Charcoal rot, caused by the soil-born fungus Macrophomina phaseolina, is one of the most important bean diseases in hot, arid regions of the world, which sometimes damages up to 100% of the yield. Trichoderma harzianum is a potent antagonist of many plant pathogens. Nanotechnology is a promising method to produce biological fungicides for the management of plant diseases and to produce safe plant products. Among metals, silver has shown powerful antimicrobial properties. This study was conducted to investigate the possibility of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) biosynthesis using T. harzianum and its impact on the charcoal rot disease of beans. Two isolates of the pathogen were collected from bean fields in southwestern Iran. The pathogenicity of these isolates was tested on three beans and one hyper-virulent isolate was identified. Also, the effect of liquid culture extract of four T. harzianum isolates on colony growth of these two isolates was studied in vitro and a superior T. harzianum isolate has been identified. Silver nanoparticles were produced by this isolate. Ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering were used to study the shape and size of the AgNPs. The effect of 12 concentrations of the AgNPs on colony growth of the hyper-virulent isolate of the pathogen was examined, and its effective concentration 50 percent value was calculated. The effect of three concentrations of the AgNPs and silver nitrate on the severity of charcoal rot in bean was studied under greenhouse conditions. The absorption spectrum of the AgNPs ranged from 400 to 600 nm, with maximum absorption at 450-500 nm, and most of the particles were spherical and 50.7-58.80 nm diameters. The EC50 value of the AgNPs for the hyper-virulent isolate of the pathogen was 444.522 ppm. The AgNPs was more effective than silver nitrate in reducing charcoal rot disease severity in bean. Therefore, the AgNPs, with EC50 = 444.522 ppm, can be recommended as a biological fungicide to control the charcoal rot disease of beans. The effect of biosynthesized AgNPs using T. harzianum, in reducing the charcoal rot disease of beans is reported for the first time.

The current study was designed to capture real-world cooking process-wise emissions generated by the combustion of mixed biomass fuel in traditional mud cookstoves in rural kitchens of the north Indian state of Uttar-Pradesh during regular meal preparations. Combustion characteristics, including modified combustion efficiency, thermal efficiency and burn rate, were examined to understand their relationship with emissions. Variations were observed in emission factors (EFs) of PM2.5, trace gases, namely CO, CO2, NOx and SO2, for different cooking processes. While the highest emission of PM2.5, CO and SO2 were observed for boiling (7.0 +/- 2.7, 68 +/- 29.3, 1.0 +/- 1.7 gkg(-1), respectively), CO2 and NOx recorded the highest EFs for frying (1537 +/- 278.2 & 1.6 +/- 0.9 gkg(-1) respectively). Although the study reported similar carbon content emissions for different processes, high EC emissions were observed for baking (1.1 +/- 0.3 gkg(-1)). A high concentration of K+ (indicating biomass burning) and toxic trace metals including Al, Cu, Sr, Ti, Mo & Cd has been reported in the present study. EFs of black carbon and brown carbon from mixed fuel burning during uncontrolled cooking have been discussed for different cooking processes which are critical inputs to emission inventories and radiative forcing calculation. The processes of frying and sauteing were found to be more consistent in emissions of pollutants than boiling and baking (variability-13 %-167 %). Overall, this study emphasizes that a measurement of combustion characteristics and cooking method type should also be contemplated along with fuel and stove types during field emission studies.

Analysis of observations of unique impact-produced flash near the lunar terminator was performed. Maximal brightness of detected thermal flash is 5.2-5.9(m) in R band, mass of impacted meteoroid is about 0.18-28 kg. Height of shadow in the place of meteoroid's impact was only about 1 km, making it possible observations of impact-produced dust particles ejected to the lunar exosphere through their sunlight-scattering response. We detected two (fast and slow) clouds that were expanding with 3 km/s and 0.1 km/s, respectively. The maximal brightness reached by these fast and slow clouds in R band was 6.7(m) and 10(m), respectively. Apparent mass of visible ejecta in fast and slow clouds is constrained to 80-8300 and 6-180 kg, respectively. Fast cloud consists of melt droplets and condensed grains while slow cloud consists of ejected lunar regolith dust particles.

This investigation focuses on the characterisation of the aerosol particle hygroscopicity. Aerosol particle optical properties were measured at Granada, Spain, during winter and spring seasons in 2013. Measured optical properties included particle light-absorption coefficient (sigma(ap)) and particle light-scattering coefficient (sigma(sp)) at dry conditions and at relative humidity (RH) of 85 +/- 10%. The scattering enhancement factor, f(RH = 85%), had a mean value of 1.5 +/- 0.2 and 1.6 +/- 0.3 for winter and spring campaigns, respectively. Cases of high scattering enhancement were more frequent during the spring campaign with 27% of the f(RH = 85%) values above 1.8, while during the winter campaign only 8% of the data were above 1.8. A Saharan dust event (SDE), which occurred during the spring campaign, was characterised by a predominance of large particles with low hygroscopicity. For the day when the SDE was more intense, a mean daily value of f(RH = 85%) = 1.3 +/- 0.2 was calculated. f(RH = 85%) diurnal cycle showed two minima during the morning and afternoon traffic rush hours due to the increase in non-hygroscopic particles such as black carbon and road dust. This was confirmed by small values of the single-scattering albedo and the scattering Angstrom exponent. A significant correlation between f(RH = 85%) and the fraction of particulate organic matter and sulphate was obtained. Finally, the impact of ambient RH in the aerosol radiative forcing was found to be very small due to the low ambient RH. For high RH values, the hygroscopic effect should be taken into account since the aerosol forcing efficiency changed from -13W/m(2) at dry conditions to -17W/m(2) at RH = 85%.