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Biofouling is one of the major means of introducing organisms in to new marine environments. Bryozoans form the major component of the biofouling community. There is dearth of information on their presence in our waters. Therefore, systematic description on existing biofouling species in Sri Lankan coastal region is very essential. This paper describes the composition of bryozoans of the class Gymnolaemata with a description of two new species recorded from coastal waters of Sri Lanka. The study was conducted in Colombo Port, one of the busiest ports in the country as well as in the region with an increased vulnerability for the introduction of geographically distinct species along with increased shipping operations. Monthly samples were collected from eight sampling stations using artificial settlement collectors which consisted of rope backbone supporting a number of horizontal PVC pipe arms that were attached to the settlement surfaces. The collectors were submerged systematically where first level was 1m below the water surface and others setting at 1m intervals. Species were identified microscopically observing fine morphological features. Scoring percentage covered by each bryozoan was determined using a quadrat (400 squares each with 5mm x 5mm area). During the study, seven species of the class Gymnolaemata were recorded namely; Electra bengalensis, Hippoprina indica, Celleporaria volsella, Parasmittina sp., Schiporella errata, Watersipora subtorquata and Sinoflustra annae. According to the One way ANOVA test there is a significant difference (p<0.05) between each sampling location for species richness and total percentage cover. However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between four sampling depths for species richness and total percentage cover. Two new bryozoans identified were, Sinoflustra annae and Electra bengalensis. Percentage cover of S. annae and E. bengalensis ranged from 1-18 % and 0.3-40 % respectively. Among these, E. bengalensis was recorded in all sampling stations yet S. annae was recorded only in CICT, BQ, OP and UCT. Though, these species are native to India there are no published literatures for the presence of Sri Lankan coastal waters. Therefore, present finding will be the first record for their presence in Sri Lanka. Key Words: Bryozoans, species richness, percentage cover, Colombo Port, Sinoflustra annae, Electra bengalensis

The rapid change in technology, the speed with which the volume of information increases, the changes in information-seeking patterns and the changes in higher education have forced university authoritiesto rethink the traditional roles of libraries and to invest them with exiting new roles. The University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJP), being the largest university in Sri Lanka in terms of student number, has taken the challenge of tackling the changing role of the library successfully.  At the moment, the library services 05 main faculties: Humanities and Social Sciences, Applied Sciences, Management Studies and Commerce, Medical Sciences, and Graduate Studies and it hopes to extend its services to the two newly established faculties of Engineering and Technology. The user community consists ofnearly 15000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and nearly1000 academic and non–academic staff. The changes done at the USJP library can be categorized into two main areas: a) library services and productsand b) the physical environment.  Both of these areas were included in the “modernization project” of the library, which started in 2015 but some changes had happened before this project as well.  For example, when considering the services and products of the library, the major achievement of the library in recent times was the migration of the integrated library management system from Windows for Alice, to the open source system, Koha, in 2014.  This migration helped not only to have an efficient system, but to save money on annual maintenance charges.Within this system, all users are registered in the e-system and they have no more hassles with library cards.  Patrons can also check the availability of an item using Koha.  Online item reservation and renewing facilities are also available.   In order to support the emerging research culture in the university, the library established a research support unit in 2015. In view of streamlining the user education programmes, a separate unit was established in January 2016. The library’s institutional repository named ‘Scholar Bank’, set up in early 2012, where the publications and academic work of staff and students aredeposited, is very popular among the user community. The number of electronic databases available to the universitywas increased from 1 to 7 with the consortium facilities provided by the University Grants Commission in 2014. The efficiency of the Inter LibraryLoan (ILL) service was increased by assigning a dedicated team separately for this in 2013.  This servicefulfillsthe needs of our own user community as well as the needs of outside libraries.With the introduction of the cash register in 2012, library fines are paid at the counter itself and users are not sent to the finance branch which is located in a separate building. Upon the request of the English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU), USJP, we designated a section of the library as the English Learning Zone (ELZ). This has very simple English story booksand leveled readers and this is heavily used by the students during their first year where the staff of ELTU combines its programmes with the library. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags were put in use with the new detection gatesin 2015, as a precaution to minimize unauthorized movements oflibrary property. Along with this, a security surveillance system, CCTV, will function soon to prevent thefts and mutilation of library material. The library started a laptop lending service to students in 2015 and students are allowed to bringin their own electronic equipment to the library.   Wi-fi was provided to designated areas of the library in mid 2015 and theseare now full of students using computers. With regard to the physical environment, improvements started with air conditioning provided to the areas used by students. The beautification of the library was done by having reading promotion posters and pots with foliage on appropriate locations.  Specially designed furniture like the “READ” rack, gadget corners, triangular shaped movable computer tables, lobby sofas, multi-revolving racks have been placed at strategic corners to attract users.  Kiosk type touch screen computers will be provided in the lobby for interactive searching of library items. Some more changes that have been implemented in the library are as follows: The library books which have not been used for the last 30 years or so and are not permitted to be withdrawnare kept as a separate collection named “Depository Collection”. This process helps to give a fresh look to the existing collections.“Just-returned” books are kept for few hours before re-shelving in a rack on the same floor where the counter is located. A photocopier is kept in the permanent reference section to make users avoid taking the books out from that section. A suggestion box and a book are kept at the counter to entertain comments from the users.  Noticeboards were fixed and regularly updated so that users regularly check them for announcements. A coin operated Nescafe machine was installed inside the library to provide refreshment facilities to patrons without them having to go out from the library. Though it is not common to have newspaper reading facilities in academic libraries, our library also provides this facility to fulfill user needs. It is proposed to have research commons, individual and group study areas for students in the future. An elevator will be fixed for facilitating easy access to the upper floors and convenient material handling. More importantly, a library building renovation project is underway. It is hoped that upon the completion of the renovation, a conducive environment will be created in the library to attract users. Librarians need to support the improvement of the learning experience of students. The USJP library staff has addressed this by developing information literacy modules for all levels of students which help students to improve their critical and analytical abilities. Our library has an updated attractive homepage which acts as an entry point to library resources.  The library web was updated in 2015 with the assistance of the university web team. The USJP library has many areas of strengths on meeting these new roles successfully. Foremost in this, is the support extended by the university authorities to make the library improve in its many areas.  A dedicated and skilled library staff is the driving force behind this and it is very much in evidence in the library at USJP.  The support extended by other units is also vital: the IT centre, the web team of the university, the ELTU, the Staff Development Centre, the Supplies Division of the university deserve special mention. The strong collaboration between the library and the academics of the university is very important in providing quality library services and it is much in evidence.  The relationships with colleagues in other libraries and institutions both locally and internationally are also helpful to get ideas in innovative things and the library of USLP is successfully placed within this vibrant network.    

“Innovation” is a fashionable word in the current era of knowledge based economy, For today’s business organizations, creation and exploitation of knowledge has become a competitive advantage. Moreover, the global competition has been strengthened due to the rapid developments in information technology. Hence, organizations are searching for innovative products, processes, and technologies to win the markets due to this competition. Thus the importance of innovation performance in presence of R&D, knowledge management practices and market oriented organization culture. This paper intends to elaborate these dimensions which are expected to influence innovation performance of an organization. A conceptual framework is developed by accounting, direct impacts from R&D Management Practices, Knowledge Management practices, and Market Orientation on Innovation Performance. In addition, the proposed framework tests moderating impacts by Resource Support and Management Style & Leadership on the above mentioned relationships. The research framework is supported by well established literature and the conceptual framework is developed with a positivistic approach. The proposed model will be used to survey the software development industry in Sri Lanka. However, this research framework is capable of examining the same research problem in other industries.

Purpose This paper investigates the impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008 on the interaction between the Sri Lankan stock market and neighbouring Asian stock markets. Literature Existing literature provide evidence for the interaction between Sri Lankan and other stock markets are mixed. This study extends this strand of literature by adopting multiple methods to examine the relationship between the Sri Lankan stock market and other Asian stock markets with special attention on the GFC. Methodology These market interactions are examined using cointegration, contemporaneous correlations, information spillovers, and impulse responses. This paper considers India, China, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan as neighbouring stock markets to the Sri Lankan market and uses daily data of leading stock indices for each country from 01st January 2000 to 31st December 2012. Findings Findings reveal that the Sri Lankan stock market is cointegrated with the Korean stock market but not with others. Contemporaneous correlations are mostly significant between Sri Lanka and other Asian countries due to the GFC and thereafter. Granger causality to the Sri Lankan market is mainly evident during the GFC. Extreme downside risks in Chinese stock market also Granger cause the Sri Lankan stock market but not during the GFC. Instead, volatility and extreme risks in the Malaysian stock market spillover to the Sri Lankan market during the GFC. Impulse response analysis reveals that a shock on other Asian stock markets impact the Sri Lankan stock market mostly for two days during the GFC but for a single day during non-crisis periods. Contribution Findings of this study must be interesting to the investors in stock markets to find a safe heaven for their investment during a crisis period.

This study examines the impact of TQM practices on employee role stressors in the Sri Lankan apparel sector. We compare this relationship between two groups, middle-level and operational level managers. We collect data from 81 randomly selected respondents including 22 operational-level and 59 middle-level managers. Our sample represents 11 multinational organizations belong to the Sri Lankan apparel industry. We measure TQM practices based on well-established literature covering nine dimensions namely, leadership, customer focus, supplier management, strategic planning, process planning, employee empowerment, training, employee involvement, and teamwork. Role stresses are measured using well known three dimensions in role theory namely, role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload. We adopt generalized linear models with log Gaussian and log Gamma link functions to investigate the relationships. We identify that role conflict in middle-level managers is influenced by TQM practices but not in operational-level managers. For operational-level managers, role ambiguity and role overload are influenced by TQM practices more than that of the middle-level managers. Role conflicts are negatively related with process management, empowerment, involvement, and supplier focus dimensions of TQM practices while training and customer focus are positively related for middle-level managers. For operational-level managers, empowerment reduces the level of role ambiguity while leadership and training tend to increase the same. Only teamwork affects on role ambiguity for middle-level managers. Moreover, supplier management, strategic planning, empowerment, and training increase role overload in operational-level managers. Leadership commitment and employee involvement reduce role overload in both operational-level and middle-level managers.

1. INTRODUCTION Entrepreneurship has become more important in today’s world as it is the main factor which creates new products and creates new organization. The development of a country relies on the success of the organizations and industries which creates employment, utilize resources, introduce new technology, brings foreign income etc. Therefore, entrepreneurship is an important topic which we need to focus on. As the importance of an entrepreneur was identified, an empirical research was conducted to justify the role of an entrepreneur to the development of Sri Lanka. The study was piloted by researching an outstanding entrepreneur in Sri Lanka “Merrill J Fernando” the founder of “Dilmah” Tea, one of the leading and renowned brand in the world. Merrill J Fernandois an extraordinary entrepreneur considered as the personwho produces single origin tea in the whole world.He is the only CEO who produces and exports tea, under his own brand. He alone has changed the conventional system in the tea industry. Thus,it is considered him as one of the remarkable entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. Therefore, a detailed exploration of Merrill J Fernando would help to identify the behavior, aspirations, features and the specialties which serve or help to achieve social, environmental and economic development in Sri Lanka. Contribution to the development in a country cannot be attained by an ordinary person. And this broad concept needs to be achieved in terms of social, environmental and economic wise. Simply the study needs to find out why an entrepreneur is important to achieve social, environment and economic development and how an entrepreneur contributes to the development in Sri Lanka. The empirical study of this research will provide the answer on taking Merrill J Fernando as an example. Therefore, the research problem in this study is “how Merrill J Fernando, as an entrepreneur becomes important to the development of Economy, Society and Environment of a country?”         2. LITERATURE REVIEW Modernity of entrepreneurship focus on main five features in entrepreneurship according toKrisciunas (2007). They are Social Responsibility, Competiveness and Progressiveness, Knowledge Generation and Usage, Dynamism and Responsible Entrepreneurship.  Entrepreneurship has been recognized as a strong factor in economic development. The concept of entrepreneurship is decorated by various attributes like innovation, organization building ability, gap-filling function, input completing etc. the persons of these qualities are required to initiative and sustain the process of industrialization. The fact that entrepreneurial ability is a cultivable asset, the supply of which can be generated and enhanced through education, training and opportune climate has focused the attention of policy makers and planners towards entrepreneurship as the desirable and manageable route to economic development It is widely acknowledged that entrepreneurship is critical to the development of knowledge based economy Mohammad and Nimalathasan (2010). In Sri Lankan context, the empirical research conducted in terms of a case study by Fonseka (2008) proves that Merrill Fernando is a great example for a successful entrepreneur and a visionary leader who contributed to the entire society. His research article describes most of the modern entrepreneur concepts and traits though it has not specifically mentioned. This shows the importance of conducting a research on a great personality as Merrill J Fernando, the founder of Dilmah Tea who will be a great example or a perfect fit for the issue stated above.   3. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The major objective of this study is to identify the importance of Merrill J Fernando as an entrepreneur, to the development of Sri Lanka. In addition to that the research paper also identifies the contribution of Merrill J Fernando to the economic, environment and social development of Sri Lanka and identifying the form of entrepreneurship to describe Merrill J Fernando.   4. METHODS Both primary and secondary data was collected using the following methods. The study is mainly based on the interview conducted with Merrill J Fernando and his son Dilhan Fernando. Initially Merrill J Fernando’s secretary was contacted through a direct telephone call to “Dilmah” head office. Following her instructions, a mail was sent to Merrill J Fernando, requesting for an appointment to conduct an interview. The most suitable method of the interview was a structured interview. Therefore, before the interview was conducted a questionnaire was designed to scrutinize data in order to address the research questions. The questionnaire was designed under ten main topics and 50 sub-questions. Mainly the story behind his success, the challenges he faced, the opportunities and threats, growth of MJF group, impact to the society and environment, impact to the economy, leadership style and trait and finally a message to the youth. Sub questions were open ended. The interview was recorded with the permission of Merrill J Fernando. The structured interview with Merrill J Fernando was held for one hour. After the main discussion with him, an informal interview was conducted with his son Dilhan Fernando to identify the future prospects, diversification and innovations of the company under the guidance of Merrill J Fernando. 5. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION As discussed throughout the analysis it gives an understanding about the contribution to Sri Lanka in terms of economic, social and environmental development in detail. The CSR projects he has conducted by the MJF Foundation has changed the lives of millions of people in Sri Lanka uplifting their standard of living. The huge number of projects conducted by the MJF Conservation, under the aspect of sustainability in terms of, sustainability, bio diversity heritage and knowledge sharing shows his obligation towards the environment and society. The employment creation and generating foreign earning to the country which increases the GDP of the country gives the understanding of the contribution of Merrill Fernando to the economy of Sri Lanka. Dilmah today produces the highest quality tea in the world. His principles of producing tea will never change due to innovations or growth of the country. Being a globally recognized brand itself has bring pride to the country which were relied on conventional bulk tea exporting. The value of such an entrepreneur cannot be under estimated.As a part of innovation Merrill J Fernando has pioneered the first international Tea school.  Dilmah Tea School is a great contribution by Merrill J Fernando to the entire world. It is the first international tea school specially focusing the international top chefs to get trained about the modern techniques and the educating the tea drinkers on tea. Dilmah commenced the first school of Tea at a celebration a celebration of the 21st Anniversary of Dilmah and Merrill J Fernando’s 60th year in Tea. The initiative of the school led to a partnership with the most prestigious culinary institutions in the world. Merrill J Fernando is an entrepreneur with great pride. He is honored as the first person to initiate the world’s first consumer and hospitality training school which is totally different from the rest of the tea training facilities. The desire to educate professionals on preparing and presenting tea with great understanding of the attributes of tea shows the responsibility he has taken to transfer the knowledge to future generations. And today it has achieved great success with the great demand from the foreigners.  The great success of all his companies and the great work he has done up to day proves without any doubt the importance of the entrepreneurs to a country.   6. CONCLUSION To conclude the analysis of the detailed study on Merrill J Fernando in order to identify the importance of an entrepreneur to the development of Sri Lanka by using the conceptual framework is as follows. All the twelve determinants, which were captured from the literature review, were able to identify in the study which proves the importance of an entrepreneur in terms of social, economic and environment development of Sri Lanka. Economic thinking has led Merrill J Fernando to fight with the multinationals, attack the colonial conventional patterns and break the solid barriers to enter in to the global markets. Today he has brought justice to the Ceylon tea by producing tea with integrity and value addition which retain the profits inside the country. The main attribute in the research is about the efficiency of resource utilization. Merrill Fernando has taken the maximum benefit of the natural resource of the country which is tea, by utilizing it in an efficient and effective. The liveliness, quality and variability of the products at Dilmah and the efficiency of the MJF group and his service on transferring the knowledge by the initiation of school of tea proves the dynamism. More over the competitiveness, economic risk in the organisation justifies the dynamism The CSR projects conducted by the MJF foundation proves the obligation to the society by Merrill J Fernando. Employments creation at Dilmah for 1069 people and 25000 people in his plantations, projects and the entire MJF group proves that he has created employment opportunities which indirectly reduce the unemployment rate in Sri Lanka and by enhancing the purchasing power of people.  The Tea Gastronomy and the innovative packaging, Tea school are some of the innovations done by Dilmah. The availability of the research and development Centre which does continuous experiments on white tea, silver tips so on justifies that Merrill J Fernando is committed to do continuous innovation. The fact that Merrill J Fernando has created a globally renowned brand, his engagement in international business, the fact that his competitors are international, the high quality and uniqueness of the product and the generation of international employment proves that Merrill J Fernando can be honored as an “International Entrepreneur”.His great service to Sri Lanka proves that an entrepreneur plays a vital role to the development of Sri Lanka. And his conscience as an entrepreneur is a great example to the entire universe. He had won number of awards in his journey as an entrepreneur. However, the greatest award he has won today is the heartsof people around the whole world.   REFERENCES Amamulaa, M.K., Data One, (2014). Import Export Statistics on Sri Lanka. Ansoff, I. (1957). Strategies for Diversification, Harvard Business Review, 35(5), 113-124. Ashoka, et al (2002). Social Entrepreneurs: Doing Sustainable Development, The Asoka Green Paper for the WSSD. Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved from http://www.chamber.lk [Accessed 27 January 2015] Ceylon Tea Board. Retrieved from http://www.pureceylontea.com [Accessed 10 February 2015] Dilmah Annual Report.(2013/2014).Ceylon Tea Services PLC, PeliagodaDilmah. Retrieved from http://www.dilmahtea.com [Accessed 22 January 2015] Nimalathasan, B. (2010). Entrepreneurship: Perspectives and Strategies, Devi Publication, Karaveddy. Drucker, P.F. (1985), Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd, Woburn.  Fonseka, D.C. (2008). Visionary Leadership and the Case of Dilmah, Sri Lankan Journal of Management, 14(2),1-17. Hall, J.K., Daneke, G.K., & Lenox, M.J. (2010). Sustainable development and entrepreneurship: Past contributions and future directions, Journal of Business Venturing, 25(5),441-446. Krisciunas, K. &Greblikaitė, J. (2007). Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development: SME’s Innovativeness in Lithuania, Engineering Economics, 5(4),21-27. Kuckertz, A. & Wagner, M. (2010). The influence of sustainability orientation on entrepreneurial intentions investigating the role of business experience, Journal of Business Venturing, 25, 524-539. Marksick, V. & Watkins, K. (1990). Informal and Incidental Learning in the Work Place, London, Routledge. Miller, A. (1987). New Ventures:  a fresh emphasis on entrepreneurial education, Survey of Business, 23(1),4-9. Mohammad, S. &Nimalathasan, B. (2010). Encouraging Entrepreneurship and its Impact on Economic Development in Emerging Economy: An Overview, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Morris, R. (2011), High Impact Entrepreneurship Global Report, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Sponsored by Ernst & Young. Parrish, B.D. (2008), Sustainability-Driven Entrepreneurship, no 9, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. Seelos, C. &Mair, J. (2004), Social Entrepreneurship: The Contribution of Individual Entrepreneurs to Sustainable Development, University of Navvara, Spain.

Gyrinops walla (Gaertn.) (Thymelaeaceae) is a slender tree which grows in wet zone regions in Sri Lanka. Potentiality of production of resinous natural product, agarwood, which used in perfumery and medicine manufacturing, grant a great demand for this species in worldwide. In vitro micropropagation technique may be a practicable solution to provide healthy planting materials in commercial scale, in order to overcome the problems caused to the natural population due to overexploitation. Thus, using leaf disc explant, possibilities of mass propagation through in vitro techniques was explored in in vitro study. Explants were surface sterilized using 0.2% carbendazim, 10% sodium hypochlorite (Clorox) and 70% ethanol each followed by two successive washings in sterile distilled water. Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with varied concentrations of different plant growth regulators, 6-benzylaminopurine (BA and naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) were tested for induction of calli from leaf discs. Out of different growth regulator combinations, rapid callus growth was observed in MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/L BA and 3.0 mg/L NAA within six weeks. Calli obtained were yellowish, compact and callus induction was mainly observed along the midrib. Calli obtain could either be used for mass propagation, through indirect organogenesis or for establishment of plant cell culture to obtain secondary metabolites. From the results obtain, it could be concluded that callus initiation is feasible through leaf disc explant. Keywords: Gyrinops walla, in vitro micropropagation, callus formation, plant growth regulators, leaf disc explant