Elephant Early Warning System to mitigate HEC
(An Innovative solution to Manage human elephant conflict)
People who livesin border villages near jungles frequently suffer from wild elephant attacks, destroying their cultivations, homes/property and in some casestheirlives. The electric fence along the border of the village has solved the issue to a certain extent, but due to some shortcomings in functionality and long-term maintenance, it does not give the expected results to mitigate human elephant conflict (HEC).
Whatever the technological solution that has been implemented to mitigate the HEC, the involvement of the community is quite important. The success of the technological solutions will mainly depend on the contribution of the community.
A system to manage & mitigate HEC
In villages affected by human elephant conflict, the houses are located far apart from each other and are surrounded by their cultivated lands. As a result, it is difficult to request for help from neighboring community in case of an emergency, and this is one of the key reasons where most of the people get attacked.To mitigate wild elephant attacks, community level collective decision making and action is important. The electric fence is considered as the first level mitigation activity for HEC management. In general, elephants are considered as wise animals. So they can find ways to escape from the existing electric fence and come to the village for searching food to mitigate such elephant attacks safely the elephant early warning system (EEWS) is developed using existing mobile communication technology.
Our Solution to mitigate HEC.
The elephant early warning system consists of a main controlling station located in a safe location and a siren unit in the field. Depending on the geographic condition of the village, the number of sirens can be duplicated in order to improve the audibility to the entire village. The names of the villagers with their neighbors are entered to a database application which is executing in the EEWS server.
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How system works? When there is an attackfrom a wild elephantthe villager can dial the pilot number of the EEWS, where EEWS will send alert messages to the neighboring community. The siren installed in the middle of the village will activate in order to disseminate the disaster situation to people within the area. With the message and the sound from the siren the community members can gather and take preventive actions to mitigate the wild elephant attack.
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How to locate an elephant inside a village? When an elephant attacks a village, it can goanywhere inside the village. To trace the animal and to make the villagers aware, a mobile application was developed to be used in SMART phones. When a villager sees an elephant, he/she has to touch an icon on the SMART phone, where the others will receive the exact location of the elephant inside the village. To take the attention of the villagers the siren will start to give the audible warning. Pilot scale project in Galgamuwa… The system is installed in Wathupolagama and Ehetuwewa in Galgamuwa divisional secretariats, as a pilot project with the collaboration of Eco System Conservation and Management Project (ESCAMP) which functions under the Ministry of Wild Life. As a part of the project, electric fences have been installed |
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around the villages. The preventive maintenance of the electric fence was considered as an
important factor. Therefore, the “electric fence protection society/ community” was formed with the involvement of the community. All activities related to electric fence is conducted through this society. Therefore, to alleviate the elephant attacks more proactively, the implementation of the EEWS was done through the above societies. As a result, preventive maintenance work and payment of communication bills of the EEWS are done by the respective society in the village. Vedio : http://10.98.67.200/index.php/s/ZFzHXxFLsMTToxX |
Last Updated on Monday, 11 January 2021 14:08
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Mr.Deshan Perera Research Scientist Chemical & Microbiology Laboratory (CML) Air Quality Analysis Group (AQAG) |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 26 January 2023 10:55
| Technologies Transfered |
Companies |
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2018 |
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| HEYLEYS Agro Company | |
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2016 |
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Environmentally-friendly fruit and melon flies controlling product - BASCA |
CIC Holdings |
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Low cost water filter for fluoride and heavy metal removal |
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2015 |
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Filtration system to purify large quantities of water |
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Banana fibre paper |
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2014 |
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Fortified rice flour |
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Development of a biomass briquetting adhesive |
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Instant Fish Cube |
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2013 |
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Automated Rain Gauge |
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Instant rice based products from local rice varieties |
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Curry leaf beverage |
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Improved Aloe-Vera drink |
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Novel process for extracting virgin coconut oil |
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Avocado oil extraction |
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Production of corn syrup |
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Technology for blending spa grade herbal oils |
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Development of herbal aftershave lotion |
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Traditional formula based liquid vaporizer for mosquito repellence |
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2012 |
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Omega 3 enriched eggs |
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Bottled King Coconut Water |
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Extraction of Chitosan from Prawn shells |
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Flavoured Isotonic Drink |
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Instant Rice Product |
Last Updated on Friday, 27 March 2020 16:29
Research & Development activities at CML
The R & D activities of CML have expanded covering a wide range of areas for over fifty years. Many public and private institutions in the country work in collaboration with CML for their R & D challenges.
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- Product Identification, development of processes & technology and improving existing products and processes
- Extension of work from lab scale to pilot scale
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- Technical help in product development and material safety data sheets preparation
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Ongoing Research
Development of bioactive Kithul Drink
In Sri Lanka, traditional Kithul toddy is prepared by spontaneous fermentation of fresh Kithul sap using wild yeast and bacteria. In folklore, natural Kithul toddy is claimed to have different health benefits. In a previous study carried out by ITI, revealed that toddy is a rich source of antioxidants. However, higher alcohol content, hygienic and quality issues limit the consumption of Kithul toddy as a beverage.
Therefore, to deliver the goodness of natural Kithul toddy to everyone, as a bioactive beverage, ITI is working towards development of a bioactive Kithul drink.
In pervious studies, several yeast strains were isolated from Kithul toddy which showed the ability to produce toddy flavour and odor with very low alcohol content (
Therefore this study will come up with a procedure for manufacturing of bioactive non-alcoholic Kithul drink. Further it is hoped to establish a prototype manufacturing facility and assurance of quality assurance of final product & testing procedures.
Collaborators:
Mr. H.P.P.S. Somasiri
Mr. P. Ranasinghe
Dr. S. Premakumara
Granting Body: Treasury
Research Title: Development of Micro – Plate based high throughput anti-microbial assay
During past few years, ITI has developed several microplate based high-throughput bioassay methods using SPECTRAmaxPLUS384 plate reader. Bioassays such as antioxidant, total polyphenolic, α-glucosidase and α-amylase are now available for client services.
Antimicrobial assays are different from chemical or enzyme assays and are very important in studying biological activities of medicinal plant extracts. Conventionally, antimicrobial assays are carried out in culture plates. Micro-plate based bioassay methods are fast, accurate and cost effective compared to conventional methods.
Literature on microplate based antimicrobial assays is limited. However, results of our basic experiments show that antibacterial assays can be efficiently adopted into 96-well microplates with few innovative steps. Therefore, development of 96-well microplate based antimicrobial assay methods is important and our scientists are working on the project.
Collaborators:
Mr. P. Ranasinghe
Mr. H.P.P.S. Somasiri
Ms. Sajeewika Perera
Granting Body: Treasury
Title: Quantification of L-Theanine and other Amino Acids in Sri Lankan Black Tea representing all tea growing areas
L-Theanine (gamma-ethyl amino-L-glutamic acid) is a unique non-protein amino acid found in plants of theaceae family. Apart from plants of theaceae, theanine was reported from a basidiomycetes fungus Xerocomus badius. Theanine is first discovered in tea leaves in 1949. This amino acid has been extensively studied in relation to food science and human nutrition, because this compound has a unique taste, characteristic of tea known as ‘‘umami’’ .The effects of theanine on human health have recently been investigated. Theanine is known to act as an antagonist against paralysis induced by caffeine, and is also known to be a neurotransmitter in the brain; a relaxation-inducing effect in humans has been proposed.
In one study of, these mental responses to L-theanine, brain wave topography showed that alpha waves were observed from the back to the top of a person’s head (occipital and parietal regions of the brain) within approximately 40 minutes after the subjects had taken either 50 or 200 mg of L-theanine.
L-theanine has a significant effect on the release or reduction of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, resulting in improved memory and learning ability. L-theanine may also influence emotions due to its effects on the increased release of dopamine. L-theanine reduces brain serotonin concentration by either curtailing serotonin synthesis or increasing degradation in the brain.
The regulation of blood pressure is partly dependent upon catecholaminergic and serotonergic neurons in both the brain and the peripheral nervous system. Studies on spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) showed an impressive blood pressure lowering effect with L-theanine.
Apart from the above, data for theanine content in black tea is scanty. Therefore generation of data for L-theanine in Sri Lankan black tea is very important. This could be used as very effective marketing tool since there is an upsurge of research on health promoting effect of this unique amino acid globally.
Establishment of data on Theanine contents of tea grown in different areas of the country, establishment of data on amino acid profiles of tea grown in different areas of the country, use of Theanine content of tea as a marketing tool, establishment of Theanine analysis of tea at ITI are few of the outcomes of this study.
Awards
Gold Medal for the best research paper and presentation- 3rd Symposium on “Plantation Crop Research” September 30th – 3rd October, 2010, Cinnamon Grand Hotel.
Collaborators:
Mr. H.P.P.S. Somasiri
Dr. N. Punyasiri – Tea Research Institute(TRI)
Granting Body: Tea Research Institute, Talawakele.
Title: Assessment of Trihalomethanes in chlorinated water supplies of National Water Supplies & Drainage Board
Chlorine is the most commonly used disinfectant in water treatment plants today. The effectiveness as a disinfectant, ease of application and relatively low cost has also contributed to its widespread use. However, chlorine also reacts with dissolved organic matter in the water to form disinfection by-products (DBPs), many of which have carcinogenic or mutagenic properties. The most important DBPs in terms of quantity are tri-halo-methanes (THMs), the four main THMs being the chloroform, dichlorobromomethane, chlorodibromomethane and bromoform.
The possibility that chlorinated water supplied by the NWSDB contains trihalomethanes has been a matter of concern for public water supply & health authorities for a long period of time, particularly with the increasing rate of cancer in the country. However due to the lack of analytical capabilities a detailed study has not been carried out upto date in Sri Lanka. This study proposes to firstly monitor the concentrations of the 4 main THMs in the water supplied to the public from three main water treatment plants (WTPs) in Colombo, six WTPs in Gamapaha district and few selected transmission endpoints and distribution endpoints of WTPs located in Colombo.
The proposed study is very important in the context of the development of water resources in Sri Lanka. A comprehensive analysis of the impact of pollution on water supply is needed in order to develop sound policies to deal with this conflict. This study will also help determine if the public is being exposed to carcinogenic substances through the public water supply and also make recommendations to prevent or minimize the formation of these substances.
Collaborators:
Mr. J.K.A. B. Wijegunasekara
Ms. Vimarshi Liyanaarachchi
R & D Section of National Water Supplies & Drainage Board
Granting Body: National Science Foundation
Title: Determination of potentially toxic trace metals in Pesticides use in Sri Lanka
The endemic occurrence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKDu) with an uncertain aetiology is one of the major health issues in the dry zone of Sri Lanka where the agricultural output contributes to more than 70% of the annual rice production in the country. According to the Annual Health Bulletin (2005), the number of patients visit to hospitals for the treatment of genitor-urinary system related diseases has almost doubled during the period of 1980 – 2005. Data obtained from the Ministry of Health also revealed that, 4.6% from the annual health budget is spent on management of CKDu patients which amounts to 350 million rupees. Although several arguments are put forward; none of these indicates a clear possible causative factor for the disease. However, the biggest doubt at the moment is the possible relationship with the toxic heavy metals entered to environment and food chains from pesticides and the CKDu. The available data is not sufficient to get a clear picture on toxic heavy metals (As, Hg, Cd, Pb) in various pesticides formulations (Herbicides, Fungicides and Insecticides). Therefore, this study proposes to quantify and tabulate the toxic heavy metals in Pesticide formulations available in the market.
Collaborators
Dr (Ms). K. Mahatantila
Mr. B. Wijegunasekara
Mr. M.N.A. Mubarak
Ms. B. Dolakumbura
Ms. G.U. Chandrasiri
Granting Body: Treasury
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 March 2020 10:07
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