Customer satisfaction, from the service quality perspective, has emerged as a new modus operandi for assessing customers’ perceptions and/or expectations of services in order to re-orient and regulate existing services. University library administrators in Sri Lanka, realising the necessity of complying with customer perception of high quality service, have begun to search for alternative ways to satisfy their clientele on the basis of service quality. This study therefore aims to meet this need by developing a model to assess the extent to which service quality indicators and other explanatory attributes may be used to predict customer satisfaction, from a service quality perspective. The research process used in the study was the “onion model,” which involved a combination of positivist and phenomenological inquiries that led to the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches in line with the purpose of the study, which was exploratory in nature and searched for causality. The design of the study involved two main stages: the exploratory stage and the main stage. In the exploratory stage, attributes and domain identification of service quality was carried out with a sample of 262 subjects. Based upon the exploratory study, four provisional models were constructed and tested in the main study, using a sample of 1840 subjects. The model based on the performance-only paradigm and the linearity assumption between the constructs was found to be the best parsimony model that provided for enhanced predictive performance, calibration and potential insight into attributes and domain relevance. Regarding overall satisfaction, responsiveness, supportiveness, building environment, collection and access, furniture and facilities, technology and service delivery as quality domains, involvement with the service, and knowledge of the customers as situational attributes and age, member category, university and gender as socio-demographic attributes were found to be significant. The final model may be used to design a simple measurement or monitoring process of library performance, and it may also be a useful tool for diagnosing service quality locally. This research further provides a keystone for other studies and may also stimulate the momentum of current research on service quality and/or customer satisfaction / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

La présente étude explore les relations maritimes établies pour des raisons commerciales entre le monde méditerranéen, l’Inde du Sud et Sri Lanka, entre le IIIe siècle av. n.è. et le VIIe siècle de n.è. Il s’agit dans un premier temps d’élaborer une synthèse quantifiée des imports issus du monde gréco-romain d’après les vestiges archéologiques découverts en Asie du Sud, en les confrontant aux autres types de sources. Cette synthèse nous conduit à nous pencher sur les contacts culturels que les liens commerciaux ont favorisé dans leur sillage : transferts, métissages, imitations et appropriations. Dans un dernier temps, ce sont les flux inverses qui ont fait l’objet de notre attention, décelables à travers les objets exportés par l’Inde et Sri Lanka vers les côtes de l’Arabie, de l’Afrique, du golfe Persique et de la mer Rouge. Il apparaît que les témoignages du commerce n’impliquent pas de très grandes quantités échangées mais n’ont pas été dénués malgré tout d’un impact certain sur les sociétés. Ainsi se tissent des réseaux complexes qui impliquent tous les acteurs de cette zone géographique, dont les extrémités est et ouest que sont l’Asie et la Méditerranée constituent une des facettes. / This dissertation deals with the maritime connections that took place between South Asia (South India and Sri Lanka) and the Mediterranean world between the 3rd c. BCE and the 7th c. CE. It first establishes a global account of the archaeological remains found in South Asia that show the importation of Mediterranean products into this area, by comparison with other types of sources (texts, inscriptions, coins). The study then proceeds towards the social and cultural impact that these imported goods may have had on local populations, with regard to their proper way of appropriating foreign sources of inspiration depending on the regional context. Lastly, attention has been drawn on the return flow of goods from East to West, through archaeological vestiges located on the coasts of Egypt, Africa, Arabia and in the Persian Gulf. This leads to a reassessment of the global quantity of commercial goods crossing this large area, which may have been inferior to what was previously considered, whereas the social and cultural impact is not to be denied. The full picture of these interactions gives an image of a very intricate and complex network, involving lots of intermediaries, middlemen and local networks, which would have created a strong background for the direct long-distance links.

<p>This thesis is about issues concerning the implementation of women's human rights in Sri Lanka.</p><p>Sri Lanka has had a conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, LTTE for two decades. Since 2002 there has been a ceasefire agreement in place, which is being violated by both parties. Before being abandoned in 2003, one woman was present during the peace talks that were held.</p><p>In this paper I present the results of my field research conducted in Sri Lanka in November and December of 2005. The aim was to find out how women were active in the peace process since it is stipulated in international conventions that they have a right to participation. During the interviews with women activists it became evident that women were not involved in the official peace process. Therefore the thesis is about women’s human rights in Sri Lanka and the obstacles for their implementation.</p><p>Two main reasons for the lack of implementation of women’s human rights in Sri Lanka are identified. Firstly, for reasons of culture and patriarchal structures, there is a general lack of implementation internationally of women’s human rights. Secondly, the unresolved conflict situation in Sri Lanka, which reflects the unequal power relations between men and women that existed prior to the conflict. The lack of implementation of women’s human rights in Sri Lanka results in women not being present in the political life and they are therefore not part of the official peace process.</p><p>International conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on peace and security are addressed in the thesis in order to examine women’s human rights and their right to participation in politics and peace building.</p><p>Finally, I conclude that in order to include women in the official peace negotiations women need to actively participate in politics. The method presented to ensure such participation is that of affirmative action. It is a measure that falls under the category of temporary measures, which is suggested in CEDAW article 4.1.</p>

This thesis is about issues concerning the implementation of women's human rights in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has had a conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, LTTE for two decades. Since 2002 there has been a ceasefire agreement in place, which is being violated by both parties. Before being abandoned in 2003, one woman was present during the peace talks that were held. In this paper I present the results of my field research conducted in Sri Lanka in November and December of 2005. The aim was to find out how women were active in the peace process since it is stipulated in international conventions that they have a right to participation. During the interviews with women activists it became evident that women were not involved in the official peace process. Therefore the thesis is about women’s human rights in Sri Lanka and the obstacles for their implementation. Two main reasons for the lack of implementation of women’s human rights in Sri Lanka are identified. Firstly, for reasons of culture and patriarchal structures, there is a general lack of implementation internationally of women’s human rights. Secondly, the unresolved conflict situation in Sri Lanka, which reflects the unequal power relations between men and women that existed prior to the conflict. The lack of implementation of women’s human rights in Sri Lanka results in women not being present in the political life and they are therefore not part of the official peace process. International conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on peace and security are addressed in the thesis in order to examine women’s human rights and their right to participation in politics and peace building. Finally, I conclude that in order to include women in the official peace negotiations women need to actively participate in politics. The method presented to ensure such participation is that of affirmative action. It is a measure that falls under the category of temporary measures, which is suggested in CEDAW article 4.1.

This thesis presents an independent, sediment-based record of landscape change within an agricultural hinterland. Established historical and archaeological sequences document the primary occupation of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka’s ancient capital, beginning ca. 400 BC and lasting until it was largely abandoned in AD 1017. Anuradhapura is located in the island’s dry zone, which depends almost completely on the unpredictable Northeastern Monsoon for water. Oral history and historical narratives have long held that large-scale irrigated rice cultivation took place in the hinterland to produce an agricultural surplus that sustained the urban and monastic populations. However, until the onset of the Anuradhapura Hinterland Project in 2005, the archaeological record of the hinterland was undocumented, leaving existing narratives untested. The geoarchaeological research presented here was undertaken as part of the Hinterland Project, in order to document the chronology and cultural and environmental processes that contributed to the formation of this irrigated landscape. Optical dating of sediments demonstrates that the onset of large-scale irrigation began ca. 400 BC, and the construction of new works continued until Anuradhapura’s late occupation period. Sampled reservoirs and channels began to infill, indicating widespread disuse, within ca. 100 years of Anuradhapura’s abandonment. Soil micromorphology and bulk sediment characterisation document hinterland habitation, water management, and cultivation activities prior to the establishment of large-scale irrigation. This work illustrates the coping strategies that people employed to deal with the vagaries of the dry zone environment and demonstrates that hinterland land use changed throughout the primary occupation period. Although largescale irrigation works infilled relatively rapidly, cultural activity and land use re-emerged following this period of disuse.

Customer satisfaction, from the service quality perspective, has emerged as a new modus operandi for assessing customers’ perceptions and/or expectations of services in order to re-orient and regulate existing services. University library administrators in Sri Lanka, realising the necessity of complying with customer perception of high quality service, have begun to search for alternative ways to satisfy their clientele on the basis of service quality. This study therefore aims to meet this need by developing a model to assess the extent to which service quality indicators and other explanatory attributes may be used to predict customer satisfaction, from a service quality perspective. The research process used in the study was the “onion model,” which involved a combination of positivist and phenomenological inquiries that led to the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches in line with the purpose of the study, which was exploratory in nature and searched for causality. The design of the study involved two main stages: the exploratory stage and the main stage. In the exploratory stage, attributes and domain identification of service quality was carried out with a sample of 262 subjects. Based upon the exploratory study, four provisional models were constructed and tested in the main study, using a sample of 1840 subjects. The model based on the performance-only paradigm and the linearity assumption between the constructs was found to be the best parsimony model that provided for enhanced predictive performance, calibration and potential insight into attributes and domain relevance. Regarding overall satisfaction, responsiveness, supportiveness, building environment, collection and access, furniture and facilities, technology and service delivery as quality domains, involvement with the service, and knowledge of the customers as situational attributes and age, member category, university and gender as socio-demographic attributes were found to be significant. The final model may be used to design a simple measurement or monitoring process of library performance, and it may also be a useful tool for diagnosing service quality locally. This research further provides a keystone for other studies and may also stimulate the momentum of current research on service quality and/or customer satisfaction / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

As the need for climatic data is increasing in times of climate change and water scarcity, remote sensing (RS) and hydrological modelling are ways to battle these problems, especially in data scarce areas. The actual evapotranspiration (ETa) is one of the key parameters when assessing the water balance and a good estimate of this parameter is thus of great importance. In this study a hydrologicalmodel was created with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) over the Malwathu Oya river basin, Sri Lanka, and the SWAT ETa estimates were compared to RS derived ETa from FAO’s open access database WaPOR. A sensitivity analysis and a calibration with observed streamflow data of the SWAT model was conducted with the SUFI-2 algorithm in SWAT-CUP. The calibration was satisfactory and showed the following values for the performance parameters: R2 = 0.72, Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency, NSE = 0.69, and Percent of Bias, PBIAS = -10.4. The most sensitive parameters were CN2 (runoff curve number for moisture condition II), SOL_AWC (soil available water capacity), and ESCO (soil evaporation compensation factor). The water balance partitioning from the calibrated SWAT model showed a ratio of 0.68 between ETa and precipitation as an annual average between 2012–2020. In the comparison between SWAT ETa and WaPOR ETa the SWAT ETa showed a clear underestimation, particularly during the drier Yala growing season (May – August). However, the SWAT land use classes representing the cultivated rice fields agreed well with WaPOR while the forest and range grasses were underpredicted. To increase the performance of SWAT in estimating ETa the following was recommended: improvement of the simulation of the shallow aquifers, more accurate forest parameters, deactivation of the default dormancy period in SWAT, calibration with ETa instead of streamflow, and a higher resolution soil map together with more soil measurements. / Eftersom behovet av klimatdata ökar i tider av klimatförändringar och vattenbrist är fjärranalys (RS) och hydrologisk modellering exempel på metoder för att lösa dessa problem, särskilt i områden med brist på data. Den faktiska evapotranspirationen (ETa) är en nyckelparameter vid bedömning av vattenbalansen och en bra uppskattning av denna parameter är därför av stor betydelse. I denna studie skapades en hydrologisk modell med Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) över avrinningsområdet Malwathu Oya i Sri Lanka, och SWAT ETa -uppskattningarna jämfördes med RS-beräknad ETa från FAO:s öppna databas WaPOR. En känslighetsanalys och en kalibrering med observerade flödesdata av SWAT-modellen utfördes med SUFI-2-algoritmen i SWAT-CUP. Kalibreringen var tillfredsställande och visade följande värden för prestandaparametrarna: R2 = 0,72, Nash-Sutcliffe-Efficiency, NSE = 0,69 och Percent of Bias, PBIAS = -10,4. De mest känsliga parametrarna var CN2 (avrinningskurvtal för fukttillstånd II), SOL_AWC (jordens tillgängliga vattenkapacitet) och ESCO (kompensationsfaktor för markavdunstning). Vattenbalansfördelningen från den kalibrerade SWAT-modellen visade ett förhållande på 0,68 mellan ETa och nederbörden som ett årligt medelvärde mellan 2012–2020. I jämförelsen mellan SWAT ETa och WaPOR ETa visade SWAT ETa en tydlig underskattning, särskilt under den torrare Yala-växtsäsongen (maj – augusti). Däremot överensstämde SWAT-markanvändningsklasserna som representerade de odlade risfälten väl med WaPOR medan skog och gräsfälten var underskattade. För att öka prestandan för SWAT vid uppskattning av ETa rekommenderades följande: förbättring av simuleringen av de grunda akvifärerna, förbättrade skogsparametrar, inaktivering av den automatiska växtviloperioden i SWAT, kalibrering med ETa i stället för flöde och en jordartskarta med högre upplösning samt fler jordprover.

Based on multi-method research with Class 11 students (aged 15-17) and their teachers at three English-medium, co-educational secondary schools in Delhi over nine months in 2013-14, this thesis explores how young people's understandings and experiences relate to national and international understandings of gender, sexuality and education. The thesis examines the interplay between institutional practices and students' agency within schools (drawing on Connell's 2000 framework), while I use the concept of ‘sexual learning' in order to consider young people's experiences both within and beyond the classroom (Thomson & Scott 1991). Study findings indicate the influence of concerns about adolescent sexuality on school curricula and on disciplinary practices, which sought to maintain gender segregation in co-educational spaces. The thesis also reveals the ways in which narratives of girlhood and masculinities shaped young people's lives; particularly in the wake of the December 2012 gang rape case in Delhi, these gender narratives were both contradicted and reinforced by seemingly ubiquitous stories of sexual violence. Stories of sexual violence also formed a source of gendered, risk-based sexual learning, which reinforced risk-based narratives of sexuality within formal and informal sources of sexual learning accessed by young people. The thesis also reveals heterosocial dynamics within school peer cultures as an important source of sexual learning. Students proved adept at negotiating assumptions about ‘appropriate' interactions such as idealized rakhi (brother-sister) relationships, and formed less restrictive heterosocial friendships and romantic relationships. In particular, stories about peer romances emerged as an alternative source of sexual learning, which undermined dominant risk-based narratives of young people's sexuality and offered more positive understandings of pleasure and intimacy. A key methodological contribution is the use of a narrative analytical framework in which Plummer's (1995) sexual stories are considered in terms of Andrews' (2014) political narratives. Using this framework, the thesis examines the text and context of ‘small stories' told within research encounters, and the interrelations between these micro-narratives and macro-narratives of gender, sexuality and education in post-liberalization India. This framework facilitates the examination of interrelations between local experiences and national and international understandings in the thesis. A key substantive contribution of the study is to address a lack of research on how young people learn about gender and sexuality in Indian schools. As the study largely captures the experiences of urban, middle-class young people, the thesis also contributes to the existing body of literature on middle-class experiences in post-liberalization India (e.g. Gilbertson 2014; Sancho 2012; Donner & De Neve 2011; Lukose 2009), and specifically underlines the importance of education as a site for middle-class young people's negotiation of gendered and sexual politics.

This thesis describes a collaborative Action Research project that works to improve the quality of English language teaching (ELT) and learning in a public sector university in Pakistan. It demonstrates how teachers and students can take responsibility for engaging in active learning and teaching by developing their roles beyond traditional models of teaching and learning. The findings of the study are validated through critical thinking, the active critique of colleagues and students who participated in the study, reflection on critical aspects of data collection and by contextualising findings within existing literature. The thesis comprises eight chapters. Chapter one provides an introduction. It presents the overall organization of the thesis. This includes the aims of the study, rationale of the research, brief overview of methodology and the structure of the thesis. In chapter two, the literature review focuses on the defining factors of large class teaching and learning. Much of the research on large classes is written in the context of the West and has limited application to the problems of developing countries. Existing literature suggests a need for further work on large class teaching and learning in the developing world. In chapter three I present the Context of the Study. I provide an historical overview of language policies in Pakistan which have influenced the educational structure and the development of the country. The status and importance of the English language in Pakistan is highlighted. I outline the classification of various English language teaching institutes in Pakistan. The chapter concludes with an account of teaching and learning and the sociopolitical conditions that affect the educational process at University of Sindh, Jamshoro Pakistan (UoSJP), the site of the project. Chapter four discusses the methodology of the study. It is divided into two sections. In section one I outline the rationale behind the choice of Action Research as a methodological framework for an intervention strategy. In the second section, I discuss the research design, and various data collection tools used for the study. In chapter five, I discuss the first reconnaissance phase of data collection. This has several foci: the teaching methods currently used in large classes at UoSJP; the students and teachers perceptions of ELT and the socio-political conditions that affect teaching and learning. Overall this chapter exposes the complexities involved in teaching at UoSJP and provides the basis for developing an intervention strategy. Chapter six presents the intervention phase of the action research strategy aimed at introducing cooperative practices. It contains the narrative of how a new teaching strategy was planned and collaboratively conducted in two different classes. Chapter seven focuses on the findings of the research and the analysis of data. I also reflect on the key emerging themes of both phases of the project. Evaluation criteria in action research are also discussed along with the monitoring strategy. The final chapter looks at the future implications of the study and offers practical guidelines on the management of large classes. There is a concluding reflection on critical issues that might affect future research. The thesis promotes ‘learner-focused' teaching through critical reflection on professional practice. The study also suggests how students can be empowered to take control of their own learning, by giving them autonomy and, by creating a socially just and democratic atmosphere in class. It also shows how large classes, exceeding a hundred students, can be managed by changing teaching methods and by increasing students' participation through group learning and the deployment of group leaders.

The focus of this study is to understand how policies to decentralize governance have affected the primary education sector in Bangladesh with specific reference to non-state schools. Decentralizing education has emerged as an important strategic tool to reform and enhance education quality globally. The study analyzes the relationship between the state and non-state primary education providers in the context of education reforms delivered via decentralization. The investigation used a qualitative case study approach with respondents residing and working in Gopalpur, a small township 125 km away from the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka. Three categories of school-level actors were interviewed - School Management Committee (SMC) members, head teachers and teachers within two types of schools: Registered Non-Government Primary Schools (RNGPS) and Quomi madrassas. A primary focus of the study is to explore what the basic comprehension of the respondents regarding concepts and the implications of decentralization. The findings indicate that most of the school-level actors interviewed in the Gopalpur area were in fact familiar with the concepts of decentralization and related to it as an act of transfer of power and participatory education processes. The study further revealed that most of the RNGPS respondents supported policy guidelines and directives from the state, which is based on deconcentration, while the Quomi madrassas preferred delegated space. The research also explored the operational relationship between state and non-state providers in terms of two specific aspects. The first aspect was the relationship between state and non-state providers in three specific areas: the SMCs, monitoring activities and the training of education personnel with a focus on teachers. The other aspect involves the extent of trust and respect displayed from the center towards the school-level actors. The SMCs apparently do not feel motivated to be proactive in schools‘ affairs due to limited scope as dictated by the state and lack of authority to hold the school administrations accountable for their actions. However, Quomi Madrassa Management Committees (MMC) is very involved and act as effective mediators on behalf of the community as well as madrassas. In regards to monitoring and training inputs, the state‘s centralized system does not produce far-reaching enough results according to the RNGPS respondents. This study also investigated the mindset of officials belonging to the DPE (Directorate of Primary Education) and MOPME (Ministry of Primary & Mass Education) towards the school-level actors, which are characterized by lack of mutual trust and respect. This study reveals that given the diverse nature of non-state providers, each category of non-state providers has its own historical origins and its own understanding and approaches towards the state. The study also shows that SMCs, monitoring and training sub-systems within the governance play an important role in defining operational relationship between the state and non-state providers. The findings and analyses included herein contribute to the current policy discourse on decentralizing education in Bangladesh within the context of non-state providers and their relationship in operational terms with the state. It adds to more informed and participatory policy formulation and planning processes. Along this process, it serves to inform policy makers, school-level actors and researchers about the value of collective ownership of the policy discourse through meaningful dialogue.