Knowledge, Practices and Perceptions Related to Salt Use among 18-70 Year Old Adults in Gampaha District of Sri Lanka

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Background: The World Health Organization has called upon all countries to reduce average population salt intake to <5 g/ day. In Sri Lanka, average adult salt consumption is around 13g /day, which is far above the WHO recommended value. Objective: To describe the knowledge and practices related to food salt use, among 18-70 year old adults in Gampaha district of Sri Lanka. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Gampaha district, Western province, Sri Lanka. Data were collected using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of Faculty of Medicine Ragama. Results: The mean age of the study population is 44.3 years and male to female ratio is almost one. A majority (91.9%) of the study participants identified high salt consumption leads to adverse health effects. Only 22 % were able to identify the recommended maximum daily salt requirement. Many (78.4%) respondents expressed cutting down on salt as an important health priority for them. Just over half of the (50.4%) participants were carrying out some measures to reduce salt consumption. However, a large proportion (88.2%) were of the opinion that they were using the correct amount of salt. Conclusions: The level of knowledge about the maximum daily recommended amount of salt among the adult population is poor in Sri Lanka. Most participants were willing to cut down on salt provided they are enlightened with correct health messages.

Educational Intervention Aimed at Street Food Vendors to Improve Knowledge and Practices on Food Safety and Hygiene

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Background: Street foods is ready- to- eat foods and beverages prepared which are sold by vendors in streets and other public places for immediate consumption or consumption at a later time without further processing or preparation. Street vended foods forms a distinctive part of food industry because they are mostly affordable, easily accessible. Food handlers play an important role in food safety and in transmission of food poisoning, because they can introduce pathogens into foods during production, processing, distribution and serving. Therefore, the understanding of food safety procedures and the potential factors that causes food borne diseases is very essential for all food handlers.
Objective: The study was conducted with the objective of assessing the level of knowledge and practices on food safety and hygiene in street food vendors and improve the knowledge and practices through an educational intervention targeting the street food vendors.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge and practices of the street food vendors. An educational intervention was carried out using the mode of one-to-one knowledge sharing discussion facilitated by pictorial materials. The intervention was conducted in all street food vendors in a selected medical Officer of Health area in the Colombo district. Similar MOH area in the Colombo district was used as the control area. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge and a checklist was used to assess the practices.
Results: The knowledge and practices level were not satisfactory in the baseline study. The knowledge improved in a statistically significant proportion (P<0.05) following the intervention in the intervention group. However, the level of improvement of practices was not statistically significant at the post interventional assessment (P>0.05).
Conclusions: The intervention was successful in improving the knowledge of the street food vendors significantly. However, the practice level did not show a statistically significant improvement.

Food Control System in Sri Lanka and Perception of Public Health Inspectors on Implementation of Control Measures

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Background: Many health problems encountered today arising from consumption of unsafe food. Contamination of food and feeds arising from naturally occurring toxicants, microbiological contaminants, chemical contaminants such as additives used above the permitted levels, pesticide and veterinary residues in food or as toxic components from food processing could have deleterious effects in humans and animals. Food control measures are critical in fostering food safety management of a nation.
Methods: In depth review of the existing legislation on food safety and hygiene and the food control system was done. International literature and reports were reviewed to compare the current global situation and the Sri Lankan situation. In depth interviews were conducted among the Public Health Inspectors who comprise the majority of authorized officers
Results: The food control legislation which was enacted in 1980 has been amended only twice in 1991 and 2011. There are over 50 Regulations brough in time to time under the Food Act of 1980. The food control system is mainly centralized and the implementation is done mainly at the level of the Medical Officer of Health (MOH). Many provisions of the legislation are outdated and needs revisions. The perception of the Public Health Inspectors reveled that a vast majority are not satisfied with the current food control system and are the opinion that the improvements should be made in all areas related to the food control system.
Conclusion: The food control system in Sri Lanka should be revisited and be improved and updated to be in line with the current global trends. The capacities of the analytical system as well as the authorized officers should be improved in order to ensure effective implementation of the food control system.

Improving Oil Recovery Efficiency Using Corn starch as a Local Polymer for Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes

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Polymer flooding is a chemical enhanced oil recovery method that improves the recovery of oil by controlling the mobility of water to oil phase. It uses polymer solutions to increase the viscosity of the displacing water thereby decreasing water/oil mobility ratio (Speight, 2013). The volumetric and displacement sweep efficiencies are positively affected by polymer flooding. The viscosity of the aqueous phase is increased due to the molecular size and structure of the polymer used. The main objective of this research was to study the ability of cornstarch (local polymer) to recover additional oil after conventional water flooding. The objective was successfully achieved by injecting four different unconsolidated samples (sand pack) with cornstarch solution at varying concentration of 500ppm, 1000ppm, 3000ppm, and 9000ppm. From the results of the experiment conducted, it was deduced that Cornstarch has the ability to recover an additional volume of oil about half the volume of oil recovered during conventional water flooding (i.e. if 50% of oil initially in place was recovered during water flooding, cornstarch can recover an additional 25% of the residual oil after water flooding). Also, higher concentrations of cornstarch reduce the recovery factor due to polymer adsorption on the rock surfaces which alters the rock wettability. To reduce the adsorption effect of Cornstarch, it is recommended that the concentration of Cornstarch be measured after the flooding experiments for a better understanding of the adsorption mechanism of cornstarch.

Inventory Management Practices of Micro, Small and Medium Grocery Stores in Daet, Camarines Norte

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Sourcing, storing and selling are the three very significant processes in the practice of inventory management.
These processes are the focus of assessment of this research to a group of selected MSM grocery stores in Daet, Camarines Norte. Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions: 1) What is the profile of the MSM grocery stores in Daet, Camarines
Norte in terms of length of the business operation, current capitalization; and total number of inventory management personnel? 2) What are the existing inventory management practices of grocery stores and their assessment of the level of effectiveness in terms of sourcing, storing, and selling? and, 3) Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the MSM grocery stores and the assessment of the level of effectiveness of the inventory management practices of grocery stores?
The study covered 150 respondents composed of MSM grocery stores. Descriptive-correlational method and F-test (One Factor Analysis of Variance) were used in the gathering and treatment of data. Frequency count and percentage were employed to determine the number of respondents characterized by each of the items in the profile. Weighted mean and adjectival ratings were utilized in marking the inventory management practices as well as the challenges encountered by MSM grocery stores. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation and the Somers’s Delta using the SPSS software was used in determining the significant relationship between the level of effectiveness of the inventory management practices of MSM grocery stores and their profile.
The findings of the study revealed that majority or 38 percent of the MSM grocery stores are already existing for 4 to 6 years with less than Php 3,000,000 current capitalization and most of them admitted that they had no particular employee assigned as inventory management personnel. The existing inventory management practices along the sourcing and storing process were all absolutely effective with ABC Classification System being the highest indicator. Moreover, findings showed that the inventory management practices for selling were 50 percent absolutely effective and 50 percent highly effective, where Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was the highest indicator. In the correlation analysis conducted, it was found out that the length of business operation and the level of effectiveness of inventory management practices of MSM Grocery stores along sourcing and storing are not significantly related unlike selling as an inventory management process which resulted to a significant correlation. Further, all other profiles such as current capitalization and the number of inventory management personnel have no significant relationship to the effectiveness of the inventory management practices of the respondents.

The Capability in Pronouncing the English Final Consonant Clusters by the English Department Students, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University

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This study attempts to describe the ability of the English Department students, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University in pronouncing English final consonant clusters. Consonant clusters are groups of consonants that can occur initia lly (onset) and finally (coda) in the syllable structure. The features of consonant clusters in each language are highly dependent on the language itself. In English, the number of consonants at the beginning of a syllable can be up to three such as: structure /strʌktʃə/, spring /sprIŋ/, while the number of consonants that forms a cluster in the coda can be up to four as in sixths /siksθs/, texts /teksθs/. While, Consonant clusters in Indonesian and Balinese as the mother tongue of students are very limited in number and only exist initially in the words. This difference, obviously, creates problems for students in pronouncing English words containing these consonant clusters
The knowledge of the English sound system is taught in the English phonetic and phonemic course in the fifth semester at the English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University. This study examined the ability to pronounce consonant clusters by the second semester students who have not taken English Phonetic and Phonemic courses to be compared with student s who have taken the course, so that it can be seen to what extent the course can change students’ performance in pronouncing the consonant clusters.
This research is descriptive qualitative research, supported by quantitative data. The research population was 20 second semester students and 20 sixth semester students randomly taken. The research instrument was a list of English words containing consonant clusters and questionnaires. The data collection technique was done through recording, and the data were analyzed descriptive qualitatively and presented formally and informally.

Nitrogen and Chicken Manure Effect on Corn Growth and Yield in Double Row Cropping Patterns

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Corn (Zea mays L.) is a common food and feed product in the community since it is commonly used as rice substitution as food staple. Fertilizer application is required to attain crop high yields. Plants can receive nutrients from synthetic nitrogen fertilizers (NF) during their growth cycle. However, excessive use of NF might harm the environment. Organic chicken manure (CM), on the other hand, can minimize the harmful impact of NF. Chicken manure benefits to improve the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties. To boost maize plant growth and productivity, might employ CM and NF. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of NF and CM on corn growth and yield. This research was conducted in Kembang Seri, Central Bengkulu, Indonesia from November 2019 to February 2020 using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with two factors and three replications. The first factor was NF doses (100, 125, and 150 %), and the second-factor consisted of CM doses (0, 10, and 20 tons/ha). Data were analyzed using ANOVA F-5%. On shoot dry weight of corn cultivated in a double row cropping pattern, there was an interaction between the dose of N and chicken manure. At 0 tons/ha, the optimum N fertilizer dose for chicken manure is 135.96 %, or 407.86 kg urea/ha. At a dose of 20 tons/ha, the optimum N fertilizer dose for chicken manure is 141.22 %, or 423.65 kg urea/ha. In a double row cropping pattern, different nitrogen fertilizer doses had no effect on corn growth and yield. The optimal dose of chicken manure was 16.65 tons/ha for plant height, 17.35 tons/ha for stem diameter, 18.89 tons/ha for leaf greenness, 17.35 tons/ha for cob length, 15.01 tons/ha for cob weight, 18.87 tons/ha for dry seed weight/plant, and 19.74 tons/ha for dry seed weight/plot.

Atherosclerosis [Dhamani Pratichaya] in View of Ayurved

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Atherosclerosis is a disease condition leading to serious consequences such as ischemic heart disease and stroke. Diet and lifestyle changes are most important for the management of this condition. In this review Ayurvedic understanding of this condition is reported. It is termed as Dhamani pratichay by Charak Samhita and Ashtang Sangraha, as a disease of kapha dosha. Appropriate use of a suitable treatment regimen of kapha dosha is helpful to prevent and combat this disease. Nidanparivarjan [discontinuation of causative food and lifestyle] is necessary to prevent blockages. The specific Ayurvedic etiological factors [hetu], early interventions to prevent the condition have been reviewed in this paper. In severe cases, integrative approach must be used.

Paradigm Shift towards E-Learning in Nigeria

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In almost every place in the world, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic is pushing societies, cultures and civilizations into uncharted territories. Social systems, economic structures and to an extent, political realities are being disrupted on a scale unprecedented in human recorded history. Educational systems are no exception, with more than 1.6 billion learners forced out of traditional schooling since the beginning of the pandemic. E-learning platforms and models are thus taking the center stage, leaping out from the shadows of traditional classroom-based learning with such force that many have argued it is indeed the future of learning. This paper examines the realities of such a paradigm shift within the Nigerian context, with particular spotlight on its advantages to the educational sector, as well as challenges that may hinder the realization of these advantages and nullify potential positive impacts.

Are The Independent Area of Beef Cattle Development Ready for Big Data to Reduce the Volume of Imports?

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Stakeholders find it difficult to make decisions for both breeders and supporting sectors due to unorganized agribusiness data on beef cattle, it seems very limited information on it. The activities related to this business have not been recorded well, from male selection, feed management, cultivation, as well as marketing and traceability—these factors have caused price disparities in meat to become commonplace. Thus, a model of breeder empowerment is needed through big data maturity. Data play a crucial role in the planning and development of agriculture and agribusiness. The results of the analysis on efforts to digitalize and integrate data on beef cattle business confirm that the progress stops at the Nascent phase. Data digitalization at the Agency for Agriculture Extension of Kediri is at the Nascent phase, while at the Department of Food Security and Livestock Service is in between the Nascent and pre-adoption phase. Data integration in other agencies, such as the Regional Central Bureau of Statistics of Kediri, the Regional Information and Communication Office of Kediri, and the Directorate General of Livestock, fall into the corporate adoption and mature phase. As can be seen, data have not been well-integrated within one interconnected system. The availability of such a model of data integration will be a good alternative in empowering breeders of beef cattle and the public sector, it will also find communication easier with the existence of the model. The government eventually will be able to better improve performance based on the digital data available.