Department of Agricultural Engineering

Soil organic matter (SOM) plays an important role in determining the land productivity. The effect of rice plant and inorganic fertilizer on the SOM content with time and soil depth in a lowland paddy field was investigated in this study. Two factors (fertilizer: with urea, without urea, and plant: with rice plant, without rice plant) with four treatment combinations were arranged in a randomized complete block design in a low land paddy field at a minor irrigation tank in Kurunagala district in Sri Lanka during the 2013/2014 Maha season. The soil samples were collected at 0-8, 8-16, 16-24 and 24-32 cm depths at 27, 43, 65 and 98 days after sowing (DAS) and SOM was measured using a standard method. Data were analyzed as a factorial design. The interaction between fertilizer and soil depth found to be significant (p=0.030). At the depth of 24-32 cm, the SOM content was significantly higher without urea than with urea. Fertilizer also showed a significant (p=0.024) interaction with DAS. The SOM content at 43 DAS was higher with urea than without urea while it is reverse at 65 DAS. Therefore, urea application has an influence on SOM content at different depths and time.

Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are considered as basic human rigths. The understanding of how many people do not have access to drinking water and sanitation may help to assess the communities who do not have access to the fundamentals needs and facing spread of communicable diseases. In Sri Lanka, the estate sector has comparatively low health and sanitation condition than the rural and urban sectors. The population coverage for water and sanitation services for urban, rural and estate sectors are 100%, 82% and 62% and 100%, 82% and 55%, respectively in 2012. The Millanium Development Goals and National Development Plan targets 80%, 90% and 100% of water for estate, rural and urban areas, respectively. In the case of sanitation they target 75%, 85% and 95% for estate, rural and urban areas respectively. This study was conducted to investiage the drinking water and sanitation situation of househods in two villages of the Giragama tea estate in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The required data were collected through a structured questioner from a randomly selected 26 households from Kudaoya and 35 households from Kirimetiya watta of the Giragama estate. The main source of drinking water is unprotected spring in Kirimettiya watta and piped water in Kudaoya. The percentage of improved source of drinking water is 77.2% and 94.9% in Kirimettiya watta and Kudaoya, respectively. A 51.4% and 34.6% of water collection is done by females in Kirimettiya watta and Kudaoya, respectively. A 96.8% of households in Kirimettiya watta have access to safer drinking water while it was 78.3% in Kudaoya. Boiling is found to be the major means of treatment of drinking water for 85.3% of the population tested. Kirimettiya watta has 87.3% improved sanitation facilities while it is 85.6% in Kudaoya. With respect to sanitation, 81.1% dispose children's faeces safely in Kirimettiya watta and this was 100% in Kudaoya. According to the overall analysis, it can be concluded that the two villages considered in this study has a fairly good improved drinking water facility and water availability. The households in Kudaoya have less awareness with regard to making drinking water safer. More than 85% of the households are using improved sanitation facilities and most of them have improved methods of childen's fecal removal.

Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient for growth and development of the crop. Mean times the nitrogen can loss from the soil to groundwater through the leaching and pollute the valuable natural resource. The extents of agricultural lands were reduced and the demand for the vegetable production is increased due to the pressure of population growth.

Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are considered as basic human rigths. The understanding of how many people do not have access to drinking water and sanitation may help to assess the communities who do not have access to the fundamentals needs and facing spread of communicable diseases. In Sri Lanka, the estate sector has comparatively low health and sanitation condition than the rural and urban sectors. The population coverage for water and sanitation services for urban, rural and estate sectors are 100%, 82% and 62% and 100%, 82% and 55%, respectively in 2012. The Millanium Development Goals and National Development Plan targets 80%, 90% and 100% of water for estate, rural and urban areas, respectively. In the case of sanitation they target 75%, 85% and 95% for estate, rural and urban areas respectively. This study was conducted to investiage the drinking water and sanitation situation of househods in two villages of the Giragama tea estate in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The required data were collected through a structured questioner from a randomly selected 26 households from Kudaoya and 35 households from Kirimetiya watta of the Giragama estate. The main source of drinking water is unprotected spring in Kirimettiya watta and piped water in Kudaoya. The percentage of improved source of drinking water is 77.2% and 94.9% in Kirimettiya watta and Kudaoya, respectively. A 51.4% and 34.6% of water collection is done by females in Kirimettiya watta and Kudaoya, respectively. A 96.8% of households in Kirimettiya watta have access to safer drinking water while it was 78.3% in Kudaoya. Boiling is found to be the major means of treatment of drinking water for 85.3% of the population tested. Kirimettiya watta has 87.3% improved sanitation facilities while it is 85.6% in Kudaoya. With respect to sanitation, 81.1% dispose children's faeces safely in Kirimettiya watta and this was 100% in Kudaoya. According to the overall analysis, it can be concluded that the two villages considered in this study has a fairly good improved drinking water facility and water availability. The households in Kudaoya have less awareness with regard to making drinking water safer. More than 85% of the households are using improved sanitation facilities and most of them have improved methods of childen's fecal removal.

Soil organic matter (SOM) plays an important role in determining the land productivity. The effect of rice plant and inorganic fertilizer on the SOM content with time and soil depth in a lowland paddy field was investigated in this study. Two factors (fertilizer: with urea, without urea, and plant: with rice plant, without rice plant) with four treatment combinations were arranged in a randomized complete block design in a low land paddy field at a minor irrigation tank in Kurunagala district in Sri Lanka during the 2013/2014 Maha season. The soil samples were collected at 0 -8, 8 -16, 16 -24 and 24 -32 cm depths at 27, 43, 65 and 98 days after sowing (DAS) and SOM was measured using a standard method. Data were analyzed as a factorial design. The interaction between fertilizer and soil depth found to be significant (p=0.030). At the depth of 24 -32 cm, the SOM content was significantly higher without urea than with urea. Fertilizer also showed a significant (p=0.024) interaction with DAS. The SOM content at 43 DAS was higher with urea than without urea while it is reverse at 65 DAS. Therefore, urea application has an influence on SOM content at different depths and time.

This qualitative research study explores the subject of social integration of Sri Lankan Tamil older refugees in London. Social integration is the movement of minority groups such as ethinic minorities, refugees and underprivileged sections of a society into the mainstream of the society. Members of the minority groups thus gain full access to the opportunities, rights and services available to the members of the mainstream. This research project focuses on Sri Lankan Tamil older refugees’ perspective on social integration in the United Kingdom. Some important key elements affect social integration such as refugees’ language ability, economic status, housing and living condition, educational level, health and other social care provision, cultural adaptation, family and community participation, information and communication, as well as the role of Government, Non Government Organizations in supporting older refugees’ integration were taken into account in analysing social integration.  In order to carry out the research, ten Sri Lankan Tamil older refugees were selected in the East London and biographical interviews with them revealed some of the possible hindrances to integration they experienced in the receiving society in the United Kingdom. The fundamental barriers arise from English language ability, cultural adaptation, employment opportunities, information and communication, housing experienced at both personal as well as community levels. Further, dependency, social isolation and marginalization of the older refugee community in the UK with highly organized welfare system creates further hindrance to the integration. Personality of the older Tamil refugees could also be considered as another critical factor in the ability and wish to be accepted in the new host society. In this study, some remedial measures are suggested in order to overcome all possible hindrances in the successful social integration. Thus, this research study will provide the opportunity for refugees, Government and Non Government Organizations and other service providers, deals with refugees’ issues, to refer to the factors and hardships they face in adapting and living in the receiving societies and thus contributes to the knowledge in some extend on the resettlement of older refugees in the United Kingdom.

Japan and ASEAN have long been staunch allies in the region and Japan has been showing its unwavering support since the formation of ASEAN. In its 20 th ASEAN-Japan summit in 2017, the chairman of the summit stated that ASEAN-Japan partnership is vital for maintaining regional peace, stability, and prosperity. During the summit, the leaders of Japan and ASEAN have clearly highlighted the importance of Japan-ASEAN cooperation for mutual development and regional development as a whole. Although the development of a country depends on multi-faceted inducers, from the demographical point of view, for economic development, Japan would highly depend on accepting regular labour population into its territory whereas, the development of ASEAN is dispensing their excessive labour population out of their territory. This paper, therefore, accentuates that labour migration from ASEAN to Japan would be paramount for mutual development and cooperation. Japan is one of the economically strongest countries on the Asian continent. Its economy was powerful from the 80s till 90s. After the economic bubble-bursts, Japan is still trying to get back to its pre-ninety stage, besides a plethora of challenges in the region. Demographically, there are many factors such as declining working-age population and rising elderly population resulted in the lower tax-based regime with increasing government expenditure for social security for the elderly population that contribute to the economic decline. From a macroeconomic perspective, lower productivity of goods and services, lower GDP growth rate, lower export rates in the past two decades have made the country's policymakers to consider absorbing more foreign labour population. However, current immigration, social integration, and social security policies of Japan are needed to be upgraded to absorb more foreign labours with a range of skills. From the context of ASEAN, Japan has a strong economic partnership and has several bilateral agreements, which includes migration provision. When considering the demography of ASEAN nations, it has a high potential for a working-age population of all skill levels, with the relatively high unemployment rate. It would, therefore, be mutual benefits for both ASEAN nations and Japan, if Japan could consider absorbing more labour population from ASEAN, particularly from Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Japan could also consider strengthening its economic partnership with other countries in ASEAN as well. It should not only upgrade its immigration policies for higher, medium, and lower-skilled migrant labours, but also upgrade its policies of social integration and social security for foreign migrant workers.

Although Sri Lanka is credited for being the first country, which granted right to vote for women in Asia, even well before the United Kingdom, it's colonial power, and having the very first female prime minister in the world, the country still lacks gender parity in political participation. Sri Lanka's overall women's political participation is 4% at national level and 2% at the local level. From the regional context of Sri Lanka, northern region occupies with very lower women's political participation. Sri Lanka, as a democratic country in Asia, should have gender parity in political participation and decision-making processes. Women's needs are different from men's needs. Therefore, women would get their needs fulfilled as well as their voices heard if only their political participation is enhanced. Compared to other regions, in northern Sri Lanka, especially in Vanni, ethnic armed-conflict highly impacted women in a negative way. Most women, who lived in Vanni during the final days of war, have lost their family members and in most instances, lost their entire families, women suffer to getting their family members forcibly disappeared, lost their lands, as they were grabbed for security purposes, and many women have lost their shelters, means of income generation and livelihoods activities. Sri Lankan ethnic war is regarded as one of the world's most protracted wars in history. The 2016 report of Centre for Women Development narrates that the war has yielded 46,333 widows and 54,532 women-headed households. Women's underrepresentation in politics in the northern region is justified by three different levels. The first one is individual level, which is explained as individual characters, social perceptions of women, her family support in northern Sri Lanka seldom encourage a woman's political participation. The second one is the political party level, which is explained as a patriarchal system in political parties discourages membership and candidacy for women in political parties. The other level is electoral one, which is explained as, in century-old patriarchal societies, both males and females tend to vote for males, as the majority members of societies possess a perception of males' superiority and inferiority of their counterparts. Although the government of Sri Lanka has recently legislated mandatory quota for women's political

The English language has now become lingua franca, which means the language that bridges the globe and its importance has been observed much during the past decade. English has become an integral component of human capital, as it is intertwined with various aspects of life. Therefore, in the twenty-first century, many non-English speaking countries across the globe including Sri Lanka, offer importance for the English language in education and the foundation of language is taught from the early childhood stage in preschools. To understand the current nature of the Sri Lankan preschool education system, a qualitative study was performed with some selected participants across Sri Lanka and the results of the study explore the following. Although the Sri Lankan government acknowledges the importance of early childhood education, the preschool system is not administered by the government, instead, administered by private and community-based entities. Among the preschools in Sri Lanka, huge disparity is observed in the standard of preschools, so as the English language teaching in urban, suburban and rural settings. Some preschool teachers interviewed in northern rural Sri Lanka affirm that their students are taught the basics of the English language such as nursery rhymes, alphabets, and phonics sounds, with the help of social media such as YouTube. However, in Sri Lanka, there is no evidence available for the Sri Lankan government to have a clear policy on using social media in preschool teaching. The purpose of the study is to explore the use of social media in teaching the English language in Sri Lankan preschools and offer suggestions for the future policy option of English language induction in Early Childhood Education in Sri Lanka.

The ethnic Rohingya is experiencing not only marginalization and statelessness in Myanmar but also facing brutal oppression, violence perpetrated by some in the ethnic majority for many decades. Bangladesh has long been a major Rohingya refugees hosting country and currently, it hosts around 600,000 refugees. Beside recently arrived refugees, there are thousands of refugees, who have been staying in Bangladesh for around three decades as registered or unregistered refugees. Long-term refugees, as per many reports, have been heavily relying on international aid, amid their poor socioeconomic development in Bangladesh. The development of Rohingya refugees is analyzed in this paper from the dimensions of Bangladesh, as a host country; poor human development of Rohingya refugees, and the wider international community. National competition for limited availability of resources and opportunities in Bangladesh; poor human development of Rohingya refugees, make them prolong dependents for r...

Despite substantial studies on students’ apathy, its social, and emotional facets in online graduate studies remain understudied. This study aims to explore the development of socioemotional apathy in online graduate students, focusing on their goals, attributions and attitudes towards online learning. Utilizing qualitative thematic analysis, seven participants were recruited via convenience, purposive sampling. Apathy Motivation Index was administered to the participants before the interview to assess the level of social, and emotional facets of apathy in them. Inductive coding was applied to analyse their interview transcripts, culminating in the emergence of the following themes: (i) socioemotional unresponsiveness, (ii) goal orientation, (iii) goal setting, (iv) associations, and (v) frame of mind. The study found the development of social, emotional apathy in all participants, varying from small to medium levels. However, the students didn’t completely disengage from the online studies. Various personal, situational attributions were indicated by the students to their negative online learning experiences, and they had mixed attitudes towards multiple aspects of online graduate studies. Moreover, the students had clear goals when they enrolled, however, for some students, situational factors prompted them to switch from mastery to performance goal orientation. Those who possessed performance-avoidance goal orientation reportedly disengaged from group work due to the upward social comparison. Two students with a medium socioemotional apathy claimed to have mastery goal orientation. The findings substantially deviate from previous findings. Highlighting the importance of self-directed learning, this study has implications for contributing to knowledge construction and future policy development.