In 2017, Sri Lanka set a goal to increase its forest cover to 32% by 2030 (Sri Lanka UN‐REDD, 2017). However, on November 4th 2020, the government published circular MWFC/1/2020 revoking the circular ...5/2001 of August 10th 2001, one of the country's most crucial forest protection directives. The revocation of the 5/2001 circular could severely hamper this target, posing a threat of deforestation to a variety of ecosystems which are not part of any formally designated protected areas (PA) in Sri Lanka, also known as Other State Forests. This includes forested areas adjoining PAs which are crucial for habitat connectivity and standalone state forest lands. Such a retrograde step could have potentially catastrophic ramifications on Sri Lanka's declining forest cover. It would also severely weaken the country's commitments to inter alia, the UNREDD Programme, Kyoto protocol and CBD. We therefore call on the Government of Sri Lanka to urgently reconsider and reverse this decision.
Summary
Objective Although associations between visceral adiposity (intra‐abdominal fat mass) and insulin resistance are well established, previous data include few subjects with WHO grade III ...obesity body mass index (BMI) > 40 kg/m2. We have investigated the relationship between visceral adiposity and insulin resistance using computed tomography (CT)‐quantified fat mass and the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) in patients with severe obesity.
Patients and methods Eighteen nondiabetic subjects with BMI > 40 kg/m2 were recruited. BMI, and waist, hip and neck circumferences were measured. Fasting plasma insulin and glucose were measured to calculate HOMA‐IR. A single slice CT scan was taken at L4 and visceral and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (VAT and ASAT, respectively) quantified using ‘SliceOmatic’ image analysis software.
Results A close correlation was demonstrated between VAT and HOMA‐IR (r2 = 0·46, P = 0·002), whereas ASAT showed no relationship. Neck circumference correlated with both VAT (r2 = 0·67, P < 0·0001) and HOMA‐IR (r2 = 0·35, P = 0·01). Waist circumference only correlated significantly with VAT (r2 = 0·25, P = 0·03).
Conclusions Visceral adiposity remains a strongly significant indicator of insulin resistance in WHO grade III obesity. Neck circumference surpasses other anthropometric measurements as a powerful marker of both VAT and insulin resistance.
We provide a detailed redescription of the two original type specimens of the little-known, endemic Andaman water monitor, Varanus salvator andamanensis Deraniyagala, 1944. Examination of further ...voucher specimens allows for an expanded morphological diagnosis of this island taxon and comparison with other currently recognized subspecies of the wide-spread Southeast Asian water monitor. Based on the specimens examined, V. s andamanensis is characterized by a homogenous black dorsal background colour, with five to seven, more or less distinctive transverse rows of small spots or ocelli, light yellowish dots arranged sporadically between transverse spot/ocelli rows on the body, light yellowish coloured spots distributed sporadically throughout both forelimbs and hind limbs; 17-18 prominent rows of light spots continuing from base of tail to its tip dorsally with sporadically arranged dots on lateral sides of tail; and higher scale counts in transverse dorsal scale rows. Based on photographic evidence and examination of museum specimens, V. s. andamanensis inhabits both the Andaman and southern Nicobar Islands, which politically belong to the Republic of India. In addition, we confirm the presence of V. s. macromaculatus in the northern and central Nicobar Islands, thus providing evidence for the allopatric co-occurrence of two different water monitor subspecies in these remote archipelagos.
This paper studies the structure of downlink sum-rate maximizing selective decentralized feedback policies for opportunistic beamforming under finite feedback constraints on the average number of ...mobile users feeding back. First, it is shown that any sum-rate maximizing selective decentralized feedback policy must be a threshold feedback policy. This result holds for all fading channel models with continuous distribution functions. Second, the resulting optimum threshold selection problem is analyzed in detail. This is a nonconvex optimization problem over finite-dimensional Euclidean spaces. By utilizing the theory of majorization, an underlying Schur-concave structure in the sum-rate function is identified, and the sufficient conditions for the optimality of homogenous threshold feedback policies are obtained. Applications of these results are illustrated for well-known fading channel models such as Rayleigh, Nakagami, and Rician fading channels. Rather surprisingly, it is shown that using the same threshold value at all mobile users is not always a rate-wise optimal feedback strategy, even for a network in which mobile users experience statistically the same channel conditions. For the Rayleigh fading channel model, on the other hand, homogenous threshold feedback policies are proven to be rate-wise optimal if multiple orthonormal data carrying beams are used to communicate with multiple mobile users simultaneously.
Liver diseases lead to 1.3 million deaths per year around the world, the majority of which are secondary to cirrhosis. In the management of liver diseases in chronic and acute conditions, liver ...transplant (LT) plays a major role in improving the survival and quality of life of patients. LT programmes require the technical capabilities in performing the pre‐transplant evaluation, transplant surgery and post‐transplant care supported by adequate infrastructure and a set of trained teams. Globally, there were 28,000 deceased donor LTs, and 14,000 living donor LTs were performed in 2021. In the South Asia region, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka conducted 2998 LTs in 2021. Many countries report sociocultural, religious and legislative barriers to acquiring adequate donor livers. We describe the challenges in LT programmes in low‐ and middle‐income countries and experiences from Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka carried out its first LT in 2010, and the service is provided free of charge in the state health sector. In Sri Lanka, the common indications for LT in adults are non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and alcoholic liver disease. In children, the indications are biliary atresia, hepatocellular carcinoma and Wilson disease. The common challenges include a lack of an adequate number of doctors and post‐transplant team members, a low number of organ donors and a long waiting list, all of which can be disadvantageous for transplant programmes. To continue providing LT services, there is a need to adopt multimodal strategies in the areas of providing additional skills training to the operating team and promoting organ donation culture in the background of supportive organ donation legislation. With the adoption of the national strategic plan for organ, tissue and cell transplantation, the country hopes to strengthen its capacity of providing transplant services to its people.
Increased moisture content (MC) is considered as one of the main factors for the failure of transformer insulation. This paper presents a method of estimating the MC of a transformer pressboard ...insulation based on the relative permittivity and loss tangent measurements performed at GHz using a multi-layer micro-strip ring resonator. It was fabricated on a material of known dielectric properties and the sample to be tested (i.e. pressboard) was placed on the ring structure. The dielectric properties, namely loss tangent and permittivity, of the sample were then estimated by measuring the S 21 transmission characteristics of the ring structure using a vector network analyzer. The technique was validated using a test sample of known dielectric properties. Additionally the results were compared with traditional frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy (FDS) measurements conducted at 1 mHz -1 kHz. The measurements were performed on oil impregnated and non-impregnated pressboard samples having different MCs conditioned by drying and/or wetting processes. The actual MC of the pressboard samples were obtained by weight measurements. It was found that the resonance frequency increased when the MC was reduced. Furthermore, a positive non-linear relation could be observed between the MC and both the relative permittivity and the loss tangent. It can be concluded that the proposed method could be used to estimate the MC of pressboards.
Condition assessment of insulation is widely used to identify the state of aging of power transformers. Traditionally, condition assessment is done using dielectric response measurements conducted at ...low frequencies. However, due to long testing time required for these methods, attention has now been paid towards measurements at microwave (above 1 GHz) frequencies. In this paper, we establish a correlation between dielectric properties and the state of aging of transformer pressboard samples. This is useful as it paves way to develop techniques to assess the state of aging by measuring dielectric properties at high frequencies. Dielectric measurements are made by using a microstrip ring resonator. The state of aging is determined by measuring the tensile index. Tests were carried out on dry and wet oil-impregnated pressboard samples thermally aged at laboratory conditions for durations up to 45 days. The results were compared with field aged samples collected from a 33 kV sealed type distribution transformer of 18 years in service. It was found that the permittivity values had a good correlation with respective tensile index values whereas loss tangent values showed limited correlation for both dry and wet samples. The results of field aged samples matched well with the established correlation curves. It can be concluded that the permittivity of pressboard samples estimated from the ring resonator can be effectively used to evaluate the state of aging of transformer insulation.
The decline and extirpation of large carnivore populations can lead to cascading effects in natural ecosystems. An understanding of large carnivore population densities, distribution and dynamics is ...therefore critical for developing effective conservation strategies across landscapes. This is particularly important in island environments where species face increased extinction risk due to genetic isolation coupled with local losses of finite habitat. The Sri Lankan leopard Panthera pardus kotiya is one of two remaining island-living leopards on Earth and the only apex predator in Sri Lanka. Despite its iconic status in Sri Lanka, robust research on the species has been limited to only a handful of scientific studies, limiting meaningful scientific recommendations for the species’ conservation and management. In this study, we conducted a single season camera trap survey in Sri Lanka’s largest protected area, Wilpattu National Park (1317 km2), located in the country’s northwest. Our objective was to estimate key ecological state variables of interest (density, abundance, sex-specific movement and spatial distribution) of this leopard subspecies. Our results indicate that Wilpattu National Park supports a density of 18 individuals/100 km2 (posterior SD=1.5; 95% HPD interval=16–21) with a mean abundance of 144 (posterior SD=15) individual leopards and a healthy sex ratio (f:m=2.03:1). The estimated activity range for male leopards > 2 years old was 49.53 km2 (Posterior SD=3.43; HPD interval=43.09–56.41) and for female leopards > 2 years old was 22.04 km2 (Posterior SD=1.82; HPD interval=18.34–25.65). This density falls at the higher end of published estimates for the species anywhere in its global range, based on similar methods. Given Sri Lanka’s limited size, this national park system should be considered as a critical stronghold that maintains a source population of leopards, contributing to the long-term population viability of leopards in the larger landscape.
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