Journal Issue: SLIIT Journal of Humanities & Sciences (SJHS)
Volume
Volume 04
Number
Issue i
Issue Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
2815-0120
Journal Volume
SLIIT Journal of Humanities & Sciences (SJHS)
(Volume 04)
Articles
A Comparison of Mental Well-being among Female Undergraduates in Sri Lanka based on Relationship Status
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2024-05-20) Gomes, J. C.; Ponnamperuma, L.; Hettiarachchi, A.
Principles of natural justice, including fair hearings and unbiased decision-makers, should apply in
employee disciplinary procedures. However, Sri Lankan labor law does not statutorily require employers
to conduct domestic inquiries before imposing disciplinary punishments. This study investigated whether
courts continue to uphold principles of natural justice in the absence of a legal mandate requiring
domestic inquiries, thereby assessing the necessity for legal reforms. Through examining legislation,
case law, and academic literature, this study found courts generally only consider if a valid reason exists
for the punishment, not whether fair procedures were followed. Further discrimination arises between
public and private sector employees in applying natural justice principles. Reforming labor law to
mandate domestic inquiries before employee punishment would strengthen natural justice rules and
align with international standards like ILO Convention 158. This reform is needed to universally uphold
procedural fairness in workplace discipline. Until then, the judiciary cannot fully ensure employees’
rights to fair disciplinary procedures are protected. Courts have upheld natural justice primarily under
writ or fundamental rights jurisdiction, mainly benefiting public sector employees. Private sector
employees lack that protection. Requiring domestic inquiries before punishment through amending the
Industrial Disputes Act would fill this gap. This suggested legal reform would bolster the rule of law
in Sri Lanka’s employment relations. As the law stands, employers currently have full discretion on
disciplinary procedures. Statutorily mandating domestic inquiries would check that unilateral authority.
This study demonstrates the need to embed fair process requirements into labor legislation to fully
realize principles of natural justice.
Application of Natural Justice Principles in Workplace Discipline: The Need for Legal Reform in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2024-05-17) Rajapakse, R. L. W; Seneviratne, P. K.; Seneviratne, P. K.S. K.
Principles of natural justice, including fair hearings and unbiased decision-makers, should apply in
employee disciplinary procedures. However, Sri Lankan labor law does not statutorily require employers
to conduct domestic inquiries before imposing disciplinary punishments. This study investigated whether
courts continue to uphold principles of natural justice in the absence of a legal mandate requiring
domestic inquiries, thereby assessing the necessity for legal reforms. Through examining legislation,
case law, and academic literature, this study found courts generally only consider if a valid reason exists
for the punishment, not whether fair procedures were followed. Further discrimination arises between
public and private sector employees in applying natural justice principles. Reforming labor law to
mandate domestic inquiries before employee punishment would strengthen natural justice rules and
align with international standards like ILO Convention 158. This reform is needed to universally uphold
procedural fairness in workplace discipline. Until then, the judiciary cannot fully ensure employees’
rights to fair disciplinary procedures are protected. Courts have upheld natural justice primarily under
writ or fundamental rights jurisdiction, mainly benefiting public sector employees. Private sector
employees lack that protection. Requiring domestic inquiries before punishment through amending the
Industrial Disputes Act would fill this gap. This suggested legal reform would bolster the rule of law
in Sri Lanka’s employment relations. As the law stands, employers currently have full discretion on
disciplinary procedures. Statutorily mandating domestic inquiries would check that unilateral authority.
This study demonstrates the need to embed fair process requirements into labor legislation to fully
realize principles of natural justice.
Judicialization of the Administrative Process? A Study on the Role of Natural Justice Principles in the Public Administration of Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2024-05-17) Rathnayake, S. H.
Studies on the role of administrative law in the realization of the public policy of a country has been
the subject for numerous studies, but rarely has it been observed through the prism of natural justice.
Therefore, the present study aims to address this dearth in research by focusing on the role principles
of natural justice can play in the exercise of discretion by public administrators, the agents whose
work helps realize the public policy of a country. To achieve this objective, this study has conducted a
review of the major administrative law cases that were decided in Sri Lanka along with the local and
international literature that relates to this subject. Thus, this study argues that there is a discernable
hesitancy in the early administrative law decisions to recognize the role natural justice principles
can play when safeguarding the rights of the public from the abuse of discretionary powers by the
administrators. However, a more receptive attitude towards recognizing the role of natural justice
in public administration could be observed towards the late twentieth century in Sri Lanka, a shift
that is probably brought forth by the changing welfarist policies and socio-economical instabilities
in the country. Therefore, this study contends that the role natural justice principles can play when
curving the discretionary powers of the administrative authorities has now been well established in Sri
Lanka, creating a legal tradition that continues to gain prominence within the country’s public policy
developments. However, this study also has identified some criticisms that can be levelled against the
incorporation of natural justice principles in the public administration of Sri Lanka which in turn may
prevent the general public from reaping the full benefits of those progressive changes that continue to
take place.
Determining Differentially Expressed Genes in Dengue Patients During Disease Progression
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2024-05-15) Coorey, H.; Jayatillake, R.; Jayathilaka, N.; Ambanpola, N.
Gene expression studies on gene transcription to synthesize functional gene products have been used
extensively to understand biological differences between different disease conditions. Thus, this study
determines differentially expressed genes in dengue infection during disease progression following
the three phases: Febrile, Defervescence and Convalescent. Integrative data analysis of two publicly
available longitudinal datasets in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database has been employed to
accomplish the prime objective of exploring temporal gene expression patterns. The Friedman test
was given more emphasis due to the non-normality distributions of data. Repeated measures analysis
of variance (ANOVA) and linear mixed models were also implemented to examine the potential of
detecting differentially expressed genes despite non-normality. The Friedman test revealed significant
differences in gene expression levels across different phases in dengue disease over time. This led to
a notably higher count of genes showing differential expression compared to the other two methods:
Repeated measures ANOVA and linear mixed models. The pathway analysis approach consists
of significant differentially expressed genes derived from the Friedman test. The results identified
upregulated pathways with any significant change in the overall expression of genes within pathways
over time for the Febrile and Defervescence phases considering the Convalescent phase as a baseline.
Moreover, genes available in pathways were not identified by the two parametric tests for non-normal
data implying that the parametric approaches resulted in the least significance for data with non-normal
distributions.
An Alternative Proof of Ptolemy’s Theorem and its Variations
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2024-05-10) Amarasinghe, I. S.
This paper introduces a pure geometric proof for Ptolemy’s Theorem, without using trigonometry,
coordinate geometry, complex numbers, vectors or any other geometric inversion techniques focusing
on cyclic quadrilaterals and employing a generalized identity in relation to a cevian of an arbitrary
Euclidean plane triangle. Additionally, the paper provides proofs to the converse of Ptolemy’s Theorem
to which almost no pure geometric complete proof is available, and to the standard Ptolemy’s Inequality,
to fulfil the research gap in the proofs to some extent. It also includes applications, new corollaries,
derived from Ptolemy’s Theorem and its converse.
Description
Keywords
Ptolemy’s Theorem, Mathematical Proof, Variations, Differentially Expressed Genes, Dengue, Disease Progression, Natural Justice, Administrative Process, Public Administration, Workplace Discipline, Legal Reform, Mental Well-Being, Female Undergraduates, Relationship Status, Sri Lanka