Role Performance of the Frontline Extension Agents in the Integrated Agricultural Extension Strategy of Sri Lanka

A novel extension strategy is in existence in Sri Lanka since 1994 integrating the extension efforts of Departments of Agriculture (DOA), Export Agriculture (DEA), Animal Production and Health (AP&H) and the Coconut Cultivation Board (CCB). Team efforts by theses agencies from national to grass root level, is a prominent feature of the Integrated Extension Strategy (IAES). Field Extension Teams (FET) were established for geographically demarcated areas (Govi Kendraya) consisting of frontline extension agents from four implementing agencies to service the farmer. The major objective of this study was thus to explore the predicting factors that influenced the role performance of these extension agents. Extension Agents from 4 of 15 districts, where lAES was active were selected randomly for the study. Two self-administered questionnaires, one to be completed by extension agents and the other by immediate supervisory officers appraising their performance formed the main source of data collection. The sample contained 275 extension agents of a total of 1364 and 201 questionnaires were collected for data analyses. The main statistical procedures employed were Exploratory Data Analysis, ANOVA, Pearson Product Correlation and Step-wise Multiple Regression. Analyses revealed that the age and experience of the respondents, of whom two thirds were males, were 43 and 17 years respectively. The extension agents had negative attitudes towards IAES. Although the quality of work was good the quantity of work performed by them was poor. They showed higher levels of motivation, role clarity and commitment and conversely low role ambiguity and role overload. Of the variables tested, some variables namely: attitudes towards GET members, role overload, valacy, participation, technical supervision and also quality, quantity and overall performances showed significant differences among the extension agents of the participating agencies in the IAES. Many variables namely: attitudes towards IAES, Guide and Extension Team (GET), motivation, valency, role commitment, role ambiguity, group cohesion, group interaction, followership, participation, technical supervision and administrative supervision showed significant relationships with the dependent variable role performance but the magnitudes of relationships shown by all variables were small. Attitudes towards GET, Role commitment, motivation, participation and technical supervision were the principal variables that could predict and explain the role performance of the extension agents. Nevertheless; attitudes towards IAES, valency, followership, group cohesiveness and administrative supervision were the other variables which could explain and predict role performance as second category predictors from the step-wise regression analyses. A distinct feature of these findings was that all the above variables collectively could predict and explain slightly over one-third of the variance in role performance. This indicated the substantial presence of various other facilitating and inhibiting factors out side the control of role incumbents

Restoration of a watershed, a case study at HuluGanga

The NWS&DB is the major organization supplying potable water. The major problem faced by theNWS&DB in reaching its long term goals was the deterioration of existing water sources and the difficulty in finding new water sources. Thus the restoration of the micro watershed at one of its intakes located at Huluganga was carried out; with the aim of establishing a demonstration model which will provide the basis for other such endeavuors within the NWS&DB and show the community involved that it is possible to establish vegetation that would serve their utility needs as well as ensure the health of the watershed perpetually. The project was launched in 2003 with the support of the UNDP, Global Environmental Facility(GEF) under their Small Grants Programme(SGP). The project was implemented by Neo Synthesis Research Centre(NSRC) a Non Government Organisation with many years of experience in restoring degraded land. Due to the unavailability of funds the project could not proceed to the monitoring and analyses stages. However it gave a good opportunity to learn about the ability to improve watersheds as well as the willingness of people within the watersheds in engaging in such activities in order to improve the natural waterways

TECHNOLOGY FOR MANUFACTURING NATURAL RUBBER LATEX BONOED COMPOSITES FROM LIGNOCELLULOSIC BASED ECO· MATERIALS AND AGRICULTURAL WASTE

In view of timber shortage and the need to conserve forest resources, a research is beingcarried out to utilize lignocellulosic materials as wood chips, saw dust, bamboo fiber andagricultural waste products as rise husk in making a low cost construction material as anarchitectural composite. Locally available natural rubber latex is used as the binder. Theconsideration being given to ecological factors to maintain and review the forestresources.The results indicated that the mechanical properties of composites were improved withcoir fibre, pine needles and bamboo strips. Solid products having high strength wereprepared by hot-pressing the fibre/compounded latex mixture in a mould at 160°C and at100Mpa for 10 minutes. The boards can be manufactured in various densities andthickness to suit a wide range of applications.This type of composite boards can be used as wall paneling, doors, windows, furniture,tabletops, ceiling, partitions, etc. They have very good mechanical and physicalcharacteristics as strength properties, screw and nail holding capacity, dimensionalstability. Specially Rise husk composite board have distinctly advantages properties astermite and rodent resistance, decay resistance, fire, water and chemical resistance, whencompared to wood particle boards and other panel materials and it is an environmentalfriendly product.

Assessment of the health benefits of phytochemicals in Cynometra cauliflora based on an in silico study against Alzheimer’s disease

Aim: Cynometra cauliflora (namnam) belongs to the family Fabaceae and is native to eastern Peninsular Malaysia. It grows well with an annual rainfall of 1,500–2,000 mm. Even though a considerable amount of research has been carried out with C. caulifora, there is a dearth of information about biomolecules that may pave the way for drug discoveries and food supplements, which is a gap addressed in this study. Methods: The study presented in this paper has identified several antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory substances, and an in silico approach was used to understand the behaviors of kaempferol-3-O-rhamnoside (K-3-Rh) and β-sitosterol acetate against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed with the selected protein ligand complex of two natural molecules and the synthetic ligand to analyze the dynamic behaviors and binding free energy throughout the 100 ns simulation time. Further, both natural molecules that were investigated comply with Lipinski’s drug-likeness rules. Results: The docking scores of both K-3-Rh and sitosterol were found to be compatible with the synthetic AD drug molecules [donepezil analogue (H0L)] used as a reference in the study. Hence, the phytochemicals of Cynometra caulifora showed comparatively similar potency against acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Conclusions: Overall, the potential binding affinity from molecular docking and static thermodynamics features from MD simulation suggest that K-3-Rh and β-sitosterol acetate could be considered as a potential therapeutic lead to inhibit AChE leading for AD treatment

Development of criteria for forming and maintaining a sludge blanket in an upflow sludge blanket clarifier/pulsator

Coagulation and flocculation is attained within a sludge (floc) blanket of an upward flow clarifier unit. In this study cohesivity of the floc blanket, measured by the indicator sludge cohesion coefficient (SCC) is used to explain the blanket characteristics and response of the blanket to variations of raw water turbidity (RWT), coagulant dose and ambient conditions. The study found that SCC is an appropriate parameter to monitor floc blanket characteristics. A satisfactory floc blanket is established when SCC varies within 0.3 – 1.3 mm/sec and the sludge volume fraction of the blanket is between 0.2 and 0.25. At RWT occurrences > 450 NTU, the blanket cohesivity reduces. Increased coagulant dose leads to restabilization of particles by charge reversal leading to reduction of blanket cohesivity. It is recommended to introduce preliminary sedimentation (prior to clarifier) to effectively treat high turbidity raw water. Beyond RWT 300 NTU optimum coagulant dose reported from SCC test is lower than that of Jar test. This will give savings in coagulants in the range of 6 - 25%. When RWT is > 300 NTU, the linear relationship established using the two parameters during the study can be used to find the optimum dose after carrying Jar test. The study found that high inflow temperature reduces blanket cohesivity and particle settling efficiency. There is a significant linear relationship between the influent temperature and the effluent quality. The particle structuring within the blanket is due to hydrodynamic forces between the particles counterbalanced by the cohesive forces. A steady floc blanket is formed when the individual particles are agglomerated and clusters are formed. Cluster formation/destruction is due to the cohesive/inertial forces between particles and/or particle clusters. With low Re (< 1) cohesive forces govern. Interstitial spaces between particles vary due to cluster formation/destruction, leading to the increase/decrease of blanket settling velocity

Computer Modeling industrial emissions

Air being an important part of the environment is always required to be in a satisfactory condition for the proper functioning of the entire eco system. Air quality is being affected adversely due to several reasons such as increasing number of industries without having proper emission handling systems and increasing number of vehicles. Many industrial stacks observed in Sri Lanka today are not constructed according to the proper stack design requirements. The quality of stack emissions or the dispersion of pollutants from a specific stack is seldom analyzed mainly because of the high costs involved. Even analysis is done on the dispersion from a specific stack it is difficult to get good representative results because the meteorological conditions vary frequently. In this study a stack emission dispersion model named AUSPLUME which is developed by the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority and recommended by several organizations for 'regulatory purpose was studied. This work mainly looks at the following: 1. The applicability of the model in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 11. Model emissions from the stacks at Holcim Lanka cement plant at Puttlam with the use of AUSPLUME before and after installing a new dust handling system The purpose of the EIA is to predict and identify potentially significant environmental impacts of development projects and to suggest mitigation measures to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the positive impacts. Main stages in the EIA process are, 1. Screening ( find out whether an EIA is required) 11. Scoping ( identification of main issues) lll. Collection and analysis of information IV. Public involvement v. Communicating the findings In the process of analyzing the information AUSPLUME can be used. With available information about the stack, emissions and the meteorological data of the area of concern, the model can predict the concentrations of selected constituents at ground level or elevated levels in the down wind direction. The areas of worst impact, limit of the buffer zone, effects to the high rise buildings or effects to the selected areas of important like high bio diversity, archeology, and residences can be identified using the results obtained with AUSPLUME. For the analysis of the stack emission dispersion from the Holcim Lanka cement plant at Puttlam, the meteorological data obtained at the Palavi weather monitoring station of the Meteorological Department were used. There are two similar stacks at the factory which are placed close by and therefore both of them were considered as a single point source with an equivalent diameter. The area was considered to be a flat terrain since there were no disturbances in the vicinity. The analysis results on the dispersion of particulate matter, NOz and SOz emissions from the stack were compared with ambient air quantity standards for Sri Lanka and European Guideline values which were established by considering human health hazards other than carcinogenity. Certain values were found to be above the limits and the rest below the limit. Anyway in this analysis raw emission data were used and in the real life the raw emissions are mixed with clean air before released to the atmosphere. Therefore due to the dilution the real values can be expected to be much lower. Predicted values were compared with field measurement values available and with predicted values from SCREEN3 model. The results obtained can be used for decision making purposes with a good understanding about their inaccuracy

Introducing surface sampling threshold factor for suspended sediment transport: model development using Sri Lankan tropical highland river basins

Estimation of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in rivers is a prerequisite to address many issues related to hydrology. Therefore, we make an attempt in this study to introduce a low-cost technique to estimate the SSC. Both surface and depth-and-width-integrated water samples were collected and measured for SSC from eight tributaries in Sri Lanka over a complete hydrological year. A site-specific calibration curve was established between SSCs measured by two methods for each tributary where R2 varied from 0.72 to 0.99. The same relationship is developed in general for all tributaries studied in the hilly terrain of Sri Lanka. This generic model exhibits a strong correlation (R2 = 0.91), which will be useful to calculate an accurate SSC from a simply measured surface SSC. To select the appropriate gauging method, be it surface or depth-and-width-integrated sampling, a new concept of surface sampling threshold factor (SSTF) is introduced. The preliminarily analysis on SSTF using available data for the studied catchments reveals that surface sampling is only adequate for estimating a representative SSC if SSTF varies from 35 to 45. When SSTF deviates from this range, the SSC measured by surface sampling needs to be adjusted by depth-and-width-integrated sampling.</jats:p

A Preliminary Study of Forests in Sri Lnaka

application/pdfSri Lanka is a small island with total land area of 65,525 km2. About 36.5% of this land is covered by forest, including sparse forest. Even though it is a very small island, it has many forest types and great biological diversity, due to the relatively large variation of altitude from 0 to 2500 m, related parameters such as temperature, and also due to the monsoonal rainfall pattern. The mean annual rainfall is about 2000 mm and the mean annual temperature is 27℃. Climatically, Sri Lanka can be divided into four main regions : the dry zone, wet zone, intermediate zone and arid zone. About eight types of forest are recognized in these different climatic regions (Somasekaram, T. ed. 1982, Malcolm, F. B. ed. 1995, Gunathilaka I. A. U. N. and Gunathilaka C. V. S. 1991). Four of these eight forest types were surveyed in April 1998. The lowland rainforest in the wet zone, which covers the southwestern part of the island, has the most profuse plant cover. The lowest part of the wet zone is lowland rainforest. Three field releves were made in this area ( Shorea megistophylla-Shorea stipularis community, in Sinharaja). This forest type gradually changes to sub-montane forest at middle elevation to montane forest at higher elevation. Upper slopes and crests of the Knuckles Range have wet montane forest, whereas on the middle slopes, the forest type is sub-montane forest. A filed releve was made in the mid-slope area of the Knuckles Range (Gnophia serrata-Palaquium heenmolpedda community). The dry zone is the northern and northeastern part of the country. Large parts of the dry zone have tropical dry mixed evergreen forests and moist deciduous forests. A third field survey was carried out in the dry zone (Pterospermum canescens-Eugenia bracteata community). The extreme southeastern and northwestern parts of the country, which represent the arid zone, have very long dry periods. These areas are covered with tropencounters seasonal dry periods, ash semi-evergreen forests with their own characteristic species as well as some common to the adjacent zones. Two fields releves were made in this area ( Michelia champaca-Szyguim gardneriand Magifera zeylanica community, Gannoruwa). Riverine forests found along the reivers and mangrove forests in the coastal areas area two other types of forest, which cover smaller areas. The are a few smaller areas consisting of four main types of grassland: damana, vilu, dry and wet pathana, and talawa.departmental bulletin pape