SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES

Today, salinity stress causes extensive damage to crops, and high soil salinity is one of the limiting factors for crop yields. A practical approach to lessen the negative effect of salinity stress is to use mineral nutrition methods such as spraying plants with silicone. To investigate and compare the effect of silicon and silicon nano-chelate on the wheat plant resistance (Shiroodi cultivar) to salinity stress, a factorial experiment was designed and conducted in a completely randomized design with five replications under hydroponic conditions. Experimental treatments included concentrations of 0 and 2 mmol/L silicon, 0 and 0.424 g/L silicon nano-chelate, 0 and 150 mmol/L sodium chloride, and their interaction. The growth and physiological indices showed that salinity stress decreasing effect on shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, catalase activity, and ascorbate peroxidase. These increases indicate the activation of the plant defense system against salinity stress conditions. The results also showed that silicon nano-chelate treatment under salinity stress reduced dry and fresh weights of roots and shoots. These two compounds additionally influenced the content of catalase activity, ascorbate peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase content in shoots. Simultaneously, the silicon and silicon nano-chelate treatment under salinity stress reduced the dry and fresh weight of roots and shoots, catalase activity, and ascorbate peroxidase. Therefore, the results obtained in this study generally showed that silicon under salinity stress increased plant growth and positively affected the activity of its antioxidant system. But silicon nano-chelate not only did not improve plant performance but also reduced its growth.

The article reviews the chemical composition of borehole and surface waters in three villages of one of the regions of Georgia - Kakheti, Gurjaani Municipality. The study was specifically focused on iodine content in waters. It turned out that certain amount of iodine really existed in borehole waters, which means that by everyday drinking of water, the human body gets maybe not the complete required amount of iodine, but at least some part of it. It was also discovered, that according to certain parameters, waters are clean, do not contain heavy metals and can be freely used for drinking and cooking. The chemical composition of the Alazani River was also examined according to all four seasons. This river is interesting because of being used for irrigation of vineyards and fruit gardens.

Background: MQ-series gas sensors belong to the metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) family of sensors that can sense the presence of many gases. These sensors find their application in gas alarm systems as key components. While necessary sensor circuit output voltage value for alarm point in a stand-alone gas alarm system is desirable, but what exact combination of the sensor circuit parameters is required? Hitherto, the determination of these circuit parameters has not been given much attention in the research community. Aim: the purpose of this work is to explore a structured graphical approach of determination of MQ series gas sensor circuit parameters for a stand-alone gas alarm system that yields desired sensor circuit output voltage value for the alarm point; the main objective of the study was to develop mathematical model equations that relate the: (i) sensor resistance (RS) with the gas concentration (x) and the sensor resistance at standard calibration concentration of the sensor base gas in the clean air (Ro) and (ii) sensor circuit output voltage (VRL), load resistance (RL) and sensor resistance (RS). It is expected from the model equations developed that graphical correlations of the sensor circuits parameters will be generated. Using these graphs for a particular case of an MQ-4 gas sensor under the influence of LPG, the parameters that yield desired sensor circuit output voltage of 2V for 1000 ppm of LPG alarm point will be determined. Methods: Model equations were developed for the sensor dynamics, and based on these model equations, graphs for the determination of required sensor parameters were plotted for a case of MQ-4 gas sensor response to LPG. Results and Discussion: The results yielded optimal values for R_O,R_S and R_L of 20 kΩ, 30 kΩ and 20 kΩ respectively, for alarm settings of 1000 ppm and a desired sensor circuit output voltage of 2 V. Based on determined parameters, the calibration equation for determination of best concentration value for a given value of emulated LPG concentration was developed. Using the method proposed in this study makes the process of determining the MQ-series gas sensor circuit parameters less cumbersome as their value can easily be obtained from the resulting graphs. Conclusions: a structured graphical approach for determination of MQ-series gas sensor circuit parameters for alarm points in a stand-alone gas alarm system showed that using MQ-4 gas sensor and LPG as the target gas, and for a sensor circuit output voltage of 2 V for alarm point at 1000 ppm of LPG, the corresponding value of R_O, R_S and R_L obtained were 20 kΩ, 30 kΩ, and 20 kΩ respectively. Hence, a structured graphical approach is suitable for determining MQ series gas sensor circuit parameters for a stand-alone gas alarm system under the influence of its associated gases.