Browsing by Author "Gunarathna, P"

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item: Conference-Full-text
Factors influencing online fast-food ordering intension among millennials and generation z–evidence from Sri Lanka
(IEEE, 2022-07) Gunarathna, P; de Silva, L; Rathnayake, M; Adhikariwatte, V; Hemachandra, K
The fast advancement of information and communication technology, and increased Internet penetration, have altered the nature of consumers’ everyday activities with a majority of offline activities switching to online activities. This is a common occurrence across the commercial sector, and the fast-food industry is no exception. Although this area of online fast-food ordering has been researched by many academics, fewer studies have been conducted in the Sri Lankan context. As a result, this study aims to bridge the knowledge gaps and make suitable recommendations for increasing the quality of online fast-food ordering. In this study convenience, website quality, quality of food, and social influence have all been identified as factors that impact online fast-food ordering, whilst consumer satisfaction serves as a mediating variable. Findings from 384 respondents aged 20 to 40 years old residing in the western province, Sri Lanka revealed that website quality is the most influential element while convenience has no influence on online fast-food ordering intentions. Customer satisfaction was also discovered to mediate the relationship between website quality, quality of food, and online fast-food ordering intention, as well as social influence and online fast-food ordering intention. Finally, premised on the discussions, recommendations have been made in the areas of promotion, food delivery, food quality, website design, and advertising.
item: Conference-Abstract
Operational gap analysis of fire safety applications in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings
Gunarathna, P; Fernando, NG; Sridarran, P
Life style confined with working and living in high-risers is a new concept to the Sri Lankan context. Scarcity of lands and urban development with the economic growth has accelerated the growth and popularity of tall and complex buildings in Sri Lanka. As such, in the conceivable future too, the progress of construction industry is likely to be dominated by high rise buildings. Fire safety is the most critical component within any type of building. High-rise buildings involve high-risk in fire emergencies due to the combination of three risk factors, which are high population density’ and various levels of mobility, design configuration of high-rise buildings, and excessive amounts of fuel load The consequences of high-rise fires include the fatal and serious injuries to occupants, damage or loss of property and severe interruption to normal business activities. Hence, it is clear that significance attention on the fire safety is necessaiy to continue the operations of a building. Accordingly, this study aims to analyse the operational gaps in the fire safety applications in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings. Case study method was selected as the most suitable research method for this study’ as it can be applied to explain presumed casual links in real life interventions. Furthermore, the primary source of data was collected through semi-structured interviews among professionals who involved with the fire safety management in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings. Data were analysed adopting content analysis. The research findings revealed that, in Sri Lankan context organisations were endeavouring within the bounds ofpossibility to fulfil the minimum requirements. Nevertheless, there is no considerable attention has given to achieve the acceptable standard for fire safety. Those differences were identified as operational fire safety gaps in high-rise buildings. Key reasons for the malpractices are inefficient fire safety systems, lack of knowledge and commitment of the management, design failures and lack of government's commitment. Therefore, organisations need to adopt a measured approach to minimise the gap and to achieve the acceptable standard.
item: Conference-Full-text
Operational gap analysis of fire safety applications in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2014-06) Gunarathna, P; Fernando, NG; Sridarran, P; Sandanayake, YG; Karunasena, GI; Fernando, NG
Life style confined with working and living in high-risers is a new concept to the Sri Lankan context. Scarcity of lands and urban development with the economic growth has accelerated the growth and popularity of tall and complex buildings in Sri Lanka. As such, in the conceivable future too, the progress of construction industry is likely to be dominated by high rise buildings. Fire safety is the most critical component within any type of building. High-rise buildings involve high-risk in fire emergencies due to the combination of three risk factors, which are high population density and various levels of mobility, design configuration of high-rise buildings, and excessive amounts of fuel load. The consequences of high-rise fires include the fatal and serious injuries to occupants, damage or loss of property and severe interruption to normal business activities. Hence, it is clear that significance attention on the fire safety is necessary to continue the operations of a building. Accordingly, this study aims to analyse the operational gaps in the fire safety applications in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings. Case study method was selected as the most suitable research method for this study as it can be applied to explain presumed casual links in real life interventions. Furthermore, the primary source of data was collected through semi-structured interviews among professionals who involved with the fire safety management in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings. Data were analysed adopting content analysis. The research findings revealed that, in Sri Lankan context organisations were endeavouring within the bounds of possibility to fulfil the minimum requirements. Nevertheless, there is no considerable attention has given to achieve the acceptable standard for fire safety. Those differences were identified as operational fire safety gaps in high-rise buildings. Key reasons for the malpractices are inefficient fire safety systems, lack of knowledge and commitment of the management, design failures and lack of government’s commitment. Therefore, organisations need to adopt a measured approach to minimise the gap and to achieve the acceptable standard.
item: Conference-Abstract
Strategies into practice through the pavement management system
(Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, 2020-12) Gunarathna, P; Thananjeyan, A; Perera, HLK
Pavement Management System (PMS) is a set of procedures/methods available for collecting, maintaining, analysing, and reporting pavement data to assist the decision-making process. When it comes to road maintenance planning, decision making is always challenging where road agencies have a limited budget to deliver their long-term strategies. This has put immense pressure on asset managers and asset Engineers to establish a process that priorities maintenance treatments for better network outcome. Prioritising maintenance needs of a road network based simply on its current condition failed to satisfy the long-term impact of the maintenance (IDS 2019). It is recommended to combine project prioritization and the budget optimization process to achieve a balance between the maintenance needs and budget constraints. The optimised program will ensure the best value for money when analysing benefits of the desired maintenance options under a limited budget. The presentation will discuss the steps involved in developing the optimised road maintenance program for delivering long-term strategies and benefit of PMS for the long- term decisionmaking process.