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ISSN 2012-5356Volume 04, No. 07 January – March 2011

University of Peradeniya News University of Peradeniya News

University of Peradeniya News Web : www.pdn .ac.lk Statistics & Information Unit, Senate Building Tel. : 081-2392433 University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya. E-mail : [email protected]

The University of Peradeniya conferred 2431 degrees on graduands from seven Faculties –Agriculture, Arts, Dental Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, Science, Vet. Medicine - and Postgraduates Institutes.

Contd. Page 2

The General Convocation 2010 of the University of Peradeniya was held on 01 March 2011 at the Gymnasium of the University. This prestigious occasion was organized by the Convocation Committee chaired by Dr. G. Buthpitiya, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

Sixth National Training Course in Integrating Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Crises

The Sixth National Training Course in Integrating Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Crises conducted by the Health Emergency and Disaster Management Training Centre (HEDMaTC) in collaboration with the UNFPA was held as a three-day residential training programme from 3rd to 5th March 2011 at the Riverdale Hotel Kandy. The training was targeted for regional epidemiologists (RE's), Medical Officers of Maternal and Child Health (MO/MCHs), and Medical Officer Planning (MO Planning). Ten resource persons conducted the training for 28 participants. At the completion of six successful programs, the number of trained medical officers island-wide went up to a total of 117.

Robocon 2011

Taruga

Workshops/Seminars/Conferences

Book Launching Ceremony

MD examination in Surgery

University Geography Society

CDCE News What’s new in the UP Library Network

IT Centre News

Sports News

Details of Retired /Resigned Employees

International Relations

A quarterly update of important events of the University of Peradeniya

University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka.

Agriculture ......................194

Dental Sciences.................45

Engineering

Medicine

Science............................423

Veterinary Medicine & Animal Science..........93

No. of Graduands

The Science Education Unit of the Faculty of Science conducted a Science Camp at the Royal Central College, Polonnaruwa, from 02nd to 03rd April, 2011 in collaboration with local organizations.

Fifteen Senior Academic Staff members including the Dean of the Faculty and 30 Temporary Lecturers/Demonstrators participated as resource persons. Five Technical Officers of the Faculty provided the necessary technical support.

More than 300 G.C.E. (A/L) students of the Polonnaruwa area participated in this two-day Science Camp which was conducted through lectures, demonstrations, hands-on laboratory sessions and the popular “Chemistry Magic” programme.

Science Camps

General Convocation - 2010

Postgraduate Degrees....449

Arts.............................665

.................

......................198.364

Workshops / Seminars / Conferences

Workshops / Seminars / Conferences

· The Department of Philosophy & Psychology and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, in collaboration with Samutthana (King's College London Resource Centre for Trauma, Displacement & Mental Health), Trauma and Global Health program(TGH), People's Rural Development Association (PRDA), Sri Lanka and McGill University Canada organized a workshop on working with Children and Families on 21st of March 2011 at the Arts Faculty Seminar Room, University of Peradeniya. The Resource persons, Prof. Rachel Ribe, Dr. Harriet Calvert and Ms. Caroline Gluckman are psychologists/psychotherapists from U.K. who conducted the workshop in the English language with the participation of psychiatrists, medical officers, psychiatric nurses, students and staff of the Department of Philosophy & Psychology.

· The Department of Philosophy & Psychology, University of Peradeniya, in collaboration with the Tagore Society of Sri Lanka organized a Symposium on the Universality of Rabindranath Tagore on 31st of March 2011 at the Arts Faculty Seminar Room, University of Peradeniya. The programme was conducted in the English language with the participation of both staff members and students. The Resource persons were Dr. Leel Gunasekera and Mr. Kamal Premadasa from the Tagore Society of Sri Lanka, Prof. G.B. Keerawella/Chair, Prof. Sumanasiri Liyanage and Mrs. Mallika Rajaratnam from the Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya. The philosophical theatre/dialogue between Einstein & Tagore presented at the symposium was performed by Mr. Wazim and Mr. Miraj from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya.

A live coverage of the proceedings was transmitted to viewers gathered outside the Gymnasium and it was beamed live on the World Wide Web.

The People's Bank and the Bank of Ceylon were the main sponsors of the General Convocation 2010.

Following the Convocation, a reception was held at the Vice Chancellor's Lodge to acknowledge the dedication and efforts of the Academic, Administrative and Non-Academic staff who contributed to make this event a success.

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University of Peradeniya News 02

MD Examination in Surgery

The National MD Part I and Part II Examinations in Surgery were conducted by the Department of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine on behalf of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) in February 2011.


Book Launching Ceremony

Dr. Ananda Jayasinghe, the editor, handing over the first copy of the book to Prof. SBS Abayakoon. Prof. Aponso is pictured in the centre

A book titled 'In Honour of Herbert Allan Aponso, Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics, University of Peradeniya' was launched on the 27th of March 2011 at a ceremony held at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya. Prof. SBS Abayakoon, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, accompanied by Mrs. Jeewapani Abayakoon, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Dr. Gamini Buthpitiya, Dean of Faculty of Medicine, and Prof. Ananda Wijekoon, Professor of Paediatrics also graced the occasion as Special Guests.

This book has been compiled and edited by Dr. Ananda Jayasinghe, Senior Lecturer in Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya. The book consists of three parts i.e. the life story of Prof. Aponso, his reminiscences and a collection of old essays written by Prof. Aponso on health matters.

Prof. Herbert Aponso joined the Faculty of Medicine at the time it was founded and retired in 1993 after 30 years of exemplary university service. The book launching ceremony was organized to

thmark his 86 birthday. Speaking on the occasion Prof. SBS Abayakoon commended the felicitation of an academic giant such as Prof. Aponso who has served the Medical Faculty and University of Peradeniya with utmost dedication.

The Book Cover

Other Activities

·Department of Statistics and Computer Science and the Department of Police in Sri Lanka have initiated a joint research project on Computer Supported Criminal Data Analysis. The main objective of this research is to increase efficiency in crime investigations conducted by the Department of Police. At the initial stage, the research will be conducted in the Central Province.

· Following the accident at the nuclear reactor at Fukushima, Japan, the Department of Physics, University of Peradeniya, in collaboration with the Atomic Energy Authority, Sri Lanka, established a Radiation Monitoring Centre to test the radiation levels in the atmosphere in and around Peradeniya. Tests are being carried out round the clock and up to now no hazardous radiation levels have been detected.

·A subject review was carried out in the Department of Management Studies, Faculty of Arts, from February 23-25, 2011. The Review Panel was appointed by the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Council of the UGC.

Short coursesvWeb Development - Batch 01 completed

vComputer Graphics & Animation - Batch

01 completed

vIntroduction to Computers & MS Office –

Batch 01 completed, Batch 02 & 03 in

progress

vAdvanced Web Programming – in progress

vJAVA – in progress

Seminars and Workshops

vA three-day workshop on ICT for Career Advancement for undergraduates in the Faculty of Arts - Completed

vA workshop on Database Management Systems for undergraduates in the Faculty of Arts - Completed

IT Centre News

The most characteristic feature that distinguishes Taruga from the Polypedates is a set of prominent cone-like projections around the vent. Also, the supratympanic fold of Taruga is straighter than those in the Polypedates. Moreover, the snout of Taruga is more acute than that of Polypedates.

The vent of Polypedates, such as the tadpoles, forms a tube between the left leg and the tail, and in Taruga, this tube is non-existent except for an opening between the leg and the tail. Several other features of the mouth cavity, such as, the number of projections on the tongue, the shape of the tongue etc, help to distinguish Taruga from Polypedates.

Taruga is endemic to Sri Lanka, and the researchers have assigned T. fastigo as the type species for this genus. There are two more species currently included in this genus (T. eques and T. longinasus) and the researchers are working on describing a third. Taruga eques is found 1000m asl on Central Hills and Knuckles; Taruga fastigo 900m asl in Rakwana mountains (this species has the most restricted range); Taruga longinasus: below 600m in the wet-zone lowlands of Sri Lanka (this has the largest range). In order to survive, all three types of frogs require shade in the form of a canopy, and to breed, shallow and slow flowing streams or puddles. The female of the species builds a foamy nest overhanging water where eggs develop for a few days, after this, tadpoles fall into water where they undergo further development until metamorphosis. The juvenile frogs that emerge from water return to an arboreal life on trees.

Sri Lanka is now known to contain a high level (clade level) of endemicity despite many land-bridge connections with India (Bossuyt et al., 2004). Taruga is yet another one of the deeply divergent clades.

The following scientists contributed to this paper: Dr. Madhava Meegaskumbura (University of Peradeniya), Dr. Suyama Meegaskumbura (University of Peradeniya), Mr. Gayan Bowatte (University of Peradeniya), Mr. Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi (Wildife Heritage Trust), Mr. Rohan Pethiyagoda (Sydney Museum), Prof. Christopher J. Schneider (Boston University) and Prof. James Hanken (Harvard University).

Taruga, the only known tree-frog genus endemic to Sri Lanka


Using molecular, morphological and life history data, a team of researchers led by Dr. Madhava Meegaskumbura (Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science) have identified an endemic lineage of frogs from Sri Lanka and they have documented it as a new genus – Taruga (Meegaskumbura et al., 2010).

The word Taruga in Sanskrit and early-Sinhala describe a "tree climber". This name is appropriate to the new genus since adult frogs are tree-dwellers and only rarely come to ground. They are so adapted to life on trees that they even lay their eggs there.

Even though 15 genera of frogs have previously been identified from Sri Lanka, only 3 are endemic. Taruga is currently the only genus of endemic frogs among the tree-frogs

(Rhacophoridae). With this, there are now three genera: Pseudophilautus, Polypedates and Taruga. Curiously, all genera of Sri Lankan endemic frogs are species depauperate and have only 1-4 species contained within them. The reason for this is still unclear.

Molecular phylogenetic analyses using six gene fragments (three nuclear and three mitochondrial), morphological analyses of adults and tadpoles, and CT scanning of type specimens to analyze osteology have been used for the description of the genus.

Outstanding Programmes of the “University Geography Students Society”

As a member of “Subject Society Network” of the Faculty of Arts, the Geography Students Society of 2009/10 initiated outstanding activities under the supervision of Senior Treasurer/Lecturer Mr. Muditha Prasannajith Perera with the assistance of the academic and other staff members of the Department of Geography.

For instance the Society has introduced a “New Membership Card” for its members and a “New Notice Cover Page” in addition to improving the “File System” of the Society. The Society has organized a “Common / Guest Lecturer Series” including, “Environmental Science and Law” and “A Discussion on “War, Peace, and Next….”. Other accomplishments of the Society include rejuvenating the “Mihinada” wall newspaper, establishing a “Society Book Collection” in the Department of Geography library with the support of the “Centre for

At the Shramadana Campaign

Environmental Justice”, improving the Department's indoor landscaping, upgrading the bank accounts and organizing a “Shramadana Campaign” in the University temple.


CDCE News

Best of luck, former Directors!

Warm wishes from the Centre for Distance and Continuing Education to the former Director Prof. R.L. Wijeyeweera, and Deputy Directors Dr. N. Karunarathne, Mrs. M. Rranasinghe and Mr. Karunathissa Athukorala for the valuable services rendered during the last three years to bring the Centre to its status at present.

Congratulations! – Present Directors

The following 03 Academic staff members were appointed as the Deputy Directors of the Centre for Distance and Continuing Education for a period of three years with effect from 03rd January 2011:

Dr. (Ms.) N.C. Wanigasooriya

Dr. (Ms.) Wanigasooriya was appointed as the Deputy Director/Training. She is a Senior Lecturer Grade I in the Faculty of Dental Sciences and is also the Director of the Unit for Development of Dental Education.

Dr. (Mrs.) M.R Pinnawala

Dr. (Mrs.) M.R. Pinnawela was appointed as the Deputy Director, Learning/Resources. She is a Senior Lecturer Grade I attached to the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts.

Dr. (Mrs.) J.K. Dissanayake

Dr. (Mrs.) Dissanayake was appointed as the Deputy Director/ Examinations. She is a Senior Lecturer Grade II attached to the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine.

Diploma Awarding Ceremony

The Diploma Awarding Ceremony for the successful candidates of the 2009/2010 examinations was held at the Centre for Distance and Continuing Education on 12th February 2011. The Diplomas offered were as follows: Diploma in Participatory Housing & Community Development, Management & Development and Co-operative Development & Management. The occasion was graced by the Chief Guest Prof. SBS Abayakoon, Vice Chancellor, University of Peradeniya. The Honourable Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake was the Guest of Honour.

Training Programme at Rantambe

A two-day out bound training programme for the staff of the Centre for Distance and Continuing Education was held at Rantambe (Tree Centre) on 04th and 05th March, 2011.

During the training, staff members took part in activities such as sports, drama, games and meditation.

This programme created a sense of community, trust, enthusiasm, commitment and confidence needed for achieving goals, improved the participants' attitude towards team work, respect for others and laid a foundation for future success.

Library News

Dr. Mrs. K.G.P.G. Wijeunge was appointed as the Librarian of the University of Peradeniya with effect from 17th January 2011. Dr. Wijetunge is a graduate of the University of Peradeniya and served in the library, University of Colombo, for a period of 24 years prior to her appointment at Peradeniya.

Appointment of the New Librarian

Achievements

Ms. Harshani Dissanayake, Senior Asst. Librarian, IT Division of the Main Library was invited by the UNESCO to participate at a seminar on Open Access for Scientific Information in March 2011 held at the India International Centre, New Delhi. She presented a paper on “Sri Lanka: Open Access Week 2010 initiative” based on the Open Access Week conducted

th thfrom 18 to 24 of October at the University of Peradeniya.


Gifts to the Medical Library

o Sri Lanka Medical and Dental Association in the UK has gifted text books worth Rs. 77,000.00

o Victoria Chapter of the Peradeniya University Alumni Association of Australia gifted text books worth Rs. 200,000.00

o Peradeniya Medical Students Alumni Association of America has gifted text books worth Rs. 220,000.00

o An Alumnus of Faculty of Science (1982/1983 batch) Alumni of University of Peradeniya has gifted five Wall Fans for the student reading area.

EBSCOhost full text database

A demonstration and discussion for a group of 16 academic staff members representing all Faculties of the University of Peradeniya was held at the Main Library on 31st March 2011 to introduce EBSCOhost full text database and some other facilities to access e-resources through the library. Dr. P. Wijetunge and Mrs. H. Dissanayake conducted the session.

Sports

Commencing the 2011 cricket season, the University of Peradeniya undergraduates played two matches with two foreign teams. The first was played on 06th January, 2011 at the University Grounds with a team from Singapore. The second was played at the same venue on 14th January 2011 with a team from India. The Peradeniya University cricketers won comprehensively at both matches.

Senior National Hockey Tournament 2010 was worked off from 20th to 24th January 2011 at the CH & FC Grounds, Colombo. A combined team from the Sri Lanka Universities Sports Association participated in the tournament. Even though they played extremely well, the Sri Lanka Universities Combined team failed to secure a medal position. CS Kanakkahewa (Medicine), PCI Madushan (Medicine) and KLW Wijesinghe (Engineering), represented the University of Peradeniya in the Combined University men's team. Four players from the University of Peradeniya - KSN Perera (Medical), VN Kanakkahewa (Medicine), GGMI Jayaweera (Management), and KD Kaumini (Arts) – played in the Sri Lanka Universities Combined Women's Hockey team.

Seethadevi All Island Hockey Tournament was held on 29th & 30th January 2011 at the Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy. The Women's team from the University of Peradeniya was the Plate runner-up.

For swimming lovers of the University of Peradeniya, a 03 month beginners swimming course was introduced on 01st February 2011. 65 students attended the programme. The University of Peradeniya swimmers were placed overall second at the Open Sea Swim Championship -2011 held on 06th February 2011 at the Ambalangoda beach.

ndOn 14th February 2011, the 02 Selection Trial for the World University Games Swimming Championship was held at the University of Sri Jayewardenapura swimming pool. At the Trial, Ms. H. Weerathunga was chosen to compete at the World University Games.

ndThe 02 Selection Trial of the World University Games Weightlifting Championship was held on 16th March 2011 at the University of Peradeniya Gymnasium. Mr. D. Gunathilake, an Arts student from the University of Peradeniya was chosen to compete at the World University Games weightlifting championship.

Inter Faculty Championships for the year 2010 were held from 07th to 25th of March 2011. The Championships kicked off with the game of Badminton.

The Faculty of Medicine men's team emerged the champions in Elle, while the Faculty of Arts became the champions in the women's category. Faculty of Science clinched two championships in Rugby & Cricket. Faculty of Engineering was the men's swimming champions and the women's team from Vet. Medicine obtained the women's title.

Details of Retired / Resigned Employees(for the period from 01-01-2011 to 03-31-2011)

Name Designation Department Years of Service

1 Mr. ODR Wilfred Mason - Grade II Faculty of Engineering 112 Mr. WHM Nissanka Labourer- Special Grade Dept. of Civil Engineering , 33

Fac. of Engineering3 Mr. WM Samaraweera Full Time Sub-Warden Mahailuppallama University Hostel 27

Special Grade4 Mr. WR Rathnasena Supervisor – Maintenance Health Centre 395 Mr. PK Jinadasa Tractor Operator - Grade I Faculty of Agriculture 196 Mr. GG Gunasena Labourer- Grade I Dodangolla Experimental Station 277 Mr UG Jayarathne Labourer- Grade I Dodangolla Experimental Station 238 Mr. RB Nanda Kumara Staff Technical Officer Dept. of Physics, Fac. of Science 199 Mr. SM Abeyrathne Banda Laboratory Attendant Dept. of Chemistry, Fac. of Science 3810 Mr. EG Dharmasena Health Services Labourer Arunachalam Hall 2811 Mr. GKG Gunasara Health Services Labourer Mahailuppallama University Hostel 3412 Ms. RPG Kusumawathi Labourer - Grade I Wijeywardhane Hostel 2013 Mr. MG Senevirathne Security Guard Security Department 3014 Mrs. DWK Niyangoda Stenographer Fac. of Vet. Medicine & Animal Sci. 3815 Mrs. RM Nagahawaththe Senior Staff Assistant / Main Library 34

Library Services16 Mr. JA Gunathilake Works Superintendent - Works Department 17

Grade I17 Mr. RA Jayasinghe Cook- Higher Grade Vice Chancellor's Lodge 1118 Mr. RJM Samarasekara Senior Staff Assistant / Engineering Workshop 36

Store Keeping19 Mr. KWHB Kooradeniya Electrician - Special Grade Works Department 3420 Mrs. TMJ Kamalasena Senior Staff Assistant / Academic Establishments 32

Clerical Services21 Mr. EM Wijerathne Banda Labourer- Grade II Works Department 11


In Baseball, the Faculty of Medicine secured the first place. The Faculty of Arts & the Science Faculty were joint champs and shared the wrestling Inter Faculty Championship as well. The Science Faculty won the Inter Faculty Volleyball men's championship and the Faculty of Allied Health Science won the women's trophy. The Science Faculty team was the champions

ndof the powerlifting category. The 02 track & field trial for the World University Games to be held in Shenzhen, Peoples Republic of China, was held on 21st March 2011 at the Diyagama International Sports Complex, Homagama. An Agriculture student, Ms. WMTK Weerasekara, was chosen to represent the University of Peradeniya.

Sri Lanka University teams in both men's & women's categories participated in the Sri Lanka Senior National Basketball Tournament 2010 held from 14th to 16th January 2011 at the Kingswood College, Kandy. Sri Lanka University men's Basketball team became the 'B' Division champions. SMPY Samaraweera (Science) , A. Vishnuruban

(Engineering) and P. Anojan (Engineering) represented the University of Peradeniya, and SMPY Samaraweera

ROBOCON 2011

A Robot Model presented by the team from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, has been selected again this year to represent Sri Lanka at ROBOCON 2011 to be held in Bangkok in September 2011. The team from the University of Peradeniya won at the competition of Robot Models against those from the universities of Moratuwa and Ruhuna.

The robot competition was organized by the Independent Television Network (ITN), the media sponsor of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) ROBOCON.

In the past, the University of Peradeniya has represented Sri Lanka at Robocon competitions in China (2005), Malaysia (2006), Vietnam (2007), and India (2008).

The robot model of the team from the University of Peradeniya under the guidance of Dr. Lilantha Samaranayake

Annual Colours Award Ceremony

Colours' Award Ceremony, the annual event honouring sportsmen & women of the University of Peradeniya was held for the year 2010 on 25th March, 2011 at the University Gymnasium. In addition to Special awards, 320 sportsmen and 150 sportswomen who excelled in various events at the inter University Tournament, national and international competitions were honored at this ceremony. Prof. S.B.S. Abayakoon, the Vice Chancellor, University of Peradeniya graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.

Two members of the Saga University Dr. Teruyoshi Yanagita, Director of International StudentCenter and Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, and Dr. Piyadasa Ratnayake, Professor, Faculty of Economics, visited the Vice-Chancellor University of Peradeniya on March 14, 2011.

The objective of the visit was to introduce the Saga University to the Faculty members and students of the University of Peradeniya and to lay the foundation for a strong future relationship between these two academic institutions.

Visit from the Delegation from Saga University, Japan-March 14, 2011

Members of the Delegation from Saga University with Prof. SBS Abayakoon, the Vice Chancellor, University of Peradeniya

University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka.

A quarterly update of important events of the University of PeradeniyaUniversity of Peradeniya News