Browsing by Author "Peiris, C.N."

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Effects of Silver Nitrate in In Vitro Establishment of Cordyline fruticosa (L.) cv ‘Purple Compacta Tri Colour’ with CSUP Media Sterilization
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences - SLIIT, 2021-03-26) Peiris, S.E.; Hemathilaka, H.; Peiris, C.N.; Wijerathna, A.W.
Cordyline Varieties have gained high interest in the export markets for the in vitro ex agar plant material. Though in vitro plants have many advantages in export markets required quantities cannot be produced in a given period of time due to the high contamination rates in establishment of explants. Hence, this study was carried out to investigate silver nitrate (AgNO3) in three concentrations, on Cordyline fruticosa cv ‘Purple Compacta Tri Colour’ as an efficient chemical which can overcome contaminations occurring during introduction of explants to the in vitro environment. Actively growing shoot tips and nodal explants from 6 cm below from the shoot tip of C. fruticosa were selected as explants. Surface sterilization of these explants was carried out with silver nitrate in three concentrations, 0.025%, 0.05% and 0.1%. Clorox™ in 10% was used as the control. The explants were cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, with 0.5mg/L benzyl amino purine (BAP), which was sterilized with CSUP media sterilization. Data of non-contaminated cultures was collected after three weeks and shoot growth from explants was recorded after two months. According to the results obtained the explants treated with 10% Clorox™, 0.025%, 0.05% and 0.01 % of AgNO3 had 13, 17, 22 and 40% uncontaminated cultures, respectively. These survived explants produced shoots in 50, 50, 60 and 66 % of uncontaminated explains, respectively after 2 months in the same medium. The production of uncontaminated cultures was significantly (P=0.001) different from the other two concentrations used and the control. The shoot production was not significantly affected by the AgNO3 levels and when compared with the control. Hence, it can be concluded that 0.1 % of Silver Nitrate is an efficient chemical to obtain high amount of axenic cultures and shoots, in CSUP sterilized medium, which can be used for multiplication in vitro.
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The Public Primary School Teachers’ Perception of Integrating Information and Communication Technology for Teaching & Learning in the Zonal Education of Colombo, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences - SLIIT, 2021-03-26) Bukhari, S.K.; Peiris, C.N.; Thelijjagoda, S.; Nawinna, D. P.; Wijekoon, W.M.J.L.
This study examined teachers’ perceptions of integration of information and communications technologies (IICT) for teaching and learning in the primary sections of the public schools in the Zone of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It has been noticed that there is a considerable delay in technology acquaint in public schools in Sri Lanka. Thus, it is important that teachers and other educational professionals in the school system are equipped with up-to-date trends in education and that they accept the new educational challenges that are emerging. Even though the government has offered IICT infrastructure facilities to Secondary schools, Primary section IICT infrastructure has been neglected. Thus, more attention should be focused on factors which influence IICT and how teachers can apply their ICT skill to the teaching and learning process and improve the subjects, especially Mathematics, English and Social Science (MES), in their classroom activity. Therefore, the study investigated 120 teachers from the primary sections of the public schools in the Colombo Zone, under the criteria of ICT available primary schools and ICT not available primary schools. This study utilized a quantitative approach based on a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected through questionnaires and analysed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS software). The results of the analysis revealed that the R Square value was 20.4% of the variation in the perception of teachers explained by their knowledge & skill (KS), ICT Training and ICT experience and the p-value of independent variables were less than 0.05. The research identified that lack of knowledge and skill, inadequate teacher training, and lack of ICT experience are the hindering or impeding factors of IICT in the school environment. Hence, the knowledge of ICT was influenced by penetrating ICT, the skill of ICT was influenced by training and the experience of ICT was influenced by professional development. Future research could focus on classroom observations to determine the actual integration of ICT in the teaching and learning process.