Research Publications Authored by SLIIT Staff
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This collection includes all SLIIT staff publications presented at external conferences and published in external journals. The materials are organized by faculty to facilitate easy retrieval.
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Publication Open Access Trade Liberalisation and Poverty in South Asia(Taylor & Francis Books, 2011) JAYATHILAKA, R; DE MEL, DThe relationship between trade and poverty has long been debated in academic and policy circles. The purpose of this chapter is to contribute to this debate through an in-depth study of the experience of Sri Lanka, the first country in South Asia to break away from the protectionist past by embarking on a decisive process of economic opening in 1977. During the first decade after independence in 1948, Sri Lanka continued with a liberal trade regime, until growing balance of payments problems induced a policy shift towards protectionist import substitution policies from the early 1960s. By the mid-1970s the Sri Lankan economy had become one of the most inwardoriented and regulated outside the group of centrally planned economies. In 1977, Sri Lanka responded to the dismal economic outcome of the closedeconomy era by embarking on an extensive economic liberalisation process, becoming the first country in the South Asian region to do so. Despite major macroeconomic problems and political turmoil, market-oriented reforms have been sustained over the ensuing years. Sri Lanka is now classified as one of the few developing countries outside East Asia that have achieved a clear policy shift from the entrenched import-substitution era. This policy transition has brought about notable structural changes in the economy (Athukorala and Rajapatirana 2000; World Bank 2005b; Kelegama 2006). However, the impact of liberalisation reforms on the incidence of poverty and poverty reduction has not yet been systematically studied. Therefore, the main objective of this chapter is to systematically examine the link between trade liberalisation and poverty reduction through employment channels. The chapter is arranged as follows: Section 2 provides an overview of trade policy shifts and the role of trade in the economy. Section 3 surveys the incidence and patterns of poverty. Section 4 examines key channels through which trade policy impacts on poverty. Section 5 examines some cross-cutting issues. Section 6 reports the results of an econometric analysis undertaken to examine the determinant of poverty at the household level with emphasis on the impact of trade policy. The chapter ends with a summary of key findings and policy inferences.Publication Open Access Identification of the Poor in Sri Lanka: Development of Composite Indicator and Regional Poverty Lines(researchgate.net, 2006-03) Siddhisena, p; Jayathilaka, RThe identification of the poor and the definition of poverty is rather complex since poverty dimensions are multifaceted. Poverty is not just an inadequacy of income to meet basic needs or the inability to spend. It is largely associated with numerous demographic, socio-economic, cultural, environmental, health and psychological factors. The aim of this study is therefore to compute a composite indicator of multidimensional poverty and regional poverty lines to identify the severity of poverty and regional disparities of poverty. The study was based on the two data sets and the main objectives of the study are: Identification of the poor by using a broader definition of poverty; Measurement of regional differences on poverty using the poverty indices and constructed poverty lines; and Development of a Composite Indicator of Multidimensional Poverty to identify poverty by severity and also to examine regional disparities of poverty.Publication Embargo Impact Analysis of US Dollar Index Volatility on Imports and Import Categories of Sri Lanka(IEEE, 2018-07-31) Sahabandu, R. V; Asanka, P. P. G. DThe economic liberation in 1977 resulted in drastic changes in many aspects of Sri Lanka. Considering about 1978-2015, the country yearly import demand represents over 30% share of the gross domestic product (GDP) except 1984, 2009, 2010, 2013-2015. Investigations and the studies on a countries' imports are surprisingly overlooked as there are several studies being carried out focusing only the aggregated export volume concerning the exchange rate volatility. The monthly data of Sri Lanka imports, import categories and monthly US Dollar (USD) volatility from January 2007-December 2016 were used for the analysis. This study tries to learn the impact of US Dollar Index (USDX) volatility on import demand of Sri Lanka. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Approach is employed to learn long-term and short-term cointegration among the underlying variables. There exists a 95% statistically significant short-run relationship and it is identified that the import categories, Consumer Goods (CG), Intermediate Goods (IG), Investment Goods (INV), Unclassified Items (UI), None-Oil Imports (NO) have a speed of adjustment to the equilibrium (SAE) in the long-run of 17%, 36%, 23%, 23%, 25% respectively. The total imports reveal that the disequilibrium conditions will be resolved by 27% within a period of one month that is shocked due to the USDX volatility. Knowledge of the relationship between USDX fluctuation, exchange rate volatility and import volume will support to pursuit for a beneficial trade and prevent or be prepared for a much more stable situation within Sri Lanka.Publication Open Access Factors Influencing the Private Cost of Higher Education; the Case of Sri Lanka(researchgate.net, 2019-03) Gobinath, S; Tharshan, K; Dheerasekara, W. R. H; Gunawardena, M.M.D de S; Jayakody, S. G; Lokeshwara, A. AThe research aims to identify and analyze the cost elements that impact the private cost of university education in Sri Lanka. It focused on determining the private cost of the Bachelor’s degree programs and also the cost elements affecting the total private cost and their significance. Twenty one cost categories were identified through a pilot study and analyzed in order to assess their impact on the private cost and their variability based on field of study, gender, programme duration, and the socio-economic group of undergraduates. The population comprised of students enrolled in private higher education institutes offering Bachelor’s degree programs in Sri Lanka. The study was conducted during the 2016/2017 academic year and the sample contained 419 respondents drawn utilizing the purposive and stratified random sampling procedures. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the hypotheses were tested using the Chi-square test for independent sample statistics at 0.05 level of significance. It was found that majority of cost categories (15) had significantly varied between fields of study undertaken while minority of cost categories (10) varied significantly between students’ gender. The study revealed that the identified factors influenced the private cost of university education in the Sri Lankan context.Publication Embargo ATHWEL: Gamification Supportive Tool for Special Educational Centers in Sri Lanka(IEEE, 2019-12-19) Kiriwaththage, P. N; Morawaka, ALearning Disability is a neurologically-based problem which involves in learning basic skills such as reading, writing and math. Intellectual Disability is characterized by below-average intelligence. Children with Intellectual Disability can do and learn new skills, but they learn them more slowly than average children of their age. Game-based learning is an effective way of getting learners actively involved in educational activities. Educating children with Intellectual Disability is a challenging process. They usually learn and progress more slowly than average children. Such children may have issues with motivation and interest in education; the use of Gamification approach becomes important as a motivational and interested affordance. A prototype desktop Gamification Supportive Tool called “ATHWELA” is proposed which operates through Assistive Technology. Assistive technology can be a device or a service that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Children with Intellectual Disability can be less interested in Mathematics, some can be not good in reading and some can be not good in writing. ATHWELA is targeting at increasing, maintaining, or improving these three points and ATHWELA can be used in special education classrooms as a tool of gratification and extrinsic motivation. Points and rewards will be presented as the motivational technique. The main objective of our research is to help children with Intellectual Disability with their primary educational skills with less effort and in an interactive way and this prototype desktop application is developed in the Sinhala language because the Sinhala is the mother-tongue of Sri Lanka. In addition, it has used Machine Learning and Image Processing techniques to improve the educational skills of children with Intellectual Disability.Publication Embargo Pavement maintenance management system for low volume roads in Sri Lanka(IEEE, 2019-07-03) Perera, M. Y. I; Pasindu, H. R; Sandamal, R. M. KIn Sri Lanka there are about 150,000 km of roads and among those about 75% are considered as rural low volume roads [1]. These roads are essential in community development, transport of people, goods and services in the rural areas. Most of these low volume roads would be actively contributing to our country's economy and wellbeing by distributing the produces from rural areas to urban areas. Limited funding, subjective and ad-hoc maintenance decision making has resulted in suboptimal maintenance level for these road networks. There is no proper maintenance system available in Sri Lanka as in the foreign countries. Lack of technical expertise and shortage of human resources, equipment and funds to carryout detailed data collection and analysis makes use of existing Pavement Management Systems difficult for local road agencies. The study will be focused on developing an asset management system to manage rural and provincial road networks in Sri Lanka.Publication Open Access Effectiveness of Financial Accounting and Reporting Practices introduced to Eastern Provincial Council, Sri Lanka(2014-01-31) Nagendrakumar, NSri Lanka in recent years has been introduced changes in public sector financial management. The introduction of accrual basis of accounting to public sector especially in Provincial Councils has created new trends in public financial management. This research is concerned with the effectiveness of public sector accounting and financial reporting in the research domain of Eastern provincial council (EPC). The aim of this research is to understand the financial accounting and reporting practices and to analyze whether they are effective. Descriptive method was used to evaluate the variables. The research concludes that the accounting and financial reporting practices adopted at EPC are not effective.Publication Open Access Country Specific Factors: Public Sector Accounting and Financial Reporting Reforms in Sri Lanka(researchgate.net, 2018-07) Nagendrakumar, NNew Public Management led the world of the public sector - including Sri Lanka - to switch on to the accrual-based accounting which is referred to as Public Sector Accounting and Financial Reporting reforms. However, it was noted that most of such reform activities have failed. Besides, irrespective of failure recorded Sri Lanka continues with the reform process. This postures the research problem of what factor(s) forces Sri Lanka to endure the reform. As a result, this study in general attempts to hoist the factors that determine the reform and precisely attempts to elevate the country specific factors of the phenomenon in Sri Lankan context based on qualitative methodology employing semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis method. The study found that though most of the universal and countryspecific factors are negatively influence the reform in Sri Lanka it is compelled to reform since ‘change of country status’ dictates.Publication Open Access The development of public sector accounting and financial reporting in Sri Lanka(researchgate.net, 2015) Nagendrakumar, N; Fonseka, M; Dissanayake, KAccrual accounting practices in private sector and cash accounting practices in public sector are unconsciously institutionalized. However, in the recent past the Association of Public Finance Accountants of Sri Lanka, which became the public sector wing of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka in 2012, has initiated accrual accounting practices to the public sector in the country. Authors, adopting Institutional Theory as theoretical lens and using semistructured interviews, attempt to explain the recent developments in Public Sector Accounting and Financial Reporting Practices in Sri Lanka. The study finds that mimetic practices played a dominant role and the normative and coercive practices seemed poor in making the accrual accounting practices a success in the public entities and further the study concludes that the Public Sector Accrual Accounting Practices are still open to debate and research.Publication Embargo A case study of Sri Lanka oil price fluctuations and its influencing factors using predictive analytics(IEEE, 2016-12-19) Kandawala, D. S. A; Ramanayake, R. T; Bogahawatte, K. G. L; Mansoor, M. A. M; Wanniarachchi, D. M; Asanka, P. P. G. DOil is one of the most crucial commodity and energy resource that guarantee the evolution of the economy and industry of a country. The price fluctuation of the oil would be the emerging factor to be concerned and discussed generally in political and economic circle in each and every country. In Sri Lanka also the problem would be same when it comes to oil industry and its influencing factors for price fluctuation. This paper provides a comprehensive implementation of data warehousing process for the petroleum industry data set. Based on the data collection, a broad data analysis has been conducted to discover patterns of oil prices and sales variation with respect to the political and economic impact factors of Sri Lanka. Through the analysis, it has proven that the influencing factors would affect to the oil prices and sales accordingly. Furthermore, this aims to present few predictions based on the analysis.