In this work, we have reported a synthesis of some novel pyrazol-pyrimidine derivatives (3a-f) obtained by the reaction of substituted pyrazole aldehydes and barbituric acid derivatives in presence of L-proline as a catalyst via Knoevengal condensation reaction. The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by spectral methods. From antibacterial activity, compounds 3d and 3f exhibited highest zone of inhibition as compared to standard drug gentamicin. Cytotoxicity results revealed that compound 3e exhibited a promising IC50 value against both the cell lines (A549 and MCF-7) as compared to the standard drug doxorubicin. Docking study discloses that, all the newly synthesized compounds displayed promising binding energies with the protein receptor EGFR kinase domain.

A new salicylaldehyde-based sensor N'-(5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-4-methylbenzohydrazide (P4) was designed, and its sensing ability towards various metal ions was assessed using UV-visible spectroscopy. The structure of P4 was spectroscopically characterized by UV-Visible, Infrared, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. UV-Visible absorption spectral study showed selective sensing ability of P4 for Cd²⁺ and Ni²⁺ ions in presence of diverse transition metal ions. The results revealed that the detection limit for Cd²⁺ and Ni²⁺ was 3.14 µM and 0.92 µM, respectively. Moreover, the compound P4 was fully implemented for detection of Cd²⁺ and Ni²⁺ in simulated samples.

The present includes the synthesis of pyrazoline derivatives using chalcones and phenyl hydrazine in the presence of ethanol. It also reveals that 2-pyrazoline complexes are physiologically active and may be used in a variety of therapeutic functions. FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, LC-MS, and elemental analyses were used to characterise newly synthesised phenyl-pyrazoline derivatives. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesised compounds was assessed using the agar well diffusion assay and the Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC). Compounds 4b, 4f, and 4h have exhibited remarkable antibiotic action against bacterial strains such as Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella. Typhi, and Shigella sp. On the other hand, compound 4h had significant antifungal activity against Candida albicans and Aspergillus fusarium and was a highly promising agent when compared to standard nystatin.

The construction of a λ-shaped three side substituted alkoxy based molecular system (E1-E8) with azo-ester group was carried out and studied for liquid crystalline applications. The mesogenic behaviour and thermal stability of synthesized derivatives were checked and analyzed by POM, DSC and TGA analysis. These azo-ester based compounds show smectic C and nematic type mesomorphic properties. The observed texture patterns of the synthesized compounds are fan, broken fan, schlieren and threaded types. All derivatives shows broad temperature range of mesophase and further stabilized upto the room temperature. The structure-property relationship has been further studied to understand the effect of variable side-chain on liquid crystalline properties.

Drug-resistant microorganisms are a serious problem, particularly when more strains become immune to different antimicrobials. Antibiotic resistance has now developed in several microbes. Therefore, it is crucial to build new medications that are still efficient. The amount of funding that is often available for such progress is lower than what is necessary. Kydia calycina is a Malvaceae flowering plant used in traditional Indian medicine to cure several diseases, including infections. The goal of this study was to determine whether K. Calycina has antifungal and antibacterial properties. Infections are caused by the profusion of microbes in the environment; thus, plant products and active chemicals are employed to assess the antimicrobial property of the extracts and the inhibition zone of each extract on a range of bacterial and fungal strains. The results showed that when it was applied to the species that were studied, there was a considerable decrease in the growth of bacteria. The plant was subjected to a phytochemical analysis, which was completed. This plant may be employed in the quest for bioactive natural substances that might be used as leads in the creation of pharmaceuticals. The antimicrobial mechanism of action was investigated by molecular docking, and it was determined that Hibiscoquinone B and Hibiscone C showed both antibacterial and antifungal activity.

The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of training and development on employee’s performance through different dimensions. Moreover, this study proposes a model in the area of human resource development to be used for testing and improving the performance of employees in the Indian travel and tourism sector. An integrated model was developed highlighting the relationship between the training and development and employee performance. Using the sample of 146 employees, structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to validate the hypothesized relationship by evaluating the responses of employees working in the Indian travel agencies. The findings of this study demonstrate a strong relationship between training and development and employee performance in the travel industry and also can be used by managers and HR professionals for organizing exclusive training programs for improving employee's performance based on the dimensions used in this paper. The present study provides an empirical and theoretical explanation of different dimensions associated with training and development and employee performance, especially in the Indian tourism industry.

This study aims to build a framework for measuring the productivity in the public transport sector through a data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique. This paper extends the Malmquist productivity index (MP1) and Luenberger productivity indicator (I.P1) evaluation with the concept of an input-oriented new slack model (NSM). NSM model measures the efficiency with the effect of slacks and satisfies unit invariance, radial and translation invariance properties. In particular, the purpose of the proposed extension is to obtain the overall productivity change in terms of technical change (Frontier Shift) and technical efficiency change (Catch-up Effect) for Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC) bus depots from 2008 to 2019. For this purpose, the number of buses, number of employers, fuel consumption and route distance arc are considered input variables, while passenger-kilometres occupied and vehicle utilisation are output variables. Finally, the result demonstrates that the average total factor productivity (TFP) growth of 46 depots using MPI and LPI over the study period is 1.956% and 1.409%, respectively. This study enables policy-maker and managers to evaluate the input to reach consistent output up to an optimum level and understand the process of improving the productivity level for the bus depots.

Composite marine structures are crucial for maritime and aerospace applications due to their strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance. To ensure their reliability and durability, a methodology to predict the damage criticality and service life of composite marine T-joints is essential. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has emerged as a powerful tool for preliminary design and structural evaluation of complex structures, reducing the need for extensive experimental work and leading to substantial cost savings. This research project aims to conduct a comprehensive FEA of composite T-joints, considering alternative skin, core, and infill materials. Structural analyses under various loading conditions will evaluate overall deflection and stress levels, aiming to enhance the design and reliability of composite marine constructions, ultimately improving their performance and extending their service life in demanding maritime and aerospace environments.

Bin packing problem (BPP) is a combinatorial optimization problem with a wide range of applications in fields such as financial budgeting, load balancing, project management, supply chain management. Harmony search algorithm (HSA) is widely used for various real-world and engineering problems due to its simplicity and efficient problem solving capability. Literature shows that basic HSA needs improvement in search capability as the performance of the algorithm degrades with increase in the problem complexity. This paper presents HSA with improved exploration and exploitation capability coupled with local iterative search based on random swap operator for solving BPP. The study uses the despotism based approach presented by Yadav et al. (2012) [Yadav P., Kumar R., Panda S.K., Chang, C. S. (2012). An intelligent tuned harmony search algorithm for optimisation. Information Sciences, 196, 47-72.] to divide Harmony memory (HM) into two categories which helps to maintain balance between exploration and exploitation. Secondly, local iterative search explores multiple neighborhoods by exponentially swapping components of solution vectors. A problem specific HM representation, HM re-initialization strategy and two adaptive PAR strategies are tested. The performance of proposed HSA is evaluated on 180 benchmark instances which consists of 100, 200 and 500 objects. Evaluation metrics such as best, mean, success rate, acceleration rate and improvement measures are used to compare HSA variations. The performance of the HSA with iterative local search outperforms other two variations of HSA.

Due to the advances in wireless network environments, consumers/end-user behaviors continue to expand in cyberspace. Similarly, university students (i.e. universities’ consumers) can easily shift from one university to another. In recent years, decision-makers in educational organizations have faced multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problems in e-service adoption in order to improve quality standards and maintain students’ retention in highly competitive education environments. Generally, many required criteria in MCDM cannot be evaluated accurately since accurate data cannot be obtained from the decision makers’ assessments. Thus, this research aims to propose a decision-making model for identifying the factors that highly impact on e-service adoption in educational organizations. This new model combined the fuzzy Decision MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (fuzzy DEMATEL) and fuzzy Techniques for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) to weight the interactions among the factors which were defined from a comprehensive review of literature and to determine the relative importance of these factors. The findings from our new proposed model: fuzzy DEMATEL-TOPSIS showed that environmental factors are the most important for effective e-service adoption among educational organizations in India. The proposed decision making model could guide educational organizations to improve their decisions related to technology adoption in their organizations. The conclusions and practical insights gleaned from this research could also hopefully be useful to school authorities in assisting with the adoption, acceptance, and usage of e-services.