Ousl Journal最新文献

{"title":"Flaws in Research Report Writing: An Evaluation of Research Reports Submitted for an International Conference on Education","authors":"Ayoade Ejiwale Okanlawon","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7405","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7405","url":null,"abstract":"The present study was undertaken to assess papers presented during the 5th International Conference organized by the Collaboration of Education Faculties in West Africa (CEFWA). This was done with a view to revealing participants’ deficiencies in research report writing. The sample for the study comprised of 65 research reports submitted for peer review process by the conference participants. Data sources include reviewers’ assessment of research report using the CEFWA Research Report Rating Scale (C3Rs-a five Likert scale) and reviewers’ comments and suggestions on the weaknesses and strengths of the research reports. Based on these data sources, both descriptive statistics (e.g., mean) and content analysis of reviewers’ evaluation comments were used in the data analysis. The results of the study revealed that (1) the journal-conference proceedings rejection rate was 47.7% (2) the Introduction and Discussion were rated as weak; Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Conclusion were rated as fairly good; the titles and abstracts of submitted research reports were rated as good. Furthermore, the study revealed the following as the primary flaws associated with the Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion sections of the research reports: (1) improper focus on the study objectives and non-indication of gaps in knowledge (2) lack of attempt to critically critique the methods(s) used in previous studies (3) inadequate description of research designs (4) non-self-explanatory of tables and figures and (5) lack of discussion about the significance and implications of results. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that concerted efforts should be made by education faculties to organize faculty seminars where research report can be presented for constructive criticism. Also, universities and research institutions should endeavor to reward researchers for quality rather than quantity of their publications.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"317 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133378962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Challenges and Changes towards a Sustainable Society: Climate, Energy and Education: The 31st OUSL General Convocation Address 2018","authors":"T. Fransson","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7442","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7442","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128592393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Protection of Consumer Rights on the Internet: Prospects and Challenges for the Sri Lankan Legal System","authors":"B. Ariyaratna","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7439","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7439","url":null,"abstract":"The development of Internet and e-commerce has tremendously changed the habits and behaviors of consumers. This fast and efficient medium of transaction has been able to overcome many obstacles inherent to offline transactions and as a result, e-commerce and e-transactions have become more popular among consumers who are struggling with hectic lifestyles. However, it is evident that online consumers are exposed to many inevitable challenges on the Internet, more than the offline consumers specifically with regard to violation of their consumer rights. Every consumer is entitled to several rights whether he/she is dealing online or offline, including the right to information, right to redress, right to privacy, etc. Nonetheless, online consumers are more vulnerable to face the violation of those rights in a virtual market, as they deal with unknown sellers and venders. Therefore, protecting consumer rights in the online marketplace is a timely important topic. At the international and regional level this issue has been discussed and the OECD Guidelines for consumer protection in E-Commerce, the United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection and European Union Directive on Consumer Rights are some of the examples for online consumer protection. Currently, Sri Lanka is in the process of developing information and communication technology, as well as e-commerce. In the recent decades, Sri Lankan legislature has paid attention to introducing new laws to facilitate e-commerce and electronic transactions such as the Electronic Transactions Act and the Computer Crime Act. At the same time, in 2003, Sri Lankan consumer protection legal regime was also repealed. As a result, the Consumer Affairs Authority Act was enacted. However, afore-mentioned legislations fail to specifically address the issue of protecting online consumer rights. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyze the existing Sri Lankan legal framework and highlight the lacuna relating to online consumer protection. The research will basically use the qualitative approach and extensive literature analysis will be used for collecting primary and secondary data.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"126 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131862656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Perceived Factors Related to Delayed Presentation of Breast Cancer among Women with Stage III and IV Breast Cancer in Sri Lanka","authors":"R. Rathnayake, H. M. M. G. P. Halyale, K. V. N. Tharanga, H. Herath, B. S. S. Silva","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7440","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7440","url":null,"abstract":"The most common cancers to be diagnosed in women are breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, which when combined represent one-half of all the cancer cases; breast cancer alone accounts for 30% of all new cancer diagnoses in women. Hence breast cancer becomes the most common cause for cancer deaths worldwide among women. Delay in presentation of breast cancer causes increase morbidity, mortality and decreased survival rate of these patients. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the perceived factors related to delayed presentation of breast cancer among women. One hundred and fifty-one female patients with breast cancer stage III and IV, admitted to the Oncology ward and Oncology clinic in the Teaching Hospital, Kandy, were purposively recruited for this quantitative descriptive study. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Study was conducted during the period January to April 2016. The results highlighted that 67% of patients were unaware of the symptoms of breast cancer. Further, 29% of patients deliberately delayed treatment due to perceived embarrassment in exposing their breasts to medical practitioners; 44% of patients followed the same course of action due to perceived fear of partner abandonment. Significantly, 76% of patients were not aware of self-breast examination method whereas 78% never attended the “Well Women Clinic” (Suwa Nari Sayanaya) which is conducted for the improvement of women’s health. Furthermore, 83% of the patients did not have family histories of breast cancer. The findings concluded that the lack of awareness among patients on symptoms and the self-breast examination method, never attending Well Women Clinic, fear of partner abandonment, perceived embarrassment in disclosing breasts to medical practitioners and negative family histories were common factors related to delayed presentation of breast cancer among women. Therefore, it is recommended to establish effective public awareness programs to increase early diagnosis, prognosis, survival rate and improve overall quality of life among patients with breast cancer","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"66 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129227585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecosystem Carbon Stock of Mangroves at the Batticaloa Lagoon, Sri Lanka","authors":"K. Perera, M. Amarasinghe","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7441","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I2.7441","url":null,"abstract":"Mangroves play an important role in sequestering organic carbon in tropical and subtropical coastal areas, accounting up to 15% of the total carbon deposited in coastal sediments. Sequestered organic carbon occurs both in standing plant biomass, as well as in the below ground root biomass and mangrove soils. Unavailability of quantitative data on carbon retention capacity of Sri Lankan mangrove ecosystems compelled the authors to carry out the present study with the objective of estimating the total ecosystem carbon content in mangrove eco systems in the Batticaloa lagoon, Sri Lanka. This is the largest lagoon situated on the east coast and the third largest brackish water system in the country. Data on vegetation structure were gathered according to the standard procedures and biomass of mangrove trees was determined by the Allometric method. Total Organic Carbon (TOC) in three depths, (0-15 cm, 16-30 cm and 31-45 cm) of mangrove soils was determined by dichromate-oxidation method followed by colorimetry. Total mangrove plant biomass was found to be 298 Mg ha-1, of which 246 Mg ha-1 was in the above ground components of the plants while 52 Mg ha-1 was in the below ground components. TOC embedded in biomass was calculated to be 158 Mg C ha-1out of which 131 Mg C ha-1was found to occur in above ground and 27 Mg C ha-1in below ground components. TOC in mangrove soils (up to 45 cm depth) was revealed to be 348 Mg C ha-1. The total TOC of mangrove ecosystems in the Batticaloa lagoon was calculated to be 506 Mg C ha-1. Mangrove soils that sequester 68% of the organic carbon forms the largest fraction of the mangrove carbon sink. Below ground components account for only 5% of the total pool while the above ground biomass retains five times more (26%) carbon than the root biomass. These results assist pragmatic evaluation of ecological value of mangroves and justify their conservation and management.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131565317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Estimation of Radioactivity and Associated Radiological Hazards of Cement Used in Sri Lanka","authors":"Deepa Ranjanie Abeydeera, R. Hewamanna, Mahendra Prinath Dias, Palee Mahawatta","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7417","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7417","url":null,"abstract":"Cement used in construction work can cause internal and external radiation exposure due to the presence of natural radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K. The radiation exposure risk can be estimated by finding the indoor absorbed dose rate and the annual effective dose. If the annual effective dose is within the internationally accepted value, use of cement can be considered safe and the risk will be within acceptable levels. The specific activities of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in 85 samples from eleven types of cement were measured using gamma spectroscopy with a HPGe detector and the annual effective dose was calculated to determine the radiological hazard from the natural radioactivity in the samples. The average specific activities measured in Bq kg-1 ranged from 21.4 ± 0.9 to 66.8 ± 1.2 ;13.8 ± 0.9 to 62.1 ± 2.3 and 83.7 ± 4.9 to 239.9 ± 5.7 for 226Ra, 232Th and 40K respectively. The highest activity of both 226Ra and 232Th were obtained in CEM III- PPC 1 cement which contains 25 % fly ash from a coal power plant. The lowest activities of 226Ra, 40K and 232Th were observed in CEM-X imported OPC 3 cement. It was observed that for all the studied cement samples the annual effective dose ranged from 0.15 to 0.51 mSv y-1.and less than the recommended maximum permissible public dose 1.0 mSv y-1. The results obtained in this study indicate that there is no radiological hazard arising from the use of the studied cement varieties in building construction.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127110979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Role of E-governance in curbing public-sector corruptions (A Theoretical Overview)","authors":"D. Kanchana, A. K. Samarakoon","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7404","url":null,"abstract":"A corruption free society is a prerequisite for the development and good governance. Mostly, corruption is seen to impede the development process of the third world countries. Nevertheless, there are numerous efforts taken to prevent corruption in the public sector of those countries. One of the main strategies used to curb the institutionalized corruption in the public sector today is that use of e-governance, a byproduct of ICT, which is as an efficient and effective strategy. According to Robert Klitgaard’s (1988) definition on corruption, i.e., Corruption = Monopoly + Discretion – Accountability. When the monopoly and the discretion power of the public sector officials increase in decision making and implementation, it leads to decrease the accountability of public sector officials and it tends to increase corrupt practices. So, this study aimed at identifying how e-governance may play a role to diminish the monopoly and the discretion power of the public sector officials and thereby curbing the institutionalized corruption in the public sector. When it observes the strength of the e-governance as a strategy some of the examples were drawn from the Sri Lankan context. The study is totally based on secondary data. Books, articles, statistical records, relevant reports and websites were used as the sources of data. Largely a descriptive analysis method was used in the analysis of data. The study reveals that the use of ICT enhances the transparency and accountability of the public sector activities largely and by being more accountable to the duties; goods and services are efficiently being provided to the people.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131137535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tourist Arrivals in Sri Lanka: A Comparative Study of Holt- Winter’s versus Box- Jenkin’s Modeling Methods","authors":"S. R. Gnanapragasam","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7395","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7395","url":null,"abstract":"Tourism is one of the vastly growing and largest industries in the world. Contribution of tourism to Sri Lanka’s total foreign exchange earnings in 2016 amounted to 14.2%. After the civil strife in Sri Lanka, tourist arrivals continue to grow annually. Therefore, the post- conflict tourist arrivals were considered for this study. Forecasting is an essential analytical tool in tourism policy and planning. In all the regions at all times, there is no specific model that outperforms other models regularly. Therefore, the objective of this study is to compare Holt-Winter’s and Box- Jenkin’s methods of modeling the tourist arrivals and to recommend a better method to forecast the future tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka. Appropriate tests were applied in modeling exercises for both methods. The results demonstrate that, during June 2009 to June 2017, nearly 10.5 million of tourists had visited the island. Both models are adequate for forecasting tourist arrivals. However, based on the forecasting accuracy measures of the model, the Box-Jenkin’s method outperforms the Holt- Winter’s method. The Box- Jenkin’s model gives approximately 90% forecasting accuracy and therefore it is recommended to forecast the tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, around 1.15 million of tourists arrived in Sri Lanka in the second half of the year 2017, and it is about 5.7% increase compared to the same period in 2016. Further, over 235,000 tourists arrived in December 2017, which was the highest monthly arrival in the history of Sri Lanka tourism so far.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131371770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantification of Pesticide Residues in Selected Vegetables using the QuEChERS Method","authors":"Meragal Kulathilakage Lasanthi Kumari Rajapakse, N. S. Weerakkody, Pulippu Widana Yoshida Lakshani","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7427","url":null,"abstract":"Pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables have become a major problem in Sri Lanka. Therefore, there is a need to optimize the Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) method to determine pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables and assure the safety of food. The objectives of this study were to optimize the method for multi-residue pesticide analysis, to develop calibration curve to detect concentration of pesticides and to determine prevalence of five pesticide residues in locally grown vegetables tomato, cabbage and capsicum in Puttalum, Dambulla and Nuwara Eliya districts. Pesticide residues were determined by Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry after multi residue extraction procedure (QuEChERS method). The QuEChERS method was validated using five pesticides named Diazinon, Chlopyrifos, Fipronil, Prothiofos and Tebuconazole and their retention times in minutes were15.948, 19.566, 20.342, 22.308, and 26.201 respectively. Coefficient of detection was obtained near 0.99 for all tested standard pesticides confirming the accuracy of the test method. Out of 45 vegetables samples, 15 samples were detected with pesticide residues, either Chlopyrifos, Prothiofos or Tebuconazole. However, pesticide residual values were less than Maximum Residual Levels for all the tested pesticides. Tebuconazole was the mostly detected pesticide residue with 0.128 ppm and 0.052 ppm in tomato and cabbage collected from Matale and Puttlum districts respectively. Therefore, it is important to collect samples while obtaining farmer details including the type of pesticide applied, harvesting interval and frequency and application rate of pesticide for further study.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115294539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Price Elasticity of Demand for Pipe-Borne Water: A Pre-Requisite for Solving the Water Problem in the Colombo City","authors":"Roshen Fernando","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7399","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7399","url":null,"abstract":"Water problem in the Colombo city has aggravated over the time. Thus, encouraging consumers for responsible water consumption is imperative. As the city is almost completely reliant on pipe-borne water, water tariff could be utilized in this effort. However, as water is a basic need and a human right, an upward revision of tariff should not deprive consumers from satisfying essential needs, while discouraging wasteful consumption. Therefore, this study attempted to identify whether the consumers are sensitive to changes in water tariff, whether there exists a disparity among different blocks of tariff with respect to Price Elasticity of Demand and identify different sensitivities of levels of consumption to an increase in tariff. In order to achieve the research objectives, the Price Elasticity of Demand for pipe-borne water, overall and block-wise, was analyzed, before and after the last revision of tariff in 2012. Results revealed that after the revision, overall consumption had reduced and out of nine blocks, first three and last two were the least sensitive and the four blocks in the middle were the most sensitive. Thus, it was recommended that in order to discourage wasteful consumption, unit rates of highly sensitive blocks should be increased and to preserve economic efficiency and welfare, the tariff for least sensitive blocks should not be revised significantly.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125837289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}