2024 - (Vol. 04, Issue 01)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/22827

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Towards promoting sustainability in the learning environment – a focus on green walls and green roofs
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Madushika, D; Ramachandra, T; Kodituwakku, D; Zainudeen, N
Environmental concerns have gained international attention as a result of rising urbanisation and population expansion. One of the main sectors responsible for the devastation of the environment is the construction industry. It is responsible for approximately 40% of global energy consumption and nearly 30% of greenhouse gasses. Aside from the energy crisis, climate change, global warming, declining biodiversity, and health issues are some of the challenges facing current society. Those have led to the amalgamation of natural vegetation into the built environment. Amongst several forms of natural vegetation such as rain gardens, street trees, urban drainage systems, green roofs, and green walls, etc., Due to the limited availability of land and the multiple advantages that it offers in terms of three sustainability pillars, green walls and roofs represent the most technologically sound solutions.
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Open science sprouts: transforming research for global progress and collaboration
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Talagala, P
Open science serves as a catalyst, helping to establish the foundations of a healthy scientific environment. Much like nutrient-rich soil sustains a diverse and thriving forest, open science provides the essential elements for scientific progress to flourish. In nature, diverse species interact, sharing resources, knowledge, and support. Just as the well-being of an ecosystem relies on this harmonious exchange of resources and information, scientific advancements succeed when the research findings are freely shared, leading to a more robust and collaborative scientific community. Open science is a collaborative and transparent approach to scientific research that promotes accessibility, reproducibility, and openness. This article provides an in-depth exploration of open science, highlighting its significance, advantages, dimensions, challenges, existing regulations, and opportunities for developing countries like Sri Lanka. It also takes a closer look at the latest efforts and initiatives happening at the University of Moratuwa in its dedicated pursuit of open science.
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Role of purchasing and supply management performance in apparel manufacturing
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Thalagalage, N; Perera, N
The apparel manufacturing industry generates billions of dollars in revenue annually [Figure 1] and employs millions of people. The sector is responsible for producing, designing, and selling apparel and related products. Labor-intensive manufacturing processes characterize this industry, as do a wide range of product designs and input materials, variable production volumes, intense levels of competition, and frequently required product quality standards [1], [2]. In addition to garments, the apparel industry encompasses the production of domestic linen, upholstery, footwear, sail making, bookbinding, and various sporting products [1], [2]. Behind the scenes of this vibrant industry is a crucial component that often goes unnoticed but plays a pivotal role in its success – purchasing and supply management.
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Development of a mobilized crowdsourcing platform to enable participatory risk sensitive urban development.
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Kangana, N; Kankanamge, N; De Silva, C; Ranasinghe, D; Mahamood, R
According to United Nations Development Program (2021) nearly 84% of the fastest growing urban areas are facing extreme climate and disaster risks especially in Asia and Africa. In Sri Lanka, it is ranked 63 (out of 171 countries) on the World Risk Index and 56 (out of 191 countries) by the risk assessment platform of countries that are exposed to disaster risks [3]. According to the hazard profile of Sri Lanka, over 50% of the highly populated cities are located in disaster prone areas. Sri Lanka is a developing country, facing highly challenging situations with governance deficits, and resource constraints. Therefore, risk sensitive urban development approaches have been a crucial concern in developing cities, where it integrates disaster risk reduction and adapting the climate smart measures into development planning across all sectors of development that help to protect development outcomes and investment made towards achieving development goals [3]. Disaster-vulnerable communities need active engagement in risk management to prepare, respond, and recover from disasters, utilizing their understanding on the risks and vulnerabilities they face and access to local resources and knowledge [2]. Therefore, participation of vulnerable communities within the decision-making process in risk sensitive urban environment is important. However, vulnerable communities are often marginalized in the decision-making process [1]. In the Sri Lankan context, community participation has been a least vital consideration in urban planning, not only in disaster risk reduction. Most importantly the existing attempts are lacking with the public participation where the awareness, trust, and interest of people towards the process has been marginalized.
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A Value added sustainable production opportunity out of rice straw to economically uplift rice farming communities
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Suriyarachchi, D; Dissanayake, M
In the Sri Lankan Agriculture Sector, rural rice cultivation farmers have found the best way of eliminating the highly generating rice straw by direct open field burning due to the high cost of straw collection and management, transportation cost, storage difficulties, shortage of rural labor, cost factors of organic fertilizer making, and lack of adequate methods and technology. These practices have created a number of environmental and social impacts. Increase of heat generation, emission of greenhouse gasses, causes damage to micro organisms in the upper soil layer and reduces microbial activities, soil deterioration, damages the air quality and negatively impacts on human health. This experimental project comprised two phases, material development phase and product design phase. The concept was, management through value addition. The project approach was to come up with an effective and creative management solution for the highly- generating rice straw and minimize the current practices by introducing a method to reutilize while coming up with a value addition for the rural rice farming community. The main aim of this project was to improve rural farmers’ livelihoods by fostering sustainable rice straw management into a sustainable paradigm. This experimental project focused on rice straw conversion into value-added material development which able to create a sustainable product solution for the market while creating a production opportunity for the rural community as a secondary income source. The final goal of the project was to economically uplift the rural farming lives by providing an additional income mainly for the non-cultivation period.
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Nurturing academic excellence: a comprehensive perspective on my PhD journey at the university of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Agha Shah, A
I am an architect by profession and an academic involved in teaching at the University of Bahrain, a small island in the Arabian Gulf. Originally from Pakistan and living in Bahrain, flying over Sri Lanka for a decade has pushed me to land on Sri Lankan soil to pursue the most significant academic journey I have ever undertaken. This is even though I did my Masters in the UK and I have travelled to many places across the world. Embarking on a PhD in Heritage and Architecture at the University of Moratuwa was not on my life’s agenda until recently. However, it has so happened that I have made the right choice in arriving here. Dr. Ranjith Dayaratne’s guidance, my mentor at the University of Bahrain, under whose supervision I also investigated various research methodologies, was perhaps instrumental in my decision to study at the University of Moratuwa and shaped my educational path.
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Insights from grey literature that could facilitate research and sustainable development of the Bolgoda ecosystem
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Jayawardena, C; Seneviratne, T
Bolgoda ecosystem has the largest natural lake and freshwater body in Sri Lanka located on the southwest boundary of Colombo District and covering two-thirds of Kalutara District. It is also listed as “one of the 1001 natural wonders of the world one must see before you die [1].” According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) [2], an ecosystem such as Bolgoda should be providing; Provisioning services (food and water etc.), Regulating services (climate and disease control etc.), Supporting services (nutrient cycling and crop pollination etc.) and Cultural services (recreational, and spiritual benefits etc.). Furthermore, the socio-economic and environmental benefits from Bolgoda could be crucial to achieve the SDG-11, which is to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable [3]. Additionally, higher educational institutions and schools, nestled with this ecosystem or in the neighborhood gets an opportunity to embrace and explore its dynamics such as habitat change, responses to invasive alien species, over-exploitation and pollution, that could provide valuable and insightful information for conservation and sustainable development.
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Development of a gamified application to enhance flood disaster education among children and youth
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Mahamood, R; Kankanamge, N; De Silva, C; Ranasinghe, D; Kangana, N
Disasters, whether natural or man-made, pose a serious threat to the security and well-being of people everywhere. One in every 100 years floods directly damage 23 percent of the world’s population, or 1.81 billion people. Out of that 1.24 billion people live in South and East Asia, which 16% - 23% of them are Sri Lankans [1]. In Sri Lanka, flood-related losses and damages were over USD 2 billion between 1990 and 2018 [2]. It’s critical to manage and prevent disasters using proactive strategies in order to reduce the possible hazards to people and infrastructure. As a result, it is impossible to overestimate the significance of disaster awareness as a preventative strategy for disaster management.
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Bolgoda Chat : an interview with Prof. Malik Ranasinghe
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Karunathilake, H; Witharana, S
Through this Bolgoda Chat, we meet Professor KAMK (Malik) Ranasinghe, another celebrated former Vice Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa. During his tenure as Dean and as Vice Chancellor, Professor Ranasinghe introduced the semester system to the Faculty of Engineering (FoE), started the process to relocate the NDT program from the Katubedda premises to the Diyagama, encouraged students to participate at international competitions like Google Summer of Code, motivated research among academics, and forged strong and close relationship with industry. Professor Ranasinghe is often cited as the creator of the University of Moratuwa brand. Here is his story, from his own words.
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ENSEMBLE research project: unravelling the dynamics of post-pandemic urbanism and social cohesion across continents
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Perera, S; Kulatunga, U; De Silva, C
A groundbreaking international research project called ENSEMBLE is set to explore the intricate relationship between post-pandemic urbanism, built environments, and social cohesion across diverse cities on four continents. University of Moratuwa research team join with the team of researchers from eight universities across six countries with an aim to illuminate the impact of urban transformations on social connections, equity, and resilience in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Development of a mobile augmented reality application to enhance youth engagement in planning and designing public spaces in urban areas
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Ranasinghe, D; De Silva, C; Kankanamge, N; Mahamood, R
Urban planning necessitates public participation to ensure that every individual’s voice and requirements are heard and considered, thereby promoting inclusive urban development. According to UN-Habitat (2018), public participation fosters a positive relationship between a government and the public by communicating effectively and solving conflicts collaboratively. Despite the theoretical emphasis on participatory planning in planning practices, research has identified a lack of community participation in planning-related contexts, leading to the current gap between urban planning and public participation. The incompatibility between communication preferences and the public’s preferred method of engagement significantly contributed to the lack of public engagement in urban planning using traditional approaches [1]. Furthermore, in the local context, the existing participatory planning methodologies are outdated and fail to motivate people to voice their opinions. Given this situation, we hypothesize that incorporating advanced digital technology and an augmented reality application into a participatory planning methodology could enhance community involvement in planning and de-signing public spaces in cities based on their needs.
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UNIverseCity: A vision for a university township
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Sanjeevaraj, M; De Silva, C
The role of universities can go beyond offering higher educational qualifications, to conduct re-search & development and promoting entrepreneurship. University townships play a vital role in fostering regional development and innovation, as supported by academic literature. This article aims at (a) highlighting the role and importance of university townships through a brief case study review, and (b) present a conceptual proposal that highlight the possibility of expanding University of Moratuwa considering recent land use changes in Piliyandala town.
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King of spices in cold plasma immersion – a potential microbial decontamination technology
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) De Silva, G; Amarasena, S; Amunugoda, N; Gunawardena, S; de Alwis, A
Sri Lanka is home to the king of spices – Pepper and also Sri Lanka earned its historical moniker as the “Spice Island” due to its geographical advantage, boasting a tropical climate that enhances the flavors of its spices, making them prized in the global market. Annual black pepper production in 2020 was 23,970 MT. Exports of black pepper valued 49.18 US$ Million in 2020 hold a significant share of the spice export market in Sri Lanka [1]. Other competitive black pepper producers are India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam [2]. Fig.1 (a and b) shows the black pepper cultivation areas in Sri Lanka and the major export destinations. Black pepper seeds, rich in piperine and essential oils, are valued for their pungency and health benefits. The composition of volatile oils and piperine content depends on maturity, with Sri Lankan black pepper containing 8.6 ml/100g and 11.5 ml/100g at 22.5 weeks of maturity [3].
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Acceptance of health information systems in Sri Lanka using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Senthilrajah, T; Ahangama, S
The global doctor-patient ratio is 17 per 1000 population, however, it is 1.23 per 1000 population in Sri Lanka [1]. As it is far behind the expected numbers, the Sri Lankan public health sector is facing challenges in providing efficient services to citizens free of charge, including surgeries and cancer treatments. Looking at Nordic countries adoption of HIS has reached 95%-100% and the health sector has been digitalized using powerful Health Information Systems (HIS) in the form of Electronic Health Records (EHR), Personal Health Records (PHR), and Electronic Medical Records (EMR). The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has launched various initiatives to digi-talize the public health sector and trailed Hospital Health Management Information Systems (HHMIS). However, it is noted that the acceptance of HIS is low among healthcare stakeholders. The empirical findings suggest the main reasons for low acceptance could be issues relating to usability. Therefore, this study is focused on identifying the factors impacting the acceptance of HIS by doctors and nurses in the public health sector.
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Emerging small modular nuclear power reactors
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Damayanthi, T
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors with a typical electrical output up to 300 MWe per unit and can produce 7.2 GWh per day, which is about one-third of the capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors. There is an emerging interest on SMRs and their applications among many nuclear power member countries as a potentially viable nuclear option since it is an environmentally friendly carbon free solution to contribute in mitigating the climate change. SMR reactors are designed as a single or multimodule plant incorporating advanced safety features to minimize potential accident risks. They are under deployment for all principal reactor technology types such as water-cooled reactors, high temperature gas-cooled reactors, liquid metal-cooled fast neutron spectrum reactors, molten salt reactors, and microreactors (capacity <10 MWe). The main factors driving the development of SMRs include the demand for flexible power generation for diverse users and applications, the need to replace ageing fossil-fuel units, upgrading the safety performance, and enhanced economic affordability.
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Passively-powered knee exoskeleton to reduce human effort during manual lifting
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Ranaweera, P; Gopura, R; Jayawardena, S; Mann, G
The proposed device consists of a system of helical elastic springs bilaterally located on the shank for capturing/storing waste biomechanical energy at the knee, a cable and pulley system to transmit power from and to the knee, a pulley locking/unlocking mechanism to achieve passive control of the device operation ensures no restrictions are posed by the springs during walking and applies a pre-tension on springs to prevent slacking of the Bowden cable using a return spring. However, when the wearer performs a squatting task, the springs engage/disengage energy springs when the knee flexes over a preset angle (i.e., 60 degrees). The energy dissipated and generated at the knee joint during decent and ascent phases from biomechanical studies were recorded as 45 J and 50 J respectively for an average human [3]. Accordingly, the selected energy springs can collectively capture and return approximately 20% of biomechanical energy at the knee.
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From Click to doorstep: navigating the future of retail with automated picking in Omnichannel warehousing
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024) Wathuyaya, S; Kosgoda, D
In this era, a concept change can be seen in the omnichannel approach. In the Brick & Motors approach, customers are required to visit the retail shop to purchase products and services, while the multi-channel approach uses multiple channels but one for order-to-delivery. In the cross-channel, customers can use two or three channels simultaneously to receive a product or service. However, omnichannel represents the integration of all accessible channels (i.e., in-store, mobile, and online) and client touchpoints to provide a seamless shopping experience. Thus, the coherence of the customer journey across several touchpoints is given priority in the omnichannel strategy, as opposed to the conventional emphasis on branding across diverse digital platforms. The ease with which customers may place orders through one channel, handle payments and pickups through another channel, and receive or return goods through a third channel is made possible by this integration (ex: Amazon, Nike, Walgreens, IKEA, and ZARA). As the omnichannel strategy continues to gain traction, effective inventory management, and simplified distribution procedures are now essential components in effectively meeting consumer needs.
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Ensuring quarry safety: integrating rockfall barriers and bench-slope engineering for effective protection
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2024-08) Nanayakkara, C; Dassanayake, A; Chaminda, P
A single rock piece or several rock boulders getting detached and displaced from their initial position followed by free falling, sliding, bouncing, rolling, and deposition creates a rockfall incident [1]. Rockfalls are characterized by a greater destructive potential, owing to higher mobility and energy [2]. Recent instances including the Great Orme rockfall, in North Wales, UK (2023), Yosemite National Park rockfall in California, USA (2022), and the Glacier National Park incident in Montana, USA (2019) highlight their catastrophic nature. They not only interrupt the daily essentialities such as travel and transportation but also cause property damage as well as loss of life [3], [4], [5] (Figure 1). A rockfall is triggered by a natural or an anthropogenic alteration of the forces acting on a rock mass under stable conditions. Natural processes include weathering, earthquakes, formation of discontinuities, plant roots penetrating the rocks, rainfall, freeze-thaw cycles, and long-term deformations in the rock mass. Also, there is a significant contribution of human interventions such as slope cutting, blasting, heavy vehicle, and machinery operations to rock movements [1], [2]. Due to the prevalence of such activities, quarries rank top among the sites that are susceptible to frequent rockfall hazards [6], [7]. Given the critical nature of this issue, constant efforts have been made to devise an effective solution, incorporating expertise in geo-technology and engineering. There are two distinct engineering approaches, respectively, to prevent and mitigate rockfall as detailed in Figure 2. Most often, a combination of those two techniques is adopted in many quarry sites to enhance effectiveness [2].

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