Book Chapters

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The book chapters authored by SLIIT researchers are included in this collection. Access to full texts may be restricted depending on the access and licensing terms.

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2010 - 20197

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Start date: 2010End date: 2019

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Poverty Concepts, Trends in Global Poverty and Sri Lanka
    (Department of Demography, University of Colombo, 2015-03) Jayathilaka, R
    There is a large body of literature on the concept of poverty in general and its measurement. Poverty has been one of the most debated concepts in development economics and international trade, with the international focus on poverty reduction under Millennium Development Goals (MDG) drawing much attention to its definition and measurement. Over at least the last two decades, the definition of poverty has also been a central issue in policy making towards poverty reduction in developing countries. The reason for this is because poverty definitions and measurements have important implications for poverty reduction policies. A study of India and Peru, drawing on both national data and micro surveys, found that significantly different people were identified as poor in the two countries. This was determined according to two different measurements of poverty ranging from a narrow definition, in terms of the monetary capability, to a broader definition, in terms of the participatory approach adopted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (Ehrenpreis, 2006)
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    PublicationEmbargo
    Case Studies: Use of Low Strain Transient Dynamic Response Method for Rock Socketed End Bearing Bored Piles
    (ASTM Compass, 2018-05-28) Kodithuwakku, T. H; Thilakasiri, S; Rathnayaka, A
    The transient dynamic response (TDR) method has been introduced to pile integrity testing over several decades. The TDR method requires measuring both pile top velocity and force induced at the pile top by a small handheld hammer. Force and velocity information can be used to determine the pile condition near the top of the pile and the stiffness of pile-soil-rock system. It has been suggested by researchers that the dynamic stiffness at low frequencies obtained from the TDR method relates to the static stiffness of a pile. The static stiffness determines the initial linear region of load-displacement behavior of a particular pile. However, little attention has been paid to developing a correlation between the dynamic stiffness obtained from the TDR method and the static stiffness of a pile head. Therefore, systematic field tests were performed on rock-socketed end-bearing bored piles to determine both dynamic stiffness and static stiffness. The piles were tested using both high-strain dynamic load testing and low-strain pile integrity testing. Based on the field testing results, this paper suggests a correlation between dynamic stiffness and static stiffness. Furthermore, successful implementation of the TDR method on rock-socketed end-bearing bored piles is verified through case studies. In addition, the case studies show that dynamic stiffness and first resonant frequency could be used to identify the doubtful piles having low toe stiffness.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Improving the understanding of safe-sex behaviours with the use of two models in Health Psychology
    (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Abeysinghe, N
    Health psychology, which is a branch of psychology, aims to understand human health (wellbeing, illnesses, and vulnerabilities) from a biopsychosocial perspective that takes the biological, psychological, and social aspects of life into consideration. This sub-discipline broadly emphases its role in health promotion and maintenance of health, prevention and treatment of illness, detection and focus on causes of illnesses, and overall improvement of the health care system. Health psychologists utilise a broad range of psychological theories and models developed within the sub-discipline for the above functions. This paper outlines how two theoretical models in Health Psychology, the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), and the Health Belief Model (HBM), contribute to the understanding of safe-sex behaviours. Unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are noticeable problems around the globe. Almost one million adolescent women aged 19 or under become pregnant each year in the USA alone (Ventura & Freedman, 2000), and the number of adolescents acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STI), including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), approximates to 3.5 million (Chambers, & Rew, 2003). In the UK the number of new diagnoses for STIs has increased from 63% over the last ten years (Health Protection Agency, 2008). In relation to homosexual relationships, there is still a high incidence of unsafe sex, mainly in the form of unprotected anal intercourse, despite the long number of years of health promotion and education aimed at this population (Crossley, 2000).
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Drawing in or ruling out “Family?” The evolution of the family systems approach in Sri Lanka
    (Springer, Cham, 2019) Ekanayake, E. S; Abeysinghe, N
    This chapter traces the baby steps of family systems approaches (FSA) in Sri Lanka. It captures some of the early known discussions about FSA held between academics, development workers, practitioners and grassroots counsellors and shares with the reader their genuine questions, doubts, cautious enthusiasm and joyous discoveries. The chapter also provides insights into the sociocultural realities within which counselling services are offered, the nature of the mental health and psychosocial services (MHPSS) in Sri Lanka, the diverse players and the specific limitations and challenges that proponents of FSA would need to navigate. The reader is invited to experience two real-life events in which the authors have explored the adaptation and use of FSA together with their students, co-workers and trainees. The first is in a classroom where masters-level students of counselling experience FSA as a practical learning experience. The second shares explorations with field counsellors working directly with vulnerable family members of migrant workers. These two scenarios highlight the reasons for and the manner in which FSA has been chosen as a robust, flexible and powerful tool capable of addressing the demands of evolving family systems and a changing Sri Lankan society.
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    Recent trends in EMG-Based control methods for assistive robots
    (InTech, 2013-05-22) Gopura, R. A. R. C; Bandara, D. S. V; Gunasekara, J. M. P; Jayawardena, T. S. S
    Utilization of electrodiagnosis; namely electromyography (EMG), nerve conduction studies, late responses, repetitive nerve stimulation techniques, quantitative EMG and evoked potentials, has long been discussed in many text books as basic principles. However the usage of electroneuromyography is rather new in some aspects when compared with tasks of daily practise. This book, we believe, will cover and enlighten those aspects where electrodiagnosis has begun to play important roles nowadays.
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    IT Management in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
    (IGI Global, 2010) Suraweera, T
    Computer-based information systems have grown in importance to SMEs, and are now being used increasingly to help them compete. For example, many SMEs have turned to the Internet to support their endeavours. Although the technology that is being used is relatively well understood, its effective management is not so well understood. A good understanding of IT management is important, as the management of IT is an attribute that has the potential to deliver a sustainable competitive advantage to a firm (Mata, Fuerst, & Barney, 1995). This article shows that there is no one accepted view of the term “IT management” for either large or small firms. However, the term “management” is often considered to include the four functions of planning, organising, leading, and controlling. This framework has been applied to SMEs and specifically to their IT management. The article also shows that recent studies have shown significant links between IT management and both IT adoption and IT success. Resource-based theory is helping researchers gain a greater understanding of IT competences. These advances look likely to improve our understanding of the relationship between IT use and SME performance.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Development Plan as a Tool to Improve the Disaster Resilience of Urban Areas
    (Springer, Cham, 2017-03-22) Perera, R; Khaimi, D; Khailani, B
    This chapter argues for the mainstreaming of disaster resilience attributes in local development plans as an overarching adaptive measure with regards to urban areas facing climate related disasters. The chapter is based on empirical research involving a group of professional urban planners and managers who are responsible for formulating development plans for local urban areas in a developing country. Using the key-informant technique, the research investigated the ideas of a set of professional planners and managers regarding the suitable urban planning strategies to improve the resilience of local areas against a common hazard (e.g., flooding) that has a tendency to intensify due to climate change. In the next step, the common attributes of more frequently suggested strategies were identified using the principal component analysis technique. In the last step, the extent to which the local development planning system has responded so far to the vulnerability reduction and resilience improvement needs of the civil society. The findings indicate that local planners are sensitive to the flood risks faced by people. They have incorporated policies and strategies in the local development plan to minimize exposure of the people and property to flood hazard and improve the adaptive capacity of the urban settlements. However, the sector-based organization of the plan prepared by the federal level planners was found to be a hindrance to improving mainstream disaster resilience attributes in development planning. Therefore, the paper calls for strengthening the participatory planning and development capacity of the local authorities to enable more resolute mainstreaming of disaster resilience in local development plans.