Adsorption Configurations of 2-Chlorophenols on Colloidal Silica

Chlorophenol (CP) is the organic-chloride compound which widely used as pesticides. Industrialization and modern agriculture release a vast amount of chlorophenol to the environment. Adsorption behavior and retention of chlorophenol in the environment still not cleared. Interaction of 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) with silica surface was investigated with different reaction conditions. The study was conformed that outer-sphere complexation of 2-CP with silica surface and different surface speciation was observed at different pH conditions. Maximum adsorption (1.5 × 10−8 mol m−2) was observed around neutral pH conditions. 2-CP adsorption on silica surface followed the first order kinetics, and it indicates multilayer formation through capillary condensation. FTIR spectral analysis reveals the formation of a bidentate complex on the silica surface with 2-CP

Trade Liberalisation and Income Distribution: Evidence from a Small Open Economy

Abstract: Over the last few decades there has been a great deal of interest in investigating the link between trade liberalisation and income distribution in developing countries. Although there is a significant amount of empirical evidence to support the positive link between trade liberalisation and growth, the evidence on the relationship between trade liberalisation and income distribution among different household groups has been inconclusive. This study investigates the effects of trade liberalisation on income distribution in the Sri Lankan economy using a computable general equilibrium model. In terms of income distribution it can be observed that tariff reduction in manufacturing industries tends to widen the income gap between the low and the high income earners. Understanding these distributional effects of trade liberalisation will help in designing better targeted and robust welfare programmes in order to mitigate the adjustment costs of further liberalisation in developing countries like Sri Lanka

STUDY OF THE EXISTING STATUS OF SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM IN UPPER SCHOOL CHEMISTRY OF SRI LANKA

School Based Assessment (SBA) system at Advanced Level classes of Sri Lanka was implemented since 2009. At the beginning there were fifteen assessments to be completed with five practical assessments to get the eligibility for the final examination. There are five assessments that must be completed to get the eligibility for General Certificate of Education in Advanced Level G.C.E (A/L) examination which is implementing from 2019 onwards. This study is mainly focused on the identification of the current status of SBA regarding Chemistry subject as well investigate the drawbacks and remedial actions that can be taken. Marks of the School based assessment in (G.C.E (A/L)) Chemistry should always be used as the measure of teaching-learning process. It should provide the student as well as teacher to evaluate themselves on the lesson that they taught. Unfortunately, this is not happening in our current system and hence is not a landmark of students’ achievement or success of teaching learning process. Therefore most of the teachers use the same teaching and assessing methodology without any change throughout the assigned time period giving minute attention to the achievement of their students and pay much attention to cover whole syllabus rather than checking the conceptual establishment in them. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 356 students of seven provinces and 170 teachers from nine provinces. Teachers were selected from 1AB and 1C schools from the province. Students’ data were collected from two schools of the province from both male and female students of grade12 and 13 according to the number of students in that class. Further the qualitative data collection was done through focused group discussions and interviews. These discussions were conducted in three districts with the participation of eight teachers and twenty eight students. Forty final codes were identified and they were categorized under ten segments. Then sub themes were identified and according to them, seven themes were identified. 75% of the teachers who were participated in the survey had identified the importance of SBA. About 67% of them suggested the more teacher and student friendly assessment system. They requested more guidance from higher authorities, proper training and well-organized assessment models. According to the student point of view, about 60% of them requested more help from teachers to understand the subject matter, reliable marking system which aims to the final examination. Article visualizations

Globalisation, Poverty and disparities: the Case of Sri Lanka

Griffith Business School, Department of Accounting, Finance and EconomicsNo Full Tex

Poverty and Growth Impacts of High Oil Prices: Evidence from Sri Lanka

The “twin shocks” of rising food and oil prices in 2007 and 2008 caused negative impacts on developing countries in terms of poverty reduction and economic growth. Many analysts believe that a similar crisis is looming on the horizon after the world food price index hit the 2008 peak in December last year and the oil price in the UK reached the price level it had two years ago in January 2011. However, there is a limited body of empirical evidence available from developing countries on the impact of high oil prices on growth in general and household poverty in particular. In this study, Sri Lanka is used as a case study and a computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach is adopted as an analytical framework to explore the growth and poverty impacts of high oil prices. The preliminary results suggest that urban low income households are the group most adversely affected by high global oil prices, followed by low income rural households. In contrast, estate low income households are the least affected out of all low income households. The energy intensive manufacturing sector and services sector are affected most compared to the agricultural sector

Climate change adaptation, agriculture and poverty: A general equilibrium analysis for Nepal

This paper presents a model of climate change adaptation in the Nepalese economy and uses it to simulate long-run impacts of climate change and cropland re-allocation on household poverty. We develop a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Nepal, with a nested set of constant elasticity of transformation (CET) functional forms to model the allocation of land within different agricultural sectors. Supply of land depends on the magnitude of effects of climate change on different crops. Land transformation elasticities in the CET functions reflect the ease of switching from one crop to another based on their agronomic characteristics and degree of impacts of climate change. The distinguishing feature of the model is flexibility of CET values. Use of a set of CET values at the sectoral level thus captures the transformation effects of agronomic feasibility and profitability of crops while, at the same time, retaining the role of price relativity in the demand side of land along with other factors of production. The results suggest that, in the long run, farmers tend to allocate land to crops that are comparatively less impacted by climate change, such as paddy. Furthermore, the results reveal that land re-allocation tends to reduce income disparity among household groups and poverty by significantly moderating the income losses of marginal farmers

A Quantitive Evaluation of the Potential Effects of Trade Policy Reversal in Sri Lanka: A Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Analysis

In recent years there has been a trend in rising protectionism and a reversal of trade policy reforms in some developed and developing countries, particularly after the global financial crisis. Although some researchers and practitioners have discussed recent trends in trade policy reversal in both developed and developing countries in recent years, no serious attempts have been made to examine the effects of trade policy reversal in a developing country within an economy-wide framework. The current paper attempts to fill this research gap by answering the question: Can developing countries benefit from trade policy reversals? The study focuses particularly on the case of Sri Lanka. To address this central research aim the paper first reviews recent trends in import duty and para-tariffs in Sri Lanka, particularly after the global financial crisis. An economy-wide computable general equilibrium (CGE) model was then used to evaluate the effects of trade policy reversal on the Sri Lankan economy. The results of the Sri Lankan case study presented suggest that developing countries will not benefit from trade policy reversal at either the macro level or industry level

A general equilibrium assessment of climate change–induced loss of agricultural productivity in Nepal

The impact of climate change on agriculture has been one of the most discussed topics in the literature on climate change. Multi-regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) models have frequently been used to examine the impact of climate change on agriculture. However, these studies do not focus on country-specific issues related to the link between climate change and agriculture. This paper aims to address this gap by investigating the economy-wide impacts of climate change on Nepalese agriculture. Nepal makes an interesting case study as it has one of the most vulnerable agricultural economies in South Asia. This paper develops a comparative static multi-household CGE model to trace the direct and indirect impacts of climate change in Nepal. The results suggest that climate change has a significant negative impact on the overall Nepalese economy due to the induced loss of agricultural productivity. The results further reveal that rural households in Nepal, whose livelihoods primarily depend on subsistence farming, will face additional climate change–induced stresses due to already overstrained poverty and a weak social welfare system. The results indicate an urgent need to mainstream adaptation strategies to lessen the negative impacts of any climate change–induced loss of agricultural productivity in Nepal