2022 - (Vol. 02, Issue 01)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/19087
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- item: Article-Full-textPregnancy time : dress for teachers(2022-09) Karunarathne, V; Ranathunga, GA study conducted by the ministry of education and fashion design & product development degree course, Department of Textile & Clothing Technology of Moratuwa University, estimates that out of the approximately 236,000 teachers within the school system, 172,000 are female teachers. Among them approximately 10,000 female teachers request maternity leave annually. Even during their pregnancies, female teachers continue to wear the saree in order to maintain the dignity and respect of the profession. Considering the physical difficulties that pregnant women face towards the last few months of pregnancy, the Ministry of Education has introduced a collection of maternity wear for the teachers. The National project was carried out with the consultation of a panel appointed by the Ministry of Education that included the secretary of Education, Directors of the education Ministry, Gynecologists, Consultant Gamily Medicine officer of the ministry of Education, Principles of National Schools of Colombo, the Provincial Educational Directors and two senior academics of Fashion Design & Product Development Degree Course at the Department of Textile and Clothing technology, University of Moratuwa. The research, concept development, and product development of the maternity wear collection were carried out by Dr. Virajini Medagedara Karunaratne and Dr. Gayathri Ranathunga.
- item: Article-Full-textRecycling and reusing electronic waste (E-Waste) as a potential emerging business : a consumer perception(2022-09) Kavirathna, V; Perera, B; Fernando, N; Amanullah, M; Dassanayake, SThe repaid generation of e-Waste in the Sri Lanka urban context has the potential to support the national circular economy. The generation of e-waste is unavoidable in the rapidly developing technology sector. E-waste is typically perceived as a burden. The recycling and recycling and reusing of e-waste can positively influence the circular economy. E-waste has the properties such as recyclability and can be used to recover valuable metal components that are depleting rapidly. Comprehensive investigations have been carried out on the public perception of e-waste reusability and its challenges and limitation as a new business model. The study outcomes can help determine how people’s (the consumers’) perceptions can be effectively assessed to develop a sustainable business model that can be effectively employed to manage e-waste.
- item: Article-Full-textInvestigating various solution techniques for real-world vehicle routing problems(2022-09) Fernando, M; Thibbotuwawa, A; Perera, NOperations research (OR) is a field of study that employs analytical techniques to improve decision-making. The field of OR can help you make better decisions in a variety of fields, including manufacturing, transportation, project management, supply chain management, etc. Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is a well-studied application within the field of OR. The primary goals of the vehicle routing problem are to find the optimal route plan to minimize distribution costs and travel times while maximizing customer satisfaction and fleet capacity utilization [1] (Figure 1). Researchers have used VRP in a variety of fascinating applications, including green vehicle routing, electric vehicle routing, unmanned aerial vehicle routing
- item: Article-Full-textExploration for rare earth elements (REES) in different geological formations of Sri Lanka and their recovery potential(2022-09) Batapola, N; Ratnayake, N; Abeysinghe, B; Premasiri, R; Rohitha, S; Dushyantha, N; Ilankoon, S; Dissanayake, K; Dharmaratne, PRare earth elements (REEs) are widely attracting global attention due to their crucial role in the modern lifestyle, especially in the industrial advancement towards a green economy through renewable technologies. This particular group of metals consists of the 15 lanthanides, yttrium (Y), and scandium (Sc). There are two subgroups, namely light rare earth elements (LREEs) from lanthanum (La) to europium (Eu) and heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) from gadolinium (Gd) to lutetium (Lu) and Y (Fig. 1a). Generally, LREEs are more abundant in the mineral deposits when compared to more priced HREEs [1].
- item: Article-Full-textRPA success remains a non-trivial endeavor(2022-09) Piyatilake, A; Thibbotuwawa, A; De Silva, MRobotic Process Automation (RPA) is becoming an integral part of today’s businesses that compete in more dynamic business environments. RPA is a technology that enables organisations to automate rule-based and repetitive tasks in processes through the use of software robots. Instead of requiring time consuming process reengineering that leads to heavy investment on IT system transformations, RPA is able to perform such routine processes by running across systems. For an example, customer orders of a third-party logistics service providing company can be easily entered into internal warehouse management system using RPA. Therefore, RPA can be interpreted as a strategic tool which gives benefits such as improved productivity, improved data accuracy, improved compliance levels, reduced process execution time and costs. However, Nitin Bhatt [1] mentions that, nearly 30% to 50% RPA projects are failures. Accordingly, there are some other factors organisations must consider apart from technological know-how when taking RPA initiatives. This article intends to reveal such factors identified through an industry survey and interview sessions conducted with 12 industry experts who have at least three years of experiences in supply chain and RPA disciplines. Overall, fourteen factors were identified under three categories namely: Strategy; Process; and Organisation.
- item: Article-Full-textUnderstanding the income profile of the elderly in Sri Lanka(2022-09) Shyama, C; De Silva, TWhile Sri Lanka’s experience of population ageing is closer to that of a developed country, the level of income at which this is happening is much lower. Therefore, ensuring the welfare of the elderly is and will be a challenge in the years to come. A solid understanding of old-age income support systems is, thus, vital for formulat¬ing effective policy responses.
- item: Article-Full-textResearch support activities of library, university of Moratuwa : bringing to a next level via research commons(2022-09) Seneviratne, T; Kodikara, RResearch Commons is dedicated library space for researchers. Research Commons in libraries are important to develop research culture in the university environment [1]. In order to review and enhance the current status of research support activities of the Library, University of Moratuwa (UoM) a, a survey was carried out among all academic staff members and postgraduate students at the UoM. The survey aimed to investigate the usage and importance of current research support services and find out the importance of some proposed research support services. As the research instrument, a questionnaire was developed after conducting a pilot study among eminent researchers and focus group interviews with library academics. Current library services as well as new library services were ranked using average weighted scores [2]. Average weighted score was calculated to determine overall order of preference as shown below. Largest weight was given for most preferred choice.
- item: Article-Full-textBolgoda chat : the first vice chancellor(2022-09) Karunathilake, H; Witharana, SA technical collage was being transformed to a university. This is the story of an academic who led the institution in its early years.
- item: Article-Full-textRetail demand forecasting using light gradient boosting machine framework(2022-09) Hewage, C; Perera, NPreparing product-level demand forecasts is crucial to the retail industry. Importantly, reliable in-ventory and replenishment decisions for retail products depend on accurate demand forecasts. This allows retailers to enable better pricing and timely promotion plans while leading to huge cost reductions [1]. Often, retail promotions create demand irregularities for products. Customers may change their buying behavior by purchasing more products for future consumption (stockpiling), thereby increasing sales in the promotional period. Then, for a brief time, sales may fall below normal levels before gradually returning to normal levels. The period with a dip in demand is known as the post-promotional period [2]. Thus, a retail promotion has three distinct periods: (1) normal, (2) promotional, and (3) post-promotional, each with its own set of demand fluctuations
- item: Article-Full-textWill the new circular external fixator ease the surgeon’s burden?(2022-09) Widanage, K; De Silva, M; Ranaweera, P; Lalithrathne, T; Dharmaratne, P; Bull, A; Gopura, RSri Lanka, like many other low-middle income countries, has been a victim of conflict for a long time. While the country is still recovering from the internal conflict that plagued it for over three decades, the shadows of these dark days still haunt these lands. The Sri Lankan soil is still not completely rid of antipersonnel landmines which were once weaponized against military and civilians alike. A more recent terrorist attack that happened in 2019 rekindled this age-old fear against explosions in the hearts of Sri Lankans. While prevention of such disasters is important, realistically, it is the duty of engineering researchers to equip medical professionals with devices that can aid and expedite the treatments if and when such unfortunate disasters occur.
- item: Article-Full-textModelling the level of service of public transport - as a case study along Colombo – Galle buses(2022-09) Herath, E; Sivakumar, TEven-though Public Transport (PT) was the most common (60%) mode of transport in Sri Lanka, people are shifting from PT to private vehicles during last few years. That has created a significant traffic congestion on roads which is one of the critical issues in urban roads in Sri Lanka. Improving PT service quality and promoting PT among people would be one solution. The existing service quality of PT should be identified first and expected improvements should be captured. Many researchers have identified “Level of Service (LOS)” as an efficient tool to measure PT service quality [1]. Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual highlights the importance of user’s perception for determining level of service [2]. This research attempt to quantify the existing LOS of PT based on bus passengers’ opinion gathered through a questionnaire survey from route between Galle to Colombo. From the literature review, the study identified around 15 factors which affect the LOS of PT and incorporated them into the survey.
- item: Article-Full-textFolktales as a creative lab : a participatory design-based digital storytelling model to develop creative potential(2022-09) Senevirathne, M; Rodrigo, BCreativity is our ability to look at a problem and come up with an ideal solution. It has nothing to do with the subject, the job or what we learn. In the Sri Lankan education systems creativity is nurtured but not at a suitable level. It is more suitable to mention in that way rather than mentioning creativity is not fully nurtured. Creativity should be accessible to all, since everyone is creative. It is full of optimism, hope and the joy of changing things by making the truth come true. With the arrival of digital technology, children have ever-increasing opportunities for knowledge gathering and study. It encourages students to open up their creative abilities to share and build continuous relationships through their creativity. Therefore, students actively partici-pate in the process by taking responsibilities, working with the organisation, and experimenting and developing unique proposals for solutions. This project adopts the participatory design approach which is a design methodology in which the potential users of a design participate as co-creators in the design process, as a framework to develop a digital storytelling model and reflect how students express their creativity. In this process, students’ thoughts are interpreted using active participatory approaches such as illustration, photography, audio recording, writing, and drawing. This process involves creating a story based on students’ creative abilities and forcing students to act and make decisions to solve their creative problems. Participants use participatory approaches to analyse and synthesise stories through creative abilities.
- item: Article-Full-textEmotional intelligence as a stimulator of technology strategy for business success(2022-09) Nanayakkara, S; Wickramasinghe, V; Samarasinghe, DEffective improvement and execution of technologies require incredibly careful consideration not only to technological and engineering advancements and resulting capabilities, but also to human, raw materials, financial feasibility, and the reasonably competitive environment. The strategic management of technology (SMT) brings together engineering, scientific, and management disciplines to tackle the preparation, growth, and implementation of technical skills to form and serve a strategic and a functional purpose of a business.
- item: Article-Full-textIntralogistics: making optimized and automated internal logistics and advanced technology attainable(2022-08) Weerasinghe, V; Perera, NIntralogistics is an emerging concept which is constantly subject to techno¬logical developments and changes. It is an art of automating, optimizing, in¬tegrating, and organizing the logistics flow within the walls of the warehouse or fulfillment center. In simple terms, intralogistics is the process of moving the materials inside the facility using the most efficient methods.
- item: Article-Full-textHeavy metal adsorption to tea waste(2022-09) Liyanage, MWhen the cool morning breeze seeps through the window, sipping a warm cup of tea breathes life into your body and heart. Yet, the tea dregs that remain are a mere afterthought miserably lying at the bottom of a waste basket. However, the dregs that we consider waste can be used to address a significant problem in the country—heavy metal contamination.
- item: Article-Full-textInferring the purposes of passenger trips from GPS records(2022-09) Dhananjaya, D; Sivakumar, TA technological revolution has emerged in the context of mobility surveys with the widescale usability of wearable and onboard global positioning system (GPS) devices. Sri Lanka is also at the edge of utilizing these, in replacing the traditional methods. The earnestness' for this transition is supported by the deficiencies such as higher cost, higher nonresponses rates, over and under-reporting, and small sample sizes of traditional surveys. The activity that a passenger performs after a trip, or the purpose of a trip is a vital concern in transportation research as it is the reason behind the generation of travel demands. Hence, trip purpose inference from GPS data has become an important study area in this context [1]. Gong et al. [2] reviewing the existing trip purpose inference studies categorized the methodologies that had been used into three as rule-based, probabilistic, and machine learning-based. In this study, we utilized the GPS records of taxi trips from a popular service provider in the country as shown in Figure 1 in developing a suitable trip purpose inference approach.