Journal Issue: SLIIT Journal of Humanities & Sciences (SJHS)
Volume
Volume 01
Number
Issue i
Issue Date
2020-12-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
2815-0120
Journal Volume
SLIIT Journal of Humanities & Sciences (SJHS)
(Volume 01)
Articles
Sustainability in the Face of Adversity – In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Malabe, 2020-12-01) Jayasinghe, M.K.
The extent to which the four main characters of The Scarlet Letter are capable of enduring hardships in
the face of the rigid structure of the Puritan society is studied in this research paper. Endurance being
a far-fetched meaning of sustainability; if said differently, this paper is a study of their sustainability.
These characters are namely, Hester Prynne, her legal husband Roger Chillingworth, the pastor Arthur
Dimmesdale, all of them caught up in a love triangle and Pearl, Hester Prynne’s daughter, born out of
wedlock. Using a qualitative research approach, a narrative analysis is conducted where initially the
reader is given an insight into the story line of The Scarlet Letter. Ensuing, is a brief description of the
Puritan period and its society, the significance of symbolism in the novel, and an examination of the
transformation of the four characters throughout the duration of the novel. Hester Prynne, the bearer of
the scarlet letter, faces extremely challenging times due to her behavior. A detailed observation of how
she gradually and positively integrates into this environment of an unforgiving Bostonian Puritanical
society through her fortitude to face up to it, is done in this paper. Finally, the power of endurance of the
characters being evaluated, Hester Prynne turns out to be the victor. Thereby, proving that despite great
adversity, a female is yet able to endure hardships and show her tenacity in male dominated societies.
Modelling the Use of Traditional Family Planning by Women in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Malabe, 2020-12-01) Peiris, T.S.G.; Karunarathne, H.V.V.M.P
Family planning plays a crucial role in enhancing the health of the mother and the child. Contraceptives
are used by most women in the reproductive age span (15- 49 years). Sri Lanka has been named
as one of the countries with high usage of traditional family planning (TFP) methods than the other
Asian countries. However, the reasons for that have not been investigated. Therefore, this study is
carried out to identify the significant factors influencing on usage of TFP by using data from Sri Lanka
Demographic and Health Survey in 2016 with a sample size of 10835. The percentages of women
using TFP is 16.3% compared to 83.7% of using modern family planning (MFP). Among TFP users,
the withdrawal method and the rhythm method are 35% and 57% respectively. The balance 8% uses
both methods. A binary logistic regression model was developed to capture the factors influencing
the use of TFP by considering all variables simultaneously. The fitted model was invariant on the
type of selection method and selection criteria. The overall predictive power is 82.9%. The knowledge
on family planning, having advice from public health midwives, attendance to well-women clinics,
religion, ethnicity, decision to use family planning, husband’s occupation, women’s age, women’s
occupation, women’s education level, number of children, and wealth quantile are the significantly
associated factors with the usage of TFP. The odds of the usage of TFP among the women having no
children and women having 1 or 2 children are respectively 1.4 and 4.0 times higher than the women
having 3 or more children. The factors identified are geared towards providing robust evidence based on
data driven decision making (DDDM) and therefore the key population groups in need of contraceptive
services can be targeted more effectively and efficiently. Organizing counselling programmes and
promotions on family planning and conducting media awareness programmes to avoid some myths on
modern contraceptives can be suggested.
Level of Knowledge, Practice and Attitudes of Taking Anthropometric Measurements for Nutritional Assessments Among Nurses
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Malabe, 2020-12-01) Wijedasa, H.
The nutritional care of patients is one of the primary responsibilities of the nurses in any hospital.
Nursing ability to early detect nutritional failure is the key factor for minimizing impurities in practice
and attaining nutritional goals. The objective of this study is therefore to determine the level of
knowledge, practice, and attitudes of taking anthropometric measurements for nutritional assessments
by registered staff nurses. A descriptive cross-sectional study was done using a random sample of
125 nurses at a teaching hospital in the Western Province. Self-administered questionnaire with both
open and close ended questions were used to gather information. A scoring method was introduced
to assess the knowledge of the nurses based on answers for the questions. Majority (88%) of the
nurses are females and 47% are less than 30 years. Results found that the level of knowledge of getting
measurements by the nurses can be ranked as good (52.8%) > average > (38.4%) and poor > (8.8%)
irrespective of demographic factors of the nurses. Level of knowledge is significantly associated only
with the educational level. The percentage of having good knowledge among those having B.Sc.
degree is significantly higher than that of having those diploma qualifications either from government
or private organization. The two main constraints to take anthropometric measurements are the lack of
time and lack of resources. There is a significant association between the level of confidence and the
type of measurement. The percentage of confidence for weight measurement (93.5%) is significantly
higher than the percentage of confidence for taking other measurements. Almost all nurses (98.4%) are
not confident in measuring hip circumference. The measure of waist, hip and head circumference are
hardly considered as a measure of anthropometric measurements.
Association among Depression, Social Anxiety, and Aggression caused by Cyberbullying on Facebook among Sri Lankan Adults
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Malabe, 2020-12-01) Gunathillake, N.A.; Perera, H.K.
Cyberbullying has become a growing social concern as electronic platforms provide perpetrators an
alternative medium through which they can easily target their victims from any place, at any time. The
present study aimed to investigate whether depression, social anxiety, and aggression were significantly
related to cyberbullying perpetration on Facebook among Sri Lankan adults. A cross-sectional, non experimental study was conducted using 168 Sri Lankan Facebook users between the ages 21 and
60. Data were collected using an online survey. Cyberbullying perpetration on Facebook, depression,
social anxiety, and aggression were assessed using the Prevalence of Facebook Bullying Scale, Center
for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10), Interaction Anxiousness Scale, and Brief
Aggression Questionnaire respectively. Results of the Spearman correlation analysis revealed that
depression and aggression were significantly and positively correlated to cyberbullying perpetration,
while there was no significant correlation between social anxiety and cyberbullying perpetration. The
findings of the present study provide insight into the importance of addressing the psychological and
behavioural issues of perpetrators using appropriate interventions in order to reduce the occurrence of
cyberbullying. The study also emphasizes the importance of reporting the incidents of cyberbullying
and taking necessary legal actions against the perpetrators.
Attitude of the Students towards the Usage of Group Activities as a Remedy for Secondary Language Speaking Anxiety
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Malabe, 2020-12-01) Peiris, A.E.
As literature suggests Second Language (L2) speaking has always been a challenge for students.
One of the main issues is the apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the
second language. As facilitators at the tertiary level, it is vital to create a low-anxiety classroom to help
students with L2 speaking anxiety. This research attempts to investigate the perspective of students
towards using group activities to reduce speaking anxiety in the English as a Second Language (ESL)
classroom. The sample group consisted of forty-five Post Advanced Level Students from an intensive
course in a private institute. A questionnaire prior to any speaking activity and weekly questionnaires
while conducting both group and individual speaking activities were given to this mixed ability
group for three weeks to study their attitude towards L2 speaking. Initial findings were that majority
(86.7%) of students were afraid of L2 speaking due to several reasons. However, that percentage was
dropped to 56.5% and 38.7% at the second and third week respectively irrespective of the medium
of communication at school, and the usage of English at home. . In contrast the initial percentage of
not afraid of L2 speaking (13.3%) was increased to 43.5% and 61.3% respectively at second and third
week. These results clearly indicate that the students preferred group activities more than individual
activities. Group activities have helped the students to make an effort to speak as there were students
who did speaking activities for the first time in their life. It is recommended that group activities can be
used to a certain extent as an effective tool to reduce speaking anxiety.
Description
Keywords
Postharvest Quality, Spine Gourd, Kale, Antioxidant Content, Plant Regeneration, Medicinal Plants, ESL Classroom, Speaking Motivation, Literature Studies, Sustainability, Teacher Professional Development, Interactive Technology, Vocabulary Learning, Dictionaries, Speaking Anxiety, Group Activities, Cyberbullying, Depression, Social Anxiety, Aggression, Facebook, Nutritional Assessment, Anthropometry, Nurses, Family Planning, Women, Sri Lanka