Ousl Journal最新文献

{"title":"Analysis of the Problems of and the Suitable Solutions for an Initial Teacher Training Programme Conducted through the Distance Mode","authors":"G. D. Lekamge, Ayomi Irugalbandara, M. Fernando","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V13I1.7428","url":null,"abstract":"Good teachers must be made. Many countries have adopted different models of Distance Education to provide initial training to unqualified teachers, expand opportunities for professional development of in-service teachers and increase awareness of teachers on educational reforms. Whatever the models used, all Distance Education providers are faced with challenging tasks in co-ordinating partners and agents in teacher education programmes where practical teaching and its assessment is involved (Robinson and Latchem, 2003:40). The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL), as a pioneering institution to introduce teacher training programmes through the Distance Mode, also has confronted problems in line with an initial training programme aimed at producing drama and theatre teachers to the school system. Thus, a comprehensive study has been carried out with a view to obtain an insight into the problems faced by different stakeholders, their root causes, and to uncover workable solutions within the context of Distance Education. Data was collected from three batches of student-teachers who have completed the programme, lecturers, co-ordinators, master teachers and some experts in the field and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The study sheds light on meaningful solutions to be applied for improving the quality of the programme concerned.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"5 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":"128262005","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":"Folk Ideas and Worldview Inscribed in a Selection of Folktales Attributed to the Muslim Community of the East Coast of Sri Lanka","authors":"L. Medawattegedara","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7396","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7396","url":null,"abstract":"Seeming absence of focused scholarly intervention has not deterred folklorists from considering, orally transmitted imaginative speech acts—such as folktales—as a specific community’s“ autobiographical ethnography” (Dundes,2007) or their \"own descriptions of themselves\"(Dundes,2007).  In Sri Lanka, (Sinhala) folktales are an essential feature in school texts books, children’s newspapers, mass media, and Sinhala folktale collections are frequently released for public consumption with some prominent bookshops offering exclusive shelf space for this genre. A collection of Sri Lankan folktales attributed to a specific geography and an ethnic community is the focus of this study. The collection is titled Digamadulle Muslim Janakatha and its collector/compiler is Gunasekera Gunasoma, a popular folktale collector in Sri Lanka, and a fiction writer. Gunasoma offers 16 folktales collected from Digamadulle in this book and his endeavor could possibly be the first such collection of folktales attributed to the Muslim ethnic community living in Digamadulle, or for that matter anywhere else in Sri Lanka. The present study attempts to extract the cultural postulates featured in these tales, theoretically identified as ‘folk ideas’ and ‘worldview’ by folklorists. Using definitions of the folklorist Allan Dundes, this study undertakes a close reading of the folktale sample under consideration to comprehend how the Muslim story tellers/creators/listeners of Digamadulle perceived and imagined the ‘world’ and its nature. Scholar Samarsinghe’s (2014) view that folktales facilitate ‘social cohesion’ would also play into the motivations of this study, whose primary objective is cultural comprehension.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122098227","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":"Habitat Preference and Population Structure of Two Data Deficient Seahorse (Syngnathidae) Species","authors":"N. Perera, D. Dahanayaka, S. Udagedara","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7408","url":null,"abstract":"Ecological studies of seahorses are sparse in the Indian Ocean. The vulnerability of seahorses to overfishing and increased anthropogenic impacts on coastal habitats necessitates better management of wild seahorse populations that in turn requires understanding habitat preferences and population structure. The distribution patterns and population structure of two species of seahorse (Hippocampus fuscus and H. spinosissimus) were assessed for the first time in a tropical estuary in north-western Sri Lanka. Both species have previously not been studied in the wild and have not been known to occur in estuaries. H. fuscus was the more abundant and widely distributed species, and was significantly larger than H. spinosissimus. Both species had significant differences in size between sexes, and the mean height was towards the lower end of the range know for both species. Some sexually mature males were smaller than the size reported in the literature. Seahorses occurred in low densities with patchy distribution, with abundance being higher in areas with the seagrass species Enhalus acoroides and Cymodocea serrulata that appear to be the favored habitat of seahorses within the study area.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129687208","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 Journalists in Armed Conflicts: An International Law Perspective","authors":"R. Rathnayake","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7403","url":null,"abstract":"Each year a large number of journalists are killed or wounded in armed conflicts. In armed conflicts, journalists are among a precious few remaining actors capable of exposing illegality (Saul, 2009). Because war journalists ensure the realization of the human right to information of citizens all over the world, they play an essential role. International humanitarian law lays down the main international legal framework governing the journalists in armed conflicts. Article 79 of Additional Protocol I of Geneva Conventions states that “Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians and they shall be protected as such under the Conventions and this Protocol, provided that they take no action adversely affecting their status as civilians”. It can be identified that journalists are protected under the condition that they take no active participation in hostilities. However, Geneva conventions have failed to provide a definition or direct participation of hostilities. Therefore, it is not clear of the instances journalists are protected under International Humanitarian Law because protection of journalists depends on the activities of journalists and whether it amounts to a direct participation in hostilities. Moreover, it can be seen that Geneva Conventions have not addressed the protection of journalists in non-international armed conflicts. Therefore, journalists in internal armed conflicts are not protected under Geneva conventions. Another, fundamental issue with regard to the protection of journalists is the distinction between War Correspondents and Independent Journalists. It can be identified that Geneva Conventions identifies War Correspondents and Independent Journalists as two distinct categories. Article 79(2) states that journalists should be protected without prejudice to the rights of war correspondents. It is important to identify different types of journalists in order to provide effective protection because different types of journalists serve different tasks in the battlefield and they must be given protection after considering the nature of their journalist activities. In this backdrop, the research aims to identify the existing legal framework governing journalists, to analyze inadequacy of the existing laws to protect journalists and to recommend a suitable protection mechanism to protect journalists. The research follows a qualitative approach of legal research. The research adopts the “Black-letter approach” which resulted in analyzing primary and secondary sources of law. The research recommends the adopting of a separate legal instrument to govern journalists in armed conflicts. An International convention should be introduced to protect them.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127681945","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":"Does the SMS Language Have an Effect on Teenage Spelling? – A Study Conducted on a Selected Group of Students Studying in Colombo","authors":"Mayanthi Kulatunga Jayakody","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7409","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7409","url":null,"abstract":"The focus of this research is to find out whether the use of SMS language has a link to the spelling of school going teenagers (within the age limit of thirteen and nineteen years) when writing in English according to the accepted form in schools. Mobile phones are undoubtedly the most commonly used method of communication in the world today. The free availability of SMART phones could be considered as one of its causes. Such phones are equally popular among adults as well as teenagers. Seemingly, the preference of the teenagers is inclined more towards text messaging than voice. Among them, there are many who use abbreviated terms commonly known as SMS language for texting. As Seda (2013) affirms, this particular discourse is also called by other names such as ‘textese’ and ‘textspeak’. The obvious familiarity of these children with the particular usage makes one wonder whether it would affect their spelling when involved in their studies. As a result, this research explores whether the extensive use of SMS language affects the knowledge of formal English spelling of such teenagers. This study has derived its data from a group of teenagers attending two local private schools and an international school within the city limits of Colombo and also a few teachers belonging to both these schools. The research tools that were utilized were observation and a questionnaire that collected quantitative as well as qualitative data. This paper, which includes a background history of the mobile phone and text messaging, a list of popular SMS abbreviations in the “SMS discourse” (Mendis, 2006), the methodology and the recommendations based on the findings would hopefully be helpful to English teachers when considering the causes of good or bad spelling of schooling children especially the ones who are within the age limit of thirteen and nineteen years (commonly referred to the teenagers in this study).","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114947929","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":"Renovation of Research and Education in South Asian Countries by Means of ICT","authors":"S. Ozawa, D. Dahanayaka, N. Warnajith, S. B. Quarmal","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7400","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7400","url":null,"abstract":"Human resources are one of the most important factors for industrialization of developing countries. This is true especially for highly populated countries in South Asia. The point is the quality of education and how efficiently the education sectors provide the society with high quality workers. At present, rapid increase of demands for higher education can be seen in these countries. This is a remarkable trend because the production of well-educated people is the starting point of modernization of industries. E-learning can be considered as an efficient education system for knowledge sharing in developing countries. This paper discusses the present status of the higher education system in South Asia on the basis of the results of KISSEL (Knowledge Integration Servers System for E-learning) project that has been carried out by the authors in the last ten years. Further, the paper reviews the state of application of KISSEL and illustrates its relevance in renovation of research and education in South Asian Countries. The discussion addresses some future problems that can be solved with the aid of E-learning and E-research techniques. The second phase of the KISSEL project is also noted in relation to the future problems. In particular, development of new mobile application technique would be important for solving various local and transnational problems in South Asian countries.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"134 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116576388","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":"Women’s Experiences on Menopause: A Phenomenological Study","authors":"D. G. C. N. Samarasiri, I. T. Rajanayake, P. K. Wattegedara, R. Kodituwakku, A. S. P. L. Senadheera, B. S. S. Silva","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7407","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I2.7407","url":null,"abstract":"Menopause is the permanent termination of menstruation resulting specific symptoms such as hot flashes, mood swings, sleep disturbances, forgetfulness, vaginal dryness and weight gain. Women suffer from these symptoms because such symptoms affect their day-to-day life and finally lead to decrease in the quality of life. Therefore, it is pivotally important to study the experience of women during menopause. The aim of this study is to explore women’s experiences of menopause. Purposively selected 20 women who experienced menopause were recruited for this qualitative phenomenological study at the Gynecological Section of the District General Hospital, Matale. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews conducted during a period of one month and data analysis was done using Colalizzi’s analysis method. Four (04) themes emerged from the findings, which are: unbearable discomfort in the body, emotional instability and memory problems, problematic issues in family relationships, and increased expenditure for the treatments. Hot flashes, sleep disturbances, joint pain, vaginal dryness and weight gain were the physical experiences. Further, there were psychological experiences of menopause such as difficulties in making decisions, forgetfulness, fits of anger, mood swings and frustration. Moreover, women’s menopausal experiences also affected their family life and economy. Women noted that decreased libido and lack of motivation were affecting their family life, while experiences of poor time management and additional expenditure on medical treatment were adding to the existing burdens of family economy. The findings revealed that women suffer from different experiences during menopause and they suffer because, those changes reduce the quality of their lives. Such personal changes, though they are manageable, could lead to issues such as rupture in personal roles within the family and immediate society. Hence, these study findings can be used to provide them with better health care and knowledge.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124643577","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":"Development of Finger Millet Based Probiotic Beverage Using Lactobacillus casei431","authors":"M. M. F. Fasreen, O. Perera, H. Weerahewa","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I1.7384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I1.7384","url":null,"abstract":"Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) based probiotic beverage was formulated which comprised of health benefits from both finger millet and probiotic. Cooked finger millet was inoculated with L.casei 431® and incubated at 37 oC for 2 h, 4 h, and 6 h. The beverage was formulated with the addition of sucrose, fresh cow milk, and cocoa powder, and stored under refrigerated ( 5±1 °C) conditions. Sensory evaluation was conducted to select the best fermented time and the highest acceptability was achieved by the sample fermented for 4 h. Changes in physico-chemical characteristics (pH, titratable acidity, brix, and reducing/non-reducing sugars) and viable cell counts during refrigeration were monitored. \u0000 \u0000pH was decreased from 7.10 (SD 0.01) to 5.05 (SD 0.00) and titratable acidity was increased significantly (p<0.05) due to lactic acid production by probiotic. Reducing and non-reducing sugars were decreased significantly (p<0.05) because of usage by probiotics.This study concludes that finger millet based probiotic beverage can be developed with L.casei 431® and it could be serve by keeping under refrigerated (5±1 °C) storage up to 5 weeks. \u0000 \u0000Keywords:","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127975280","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":"Discourses at the Intersections of Disciplinary Knowledge, Pedagogy and Technology","authors":"S. Karunanayaka","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I1.7392","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I1.7392","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115377833","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":"Computer Interpreter for Translating Written Sinhala to Sinhala Sign Language","authors":"M. Punchimudiyanse, R. Meegama","doi":"10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I1.7377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4038/OUSLJ.V12I1.7377","url":null,"abstract":"Sinhala Sign Language (SSL) is the preferred medium of communication amongst the deaf community of Sinhala. A conversational sign in SSL represents a word or phrase in Sinhala whereas a fingerspelling sign represents a character in the Sinhala alphabet. A word in Sinhala has different word forms based on tense and case structure of the Sinhala language. In the early stages of SSL evolution, a single SSL sign represented a base Sinhala word and all its word forms. This technique has deprived essential word form information to a deaf person. The SSL research community has come up with a technique of showing few characters of the expected word form in fingerspelling as prefix and/or suffixes with the sign of the base word to solve the problem. This research paper presents a database driven translator, which implements the said technique by translating written Sinhala sentences into SSL sequences. It gives the opportunity to the SSL research community to popularize this translation technique among SSL users. Moreover, a 3D avatar built earlier for animating spoken Sinhala in SSL is used to animate the translated SSL sequence. A test sample of 100 sentences and a word form database of 500+ entries to match 50 conversational SSL signs (30 nouns and 20 verbs) are formed to test the translator. The database driven search mechanism provided 100% successful translator performance while having 70.83% average sentence identification rate for six SSL users including three professional SSL interpreters.","PeriodicalId":105560,"journal":{"name":"Ousl Journal","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127267407","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}