Conference on Sri Lanka

Conference on Sri Lanka - Japan Collaborative Research 2013 (SLJCR- 2013)

Organized by

International Research Center, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

In collaboration with

Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka

SLAc

Japan Japan Foundation

Association of Sri Lankan Academics in Japan

Sri Lankan Students’ Association in Japan

29th - 31st March 2013 at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

National Research Council of Sri Lanka

Conference Co-Chairs Prof. Buddhi Marambe, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Prof. Hisashi Nakamura, Ryukoku University, Japan

Advisory Committee Prof. W.D. Lakshman (Institute of Policy Studies) Prof. Kamala Liyanage (University of Peradeniya) Prof. P. Ratnayake (Saga University) Dr. Srikantha Herath (United Nations University) Prof. Ranjith Dissanayake (University of Peradeniya) Prof. Norio Tanaka (Saitama University) Prof. N.S. Cooray (International University of Japan) Prof. Monte Cassim (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University) Prof. Masāki Tabata (Saga University) Prof. Ken Kawamoto (Saitama University) Prof. Akio Koizumi (Kyoto University) Prof. Masaki Yoshio (Saga University) Prof. Yukio Ikemoto (University of Tokyo) Prof. Kuniyoshi Takeuchi (ICHARM, Japan) Prof. Takayuki Shimaoka (Kyushu University)

Editorial Board Prof. Kamala Liyanage Prof. Buddhi Marambe Prof. Missaka Wijayagunawardane Dr. Roshan Dharshana Yapa Dr. Shameen Jinadasa Dr. Susiji Wickramasinghe

Citation: Liyanage K, Marambe B, Wijayagunawardane M, Yapa, RD, Jinadasa S and Wickramasinghe S (Editors) (2013): Book of Abstracts. Conference on Sri Lanka – Japan Collaborative Research, 2931 March, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. pp 150.

Organizing Committee University of Peradeniya Agriculture Prof. Missaka Wijayagunawardane Dr. Saliya De Silva Allied Health Dr. Lalani Yatawara Arts Prof. Milton Rajarathne Mr. J. Bharatha Dodankotuwa Dental Dr. Sajjiv Ariyasinghe Dr. Roshan Peiris Engineering Dr. Shameen Jinadasa Dr. Prasanna Gunawardena Medical Prof. Shirani Ranasinghe Dr. Susiji Wickramasinghe Science Dr. Jagath Gunathilake Dr. Dharshana Yapa Veterinary Medicine & Animal Science Dr. Madura Munasinghe Dr. Anoja Wanigasekara International Research Center (InRC) Dr. Nanda Gunawardhana

Other Universities University of Colombo Dr. Saman Dissanayake University of Sri Jayawardanepura Prof. Sampath Amaratunge University of Kelaniya Dr. (Mrs.) A.N. Wijayanayake University of Moratiwa Dr. Udeni Nawagamuwa Dr. Jagath Manatunga University of Jaffna Dr. G. Thirukkumaran University of Ruhuna Dr. Nadeej Priyankara Dr. Tilak Gamage Eastern University of Sri Lanka Dr. Somasuntharam Sutharsan Rajarata University of Sri Lanka Dr. Chamila Kumari Dr. Sriyangi Aluvihare Dr. Udayangini Ratnayake Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka Dr. (Mrs.) S.Gunatilake Dr. Achini De Silva Dr. M. M. P. Sumith Wayamba University of Sri Lanka Dr. (Ms) Bimalka Ranasinghe Dr. (Ms) Nisha Kottearachchi South Eastern University of Sri Lanka Dr. A. Jahfer General Sri John Kotelawala Defence University Dr. Methsiri Samarakoon Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology Dr. Koliya Pulasinghe Dr. Nishantha Samarasingha Ocean University of Sri Lanka Dr. Erandi Pathirana

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Message from the Editorial Board The academic exchange and research collaboration have been an integral part of the 60-year long bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and Japan. The outcome of the joint work carried out by the scientists, researchers and academia of both countries have yielded fruitful results to support the social and economic development of both countries, and the world as a whole. The Conference on “Sri Lanka – Japan Collaborative Research – 2013 (SLJRC-2013)” is held under this backdrop, to provide a common platform to disseminate latest research findings and to ensure further linkages developed for advanced research. The Book of Abstracts includes a compilation of more than 125 outstanding research work carried out over the past decade from numerous disciplines. The papers emanate from a rich variety of research, mostly carried out jointly, but few are focusing on issues common to both Sri Lanka and Japan but carried out by researchers from one country only. The outcomes of the papers presented would no doubt promote further high-quality research and intellectual output of scientists in the two countries. We sincerely hope that the conference and the Book of Abstracts will provide more opportunities for the scientists in both countries to work in partnership to reaching a wider scientific community. We would like to express our appreciation to all authors for their generous contributions of time and effort that made the conference and publication of the Book of Abstracts, possible. The services extended by the office staff of the editorial office are highly acknowledged. We also sincerely hope that the readers will share their special insights with the authors and presenters to ensure further advances in research with new standards and broad reach aiming at national and global development.

Editorial Board 29th March 2013

Conference on Sri Lanka - Japan Collaborative Research 2013 th st 29 - 31 March, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

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Message from the Guest of Honor Mr. Nobuhito Hobo Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka

My heartiest congratulations and best wishes to the International Research Centre of the University of Peradeniya on the occasion of the Conference on Sri Lanka-Japan Collaborative Research 2013 and the launch of the Sri Lanka-Japan Study Centre to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Sri Lanka. International research collaboration is a rapidly growing component of core research activity in universities all over the world as it provides access to a wider range of facilities and resources while enabling researchers to participate in networks of cutting-edge and innovative activity. It also provides knowledge of other research systems and contributes to building strategic partnerships. The establishment of the new Sri Lanka-Japan Study Centre networking with all state universities of Sri Lanka is a welcome initiative as it would serve as a launching pad for enhanced collaborative research and exchanges between the academics of Japan and Sri Lanka, some of whom are Japanese Government researchers.

I take this opportunity to extend my best wishes for the success of this conference and the future activities of the Sri Lanka-Japan Study Centre


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Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne Secretary Ministry of Higher Education Sri Lanka.

It is indeed with great pleasure that I write this message on the occasion of the Conference on “Sri Lanka– Japan Collaborative Research”, which not only set a stage to showcase the scientific cooperation between the two nations over the past 60 years, but also the platform in which the Sri Lanka – Japan Study Centre would be launched at University of Peradeniya. The latter is a significant event, which was also highlighted in the joint statement released on 14th March 2013 by the leaders of the two countries namely, H.E. the President of Sri Lanka and H.E. the Prime Minister of Japan. The conference and the study centre would no doubt further strengthen the scientific collaboration between Sri Lanka and Japan. I am also happy to place on record that recently, the Ministry of Higher Education entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) that could also be linked up with the Sri Lanka – Japan Study centre in its future activities. Being educated in a Japanese University, it is with the highest contentment I attend this event as the Chief Guest. We must understand that Sri Lanka can tremendously benefit from research collaboration with Japan, a country which is at the forefront of technological innovations and commercialization of such innovations. I thank the Co-Chairs and the organizing committee for their enthusiastic efforts in making these two events a reality. I wish the Conference and the proposed Sri Lanka – Japan Study Centre every success and would be happy to extend the fullest cooperation of the Ministry of Higher Education to ensure achieving the highest level of academic and scientific


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Message from the Vice Chancellor Prof. Atula Senaratne University of Peradeniya

It is with great pleasure that I extend my warmest greetings and best wishes for the Sri Lanka-Japan Collaborative Research Conference, which will be held from 29thMarch to 1st April 2013 and the launching of Sri Lanka Japan Study Centre at the University of Peradeniya. It is with immense satisfaction that I mention here that our two nations celebrated 60 years of fruitful diplomatic relationship in the year 2012. I am sure that Sri Lanka –Japan study centre will be a strong base to further strengthen the ties between our two nations. The study centre will serve as a focal point for students and scholars from both nations, and it will network with all state universities in Sri Lanka. It is with great pride that I mention here that the latest Joint Statement issued by His Excellency Shinzo Abe the Prime Minister of Japan and His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka specifically referred to this Centre as follows: “The two leaders welcomed the proposal to establish the Sri Lanka-Japan Study Center in University of Peradeniya and expressed hope that it would vitalize the intellectual exchanges between Japan and Sri Lanka”. I take note the hard work and the leadership displayed by the members of the conference organizing committee to make it a success. I wish the local and foreign delegates gathered here for Sri Lanka-Japan Collaborative Research conference an intellectually stimulating and enriching experience.


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Message from the Conference Chairs Prof. Buddhi Marambe University of Peradeniay, Sri Lanka Prof. Hisashi Nakamura Ryukoku University, Japan

Sri Lanka and Japan have completed a 60 year long journey of collaboration for mutual benefit, a linkage that has grown in strength and vitality over the years. The Sri Lanka – Japan Collaborative Research (SLJCR) Conference that will be held from 29-31 March 2013 would no doubt be the flagship conference of this healthy bilateral relationship that the two countries have enjoyed over the years. The SLJCR is also coupled with the ceremonial launch of the Sri Lanka – Japan Study Centre at the University of Peradeniya that would lead to further strengthening of linkages and assure the sustenance of contribution to advancement of science and technological innovations by Sri Lankan and Japanese Scholars, primarily focusing on the development agenda of both countries. Change has become the common denominator of the world. We, as scientists and academia, work in dynamic and challenging environments to find solutions to problems that constraint economic and social development of the two countries. The SLJCR Conference, and the establishment of the Sri Lanka - Japan Study Centre in particular, recognizes the historical mission between Sri Lanka and Japan on economic development and determination to reiterate the role play of the scientists and academia to address the holistic needs of the two countries not only academically, but socially, culturally, and politically as well. It is indeed a pleasure to invite you and see you all at the SLJCR Conference and at the launch of the Sri Lanka - Japan Study Centre. The conference and the study centre would not doubt create a platform for new dimensions in research, mutual understanding, and academic and social interactions, leading for a better future, and a better world. We welcome you to join us and be a part of this noble effort.


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Message from the Director International Research Center Dr. Nanda Gunawardhana University of Peradeniya

It gives me great pleasure to pen these words as we near the Conference on Sri Lanka Japan Collaborative Research and the launch of the long awaited Sri Lanka Japan Study Centre. The landmark reached, of 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries gave us the perfect opportunity to bring these plans to the limelight and the International Research Centre is honored to have played a role in the implementation of these plans. The Establishment of this centre will greatly benefit students and scholars of Sri Lanka as it will serve as a portal for international research collaboration and mutual exchange of knowledge and services. It will help in streamlining all academic exchanges between our two nations. And will definitely contribute towards the increase in research output of the State Universities. We hope that the conference and the study centre will provide our scholars and students with an avenue to initiate and maintain collaborations with researchers of Japan.

The Sri Lanka - Japan study centre of the University of Peradeniya, aims at enhancing academic exchange, collaborative research and goodwill between Universities of Sri Lanka and Universities in Japan. The study centre will promote and disseminate collaborative research carried out between scholars of Universities in Sri Lanka in collaboration with Universities in Japan, foster communication among diverse disciplines, and encourage new approaches in understanding the relationship of Sri Lanka and Japan, and its place in the world. We trust that the establishment of the centre will set the ball rolling and that our students and scholars will take this opportunity and take the Sri Lanka Japan Study Centre to new heights.


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Keynote lectures


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. Nakamura Hisashi Professor, Ryukoku University, Japan

Nakamura Hisashi has been a Professor of Economics at Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan, Since 1984. He was born in August 1938 in Kyoto. He earned his BA from the Faculty of Letters, and his Ph.D. in agricultural economics, Kyoto University. He worked as a researcher, specializing in South Asia, especially Sri Lanka at the Institute of Developing Economics, Japan, from 1961 to 1984, during which he conducted a number of field research trips in South India and Sri Lanka. He also studied at the University of Ceylon from 1965 to 1969. Sinhalese is his second language. He is co-chair of the Pacific Asia Resource Center, one of the leading advocacy NGOs in Japan, and a steering-committee member of the Society for Studies on Entropy. He has written books mostly in Japanese and partly in English advocating an alternative vision for the future on Asia. His main writings include: Rural Economy in the Weto Zone of Ceylone (Institute of Asian Economic Affairs, 1967); Kyodotai no Keizaikozo (Economic Structure of Rural Community) (Shinhyouron Co., 1975); Accumulation and Interchange of Labour (Institute of Developing Economics, 1976); Chiki to Kyoudotai (Region and Rural Community) (Shunjusha Co., 1980); Disintegration and Reintegration of Rural Society in the Process of Agricultural Development (ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 1982); Sri Lanka Suiri Kenkyu Josetu (Introduction to the Study of Water Management in Sri Lanka) (Ronsosha Co., 1988); Yutakana Asia Mazushi Nippon (Wealthy Asia and Poor Japan) (Gakuyoshobo Co., 1989); Hitobito no Asia (People's Asia) (Iwanamishoten Co., 1994); Chikijiritu no Keizaigaku (Economics of Local Self-reliance) (Nihonhyouron Co., 1998). In an interview he once introduced himself as a man "with no discipline" as he traced his shifts from European history to development economics to agricultural engineering. He is a Co-Chair of the Conference on Sri Lanka Japan Collaborative Research - 2013.

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SLJCR-2013 Perspectives of Buddhist Economic System Nakamura Hisashi, Professor, Ryukoku University, Japan Four Dharma Seals and Social Sciences A Bhutanese Buddhist monk called Dzongsar Jamyang Khyemtse declears “Morality feeds the ego, leading us to become puritanical and to judge others whose morality is different from ours. Fixated on our own version of morality, we look down on other people and try to impose our ethics on them, even if it means taking away their freedom.”i Previous ventures to construct Buddhist economic theory in many cases began with certain sets of ethical code like the satisfaction with minimum living requirement, and often associated with nothing beyond vegetarianism, nonviolence, peace and meditation. According to this learned monk, however, one is a Buddhist if he or she accepts the following four seals; (1) All compounded things are impermanent. If you cannot accept that all compounded or fabricated things are impermanent, if you believe that there is some essential substance or concept that is permanent, then you are not a Buddhist. (2) All emotions are pain. If you cannot accept that all emotions are pain, if you believe that actually some emotions purely pleasurable, then you are not a Buddhist. (3) All things have no inherent existence. If you cannot accept that all phenomena are illusionary and empty, if you believe that certain things do not exist inherently, then you are not a Buddhist. (4) Nirvana is beyond concept. If you think that enlightenment exists within the spheres, time, space and power, then you are not a Buddhist. We should reconstruct economic theory on the basis of the above four seals. They are secular truths based on wisdom, and wisdom is primary concern of Buddhism. Morals and ethics are secondary. The fourth seal is not in the reach of human language. For the past 2500 years, the way of thinking on the basis of the above four seals has spread in the most part of Asia. On the extreme opposite, however, modern nation states have been created in Europe since the Great Lisbon earthquake in 1755. Then, modern social sciences have followed and been implicitly founded upon a pair of postulates. One is the framework of the modern nation state. Social sciences as established against the background of modern Western history are inseparable from the formation of the nation state. Specific fields in social sciences have accordingly been devoted to the analysis of social problems arising within modern nation states, and to the elucidation of international relations between modern states. Human society in the 21st century, on the contrary, attempts to overcome the modern nation state and the limits of her institutions. While regionalism in its broad sense as in the case of the European Union is integrating nation states into a multi-national federation and pointing towards a new kind of unity, the narrow sense of regionalism as in the case of Yugoslavia is heading towards ethnic independence, local autonomy and the dissolution of the modern state. The existing academic disciplines like economics, sociology, jurisprudence, political science and so forth were formed on the basis of the implicit ideology of the nation state and thus cannot adequately take as their object of study the direct interchange of people belonging to different cultures. The second postulate is the methodology established on the model of classical Newtonian physics. This research method excludes interaction between the observer and the observed, through which modern social science boasted that it acquired the means to objective research which would be free from the subjective view of social value. In order to overcome the shortcomings of objective research without participation, an endless process of specialization proceeded to create minute branches of an academic discipline. But, in fact, people need to participate in the solution of social problems and to take a role in the reorientation of the social sciences. Common people, who have been the object of study, will make them knowledgeable by research in their own society, will dismantle the objectivity of the specialized academic system, and will reconstruct research designed for, rather than against, the people. Going beyond the classical framework of social science since the 19th century, participatory research will grow rapidly to answer the demand of a new era while transcending the subject/object dichotomy. Conference on Sri Lanka - Japan Collaborative Research 2013 th st 29 - 31 March, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

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SLJCR-2013 Prof. C M Madduma Bandara Emeritus Professor, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Professor Madduma Bandara, was educated at the University Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and the University of Cambridge, England. At Cambridge he specialized in Fluvial Geomorphology and obtained his Doctoral Degree in 1971. He began his academic teaching career at the Colombo University. After graduate studies in Cambridge, he returned to his home University of Peradeniya, where he served for over forty years. There he became the Head of the Department of Geography and rose to the rank of Professor on Merit. Subsequently, he served as the Vice-Chancellor of the same University for three years. On his retirement, he was conferred the title of ‘Emeritus Professor’ by the University Senate. Professor Madduma Bandara also had the experience of working at several universities overseas, including the University of Ilorin, Nigeria (1977-79), Cambridge, UK (1987),Tokyo University (2000), University of Tsukuba (1997), UN University (1999), and Kyoto University (2007-2008) as a Guest Professor. He also had the opportunity of working for brief spells at several international organizations such as the World Bank, USAID, NORAD (Norwegian), GTZ (German) and the (IUCN). He played a vital policy advisory role to the Government of Sri Lanka in the capacities of Chairman of the Presidential Land Commission, Chairman of the Interim National Water Resources Authority, Chairman of the Academic Board of the National Institute of Education and the Chairman of the National Environmental Council. Research studies of Professor Madduma Bandara were mostly focused on issues pertaining to environment, land policy, and water resources. Some of his key contributions were in the fields of watershed management, coastal zone planning, agro-well development and in the culture-environment inter-face dealing with traditional knowledge systems. He had been primarily responsible for the development of the ‘concept of tank cascade systems’, promotion of agro-wells in the dry zone, and in the formulation of first National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP). In particular he is well known for his proposal for re-demarcation of the Provinces of Sri Lanka based on river basin watersheds. He has over 100 research papers and publications to his credit, of which some are in reputed international journals. He was honoured with a D Sc (Hon.) and received an award of merit from Lanka Jalani (Sri Lanka National Counterpart of the Global Water Partnership), for his contributions to the water sector. He is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka and the Royal Geographical Society of London.

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SLJCR-2013 Japan - Sri Lanka Collaborative Research on Climate Change and Environment : Some Reminiscences C.M. Madduma Bandara, Emeritus Professor, University of Peradeniya University of Peradeniya had collaborative research interactions with Japanese scientists extending over a period of over four decades. However, my formal contacts with Japanese scholars commenced only in 1980, with the International Geographical Congress held that year at Tsukuba and Tokyo Universities. A close interaction with Japanese scholars such as Professors Masatoshi Yoshino, Isamu Kayane and Jun Shimada led to endurable friendships and collaborative research efforts between Japan and Sri Lanka. Some results of these studies were published under the title “Tropical Environments” in 182. A book was published later in 1983 by the Tsukuba University with these research studies under the joint editorship of Yoshino, Kayane and Madduma Bandara. This publication opened many vistas for young scientists from Japan as well as from Sri Lanka. There had also been academic staff exchanges that provided many opportunities for academics to visit the two countries more frequently. These initial developments, resulted in the signing of an MOU between the Universities of Peradeniya and Tsukuba in 1983, providing opportunities for staff and student exchange. This formed the basis of a Second Phase of the inter-country collaboration and a ‘Special Project on Global Climate Change’ by the University of Tsukuba was initiated. Academic leadership for this phase was provided by Professor Isamu Kayane, who later served as a member of the National Science Council of Japan. The results of these studies were published from time to time and drew the attention of scientists across the world, at a time when Climate Change was only beginning to be recognized as a global issue. Kayane considered ‘Horton Plains’ as a ‘Natural Climatological Tower’ overlooking vast Indian Ocean right up to Antarctica! Studies on long-term trends of climate change at ‘Horton Plains’ by Wickremagamage and others attracted much scientific attention. One of the notable outcomes of the Project was the publication of a comprehensive data-base on the hydro-climatology by Nakagawa and others. At least five Japanese scholars and two Sri Lankan students earned their Doctoral Degrees. All of them now serve Japanese, American and other international universities. After Kayane, Jun Shimada (presently Professor of Hydrology at Kumamoto University) carried the banner forward. His work on Isotope Hydrology attracted several doctoral students from Japan and overseas. In particular his research work on using Isotopes in Sri Lanka had been highly recognized. During one of his visits to Sri Lanka, a massive landslide occurred at Watawala and the up-country railway line was completely destroyed. In order to ascertain the source of ground water that lubricated the unstable slopes, expertise of Shimada was sought by the authorities in charge of reconstruction. The fascination to work with Japanese scientists and the urge to revisit Japan grew in leaps and bounds and I had the privilege of working at leading Japanese universities like Tsukuba, Tokyo and the UN University at Shibuya, and finally at the Kyoto University that crowned my academic career. A further research collaboration on Disaster Management was initiated at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies with Prof. Rajib Shaw and others and that still continues. My sojourn in Kyoto – the only city in the world that has some 18 world heritage sites, also provided me with some unique opportunities to understand the fascinating nuances of Japanese language, culture and society.


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. Monte Cassim Professor, Ritsumeikan University

Monte Cassim has been appointed Special Aide to the Chancellor of Ritsumeikan from 1 January 2013. Prior to that, for nine years he was ViceChancellor of Ritsumeikan Trust from 2004-2012 and President of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University for six of them, from 2004–09. In April 2012, he was appointed Executive Director of the Kyoto Museum of World Peace at Ritsumeikan University. As Professor of Policy Science (1994–to date), he specializes in environmental science and health informatics at the university’s Research Center for Sustainability Science. Cassim is also currently on the Management Council of the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) and on the Board of Councillors of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, is on the Board of Councillors of the International House of Japan as well as the Japan Center for Cooperation with the Middle East and an Executive Trustee of the Kyoto United Nations Association. As Advisor to the “Hyakunen Keiei no Kai” (Association of 100-Years of Corporate Management), he is engaged in a project to inventorize these enterprises and analyze the secrets underlying their longevity together with the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI), Teikoku Data Bank and the Nikkan Kogyou Shinbun. His affiliation with the non-profit sector includes founding “Tools for Self-Reliance, Japan” in 1993, where he remains as a Director (International Projects) to this day. TFSR Japan is a development NGO taking refurbished tools and artisans from Japan to work with artisans and residents of impoverished communities in developing economies. He is also the founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of “Global Futures, Kyoto” (est. 2012), an NPO promoting science and technology interventions to foster an open innovation partnership between industry, government, academia and local communities. Since joining Ritsumeikan in the 1990s, Cassim has worked on systems design and technology development for solving environmental or human societal issues through an international “open innovation” partnership between government, industry and academia. This first led to the establishment of the Discovery Research Laboratory (DRL) in 2000 with projects on biodiversity restoration in tropical ecosystems (rainforests and coral reefs, primarily), assessing the “environmental health” of small and medium-sized enterprises using Life Cycle Assessment, and inclusive design solutions for aging and disability. The research outcomes at DRL were further developed in the laboratories of the Health, Environment and Life Science (HEALS) Institute, established in 2006 at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU).Cassim was Honorary Professor at King’s College London GKT Medical School from 2003–04, when he first developed the TACMIS (Total Access Care and Medical Information System) model for stroke patients. Today, this has evolved into an advanced imaging and rehabilitation robotics initiative with an inclusive design component, expected, to be launched in 2013. At the Research Center for Sustainability Science, Ritsumeikan University, he works on advanced biodiversity mapping systems which mobilizes the “citizen-scientist” and on the introduction of agroinformatics and agro-photonics for adaptation to global climate change. This last currently focuses on the wine, tea and horticultural industries. Together with government and private industry, he established an open innovation S&T incubator, “Global Futures Kyoto” in 2012. He is passionate about creating an Asian community of scientists around S&T interventions and cross-national, trans-disciplinary collaboration leading to creative local initiatives that will solve globally significant problems or issues of under-development. His current research on debilitating lifestyle diseases, biodiversity restoration in damaged ecosystems and climate change adaptation is reflective of this. For eight years Cassim was a part-time farmer, growing rice and vegetables in a mountain village in Central Japan, which gave him many insights into the richness of traditional agricultural and ecological knowledge. He is an avid fan of blues music, loves fast cars, slow food and travel to unknown places.

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SLJCR-2013 Creating a Knowledge Economy Engine: Driving Sri Lanka and Japan into the 21st Century Monte Cassim Professor (Health, Environment and Life Science), Ritsumeikan University

This Keynote is structured into three parts. The first part looks at global transformations and the central role of knowledge in transcending them with creative and sustainable solutions. The second part highlights how telematic technologies can help to provide concrete solutions to the transformative grand challenges outlined in the first part. The third part considers how cross-national collaborative research can contribute to such concrete solutions, with the glimpse of the potential of the Sri LankaJapan research collaborative. The presentation concludes with an image of a knowledge economy engine that might be established by the two countries to shape their own futures as well as that of humankind as a whole. Global Transformations: The major challenge of our times is foreseeing and dealing with rapid transformation, brought about by dramatic changes in the global environment, demographic structures and societal systems. It is the speed of this change that humankind has hitherto not experienced and in dealing with such transformative phenomena, knowledge is an imperative. We are all now called upon not only to wisely use the traditional knowledge accumulated over the ages by human communities but also to grasp the significance of a rapid-fire succession of events and phenomena that will profoundly affect us all. Climate change, loss of biodiversity, periodic emergence of pandemics, rapid ageing of societies, and transitions from peace to war (and vice versa) are all examples that illustrate the nature of these challenges. Telematic Technologies: Modern telematics, the technologies at the interface of computing and tele-communications, offers us a means of capturing the essence of these rapid changes, analyzing them and coming up with solutions that will better our lives, improve the way we gain our livelihoods and help us review humankind’s relationship with nature. Some concrete examples will be outlined, some of which will be detailed in the technical sessions highlighting the collaborative research developed between Japan and Sri Lanka, following the Global Forum of Sri Lankan Scientists (Colombo, (December 2011) organized by Sri Lanka’s National Science Foundation (NSF). Common to all the presentations in this session are the significance of transnational collaborative research, the potential of open innovation platforms and the central role of universities and research institutes. Cross-National Collaboration: Given this last, this keynote concludes with a look at how research collaboration between Sri Lankan and Japanese researchers can be strengthened. This conference plays a critical role in launching such an enterprise by bringing together a community of scholars from both countries. The broader significance of this for the two countries, transforming in their own separate ways, but whose fates appear intertwined, is that a globalizing world demands creative, locally relevant solutions to the problems facing humankind and the earth. Japan today, more than ever before, needs the rest of the world since over half of her national income is now generated overseas. Sri Lanka, striving to rise from the ravages of a divisive conflict, is a trusted ally that Japan can work with in the generation of both knowledge and wealth for future generations. To accelerate this, it is suggested that Japan and Sri Lanka should establish a knowledge engine, the nature and scope of which is open to discussion at these conference sessions, to drive both nations into a future that will guarantee both peace and prosperity.


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. Akio Koizumi Professor, Kyoto University, Japan

Akio Koizumi is a Professor in the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Japan. He is a renown researcher in the fields of Genetics & Genealogy, Toxicology, Plant & Animal Sciences. He is a author of more than 230 publications having more than 2300 citations. His research interests are analysis of gene-environmental interactions for development of adverse health effects, persistent organic pollutants, nutrition and working conditions, genetic epidemiology. Some of his ongoing research projects are finding susceptible genes for Moyamoya disease, Analysis on preventive medicine against brain infarction and breeding in the childhood, assessing levels of exposure to persistent organic pollutants in a 30-year span, investigating pharmacological actions of organofluorine compounds at molecular levels and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Sri Lanka. In this last project he is investigating the mechanism and the prevention of CKD. He is also working on projects related to common diseases such as diabetes. His main writings includes: Targeted disruption of the Chop gene delays endoplasmic reticulum stress–mediated diabetes ( Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2002); Primary systemic carnitine deficiency is caused by mutations in a gene encoding sodium ion-dependent carnitine transporter ( Nature Genetics, 1999); A novel locus, Mody4, distal to D7Mit189 on chromosome 7 determines early-onset NIDDM in nonobese C57BL/6 (Akita) mutant mice (Diabetes, 1997); A mutation in the insulin 2 gene induces diabetes with severe pancreatic β-cell dysfunction in the Mody mouse ( Journal of Clinical Investigation, 1999). One of his recent publication is onChronic kidney diseases of uncertain etiology (CKDue) in Sri Lanka: geographic distribution and environmental implications (Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 2011)

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SLJCR-2013 An Integrative Study on Genetic and Environmental Determinants of Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology in Sri Lanka Akio Koizumi1*, Shanika Nanayakkara1, STMLD Senevirathna1, Toshiaki Hitomi1, Kouji Harada1, Tilak Abeysekera2, Rohana Chandrajith3, Neelakanthi Ratnatunga4, Toshiyuki Komiya5, Eri Muso5, Takao Watanabe6 1

Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan 2 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 3 Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 4 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 5 Department of Nephrology and Dialysis, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital, Osaka, Japan 6 Miyagi University of Education, Sendai, Japan

Chronic kidney disease of uncertain etiology (CKDu) has been recognized as an emerging public health issue in Sri Lanka due to the increasing prevalence among low-socioeconomic farming community in North Central Region. Geographical and familial clustering suggests involvement of genetic and environmental factors in pathogenesis. The objective of this study is to evaluate the involvement of genetic and environmental factors in CKDu. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) (311 CKDu cases and 286 controls from Girandurukotte and Medawachchiya), whole-exome sequencing (eight cases and eight controls, randomly selected) and functional analyses were carried-out. Electron microscopic analyses of five renal biopsies from CKDu patients were performed to evaluate the pathological characteristics. Serum samples from 311 cases and 286 controls were analyzed for the fluoride concentrations. Rice samples from the affected (n=7) and non-affected regions (n=16), water samples from the affected region (n=35) and urine samples collected from CKDu patients (n=18), unaffected relatives (n=18) and apparently healthy controls from Kandy (unaffected) (n=8) were analyzed for heavy metals. GWAS and whole-exome sequencing identified two common variants in SLC13A3 and KCNA10 genes. Rare novel variants were identified in LAMB2 and SLC39A8 genes. Functional analyses revealed the promoter activity of SLC13A3 was significantly associated with eGFR. Heavy metal analyses showed relatively elevated urinary arsenic level. About 43% of the apparently healthy male population was found to have undiagnosed non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, or renal function impairment. Present investigations suggest the combined involvement of genetic factors and heavy metal in pathogenesis of CKDu. Our past and present investigations suggested that hypertension also has a crucial role in pathogenesis and progression of CKDu. Fluoride was identified as a secondary factor that can influence CKDu progression. Key words:Arsenic, Cadmium, Chronic kidney disease, Fluoride, Sri Lanka


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. Missaka Wijayagunawardane Professor, University of Peradeniya

Dr Missaka P B Wijayagunawardane is a Professor at Department of Animal Science and has been working as an academic staff member of the University of Peradeniya since 1988. He obtained his Ph.D. in Animal Reproduction (1999) from Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Japan. Professor Missaka also having more than 5-year postdoctoral experiences in Japan, UK, USA, Australia and Germany. Also he served as a visiting professor at Cornell University, USA, Hannover University of Veterinary Medicine, Germany and as a visiting academic fellow at University of Melbourne, Australia. Professor Missaka carring out research in many areas including Animal Gynaecology, Sri Lankan Indigenous Veterinary Medicine, and Reproduction, Conservation and Characterization of Elephants. He has contributed manuscripts to several internationally recognized SCI journals over the years and has a large number of abstract presentations as well. For his research activities, he was awarded the “Young Scientist of Sri Lanka” in year 2008, Presidential Research Awards by HE the President of Sri Lanka several times, and awarded the Best Presentation/Research Paper in several national and international conferences as well. He is actively participating in building up an international research community on Animal Reproduction as a reviewer and advisory board member for several relevant SCI Journals, as well as by organizing national/international conferences/workshops and by giving several keynotes at national/international conferences. He has been involved in several nationally important development projects and has provided consultancies to several government and private organizations. Also worked on a number of occasions as a resources person in popularizing science and technology. He has made several mass media presentations and authored several books as well.

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SLJCR-2013 Reproductive Problems in the Modern World: Where are we? Missaka P. B. Wijayagunawardane Department of Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka For years, experts have been warning us of a world population explosion. But now, it seems, global population growth is reaching a plateau risking the balance of the human population structure. All too often, fertility issues are seen as a “woman's problem”. Yet it need the contribution of “two” to make a baby. Hence the problems of man are equally responsible in causing fertility problem. Male factors now account for 30% of fertility problems - the same as female factors. In the remaining 40 % of cases, the reason for the problem is either a combination of both, or something which cannot be identified-“unexplained' infertility”. Female infertility may occur when the ovaries have problems producing eggs, or the eggs cannot move from the ovaries to the womb (uterus), or the fertilized egg does not attach to the lining of the uterus, or a fertilized egg or embryo does not survive once it sticks to the lining of the womb. On the other hand, Male infertility may be due to sperm being blocked from being released or decrease in sperm count, and motility or lack of performances required for fertilization. Among several courses of Infertility/sub fertility in animal, including man, environmental pollutants and exposure to high heat for prolonged periods are identified as most important factors. The modern industrial and agriculture revolution has reshaped the world’s environment, especially water pollution from chemicals and agricultural discharges into water resources. The atmospheric pollution from the burning of huge amounts of fossil fuels, as it contains much higher levels of energy per given weight than the equivalent amounts of renewable biomass, in turn resulted in drastic increase of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and thus, contribute in a major proportion to the global warming. The environmental pollutants may act as endocrine disruptors (ED); substances that can act on the endocrine system. Endocrine glands secrete substances known as hormones, which are chemical messengers released directly into the bloodstream, where they travel to and stimulate other organs. These specific chemical messengers are programmed to be released at one point, and taken up at another in precise concentrations and at specific times. Hormones are crucial to morphology, metabolism, blood circulation and the nervous system and thus help maintaining the individual’s physiological balance. When hormone secretion or its action is disrupted, a physiological imbalance occurs. On the other hand, the direct effect of global warming on a homeothermic animal is due to the displacement of body temperature from the resting state; the heat stress (HS), which can disrupt the physiological functions of the body. The indirect effects of global warming are mediated through the impacts on feed and water availability and quality, disease patterns, etc. Hyperthermia directly alters and impairs the cellular functions of various tissues of the reproductive system. ED and HS are known to cause alterations in reproductive functions, which includes reduced sperm quality in males, anomalies of ovarian function, fertility, post-fertilization implantation, and gestation in females. Malformations of the reproductive system: cryptorchidism (failure of testes to descend), hypospadias (urethral malformation), reversal of "sex-ratio" (birth of more girls than boys in populations), problems of sexual maturation, increased frequency of some tumors (testicular and breast cancers) are consequence due to the exposure to some of ED substances. Empirical evidence suggest that as a consequence of man-made threats, especially the environmental pollution and global warming reduce the reproductive efficiency of animal including man in the modern world. Thus, the understanding of the mechanism underline negative effect of ED and HS on fertility is vital to plan the therapeutic strategies to improve the pregnancy rate. However, the minimizing the environmental pollution and global warming are crucial for the existence of the future world. E.F. Schumacher's “Small is Beautiful” provides us a wonderful insight in this regard. It says that “Modern man does not experience himself as part of nature but as an outside force destined to dominate and conquer it. He even talks of a battle with nature, forgetting that, if he ever won the battle he would find himself on the losing side”


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. N S Cooray Professor, International University of Japan

Dr. N. S. Cooray is an Associate Professor and former Director of International Peace Studies Program in International University of Japan (IUJ). Before joining IUJ he was a Research Associate and co-ordinated projects on Sustainable Development Framework for Indonesia and Ecosystem Frameworks for Small Island States at the United Nations University/Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS). He was a UN Researcher at the United National Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) before joining the UNU/IAS. He has worked in Sri Lanka as a Teacher, a Lecturer and a Wharf Manager at the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment. He holds a BA (honours), Diploma in Economic Development, MA and Ph.D., all in economics. His publications include many referred articles, book chapters and two edited volumes. Research interests include sustainable development related issues, international political economy, peace and development, macroeconomic policy, and econometric modelling and forecasting. He is currently the President of the Association of Sri Lankan Academics in Japan (SLAC). He is a member of many professional associations including life member of Sri Lanka Association of Economists (SLAE), American Economists’ Association, Member of Japan Association of Economics and Econometric and East Asian Economists Association. He has also received fellowships from the International University of Japan and Yoneyama Rotary Foundation and got through Sri Lanka Administrative Service Examination (SLAS, 1991). Cooray was a Visiting Fellow/Researcher at the Tokyo University, Japan, The Australian National University, University of Sussex, England. He is also teaching (or taught) at the University of Colombo, University of Sophia, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), University of Tsukuba, University of Nagoya and Yokkaichi University. He was a Sports Captain and Vice President of the University of Colombo Sports Council. Has won "All Sri Lankan School Athletic Meet" first places awards in 800M, 1500M, and 3000M relay in 1981, three Diploma Certificates from the University of Colombo and about 70 other certificates awarded for athletics. He also honoured by Colombo University Colours in 1983, 1984, and 1985. Cooray has more than 25 years of teaching, research, training, and administrative experience.

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SLJCR-2013 Sixty Years of Japanese Economic Assistance to Sri Lanka: Trends, Patterns and Future Prospects N. S. Cooray Graduate School of International Relations, International University of Japan Japanese economic assistance to Sri Lanka continues to play an important role in strengthening the economic relation between the two countries. Sri Lanka is no longer a priority aid recipient country of Japan, but it receives assistance in many forms; including grant aid, technical co-operation and loans. Japan is currently experiencing problems of disinflation, high unemployment, huge debt and a high budget deficit. Given the above background, one may ask several important questions. Will Japan scale down further its economic assistance to Sri Lanka due to its domestic economic slowdown, allowing China to dominate its aid role in Sri Lankan? Should Japan become more active in Sri Lanka taking the country’s strategic geographical location? Does economic assistance affect trade, investment and other relations? What are the future prospects of Japanese economic cooperation to Sri Lanka? These are some of the issues the author intends to address in this paper. Receiving foreign loans at commercial rates and investing them in low return projects does not pave the way to achieve growth and fiscal consolidation targets. Foreign assistance in the form of grants is preferred to assistance in the form of loans. Government should reconsider when approaching donors for aid and bring the country from aid- dependent syndrome that exists extensively to a self-reliance mode in the long-term. This is one of the most important lessons Sri Lanka can learn from Japan when the both countries celebrate the 60th anniversary diplomatic relations. Key words:Japan Sri Lanka relation, Foreign aid


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. Kuniyoshi Takeuchi International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management, Japan

Kuniyoshi Takeuchi is Director of International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) under the auspices of UNESCO, Tsukuba, Japan. He is a professor emeritus of University of Yamanashi, where he taught hydrology and water resources for 30 years. Currently he is involved, inter alia, in research development of global flood alert system and water-related risk assessment methodologies. He served as Chairperson of Inter-Governmental Council of UNESCO IHP for 1998-2000 and President of IAHS for 2001-2005. He is now serving as Chair of IUGG GeoRisk Commission and Vice-Chair of Science Committee of ICSU-ISSC-UNISDR Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR). He is a recipient of IAHS-UNESCO-WMO 2012 International Hydrology Prize.

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SLJCR-2013 Disaster Risk Reduction: A Prerequisite for Sustainable Development Kuniyoshi Takeuchi International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) under the auspices of UNESCO, Public Works Research Institute (PWRI), Tsukuba, Japan Asian miracle is dependent on disaster risk reduction so as sustainable development anywhere in the world. The world is now facing such high disaster risk that has never been experienced before. Natural hazards are intensifying by climate change and environmental degradation. Vulnerability is increasing by population growth, urban concentration and economic development. Asian urban growth and economic development are especially outstanding in the world and so is the disaster risk. Disaster risk reduction is a development matter and not necessarily a humanitarian matter. Disaster risk reduction needs to be integrated in a development stage with infrastructure development. Especially structural means are important to secure economic development by providing safety for manufacturing, transportation and other services including national and international value and supply chains. It is important to note that the idea of the best mix of structural and nonstructural means sometimes overcasts the necessity of structural means. Preparedness and evacuation can save life but not economy. For economic development, structural means are necessity although not sufficiency. Year 2013 is a very important year for preparing for post-Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and post-Millennium Development Goals or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have to bring disaster risk reduction target to SDGs and make disaster risk monitoring as the focus of the post-HFA. For this aim, we do need collaboration. The Sri Lank and Japan tie is very important for us to bring the right agenda to the globe and do research to scientifically support the agenda to be realized. ICHARM proposes development of standard methodology to monitor risk, vulnerability and preparedness as one of the most important and timely themes of Sri Lanka-Japan collaborative research.


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. Kamala Liyanage Professor, University of Peradeniya

She is a senior professor, attached to the Dept. of Political Science, University of Peradeniya. She joined the academic staff in 1977 after completing her first degree in political science, with honors in the same university. In 1983 she completed her Master’s degree and proceeded to Japan in 1985 for further post graduates studies. She was admitted to another Master’s study programe in the University of Tokyo, and was able to obtained her Ph.D. in political Scince from the University of Keio, Tokyo, in 1991. Furthermore, she has successfully completed several post-doctoral courses and advanced diplomas in conflict resolution, feminist studies, human rights and good governance. She has been granted more 15 prestigious scholarships such as Monbusho scholarship, Japan, Commonwealth scholarship, U.K. and the Fulbright scholarship in the U.S.A. She has experienced in researching in teaching in the University of London, American University of Washington D.C. and the Institute of Developing Economies in Japan. Her research interests are political ideologies, comparative politics, ethic studies, human rights and gender studies and more than 60 books, monographs, articles in referred and non-refereed journals, chapters of books, training manuals and seminars in Sinhala, Tamil and Japanese have been published by her. She has contributed her service to the University of Perad3eniya as a Head of the Department, academic sub-warden, warden, student counselor and Deputy Proctor etc. She also took initiatives to establish the Centre for Study of Human Rights in the University of Peradeniya. Her contribution as researcher, consultant, trainer and activist, has been given to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, National Women’s Committee, Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and many other national as well as international non- governmental organizations.

Gender Equality and Political Representation of Women in Japan and Sri Lanka Kamla Liyanage, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya The Constitution of Japan, 1947 and the Constitution of Sri Lanka, 1978 guarantee all men and women the fundamental right to equality of treatment. Many international conventions and declarations have been accepted by both countries such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and the 1981 Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. In facilitating the implementation of the CEDAW, the UN organized five International Women’s Conferences after the 1975 - International Women’s Year where both Japan and Sri Lanka participated. Both Japan and Sri Lanka have guaranteed such international legal provisions by passing national laws or policies and reaffirmed the equal rights of men and women in political representation. Achievement of women in Japan and Sri Lanka in terms of literacy, education, health, physical quality of life and life expectancy are remarkable. In professional sphere, many women in Japan and Sri Lanka have reached the top level. However, according to the 2011 Inter-parliamentary Union data, Japan stood at 122nd and Sri Lanka 129th place out of 187 countries, on shares of seats occupied by women in national elected bodies. Japan has the lowest percentage of women in decision making among the developed nations and Sri Lanka has the lowest among Asian nations. Both Japanese and Sri Lankan women have advocated for an increase in women’s representation. In 1992, a Japanese citizens’ group called Alliance xxviii


SLJCR-2013 of Feminist Representatives was established and joined a few other existing organizations at the time such as Fusae Ichikawa Memorial Association and the League of Women Voters in Japan. Local organisations also developed a scheme called women’s simulation assembly, which was designed to promote activities for sending more women to local assemblies. As a result, more than 20% of women were elected to the ward assemblies in Tokyo. However, the scenario in the national level is not changing much. The present Japanese cabinet has two women members and recently a major party the Liberal Democratic Party has selected a woman as its General Secretary. Moreover, the Japanese government in a report from its Gender Equality Bureau in June, 2011, credited the quota system with boosting the proportion of women in politics. Despite 80 years of female franchise, Sri Lanka lags far behind most other developing nations with regard to women’s representation in elected bodies at national, provincial and local level. Now we have to answer the question whether it is important for women to be represented in elected bodies. Women’s political representation is important for a variety of reasons. Women constitute more than 50% of the population and of the voters in both countries and the presence of women in elected bodies will strengthen the legitimacy of equal rights and equal opportunity. It will also promote participatory democracy, democratic political systems, institutions and process, good governance and peace. When women and men take decisions together, government policy is likely to be more effective in promoting the common good, and the dialogue is more broad and responsive to public demand. Women’s experiences are different from men’s and their voices and insights need to be heard and taken into account to craft effective policies that respond to the needs of the entire population. The increase in number of women in elected bodies will contribute to the change in the nature of political institutions and the political culture and create a more women-friendly political environment. It is important for women as a group that women should be in positions of power and authority, so that they can be assured that they have a leader who protects as well as shares their interests. Having more women in decision making levels have positive effects or so-called role model effects on career aspirations of young women. According to the concept of gender and development, women should be given opportunities to plan and implement development strategies for only then can a country achieve sustainable development. The issue of getting more women in the legislature touches a broader issue of women’s representation in the Japanese economy. As Japan’s population shrinks, some economists argue the shortage of labor has undermined the country’s global competitiveness and undercut its economic growth. Under such circumstances ‘women’s perspectives’ can serve as a useful alternative to the conventional male perspective of governance and politics. Sri Lanka needs to make the transition from a post-war to post-conflict society and to pay more attention to reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation. One way to consolidate such positive gains is to ensure women’s representation in post-war decision making processes. One of the critical and insidious reasons for the lack of women in elected bodies of both countries is that lack of willingness of major political parties to give nomination to women. Many studies done on both countries have identified major obstacles that prevent women from taking part in politics. Relevant research studies show that without having temporary special measures or structural policies such as gender quotas for women to obtain nomination, only awareness raising, political training and other forms of support will solve at least a part of the problem. Remedies such as greater awareness, and leadership training for women and strengthening networks etc. will not produce quick results. But legislative quotas will help to solve that part of the issue. We are all part of the solution and we, women and men should work together to bring real gender equality to the society. Gender equality will never be reached if women are not in power. I believe that unleashing the full potential of women in the economy, the political arena, and in society, is needed now more than ever. Given the new demands that we face today, from violence against women to poverty, conflict and sustainable peace and development, we can no longer afford to marginalize or exclude women.


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SLJCR-2013 Prof.Norio Tanaka Professor, Saitama University, Japan

Prof. N. Tanaka is a Professor in Graduate School of Science & Engineering, Saitama University, and one of the Division Head of the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (IEST) in Saitama University. He joined Saitama University from 2000 as an Assistant Professor, became an Associate Professor from 2002 and a Professor from 2007. He received a Doctorate of Engineering in 1991 from School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, Japan. He has led numerous research projects on hydraulic and environmental engineering over last 10 years. He is a coordinator of Asia-Africa Science Platform Program under Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and a project manager of Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) project under Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He is one of the directors of IAHR (International Association for Hydro-environment Engineering and Research) Japan Chapter. His Research interests include sustainable development related issues, environmental engineering, numerical modelling and analyses on the topics related to hydraulics, disaster protection and mitigation engineering, ecohydraulics and ecohydrology. He has more than 13 years of teaching, research, training, and administrative experience. In his research career, he has supervised more than 40 Master students, and supervised 15 Ph.D. students. He has totally more than 140 peer reviewed journal publications and more than 150 conference proceedings papers/abstracts.

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SLJCR-2013 Vegetation Bioshields for Tsunami Mitigation in Sri Lanka N. Tanaka Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Japan

Effects of coastal forest on the reduction of tsunami energy are to be quantitatively clarified for optimal planning of the natural systems and their maintenance. A joint research was conducted to clarify the effectiveness of coastal forests against tsunami, the breaking conditions of coastal tree species, and the future establishment and management of coastal vegetation. The survey after the Indian Ocean tsunami in Sri Lanka and followed by numerical simulations suggested several options for coastal vegetation management that could effectively reduce the impact of tsunamis and other natural disasters in the future. Subsequently, a situation survey was also conducted to examine the planting situation of coastal vegetation for tsunami mitigation in Sri Lanka. An evaluation was carried out to assess whether the coastal vegetation fulfilled the functions of dissipation of wave energy and trapping debris, and offering opportunities to escape and make a soft landing. Many of the vegetation barriers constructed mainly after the tsunami are planted in one or two rows due to land availability constraints in areas along main roads or railway tracks. In addition, our research team proposed a pilot-scale coastal plantation in the Matara Thotamuna area in the southern coastal belt near the mouth of the Nilwala River, Matara City, which was severely affected by the 2004 tsunami. The project was conducted to get the knowledge of the growth curve of representative tree species and of initial development method under severe environment including tidal waves and salt spray from seaward. It was very successful compared to similar projects that suffered from poor maintenance and operation. The project indicated that support from local authorities and communities are vital to make such programs successful. Considering the Matara project, an integrated coastal vegetation management system has been proposed to maintain the vegetation bioshield effect for a long time. Key words:bioshields, tsunami, growth curve, planting, forest management


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. Ranjith Dissanayake Professor, University of Peradeniya

Prof. Dissanayake was a Monshusho Scholar in 1992 Japan, Fulbright Scholar in 2008 Columbia University, USA and Endeavour Fellow in 2008 Monash University Australia, JASSO Research Fellowship Ehime University, Japan in 2007. He was awarded Young Scientist Award 2007 for Excellence in Scientific Research by National Science and Technology Commission of Sri Lanka and Overseas Prize for the paper published in Institution of Civil Engineers, London, UK, 2007. He has published over 100 papers. He was recently awarded Australia Alumni Excellence Award 2012. He has chaired FOUR international conferences on Mitigation of the Risk of Natural Hazards (ICMRNR) of IIIRR in 2007, Sustainable Built Environment (ICSBE) in 2010, Structural Engineering, Construction and Management (ICSECM) in2011, Sustainable Built Environment (ICSBE 2012) in 2012, which were held in Sri Lanka. He is a founding director of the Green Building Council of Sri Lanka (GBCSL). He is a fellow of Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka. He is one of Chairs of the International Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction Management (ICSECM2013) which will be held at Earl’s Regency Kandy Sri Lanka (www.icsecm.org).

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SLJCR-2013 Sustainability in Education, Research and Practice Prof. Ranjith Dissanayake Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Sustainability is a dynamic concept that encompasses a new version of education, research and practice that seeks to empower all to assume responsibility for creating and enjoying a sustainable future. Education for sustainability development integrates concept and analytical tools from a variety of disciplines to help people better understand the world in which they live. Education for sustainability must include key sustainable issues into teaching and learning; for example climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, sustainable consumption etc. It also requires teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change behavior and take action for sustainability. In the presentation, the problems in sustainable built environment and the challenges that we are facing illustrated. As a solution to the above challengers we need to have a change in our attitude, science and technology, and economy and legal aspect. These have to be inculcated in the younger generation with education as sustainability and also in research and practice. Finally application of the concept of sustainability in education, research and practice will be demonstrated with a case study.


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SLJCR-2013 Prof. Yukio Ikemoto Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia

IKEMOTO Yukio is Professor of Southeast Asian Economic Studies. The main subject of his research is inequality in Southeast Asia. He received his B.A. (1980) and his Doctor of Economics degree (1993) from the Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University. He was promoted to Professor in 2002. Before joining the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia as an Associate Professor in 1998, he was a researcher at the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE)from1980 to 1990 and Associate Professor of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University. While working for IDE, he was sent to Thailand to conduct research at the Social Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, from 1987 to 1989. While working for CSEAS, he was stationedat the Bangkok Liaison Office of CSEAS twice. Professor Ikemoto's major publications include: IncomeDistribution in Thailand: Its Change, Causes and Structure , Tokyo: Institute of Developing Economies, 1992; "An Expansion of Cottage Industry in Northeast Thailand: A Case of Triangular Pillows in Yasothon Province," Southeast Asian Studies , 33-4, 1996.3; "Income Inequality and Kuznets' Hypothesisin Thailand" (Co-authored with Uehara Mine) Asian Economic Journal Vol.14 No.4, Dec.2000, pp.421-423; and "Poverty Alleviation Policies and Ethnic Minority People in Vietnam" presented at a conference on "Justice and Poverty: Examining Sen'sCapability Approach" held at Von Hugel Institute, St Edmund'sCollege, University of Cambridge, 6-7 June 2001.

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SLJCR-2013 From Economic Development to Human Development: Sri Lanka and Japan Yukio Ikemoto Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo, Japan

[email protected] The focus of development has been shifting from economic development to human development since the 1990s, though the influence of economic thinking is still strong. The turning point was the year 1990 when the World Bank selected poverty for the special issue of the World Development Report and UNDP started publishing Human Development Report annually. The latter is now well-known for its Human Development Index (HDI). Even though the difference of the indices may not be large, its impact was more than expected. Many people began to think “development” in terms of “human development” rather than “economic development”. It is clear that the former is our ultimate goal while the latter is a means to achieve the former. A point is whether human development cannot be achieved without economic development. The two important cases which proved this were Sri Lanka and Kerala of India, which shows high scores in the human development index, though its income level may not be so high. They showed that human development, which is our ultimate goal, is achievable with much less economic development. My own study on Thailand also showed that improvement of child nutrition could be achieved without economic growth in the early 1980s. On the other hand, Japan succeeded in economic growth without giving much attention to human development. This experience makes it difficult for them to shift their focus to human development. Just recently, when Japan was overtaken by China in terms of GDP, which claims “the second largest economy in the world”, their concern was still in the economic ranking, not the real situation of human life. No one can deny the fact that Japan has achieved high level of human development. But what I want to argue here is that their idea is still economy-oriented and that this may mislead our future. Japan was also well-known as a country of equal income distribution of income in the past. But Japan is now losing this reputation. In the effort to recover from the “lost decade” which started in the 1990s, Japan changed its equal social system to more unequal one in order to make people work harder. The rhetoric that inequality in payment was necessary as an incentive to work was more economyoriented rather than human-oriented. Many Japanese thought there were many kinds of inequalities in the stagnant economy. Inequality, unfairness, and injustice are the incentive to change the society. Perhaps many of us felt many kinds of inequality in those days, but we did not know what kind of inequality we should tackle. This may be a reason why so Japanese seem to be still captivated by the idea of economic prosperity. After March 11, 2011 we knew inequality or unfairness existed in our society, however the Gini coefficient may be small. Our “equal” society was founded on “unequal structure”. My idea is deeply influenced by Amartya Sen’s The Idea of Justice, which I translated into Japanese. He is well-known in Japan and many of his books translated into Japanese. His idea on “capability” had a very important role in shifting from economic growth to human development in the international community. In spite of his popularity in Japan, his idea is unfortunately not well-understood in Japan. However, many activities are mushrooming at local level to help each other especially after 3.11, which will broaden our informational basis far beyond economics. On this broad informational base, we need the idea of justice. Keywords:human development, capabilities approach, Amartya Sen, justice, solidarity economy


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SLJCR-2013

Contents

Page

ORAL PRESENTATION Growth Hormone and Insulin Like Growth Factor-1 Axis in the Bovine Oviduct: Up Regulation during the Periovulatory Period

1

Effect of Stem Cell Factor on Development and Survival of Pig and Mouse Oocyte in Vitro

2

Feasibility Study of Castor (RicinusCommunis) Cultivation in Dry Zone of Sri Lanka

3

Collaborative Research on Flowering Physiology of Ornamental Crops

4

Investigating Chlorophyll Degradation Mechanism in Stored Japanese Bunching Onion Using Allium Alien Monosomic Addition Lines

5

Generation of Marker-free Transgenic Plant Solanum Melongena Through MAT Vector System

6

Prediction of Tensile Strength Degradation of Steel Bridge Members Due to Corrosion - An Analytical Method

7

Study on Double-layered TiO2 Photoanode for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

8

Development of the CAM System for Direct Metal Lamination Using Arc Discharge

9

Development of an HPC Enhance Multi Agent System for Large Urban area Evacuation Simulation

10

Vibration Measurement-based Simple Technique for Structural Health Monitoring of Steel Bridges in Sri Lanka

11

Safety Problems of Large Scale Lithium Ion Batteries

12

From an Occupied Country to a World Power: Foreign Policy Trajectory of Post-War Japan

13

A Study on Japan Sri Lanka Relations: Japan’s Peacebuilding Efforts in Sri Lanka since 2000 to 2012

14

Gender Related Attitudes Towards Long-term Care Among Older People in Certain Selected Areas in Central Province, Sri Lanka

15

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Japan

16

The Impact of Informal Institutions on Resource Utilization in Rural Agriculture: The Experience of Sri Lanka

17

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SLJCR-2013 An Entrepreneurship: Improving Access to Livelihood Opportunities for Fishermen

18

Tea Plantation Community and Governance: Service Delivery to Estate Tamils – Policy and Practice

19

Work Arrangement for Minority Work Groups: Lessons From Public Employment Security System (PESS) of Japan

20

Hrm for Non-Regular Workers: Lessons From Japan

21

Integrating Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains: New Strategies for Developing Countries under Globalization

22

Role of Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers in Social Business Development in Sri Lanka: Strengths, Weaknesses and Challenges

23

Improving the Socio-economic Conditions of Tea Estate Workers in Sri Lanka through Smallscale Contract Farming

24

The Capability Approach to Economic and Social Issues on Tea Plantation Workers and Their Children

25

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice toward Leptospirosis among Community People in Kegalle District of Sri Lanka -An Analysis on Different Farming Experiences

27

Serological and Genetic Analysis of Human and Animal Leptospirosis in Sri Lanka

28

Hantavirus Infection Among Suspected Leptospirosis Patients in Kandy, Sri Lanka: Serological Evidence

29

Awareness and Attitudes Related to Stigma on HIV/AIDS among Residents of Kandy, Sri Lanka

30

Local Intervention Programs for Rabies Prevention in Nuwara Eliya District

31

An Epidemiological Study on Prevalence of Postpartum Depression at the University of Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka

32

Functional analysis of Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-2alpha

33

Effectiveness of Lentiviral Vector Mediated CD80/caTLR4 Transfection on the Surface Phenotypes and Function of Antigen Presenting Cells 721.221A*2402 and PMDC05

34

Presence of Rabies and Its Distribution Among Animals in the Central Province of Sri Lanka

35

Comparison of Mononuclear Cells in Various Immune Organs of C57BL/6J mice

36

Is the ROS Producing Potential of Mitochondrial Complex II in Cancer Cells Different from that in Normal Cells?

37


xxxvii

SLJCR-2013 Sri Lanka - Japan Collaborative Research on Ground Water Quality in Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu) Prevalent Areas in Sri Lanka

38

Metabolic Fate of a Conjugated Trienoic Fatty Acid (Alpha-Eleostearic Acid) Present in Seeds of Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) in Rats

39

Nutritional Self-management of Middle Aged Male Adults on Haemodialysis

40

Effect of Insulin-like Peptide 3 on Testosterone Secretion and cAMP Release in Mouse Leydig Cells

41

Study of the Leakage Problem of Nortonbridge Reservoir, Sri Lanka

43

Modelling of Biodegradation Induced MSW Landfill Settlement

44

An Analysis of Erosion Reduction Efficiency of Selected Soil Conservation Measures on Sloping Agricultural Lands in Sri Lanka

45

Extreme Metamorphism in the Highland Complex, Sri Lanka

46

Petrogenesis of ‘incipient charnockite’ in the Gondwana Orogeny

47

Collaborative Educational System of Earth Science and Geoenvironmental Science

48

Collaborative Research for the Systematic Understanding of the Coastal Zone in Asia, Its Geohistory and Present Environments

49

Remote Sensing of Ecological Hotspots: Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Forest Die-Back in Horton Plains National Park, Sri Lanka

50

Influence of Aeration Modes on the Biodegradation of Solid Waste in a Landfill Adopting the Aerobic-Anaerobic Method

51

Impact of Climate Change on Children in Sri Lanka: A Perceptional Analysis

52

Comparison of Effects of Fertilization on Groundwater Contamination in Agricultural Areas: Sri Lanka and Japan

53

Application of Statistical Bias-correction Method for Climate Change Impact Assessment in Kalu Ganga Basin, Sri Lanka

54

A Projection of Future Changes in Precipitation Over Sri Lanka Using Pseudo Global Warming Downscaling Approach

55

The Role Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) in a Fringing Coral Reef Ecosystem

56

Kandyan Homegarden Systems and Rural Livelihood Under Climate and Ecosystem Changes

57

How To Select Appropriate Smart City Concept

59

xxxviii


SLJCR-2013 Towards Designing a User Centric Mobile Learning Space (UCMLS): Design Rationale, Pedagogy Innovation, And Business Models

60

The Use of Digital Library by the Undergraduates in Sri Lanka and Japan: A Comparative Study at Peradeniya and Niigata Universities

61

Nodule Detection by Lung CT CAD: Analysis by PSF-based Image Simulation with Verification

62

An Improved Method of Modelling Plant Species Population in Japanese Grasslands Using a Generalized Beta-Binomial Distribution

63

Advancing Composite-type Optical Fiberscope Vision

64

Dependency of CT CAD Performance on the Distance Between Nodule and Pulmonary Vessel: A Study by Using Virtual Nodules

65

Gis Based Hotspot Detection in Crime Analysis

66

DNA Cleavage by Porphyrins and Metalloporphyrins

67

Isolation and Characterization of Microsatellite Markers for the Analysis of Conspecific Populations of the Mayfly, Rhithrogena Japonica

68

Differences of Tobacco Problems and Tobacco Control Measures in Sri Lanka and Japan

69

Detoxification of Glycolaldehyde: The Key Target for Developing Robust Yeast Strain to Improve the Bioethanol Production from Hot-Compressed Water-treated Lignocelluloses

70

Enantiomeric Separation of Asymmetric Triacylglycerols in Fish Oil

71

Economics of Kitchen Energy Utilization and Potentials for Simple Gasifier Stove in Rural Households in Belihuloya, Sri Lanka

72

Immobilization of an Acid Proteinase from Monascus Pilosus on Chitosan Beads

73

Lesson Learnt From the Training Programs on Post Disaster Impact Assessment and Flood Risk Identification and Management in Sri Lanka

74

POSTAL PRESENTATION Socio-demographic Impacts on HIV/AIDS Prevention Among the Different Populations in Sri Lanka

75

A Study on Child Growth and Development of Sri Lanka －Cross Sectional Study in Tea Estate Areas of Kandy Suburbs

76


xxxix

SLJCR-2013 Comparison of Different Histochemical Staining Techniques [Hematoxylin and Eosin [H&E], Toluidine Blue, Modified Giemsa and Immunohistochemical] for the Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Infection

77

Transcultural Care – Comparative Study of Health System and Nursing Between Sri Lanka and Japan

78

Use of Embryo Transfer for the First Breeding after Voluntary Waiting Period Followed by Artificial Insemination for the Subsequent Breeding in Holstein Cows to Improve Fertility

79

Evaluation of Myocardial Function and Heart Imaging by Use of Heart Accumulated Radiopharmaceuticals

80

Needs Assessment of Medical Care for Ageing Population in Teaching Hospital Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

81

Three dimensional in Vivo Contact Analysis of Wrist Joint during Wrist Motion by Using MRI

82

Contribution of Liver Natural Killer T cells in Concanavalin A-Induced Murine Model of Hepatitis

83

Effects of Diabetes on Heart Function and Metabolism in Mice

84

The Handicapped in the Information Age: Comparative Study on Sri Lanka and Japan on Eliminating Digital Divide

85

Oral Health Survey of Around 6-Year Old School Children in Sri Lanka

86

Linkages Among Stock Markets: A Study of Sri Lankan, Japanese and USA Equity Markets

87

Geochemical Characteristics of Canals in Major Cities of Sri Lanka Case Study on Colombo and Kandy

88

Study of Rapid Rock Weathering - Case Study from Samanalawewa Hydropower Project, Sri Lanka

89

Mapping Sri Lanka's International Research Collaboration with Japan During 2000-2012

90

A Study on Micro Level Impact of Housemaid Migration in Sri Lanka: Social and Economic Conditions of Households and Family

91

Technical and Vocational Educational Sector Problems in Sri Lanka and Possible Japanese Assistance to Resolve them

92

Perfluorinated Compounds - a New Class of Global Pollutants Found in Sri Lankan Environme

93

Challenge to System Construction for Collecting and Tracing Patient Information by Using Vein Authentication

94

xl


SLJCR-2013

SPECIAL SESSIONS SAITAMA Session

95-118

UNU Session

119-130

APU Session

131-138

ICHARM Session

139-152

YWP Session

153-154


xli

SLJCR-2013

xlii


SLJCR-2013

Oral Presentations


SLJCR-2013

Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry


SLJCR-2013 Growth Hormone and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Axis in the Bovine Oviduct: Up Regulation during the Periovulatory Period Suranga P. Kodituwakku1, Barana C. Jayawardane1, K.B.M. Nishany1, Akio Miyamoto2 and Missaka P.B. Wijayagunawardane1* 1

2

Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Graduate School of Animal and Food Hygiene, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan *[email protected]

Growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) are known to be crucial for female reproductive functions. Thus, the objectives of the present study were to determine cyclic regulation of local oviductal GH/IGF-1 and its involvement with oviductal prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), prostaglandin PGF2α (PGF2α), endothelin-1 (ET-1) and Angiotensin II (Ang II) secretion. The mRNA expression for GH Receptors (GH-R), IGF, and IGF receptor-1 (IGF-R1) during the normal estrous cycle, as well as the effect of luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol-17 (E2), and/or progesterone (P4), and GH/IGF-1 axis on the expression of those substances were evaluated. The study was further extended to evaluate the effect of GH/IGF axis on the secretion of PGs, ET-1 and Ang II during the normal estrous cycle. The mRNA expressions for GH-R, IGF-1, and IGF-R1 in the oviducts collected during the different phases of the estrous cycle as well as in cultured bovine oviductal epithelial cells (BOEC) with treatments of GH (ng/ml), IGF-1 (100 pg/ml), LH (1 g/ml), E2 (100 ng/ml), and/or P4 (100 ng/ml) were investigated using quantitative RT-PCR. In vitro microdialysis was used to study the effect of GH/IGF axis on the secretions of PG, ET-1 and Ang II during the normal estrous cycle. The oviductal segments were infused for 4-8 h with GH (1 g/ml) and IGF (10 ng/ml) during a16-h incubation period. The levels of PG, ET-1 and Ang II in the fractions were measured using enzyme immunoassay. An elevated expression of GH-R mRNA was observed during the periovulatory period and, mRNA expression for IGF-1 was increased only during the postovulatory phase. The mRNA levels for both IGF-R1 were higher during post ovulatory and luteal phases. BOEC treated with LH, E2 and LH+E2 shown significant increased in mRNA levels for GH-R and IGF-1, and only LH shown a significant elevation of IGF-1R. Moreover, a significant increase in mRNA for IGF-1 was resulted with GH, GH+LH and GH+LH+E2, but no effect on IGF-R1. On the other hand, GH, GH+LH and GH+LH+E2 significantly increased COX-2 mRNA expression. Treatments with GH, GH+LH and GH+LH+E2 increased the COX-2 mRNA expression, and IGF+LH and IGF+LH+E2 increased the mRNA expression for PGES and PGFS in BOEC. The results of the present study indicate that, the oviductal GH/IGF1 axis is stimulated during the periovulatory period that may contribute to provide the best oviductal environment for gamete transport, fertilization, embryo transport, development and metabolism, thus improving the fertility and embryo survival. Keywords: Bovine oviduct, in vitro microdialysis, GH/IGF Axis, gene expression, prostaglandins Acknowledgements: This project was supported by a National Research Council Grant (No. 11-198)


1

SLJCR-2013 Effect of Stem Cell Factor on Development and Survival of Pig and Mouse Oocyte in vitro Manjula P.S. Magamage1*and Takashi Miyano2 1

Laboratory of Reproductive Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Livestock Production, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka 2 Laboratory of Reproductive Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Animal Science, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Kobe University, Hyogo, Japan *[email protected]

Mammalian ovary is endowed with a large number of primordial follicles containing non-growing oocytes which surrounded by flat pre-granulosa cells. A small proportion of primordial follicles enter to the growth phase while some of others are degenerated. Several endocrine and locally acting factors are involved in the process of primordial follicle development and oocyte growth initiation. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of Stem Cell Factor (SCF) on primordial follicle development in pig and mouse. New born mouse ovaries and prepubertal pig ovaries were used as the culture material. Mouse ovaries and pig ovarian strips were cultured in medium containing SCF on a cellulose acetate floating membrane filters on organ culture dishes for 7 days under the humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2 and 95 % air at 37.5 °C and 38.5 °C, respectively. Ovarian tissues before and after culture were fixed in 3 % (w/v) paraformaldehyde in PBS, and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. Newborn mouse ovaries contained mainly primordial follicles (91 ± 5 %) before culture. The percentage of degenerated follicles was 5 ± 2 % before culture. Histological sections of ovaries cultured with 100 ng/ml SCF contained significantly higher proportion of healthy intact primordial follicles (52 ± 1%) than that in the control (33 ± 1 %). The proportion of degenerated follicles in 10 ng/ml SCF treated group was almost equal to control group. The number of degenerated follicles was significantly lower (12 ± 2 %) in 100 ng/ml SCF-treated ovaries compared to the control (44 ± 4 %). The percentage of degenerated follicles among the pig ovary was 11 ± 4 % before the culture. Histological sections of the tissues cultured with 100 ng/ml SCF contained significantly higher numbers of primordial follicles (54 ± 1 %) than that in the control (43 ± 3 %). Number of degenerated follicles was significantly lower (45 ± 1 %) in 100 ng/ml SCFtreated tissues. There were no difference between developing follicle percentages in controls and treatments. The SCF did not promote primordial follicle development in mouse and pig in cultured stripes, although it decreased the number of degenerated follicles and thereby increased the number of viable follicles. Keywords: Culture, follicle, mouse, ovary, pig, stem cell factor

2

Conference on Sri Lanka - Japan Collaborative Research 2013 29th - 31st March, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

SLJCR-2013 Feasibility Study of Castor (Ricinus communis) Cultivation in Dry Zone of Sri Lanka R.G. Saman Wijesekara1*, D.C. Abeysinghe1 and Masatoshi Matsumura2 1

2

Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, Makandura, Gonawila (NWP), Sri Lanka Green Materials Research Corporation, Minami Ooi, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan *[email protected]

The castor Ricinus communis indigenous to the Southeastern Mediterranean Basin, Eastern Africa and India, but is widespread throughout tropical regions. Castor seed oil has a wide variety of uses. Besides being used medicinally, castor oil is finding increasing application in the industrial world. Recently castor oil is used to produce sebacic acid the starting material for bio-nylon and bio-plastic production which are environmentally friendly products. After 30 years of civil war in Sri Lanka, plenty of uncultivated lands in North-East parts and abandon shrimp farms in North-Western parts of Sri Lanka are available for cultivation. Since castor withstand in wide range of soils under low moisture content it can be grown in those newly available lands. Most importantly, this crop is not invaded by wild elephants, cattle and buffalos. In fact, it is one of the highly recommended crops for areas frequented by wild elephants. The aim of the present study was to evaluate physiological parameters and agronomic practices of locally available castor varieties under rain fed conditions in dry zone of Sri Lanka. Ultimate goal of this study was to establish a castor based industry in Sri Lanka with the support of Japanese investors. Two agro-ecological regions in dry zone of Sri Lanka including abandoned shrimp farms were selected to determine their potential for castor planting. The possibility of intercropping castor with Teak was also evaluated. Locally available castor varieties were cultivated in experimental sites and growth parameters, yield, agronomic practices were monitored. Physical and chemical properties of soils in selected sites were evaluated. Other technical and social problems related to castor harvesting and threshing were also noted. The study revealed that castor crop could be successfully cultivated in dry zone of Sri Lanka bordering to wild elephant invasive areas without any crop damage. It was also successfully grown in abounded shrimp farms. Intercropping with Teak plantations was also feasible. Keywords: Castor cultivation, dry zone of Sri Lanka, abounded shrimp farms, wild elephant, intercropping Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank PEAR Carbon Offset Initiative, Ltd., Global Environment Center Foundation and Ministry of Environment, Japan for financial support and Wayamba University of Sri Lanka for operational assistance.


3

SLJCR-2013 Collaborative Research on Flowering Physiology of Ornamental Crops S. Fukai1* and S. Geekiyanage2 1

2

Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Japan Department of Agricultural Biology, Faculty of Agriculture University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

The Asian Economy has grown very quickly during last two decades. This change has brought about an increase in the standard of living. Both flower production and consumption have increased rapidly in Asia. Chrysanthemum is one of the most important floricultural crops in world flower market. Chrysanthemum is a typical short-day plant, and all-year-round cut flowers production is achieved by the regulation of flowering time with a night break. Recently, the understanding of flowering physiology based on molecular biology has been rapidly advancing. Many important flowering-related genes, including the ‘Florigen’ gene FT and the homolog, have been identified in both a long-day plant, Arabidopsis, and a short-day plant, rice. FT-transformed chrysanthemums showed flowering under noninductive conditions. The transformants repeated vegetative and reproductive growth. Isolation of Chrysanthemum native flowering related genes and their functional analysis are in progress. The increase in global demand for cut chrysanthemum flowers and the expansion of producing areas require both advanced cut-flowers production techniques and excellent cultivars. Deeper understanding of flowering physiology based on the molecular genetics in agricultural crops would allow us to achieve more efficient breeding programs and develop new culture techniques. New challenges in improvement of Anthurium, an economically important ornamental crop in Sri Lanka, have started as our collaborative research program. This paper overviews recent advances in the understanding of chrysanthemum flowering physiology based on molecular biology and presents our future research collaborations in flowering physiology study and breeding of new ornamentals. Keywords: Anthurium, chrysanthemum, flowering gene

4


SLJCR-2013 Investigating Chlorophyll Degradation Mechanism in Stored Japanese Bunching Onion using Allium Alien Monosomic Addition Lines P.K. Dissanayake1*, N. Yamauchi2, M. Shigyo2 and S. Tanaka2 1

Department of Export Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University, Sri Lanka 2 Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Japan *[email protected]

The shelf life of Japanese bunching onion (Allium fistulosum L.; JBO genome FF) leaves diminished with yellowing of leaves as a consequence of chlorophyll (Chl) degradation. The aimofthis study wasto elucidate the mechanism of Chl degradation in stored JBO leaves. Alien monosomic addition lines (AMALs) of JBO were used as supportive materials to have insight of Chl degradation mechanism by studying Chl degradation, formation of Chl a derivatives and activity of Chl-degrading enzymes during storage. Series of AMALs (FF+1A to FF+8A) of JBO are with extra chromosomes from shallot (A. cepa L., Aggregatum group; genome AA). The Chl content in FF was significantly influenced by the alien chromosomes from shallot. The chromosomes 4A and 5A from shallot had a significance influence on the formation of Chl than the other chromosomes. The Chl contents in FF+3A and FF+5A leaves decreased greatly during storage at 25°C, whereas in FF+4A reduction of Chl content was the lowest compared to the control, FF. Chlide a, OHChl a, Pheide a, and Phy a, as derivatives of Chl a, were present during storage. The Phy a levels increased with Chl degradation, especially in FF+3A (rapid Chldegrading line), while OHChl a levels in FF and FF+3A declined during storage. The activities of Chldegrading enzymes, especially Chl-degrading peroxidase and Mg-dechelation, also progressively increased during storage at 25oC. In JBO leaves, during Chl degradation, presence of Phy a was prominent, which was not recorded in other horticultural crops. The formation of Phy a in stored JBO leaves were further investigated. In FF+3A, the formation of Phy a was high than FF and FF+4A. Electron microscopic observation of plant cells elucidated the formation of plastoglobuli in chloroplast and its movement from chloroplast to vacuole in JBO. These observations indicated that Phy a could be, in part, formed non-enzymatically by the acidic condition in vacuole. Especially, a large number of plastoglobuli in vacuole of FF+3A might relate to the high Phy a formation with Chl degradation. Thus, all these findings suggest that Chl a could be degraded, in part, through Phy a, as well as Chlide a and OHChl a, and a vacuole along with a chloroplast might be an important site for Chl degradation in JBO during storage. Keywords: Chlorophyll degradation, Japanese bunching onion, Pheophytin


5

SLJCR-2013 Generation of Marker-free Transgenic Plant Solanum melongena through MAT Vector System Gunaratnam Thirukkumaran1*, Chin Dong Poh, Ikuo Nakamura and Masahiro Mii Laboratory of Plant Cell Technology, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Chiba University, Matsudo City, Chiba, Japan 1 *Present address Department of Agricultural biology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna, Jaffna, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

The use of antibiotic or herbicide resistant genes as selection markers for production of transgenic plants and their continuous presence in the final transgenic have been criticized by the public and considered a hindrance in their commercialization. Multi-auto-transformation (MAT) vector system has been one of the strategies to produce marker-free transgenic plants without using selective chemicals and plant growth regulators (PGRs). The MAT vector system consists of positive selection, using the oncogene isopentenyl transferase (ipt) gene with a site-specific recombination and DNA removal system that generates marker-free plant Solanum melongena which is an important vegetable plant in all over the world. Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain harboring an ipt-type MAT vector containing model gene lacZ and the removable cassette with gus gene in the T-DNA region is used to produce morphologically normal transgenic plants employing ipt gene as the selectable marker gene and gus gene as a reporter gene. Explants inoculated with ipt type MAT vector were cultured on PGRs- and selective agent-free MS medium, and twelve regenerated shoots developed ipt shooty phenotype, morphologically abnormal shoots, within approximately three months after co-cultivation. Fourteen morphologically normal shoots were produced from twelve transgenic ipt shoots nine months after co-cultivation. The normal shoots rooted well on hormone-free MS medium. Molecular analysis of DNA from morphologically normal shoots came from ipt-shooty lines revealed that the normal shoots had only lacZ gene and the removable cassette consisting of ipt gene was excised. This study indicates that the ipt-type MAT vector could be used for the production of morphologically normal marker-free transgenic Solanum melongena plants without using selective chemical agents and it will be efficiently used for the molecular breeding of plants with repeated transformation with various useful genes. Keywords: Marker-free transgenic plants, oncogenes, MAT vector

6


SLJCR-2013

Engineering


SLJCR-2013 Prediction of Tensile Strength Degradation of Steel Bridge Members due to Corrosion: An Analytical Method J.M.R.S. Appuhamy1*, S.N. Malkanthi1, M. Ohga2, P. Chun2 and P.B.R. Dissanayake3 1

Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka 2 Faculty of Engineering, Ehime University, Japan 3 Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

Steel girder bridges, like other structures, deteriorate over time due to environmental effects, material fatigue, and overloading. Corrosion becomes one of the major causes of deterioration of steel bridges and there have been many damage examples of older steel bridge structures due to corrosion around the world during past few decades. Therefore, development of an efficient maintenance, repair and rehabilitation methodology for existing bridges has been recognized as very critical issue in bridge infrastructure maintenance industry. Due to economic constraints, it will be an exigent task to conduct tests for each and every aged bridge structure within their bridge budgets. Therefore, bridge engineers are faced with the lack of experimental and field data and hence at present, numerical simulation is being used to replace the time-consuming and expensive experimental work and to comprehend on the lack of knowledge of mechanical behaviour, stress distribution, ultimate behaviour and so on. This paper presents a simple and comprehensive analytical method for the utilization of recently developed numerical techniques to estimate the reduction of tensile strength capacities due to corrosion, which can be used to make rational decisions about the maintenance management plan of aged steel infrastructures. Keywords: Bridge maintenance, corrosion, FEM analysis, steel bridges, residual tensile strength


7

SLJCR-2013 Study on Double-layered TiO2 Photoanode for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells D.M.B.P. Ariyasinghe1* and M. Shimomura1,2 1

Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, 432-8011 Hamamatsu, Japan 2 Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 432-8011 Hamamatsu, Japan *[email protected]

With the impending energy crisis and the growing concern about global warming, there has been considerable industrial and academic interest in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The DSSCs are presently the most efficient third-generation solar cell technology available. In this work, DSSCs were fabricated using double layer process. Anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin film was grown on conducting fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) electrodes using spray pyrolysis deposition technique. After spraying, the sample was sintered at ~450 C for 30 min. Another TiO2 layer was deposited on top of the above substrates keeping the same thickness with bare cell by using same TiO2 solution and spray pyrolysis deposition technique. Finally above cell annealed at 450 °C for 30 min. The short circuit photocurrent (Isc) and thus the performance of the cell was greatly enhanced when adopting a two-step spraying and sintering process with double layer structure, confirming that high visible light absorption of the TiO2 electrode is required for high efficiency conversion (Figure 1). The conversion efficiency of the double layer DSSC was 8.5 % because of the enhancement of the short-circuit current (JSC = 15.4 mA/cm2), compared with an efficiency of 5.1 % (JSC = 9.2 mA/cm2) of the standard TiO2 electrodes.

Figure 1. Current-voltage characteristics of DSSCs varying the thickness of TiO2 bottom layer Keywords: Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2)

8


SLJCR-2013 Development of the CAM System for Direct Metal Lamination Using Arc Discharge Takeyuki Abe1*, Muditha Dassanayake2 and Hiroyuki Sasahara1 1

Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan 2 Department of Production Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

Additive manufacturing, which can fabricate complicated shapes from 3D-CAD data, has become popular for making not only prototypes but also machine parts and die tools. Direct metal lamination using arc discharge has been developed by the authors’ research group as a novel additive manufacturing technology. Figure 1 shows the direct metal lamination machine. This method has the following advantages. In this method, the metallic materials are melted and accumulated by arc welding technology. Therefore, various metallic materials can be used. The strength is comparable to the bulk material, so metallic products with high strength can be fabricated rapidly. After the lamination process, a finishing process (milling or grinding) is necessary when high accuracy and good surface roughness are required. The objects can be fabricated as a near net shape. So this method can reduce the quantity of the removed material in the finishing process and is especially expected to fabricate large-size dies and a single machine part which needs high-strength. Generally, in additive manufacturing processes, 3D-CAD data is transformed into 2D-sliced data. Metallic material is accumulated along contour shape of the 2D-sliced data with three-axis control. This lamination path is generated by CAM program. A novel CAM program which generates spiral path has been developed. Thereby, shell structures could be fabricated continuously with high accuracy. However, to fabricate shell structures which have overhang shape, lamination height of the area where inclined angle is large becomes low. In this study, CAM program which controls torch feed speed to compensate this lamination height error was developed. Accumulated metal shapes under various torch feed speed conditions were measured and an accumulated metal shape model was put into the CAM program. The CAM program calculates inclined angle at the lamination point from 3D-CAD data. Finally, torch feed speed was calculated based on the accumulated metal shape model and the inclined angle to maintain the lamination height constant. As a result, impeller shape, shown in Figure2, which has large inclined angle, could be fabricated by using the developed CAM program.

15mm

Figure 1. Direct metal lamination machine

Figure 2. Impeller

Keywords: Additive manufacturing, Arc discharge, CAM, lamination path, rapid manufacturing, rapid prototyping, welding Conference on Sri Lanka - Japan Collaborative Research 2013 th st 29 - 31 March, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

9

SLJCR-2013 Vibration Measurement-based Simple Technique for Structural Health Monitoring of Steel Bridges in Sri Lanka C.S. Walmsley1, D.M.I.P. Dissanayake1, D. Paranavithana1, G.H.M.J. Subashi1, S.A.S.C. Siriwardane2*, P.B.R. Dissanayake3 and Mitao Ohga4 1

2

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka Department of Structural, Mechanical Engineering and Material Science, University of Stavanger, Norway 3 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 4 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ehime University, Japan *[email protected]

Bridges play an important role in railway infrastructure throughout the world. However, with the increase of the traffic demands on transport networks, common problems have raised. The major problem for steel railway bridges is that many of them are reaching or have exceeded their original design life. Day by day, these structures experience increasing traffic volume and weight, deteriorating of components and number of stress cycles. Therefore, assessment of the current condition (i.e. Structural Health Monitoring) of steel railway bridges becomes necessary. Most of the commonly available approaches for Structural Health Monitoring are based only on the comparison of measured and analytically obtained static stresses or displacements. Recently researches noticed that dynamic responses or vibration measurements-based Structural Health Monitoring Methods may provide more realistic predictions to damage state of civil infrastructure. However, lack of available resources of Department of Sri Lanka Railway hinders direct application of these techniques to our railway bridges. Therefore this study tends to provide vibration based alternative Structural Health Monitoring techniques which are applicable to Sri Lankan railway bridges. The scope of study was limited to the steel truss bridges. The technique initially describes development of validated analytical model (FE model) of the considered bridge (i.e. by using test results of condition survey, material testing and field static/dynamic load testing). Then the procedures to record dynamic responses, which are relevant to different location of damages, are clearly stated. The technique also discusses the predicting strategy of damage, which is based on measured dynamic responses. Finally, proposed technique is applied to Railway Bridge in Sri Lanka and related details are described. Keywords: Structural health monitoring, vibration measurement, dynamic response, Finite Element Method

10


SLJCR-2013 Safety Problems of Large Scale Lithium Ion Batteries Masaki Yoshio1* and Nanda Gunawardhana2 1

2

Advanced Research Center, Saga University, Saga, Japan International Research Centre, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are used as power sources for portable devices such as cellular phones, battery-assisted bicycles and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) due to their high energy densities. Graphite commonly use as the anode material of LIBs, because of its low cost and non-toxicity. It has high reversible specific capacities, good cycling stability, and high electronic conductivity. Lithium ion intercalation into graphite occurs at very low potentials, resulting in high-energy density anodes for LIBs. However, these properties are limited to room temperature and metal lithium occurs rapidly at below 0 ℃ when charging process, which may cause a fire due to short circuit by Li deposition. This phenomenon is due to slow kinetics of Li intercalation to graphite. Lithium depositing on the surface of graphite is likely to form lithium dendrite at low temperatures and/or high cycling rates. Once lithium deposits on the graphite, it grows and reaches the positive electrode as cycle progresses, causing a short circuit in LIBs. It would cause severe safety problems for LIBs and can limit the extension to large scale battery systems. For the first time in history of LIBs, we have attempted to improve the safety and the stability of LIBs based on graphite anode. Different kinds of additives have been developed and now more 10 additives in use for high grade LIBs. The high grade LIBs have no firing or explosion until now. Utilization of LIBs for Electronic Vehicles (EV) started two-years ago in Japan with two types of EV, using graphite anode. Graphite anode has the problem that, lithium deposition occurs often during low temperature charging and even at high rate charging. The methods to improve the safety of such a large LIB battery from the view point of graphite anode, would be improves by using additives and/or carbon-coated graphite are discussed. Keywords: Additives, Lithium ion batteries, safety, carbon coated graphite


11

SLJCR-2013 Bioclimatic Design Approach for Energy Efficiency: Exploration of Courtyard Built Form for Passive Cooling in Tropics I. Rajapaksha1*, M. Okumiya2 and H. Nagai3 1

2

Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka Graduate school of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan 3 Department of Architecture, Mie University, Japan *[email protected]

The International Energy Outlook of 2004 has projected an increase of 54 % in energy consumption during the period of 2004 to 2025. Of which 40 % accounts for developing Asia with cooling-dominated climates. Consequently design innovativeness in Bioclimatic approach promotes energy efficiency in architecture in the context of sustainability. In thermal comfort point of view design strategies in modifying the indoor overheating is of greater significance in promoting passive cooling. Hence, utilization of natural ventilation is recommended as an appropriate passive design strategy. However, in warm tropical climates pressure difference caused by temperature gradient is negligible to that caused by even a slight breeze setting up pressure around the building. Buildings with courtyards have better ventilation potential through the internal spaces. With the courtyard, the functional depth of the plan can be kept to a minimum for better ventilation potential. This study investigated the effects of the airflow pattern to the courtyard and indoor thermal modification. The research methodology is based on the thermal performance of a field investigation and simulated airflow patterns using a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis. A significant correlation between wall temperature and indoor air temperature was evident. The results indicated a better interaction of high mass fabric and airflow in lowering the courtyard's surface temperature. The CFD analysis of the airflow patterns disclosed a low pressure zone in the courtyard with a suction zone in inlet envelope openings. Indoor thermal modification is seen when the courtyard acts as an upwind air funnel discharging indoor air into the sky, than the courtyard acts as a suction zone inducing air from its sky opening during daytime hours. Consequently promotes nocturnal ventilation. Thus, the use of courtyards for passive cooling in tropical climates is possible provided optimum distribution and volumetric flow rate of indoor air are achieved through innovative design. Keywords: Bioclimatic design, CFD analysis, energy efficiency, passive cooling

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SLJCR-2013

Social Sciences and Humanities


SLJCR-2013 From an Occupied Country to a World Power: Foreign Policy Trajectory of Post-War Japan Gamini Keerawella Department of History, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka [email protected]

In 1945, Japan was a shattered nation, defeated and occupied country. Having being forced into seven years of isolation, Japan gained control over its foreign policy only in 1952 but, even then, its foreign policy maneuverability was limited. After 40 years, however, Japan entered confidently into the post-cold war era as an emerging world power that claimed to be the second largest economy of the world. Concurrently, the approach and priorities of foreign policy of Japan had also undergone a decisive transformation. This evolution of Japanese foreign policy corresponds to the growth of its power capabilities and changing dynamics of its external relations. It evolved in three phases. The period 1952 to 1960 constitutes the first phase. When Japan gained control over its foreign policy in 1952 the mood of the public was one of shattered and the clamor for ‘peace at any cost’ was very high. Japan’s special defense relationship with US has become a key element of Japan’s security policy. In addition, the pacifist mood of the general public set the parameters of foreign policy. When The Prime Minister Mr. Shigeru Yoshida retired in 1954, the basic direction of Japan’s pacifist stand was laid down. The foreign policy began to evolve rapidly after 1955. Mr. Ichiro Hatayama who succeeded Mr. Yoshida, emphasized the need to settle reparation issues soon. In the second phase (1960 to 1991), Japan gradually emerged as an economic power and redefined its foreign policy position within the broader pacifist framework (Fukuda Doctrine). By the time when the Japan and USA renewed the defense agreement in 1960, Japan was able to clear much of the war-related mess, to come out from its earlier political retreats and to embark on a new contour of relations as a country with growing industrial potential. During this phase Japan consolidated its unique position in the world constellation of power and developed a pattern of its external relations but within its own limitations and constraints. By the end of the Cold War, Japan was ready to enter into a new phase by re-reading its foreign policy objectives. In the third phase that emerged with the end of the Cold War, Japan came forward to pursue a more pro-active political role in regional and international plan, which is reflected in the Nakayama Initiative in 1991. It proposed a multi-tiered approach and different levels of defense cooperation in widening Japan’s security parameters. The new phase in the evolution of Japan’s foreign policy is a cumulative outcome of a variety of internal and external factors. The domestic and external conditions and foundations that gave birth to the framework of Japan’s foreign policy outlook with an avowed pacifist stance were dissipated. With the passage of time, the vigor of the pacifist mood of the general public was gradually weaning away. As an economic power with world-scale interests, Japan has a hegemonic responsibility to the world economy. Economic concerns and interests as an economic superpower compelled Japan to assume a political and military-strategic role in global politics, at least to safeguard its economic interests. In understanding the factors behind the changes in the direction of foreign policy, the impact of the assertive thinking of the new generation of foreign policy officials must be taken into account. The transformation of Japan from a low-key political player to a more active international player in peacebuilding and conflict management is a post-1990 phenomenon. However, the process of expansion of the area of foreign policy maneuverability and resultant changes in its behavior and attitudes could be traced back to the mid 1980s. In analyzing the changing dynamics relating to the transformation of foreign policy it is concluded that this change was affected by the compulsions linked with the domestic politico-economic conditions and also in response to the changed international environment. Conference on Sri Lanka - Japan Collaborative Research 2013 th st 29 - 31 March, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

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SLJCR-2013 A Study on Japan Sri Lanka Relations: Japan’s Peace Building Efforts in Sri Lanka since 2000 to 2012 M.M. Fazil1* and Yumi Horikane2 1

2

South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Graduate School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University, Japan *[email protected]

Japan participated and played a larger political role in the internal and international conflicts than any time since the post-cold war era. It marks a new development in Japanese foreign policy and its development assistance in conflict torn countries. Japan and Sri Lanka maintain warm and friendly relations over the past six decades. Right after World War II, Sri Lanka voluntarily waived any right to receive war reparations from Japan under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and it was one of the countries that greatly contributed to creating an international environment favourable both politically and economically to the recovery and development of post-war Japan. Furthermore, since 1952, official as well as people-to-people relationships between the two countries have grown significantly through the combination of cultural and economic links between two governments and the two peoples. Since 2000, an active political relationship has been added to these relations, as the Japanese government has opted to actively help the people and the government of Sri Lanka to find a solution to the separatist movement among the country’s Tamil minority. In case of Sri Lankan conflict, while Norway has been a facilitator in keeping the talks going since February 2000, Japan’s active involvement came after the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) of February 2002. After the peace process began, Japan became one of the most active members in the international community and has demonstrated a keen interest in establishing peace in the island. The basic objective of this study is to explore the peace building efforts taken by the Japanese government in the internal ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka from 2000-2012 to understand the new phase of peace building roles and its effects. Further, this study analyses Japan’s foreign policy changes to promote consolidation of peace and nation-building in Sri Lanka. Finally, this study also examines Japan’s collaborative engagement in Sri Lanka with the support of international community and its helpfulness in Sri Lankan peace building process. A qualitative methodology has been used in this study and the analysis has been of a critical descriptive nature. The method of data collection is in-depth interviews, informal discussions and a review of existing literature. The findings of the study reveal that Japan extend its complete support in finding a lasting solution for ethnic conflict during the peace talk since 2002 to 2006. Japan’s peace building roles and development assistance towards Sri Lanka have been continued even in the post-war reconstruction and development phase. This study concludes that Japan-Sri Lanka relations move on without any ambiguities in the past and present. Keywords: Development, conflict, Japan, peace building, peace talk, post-war, reconstruction, Sri Lanka Acknowledgements: The scholarship from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the first author, which made this research possible, is gratefully acknowledged.

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SLJCR-2013 Gender Related Attitudes towards Long-term Care among Older People in Certain Selected Areas in the Central Province of Sri Lanka Yan Liu1, Neelawala G.W. Priyadarshani1*, Nisansala Y. Delpitiya1, Chandrika Jayasinghe2, Ananda Jayasinghe3, Samath D. Darmarathne3, Yoshi Obayashi1, Asuna Arai1 and Hiko Tamashiro1 1

Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan 2 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 3 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

This study was carried out to describe the gender-related attitudes towards long-term care (LTC) among older people, and to explore factors affecting their attitudes. Three hundred and sixty four (364) out-patients aged 60 years or above at a Teaching Hospital of a University in Sri Lanka were selected as study participants. A cross-sectional survey through an interviewer administered structured questionnaire was conducted from November to December 2012. The information on demography, living arrangements, perceived social support, health status, health services availability and attitudes towards LTC were collected. SPSS 14.0 version was used for data analysis. Majority of the participants were unemployed (96.83 % in female, 82.00 % in male) in contrast to their past working history before 60 years old (65.52 %, 2.48 %). More females (31.68 %, 87.33 % and 87.19 %) took care of themselves, lived with spouse and were dependent in Katz basic activities of daily living (ADL) scale than males (21.74 %, 41.06 % and 76.40 %), respectively. There was no gender difference in health services availability. Sinhalese (OR=3.38; 95 % CI: 1.70, 6.71) and those who are concerned with death (OR = 1.48; 1.13, 1.94) were associated with deliberation of LTC. In addition, marriage status (OR = 2.83; 1.28, 6.27), subjective bad health status (OR = 1.49, 1.04, 2.12) were also related to the noncommittal attitude towards use of LTC facilities, lower traditional family supports (OR = 2.54; 1.28, 5.04), depressive status (OR = 3.08; 1.59, 5.97), and unavailability of hospital near residence (OR = 3.45; 1.45, 8.19). It indicated that they had important influences on the utilization of institutional facilities for LTC to older people. Mental disorders, residences with insufficient access to health services and females need special attentions to future reforming or reorganizing of the LTC system in Sri Lanka with a reduction pattern of informal care for older people. Keywords: Attitude, gender difference, long-term care, older people, Sri Lanka


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SLJCR-2013 Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Japan Fauzul Mafasiya Fairoz1,2*, Takenouchi Hirobumi2 and Yukiko Tanaka3 1

Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Ruhuna, Wellamadama, Matara, Sri Lanka 2 Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Surugua-ku, Japan 3 Faculty of Policy Studies, University of Shimane, Nobara-cho, Hamada City, Shimane, Japan *[email protected]

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) is recognized as a potentially viable means for promoting and sustaining competitiveness through efforts aimed at the rejuvenation, renewal, and redefinition of organizations, their markets, or industries. Entrepreneurial actions are viewed as critical pathways to improved performance. This study was motivated by several critical observations: (1) no empirical studies focused on the relationship between EO and business performance of SMEs in Japan and (2) existing empirical studies examined were found biased results in different country settings. Therefore, this study seeks to enhance understanding of Entrepreneurial Orientation Business Performance relationship framework in Japan. Drawing on key concepts from entrepreneurship theory, the study empirically investigated the relationship between EO with business performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) operating in the manufacturing sector at Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan (SPJ). Research employed multidimensionality of EO with business performance. In view of EO, three main dimensions of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk taking were applied. Sales growth, employment growth, market share growth, net profit and owner/managers satisfaction were used to predict business performance. Multi method approach was used to gather primary and secondary information relevant to the study. Interviews, and mail survey were main research instruments. Owner/manager of SMEs was the main participants. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used for data analysis, where multiple regressions were applied in order to determine the relationship among EO dimensions and business performance. The findings indicated that EO positively and significantly influences on business performance of manufacturing SMEs in SPJ. Proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk taking dimensions also have significant positive relationship with business performance. Results suggest that exploiting new business opportunities and introductions of innovations through risk taking featuring more unique characteristics for the market that leading to higher performance. The findings imply that owner/managers should place much emphasis on entrepreneurial orientation in order to boost business performance.The findings of this study have some implications for theory, and practice. The theoretical contribution of this study provides new insights in small business research concerning the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan, which may strengthen more evidence and interpretations in SMEs entrepreneurial posture. Moreover, this research not only submits a body of knowledge on EO and business performance but also provides a substantial contribution in filling the gaps on entrepreneurship research in the Asian context. Keywords: Entrepreneurial Orientation, business performance, small business, small &medium scale enterprises (SMEs), Japan. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the Heiwa Nakajima Foundation Fellowship and Shizuoka University Doctoral Student Grant.

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SLJCR-2013 The Impact of Informal Institutions on Resource Utilization in Rural Agriculture: The Experience of Sri Lanka W.M.A.G.H.A. Premarathne1* and P. Ratnayake2 1

Department of Science and Advanced Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Saga University, Japan 2 Department of Development Economics, Faculty of Economics, Saga University, Japan *[email protected]

In contrary to the conventional belief that agricultural development in developing countries primarily depends on the provision of formal institutions, many countries have recognized from their past experiences that formal institutions alone will not help to achieve agricultural development without a positive support from their informal institutions. It is a commonly known phenomenon that developing countries have introduced various types of formal institutions (rules and regulations, constitutions, technology, subsidies, administrative organizations, markets, etc.) without considering the support of the informal institutions (culture, attitude, ethics, customs, mutual trust, community leadership, political belief, etc.) in agricultural development. This is one of the main reasons that the growth rate of agricultural development, especially per capita food supply remains lower in developing countries. Therefore, in order to understand the causes of agricultural underperformance in developing countries, it is necessary to looking beyond formal institutions, into both formal and informal institutions as they are mutually and deeply interdependent on each other. The present study attempts to examine the impact of informal institutions on resource utilization in rural agriculture based on the field survey on 1,005 agricultural households in three different types of villages in three administrative districts of Sri Lanka. Keywords: Agricultural development, formal institutions, informal institutions


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SLJCR-2013 Entrepreneurship: Improving Access to Livelihood Opportunities for Fishermen D.A.M. De Silva1* and Yamao Masahuiro2 1

Department of Agribusiness Management, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Food and Resource Economics, Graduate School of Biosphere Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama, Higashi Hiroshima, Japan *[email protected]

A fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats, and purpose of the activities or a combination of the foregoing features". Study focuses were to categorized different players in fishery based on their entrepreneurial nature (personality traits and size of networks) and availability of multiple livelihoods. Study locations, Beruwala (178 fishers) and Negambo (172 fishers) are considered as important fishing hubs located in West and South West coast of Sri Lanka. Data collection tools were semi-structured interviewer administered questionnaires and focused group discussions with fisher groups. Questionnaire composed of 3 sub sections, personality traits, networks and multiple livelihoods. Seven personality traits were used to measure the level of entrepreneurship of the respondents and respondents were divided into 3 groups based on scores. Of the sample boat owners were ranked top as an entrepreneurs (74.28 % were entrepreneurs) while crew men (7.27 % were entrepreneurs) were the least entrepreneurial. Moreover, non entrepreneurial category was high among crew men. Biggest social networks were exists among boat owners and ranges 110-171. Wholesalers and retailers were rank second and third on the lineup of the size of the networks respectively. Smallest social networks were found among small-scale subsistence fishers and size of the network lies on 23-48. Highest number of multiple livelihoods was recorded from boat owners (range was 3-7) and least were found among crew men and auctioneers (range was 1-3). Size of the network and number of multiple livelihoods has positive relationship with entrepreneurship. Fishes use networks to find clients and referral routes to clients, to help you by helping others, to find allies and collaborators, to source suppliers, to obtain market and technical information, to have fun, make social contacts, to raise their visibility, to share knowledge and research, to compare ideas, to share human company and to dreams into reality. Keywords: Fishery, entrepreneurship, social networks, multiple livelihoods

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SLJCR-2013 Tea Plantation Community and Governance: Service Delivery to Estate Tamils – Policy and Practice Kurihara Shunsuke Capacity Development Consultant, Wijayaraja Mawatha, Dangolla, Kandy, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

This paper intends to illustrate the implications of governance over Estate Tamils in the plantation community in Sri Lanka, through exploring the current issues of the community’s vulnerability of access to the basic social services. Estate Tamils are still considered as one of the poorest, as to living environment and poverty level, even after their citizenship issue was solved in 1988. The tea plantation industry is also still instable in terms of productivity, even though the industry was privatized in 1992 with tremendous assistance from the government and the donor community. Currently, there are significant gaps in service delivery between the plantation community of the upcountry area and the rest of parts of Sri Lanka. Allocation of the governmental officers in the plantation area is quite poor, compared to the average of the island. The number of the Tamil speaking government officers is also considerably low for the population of the area. In the 21st century, Estate Tamils are Sri Lankan citizen. Plantation community has become a multi-layered community in occupation, from a mono-class community of only estate labors. However, Estate Tamils of the plantation community are disadvantaged of the local government service, though social welfare service by the plantation management is still designed only for labors. Sri Lankan government did not take necessary response upon the changing context of Estate Tamils becoming Sri Lankans since 1988, which was supposed to require tremendous policy changes in civil administration. Recently, there is a movement towards de-limiting the Divisional Secretariat divisions in the upcountry, which is a positive sign for development of the plantation community. Regional Plantation Companies are expected to have dialogue with the government for this issue as well. Keywords: Basic human rights, estate Tamils, Governance, plantations, Sri Lanka, tea industry


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SLJCR-2013 Work Arrangements for Minority Work Groups: Lessons from Public Employment Security System (PESS) of Japan Kumudinei Dissanayake1* and Etsuyo Arai2 1

Department of Management and Organization Studies, Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 2 Institute of Developing Economies (IDE JETRO), Maihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba, Japan *[email protected]

Post-war Sri Lankan workplace incorporates the workers in North and North-Eastern provinces and belonging to minority groups (in terms of gender, ethnicity, ability, etc.). These groups include war victims, while accommodating females, rehabilitated youth, and even differently-abled people. People added to the workforce from war-torn area have been displaced from their usual living place, interrupted in formal education and/or normal economic activities, socially isolated, and psychologically affected in most of the instances. Thus, the arrangements of work for these groups claim special attention. The Public Employment Security System (PESS) in Japan focuses on intermediating between job seekers (at different levels) and the work organizations, while serving as a job-search engine and guiding re-building of work organizations even in tsunami-affected areas. Its service has been rendered to numerous groups at job search, covering school leavers, mid-career transfers, young mothers, retirees, and free workers. Thus, present study aimed to accumulate some lessons that could be drawn from the PESS of Japan for directing possible work arrangements for minority work groups at war-torn area in Sri Lanka. The methodology adapted here includes a review of PESS of Japan, including a survey in the tsunami-affected area. This study points out mainly the possibility of helping diverse work groups in war-torn area through short-term and work-directed training, educating them on labor legislations and worker rights, providing directives for psychological well-being, guiding and helping in creating small business ventures at rural vicinity, helping job search, and guiding business ventures. It briefly discusses the role and primary mechanism of an employment security system to be adapted in Sri Lankan context. Keywords: Minority work groups, Public Employment Security System (PESS), Japan, Sri Lanka, work arrangements Acknowledgements: While acknowledging the financial assistance provided by Institute of Developing Economies, Japan for visiting the tsunami-affected area in 2011, we sincerely acknowledge the generous support extended by Mr. Noboru Suzuki, the Divisional Head, Public Employment Security Service, Labor Bureau, Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan for collecting data for this study.

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SLJCR-2013 HRM for Non-Regular Workers: Lessons from Japan Kumudinei Dissanayake1* and Masayasu Takahashi2 1

Department of Management & Organization Studies, Faculty of Management & Finance, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 2 Graduate School of Business Administration, Meiji University, Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan *[email protected]

Work organizations of the day seem to adapt more agile work structures while conceding diverse working modes for their workforces. This adaptation has been partly energized by the changing work styles of contemporary workers as well. The accumulation of knowledge on such practices reveals the availability of flexible work arrangements and atypical patterns of work in developed and even developing nations of the world. Sri Lankan work organizations exhibit certain practices such as outsourcing of workers, offering contract-based employment opportunities, recruiting on casual (or temporary) basis, granting part-time work opportunities etc. under these work arrangements. These have been more attractive to students, retirees, young females, young mothers, and freelancers too. In line with the experiences reported in many other countries, Sri Lankan workplace too, encounters the issue of labor turnover and lack of commitment of the workers, who are deployed under non-regular category. When the trend of non-regular employment opportunities takes an upward move, it is worthwhile to draw the attention of organizational practitioners on the possible actions for such issues. Nonetheless, generated knowledge on this issue at Sri Lankan context ceases to exist. Thus, present study aims to fill this void by drawing lessons from Japanese workplace where the same issue has been well researched and long-debated over periods. The method adapted here is reviewing of human resource management (HRM) practices those adapted by Japanese organizations in attempting to address the issues of non-regular workers in relation to their labor turnover, problem of on-the-job training (OJT), lack of motivation, and lack of satisfaction at work. It examines HRM practices used for diverse categories of non-regular workers such as elder workers, females, young workers, dispatched, contracted, and temporary workers. The study brings out lessons on recruitment policies, training and development arrangements, remuneration strategies, conversion systems etc. Keywords: HRM, Japan, non-regular workers, Sri Lanka, work arrangements


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SLJCR-2013 Integrating Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains: New Strategies for Developing Countries under Globalization B.A. Nuresh Eranda1* and Kenta Goto2 1

Department of Management Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Faculty of Economics, Kansai University, Japan *[email protected]

Globalization has induced developing countries to participate in Global Value Chains (GVCs) where the production arrangements are organized globally through different inter-firm governance systems. Within this, the possibility of economic upgrading has become the key concern for local industries, which is defined as ‘the process by which economic actors – firms and workers – move from low-value to relatively high-value activities in global production networks’. While much research has emerged in this, the competing notion of social upgrading has not been discussed in GVC research as such. In this paper social upgrading is conceptualized by using the four dimensions of ‘Decent Work Agenda’ introduced by the International Labor Organization (ILO, 2012), including job creation, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue. In addition, much less attention has been paid in possible strategies to integrate economic and social upgrading in GVC, which this paper will focus on. The study looks at the Sri Lankan garment industry, and applies a holistic multiple-case design by selecting four garment manufacturers. The logic behind the use of multiple-case design is to engage in literal replication i.e. predicting similar results, where few cases are accepted. Secondary data was gathered using company documentary evidence and primary data collected through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis includes documentary analysis and synthesizes the findings in a cross-case synthesis. The findings reveal that garment manufacturers can incorporate social upgrading into their economic upgrading strategies particularly in the face of changing market conditions, and concludes that the competitiveness of the Sri Lankan garment industry is dependent on its ability to successfully integrate the two dimensions of upgrading. Further it provides important implications for a comprehensive strategy to strengthen Sri Lanka’s global position as an ethical destination for garment sourcing. Keywords: Economic upgrading, garment industry, global value chain, social upgrading

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SLJCR-2013 Role of Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers in Social Business Development in Sri Lanka: Strengths, Weaknesses and Challenges Saliya De Silva1* and Piyadasa Ratnayake2 1

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Faculty of Economics, University of Saga, Japan

*[email protected] Although Sri Lanka has achieved considerable economic growth, a significant proportion of its population still lives with poverty, unemployment and inequality. The concept of Social Business (SB) emerged as a new strategy to address these problems that anticipate maximizing profits, but use those profits towards socioeconomic development of the community. Japan, under its grass-roots technical cooperation has furnished support in developing SBs in Sri Lanka. One of its approaches is the dispatching of ‘Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) that aims to provide technical assistance to local people. This paper investigates the role of JOCVs and their strengths, weaknesses and challenges in the enhancement of socioeconomic conditions of the rural poor. The study was based on a field survey of 20 SB owners (e.g. handicrafts, garments, and bags) and five JOCVs. These SBs focused on poor, underprivileged, and vulnerable groups, particularly rural women (88%), where they have sufficient capabilities to achieve economic prosperity. The JOCVs facilitated capacity building of the SBs, which has directly resulted in better access to local and foreign markets and subsequently a higher income for the villagers. Technical training, product innovation, collective behavior of the entrepreneurs, networking with other organizations, and financial and material assistance were the observations made with respect to these SBs, which were direct interventions of the JOCVs. For the majority of respondents, SB is the secondary source of family income, from which they earn an additional average monthly income of SLR 5,150. One of the weaknesses observed was the lack of empowerment of the SB owners, who continued to depend on JOCVs for various assistances. In conclusion, even though there are some weaknesses, JOCVs have facilitated capacity building of SBs resulting in economic and social benefits based on people’s capacities and entitlements. Keywords: Japan, social business, socioeconomic development, volunteers


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SLJCR-2013 Improving the Socio-economic Conditions of Tea Estate Workers in Sri Lanka through Small-scale Contract Farming Sajitha Dishanka1* and Yukio Ikemoto2 1

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tokyo, Japan 2 Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, Japan *[email protected]

The Sri Lankan tea industry is composed two sectors; one is smallholders and the other is largescale plantation sector. In the recent past, the share of the smallholder sector has become more important while the plantation sector has been stagnant due to the low quality of its labour force. Recent studies reveal that the main reason for this low quality of labour is the poor socio-economic conditions (income, living conditions, and social status) of tea estate workers. This has resulted in low labour productivity in the plantation sector compared with the smallholders. Use of adult family labour without working norms has been the reason for higher labour productivity in the smallholding sector. Hence, it is highly important to improve the socio-economic conditions of estate workers in order to improve the labour productivity level of the plantation sector. Therefore, this study discusses the importance of small-scale contract farming system to the plantation sector in order to improve the socio-economic conditions of estate workers. The existing literature on contract farming was surveyed in addition to the authors’ field work carried out in the tea industry in Sri Lanka. Contract farming refers to a system whereby processing firm purchases the harvest of individual farmers and the terms of purchase are pre-arranged through contracts. Existing literature explains that the contract farming in general is an effective tool in raising income of agricultural households. As family labour is employed in this system, it reduces the labour cost. And entrepreneurial nature of this system gives the contract farmers a better social status. Therefore, we discuss if this system provide a better solution for the labour problem in the plantation sector. And we discuss that the application of this system should be adequately supported with institutional arrangements and well-defined government policies. Keywords: Contract farming, estate workers, labour productivity, socio-economic conditions, tea plantations, tea smallholders

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SLJCR-2013 The Capability Approach to Economic and Social Issues on Tea Plantation Workers and Their Children Yuko Fukuda1, Yukio Ikemoto2＊and Sajitha Dishanka3 1

Graduate School of Frontier Science, University of Tokyo, Japan Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, Japan 3 Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan *[email protected] 2

Sri Lanka is well-known as one of the most successful cases of human development in the South Asia countries and is expected to achieve nearly all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) of the United Nations. However, in spite of the economic growth in the recent decades, regional income and social disparity are still remained especially in plantation regions where tea and rubber are cultivated. What is worse, the income disparity among citizens has been widening even though the poverty rate in the plantation was declined from 32 % in 2006/7 to 11.4 % in 2009/10, and the daily wage in the tea plantation was increased nearly double from Rs. 176.89 in 2002 to Rs. 353.06 in 2010. The total amount of 2010 households income in urban was almost double of the plantation, which accounted for Rs.47,783 in the urban, while Rs. 24,162 in the plantation. The tea industry is one of the important sectors in Sri Lanka, which earns export revenues and provides employment. With the growth of productivity, export revenue in 2010 reached 1.37 billion US dollars, which accounted for 16 percent of the total export of the country. However, in spite of the economic and social attainments, considerable concerns about the poverty, poor housing, and nutrition status, the presence of illiteracy and discrimination, and violence against women as well as other basic needs are major challenges faced by this plantation community. There were around 914,000 people living in the plantation sector of Sri Lanka, and the registered workforce in the plantation sector numbered 242,266 persons, 211,556 out of them engaged in the manual work such as tea picking and processing. Females, who are the favorable workers on the tea plantations, traditionally engage in the tea plucking. Children between 14 and 16 years are legally able to be employed as workers, but children less than 14 years old are also are engaged as unpaid workers, who contributed to their parents’ productivity as an unpaid family worker. The purpose of this study identifies the factors for examining the well-being of the tea plantation workers and their children. To examine the well-being of the tea plantation workers and their children, we apply the capability approach of Amartya Sen to these problems. The capability approach, which focuses on human lives, and not just on the resources people have, is linked with substantive freedom, gives a central role to a person’s actual ability to do the different things that she vales doing. This approach proposes a fundamental shift in the focus of attention from means of living to the actual opportunities a person. The study relied on data collected from the published documents and the information in relation to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Department Census and Statistics. In addition, the information in the various issues of the plantation sector is obtained from publication of international organizations and NGO, and also interviews at the field work in August 2012. For exploring the multidimensional understanding of poverty, analyzing the causes and effects by using the primary data and conducting survey are necessary, but due to the long distance communication, obtaining primary data are not completed yet. Keywords: Capabilities approach, poverty, social development, workers and children, tea plantation


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Health and Hygiene


SLJCR-2013 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice toward Leptospirosis among Community People in Kegalle District of Sri Lanka - An Analysis on Different Farming Experiences Yoshi Obayashi*1, Haruka Fujiwara1, Tomoki Ohashi1, Kanae Shiokawa1, Neelawala G.W. Priyadarshani1, Nisansala Y. Delpitiya1, Gamini Senaviratne2, Ananda Jayasinghe3, Samath D. Darmarathne3 and Hiko Tamashiro1 1

Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan 2 Regional Director of Health Services Office, Kegalle District, Sri Lanka 3 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

Leptospirosis is mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. In Sri Lanka, the last outbreak of leptospirosis was reported in 2008 and again occurred in 2010-2012. Public awareness plays a major role in prevention and control of leptospirosis. We have done a cross-sectional, face-to-face interview survey was conducted from December 2011 to January 2012, among community people above 15 years of age in Kegalle district of the Sabaragamuwa Province. In this presentation, an analysis is shown the differences of participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards leptospirosis with their farming experiences. The data collected included one’s demography, daily life style as well as KAP on leptospirosis. A MOH area of the district was chosen where the cases of leptospirosis were reported in 2011. Subdivisions of the MOH were selected using the stratified random sampling technique where the participants were recruited in the selected administrative community units. 913 people agreed to participate in the survey. The participants were female-dominant (63.5 %) and non-farmers (85.3 %). Among all, 16 participants had clinically diagnosed as leptospirosis in the past (1.8 %, n=910), however no association was found in different farming experiences. 55.6 % of full-time farmers (n=133) had participated in leptospirosis prevention programme (part-time farmers: 33.5 % (n=164), nonfarmers: 24.2 % (n=603)). No significant difference was found in knowledge of the disease. Although 40.8 % (n=369) of non-farmers had experienced farming including recreational purpose in the past, antibiotics intake rate was 6.2% in those “recreational” farmers (part-time farmers: 25.4 %, full-time farmers: 64.4 %). The results showed most of the participants misconceived that they are not-at-risk for leptospirosis and it is the disease only for farmers. The results showed that not only the farmers but the general public are at potential risk of leptospirosis. Thus, awareness program should be formulated accordingly. Keywords: Leptospirosis, KAP survey, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), public awareness


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SLJCR-2013 Serological and Genetic Analysis of Human and Animal Leptospirosis in Sri Lanka Nobuo Koizumi1*, Chandika D. Gamage2, Jayanthe R.P.V. Rajapakse3, Senanayake A.M. Kularatne4, Maki Muto1, Hiko Tamashiro2 and Makoto Ohnishi1 1

2

Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido, Japan 3 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 4 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

Leptospirosis, which is caused by infection with pathogenic Leptospira spp., has emerged as an important infectious disease in Sri Lanka. One to two thousand cases were recorded annually in the past ten years and, in 2008, 7421 cases (incidence rate 36.7/100000 population) and 207 deaths (case fatality rate 2.8 %) reached epidemic proportions. However, little information is available on circulating leptospiral species and serogroups, and reservoir animals important for human leptospirosis in this country. Therefore, we studied circulating leptospiral species and serogroups in patients with acute febrile illness, cattle and rodents using polymerase chain reaction followed by DNA sequencing and the microscopic agglutination test. Anti-leptospiral antibodies were detected in 21.1 %, 20.3 % and 17.5 % in serum samples from patients, cattle and rodents, respectively. Predominant reacting serogroups were Sejroe and Tarassovi in humans, while serogroups Sejroe and Hebdomadis and Javanica and Icterohaemorrhagiae were most reactive in cattle and rodents, respectively. L. interrogans and L. kirschneriflaB were detected in 5.4 % of acute patient plasma samples, whereas L. borgpetersenii, L. interrogans and L. kirschneri flaB were detected in 9.7 % of healthy cattle kidney or urine samples. These results confirm the existence of a wide array of leptospiral species and serogroups in Sri Lanka. Cattle harbor the same Leptospira spp. and serogroups with humans, suggesting that cattle serve as important reservoirs for human disease. The information obtained would help to elucidate the epidemiology of leptospirosis in this country, and then, to improve the diagnostics and preventive measures. Keywords: Leptospirosis, Leptospira spp., zoonosis, serogroup Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part by Global COE Program “Establishment of International Collaboration Centers for Zoonosis Control,” MEXT, Japan.

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SLJCR-2013 Hantavirus Infection among Suspected Leptospirosis Patients in Kandy, Sri Lanka: Serological Evidence Chandika Damesh Gamage1, Shumpei P. Yasuda1, Sanae Nishio1, Kosala Weerakoon2, Jayanthe R.P.V. Rajapakse3, Senanayake A.M. Kularatne2, Yoshi Obayashi4, Kumiko Yoshimatsu1, Hiko Tamashiro4 and Jiro Arikawa1* 1

Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan 2 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 3 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 4 Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan *[email protected]

Hantavirus infection is an important zoonotic disease that causes public health problems all over the world. Hantaviruses cause either hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in humans. A significant number of people are affected by hantaviruses, approximately 150,000 to 200,000 people in Asia and Europe are hospitalized with HFRS, annually. Clinical diagnosis of hantavirus infection is complicated due to the varied and non-specific manifestations of disease symptoms (i.e. leptospirosis, dengue etc.). This study aimed to identify hantavirus infection among patients with the clinical diagnosis of leptospirosis. Serum samples were screened by employing indirect immunoflourescence and ELISA, followed by the confirmation with focus reduction neutralization test. Analysis of 105 patients whom were clinically diagnosed as having leptospirosis, eight (7.6%) had anti-hantavirus antibodies. Serotyping ELISA showed that, these eight patients had high optical density values for Thailand virus. Most of the sera indicated that the focus reduction neutralization test titer against Thailand virus was higher than the test titer against Seoul virus. Thereby, suggesting that the hantaviral antibodies found in Sri Lanka were due to an infection occurred different from Seoul virus but closely related to Thailand virus. These findings imply that the hantavirus infection found in Kandy, Sri Lanka appears to be due to a virus similar to Thailand virus. Keywords: Hantavirus, leptospirosis, serology, Sri Lanka, zoonoses Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the (1) Global COE program (Establishment of International Collaboration Center for Zoonosis Control); (2) the Program of Founding Research Centers for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; and (3) the Grants-in-Aid for Research on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare including H22-emerging-ippan-006


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SLJCR-2013 Awareness and Attitudes Related to Stigma on HIV/AIDS among Residents of Kandy, Sri Lanka Samidi Navaratna1*, Samath D. Dharmaratne1, Sampath Tennakoon1, Ananda Jayasinghe1, Niroshan Jayasekara2, Katsutoshi Nagano3, Yoshihide Obayashi3,Asuna Arai3, Koji Kanda3,4 and Hiko Tamashiro3 1

Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 National STD/AIDS Control Programme, Sri Lanka 3 Dept.Of Global Health and Epidemiology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan 4 Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Mie University Hospital, Japan *[email protected]

Currently, where HIV/AIDS control measures are considered targeted interventions in Sri Lanka are only carried out towards the most-at-risk populations. Thus, this study was conducted to identify the level of awareness and stigma related attitudes among the general population of Sri Lanka. A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out among 869 residents of 18-64 years of age in Kandy, Sri Lanka. A self-administered structured questionnaire was utilized to obtain information about stigma and discrimination as well as HIV/AIDS-related knowledge from the participants. The data were analyzed using statistical package SPSS version 14.0. In addition to frequency distributions, chi square test and multivariate analysis were applied to find possible associations between HIV-related variables and sociodemographic indicators. Overall, 93.5 % of the participants have heard of HIV/AIDS but the knowledge on HIV/AIDS was low with an average score of 51.7 %. There was no statistically significant difference in the knowledge level between males and females (p=0.352). Only 58.1 % were aware that a condom was an effective tool for prevention of HIV/AIDS. There were many misconceptions related to pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS. The participants showed more positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) for all questionnaire items except for those listed under shame and blame. Positive attitudes towards PLHIV were observed to be greater among those with a better HIV/AIDS related knowledge score. There was no statistically significant association between the participants’ attitudes towards PLHIV and socio-demographic characteristics such as age, level of education, ethnicity and religion. There is a greater need of making attempts towards educating the public regarding HIV/AIDS in order to reduce misconceptions that are prevalent in the society. Stigma related attitudes are mainly due to shame and blame associated with the disease. As the attitudes towards PLHIV were more positive among those with a better HIV/AIDS related knowledge score, targeted HIV/AIDS related health advocacy interventions maybe recommended in this regard. Keywords: Attitudes, awareness, general population, HIV/AIDS

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SLJCR-2013 Local Intervention Programs for Rabies Prevention in Nuwara Eliya District Koji Kanda1,2*, Ananda Jayasinghe3, N.Y. Delpitiya1, N.G.W. Priyadarshani1, Yoshi Obayashi1, Asuna Arai1, Chandika D. Gamage1, G.S.P.de S. Gunawardena4 and Hiko Tamashiro1 1

Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan 2 Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Mie University Hospital, Japan 3 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 4 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

The government of Sri Lanka targeted the elimination of rabies cases by 2016, but it still remains a major public health threat to the country. In order to meet the national goal and minimize the risk of future infections, rabies intervention programs were introduced as a pilot base for the general population and grade 5 pupils in Nuwara Eliya District in 2008-2009. Among 580 household heads, rabies awareness leaflet was provided during a four-week interval of pre- and post-tests of rabies knowledge, attitude, and practice. Though the study was conducted only for Sinhalese communities, the leaflet was effective in informing them on the anti-rabies vaccine schedule and how to manage rabid animals. Another program for grade 5 pupils called “Edutainment” was implemented as part of school curricula. A total of 125 students from six Sinhala and Tamil schools were divided into two groups. They received either (1) a rabies awareness leaflet and lectures about rabies prevention in their regular class by their systematically trained school teachers, or (2) a leaflet to be read at home and no class lectures. A post-test result indicated that there were significant improvements in the rabies preventive knowledge and attitudes toward dogs among the lectured group. A sole use of leaflet is less effective to enhance their knowledge and its preventive measures. The program was also found to be relatively cost-effective and school teachers did not consider the intervention as a burden. In conclusion, the threat of rabies would be reduced if they are given appropriate information by right communication tools. Close collaboration with a local health or educational office is a key to a successful implementation of a community or school-based rabies control program. Keywords: Awareness program, edutainment, rabies, school, Sri Lanka


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SLJCR-2013 An Epidemiological Study on Prevalence of Postpartum Depression at the University of Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka Miwa Tsuneta1, Nisansala Y. Delpitiya1*, Neelawala G.W. Priyadarshani1, S.C.A. Arambepola2, A. Jayasinghe3, S.D. Dharmaratne3, Yoshi Obayashi1, Asuna Arai1 and Hiko Tamashiro1 1

Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan 2 Teaching Hospital, Kandy, Sri Lanka 3 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

In developed countries, the postnatal depression has a major influence on health of mothers, children and family-members, and is associated with detrimental effects on child development. Sri Lanka has well developed maternal and childcare services, but information on postnatal depression is scarce.Therefore,the study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of and potential risk factors of postnatal depression in the central province of Sri Lanka. We collected data from mothers who had children up to 1 year of age at the time of the interview attending the child welfare clinic in the Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya. The participants were interviewed using an interviewer administered structured questionnaire which collected data on socio demographic characteristics, obstetric history and social support status. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) translated to Sinhala and validated in Sri Lanka with cut off 9/10 (0-30) was used to screen for depression. A total of 470 postpartum mothers participated in this study. Mean age of the mothers was 28.6 years (SD 5.3 years). Cesarean-section rate was 43.8 %. The results (n=470) are as follows: 15.5 % among the participants were detected as depressed by the EPDS. Primiparous mothers was 53.4 %, multiparous mothers was 46.6 %. Primiparous mothers (47/204, 23.0 %) reported higher level of Postpartum Depression (PPD) compared to multiparous mothers (26/193, 13.4 %) (OR = 0.58, 0.34, 0.98). About 46 % of mothers had some uncomfortable symptoms. PPD was associated with uncomfortable symptom (OR = 1.94, 1.16, 3.23). The most uncomfortable symptom was lower back pain (lumbago). 30.5 % of mothers had lumbago and 10.7 % of mothers had leg’s pain as one of uncomfortable symptoms. There was a statistically significant association between PPD and lumbago (OR = 2.18, 1.30, 3.63), leg’s pain (OR = 2.67, 1.37, 5.20). Keywords: Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, epidemiology, postpartum depression, Sri Lanka Acknowledgements: The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of Teaching Hospital of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

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SLJCR-2013 Functional analysis of Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-2alpha R.M.C Deshapriya1*and Y. Yamamoto2 1

Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Japan *[email protected]

Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-2alpha (CTLA-2alpha) is a novel cysteine proteinase inhibitor protein, initially expressed in mouse-activated T-cells and mast cells.CTLA-2alpha gene is mapped to the C1 band of mouse chromosome number 13, which encodes 109 amino acid residues with additional amino-terminal hydrophobic amino acid sequences. The amino acid sequence of CTLA-2alpha is highly homologous to mouse cathepsin L propeptides. Recombinant CTLA-2alpha is a potent, highly selective inhibitor of cathepsin L-like cysteine proteinases.The objective of the present investigation was to identify most critical amino acid residues for its inhibitory activity. In-vitro mutagenesis was carried out for CTLA-2alpha cDNA, for long deletion and alanine scanning of certain amino acids in the central region. The mutant proteins were expressed as fusion proteins with an N-terminal His-tag, in bacterial expression system (pET) and isolated with help of His-bind affinity chromatography. The inhibition coefficient (Ki) was determined against rabbit cathepsin L, in the presence of Z-Phe-Arg-MCA as the substrate. The results indicated that the deletion of longer C-terminal (75C-109E) losses inhibitory activity (Ki>1M) whereas the deletion of short N-terminal (1A-9D) do not affect the inhibitory activity (Ki1M). Interestingly, deletion of both N-terminal and C-terminal with extra five amino acids sequence (C-Y-G-N-S) at C-terminal end (1A-9D/80L-109E) acquired the inhibitory activity similar to wild type. The alanine scanning results revealed that the single replacement of tryptophan with alanine (W12A/W15A/W35A) would cause slight increase in Ki value. Thus, double replacement of tryptophan (W12A,W15A/W12A,W35A/W15A,W35A) or replacements of all three tryptophan (W12A, W15A,W35A) will become non-inhibitory (Ki>1M).Furthermore, replacing cysteine and tyrosine residues with alanine (C75A, Y76A) resulted loss of the inhibitory activity. The incubation of noninhibitory proteins with cathepsin L completely digested of the protein. This implies that the deletion or replacement of amino acids from essential regions may lead to conformational changes in the protein and may lose the inhibitory activity against cathepsin L. In conclusion, based on the deletion study, C-YG-N-S sequence was essential for inhibitory activity. In contrast, the tryptophan, cystein and tyrosine residues were the most critical amino acids to exert its inhibitory activity against rabbit cathepsin L. Keywords: Cathepsin L, protease Inhibitor, site directed mutagenesis


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SLJCR-2013 Effectiveness of Lentiviral Vector Mediated CD80/caTLR4 Transfection on the Surface Phenotypes and Function of Antigen Presenting Cells721.221A*2402 and PMDC05 R.M.C. Jayathilake1*, M.Takahashi2, M. Narita2, H.M.T.U. Herath1 and A.Yamahira1 1

Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Niigata, Japan *[email protected]/ [email protected]

The stimulation of T lymphocytes are mediated through TCR (T-cell receptor) following recognition of specific MHC/ peptide complex and co-stimulation by co-stimulatory molecules, B7.1 (CD80) and B7.2 (CD86).Though they elicit both potent stimulatory and inhibitory co-stimulatory signals through CD28 and CTLA4 (cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen4),CD80 plays a major role in efficient activation of T cell responses. Plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDC) line, PMDC05 (established at the Niigata University, Japan), was transduced with CD80 gene by a lentiviral vector (PMDC11) to enhance the antigen presenting ability. PMDC05,PMDC11,721.221A*2402 and caTLR4 (constitutively active Toll-like receptor 4) transduced and sorted 721.221A*2402 cell lines were grown in 5 % CO2 incubator at 37 °C. These were stained with PE conjugated monoclonal antibodies. Surface phenotypes were analyzed by using FACS Calibure and Cell Quest programme, confirmed by mixed leukocyte culture. The PMDC11 cells expressed CD80 [Mean fluorescence intensity ratio (MFIR) against control IgG1:31.69], CD83(2.22), CD86(49.08) and HLA(Human leukocyte antigen)– DR(463.80) displaying a strong antigen presenting ability without any stimulation. The 721.221A*2402 cells, established by transducing only HLA-A*2402 gene, were transfected with caTLR4 gene using a lentiviral vector. After cell sorting, caTLR4 transduced 721.221A*2402 cells expressed CD19 (2.26), CD20 (2.04), CD40 (2.05), CD54 (22.82), CD56 (2.11), CD80 (53.08), CD83 (7.76), CD40L (1.24) and CXCR4 (3.76).The antigen presenting ability of double sorted caTLR4 transduced 721.221A*2402 cells expressed CD19 (7.69), CD58 (38.37), CD80 (70.47), CD86 (88.35).Therefore, antigen presenting ability of PMDC11 and 721.221A*2402 cells could be much enhanced by transducing with CD80 and caTLR4, respectively. In cell sorting, the antigen presenting ability of caTLR4-transduced 721.221A*2402 was enhanced. Thus PMDC11 and caTLR4 transfected 721.221A*2402 cells are more effective antigen presenting cells in cellular immunotherapy for tumors and infections, compared to the original cell lines, PMDC05 and 721.221, respectively. Keywords: Gene transduction of CD80 and caTLR4, PMDC11, 721.221A*2402 Acknowledgements: The staff of Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and the Department of Hematology and Oncology of the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Niigata University, Japan for providing this opportunity to accomplish this research.

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SLJCR-2013 Presence of Rabies and its Distribution among Animals in the Central Province of Sri Lanka A.C. Karawita1, H.M.H.S. Ariyarathna1, W.R. Jayaweera1, Y. Obayashi2, T. Umemura3, T. Hiko2 and G.S.P. de S. Gunawardena1* 1

Division of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan 3 Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan *[email protected]

Rabies is an invariably fatal but 100 % preventable zoonotic viral disease endemic in many parts of the world. There were 253 human deaths caused by rabies in Sri Lanka within a 5-year-period from 2007 to 2011. This study was carried out to determine the presence of rabies among different species of animals and its demographical distribution in the Central Province. Such information would be useful in planning and implementation of rabies control programmes successfully. Brain specimens from 340 owned animals, viz. dogs (Canis familiaris),cats(Felis catus), cattle (Bos spp.), rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), palmsquirrel (Funambulus palmarum), goats (Capra hircus), and 63 stray animals, viz. dogs andcatsand 14 wild animals, viz. rats (Rattus sp.), palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), toque macaque (Macaca sinica), flying squirrel (Petinomys fuscocapillus), wild boars (Sus scrofa) and mongooses (Herpestes sp.) from the Central Province were subjected to laboratory examinations for rabies infection within the period from 2007 to 2012. Information with regard to the animal and its socio-demographic characteristics were recorded. All the samples were examined by Negri body test using Seller’s stain and fluorescence antibody test (FAT). In addition, selected brain specimens were subjected to histopathological examinations including immunohistochemistry. Of the samples examined (n=417), total of 135 (32.4 %) were found to be positive for rabies. The highest percentage of positive cases was from Matale district (46.2 %) and the other two districts in the Central Province namely, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya reported 30.9 % and 20.0 % of the rabies cases respectively. Percentage of rabies positive cases among stray animals (47.6 %) was higher than that of the owned animals (30.6 %). The rabid stray animal population comprised of dogs (96.7 %) and cats (3.3 %). The owned animals infected with rabies included dogs (89.4 %), cats (5.8 %) and cattle (4.8 %). Only one wild animal (palm civet) was found to be positive. Most of the rabid dogs (67.1 %) and cats (75 %) were intact male animals. The highest percentage of rabid dogs (36.0 %) belonged to the age group below 3 months whilst most of the rabid cats aged between 6 and12 months. Of the rabid dogs with vaccination records, 14.2 % had been vaccinated at least once against rabies. However, no cat with a history of vaccination was found to be infected. Annual percentage of positive rabies cases in the Central Province declined from 41.3 % to 13.3 % during the study period. Present findings reveal that although, the number of animal rabies cases has declined during the last six years the disease is still prevalent in the Central Province. Therefore, the rabies control programmes need to be focused more on the animal populations and areas where the disease is prevalent. Keywords: Rabies, animals, stray dogs, central province, Sri Lanka


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SLJCR-2013 Comparison of Mononuclear Cells in Various Immune Organs of C57BL/6J Mice A. Darshani1*, C.Tomiyama2, L. Yatawara1 and M. Orikasa2 1

Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Medical Technology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Niigata University, Japan. *[email protected]

Natural Killer (NK) and Natural Killer T (NKT) cells were demonstrated to be present in the lymphoid organs of mice and human especially in liver and actively involved in the antiviral and antitumor defenses along with other lymphocytes. Flowcytometry allows the evaluation of Mononuclear cells (MNCs) by identifying their immunophenotypical antigens, differentiating and quantifying the various cell types in suspension. This study compared the percentage of MNCs in various immune organs of C57BL/6J normal mice by BD FACS Calibur analysis with two colour staining for revealing the differential proportion of the lymphocyte subsets in each organ as a basic data for immunological studies. Liver, spleen, bone marrow (BM), lymphnodes (LN) and thymus were analyzed for this evaluation and comparison. Mechanical dissection of organs, lysing of red blood cells and washing in MEM- HEPES medium were carried out to isolate MNCs. Fluorochrome conjugated monoclonal antibodies against surface antigenic markers (CD3, NK1.1, CD1d, CD8, CD4, CD19, Mac-1, and Gr-1) were incorporated for staining of cell surface antigens after propidium iodide staining for dead cells and debris. The FACS Calibur with Cell Quest Pro- WinMDI (BD)analysis described, when liver MNCs were separated with percoll density gradient solution (35 % v/v), that the liver had 9.2 % NK cells and 10.7 % NKT cells. Among the NKT cells majority were CD1dT restricted cells (8.7 %). Other organs had very little proportion of NK and NKT cells. The LNs had more CD4+CD8- (40.1 %) and CD8+CD4- (22.57 %) cells. Thymus contained vast amount of CD4 +CD8+ T cells (79.63 %) which reflects T cell maturation process. Spleen had 67.3 % B cells, BM with 65 % and liver 56 %. This study demonstrated that LN MNCs were higher with helper T cells and cytotoxic T cells. Spleen and BM were enriched with B cells. In addition, liver MNCs had higher proportion of NK cells and NKT cells compared to other immune organs. Keywords: Flowcytometry, Lymphoid organs, NK cells, NKT cells, T cells Acknowledgements: Sincere thanks to the staffs of Department of Medical Technology of the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Niigata University, Japan and the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka for providing necessary facilities and guidance to carry out this research.

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SLJCR-2013 Is the ROS Producing Potential of Mitochondrial Complex II in Cancer Cells Different from that in normal Cells? M.P. Paranagama1*, C. Sakai2 and K. Kita2 1

2

Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan *[email protected]

Mitochondrial complex II is a key metabolic enzyme in cellular energy metabolism. In human cells, it functions as a succinate-quinone reductase (SQR) whereas in parasitic cells it functions as a fumarate reductase (FRD). Parasitic Complex II with FRD activity has a higher ROS production potential compared to the complex II in human host. Because of these differences, parasitic complex II has been used as a promising target for developing antiparasitic drugs. A new concept in cancer biology is the “parasitic energy metabolism” in cancer cells. In support of this concept, experimental evidence for FRD activity in cancer cells has been reported. We asked whether the mitochondrial complex II in human cancer cells also have a high ROS producing potential similar to parasitic cells, because ROS can be used to trigger selective cancer cell death. The ROS production was analyzed in two human colon cancer cells lines HT-29 and DLD-1, which have been reported to exhibit FRD activity. Human dermal fibroblasts served as the control. Mitochondrial superoxide and hydrogen peroxide production were analyzed using Mitosox Red and Amplex Red assays, respectively. Detectable levels of ROS were produced from the mitochondria of human cancer cells but not from the normal cells when the quinone binding site of complex II was inhibited with atpenin A5, even though atpenin A5 completely inhibited the quinone reduction site in both cell types. However, ROS production from cancer cell complex II was prevented when its succinate binding site was inhibited with nitro propionic acid. Our results indicate that mitochondrial complex II in human cancer cells has a higher ROS producing potential compared to that in normal cells. Thus, this enzyme may be used as a potential target for developing new anticancer drugs to trigger ROS mediated cancer cell death. Keywords: Cancer, fumarate reductase, mitochondrial complex II, parasites, ROS Acknowledgements: This work was supported by a grant in aid for scientific research on priority areas (18073004), and Targeted Proteins Research Programme to KK and by a MEXT scholarship to the first author.


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SLJCR-2013 Sri Lanka - Japan Collaborative Research on Ground Water Quality in Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu) Prevalent Areas in Sri Lanka S.K. Yatigammana*1, T. Kawakami2, A. Motoyama2, Y. Serikawa2, S.K. Weragoda3, M. Tafu4 and G.G.T. Chaminda5 1

Department of Zoology, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Department of Environmental Engineering, Toyama Prefectural University, Japan 3 National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Regional Support Centre, Dambulla, Sri Lanka 4 Toyama National College of Technology, Japan 5 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka *[email protected] 2

During the last two decades emerging epidemic condition of renal failure affect the people in some regions of the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. Since the CKDu prevalent areas formerly identified as high fluoride regions with dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis in common, many scientists’ suspects that excessive fluoride in drinking water could be responsible for the kidney disease also. Therefore, the current study was undertaken to understand water quality variation in ground water with special emphasis to distribution of fluoride in Sri Lanka. The results are expected to help develop water quality maps to explore whether there is a relationship between CKDu and water contaminations. More than 600 water samples obtained from both tube and dug wells from 14 districts were analyzed for conductivity, pH, major ions, silica and heavy metals. According to the results, ground water of all the 14 districts are freshwater having the conductivity values between 0.050 - 1.0 mS/m. Analysis of major ions indicates that all the water samples are dominated by calcium, sodium and chloride. The sequences of the anions show Cl>SO4>NO3>F pattern. We noticed excessive fluoride concentrations in well water with the values more than 5.0 mg/l. In addition phosphate (PO43-) was also detected from northern Dry Zone of Sri Lanka. The cation sequence demonstrate Ca>Na>Mg>K>NH 4 pattern, reflecting the dominance of both precipitation and underlying geology. Many samples contain moderately hard water with CaCO3 hardness over 100 mg/l and maximum hardness was detected where high fluoride concentrations were detected. Particularly, these areas appear to overlap with the CKDu prevalent areas of North Central Province of Sri Lanka. The analysis of heavy metals of all the samples shows Mn is dominated with the sequence of Mn>Fe=Zn>Al>V>Ni>Cu. Other heavy metals Cd and Pb were not detected in ground water while As and Cr was detected at trace amounts only in few samples. Our study suggests that fluoride is a highly suspicious element that could be responsible for several chronic diseases including CKDu in Sri Lanka. Keywords: Arsenic, CKDu, fluoride, water quality

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SLJCR-2013 Metabolic Fate of a Conjugated Trienoic Fatty Acid (Alpha-Eleostearic Acid) Present in Seeds of Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) in Rats L.J.P.A.P. Jayasooriya1*, M. Sakono2 and N. Fukuda2 1

Division of Biochemistry, Department Basic Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Biochemistry and Applied Biosciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Miyazaki University, Miyazaki, Japan *[email protected]

There is a growing interest on nutritional properties of conjugated fatty acids such as Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) with conjugated double bond systems (CLA isomers; 9c, 11t and 10t, 12c). Bitter melon (Momordica charantia) is a popular vegetable and its seed lipids contain a high proportion of conjugated trienoic fatty acid named alpha-eleostearic acid; ESA (9c, 11t, 13t). Usually, the seeds are discarded during the cooking. However, some people have a habit of including seeds too in cooking process. The objective of this study was to investigate the metabolic fate of this conjugated trienoic fatty acid in vivo. Extracted seed oil was converted into free fatty acids and further purified. Male Wistar rats weighing 90-100g were divided into three groups with n = 7 per group. Animals were allowed free access for 21 days to the experimental diets added with 1.5% of different fatty acid mixtures (A: CLA; 9c, 11t and 10t, 12c isomers, B: alpha-linolenic acid, C; ESA rich fatty acids from bitter melon seeds). After 21 days liver and adipose tissue were collected for further analysis. Fatty acid profiles were analyzed using gas-chromatography. Interestingly, ESA was not detected in any of the lipid fractions that were analyzed in the group C. Both CLA isomers were detected in tissue lipids in group A. Surprisingly, instead of ESA, 9c, 11t isomer of CLA was detected in lipid fractions of group C. Results indicated that ESA (9c, 11t, 13t) has been completely converted in to CLA (9c, 11t) in rats. Thus, conjugated trienoic fatty acid is completely converted to conjugated dienoic fatty acids in vivo. Further studies revealed that this conversion is rapid and starts at intestinal epithelial cells. It could be due to a rapid saturation reaction within the cells. Keywords: CLA, conjugated fatty acids, alpha-eleostearic acid, Momordica charantia Acknowledgements: Government of Japan Monbusho scholarship granted to the first author.


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SLJCR-2013 Nutritional Self-management of Middle Aged Male Adults on Haemodialysis W.M.C.P. Wijekoon1*, H. Aoki2, K.Saito2 and Y.G.S.W. Jayarathne3 1

2

Department of Nursing, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Niigata University, Japan 3 Medical Education Unit, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University, Sri Lanka *[email protected]

Nutritional self-management is a critical component of patients having haemodialysis. Chronic haemodialysis patients are continually challenged by their ability to maintain dietary and fluid restrictions. Identification of bases of choices and difficulties faced while maintaining nutritional selfmanagement appears to be effective. The objective of this study is to determine nutritional selfmanagement of middle aged male adults on haemodialysis. The study was carried out using 04 haemodialysis patients in Shinrakuen hospital, Niigata, Japan. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used to reveal the aspects of nutritional self-management of dietary restrictions. Data was analyzed qualitatively. The results showed that patients had paid attention for good self-management in protein intake, dietary and fluid restrictions by adhering to dietary tips and self-management strategies. Patients used to have typical, familiar and home-made foods for maintaining good nutritional self management. The identified bases of self-management choices were previous exposure to knowledge about dietary restrictions, knowledge about early interventions to avoid complications, experience of dialysis treatment, family support, marital status, attitudes, feasibility and personal goals for avoiding complications. The identified main problems were lack of exposure to dietary information, lack of knowledge to enhance self care practices and lack of individualizing education approaches with family members. Our findings emphasize the importance of overcoming difficulties and creating more opportunities for gaining knowledge about dietary restrictions in enhancing nutritional selfmanagement of haemodialysis patients. Keywords: Dietary restrictions, haemodialysis, nutritional self-management Acknowledgements: The Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and the School of Allied Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Niigata University, Japan for the opportunity given to conduct this research study. Special thanks tothe management of Shinrakuen hospital, Niigata, Japan for the supportive environment and all patients who have participated for the interviews.

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SLJCR-2013 Effect of Insulin-like Peptide 3 on Testosterone Secretion and cAMP Release in Mouse Leydig Cells Indunil Pathirana1,2*, Masahiro Takahashi2, Shingo Hatoya2, Toshio Inaba2, Hiromichi Tamada2 and Noritoshi Kawate2 1

Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Kamburupitiya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Advanced Pathobiology, Osaka Prefecture University, Izumisano, Osaka, Japan *[email protected]

Insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) has recently been identified as an exclusive product of testicular Leydig cells. The role of INSL3 during fetal and neonatal period is well elucidated, but very little is known about the role of INSL3 in developing and adult males. Recently, it was shown that INSL3 is potentially involved in the prevention of germ cell apoptosis and in proliferation of osteoblasts in adults. However, regardless of the localization of its receptor (RXFP2) in Leydig cells of several mammalian species, i.e. humans, mice and dogs, the effects of INSL3 on endocrine function Leydig cells are totally unknown. The objectives of the present study were to examine the effects of INSL3 on: (1) testosterone secretion; and (2) cAMP release in mouse Leydig cells. Purified Leydig cells were isolated from testicular interstitial cells obtained from 8-week-old male mice, using a 3-step discontinuous gradient (specific gravities: 1.05, 1.06 and 1.08) of Percoll. Cells were then plated in the presence or absence of mouse, human, canine or bovine INSL3 (0–100 ng/ml) for 18 h in multiwell-plates (96 wells) in different cell densities (2500, 5000, 10,000 or 20,000 cells per well). The effects of bovine INSL3 (100 ng/ml) on testosterone secretion by Leydig cells were examined in the presence or absence of an adenylate cyclase inhibitor, SQ 22536 (1 μM) or INSL3 antagonist (bovine and human; 100 ng/ml). Testosterone and cAMP in spent medium were measured by enzyme immunoassay. All INSL3 species stimulated (P60 years) are still not well organized. Therefore, (1) Counting the number of 60 years and above in general outpatient clinics in a certain selected period of time were done, and (2) Using the hospital statistics data, age group differences of numbers of patients for each department were figured out in three age categories, juvenile (70) populations in last 5 years (2007-2011). For the general outpatient clinics, out of 1414 patients visited during three general medical clinics sessions in the last week of January 2013, 305 (21.6 %) were 60 years and above. Regarding the inpatients, rate of ageing populations were increased from 8.9 % (in 2007) to 9.7 % (in 2011). In addition recent provisional statistics shows the rate was 10.7 % in 2012. The results suggests that the needs for ageing population are increasing and appropriate improvement such as establishing special department for elderly care are recommended to implement. Further assessments are also on going now, and will be shown at the conference. Keywords: Ageing population, elderly care, hospital care, long-term care, Sri Lanka


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SLJCR-2013 Three dimensional in vivo Contact Analysis of Wrist Joint during Wrist Motion by using MRI G Venugopan1*, T Kondo2, K Kobayashi2 and M Sakamoto2 1

2

Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Department of Health Sciences, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata, Japan *[email protected]

Wrist joint is composed of radio-scaphoid and radio-lunate joints, it is complex and frequently used in everyday life. Contact analysis of wrist joint is important to understanding the pathological mechanism, in establishing a prevention and treatment to various joint diseases and to clarify the mechanism of articular cartilage contact. Most in vitro studies have been made using cadaveric wrists to investigate the contact state of wrist joint but they did not reflect the in vivo wrist joint mechanism. The purpose of this study was to investigate the in vivo wrist joint mechanism during wrist motion. In this study, we have measured the contact area of the wrist joint articular cartilages using MRI. Three healthy adults’ wrists were scanned at four positions (-30o: Palmer flexion, 0o: Neutral, 30o and 60o: Dorsal flexion). Contact of the wrist joint was estimated quantitatively from the derived MR images. The kinematics of the scaphoid and lunate were analyzed three dimensionally by using three dimensional surface models of bones. We calculated the radio-scaphoid and radio-lunate mean contact areas during palmer flexion was 60±9 mm2 & 9±6 mm2, during neutral was 54±11 mm2 & 7±1 mm2 , during 30o dorsal flexion was 65±9 mm2 & 10±4 mm2 and during 60o dorsal flexion was 74±6 mm2 and 11±3 mm2, respectively. In conclusion, the study findings showed that radio-scaphoid contact area is much greater than the radiolunate contact area during wrist motion. Wrist joint contact distribution is large in palmer flexion and tended to move along with the dorsiflexion and wrist joint has less contact in neutral position at all. This indicates the contact area tended to increase with increasing bending angle. Keywords: Wrist Joint, contact analysis, MRI, Palmer/Dorsal flexion, kinematics

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SLJCR-2013 Contribution of Liver Natural Killer T cells in Concanavalin A-Induced Murine Model of Hepatitis Shifnaz Nazar1*, Chikako Tomiyama2 and Michiaki Orikasa2 1

Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Medical Technology, School of Health Sciences, Niigata University, Japan *[email protected]

Natural killer T(NKT) cells constitute a distinct subpopulation of T cells with a unique antigen specificity, prompt effect or functions and unusual tissue distribution. They are especially abundant in liver. In our study, to explore the possible contribution of NKT cells to the pathogenesis of concanavalin A(Con A)-induced hepatitis, we injected Con A intravenously to a murine model by comparing with a normal control mouse which was injected with same volume of PBS. After 24 h of injection serum AST and ALT activities were measured and highly elevated AST and ALT levels were observed in Con Ainduced murine model whereas the concentrations of control mouse was normal. These findings indicated that there was degenerative changes occurred in the liver of test model. We prepared cell suspensions from various mice lymphoid organs and surface phenotype of the mononuclear cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. By that we found hepatic NKT cells were rapidly up regulated and underwent apoptosis leading to their rapid disappearance in the liver while comparing with normal mouse. It has been reported that NKT cells secrete a large amount of IFN- promptly after stimulation with Con A. Therefore we measured IFN- concentration in mice sera using ELISA and the level of IFNof test mice were highly elevated than the control mouse. With our study we found that liver NKT cells play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Con A-induced hepatitis, suggesting a similar pathogenic role in human autoimmune hepatitis. Keywords: Natural killer T cells, concanavalin A, hepatitis, interferonAcknowledgements: Department of Medical Technology, School of Health Sciences, Niigata University, Japan and Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka for providing the an opportunity to perform the research project.


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SLJCR-2013 Effects of Diabetes Mellitus on Heart Function and Metabolism in Mice W.B.N.T. Fernando1 and M. Nakazawa2 1

Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Medical Technology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Niigata University, Japan *[email protected]

Diabetes cardiomyopathy has been recognized as a major complication and cause of disability and mortality among diabetic patients. Clinically, diabetic cardiomyopathy can occur without major vascular lesions, suggesting a primary role for direct effects of diabetes on cardiomyocytes. Over the next two decades, the incidence of both type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure is anticipated to increase to epidemic levels in both the industrialized and developing worlds. Patients with diabetes are characterized by an increased likelihood of heart failure, largely reflecting the contribution of diabetes to coronary artery disease and its association with hypertension. The development of diabetic cardiomyopathy is likely to be multifactorial. Putative mechanisms include metabolic disturbances, myocardial fibrosis, small vessel disease, autonomic dysfunction and insulin resistance. Purpose of this research is making animal models for the research of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Streptozotocin was injected into six mice to induce type 1 diabetes and citrate buffer solution was injected into other six mice being as control. Body weight and drinking rate were measured at every 2 days. After 1, 3 and 5 weeks, blood glucose level and Cardiac echo were measured by means of Acucheck Aviba and Hitach EBU-6300 under 1.5% isoflurane anesthesia. After sixth week, under isoflurane anesthesia, body weight, blood glucose and left ventricular pressure were measured. Then urine was taken from bladder and blood was taken from abdominal vein. And heart, kidney and liver were removed and weight was measured. Some parts of heart and kidney were sent to the pathological investigations. Collected urine and blood were used for biochemical measurements like glucose, protein and creatinine. Blood glucose was significantly increased at 1 week after streptozotocin. From 2nd week after streptozotocin the blood glucose levels became over 500 mg/dl and were maintained for the experimental period. The drinking water rate of streptozotocin group increased significantly at 4 day after injection and gradually over 10 times higher than that of control group. Urine output increased also dramatically under observation of floor covering of cage. Thus, the drug caused diabetes mellitus in mice. At 6 week after injection, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was significantly increased and 1st derivatives of left ventricular pressure were significantly decreased in the diabetic group. These data indicate that the heart function was decreased. Keywords: Diabetes cardiomyopathy, cardiomyocytes, congestive heart failure, myocardial fibrosis, autonomic dysfunction Acknowledgements: We thank the staff and students of the School of Health Sciences in Niigata University, Japan for the encouragement and support and the Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

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SLJCR-2013 The Handicapped in the Information Age: Comparative study on Sri Lanka and Japan on eliminating Digital Divide N. Wedasinghe Faculty of Graduate Studies, Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka [email protected]

People with different disabilities and in specifically people who are blind or vision impairment are not having equal opportunities to accessing information technology and Internet access compare to the non disabled population in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this study is to find the reasons behind this digital divide for people with disabilities in Sri Lanka and solution to eliminate identified problems through the analysis of Japanese country policies and practices on disability and digital divide. This study conducted based on the literature behind the disability digital divide, social construction of disability, The information age, the development of information technology and Internet related technology and Other countries and Sri Lankan corporate policies related to information technology and web accessibility. In order to collect information on the Sri Lankan disability digital divide interviews were conducted with a range of government representatives, web developers and online information providers in Sri Lanka. This study focus four research questions such as; How do people with disabilities perceive themselves and society, and how does this affect access to the information technology and web related technologies?, Are there any special benefits related with information technology and web related technologies to Sri Lankan disabled community?, In what way do government policies in Sri Lanka, web developers, strategic decision makers affect the disability digital divide?, How problems and issues can be resolve related to disability digital divide through Japanese practices on disability and Information technology and Internet?. As a result of this study it has been indicated that compare to other developed nations Sri Lanka has given poor concentration on this issues. Many more Sri Lankan people with disability are reluctant to use Information technology due to poverty, Lack of awareness, Lack of Interest and their social and cultural backgrounds. These factors are highly co-related with digital disability in Sri Lanka. As conclusions Japanese best practices has been proposed to implementations are basically categorized under the four main areas such as Usability and Accessibility, Safety and security, Low cost technical standard and environment friendly socio innovation. Keywords: Digital Divide, disability, digital accessibility


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SLJCR-2013 Oral Health Survey of around 6-year old School Children in Sri Lanka E.M.U.C.K. Herath1, B.G.T.L. Nandasena1*, S.C. Ratnayake2, H. Ogawa3, Y. Makino3 and H. Miyazaki3 1

2

Faculty of Dental Sciences, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Medical Corps, Sri Lanka Army, Regimental Centre SLAMC, Army Cantonment, Panagoda, Sri Lanka 3 Faculty of Dentistry, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Japan *[email protected]

As similar trend in other developing countries, recent urbanization and increasing sugar consumption in Sri Lanka can be expected to lead a high prevalence and severity of dental caries among children. However, the current data on caries experience and the association between dental caries and socio-behavioral factors are documented scarcely in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to describe the recent dental caries status and analyze the association between dental caries and socio-behavioral factors among 6-years old schoolchildren in Sri Lanka. From November 2009 to March 2010, a cross sectional study was conducted in randomly selected six primary schools in Denuwara semi-urban areas in Kandy District, Sri Lanka.Children aged around 6 years were selected for report of dental caries status of primary dentition. A parental questionnaire survey was performed to study the parents’ educational level, income level, level of oral health knowledge and children's oral health behavior such as tooth brushing habits and their diet habits. In order to assess the effect of socio-behavioral factors on dental caries, logistic regression analysis was carried out. The total number of participants was 409. Mean dmft was 3.53 ± 3.69 while caries prevalence was 67.8%. Proportion of d component within dmft was 76.5 %, m component was 12.9 % and f component was 10.6 %, respectively. According to the result of logistic regression analysis, schoolchildren who used toothpaste with fluoride showed lower incidence of dental caries rather than those who did not use toothpaste with fluoride. (OR = 0.24, p