This work aims to isolate and screen the fungicidal endophytic bacterial strains for biocontrol efficacy against Phytophthora palmivora, a soil-borne pathogenic fungus that kills durian trees worldwide. Among more than 100 isolates, 6 strains were screened as potential fungicidal strains with inhibitory efficiency of 67.4-79.8%. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, these strains were identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens EB.CK9, Bacillus methylotrophicus EB.EH34, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens EB.EH18, Bacillus siamensis EB.KN10, Bacillus velezensis EB.KN15 and Paenibacillus polymyxa EB.KN35. In greenhouse tests, the two strains P. polymyxa EB.KN35 and B. velezensis EB.KN15 significantly reduced the damage to diseased roots by P. palmivora (33.3 and 35.6%, respectively), increased the rate of survival of durian trees (only 20.8 and 22.9% plant death, respectively), and showed a positive effect on promoting durian plant growth. Notably, the potential fungicidal effect of last two strains against P. palmivora was recorded for the first time in this work. HPLC analysis showed that these strains can secret several plant growth-promoting compounds, including gibberellic acid (GA3), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), kinetin, and zeatin. Of these, GA3 and zeatin were produced with a significant amount by both strains. The volatiles bio-synthesized by these isolates were also identified using GC-MS analysis, and some major volatiles were found as fungicidal agents. This study suggested that P. polymyxa EB.KN35 and B. velezensis EB.KN15 may be potential biocontrol candidates for durian P. palmivora and bio-fertilizers for the sustainable production of durian crops.

Metallic ions are commonly found in the cis-lunar environment, primarily produced through the neutral lunar exosphere. They become prevalent species of lunar pickup ions as the Moon moves through the solar wind upstream, magnetosheath, and magnetotail. Extensive studies on the composition of lunar pickup ions from the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer and THEMIS-ARTEMIS missions have revealed the significant presence of ions with around 28 and 40 amu near the Moon, which are later identified as metallic species such as Al+, Si+ and K+ ions. However, while these studies have provided valuable insights, the abundance of metallic ions and their variations with the Moon's location and solar activity has yet to be understood. This study calculates the production and ionization rates of metallic ions based on in-situ THEMIS-ARTEMIS observations. Our analysis indicates that the magnetosphere effectively reduces the production of metallic neutrals and ions due to the reduction of ionization and sputtering rates. The statistical analysis of the 12-year data set further shows that the lunar pickup ion fluxes are not heavily reliant on solar activity, and the median values remain relatively consistent over time. Therefore, the source rates of metallic pickup ions are associated with the location of the Moon rather than being dependent on solar activity. The outflow rates of heavy ion species from the Moon are comparable with the molecular and metallic ion rates from Earth's ionosphere, suggesting their essential roles in the dynamics of heavy ions in Earth's terrestrial environment.

A numerical model was established in earlier work to investigate the macroscale critical state, which determines the mechanical behavior of sheared granular materials. This paper explores the behavior of this model by conducting a parametric study that varies the constitutive parameters over a wide range. This study is essential to define the combination of material parameters that will lead to the emergence of critical state along the classical response. According to the typical critical state behavior, while the material volume and stress remain unchanged under large shear deformation, the material continues to deform. The critical state concept is examined using a granular micromechanics approach within a numerical framework. In this model, elastic and dissipation energies for a generic grain-pair interaction are adapted using a hemivariational principle. Karush-Kuhn-Tucker-type conditions are derived through a hemivariational principle, providing evolution equations for damage and plastic irreversible phenomena. The coupled damage and plasticity, which are crucial for material strength properties, are associated with grain-pair contact loss and irreversible deformation. Notably, damage-elastoplastic spring elements are described in order to link the micro and macro mechanisms, using orientationally based grain-pair interactions, decomposed into normal and tangential directions. The material properties of specimens with different initial density states are adapted according to dilatancy/compaction characteristics to achieve the idealized critical state behavior. The present model is then applied to simulate the stress and volumetric strain behaviors under varying characteristic compression constitutive parameters.

A traditional grid model for soil sampling may suffer from poor efficiency and low accuracy. With a nonferrous metal processing plant as the study area, a three-dimensional kriging interpolation model was built based on this plant's preliminary investigation data for arsenic (As), and a detailed survey sampling programme was proposed. The sampling density at the pollution interval of the surface soil was estimated by the coefficient of variation method, and the sampling depth was determined by the pollution interval of the vertical prediction results. The results showed that the encrypted soil sampling distribution optimisation method obtains greater pointing accuracy with fewer points. The sampling accuracy was 87.62% after optimising the depth of pointing. Moreover, this approach could save 66.13% of the sampling costs and 56.93% of the testing costs compared to a full deployment programme. This study provides a new and cost-effective method for predicting the extent of contamination exceedance at a site and provides valuable information to guide post-remediation strategies for contaminated sites.