Research Publications
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Publication Open Access Emerging Challenges in Regulation of E-Commerce: An Insight of Laws in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2020) Balendra, S.The growth of e-commerce in Sri Lanka is posing significant legal and regulatory challenges. The paper attempts to study and highlight deficiencies in the present legal framework regulating e-commerce in Sri Lanka. Content analysis of Electronic Transactions Act No.19 of 2006 (as amended) and other relevant legislations revealed, the existing framework recognises e-contract, e-signature, and e-documents. Still, certain drawbacks are unsettled in practice. In addition, areas like privacy and data protection, intermediary liability, security, and consumer protection are left unaddressed in the current regulatory framework. The study further identifies that the traditional dispute resolution mechanisms are no more effective in e-commerce disputes. Finally, adhering to the international standards, the paper makes key suggestions for policy and decision-makers to overcome these challenges.Publication Open Access The Impact of Cultural Orientation on the Societal Motivations of Luxury Good Consumption of IT Professionals in Sri Lanka(researchgate.net, 2021-01) Dissanayake, L. D. A. D.The primary objective of the study is to examine the impact of cultural orientation on the societal motivations of luxury good consumption of IT professionals in Sri Lanka. Thus, the study has used a sample of 103 IT practitioners in Sri Lanka. Correlation and regression analysis have been used to achieve the primary objectives. Consequently, among the four independent variables; horizontal individualism, vertical individualism, horizontal collectivism and vertical collectivism, only vertical individualism has a signifcant and positive relationship towards the societal motivation of luxury good consumption. The other variables have negative none signifcant relationship towards social luxury good consumption. Regression analysis concludes that only vertical individualism is a signifcant predictor of social luxury good consumption motivation of IT professionals. The other variables are not signifcant predictors.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 Embargo “Cradle to Gate” assessment of material related embodied carbon: A design stage stratagem for mid-rise housing in Sri Lanka(Elsevier, 2021-01-01) Jayawardana, A; Perera, N; Perera, RAchieving low carbon buildings is seen as a key concept in order to reduce carbon emission and mitigate climate change. In contrast to operational emission, material related embodied carbon (EC) in the built environment plays a pivotal role, with the continuous consumption of high carbon emitting materials. This research relates to the ‘Cradle-to-Gate’ system boundary, while limiting its focus on building design stage decisions. A hybrid analysis approach was adopted - a bottom-up process with steps encompassing mass analysis, EC calculation, highlighting carbon hotspots, and ultimately the identification of critical building components. As a case study, multi-storey housing was selected as a critical building typology, in Sri Lanka. The results reveal ‘walls’ as a carbon hotspot that needs to be explored in strategies for mitigation. Substantial EC savings were seen in the selection of fly ash blocks as an alternate material to clay brick or cement block. Changes to the configuration of walls, specifically, bonding patterns and non-inclusion of a plaster layer, also showed savings. This paper, contributes to the understanding of material selection implications - in the cradle-to-gate stage - for the reduction of carbon emissions in mid-rise housing, in the context of Sri Lanka.Publication Open Access Machine Learning Modelling of the Relationship between Weather and Paddy Yield in Sri Lanka(Hindawi, 2021-05) Ekanayake, P; Rankothge, W; Weliwatta, R; Jayasinghe, J. M. J. WThis paper presents the development of crop-weather models for the paddy yield in Sri Lanka based on nine weather indices, namely, rainfall, relative humidity (minimum and maximum), temperature (minimum and maximum), wind speed (morning and evening), evaporation, and sunshine hours. The statistics of seven geographical regions, which contribute to about two-thirds of the country’s total paddy production, were used for this study. The significance of the weather indices on the paddy yield was explored by employing Random Forest (RF) and the variable importance of each of them was determined. Pearson’s correlation and Spearman’s correlation were used to identify the behavior of correlation in a positive or negative direction. Further, the pairwise correlation among the weather indices was examined. The results indicate that the minimum relative humidity and the maximum temperature during the paddy cultivation period are the most influential weather indices. Moreover, RF was used to develop a paddy yield prediction model and four more techniques, namely, Power Regression (PR), Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) with stepwise selection, forward (step-up) selection, and backward (step-down) elimination, were used to benchmark the performance of the machine learning technique. Their performances were compared in terms of the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Correlation Coefficient (R), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). As per the results, RF is a reliable and accurate model for the prediction of paddy yield in Sri Lanka, demonstrating a very high R of 0.99 and the least MAPE of 1.4%.Publication Embargo User-friendly Enhanced Machine Learning-based Railway Management System for Sri Lanka(IEEE, 2021-12-06) Mihiranga, G.L.V; Weerasooriya, W. K. M; Palliyaguruge, T. L. P; Gunasekera, P. N. G; Gamage, M. P; Kumari, S. P. KThe railway service is a convenient and low-cost transport method in Sri Lanka, widely employed by both local and foreign passengers. Major railway lines in Sri Lanka cover unique and very different areas in the country. For example, the Northern province's weather and geography conditions significantly differ from Southern or Central provinces. Majority of the tourists lack understanding in identifying appropriate or attractive places that best suits them, close by to the Railway Stations. Therefore, a passenger needs to spend more time identifying their railway tour destinations. When passengers are booking tickets, even though they are able to reserve seats beforehand, they are unable to reserve a specific seat. Also, there is no process to identify the most suitable seat for them amidst many other travelers, especially if they are travelling alone. Considering the aforementioned, authors propose a more innovative and user-friendly system for the Railway Department of Sri Lanka. Depending on various passenger attributes the system is capable of suggesting a travel plan with railway lines which cover most suitable destination suggestions; identifying the best seats with a relaxing atmosphere; providing an interactive chatbot to satisfy user queries on specific location information; and facility for 24×7 user interaction. A travel plan can save passengers time and allows them to identify the desired railway line and relevant attractions without much hassle. And they are saved of an unpleasant experience through the suggestion of the best seating location. Machine Learning and Deep Learning technologies are used in developing the proposed system.Publication Open Access Design and Implementation of Data Warehouse for a Higher Educational Institute in Sri Lanka(IEEE, 2021-04) Serasinghe, C. U; Jayakody, C; Dayananda, K. T. M. N; Dinesh Asanka, P. P. GIn any organization, the leadership is responsible for taking decisions that will lift the said organization to a better place. The problem-solving abilities of the management are mostly depending on the ability to grasp all the required information in a clean and actionable format. Building a well-designed data warehouse leads to answer that problem. When data sourced from different sourcing systems, it's very important that the aggregated data is relevant and supporting the decision-making by the leadership. This study aims at mitigating the issues that are hindering such organizations to make correct decisions.Publication Open Access Global warming potential of English brick manufacturing in Sri Lanka: A cradle to gate analysis(IEEE, 2021-07-27) Herath, I; Karunaratne, S; Dharmarathna, DClay bricks are one of the most commonly used walling materials in Sri Lanka. The brick manufacturing process poses a notable impact on the environment. Clay excavation leads to resource depletion while diesel fuel utilized for excavation and clay transportation pollutes the air. Additionally, tree cutting for wood fuel contributes to deforestation whilst wood burning promotes air pollution. Thus, this research aimed to quantify the global warming potential due to English brick manufacturing using cradle to gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The functional unit used was one-meter square of the brick wall area. Data collection, analysis and interpretation of results were done by the ISO 14044/14040 standards. Primary life cycle inventory data was gathered via brick kiln owners and workers. The LCA assembly was modelled using the ‘OpenLCA’ software. Three product systems were defined according to the brick bond types and wall thicknesses. The global warming potential related to brick production was assessed using the ‘GWP 100a’ method. Clay excavation, clay transportation and wood chamber firing emerged as emission hotspots. The study revealed that the global warming potential of 225mm brick wall and 115mm brick wall as 11.9 and 5.9 kg CO2-eq/m 2 , respectively. Through this study, local clay brick industry can be driven to improve the overall sustainability of the brick manufacturing sector.