levels of EEHV-specific antibodies correlate with increased numbers of EEHV-HD fatalities, these results suggest that infection in presence of high maternal antibody levels may protect calves from developing EEHV-HD, while at the same time activating an immune response protective in future encounters with this virus

Fungal diversity notes 929–1035: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungi

This article is the ninth in the series of Fungal Diversity Notes, where 107 taxa distributed in three phyla, nine classes, 31 orders and 57 families are described and illustrated. Taxa described in the present study include 12 new genera, 74 new species, three new combinations, two reference specimens, a re-circumscription of the epitype, and 15 records of sexualasexual morph connections, new hosts and new geographical distributions. Twelve new genera comprise Brunneofusispora, Brunneomurispora, Liua, Lonicericola, Neoeutypella, Paratrimmatostroma, Parazalerion, Proliferophorum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis, Septomelanconiella, Velebitea and Vicosamyces. Seventy-four new species are Agaricus memnonius, A. langensis, Aleurodiscus patagonicus, Amanita flavoalba, A. subtropicana, Amphisphaeria mangrovei, Baorangia major, Bartalinia kunmingensis, Brunneofusispora sinensis, Brunneomurispora lonicerae, Capronia camelliaeyunnanensis, Clavulina thindii, Coniochaeta simbalensis, Conlarium thailandense, Coprinus trigonosporus, Liua muriformis, Cyphellophora filicis, Cytospora ulmicola, Dacrymyces invisibilis, Dictyocheirospora metroxylonis, Distoseptispora thysanolaenae, Emericellopsis koreana, Galiicola baoshanensis, Hygrocybe lucida, Hypoxylon teeravasati, Hyweljonesia indica, Keissleriella caraganae, Lactarius olivaceopallidus, Lactifluus midnapurensis, Lembosia brigadeirensis, Leptosphaeria urticae, Lonicericola hyaloseptispora, Lophiotrema mucilaginosis, Marasmiellus bicoloripes, Marasmius indojasminodorus, Micropeltis phetchaburiensis, Mucor orantomantidis, Murilentithecium lonicerae, Neobambusicola brunnea, Neoeutypella baoshanensis, Neoroussoella heveae, Neosetophoma lonicerae, Ophiobolus malleolus, Parabambusicola thysanolaenae, Paratrimmatostroma kunmingensis, Parazalerion indica, Penicillium dokdoense, Peroneutypa mangrovei, Phaeosphaeria cycadis, Phanerochaete australosanguinea, Plectosphaerella kunmingensis, Plenodomus artemisiae, P. lijiangensis, Proliferophorum thailandicum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis kaveriana, Pseudohelicomyces menglunicus, Pseudoplagiostoma mangiferae, Robillarda mangiferae, Roussoella elaeicola, Russula choptae, R. uttarakhandia, Septomelanconiella thailandica, Spencermartinsia acericola, Sphaerellopsis isthmospora, Thozetella lithocarpi, Trechispora echinospora, Tremellochaete atlantica, Trichoderma koreanum, T. pinicola, T. rugulosum, Velebitea chrysotexta, Vicosamyces venturisporus, Wojnowiciella kunmingensis and Zopfiella indica. Three new combinations are Baorangia rufomaculata, Lanmaoa pallidorosea and Wojnowiciella rosicola. The reference specimens of Canalisporium kenyense and Tamsiniella labiosa are designated. The epitype of Sarcopeziza sicula is re-circumscribed based on cyto- and histochemical analyses. The sexual-asexual morph connection of Plenodomus sinensis is reported from ferns and Cirsium for the first time. In addition, the new host records and country records are Amanita altipes, A. melleialba, Amarenomyces dactylidis, Chaetosphaeria panamensis, Coniella vitis, Coprinopsis kubickae, Dothiorella sarmentorum, Leptobacillium leptobactrum var. calidus, Muyocopron lithocarpi, Neoroussoella solani, Periconia cortaderiae, Phragmocamarosporium hederae, Sphaerellopsis paraphysata and Sphaeropsis eucalypticola