08th Academic Session - 2011

Changing the direction of undergraduate learning: from teacher centered to student centered.

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Changing the direction of undergraduate learning: from teacher centered to student centered. Kommalage, Mahinda Among many challenges we face in the 21'' century, increasing need to acquire new knowledge and new perspectives are prominent. Intense demand for learning and advances in technology are changing the nature of learning. In the past, the teachers' m, in role was to provide information to students but in this era of information technology, the teachers' role should not be limited to providing information to the adult learners in universities. Providing the basic content knowledge is essential, but teaching the methods of learning is more important than providing the content knowledge alone. Since knowledge and skills change from day to day, teachers cannot simply provide all the knowledge and skills required. What is most important today is to teach students how to learn. The teacher's role is shifting from a content provider towards a facilitator who promote student involvement, support student to acquire skills that help in learning throughout life, and facilitate students to t.1ke responsibility of own learning (Collins, 2009; Gwee, 2009; Wang and Li, 2010). Continuous professional development is a well accepted requirement in the medical profession. Continuous professional development depends on doctor',, ability to engage in self directed learning. In this process, he needs to analyse critically and re·lect on his learning needs, formulate goals and evaluate his learning. Quality of continuous karning of medical professionals is mentioned as 'ability to manage their learning with respect to continuing professional development' in the subject benchmark statement for Medicine by UGC, Sri Lanka. Promotion of research work is also mentioned in the subject benchmark statement for Medicine by UGC, Sri Lanka (available at http://www.qaacouncil.lk/ qa_fw/SB_Reports/ SBS_Medicine.pdf. Curriculum of Ruhuna Medical Faculty is disciplined based md traditional type. During the first and second years, students study Physiology, Anatomy and Biochemistry without clinical exposure. The teaching activities are mainly teacher centred and didactic consists of formal lectures, practical sessions, and tutorial classes during pre-clinical period. Medical education is moving towards the process with more student centred problem solving activities in the world as well as Sri Lanka (Editorial, 2005; Lam and Lam, 2009; Walker and Mouton, 2009). Considering our undergraduate ;tudents as adult learners, we introduced few activities to the Physiology curriculum to involve them actively in the le, ming process by giving rhem the responsibility of their own learnmg and to make them lifelong learners (Somasiri et ul., 2006; Kommalage and Gunawardena, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2010a. 2011; Walker and Mouton, 2009; Kommalage and Imbulgoda, 20IO). I have involved in introducing these activities during the last five year period with the contribution and support from my rnlleagues in the department. These activities have been evaluated and published as several p,er review papers and presen1ed in many conferences in abstract forms.

Utilization of agricultural waste compost as an alternative potting media component with coir dust for leafy vegetable Ipomoea acquatica

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Utilization of agricultural waste compost as an alternative potting media component with coir dust for leafy vegetable Ipomoea acquatica Thushara, W.K.R.; Jayasinghe, G.Y. Evolution of plant growth techniques has increased demand for growth substrates such as peat, zeolite, perlite, pumice and vermiculite but supply has been decreasing while the prices are escalating. The aim of this research was to study die potential utilization of an alternative potting media developed from agricultural waste compost in combination with coir dust on the growth and development of leafy vegetable Ipomoea aquatica (L). Agricultural waste compost was prepared by heap method with poultry litter, sawdust, rice straw, gliricidia and cow dung. Seven different potting media were prepared by mixing compost at the rates of 0%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%with coir dust at 100%, 90%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 0%, respectively. Another treatment was used as a control which had 100% coir with recommended chemical fertilizer by the department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka. Physical (bulk density, true density, water holding capacity, porosity, particle distribution, and coarseness index) and chemical properties (electrical conductivity, PH, total nitrogen, available phosphorous) of the all potting media were analyzed. Pot experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using Ipomea aquatic to determine the impact of developed potting media on the growth and the development of the plant. Height, fresh and dry weight of the plants were determined. Two harvests were done. Experimental design was completely randomized design with five replicates. Obtained data were subjected to analysis of variance to determine the treatment effects. Duncan’s multiple comparison range test was used to determine significant differences between the means using SAS package. Developed potting media showed adequate physical and chemical properties for Ipomea aquatica cultivation. First harvest showed significant differences among all treatments and treatment containing 100% compost gave the best growth and yield parameters. But second harvest did not show significant difference between 100% compost treatment and 90% compost in combination with 10% coir. The highest plant height, shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight obtained from the 100% compost were increased by 2.70, 18.07 and 18.02 times in comparison to the 100% coir with chemical fertilizer as the control. 100 % compost treatment had bulk density 0.632gcm , true density 1.62 gem'3, water holding capacity 167.11 mLL ', porosity 60.98%, total nitrogen 1.14%, available phosphorous 0.38 mgL'1, EC 0.22 dSm'1 and pH 6.75 was the best among all other treatments and it gave a profit of Rupees 3142.00 for 10 m2. Compost in the potting mixture did not show any toxic effect on plant growth and development. Utilization of compost derived from different agricultural compost can be considered as alternative potting media for leafy vegetable Ipomoea aquatica.

Development of value-added low-fat yoghurts using mixed-fruits, Cassava flour (Manihot esculenta L.), Cereal mixture and evaluation of their physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Development of value-added low-fat yoghurts using mixed-fruits, Cassava flour (Manihot esculenta L.), Cereal mixture and evaluation of their physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties Jayarathna, M.P.K.; Gamage, P.M.W.; Jayamanne, V.S.; Gunarathna, M.A.W.S.; Nanayakkara, G.T.; Udayanganie, K.K.A.; Ramanayake, R.A.T.M. Value-added yoghurts are reported to have many health benefits on humans compared to normal yoghurts because consumption of value-added yoghurts are associated with many therapeutic and nutritional properties. Therefore, value-added yoghurts are becoming popular among a health conscious population in Sri Lanka. The objectives of the research were to develop different lowfat value-added yoghurts incorporated with mixed-fruit pulp, cassava flour, Cereal mixture and evaluation of their physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties. Recipes for low-fat yoghurt consisted of gelatin (0.4%; w/w), milk powder (2.8%; w/w), sugar (9.7%; w/w), coloring (0.13%; w/w), flavors (0.1%; v/v), culture (2.6%; v/v) and skim milk (83.4%; w/w). Three different mixed-fruit yoghurt products were prepared with the addition of 12.71%, 12.61% and 12.52% (w/w) fruit pulp and another three Cassava flour incorporated yoghurt were prepared with the addition of 3.25%, 4% and 4.5% (w/w) cassava flour. Further, three cereal yoghurt products were prepared using 8%, 10% and 12% (w/w) Cereal mixture (com, soya, rice and green gram). Physicochemical properties of all the yoghurts such as titratable acidity and pH (AOAC, 2002) were determined during storage at 4°C for 20 days. Furthermore, microbiological and sensory properties of yoghurts were also determined and were compared with those of a commercial brand of yoghurt. Sensory properties were determined on a seven-point hedonic scale using 18 members of trained sensory panel. Sensory results were analyzed using Kruskal Wallis non-parametric ANOVA test with STATISTIX Computer software (Ver 2.0) for Windows. Cassava yoghurt (4%; w/w), Cereal mixture yoghurt (10%; w/w) and mixed-fruit yoghurt (12.71%; w/w) were selected as the best yoghurts because of their significantly higher (P<0.05) sensory properties. Titratable acidity of cassava yoghurt increased gradually from 0.64% in the beginning to 0.78% at the 15 days of storage. Titratable acidity of cereal yoghurt increased gradually from 0.64% in the beginning to 1.23 % in the 15th day of storage while the titratable acidity of mixed fruit yoghurt increased gradually from 0.64% in the beginning to 1.23 % in the 15th day of storage. Yeast and mold populations in all the yoghurts were less than 103 CFU/ml and E. coli was not detected throughout the storage period. Shelf-life of all three yoghurts was approximately 15 days considering the changes in titratable acidity, microbiological and sensory properties. Therefore, it can be concluded that Cassava flour, Cereal mixture (com, soya, rice and green gram) and mixed-fruit pulp can be introduced to the yoghurt industry successfully in order to develop novel value-added low-fat yoghurts with improved sensory and nutritional properties.

Effectiveness of Marketing Information Systems (MIS) on vegetable sub-sector in Sri Lanka

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Effectiveness of Marketing Information Systems (MIS) on vegetable sub-sector in Sri Lanka Sandika, A.L.; Sadamali, M.K.V. Vegetables are the second most important agriculture sub-sector after rice in Sri Lanka is. Marketing of vegetables is more complex because of the special characteristics like highly perishable nature, seasonality, bulkiness etc. In this situation, it is necessary to implement efficient marketing system for vegetables because producers and consumers are exploited by the intermediaries. Therefore, the line agencies related to the agricultural marketing have introduced MIS by using conventional and Information and Communication Technologies to make the agricultural marketing system as more vibrant and competitive. On this background, this study mainly attempted to analysis effectiveness of Marketing Information System (MIS) on vegetable sub-sector in Sri Lanka. Effectiveness of the MIS was measured by analyzing the price differences of the provinces of Sri Lanka before and after implementation of MIS in Sri Lanka. Secondary data was mainly used for this study. Nominal market price of bean, carrot, cabbage, pumpkin and brinjals were collected. Price fluctuation of selected vegetables before (1999/2000) and after (2007/2008) implementation of MIS was measured by developing Price Index (PI). Price of the selected vegetables during the period 1999/2000 has highly varied from province to province as compared to the period 2007/2008. The price fluctuation of bean, carrot, cabbage and pumpkin from place to place were relatively low at the second occasion 2007/2008 as compared to 1999/2000. It clearly indicates that MIS has affected while determining the vegetable prices at various places in the country. However, the price .behaviour of brinjals has deviated from the normal results. It means that MIS has not positively affected on determination the brinjals prices. However, It can be concluded that MIS has affected positively to determine the vegetable prices in the country and lead to reduce the price variation among the different places of the country. MIS will help safeguard both farmer and consumer while selling and buying vegetables.