A new series of 2-[3-(5-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)-1-phenyl-1H-4-pyrazolyl]-3-aryl-1,3-thiazolan-4-one 5(a-i) have been designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antibacterial activity against Gram positive bacteria viz. Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538p), Micrococcus luteus (IFC 12708) and Gram negative bacteria viz. Proteus vulgaris (ATCC 3851), Salmonella typhimurium (ATCC 14028), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) the antifungal activity against Candida albicans (ATCC 10231), Aspergillus fumigatus (HIC 6094), Trichophyton rubrum (IFO 9185), Trichophyton mentagrophytes (IFO 40996). Antibacterial evaluation indicates that compounds containing 4-methoxyphenyl 5c, 4-fluorophenyl 5d and 2,5-difluorophenyl 5h groups on thiazolidinone ring showed significant activity equal to that of standard drug. The antifungal evaluation shows that compound 5c is highly active against A. fumigatus, compound 5d and 5h were also active against C. albicans and A. fumigatus.

The economic downturn, with a weakening oil market, resulted in the growth of divergent businesses that led to competition between destination-branded hotels and non-hotel-based firms in the fitness sector in the United Arab Emirates. Since hotel-based fitness firms have targeted both residents and tourists, the declining customer inflows have alarmed non-hotel-based fitness firms, leading to explore the market and appraise their service qualities, particularly given that their customers have experienced unexpected reductions in their discretionary spending habits. This paper analyzes factors in customers’ perception of service quality and its relation to customer satisfaction and retention. A sample of 186 member-customers was randomly selected from all non-hotel-based fitness firms functioning in Abu Dhabi. The primary data were collected through surveys and interviews. Respondents prioritized price, quality, hygiene and safety as major factors when assessing service quality. Although a high service quality index score and customer satisfaction indicated the drive for customer retention, the steady-state matrix apparent in the second year in a Markov analysis suggests that firms focus on improvising their marketing mix to increase customers’ spending time in fitness centers and maximize customers’ satisfaction with the main purpose of their visit, their own wellbeing and stress reduction. This study fills a research gap and helps fitness firms understand the importance of appraising customers’ perceptions of service quality in a downswing market, and of devising niche strategies to gain competitive advantage.

The current study examines the association between financial performance and leverage for 56 food processing firms listed in BSE over the period 2000-2018 using pooled OLS, fixed effects, and random effects models. The results indicate that leverage was significantly and positively associated with the firm performance. The results obtained are thus robust across the estimation methods. The pecking order theory and the static trade-off theory, both seem to explain Indian food processing firms’ decisions among the alternative theories of capital structure.

Solution for a normally loaded infinite isotropic plate containing five cracks with coalesced yield zones is obtained using a complex variable method. Influence of coalesced yield zones on the load bearing capability of the infinite plate is analyzed. Analytical expressions for stress intensity factors, displacement components and crack opening displacement (COD) are obtained. Numerical study is carried out to determine the yield zone length, applied load ratio and COD. The numerical results are reported graphically between some important parameters.

The present work aims to investigate the effect of an edge crack on the stress concentration around the circular hole surrounded by Functionally Graded Material (FGM) in an infinite plate subjected to uniaxial tensile load. The numerical investigation has been carried out using Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM). Two cases have been analysed in this work, i.e. the whole plate made up of radial FGM and homogeneous material plate having radial FGM layer around the hole. Young’s modulus of FGM varies according to exponential and power law function. The relations of stress intensity factor (SIF) and stress concentration factor (SCF) with normalised crack length, Young’s modulus ratio, FGM layer thickness and power law index have been presented. It has been observed that the FGM layer case has low SCF around hole than FGM plate case in presence of an edge crack.

New series of fused 1,2,4-triazoles, i.e., 3-(4-isopropylphenyl)-6-substituted phenyl-[1,2,4]triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]thiadiazoles (5a-5j) have been synthesized via a four-step procedure and using eco-friendly reaction condition at some steps of the synthesis. It was adopted by the formation of hydrazide of methyl 4-isopropylbenzoate (1) followed by reaction with CS2 in basic media to afford potassium salt, which on cyclized to our essential step, 4-amino-5-(4-isopropylphenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (4). The desired adducts (5a-5j) were formed by (4) on reaction with various aromatic acids in POCl3 media. The newly synthesized triazolo- thiadiazoles have been characterized by different spectroscopic techniques and investigated for their in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activity. It was revealed that the compounds 5a, 5c, 5h, and 5i showed interesting antibacterial and antifungal activity compared to the used reference standard.

The pharmaceutical combination of Teneligliptin Hydrobromide hydrate (TEN) and Metformin Hydrochloride (MET) drugs is used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. A new analytical method: QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, Safe) has been developed for the quantification of Teneligliptin (TEN) and Metformin (MET) in bulk and tablet dosage forms. The analysis was performed on Agilent symmetry analytical column Eclipse plus C18 (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) ultra- performance liquid chromatography-Diode Array Detectors (UHPLC-DAD), while the detection was performed on 233 nm using Diode Array Detectors. Buffer and acetonitrile (65:35 v/v) were the mobile phase, run at a flow rate of 0.7 mL min−1 for isocratic elution. The buffer used in the mobile phase contained 50 mM potassium di-hydrogen phosphate, pH adjusted to 3.5±0.02 with orthophosphoric acid. The mean values of recovery were found to be 100.50% and 99.81%. The proposed method could be ideal for quantitative evaluation in pharmaceutical preparations of these drugs and also for their quality control in bulk manufacturing. Stress test covers: acid, base, peroxide, thermal and photolytic degradation; were conducted to show the specificity of the method and degradation.

The multiple travelling salesman problem (MTSP) is one of the widely studied combinatorial optimization problems with various theoretical and practical applications. However, most of the studies intended to deal with classical MTSP, very limited attention has been given to an open multiple travelling salesman problem and its variants. In this paper, an open multiple travelling salesman problem with load balancing constraint (OMTSPLB) is addressed. The OMTSPLB differs from the conventional MTSP, in which all the salesmen start from the central depot and need not come back to it after visiting the given number of cities by accomplishing the load balance constraint, which helps in fairly distributing the task among all salesmen. The problem aims to minimize the overall traversal distance/cost for operating open tours subject to the load balancing constraint. A zero-one integer linear programming (0-1 ILP) model and an efficient metaheuristic genetic algorithm (GA), is established for the OMTSPLB. Since no existing study on OMTSPLB, the proposed GA is tested on the relaxed version of the present model, comparative results are reported. The comparative results show that the proposed GA is competent over the existing algorithms. Furthermore, extensive experiments are carried out on OMTSPLB and the results show that proposed GA can find the global solution effectively.

The corrosion inhibition power of an eco-friendly green inhibitor Ixora coccinea extract (ICE) for mild steel in 1 M HCl and 0.5 M H2SO₄ was analysed using physicochemical and electrochemical techniques. 1–5 v/v% ICE was prepared and added into the corrosive acidic media for different analyses. Weight loss measurements conducted for a period of 24hrs for mild steel immersion revealed 89.38% and 77.96% inhibition capacity of ICE in 1 M HCl and 0.5 M H2SO₄ medium respectively. Electrochemical impedance parameters show that as concentration is increased, efficiency increases and double layer capacitance decreases. Potentiodynamic polarization techniques are also in good agreement with impedance studies and exhibit the mixed type inhibition character of ICE. Electrochemical noise spectrum also strongly supports the anti-corrosive property of ICE and the magnitude of noise signal decreases concerning the increase in ICE concentration. Ixorene, which is one of the major constituents of Ixora coccinea leaves was also studied for its corrosion inhibition nature by quantum mechanical calculations and was found to match with all other results. Adsorption studies of ICE are in accordance with Langmuir isotherm. Surface morphological studies confirm the formation of a protective barrier on mild steel surface in both media, i.e., 1 M HCl and 0.5 M H2SO₄.

One-pot synthesis of highly substituted pyridines has been demonstrated via multicomponent reaction of aldehydes, malononitrile and thiophenol using Mg-Al hydrotalcite as a solid base and reusable catalyst. The catalytic activity is intimately connected to the basicity of the catalyst. The best activities were observed with the Mg/Al: 5 catalyst. The catalyst could be reused for further run without a significant loss in activity. The protocol was also applicable for various aromatic aldehydes which affords desired product in good to excellent yield.