Isoflavone levels and isoflavone chemical composition in 11 cultivars of soybean, including 4 Indian and 7 genotypes of soybean grown in Bulgaria, were analyzed as determined by C 18 reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector. Antioxidant activity of soybean extracts was assessed using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, and total phenolic compounds (TPC) were determined by using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. The range of total isoflavones (TI) was 558.2-1048.6 microg g (-1) of soy in Indian cultivars, and it was 627.9-1716.9 microg g (-1) of soy in the case of Bulgarian cultivars. The highest and lowest total isoflavone contents were observed for Maus-2 (1048.6 microg g (-1) of soy) and Hardee (558.2 microg g (-1) of soy), respectively, for the Indian cultivars, and they were observed for Boryara (1716.9 microg g (-1) of soy) and Line 5 (627.9 microg g (-1) of soy) for the Bulgarian genotypes. DPPH radical scavenging activity did not differ significantly among the cultivars and did not correlate with TI, whereas TPC correlated well with TI and weakly with DPPH. Malonylglucoside of all the aglycones, total genistein (TGin), and total daidzein (TDin) showed strong correlation with total isoflavones, whereas acetylglucoside and aglycone levels did not significantly correlate with total isoflavone. Profiling of soybean isoflavone is helpful in understanding the regulation of isoflavone biosynthesis for greater improved resistance of crops to disease and greater health benefits for humans. This comparative study of soybean cultivars grown in India and Bulgaria throws light on their composition and nutraceutical value.

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The effect of temperature and angular momentum on the nuclear level density parameter is investigated. Pairing correlations and deformation degrees of freedom are also included. The level density parameter fluctuates at low temperatures and the effect of angular momentum is very pronounced at low temperatures. The variation of shell correction with angular momentum is also studied. Results for the nuclei '66Dy, '78Pt, and '70Yb are presented.

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni plants grown in vitro and ex vitro were investigated for variations in the profile of steviosides in their leaves, shoots, roots and flowers. Steviosides were extracted by hydrolysis and esterification, evaporated to dryness and dissolved in methanol for quantitative analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC analysis and separation profiles indicated the presence of several different steviosides, predominantly eight known sweet diterpene glycosides. The most abundant compounds identified were steviolbioside, stevioside, rebaudiosides C and A and dulcoside A. The highest stevioside contents were recorded in 1-month-old greenhouse leaves (64.80 g steviolbioside kg −1 dried plant material) and in vitro leaves (0.99 g rebaudioside A kg −1 dried plant material). The recovery of steviosides from the leaves by methanol extraction was 90%. This is the first time that the eight predominant sweet diterpene glycosides in the various plant parts of S. rebaudiana have been investigated.

In recent days, carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites play a vital role in various engineering and technological applications. They are replacing conventional materials due to their excellent properties. Tubes made of these materials are made up of either hand layup process or filament winding processes and are widely used in aircraft, automobile, sports industries, etc., The objective of this study is to examine the influence of machining parameters combination so as to obtain a good surface finish in turning of CFRP composite by cubic boron nitride (CBN) cutting tool and to predict the surface roughness values using fuzzy modeling. The results indicate that the fuzzy logic modeling technique can be effectively used for the prediction of surface roughness in machining of CFRP composites.

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Growth of hairy roots of Beta vulgaris, which produces betalaines, and of Tagetes patula, which produces thiophenes, was studied under the influence of externally treated polyamines.Of the three polyamines, viz. putrescine, spermidine and spermine, administered singly at 1.5 mM concentration, putrescine and spermidine at 0.75 mM concentration influenced increase in the accumulation of biomass of B. vulgaris and T. patula hairy roots by 1.42 and 1.30 fold over the control. Whereas, the treatment of spermine (1.5 mM) alone resulted in decrease in the biomass in both the systems. Combined administration of putrescine (0.75 mM) and spermidine (0.75 mM) enhanced growth in both B. vulgaris and T. patula than that observed in individual treatments. Polyamines administered alone or in combination did alter production of betalaine and thiophene content. Dose response experiments showed that, when putrescine and spermidine was administered at 0.75 mM concentration, it resulted in maximum biomass and production of betalaine and thiophene in B. vulgaris and T. patula respectively as compared to the control and the media treated with double and triple strength of nitrates and in combination with putrescine and spermidine at equimolar concentration. In B. wdgaris and T. patula hairy root cultures, endogenous spermine titers were maximum in putrescine and spermidine 0.75 mM each treated, cultures, which was 1.63 and 2.0 fold higher than in control on 28 th and 35 th days respectively.

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