http://ir.lib.seu.ac.lk/handle/123456789/4953 2026-06-02T04:01:01Z http://ir.lib.seu.ac.lk/handle/123456789/7923 Title: Prospects, challenges and policies for carbon-negative circular agriculture Authors: Mohamed Thariq, M. G.; Ahamed Akram, A. T.; Najim, M. M. M.; Muneeb Musthafa, M. Abstract: Global conventional agricultural, livestock production and related land uses contribute a large proportion to the total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. On the other hand, circular agriculture reduces carbon emissions and has the potential to be a carbon sink within the agricultural systems. However, the successful adoption of circular agricultural practices requires a national-level policy framework. The key challenges for adopting circular agriculture practices are: financial obstacles to acquiring technology, limited access to affordable credits and subsidies, technical incompetence of farmers and lack of institutional support, agribusiness objectives and environmental attitudes. This chapter identifies key prospects of circular agriculture, including climate change mitigation through carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies, reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels by recycling carbon into valuable products, and enhancing carbon sequestration in forest soils and oceans. The integration of circular economy principles fosters economic opportunities, supports energy security and accelerates decarbonisation, ecosystem restoration and nature-based solutions. Policy challenges include fragmented governance, weak policy enforcement and limited institutional coordination. The policies to adopt circular agriculture by farmers need to focus on investment in circular agricultural research and development, institutional support, rewarding with carbon credits, incorporating circular agriculture models in regional development plans, development of technical standards and monitoring and evaluation capacity for the circular agriculture model, reforming agricultural subsidies and introducing innovative policy support, development of circular agricultural value chains, enhancement of private sector investment in circular agriculture, the establishment of more intersectoral circular bioeconomy models for sustainable and low-carbon rural development, and enhancement of international cooperation. The circular agriculture contributes to achieving maximum benefits from natural processes within the ecosystems through the application of environmentally friendly technologies with minimum input dependency, and efficient recycling of nutrients, energy and water. These processes transform waste into valuable food products with minimum costs and food losses by using the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle in the agri-food production and supply chain while contributing to tackling climate change. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z http://ir.lib.seu.ac.lk/handle/123456789/7628 Title: An analysis of online assessment technologies and their future trends Authors: Mohamed Nafrees, Abdul Cader; Liyanage, S. R.; Dias, N. G. J. Abstract: Online Assessment (OA) is a rapidly growing mechanism for continuing education during pandemics or war situations. Due to the rapid development of emerging technologies (ETs), several tools are available to conduct OA in a better way to maintain the quality of e-learning (EL). Therefore, this study focuses on analyzing OA technologies and their future trends by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR). From 1525 downloaded research papers, 84 articles were selected. These articles were analyzed based on four main research question themes: recent trends and developments in OA, techniques used in OA, how OA helps for fair access to quality education, and implications and considerations of implementing OA technologies. It was found that the majority of the research focused on eliminating OA cheating, while few studies considered automatic feedback provision. Additionally, few researches focused on software development for OA, while the majority of the articles focused on policy and theoretical development for OA. Further, the majority of the studies have considered AI-based research. This research has downloaded articles only from 8 publishers and only open-access articles. Future research can be done on OA tools development while considering low-bandwidth internet connections. 2025-01-16T00:00:00Z http://ir.lib.seu.ac.lk/handle/123456789/7512 Title: Understanding biotransformation Editors: Mohammad, Mohammad Yasin; Haroon, M. H. Abstract: This book provides the basic concepts of biotransformation and its applications in the fields of pharmaceutical and food industries, as well as in drug development. It offers alternative solutions to conventional methods of chemical synthesis by providing examples that directly contribute to saving time, reducing costs, and providing the public safety necessary in drug manufacturing and development. This book explores how biological catalysts work to carry out reactions on natural and pharmaceutical compounds in single steps with high regio- and stereospecificity. The book also provides useful results that, in turn, lead to developments in the pharmaceutical and food industries.This book also establishes the principles of using sustainable green chemistry, which reduces the use of dangerous chemicals by workers and researchers. 2024-10-16T00:00:00Z http://ir.lib.seu.ac.lk/handle/123456789/7162 Title: Ergonomics for sustainable agriculture and food security Authors: Mohamed Thariq, M. G.; Mohamed Najim, Mohamed Mujithaba; Jain, Rahul Abstract: Agricultural development is essential to minimize poverty, enhance broader prosperity, and supply food to an increased population in the future. Labor-intensive agriculture is common in low and middle-income countries. Small and medium-scale farm operations are predominant in those countries and the diffusion of technologies is slower when compared to countries with higher income levels. Farmworks usually involve a higher level of physical activities and manual labor, which push farmworkers to a posture with a high risk of causing work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The workforce is the most valuable asset of any production operation. Therefore, serious attention should be given to working conditions for improving productivity and output quality. The MSDs can cause severe long-term negative consequences such as reduced workers’ productivity, a decline in farm income, other health problems such as depression or stress, and poor quality of life. Such negative consequences lead to less productive farming activities, impacting food security. Several ergonomic interventions in the agriculture and livestock production sector indicate improvements in productivity and performance by sustaining workers’ health. Ergonomic interventions create a common environment wherein farmers and their employers collaborate; this would benefit employees from enhanced safety, health, comfort, improved user-friendliness of tools, equipment, and software, and improved quality of work life, whereas employers can benefit from reduced costs and improved productivity. Sustainable agriculture requires a healthy workforce with sustainable human well-being, which is a vital part of a profitable and sustainable agricultural industry. The sustainability of farm workers’ well-being requires significant input from ergonomics. Plenty of research is conducted on agriculture ergonomics to address the health, well-being, and effectiveness of farm workers. However, more research on the micro-ergonomics level may be needed when considering the workforce’s contribution to agriculture and agriculture’s contribution to the country’s economy and food security. 2024-09-18T00:00:00Z