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Portrayal of marginalization in discourse: a critical literature review of Shyam Selvadurai’s funny boy
Get PDFMarginalization is experienced in different forms by many people
around the world, due to several reasons such as language, religion, ethnicity,
sexuality etc. The point from which the power is exerted is unknown and
hidden, however it is hovering above, making the marginalized, powerless,
and struggling. This critical literature review, which is part of an on-going critical
discourse analysis based on Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model,
examines the studies carried out on Funny Boy and aims to discover how the
critics have recognized marginalization embedded in the discourse of the
novel. Shyam Selvadurai in Funny Boy presents the story of “Arjie”, a young
boy who goes through a journey to find out his own sexuality, while facing the
reality of the world in a war-torn country and the story transcends to portray
how war as well as societal norms can shake the life of an individual. An ample
number of studies carried out on the novel were reviewed to identify how the
discourse of Funny Boy portrays marginalization. Findings of the review
indicate that many critics consider the novel as portraying multiple
marginalization; the protagonist being marginalized and exiled from many
social spheres due to sexual identity and ethnicity. This review concludes that
Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy is viewed in studies as a piece of discourse
that presents multiple marginalization experienced by the protagonist
Development of production technology for different yam-based flakes and allied production and evaluation of their physicochemical and nutritional properties
Get PDFThis research focuses on the popularize the consumption of commercial and
traditional yams through developing a yam flakes product as a preservation
method and formulating allied products. Investigated production technology
for yam-based flakes. Three varieties of yams, Potato, Higurala, and Dandila
(Purple yams) were made into flakes by dehydrator, freeze-drying, hot air
pump-drying and vacuum-drying in this report. Samples prepared by vacuum
drying and freeze drying were in good condition. However, the cost of freezedrying was high. Therefore, potato flakes, Dandila (purple yam) flakes, and
Higurala flakes were dried by vacuum drying. Finally, were made flakes by
the vacuum dry method. They were made soup mixture, pittu mixture,
sausages, string hoppers, and breakfast mixture by yam flakes. The Higurala
flakes having high moisture content than Dandila and potato flakes. Potato
flakes having high ash content than dandila and Higurala flakes. Dandila
flakes having high protein content than Higurala and potato flakes. Dandila
flakes having high fiber content than potato and Higurala flakes, and Dandila
flakes having high fat content than potato and Higurala flakes and Potato
flakes having high carbohydrate content than Dandila and Higurala flakes.
Higurala flakes having high water activity percentage than Dandila and
potato flakes and potato flakes having high rehydrate ratio percentage than
Dandila and Higurala flakes
An empirical study on determinants of price earnings ratio: evidence from listed food, beverage and tobacco companies in Colombo stock exchange
Get PDFThe Price earnings ratio compares a stock’s price to earnings. By showing the relationship
between a company’s stock price and earnings per share (EPS), the Price earnings ratio helps
investors to value a stock and gauge market expectations. The ratio is affected by several factors
that are responsible for the variations of Price earnings ratio. These variations of Price earnings ratio have significant impact on investor’s perception. This paper attempts to identify the factors
and the relationships between the factors and Price earnings ratio of food, beverage, and tobacco
companies in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). Based on simple sampling, data were taken for
this purpose from annual reports of 30 food, beverage, and tobacco companies listed on the CSE
for the five-year period from 2015 to 2019. The study focuses on secondary data collected through
the published annual reports of the sample. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple
regression analysis are used to accomplish the objective of this paper. Results revealed that
dividend payout ratio and leverage ratio are significant determinants of Price earnings ratio where
these both variables have positive influence on Price earnings ratio. Furthermore, return on equity
and earnings per share are negative insignificant determinants of Price earnings ratio. Dividend
payout ratio and leverage ratio have positive correlation with price earnings ratio. It can be
statistically concluded that dividend payout ratio and leverage ratio have positive significant
relationship with price earnings ratio. Return on equity and earnings per share have negative
correlation with price earnings ratio. Significant values are higher than the test alpha values.
Therefore, the researcher can reject the alternative hypothesis. It can be statistically concluded
that return on equity and earnings per share have negative insignificant relationship with price
earnings ratio. This paper is evidence for fundamental analysts and decision makers to evaluate
determinants that explain variations in P/E ratio of food, beverage, and tobacco companies in Sri
Lanka
Development and validation of multimedia package on organ donation for student teachers at B. ED level
Get PDFMultimedia package is one of the technologies based selfinstruction material comprises of text, audio, video, animations, pictures etc.
that enhances the learning activity among the learners. One of the salient
features of multimedia package is human interactivity. The emergence of
multimedia package is to reduce the face-to-face interaction between the
student and the teacher and to make student learning more effective. The
present study was designed to develop and validate a multimedia package on
organ donation for student teachers at B. Ed level. This study comprises of
both survey method and experimental method. The investigator has adopted
survey method to find out the attitude, awareness and knowledge on organ
donation and also to find out the attitude towards multimedia package among
the student teachers with the help of two constructed tools namely RK
ORGDON scale and KRMMP scale respectively, their reliability and validity
was also established. For this 1200 B. Ed students were taken as the sample
from the B. Ed colleges in Dindigul. In the experimental study is a single group
design, wherein a multimedia package was developed and its effectiveness
was found among student teachers. For this 100 B. Ed students were taken
as the sample. Findings of the survey revealed that present student teachers
have a low level of attitude, awareness and knowledge on organ donation and
low level of attitude towards multimedia package. Findings of the experimental
study shows that the developed multimedia package has raised the attitude,
awareness and knowledge on organ donation among student teachers which
shows that the developed multimedia package on organ donation is highly
effective and can be used as an educational tool to generate awareness and
create positive attitude and increase the knowledge on organ donation among
the student teachers
Study of musculoskeletal disorders in farmers involved in manual paddy bagging task
Get PDFFilling paddy bags by hand is a common task
during harvesting, but it can cause musculoskeletal
disorders (MSDs) in various body regions. The
current study aims to evaluate posture and find an
association between MSDs and body posture
scores. The Nordic questionnaire and rapid entire
body assessment (REBA) were used to collect
MSDs and postures from farmers. The MSD in
various body regions (neck, elbows, hands, upper
back, knees, ankles, lower back, hips, thighs, and
buttocks) was found to be 6.7%, 10%, 3.3%, 6.7%,
16.7%, 20%, and 10%, respectively, during the last
12-month period. In REBA score findings, holding
bags, filling the bucket, and the bag were found to
have a very high risk of causing MSDs. Despite the
fact that MSDs are not very common among
farmers who engage in paddy bagging tasks,
posture analysis reveals what causes MSDs.
Further investigation is needed to improve and
reduce MSDs
Exploration of the financial stress among housewives of the Embilipitiya Divisional Secretary's Division in Sri Lanka
Get PDFFinancial stress is the emotional response to financial stressors such as sudden job loss
and outstanding debt. Unable to fulfil financial obligations can lead to financial worry
leading to financial stress and it can be exhibited as negative financial behaviour.
Financial stress may cause marital conflicts, reduced productivity, and adverse health
outcomes. Hence, this study aimed to identify financial stress, its causative factors, and
its impact on housewives of the Embilipitiya Division in Sri Lanka. A quantitative
descriptive study assessed a convenient sample of 150 housewives who live in the
Embilipitiya Divisional Secretary's Division, Sri Lanka. A pre-tested questionnaire was
used to collect data, and data analysis was done descriptively. Informed consent was
obtained, and voluntary participation was encouraged. According to the results, the
majority of housewives were Sinhalese (n=150, 100%), Buddhist (n=143, 95%),
married (n=128, 85 %), unemployed (n=50, 33%) and with a total income of < LKR
50,000.00 (n=94, 62.7%). Further, 81.3% (n=122) perceived that their household
income has declined since January 2023 mainly due to disruption of farming (n=32,
21.3%), failure of self-employment (n=28, 18.7%), loss of jobs of herself (n=16, 10.7%)
and of spouse (n=14, 9.3%), whilst, the household expenditure has increased due to
rising costs of essential foods (n=146, 97%), school children's stationery (n=116,
77.3%), footwear & clothing (n=114, 76%), and increased water/electricity bills (n=142,
94.7%). They experienced financial hardships such as difficulties in procuring their
main meals (64%), getting treatments (n=114, 76%), buying clothing (n=112, 74.6%)
and foot wares (n=84, 56%) for schoolchildren. Further, they showed negative financial
behaviour, including over-withdrawing bank deposits (n=136, 90.6%), getting more
loans from financial institutions (n=94, 63%), lenders on interest (n=78, 52%), or
friends (68%); pawning (76%) or selling (n=77, 51%) valuables; and seeking for
subsidies (n=84, 56%) to fill their daily household needs. Furthermore, they suffered
financial stress because of having unaffordable debt (n=88, 58.7%), higher interest to be
paid (57%), harassment of creditors’ calls (n=54, 36%), receiving red bills for electricity
(n=90, 60%) & water (n=80, 53%) bills; suspension of electricity (n=62, 41%) and
water supply (43%); sold her valuables (n=78, 52%); pawned valuables were about to
be exhausted (n=95, 63%); and inability to save money for an emergency (93.3%).
Moreover, they worried because of food depletion (50%), poor school attendance (n=62,
41.3%), children getting lower marks (n=65, 43%), and marital conflicts (n=58, 38.7%)
due to financial difficulties
Extraction and dyeing behavior of natural dye obtained from areca catechu powder waste for cotton fabric
Get PDFNatural dyes derived from plant materials
have the potential to replace synthetic dyes due to their
ecological compatibility and biodegradability. This
study focuses on extracting and characterizing the
natural dye from powder waste of Areca catechu and
developing a dye recipe for the cotton fabric dyeing
process. The ethanol extraction method was used to
extract the Areca catechu dye. Two different mordants
(Alum and Ferrous sulfate) and two mordanting
techniques (pre-mordanting and post-mordanting) at
3% and 5% concentrations were used to set the
extracted dye on the cotton fabrics. The dye exhibited a
pH value of 4.0, presenting a distinct red-brown hue,
and had absorption spectra in the UV-A and visible
light regions. The extraction was analyzed by FT-IR to
determine the presence of the functional groups in each
extract. Dyed cotton samples displayed good
colorfastness properties, particularly in washing and
light fastness. Color intensity values were measured in
terms of color strength and coordinate values. Premordanting the dyed cotton fabrics with 5% Ferrous
sulfate proved more effective, leading to optimal color
strength. Thus, the dye extracted from Areca catechu
powder waste can be successfully utilized with ferrous
sulfate to dye the cotton fabrics. The future study of
Areca catechu natural dye should focus on the
economic viability of producing the dyes
commercially
Analysing the performance of machine learning algorithms for effective classification of breast cancer
Get PDFBreast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in women
throughout the world. It can occur at any age in women’s lives, but the risk increased
with the age. In 2020 around 2.3millions of women are diagnosed with breast cancer
and among them, around 0.68 million died globally. There are two types of breast
cancer tumors: benign and malignant. Diagnosing breast cancer is kind of tough due
to the compound nature of the breast cancer cells. However, the treatments for breast
cancer are very effective when the disease is diagnosed at an early stage. In this study
seven machine learning algorithms are used: Logistic Regression (LR), Linear
Discriminant Analysis (LDA), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Gaussian Naïve Bayes
(GN), Decision Tree Classifier (C4.5), Support Vector Classifier (SVC) and Random
Forest (RF) on Wisconsin Breast Cancer Dataset (WBCD) collected from UCI
repository for classifying the tumors into benign and malignant. This analysis is carried
out in two parts without removing the outliers from the dataset and after removing the
outliers from the dataset. Based on the analysis without removing the outliers SVC
outperforms other classifiers with 97.82% accuracy. After removing the outliers RF
gives the highest accuracy of 96.18%
The switching behaviors of customers from conventional banks to Islamic Banks: a study based on bank customers of Sri Lanka
Get PDFPurpose: The purpose of this research is to identify the switching behaviors of
customers from conventional banks to Islamic banks in Sri Lanka.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A quantitative research approach is used in the
study. It was carried out via an online survey of banking customers in the Kandy
district of Sri Lanka and the sample of the study included 230 from the bank
customers. SPSS Software was used to analyze the data.
Findings: This study found that the majority of the customers are switched from
conventional banks to Islamic banks for various purposes. This study can identify
that Islamic banks provide a more satisfactory service than conventional banks
and found that switching of bank customers from a conventional bank to an
Islamic bank was influenced by profitability, better financial services, Sharia
compliance and satisfaction with banking innovations.
Practical implications: In Sri Lanka's financial sector, Islamic banking is a
comparatively recent banking service. This study identifies the variables that
encouraged those bank customers to switch to Islamic banks from conventional
banks. Implementing the required marketing strategies is beneficial for the
growth of Islamic banking industry.
Research limitation: Switching behavior refers to the practice of customers
switching from one service provider to another. This research was limit to the
Kandy district based Islamic banking and finance customers.
Originality value: This study has contributed to the development of banking
sector like Islamic banks and develops their marketing strategy. Identifying the
switching behaviors of customer is most important to Islamic banking sector to
development of the financial industry of countr
Computational discovery of a miRNA and its putative target genes in Ziziphus jujuba using genome-wide expressed sequence tags
Get PDFZiziphus jujuba is an important fruit crop that is increasingly becoming popular among consumers due to its medicinal properties. Increasing worldwide demand for fruit poses new challenges to the industry, including the need for accelerated cultivar development of jujubes. To embark on cultivar development with improved traits such as high yield and disease resistance, molecular and conventional breeding, and genetic engineering become imperative. But inadequate trait-enhancing alleles or gene pleiotropism limit the direct use of several identified genes. To overcome these issues, microRNAs (miRNAs) can be utilized in the breeding of jujubes as genetic modulators to fine-tune the regulation of gene expression, thus the discovery of miRNAs becomes important. In this study, using a computational approach, we identified one potential miRNA (zju-miR-215–3p) from 2904 expressed sequence tags. The miRNA showed downregulation of five target proteins (AP-2 complex subunit alpha, C2H2-type domain-containing protein, sentrin-specific protease 1, hydrolase_4 domain-containing protein and putative alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase), most of which are implicated in metabolic and developmental processes associated with plant growth and reproduction. The suppression of these proteins appears to be helpful for the plant to overcome stress conditions. Future studies are necessary to validate the miRNA by RNA sequencing and to confirm the molecular functions of the down regulations of target proteins