Researchers from Science, Medical, Technology, Engineering, and Graduate Studies Faculties published forty five research papers in Journals indexed by Elsevier Scopus during December 2021. Fifty two researchers from USJ contributed to this achievement. The web publishing team of the 91传媒 acknowledges their contribution to upgrading the research standards of the University and expanding the knowledge base in the relevant subject areas.

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The state-of-art biomimetic design approaches that have been and can be used in automobile design is explored by the paper titled, 鈥淏iomimetic Designs for Automobile Engineering: A Review鈥�, which was published in International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (IJAME), September 2021.听In this article, 听and听from the Department of Materials and Mechanical Technology, 91传媒 have revealed the current research interests and highlighted the areas with a deficit of research that is required to be addressed extensively in the future.

The article can be accessed using the following link:听

Read more Research Articles :

USJ and USDA-ARS collaborative research team discovered new Pathogenic Fungal species

Translating waste to wealth : Colloidal and nano biochars convert human urine to safe organic fertilizer

Biofuel from Cyanobacteria and paper waste 鈥� The Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research

Endocrine disruptor Tributyltin (TBT) found in water and invertebrates in ship traffic zones for the first time in 91传媒 鈥� USJ Water Quality and Algae Research

FOT researchers produce Bioethanol from Banana fruit waste

Antibody responses declined but T cell responses remained 12 weeks after Sinopharm second dose 鈥� USJ research

Terracotta Pavements give lower surface temperature levels in cities than Cement Pavers and Grass Pavers 鈥� Dept. of Forestry and ES research

Respect living and deceased when studying human remains: USJ helps to craft global guidelines and ethics in ancient DNA research

New analysis recovered 14 unidentified potential new frog species and remove eight from the checklist 鈥� USJ joint research

Rich student-student and lecturer-student interactions alleviate the feeling of isolation in online learning 鈥� FHSS research

Survey on blockchain for future smart grids : Technical aspects, applications, integration challenges and future research

Low-income cancer patients receive less physical, emotional & spiritual support at Maharagama Cancer Hospital 鈥� USJ Research

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鈥淭he first one was B.411, which is a lineage of the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 virus, the second is the B.1.617.2. AY 28 and this is the third one,鈥� Dr. Jeewandara said on 19th of November 2021. 鈥淎Y 28 was mainly spreading in the Western Province, but this new AY 104 variant is spreading in the North, North Central and Southern provinces.鈥� He said out of the samples tested in the USJ laboratory, 288 were confirmed to be AY 104 variant while 479 tested positive for AY 28 variant.

鈥淚t shows us that the virus has mutated in different ways and is spreading differently in each area,鈥� he added. Dr. Jeewandara said the samples will be sent to Hong Kong to study the transmissibility of the variant. 鈥淲e do not have the technology to work out the transmissibility of a lineage,鈥� he said.

鈥淓ven though there are mutations, they have derived from the original delta variant. So we do not expect different behavior from these lineage than from the original variant.鈥� Dr. Jeewandara said the AY 28 lineage was observed to be spreading in May,2021 while the AY 104 lineage is believed to have started spreading from June.

All COVID-19 vaccines are still effective against the mutated lineages, Dr. Jeewandara added.

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The study results show that there are differences in end-of-life (EOL) outcomes among advanced cancer patients who receive care at one of 91传媒鈥檚 largest public hospitals by their SES, education, ethnicity, age, gender, and marital status. Notably, low SES patients reported worse physical, emotional, spiritual, and social EOL outcomes compared with those from high SES patients. To reduce inequalities in patient outcomes at EOL within public hospitals in 91传媒, there is a need to enable access to appropriate palliative care and EOL care services, and medications to all advanced cancer patients. Future studies should develop interventions supporting vulnerable patient groups to ensure equal access to EOL services. The study was supported by the Lien Centre for Palliative Care.

鈥淥ur results showed that patients with more years of education perceived their quality of nursing care to be worse. It is possible that even when the quality of care provided to all patients is the same, those with higher levels of education perceive their quality of care to be worse due to greater expectations regarding care (). Future research should examine and correct for such systematic variation in reporting behavior in order to get a better estimate of differences in quality of care among patients with different levels of education.鈥� said

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USJ and USDA-ARS collaborative research team discovered new Pathogenic Fungal species

Translating waste to wealth : Colloidal and nano biochars convert human urine to safe organic fertilizer

Biofuel from Cyanobacteria and paper waste 鈥� The Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research

Endocrine disruptor Tributyltin (TBT) found in water and invertebrates in ship traffic zones for the first time in 91传媒 鈥� USJ Water Quality and Algae Research

FOT researchers produce Bioethanol from Banana fruit waste

Antibody responses declined but T cell responses remained 12 weeks after Sinopharm second dose 鈥� USJ research

Terracotta Pavements give lower surface temperature levels in cities than Cement Pavers and Grass Pavers 鈥� Dept. of Forestry and ES research

Respect living and deceased when studying human remains: USJ helps to craft global guidelines and ethics in ancient DNA research

New analysis recovered 14 unidentified potential new frog species and remove eight from the checklist 鈥� USJ joint research

Rich student-student and lecturer-student interactions alleviate the feeling of isolation in online learning 鈥� FHSS research

Survey on blockchain for future smart grids : Technical aspects, applications, integration challenges and future research

The post Low-income cancer patients receive less physical, emotional & spiritual support at Maharagama Cancer Hospital – USJ Research appeared first on USJ - 91传媒.

, Head of the Department of Chemistry at the 91传媒 and the team at 91传媒 Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) developed a new nano-fertilizer product in 2010 and received 4 US patents at a time where nano-fertilizer was entirely new to the scientific community. So the technology for the production of efficient nano-fertilizer was introduced to the world about 11 years ago from 91传媒. This innovation was rated as a global first by the World Intellectual Property Organization and听听was selected as one of the nine most inventive women scientists based on this new concept.

In this innovation, urea molecules were anchored onto biocompatible hydroxyapatite nanoparticles thus minimizing the wastage of urea as gaseous emissions and water-soluble leachates. This new solid fertilizer contains 40% of nitrogen while supplying plant-available 6% phosphorus when applied to the soil. The efficacy of the fertilizer has been tested at the farmer field level for tea and rice. The field trials suggest that the new formulation reduces 25-40% nitrogen usage with a yield improvement of up to 20 %. This innovation has already received 4 US patents and the process has been scaled up to pilot-scale production.

Prof. Kottegoda’s research team at the USJ has further developed a greener process of nano-fertilizer production that has minimum energy, water, and environmental footprint. They also have explored a method to introduce other nutrients into the same formulation thus increasing its potential as a 鈥渕other of fertilizer鈥�. This extended innovation has already received two patents belonging to USJ.

Commercial production of high efficiency nano-fertilizer has not yet commenced in 91传媒. But a leading fertilizer manufacturing company in India, anticipating the future value of the discovery, had purchased the technology in 2013 for commercial exploitation through the 91传媒n government. However, patent rights are retained with SLINTEC. Therefore, 91传媒 to this day, still has production rights over this product, meaning that the potential for 91传媒 to become a manufacturing hub for this product does exist. But it’s unfortunate, today, the 91传媒n government has to import nano-fertilizer from India for a huge amount.

鈥淭here is no action plan yet for the production of nano-fertilizers in 91传媒, which are highly efficient, economically viable and environmentally friendly鈥�, said听.

Selected Publications;

1.听, Current Science, 2011, 73-78.

2.听, ACS Nano, 2017, 11(2), 1214-1221

3.听Composition and Method for Sustained Release of Agricultural Macronutrients, a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/794,741, US 8 696 784 B2, April 15 2014.

4. Compositions for Sustained Release of Agricultural Macronutrients and Process There of,听US 8 361 185 B2, Jan 29 2013

5. A Cellulose Based Sustained Release Macronutrient Composition for Fertilizer Application, US 8 617 284 B2, Dec 13 2013.

听6.听听鈥淗ow to stop fertilizer being washed away by the rain鈥�,听The Economist, February 2017

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Accordingly, the university will voluntarily disclose its greenhouse gas emissions starting from 2019, following the ISO 14064-1:2019 standard, and will face the third-party ISO 14064-1 audit on its GHG emission reporting on the 22nd and 23rd of November 2021.

The CFS has recently introduced the new CarbonCal web-based portal to systematically report the GHG emissions from each Department/Division of the University. A 鈥淕reen Team鈥� comprising over 120 Academic and Non-academic staff members was formed and trained to report the GHG emissions on the CarbonCal web-based portal. The center for Sustainability expects the fullest support of the campus community to achieve this remarkable feat.

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91传媒 is an amphibian hotspot of global significance. Its anuran fauna is dominated by the shrub frogs of the genus听Pseudophilautus. Except for one small clade of four species in Peninsular India, these cool-wet adapted frogs, numbering some 59 extant species, are distributed mainly across the montane and lowland rain forests of the island. This analysis has merged听P. procax听and听P. abundus听(with priority to听P. procax);听P. hallidayi听and听P. fergusonianus听(with priority to听P. fergusonianus);听P. reticulatus听and听P. pappilosus听(with priority to听P. reticulatus);听P. pleurotaenia听and听P. hoipolloi听(with priority to听P. pleurotaenia);听P. hoffmani听and听P. asanka听(with priority to听P. asankai);听P. silvaticus听and听P. limbus听(with priority to听P. limbus);听P. dilmah听and听P. hankeni听(with priority to and听P. hankeni听); P. fulvus听and听P. silus听(with priority to听P. fulvus).

This work is a collaborative effort by, Mr. Gajaba Ellepola, Mr. Jayampathi Herath and Prof. Madhava Meegaskumbura, University of Peradeniya, 91传媒 and Guangxi University, China; Mr. Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, 91传媒;听听Department of Zoology, USJ; Dr. Gayani Senevirathne Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, 听USA and Mr. Rohan Pethiyagoda, Ichthyology Section, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia.

Surprisingly, all analyses recovered 14 unidentified potential new species as well and those will be described by the team in the future.

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Read more Research Articles :

USJ and USDA-ARS collaborative research team discovered new Pathogenic Fungal species

Translating waste to wealth : Colloidal and nano biochars convert human urine to safe organic fertilizer

Biofuel from Cyanobacteria and paper waste 鈥� The Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research

Endocrine disruptor Tributyltin (TBT) found in water and invertebrates in ship traffic zones for the first time in 91传媒 鈥� USJ Water Quality and Algae Research

FOT researchers produce Bioethanol from Banana fruit waste

Antibody responses declined but T cell responses remained 12 weeks after Sinopharm second dose 鈥� USJ research

Terracotta Pavements give lower surface temperature levels in cities than Cement Pavers and Grass Pavers 鈥� Dept. of Forestry and ES research

Respect living and deceased when studying human remains: USJ helps to craft global guidelines and ethics in ancient DNA research

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DNA research has exploded in scale over the last decade, according to and one of the authors of the open access paper, “Ethics of DNA Research on Human Remains: Five Globally Applicable Guidelines.” When researchers sample ancient human remains, they must do everything they can to minimize damage, and once their research is complete they must make their data available to other scientists for replication purposes, according to the paper.听 This will prevent the unnecessary destruction of remains for similar or duplicate studies and allow researchers to independently confirm the results of previous work. Finally, the guidelines say researchers must engage with other stakeholders from the beginning of a study and ensure their perspectives are respected. “Stakeholders are people who are connected to the ancient individuals, whether as descendants, curators, researchers or other invested individuals鈥�

says, “Using this approach, we would be able to better understand our shared origins as a species, and to seek answers to all kinds of important questions – about things like migration, marriage, diet and more. It’s our hope that these guidelines will help researchers make decisions that respect both the living and the deceased, while advancing research that is revealing new insights about the past, Human ancient DNA research requires using a small piece of bone or tooth to generate genetic data. From this small piece we can learn a lot about an individual鈥檚 ancestry, but the practice itself is sensitive because it involves destructive techniques.”

The advantage of this new paper is that researchers from around the globe despite their different regional complexities have agreed on a set of principles, as a starting point and a commitment in the discipline towards improving the ethical foundations of the discipline.

鈥淢y colleagues and I believe that the set of guidelines we鈥檝e created are strong and universally applicable. We鈥檝e committed to applying them in our own work鈥�, Prof. Yasawardene added 鈥渢he ongoing research collaboration between the USJ and Dr. David Reich鈥檚 research group of Harvard University, is strictly adhering to the proposed guidelines from the start of the research collaboration鈥�.

The guidelines call for researchers to:

1. Abide by all regulations in the places where they work and from which the human remains originate
2. Prepare a detailed plan prior to beginning any study
3. Minimize damage to human remains
4. Ensure data are made available following publication to allow critical re-examination of scientific findings
5. Engage with other stakeholders and ensure respect and sensitivity to stakeholder perspectives.

Authors hope that these guidelines will ensure ancient DNA research is always conducted to the highest ethical standards.

Full translations of the article have been made in more than 24 languages to ensure its accessibility to people around the world who might have stakes in ancient DNA research in their regions. Sinhala translation has been done by herself and the Tamil translation by few Indian authors. 听The article is available in full in 24 languages (Afrikaans, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, English, French, German, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Sinhala, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu, and Xhosa) and can download all the translations from fig share. ().

Many of the authors have also recorded videos describing this initiative, and 26 have been made available by multi-media expert Stephanie Dutchen through a beautiful interactive map with clickable thumbnails. The link below gives embedded code for the map:

More than 60 archaeologists, anthropologists, anatomists, curators and geneticists from around the world helped develop the standards at a virtual ethics workshop held Nov. 4-5, 2020.

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Read more Research Articles :

USJ and USDA-ARS collaborative research team discovered new Pathogenic Fungal species

Translating waste to wealth : Colloidal and nano biochars convert human urine to safe organic fertilizer

Biofuel from Cyanobacteria and paper waste 鈥� The Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research

Endocrine disruptor Tributyltin (TBT) found in water and invertebrates in ship traffic zones for the first time in 91传媒 鈥� USJ Water Quality and Algae Research

FOT researchers produce Bioethanol from Banana fruit waste

Antibody responses declined but T cell responses remained 12 weeks after Sinopharm second dose 鈥� USJ research

Terracotta Pavements give lower surface temperature levels in cities than Cement Pavers and Grass Pavers 鈥� Dept. of Forestry and ES research

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