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Abstract: This work deals with the prediction of mechanical properties of hot rolled steel slab in the hot rolling mill to avoid the manual working of preparing tension test samples in the mechanical testing lab. The time consumption for testing is avoided and the cost of product is decreased. A model for predicting mechanical properties of low carbon steel has been developed and Feed Forward Back Propagation (FFBP) as one type of algorithm of the Artificial Neural Network has been applied to the prediction system. Yield strength (YS), Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and Elongation(EL) are the basic mechanical properties of low carbon steel are predicted as a function of thermo-mechanical process parameters. These properties mainly depend on the input parameters such as Dispatch Temperature (DISTEMP), Transfer-Bar/Rolling Temperature (TBART), Finishing Temperature (FINT), Coiling Temperature (COILT) and Carbon Equivalent (CEQ). The FFBP is a supervised system that requires a lot of input and output data pairs for training process. The data are acquired from Indian Public Sector Steel Company and preprocessed before training. Performance of the model is evaluated by the Normalized Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE) and the Coefficient of Correlation (R). The NRMSE and the R values of both training and validation parts show excellent values. Therefore, the model using the FFBP algorithm is appropriate to predict the mechanical properties of the hot rolled low carbon steel. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The effects of 96-h sublethal exposure of nitrite (1, 2, 4, 8 and 10.4 mg l-1) on selected enzymatic activities in serum and tissues of fingerlings of catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) were studied for the first time in these species. All three species responded almost identically to nitrite exposure. With increasing nitrite concentration, reduction in activities was observed in acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in brain and liver; alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in serum, brain and gill; and acid phosphatase (ACP) in gill, while progressive increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) and aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) activities in brain, gill and serum, and ACP activity in serum and brain was observed. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity increased in gill, liver, kidney, brain and serum of all three species with increasing nitrite concentration up to 8 mg l-1 followed by reduction at 10.4 mg l-1. The study revealed nitrite stress causing alteration in activities of all measured tissue and serum enzymes in the fingerlings, and so stresses the need for proper management of this particular nutrient in water during carp culture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effect of supplementation of ascorbic acid through enriched zooplankton [10%, 20% and 30% ascorbyl palmitate (AP) inclusion in diet of zooplankton] on different digestive enzyme activities during ontogeny of Labeo rohita larvae was studied from 4 day to 15 day post hatch. Ascorbic acid (AA) content in different groups of unenriched (8.6±0.71) and enriched zooplankton were, 750±29.3, 1409.1±45.5, 2009.21±199.2 μg/g respectively on dry matter basis with differences (P <0.05) between the treatments. A difference (P <0.05) was found in tissue AA level in different dietary groups. Low amylase, protease, lipase and alkaline phosphatase activities were present in rohu larvae from the mouth opening stage which showed increasing trend with the age of larvae and increasing dietary AA content. A clear dose-dependent modulation of digestive enzyme activities in response to 10%, 20% and 30% AP enriched zooplankton feeding was evidenced from positive correlations between dietary AA content with magnitude of elevation of enzyme activity in different groups. There were 57, 55, 29.2 and 2 fold increases in amylase activity; 7.35, 7.02, 4.43 and 2.73 fold increases in protease activity; 45.636, 41.50, 19.83 and 13.69 fold increases in lipase activity and 6, 5, 3, and 2 fold increases in alkaline phosphatase activity observed in the 15th day post hatch larvae fed 20%, 30%, 10%AP enriched and normal zooplankton respectively, than 4-day post hatch larvae of the respective groups. Enzyme activities were also positively correlated with specific growth rates of wet weight of rohu larvae at the 15th day post hatch. Increased AA might have played an important role in advancing morphological transformation of the digestive tract, protecting gastric mucosa and accelerating growth by the process of tissue formation, which necessitated the requirement of more nutrient thereby, increasing digestive enzyme activity. The regulatory role of AA in the modulation of different digestive enzymes activity and its physiological consequences of nutrient digestibility and utilization during ontogenesis could be extrapolated for better nutrient management of the larvae. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Genetic variation was assessed in 367 samples of Labeo calbasu from twelve riverine locations across India using nine polymorphic microsatellite loci. The mean value of the observed heterozygosity (Hobs.) after correction for null allele ranged from 0.50 (loci R3* and Lr38* in Satluj) to 1.00 (Lr29* in Bhagirathi) whereas mean number of alleles per locus ranged from 4.66 (Narmada) to 10.11 (Ghaghra). The genetic data corrected for possible null alleles, analyzed with score test did not reveal significant deviation from HW equilibrium at any locus in any population after probability level was adjusted for Bonferroni corrections. Pair wise F st and allelic homogeneity tests indicated distinct population structure in wild L. calbasu. F st for all the samples combined over all loci was found to be 0.035 suggesting that 3.5% of the total variation was due to genetic differentiation. Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) indicated that most of the genetic variability was within populations from the same geographical locations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The title compound, N,N′-di(2-methoxyphenyl)formamidine (DMPF) was synthesized and characterized byFT-IR, FT-Raman, 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectroscopy and X-ray single crystal diffraction. The results show that the compound crystallizes in anorthorhombic system, with space group of Pbca and eight molecules in the unit cell. The unit cell parameters are: a =11.1118 (7)Å, b =14.9878 (9)Å and c =16.2851 (10)Å. The molecular geometry, the normal mode frequencies and corresponding vibrational assignments of DMPF at the ground state were performed by HF and B3LYP methods with 6-311+G(d,p) basis set. It was observed that the bond lengths and angles in the molecule, obtained by X-ray at the level of theory, were in good agreement with those of the experiment. A detailed interpretation of the infrared and Raman spectra of DMPF was reported. The 13C NMR and 1H NMR of DMPF have been calculated usingHF and B3LYP methods with 6-311+G(d,p) basis set. Comparison between experimental and theoretical results showed that B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) method is able to provide more satisfactory results for predicting IR, Raman, 1H NMR and 13C NMR properties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]