SLIIT International Conference on Engineering and Technology [SICET]

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SLIIT International Conference on Engineering and Technology is organized by the Faculty of Engineering. SICET welcomes submissions from various disciplines, focusing on emerging trends in Engineering, Technology, and Applied and Natural Sciences. The conference will encompass research in theory, practical applications, and education. This event offers a unique platform for academics, student researchers, and industry practitioners to present innovative ideas and engage with professionals from diverse engineering fields

https://sicet.sliit.lk

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Open Access
Estimation of Person-Kilometers of Travel in Sri Lanka
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Gunathilaka, S; Amarasingha, N; Lakmali, M; Perera, C
Person Kilometers of Travel (PKT) provides all trip information of an individual including trips by motorized, non-motorized, public or informal public transport modes. Estimating PKT in developing countries seems much important as PKT is one of key parameters in transport planning and policy making. Since PKT focuses on an individual, it is influenced by socio demography of the person. However, timely PKT is not estimated by relevant agencies of Sri Lanka. The study focused on estimating PKT in Sri Lanka with travel mode distributions. A paper-based travel survey was conducted over all administrative districts in Sri Lanka for collecting trip information and socio demographic factors of people. 9,012 people participated in surveys resulting a 77.62% response rate. Respondents were asked to provide information of their trips in a typical week, in special holidays and seasons, information on travel modes and their socio demographic information. Data obtained from surveys were aggregated to annual level and weighted in order to obtain PKT/person/year under each socio demographic category. Weightages were estimated using census data in each administrative district. The study came up with important findings; weighted PKT estimations and travel mode distributions in each administrative district. Further, statistical comparisons of PKT estimates among different socio demographic groups and districts were conducted using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test. These findings were key contributions to the existing literature in the country.
Open Access
Special Event Item Prediction System for Retails – Using Neural Network Approach.
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Alwis, T; Pemarathna, P
Selling and buying is the general process marketing field follows. Nowadays marketing field bonded with the modern technology, and it highly effected to field expandability. Marketing become fruitful when it achieves its key points which are called sales and profit. Mostly people are move to the retails because all the essentials and other things can buy from one place. There are many technological concepts involve with marketing field as an enhancement. Prediction processes, data analysis, item designing and profit calculation are some representatives for those concepts. This study is a prediction process, developed for retails using machine learning approaches. Item sales data analyzed and generated prediction results on set of items which are given maximum or expected profit margins and which items satisfy the customer most. Item suppliers are key stakeholder type a retail can have, there is a recommender system in this approach for suppliers and the recommendation is based on past sales data. There are certain types of machine learning approaches used in sales item prediction, sales item feature prediction, sales price prediction and etc. Novelty of this research is, it focused only special event items such as items in Christmas season, items specialized for Mother’s Day, Valentine Day, Sinhala, and Tamil new year and etc. This research process had completely followed the machine learning neural network concept. Recurrent Neural Network is subpart of neural networks and this research study followed up through this RNN method. Neural network had applied using a form of machine learning called deep learning. This model had worked on sequential data therefor LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) layers were used and to avoid overfitting issue several dropout layers were used. The results prove neural network method has highest accuracy.
Open Access
Travel Issues of Sri Lankan Females
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Karunarathne, T. S; Amarasingha, N
This research looks into the mobility problems that female travelers undergo, with an emphasis on Sri Lankan women. Males and females have different social and economic roles and obligations in most civilizations, and as a result, there are major gender variations in travel and transportation demands. The aim of this research is to investigate the mobility issues of females while traveling. This research analyzes mobility problems of female travelers with special reference to the Western province of Sri Lanka. This research targets to identify the mobility barriers which affect the females’ lifestyle, the problems, and threats females have faced, and the way they go through these problems. The socioeconomic, perspective of people, and travel behavior data were collected from 450 females by using a paper-based questionnaire in August 2021. Ordinal logistic regression analysis and Chi-square test were used to analyze the data. According to the results, sexual harassment while traveling was a significant problem. Among the respondents, 17% of respondents stated that sexual harassment was the most concerning security risk when traveling and 46.8% of female respondents faced sexual harassment when traveling by buses. Based on the types of harassment 26% of females experienced physical harassment as the most frequent harassment type and 25% experienced verbal harassment in public places or public transportation. Majority 42% of the females were strongly stated that they faced sexual harassment problems after dark. Poor maintenance of open public spaces, overcrowded buses/trains, lack of effective/visible police or civil guards, and lack of regulation on transport safety such as men dealing with or taking alcohol/drugs were factors that contribute to sexual harassment by females in public places and transport. The results of this analysis provide valuable insights into the mobility problems of female travelers in day-to-day life due to various reasons.
Open Access
Development of Silica-Copper Nanocomposite for Water Purification
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Angappan, S; Karunaratne, M; Thambiliyagodage, C
Water pollution is one of the serious concerns across the world at the moment. Industrial wastewater significantly contributes to the negative impacts caused by water pollution. Textile industries discharge large amounts of effluents into water streams with little or no treatment of the discharge because wastewater treatment is an expensive process. Thus, there exists a need for a cheap and effective way to treat textile effluent that contains dyes before being discharged. A high purity silica-based Nano-adsorbent was synthesized by using rice husk as the commercially available main cheap precursor. Copper-loaded silica nanoparticles were successfully functionalized with 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES) via the sol-gel pathway to enhance the adsorption performance of organic dyes from textile effluent. The performance of produced Nano-adsorbent was evaluated by using methylene blue as waste adsorbate. As synthesized nanomaterial was characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, the XRD results confirmed the presence of silicon dioxide (SiO2) and paramelaconite (Cu4O3) as predicted. The FTIR confirmed the presence of Si–O stretching, N-H bending, C–H stretching, Cu–O stretching and O–H bending vibrations thereby suggesting the presence of SiO2, NH2 groups, CH2, Cu4O3 and physisorbed H2O. The optimum conditions for pH and adsorbent dosage were successfully evaluated for the adsorption process. The optimum pH at which the nanomaterial performed best was at pH 4. The optimum mass of the adsorbent that gave maximum adsorption performance was 20 mg. Kinetic studies revealed that the experimented data was in better correlation with pseudo-second-order kinetics. The outcome of this project would be of interest to textile industries looking for a cheap and effective way to treat textile wastewater
Open Access
Support Vector Machine Based an Efficient and Accurate Seasonal Weather Forecasting Approach with Minimal Data Quantities
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Chandrasekara, S; Tennekoon, S; Abhayasinghe, N; Seneviratne, L
Climate change makes a big impact in our daily activities. Therefore, forecasting climate changes prior to its actual occurrences is important. Even though highly accurate weather prediction systems throughout the world are available, they require mass amounts of data exceeding thousands of data points to obtain a significant accuracy. This study was aimed at proposing a Support Vector Machine based approach to carryout seasonal weather predictions up to thirty-minute intervals, the results of which would be considerably effective with respect to predictions carried out with models trained with annual datasets. The model was trained utilizing a dataset corresponding to the district of Kandy which consisted of 136 samples, 20 features, and 5 labels. By means of carrying out numerous data preprocessing steps, the model was trained, and the relevant hyperparameters were optimized considering the grid search algorithm to yield a maximum accuracy of 86%, once tested via the k-fold cross validation. The performance of the Support Vector Machine was also then compared for the same dataset with that of the K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm which consumed relatively fewer computing resources. An optimal accuracy of 61% was observed for this model for a K-value of 27. This approach supported the concept of a Support Vector Machine’s ability to perceive time series forecasts to a relatively higher degree and its ability to perform effectively in higher dimensional datasets with smaller number of samples. As per the future work, the Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis is proposed to be carried out to evaluate the performance of the model and the dataset size is proposed to be further enhanced to a maximum of a thousand samples to yield the best performance results.
Open Access
Review on Use of End-Area-Rule for Volume Calculations in Highway Pavements
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Wanasinghe, G. I; Thennakoon, P. G; de Silva, N. A; Kalugamuwa, I. M
Volume estimation of highway pavements is very important in planning and design of highways, in order to calculate the amount of materials and hence for cost analysis. It is also used to investigate the workmanship and quality of construction in post analysis. End area rule is the simplest and most widely used technique in volume calculation as it can be used with the cross sections generated at a suitable interval. The theory being used for road segment between two consecutive cross sections assuming there exists a linear variation of cross sectional areas within the interval. Validity of the application of end area rule depends on this assumption and accuracy also varies when the linear variation does not exist. This study was carried out to analyze the validity of the application of end area rule due to the non-linearity of variation of cross sectional areas in highway pavements. The scope of the study was limited to straight segment with rectangular cross section. Road width and height of the cross section were selected as variables and the volumes were compared using different models with coaxial centroids and skew sections. Numerical models with different angles of centroids were used in the study and the results were verified using digital models created with AutoCAD 3D software. The interval between sections was also investigated and it was determined that the perpendicular distance between sections should be used in the end area rule. Finally it was concluded that the area variation is not linear when there are more than one variable affect the cross section. The modification to end area rule was also developed in order to increase the accuracy.
Open Access
A Study on Curbside Overtaking in Sri Lankan Streets
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Amarasingha, N; Eranga, A. L. C
Overtaking slower moving vehicles on the curbside under mix traffic condition is very common in Sri Lanka. The overtaking should never be done from the curbside as a rule of thumb, also rules and regulations regarding the overtaking should be never broken by drivers. Traffic accidents statistics reveal that main cause for serious accidents in Sri Lanka are excessive speed and incorrect overtaking. However, to the best of authors’ knowledge any research about curbside overtaking behavior has not been done so far. Objectives of this study are to investigate self-reported drivers’ overtaking behavior, and to find out drivers’ perspective about current rules and regulations on overtaking. A questionnaire form was developed, and a survey was conducted to collect data among 430 people in Colombo district. Chi–square tests and multinomial logistic regression analysis were done. Chi – square test results showed that among the selected variables, gender, age, occupation, driving license availability, charged a fine or accident due to curbside overtaking are the main factors that affect the curbside overtaking. The results of this study are facilitative to understand characteristics and some reasons behind curbside overtaking. Some methods such as educate public about dangerous overtaking and rules by organizing awareness programs, increasing fine for curbside overtaking, and imposing new laws are suggested to minimize the number of road accidents caused by overtaking slow moving vehicles on the curbside of the road.
Open Access
REGULARITIES AND PATTERNS OF CONSTRUCTION COSTS UPON POLITICAL EVENTS
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Perera, B. K. C; Jayasena, H. S
Though the market prices change before and after political events were often speculated, if such changes could be systematically accounted for in construction cost forecasting was unknown. This study aimed to bridge this knowledge gap by identifying the regularities and patterns of the construction costs upon political events. A decade of period was selected in which the scope of the study started in 2010. Time series analysis was used along with regression analysis, assuming a linear relationship between construction costs and time. After a comprehensive literature review, CIDA construction cost indices were chosen as the most appropriate cost representation for the local context, and these were taken as the dependent variables. All indices were plotted in diagrams and long-term trends were observed, then indices were carried for further analysis of cycles. Major political events were collected through a document survey and the findings were plotted on the time series analysis output. It was noticed that in 2013 indices were changed mostly, where three provincial elections were held, and some more pattern changes had occurred close to the local government elections which took place in 2011 and 2018. The study concluded that there is neither pattern nor regularity in construction costs upon political events where it cannot be systematically incorporated into construction cost forecasting. However, the findings did not deny the impact of political events on construction costs, and novel areas were found where further explorations are required.
Open Access
Effective Waste Management Strategies of Bentonite in Sri Lanka
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Guruge, K; Coomasaru, P
One of the greatest challenges of Bentonite usage in construction industry is, managing the wastage created in sites thus, it has to be given attention. Therefore, the study would be conducted focusing on the domestic piling construction sites and the process followed by them. Although it is a chemical, it is recognized to be safe for both the environment as well as mankind in an ecological and health protection perspective. However, a proper disposal method in order to reduce the further issues as excessive waste in sites is needed. Therefore, this study aims to explore an effective method regarding the waste management strategies for Bentonite in Sri Lanka. The objectives of the study are, identifying the wasting methods of Bentonite, identifying causes of disposing Bentonite and determining the most suitable method for Bentonite disposal. Data for the objectives one and two were collected through a literature survey and analyzed by using NVivo which was validated using a questionnaire by majority of 5-10 years experienced professionals aligning to mixed method approach. Data for the third objective was found by aegis of the same questionnaire. Noticeably, it was validated through interviews by the industry experts with more than 30 years of experience. The study found that, site conditions are the most relatable reason for the Bentonite waste. Apart from that ‘weather’ and ‘manual handling errors’ can be additional reasons for the wastage. Moreover, most sites consider either ‘when the slurry forms into a cake’ or ‘silos are full’ as the causes for disposal. Furthermore, it has identified that the majority of sites dispose the waste to disposable lands using bowsers as of the disposal method after reusing 3-4 times. The suggested method appears to be cost effective and efficient in comparison to the others. Furthermore, it can be rather safe and environmentally friendly.
Open Access
Design and Fabrication of a Novel Hybrid Solar Dryer
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Perera, C; Fernando, G; Liyanage, M
A hybrid solar dryer was designed and tested for commercial dissemination of active and passive drying methods over traditional sun drying methods. The proposed dryer employs novel features such as user controllability of the drying parameters and includes sensors and controllers for active monitoring of drying parameters. The functionality of the dryer is broadened by using logic control whereby intermittent drying patterns are introduced to the system for more efficient operation. This paper documents the design calculations and fabrication process of the dryer as well as the results of drying obtained under a controlled environment. 10 experiments have been carried out to assess the limits and potential improvements to the system which yielded satisfactory conditions with a temperature fluctuation of ±1℃ and change in %RH of ±2% at any given temperature within the specified limits. The developed system has been used for drying apples which yielded dried products from an initial weight of 346 grams to a final weight of 55 grams in 5 hours in pure convection and the same initial weight was reduced to 52 grams in 3 hours when operating in solar hybrid mode. The average energy consumption of the dryer was obtained at 300 Watts at uninterrupted solar insolation operation and 224 Watts during pure convective operation, portraying the efficient operation of the system to be eligible to be powered by a solar-powered energy storage
Open Access
Assessment of Nationally Determined Contributions of Sri Lankan Power Sector
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Dahanayake, A; Fernando, G; Liyanage, M
The nationally determined contributions (NDCs) aim to attend long-term temperature goals, which have been imposed by the Paris agreement to strengthen climate change efforts. Fossil fuel is the major energy source in power generation in Sri Lanka, contributing 67% of total input energies. Sri Lanka is intended to achieve 70% renewable energy in the power sector by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality in the power sector by 2050 through its NDCs. This study analysed the NDCs in the Sri Lankan power sector. The study was carried out through Asia-Pacific Integrated Assessment Model (AIM/End-use), a recursive dynamic least-cost optimisation framework based on bottom-up modelling principles. The Sri Lankan Power sector has been categorised into a few sectors based on the fuels used in power generation. It mainly considers thermal coal, thermal oil, and hydro. It will also consider all the existing power generation technologies, committed technologies and technologies identified as candidates. A business-as-usual scenario (BAU) and three alternatives NDC were considered in this study. These NDCs include enhancing renewable energy by adding 3867 MW, converting existing fuel oil-based combined cycle power plants to natural gas and establishing new natural gas plants, and improving the efficiency of transmission and distribution network (lost reduction 0.5% compared with BAU by 2030). The study analysed the output data and confirmed the feasibility of meeting GHG emission reduction targets through consideration of selected NDCs in the time span of 2020-2030. The GHG emissions from the BAU scenario and three countermeasure scenarios were analysed in 2015-2050. The input primary energy supply was determined to compare the variation in energy with the effect of NDCs
Open Access
Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium Concentrations in the Grains of Selected Rice Varieties in Sri Lanka
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Neththasinghe, N. A.S. A; Chandrasekara, E. D. C.T; Ekanayake, E. M.S; Madushan, N. D.R; Rathnayake, W. M. U. K; Sirisena, D. N; Suriyagoda, L. D. B
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the staple food for Sri Lankans, and it serves as a key source of essential mineral elements. The variation of grain nutrient concentrations as affected by genetic factors (variety, grain color and age group) are not known, and those were tested in the current study. Total of 200 rice grain samples were collected using a stratified random sampling approach, representing all agro-climatic zones in Sri Lanka. Grain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) concentrations were measured using Kjeldahl, Colorimetric, and General methods, respectively. Grain N P and K concentrations were significantly different among rice varieties (P<0.1). Grain N concentration varied between 4-19 mg g−1 . The highest grain N concentration was recorded in Bg 307 (14 mg g−1 ) while the lowest (i.e., < 10 mg g−1 ) in Bg 367, Bg 374, Bg 358, Bg 310 and Bg 379-2. Grain P concentration varied in the range 0.6- 1.7 mg g−1 . Grain P concentration in At 406 was the highest (1.6 mg g-1), followed by Bg 307, Bg 94-1, Bg 367 i.e., >1.3 mg g-1 and the lowest in Bg 403, Ld 365 and Bg 310 i.e., < 1 mg g−1 . Bg 357, Ld 365, Bg 406, Ld 368 and Bg 310 rice varieties showed significantly lower P concentration than other varieties (P<0.1) Grain N, P and K concentrations were similar among different age classes of rice varieties (P>0.05). Moreover, grain N and P concentrations between the red and white grain varieties were similar (P>0.05). However, varieties with white color grains had higher K concentration than in red rice varieties. There was a significant correlation between grain P and K concentrations (r =0.496, P<0.001). This information would be useful when selecting rice varieties with high and low nutritional qualities and implementing sustainable nutrient management practices in rice-based cropping systems in Sri Lanka.
Open Access
Impact of Variable Travel Time on the Solution of Vehicle Routing Problem: A Case Study of Bangkok
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Piantanakulchai, M; Saum, N; Shah, S
In the logistics industry, it is essential to have optimized vehicle routes for cost-effectiveness and customer satisfaction. However, most conventional studies on vehicle routing problem (VRP) do not consider the variation in travel time, leading to nonoptimal routes. This study shows the importance of variation in travel time for different times of the day and different days of the week by comparing the optimization results of vehicle routes for constant travel time and variable travel time. Two different scenarios were considered for Bangkok city, Case-1, where customers are scattered across the city, while Case-2, where customers are concentrated on a small area. It was concluded that up to 27.59% error in travel time could be obtained with an average of 12% for Case-1. At the same time, a maximum 30.85% error in travel time can be obtained with an average of 7% for Case-2. Therefore, it is necessary to consider time-dependent travel time in urban logistics route planning in Bangkok. This study also put forward a method to collect travel time data of different origin-destination pairs for different times of the day and different days of the week that can be used by any logistics company.
Open Access
Queue Length Prediction at Un-Signalized Intersections with Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Rathnayake, I; Amarasinghe, N; Wickramasinghe, V; Liyanage, K
Increasing queue lengths while reducing average vehicle speeds is a notable criterion in intersections with heterogeneous traffic conditions. Such queue lengths vary with different intersection controls. Thisstudy aimed to estimate the queue length at un-signalized intersections with heterogeneous traffic conditions. The study was done for un-signalized intersections in Peradeniya and Weliwita, Sri Lanka and the data were collected through video recordings. The queue lengths in an un-signalized intersection with mixed traffic conditions have an instantaneous aggressive variation due to the uncontrolled movements. Thus, a time series analysis with the aid of Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model was used in order to estimate the queue length. Variables considered in this study were arrival flow rate, discharge flow rate, number of conflicts for 15 seconds time intervals as independent variables and queue length at the end of each 15 seconds as the dependent variable. For the modelling, the procedure of “Box-Jenkins” method was followed. After the confirmation of the variables are stationary, Cointegration check and Granger causality tests were done to check the cointegration between variables and the granger causality between variables. Then, VAR models were developed using 80% data from the total data set for both locations. The remaining 20% of the data set was used to validate the model using the MAE, MAPE, and RMSE error values between the actual and predicted queues. Among both models, 0.94 of higher R2 value and Durbin Watson value as 2 was obtained for the developed model using raw variables for Weliwita junction. Furthermore, the observed MAE, MAPE, and RMSE values for Weliwita model were 3,5 and 6%, respectively. Thus, the results of this study can be used to reduce traffic congestion while enhancing the safety of the users at un-signalized intersections in Sri Lanka.
Open Access
Cryptocurrency Price Prediction: A Comparative Study using LSTM, GRU and Stacking Ensemble Algorithm for Time Series Forecasting
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Ashikul Islam, M. D
Technology has significantly reshaped how humans interact with their tangible and intangible surroundings. Cryptocurrency is considered to be one of the most recent technological inventions which revolutionized how we perceive currencies and their functionality. It has become popular because of its safety, security and anonymity. However, volatility remains one of the major issues with cryptocurrencies to this day. Therefore, the primary aim of this paper is to develop LSTM (Long ShortTerm Memory), GRU (Gated Recurrent Units) and a Stacking Ensemble Learning algorithm that efficiently predicts the price of a cryptocurrency for a given period of time. The predictions are then observed and analysed to determine the comparative performance of the said algorithms.
Open Access
Performance Prediction Models for Flexible Pavements in Sri Lanka
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Amarasingha, N; Opanayake, P
The pavement prediction model forecasts the future PCI ratings based on pavement category, thickness, traffic, pavement life period and existing PCI rating. Nevertheless, with time and inclusion of newer pavement types, there was a need to adjust the prevailing pavement performance models. In addition to, pavements management systems need to develop new models for newer pavement types as well. Some developed pavement performance models in the earlier for the Road Development Authority (RDA) Sri Lanka is used by the roadway segments to predict the future condition and rehabilitations of its network. The available data collections in the roadway agencies in Sri Lanka was used for the research study and the methodology and the analysis section depended on that data collection. Probably we were given the IRI data collections which were done in southern expressway section in Sri Lanka. Based on that data, the analysis part was done for determine the pavement roughness deterioration curves. With a comparison of the developed models, the most suitable model was taken at 95% confidence level with 0.8009 R2 value. This study displays outcomes about of standardizing the present performance models, and creating unused models for the different asphalt forms within the roadway network in Sri Lanka. A comparison of IRI progression with pavement age and traffic volume is also conducted to see if there are major differences between such models developed in other countries. The anticipated expectations condition of the asphalts is utilized in assessing its outstanding benefit life to disappointment, which is of prompt utilize in prescribing future upkeep and recovery necessities for the arrange.
Open Access
Aspects of Structural Vulnerability against Tsunamis
(SLIIT, Faculty of Engineering, 2022-02-11) Dias, P
Using historical data, it is shown that tsunamis may not occur for earthquake magnitudes even up to Mw = 8. Field data can be used to arrive at generalized fragility curves for different materials of construction as functions of inundation depth. Such curves can also be integrated into vulnerability curves that can be characterized by simple negative exponential equations. It is also possible to create synthetic fragility curves generated by Monte Carlo simulation, which were found to have a reasonable fit with the empirical ones. While most simulations focus only on the structural frames in buildings, partitions can also play a significant role in damage mechanisms. There is also a role for simplified indices of either risk or robustness, based ideally on physics rather than expert opinion. Such indices can also be used to consider risk to an entire system, for example buildings, functions and backup services that are spread across adjacent coastline hospitals.
Open Access
Critical Supply Chain Problems In Contractor - Subcontractor Interface Of Sri Lankan Building Construction Projects
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) De Silva, P; Panagodage, T. L
As a developing country, construction industry provides considerable contribution to the Socioeconomic growth of Sri Lanka. However, successful completion of a construction project is yet a challenging task. It requires coordination, collaboration and management of different stakeholders with different objectives. While achieving the objectives of a construction project, a proper management of supply chain is vital as improper management of the supply chain impacts negatively on the construction project delivery process. Prior studies have identified several interfaces which impact on the successful project delivery. The mechanism related to contractor-subcontractor interface highly impacts the ultimate project outcome as it is directly linked with the delivery of the project. This study set out to identify the critical supply chain problems in contractor-subcontractor interface in Sri Lankan building construction projects. The study was derived through a mix method approach. Semi structured interviews were carried out among the industry expertise to identify the supply chain related problems. Thereafter, to identify the critical problems of supply chain, a questionnaire survey was carried out among the industry practitioners in the building construction projects. The data was analyzed using Relative Important Index in order to rank and identify the severity of each identified problem in the contractor – subcontractor interface. The study indicates that, using verbal information, lack of reference to the main contract and nonresponsible responses as the critical problems in the Information flow. In terms of the Material flow: deliveries are not according to the plan, poor labour management and noncompliance with material and components are ranked as the critical problems. Delay in payments, back-to-back payments and payment interest charging as the critical problems under the Capital flow. These findings may assist the industry practitioners to identify the criticality and monitor supply chain problems in contractor- subcontractor interface and to minimize them in building construction projects.
Open Access
Affordable and Reliable Video Laryngoscope with Wireless Connectivity
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Dassanayake, I; Senanayake, K; Katakumbura, I; Senaviratne, L
Along with the pandemic situation across the world, the resilience of using ordinary medical devices is limited. Also the demand for medical devices which are used to diagnose COVID-related diseases rapidly increased. Taking all these facts into consideration, a new laryngoscope device was developed with exciting functionalities. The proposed device is affordable and comes with remote monitoring capabilities. An ordinary video laryngoscope uses an expensive camera module to capture video streams, and the proposed device uses ordinary USB camera modules which are cheap and affordable. Therefore, it is even possible to replace/discard camera modules each time after investigating COVID-related patients. The proposed USB camera and Laryngoscopic blades can be easily replaced for a very affordable cost. In the proposed system, a real-time video stream can be remotely monitored in multiple displays, including personal mobile devices. Since the live video footage can be streamed across the world, expertise in the field can monitor and consult promptly. This device broadcasts video wirelessly through LAN (local area) and WAN (wide area) networks in real-time. So far, the device transmits live video streams wirelessly with less than 250ms latency on LAN networks, and 500ms to 1000ms latency in WAN networks. An inbuilt rechargeable power supply will power up the device for ~ 45min in continuous use.
Open Access
Preparation of a Low Cost Nutrient Bar Incorporated with Underutilized Seeds as a Convenient and Functional Meal Replacement Alternative D
(SLIIT, 2022-02-11) Bandigamapalage, W; Chandrasiri, T; Wijesekara, K
People with busy lifestyles routinely consume fast food as an easy alternative for main meal. Consequently, they prone to suffer from non-communicable diseases such as diabetics. The purpose of this research was to develop a nutritious bar as a meal replacement under the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) using underutilized seeds such as pumpkin, winged beans, watermelon, corn, mung beans, and rice flakes. The proximate analysis, physicochemical properties, sensory attributes and microbiological parameters were evaluated using the Association of Official Agricultural Chemist standards (AOAC), Human Research Ethics Committee standards (Brazil), and Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLS 516: 1991) respectively. Developed mung based (321), rice flake based (123) and commercial nutrient bar (801) revealed a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in attributes except mouthfeel in the sensory evaluation. A mold and a package was designed with an effective packaging material. The shelf-life was evaluated after adding the permitted preservative (E211-Sodium benzoate) to developed mung based (321), rice flake based (123) bars which had a self-life of one-month. The mung based nutrient bar revealed an average of 1.7±0.1 % moisture, 0.9±0.7% fat, 9.7±0.1% ash, 21.8±2.5% crude fibre, 36.6±0.0 % protein, 29.2±8.3% carbohydrates, and the rice flake bar contained an average of 2.2±0.3% moisture, 2.7±0.2% fat, 7.9±0.2 % ash, 11.4±1.4 % crude fibre, 31.9±0.0 % protein, 43.8±0.0 carbohydrates. The commercial nutrient bar had 1.5±0.1% moisture, 1.5±0.0% fat, 7.8±0.0% ash, 0.5±0.5% crude fibre, 32.5±0.0 % protein, and 56.3±3.9% carbohydrates on average. The energy content (kcal) in rice flakes based, mung based and commercial bars were 327.1, 271.3, and 360 respectively. The finding ascertained that the developed nutrient bars (123, 321) directly fulfill the recommended dietary allowance as a meal replacement concerning European Union Commission Regulations and substantiate that the same nutrient profiles in the commercial nutrition bars could be obtained from the developed samples with a lesser processing cost.