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Objective: In the context of the fast-expanding shrimp farming industry in Sri Lanka, this study aimed to evaluate the distribution and understanding of BMPs, examine the relationship between BMPs and disease outbreaks, and analyze the current antibiotic usage trends through a fact-finding survey. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted in 131 shrimp farms located in Puttalam District in North Western Province, where shrimp farming is thriving in Sri Lanka. The survey was conducted from September to October 2021. In addition, in August 2022 and August 2023, interviews were conducted with shrimp farms in Puttalam district and Batticaloa district, shrimp hatcheries, and export companies. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Probit, and Tobit regression analysis. Results: The item-count technique revealed a significant (p < 0.05) difference in the use of antibiotics without consulting experts, signifying inappropriate use. No aquaculture farmer reported being unaware of BMPs, and among the 45 farmers who attended a BMPs seminar, 30 claimed to possess a good understanding of BMPs. Probit and Tobit regression results revealed that the rate of understanding of BMPs, education level, and obtaining information on the sanitation management of shrimp farming from extension and guidance organizations were inversely associated with both disease incidence in shrimp farming and shrimp discards. Conclusion: Although the use of antibiotics is prohibited in BMPs, the analysis results suggest inappropriate use of antibiotics. The findings indicate that enhanced BMP understanding can reduce disease incidence and shrimp discards, emphasizing the need for incentives to promote BMP adoption and reduce the necessity for antibiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction of electrons with the lattice in metals can lead to reduction of their kinetic energy to the point where they may form heavy, dressed quasiparticles—polarons. Unfortunately, polaronic lattice distortions are difficult to distinguish from more conventional charge- and spin-ordering phenomena at low temperatures. Here we present a study of local symmetry breaking of the lattice structure on the picosecond timescale in the prototype layered dichalcogenide Mott insulator 1T-TaS2 using X-ray pair-distribution function measurements. We clearly identify symmetry-breaking polaronic lattice distortions at temperatures well above the ordered phases, and record the evolution of broken symmetry states from 915 K to 15 K. The data imply that charge ordering is driven by polaron crystallization into a Wigner crystal-like state, rather than Fermi surface nesting or conventional electron-phonon coupling. At intermediate temperatures the local lattice distortions are found to be consistent with a quantum spin liquid state. The layered material 1T-TaS2 continues to attract attention due to its many correlated phases and metastable states. Bozin et al. report persistent symmetry-breaking polaronic distortions in the wide range of temperatures, which has implications for understanding the mechanisms of charge and spin ordered states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarized Raman scattering spectra of KxFe2-ySe² were analyzed in terms of peculiarities of both 14/ m and IA/mmm space group symmetries. The presence of the Raman active modes from both space group symmetries (16 Raman-active modes of the 14/m phase and two Raman-active modes of the 14/mmm phase) confirmed the existence of two crystallographic domains with different space group symmetry in a KxFe2-ySe² sample. High-resolution synchrotron powder x-ray diffraction structural refinement of the same sample confirmed the two-phase description, and determined the atomic positions and occupancies for both domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group A β haemolytic streptococcus (GAS) or Streptococcus pyogenes is a human pathogen that causes an array of infections, including pharyngitis, cellulitis, impetigo, scarlet fever, toxic shock syndrome, and necrotizing fasciitis. The present study characterizes 51 GAS isolates from invasive infections in Sri Lanka, focusing on resistance profiles, genetic determinants of resistance, and virulence markers. Isolates were tested for sensitivity to penicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin, and tetracycline. The presence of erm (A), erm (B), and mef (A) was detected in erythromycin-resistant isolates, while tet (M) was detected in the tetracycline-resistant isolates. PCR was used to identify SpeA, SpeB, SpeC, SpeF, SpeG, smez , and ssa as virulence markers. Selected GAS isolates were emm -typed using the updated CDC protocol. All 51 isolates were susceptible to penicillin. The number of isolates non-susceptible to erythromycin was 16. The commonest resistance determinant identified was erm (B) (11/16). Tetracycline non-susceptibility was found in 36 (70.6 %) isolates and 26 of them contained the tet (M) gene. Thirteen (25.5 %) isolates were resistant to both tetracycline and erythromycin, while 12 (23.5 %) isolates were sensitive to both antibiotics. The commonest virulence markers detected among the isolates were SpeB (44, 86.3 %), SpeG (36, 70.6 %), and SpeF (35, 68.6 %), while SpeJ (15, 29.4 %), SpeA (10, 19.6 %), and ssa (5,9.8 %) were less common. The emm types were diverse. In conclusion, the GAS isolates studied showed resistance to erythromycin and tetracycline, while retaining universal susceptibility to penicillin. Additionally, these isolates exhibited diverse genetic backgrounds, displaying varying patterns of virulence genes and emm types., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors.)

We empirically ascertained the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on fisheries sector of Sri Lanka, focusing on the year 2020 which helps identify changes in production and income of the sector. Daily wage and monthly income of stakeholders in the pre-pandemic period are well above the national minimum daily wage and monthly income of the workers in Sri Lanka. Defensive measures taken to curb rapid spread of COVID-19 have given a shock to all stakeholders of the sector. Health and safety measures imposed to avert the spreading of pandemic have compelled the stakeholders to incur extra costs. Study indicates significant impact of the pandemic on production and income of the stakeholders in the fisheries value chain. Comparison of total fish production during 2015-2020 confirms the impacts on the sector and, changes in fish production and income in 2020 completely coincide with COVID-19-time line. Severity of impacts is stakeholder and area specific. Fisheries districts in western province are highly impacted over the other districts. DPSIR framework captures the status of social system and unfolds existing problems in the sector, enabling decision-makers to take policy decisions for future actions. Government of Sri Lanka has taken several steps to revive the sector, and stakeholders have shown an adaptive capacity to cope with impacts of the pandemic. Present crisis in the sector is far from over and, short-term impacts are likely to be followed by long-term crises, thus measures should be taken to revive the sector in new normal conditions and the post-pandemic era., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Typically, conventional structure transitions occur from a low symmetry state to a higher symmetry state upon warming. In this work, an unexpected local symmetry breaking in the tetragonal diamondoid compound AgGaTe 2 is reported, which, upon warming, evolves continuously from an undistorted ground state to a locally distorted state while retaining average crystallographic symmetry. This is a rare phenomenon previously referred to as emphanisis. This distorted state, caused by the weak sd 3 orbital hybridization of tetrahedral Ag atoms, causes their displacement off the tetrahedron center and promotes a global distortion of the crystal structure resulting in strong acoustic-optical phonon scattering and an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity of 0.26 W m -1 K -1 at 850 K in AgGaTe 2 . The findings explain the underlying reason for the unexpectedly low thermal conductivities of silver-based compounds compared to copper-based analogs and provide a guideline to suppressing heat transport in diamondoid and other materials., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The effects of cobalt incorporation in spherical heterostructured iron oxide nanocrystals (NCs) of sub-critical size have been explored by colloidal chemistry methods. Synchrotron X-ray total scattering methods suggest that cobalt (Co) substitution in rock salt iron oxide NCs tends to remedy their vacant iron sites, offering a higher degree of resistance to oxidative conversion. Self-passivation still creates a spinel-like shell, but with a higher volume fraction of the rock salt Co-containing phase in the core. The higher divalent metal stoichiometry in the rock salt phase, with increasing Co content, results in a population of unoccupied tetrahedral metal sites in the spinel part, likely through oxidative shell creation, involving an ordered defect-clustering mechanism, directly correlated to core stabilization. To shed light on the effects of Co-substitution and atomic-scale defects (vacant sites), Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the designed NCs, with desirable, enhanced magnetic properties ( cf. exchange bias and coercivity), are developed with magnetocrystalline anisotropy which increases due to a relatively low content of Co ions in the lattice. The growth of optimally performing candidates combines also a strongly exchange-coupled system, secured through a high volumetric ratio rock salt phase, interfaced by a not so defective spinel shell. In view of these requirements, specific absorption rate (SAR) calculations demonstrate that the rock salt core sufficiently protected from oxidation and the heterostructure preserved over time, play a key role in magnetically mediated heating efficacies, for potential use of such NCs in magnetic hyperthermia applications.

Synthesis of a pentasil-type zeolite with ultra-small few-unit-cell crystalline domains, which we call FDP (few-unit-cell crystalline domain pentasil), is reported. FDP is made using bis-1,5(tributyl ammonium) pentamethylene cations as structure directing agent (SDA). This di-quaternary ammonium SDA combines butyl ammonium, in place of the one commonly used for MFI synthesis, propyl ammonium, and a five-carbon nitrogen-connecting chain, in place of the six-carbon connecting chain SDAs that are known to fit well within the MFI pores. X-ray diffraction analysis and electron microscopy imaging of FDP indicate ca. 10 nm crystalline domains organized in hierarchical micro-/meso-porous aggregates exhibiting mesoscopic order with an aggregate particle size up to ca. 5 μm. Al and Sn can be incorporated into the FDP zeolite framework to produce active and selective methanol-to-hydrocarbon and glucose isomerization catalysts, respectively., (© 2021 The Authors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs) are promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries in stationary storage. However, limited storage capacity and cyclic life impede their large-scale implementation. We report reversible electrochemical insertion of multi-ions into sodium vanadate (NaV 3 O 8 ) cathode materials for AZIBs, achieving a maximum storage capacity of 450 mAh g -1 at 0.05 A g -1 and a capacity retention of 82% after 500 cycles at 0.4 A g -1 . In addition to Zn 2+ and H + insertion, in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) collectively provide explicit evidence on vanadyl ions (VO 2+ ) conversion-intercalation at the NaV 3 O 8 cathode, showing the deintercalation of VO 2+ from NaV 3 O 8 and the consequent conversion of VO 2+ into V 2 O 5 on charging, and vice versa on discharging. Our study is the first to report on the cation conversion-intercalation mechanism in AZIBs. This reversible multi-ion storage mechanism provides a design principle for developing high-capacity aqueous electrode materials by engaging both the intercalation and conversion of charge carriers.

Enhancing the solar energy storage and power delivery afforded by emerging molten salt-based technologies requires a fundamental understanding of the complex interplay between structure and dynamics of the ions in the high-temperature media. Here we report results from a comprehensive study integrating synchrotron X-ray scattering experiments, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and rate theory concepts to investigate the behavior of dilute Cr 3+ metal ions in a molten KCl-MgCl 2 salt. Our analysis of experimental results assisted by a hybrid transition state-Marcus theory model reveals unexpected clustering of chromium species leading to the formation of persistent octahedral Cr-Cr dimers in the high-temperature low Cr 3+ concentration melt. Furthermore, our integrated approach shows that dynamical processes in the molten salt system are primarily governed by the charge density of the constituent ions, with Cr 3+ exhibiting the slowest short-time dynamics. These findings challenge several assumptions regarding specific ionic interactions and transport in molten salts, where aggregation of dilute species is not statistically expected, particularly at high temperature., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

The development of technologies for nuclear reactors based on molten salts has seen a big resurgence. The success of thermodynamic models for these hinges in part on our ability to predict at the atomistic level the behavior of pure salts and their mixtures under a range of conditions. In this letter, we present high-energy X-ray scattering experiments and molecular dynamics simulations that describe the molten structure of mixtures of MgCl 2 and KCl. As one would expect, KCl is a prototypical salt in which structure is governed by simple charge alternation. In contrast, MgCl 2 and its mixtures with KCl display more complex correlations including intermediate-range order and the formation of Cl - -decorated Mg 2+ chains. A thorough computational analysis suggests that intermediate-range order beyond charge alternation may be traced to correlations between these chains. An analysis of the coordination structure for Mg 2+ ions paints a more complex picture than previously understood, with multiple accessible states of distinct geometries.

We report on giant thermopower of S=2.5  mV/K in CoSbS single crystals: a material that shows strong high-temperature thermoelectric performance when doped with Ni or Se. Changes of low-temperature thermopower induced by a magnetic field point to the mechanism of electronic diffusion of carriers in the heavy valence band. Intrinsic magnetic susceptibility is consistent with the Kondo-insulatorlike accumulation of electronic states around the gap edges. This suggests that giant thermopower stems from temperature-dependent renormalization of the noninteracting bands and buildup of the electronic correlations on cooling.

We report on the evidence for the multiband electronic transport in α-YbAlB4 and α-Yb0.81(2)Sr0.19(3)AlB4. Multiband transport reveals itself below 10 K in both compounds via Hall effect measurements, whereas anisotropic magnetic ground state sets in below 3 K in α-Yb0.81(2)Sr0.19(3)AlB4. Our results show that Sr(2+) substitution enhances conductivity, but does not change the quasiparticle mass of bands induced by heavy fermion hybridization.

Pb2MnTeO6, a new double perovskite, was synthesized. Its crystal structure was determined by synchrotron X-ray and powder neutron diffraction. Pb2MnTeO6 is monoclinic (I2/m) at room temperature with a regular arrangement of all the cations in their polyhedra. However, when the temperature is lowered to ∼120 K it undergoes a phase transition from I2/m to C2/c structure. This transition is accompanied by a displacement of the Pb atoms from the center of their polyhedra due to the 6s(2) lone-pair electrons, together with a surprising off-centering of Mn(2+) (d(5)) magnetic cations. This strong first-order phase transition is also evidenced by specific heat, dielectric, Raman, and infrared spectroscopy measurements. The magnetic characterizations indicate an anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) order below TN ≈ 20 K; analysis of powder neutron diffraction data confirms the magnetic structure with propagation vector k = (0 1 0) and collinear AFM spins. The observed jump in dielectric permittivity near ∼150 K implies possible anti-ferroelectric behavior; however, the absence of switching suggests that Pb2MnTeO6 can only be antipolar. First-principle calculations confirmed that the crystal and magnetic structures determined are locally stable and that anti-ferroelectric switching is unlikely to be observed in Pb2MnTeO6.

We have synthesized K0.95(1)Ni1.86(2)Se2 single crystals. The single crystals contain K and Ni deficiencies not observed in KNi2Se2 polycrystals. Unlike KNi2Se2 polycrystals, the superconductivity is absent in single crystals. The detailed physical property study indicates that the K0.95Ni1.86Se2 single crystals exhibit heavy-fermion-like characteristics. The transition to a heavy fermion state below T ~ 30 K results in an enhancement of the electron-like carrier density whereas the magnetic susceptibility shows little anisotropy and suggests the presence of both itinerant and localized Ni orbitals.

We have synthesized a new layered BiS2-based compound, SrFBiS2. This compound has a similar structure to LaOBiS2. It is built up by stacking up SrF layers and NaCl-type BiS2 layers alternatively along the c axis. Electric transport measurement indicates that SrFBiS2 is a semiconductor. Thermal transport measurement shows that SrFBiS2 has a small thermal conductivity and large Seebeck coefficient. First principle calculations are in agreement with experimental results and show that SrFBiS2 is very similar to LaOBiS2, which becomes a superconductor with F doping. Therefore, SrFBiS2 may be a parent compound of new superconductors.

Iron chalcogenide superconductors have become one of the most investigated superconducting materials in recent years due to high upper critical fields, competing interactions and complex electronic and magnetic phase diagrams. The structural complexity, defects and atomic site occupancies significantly affect the normal and superconducting states in these compounds. In this work we review the vortex behavior, critical current density and high magnetic field pair-breaking mechanism in iron chalcogenide superconductors. We also point to relevant structural features and normal-state properties.