Salinity is one of the most significant constraints to crop production in dry parts of the world. This research emphasizes the beneficial effects of plant growth-promoting rhizobacterial isolates (PGPR) on the physiological responses of maize and wheat in a saline (NaCl) environment. Soil samples for the study were collected from a maize field in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, India. Isolated bacterial strains were screened for salt (NaCl) tolerance and plant growth-promoting characters (i.e., indole acetic acid (IAA) production, siderophore production, amino cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase activity, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) production, and mineral phosphate solubilization). Screened bacterial isolates were further tested in pot experiments to examine their effects on wheat and maize growth. The treatments included five levels of bacterial inoculation (P0: control, P1: ACC deaminase positive + siderophore producer + NaCl tolerant bacteria, P2: mineral phosphate solubilizer + HCN producer + NaCl tolerant bacteria, P3: IAA producer + ACC deaminase positive + NaCl tolerant bacteria, P4: bacterial consortium, P5: Phosphomax commercial biofertilizer) and salt stress at 6 dS/m. Research findings found that exposure to a bacterial consortium led to the highest growth parameter in maize, including shoot length, root length, shoot and root dry weight followed by P2, P3, and P5 treatments at 6 dS/m salinity levels. However, P2 showed the best results for wheat at the same salinity levels, followed by P3, P4 and P5 treatments. P1 treatment did not show a significant result compared to control at 6dS/m salt level for both crops. The maximum proline content in maize and wheat was observed in P4 (23.28 μmol · g−1) and P2 (15.52 μmol · g−1) treatments, respectively, followed by P5 with Phosphomax biofertilizer. Therefore, the study proposed the application of growth-promoting bacterial isolates as efficient biofertilizers in the Baddi region of Himachal Pradesh, India.

The paper presents an original architecture and implementation of 9-bit Linearized Pulse Width Modulator (LPWM) for Class-BD amplifier, based on the hybrid method using STM32 microcontroller and Programmable Tapped Delay Line (PTDL). The analog input signals are converted into 12-bit PCM signals, then are directly transformed into 32-bit LBDD DPWM data of the pulse-edge locations within n-th period of the switching frequency, next requantized to the 9-bit digital outputs, and finally converted into the two physical trains of 1-bit PWM signals, to control the output stage of the Class-BD audio amplifier. The hybrid 9-bit quantizer converts 6 MSB bits using counter method, based on the peripherals of STM32 microcontroller, while the remaining 3 LSB bits - using a method based on the PTDL. In the paper extensive verification of algorithm and circuit operation as well as simulation in MATLAB and experimental results of the proposed 9-bit hybrid LBDD DPWM circuit have been performed. It allows to attain SNR of 80 dB and THD about 0,3% within the audio baseband.

An extension of the modified Jiles-Atherton description to include the effect of anisotropy is presented. Anisotropy is related to the value of the angular momentum quantum number J, which affects the form of the Brillouin function used to describe the anhysteretic magnetization. Moreover the shape of magnetization dependent R(m) function is influenced by the choice of the J value.

Amine absorption processes are widely used in the industry to purify refinery gases, process gases or natural gas. Recently, amine absorption has also been considered for CO2 removal from flue gases. It has a number of advantages, but there is one major disadvantage - high energy consumption. This can be reduced by using an appropriate sorbent. From a group of several dozen solutions, three amine sorbents were selected based on primary, tertiary and sterically hindered amines. The solutions were used to test CO2 absorption capacity, absorption kinetics and heat of CO2 absorption. Additional tests were performed on the actual absorber-desorber system to indicate the most appropriate sorbent for capturing CO2 from flue gases.