Under solvent free conditions and in presence of a base 3-(2-(subsituted-(trifluoromethyl)phenylamino)acetyl)-2H-chromen-2-one derivatives were synthesized by grinding technique. Structural investigations were carried out with IR studies, HRMS, ¹HNMR and ¹³CNMR. The compounds were checked for their in vitro anticancer activities against three different human cancer cell lines viz human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7), human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) and human oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC-40) using SRB method. All the title compounds showed low toxicity towards non-malignant PBMC cells indicating their tumour selectivity. The compounds exhibited good in vitro anti-proliferative potency at lower concentrations against HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines and remain moderately active against SCC-40.

Three simple metaphor-less optimization algorithms are developed in this paper for solving the unconstrained and constrained optimization problems. These algorithms are based on the best and worst solutions obtained during the optimization process and the random interactions between the candidate solutions. These algorithms require only the common control parameters like population size and number of iterations and do not require any algorithm-specific control parameters. The performance of the proposed algorithms is investigated by implementing these on 23 benchmark functions comprising 7 unimodal, 6 multimodal and 10 fixed-dimension multimodal functions. Additional computational experiments are conducted on 25 unconstrained and 2 constrained optimization problems. The proposed simple algorithms have shown good performance and are quite competitive. The research community may take advantage of these algorithms by adapting the same for solving different unconstrained and constrained optimization problems.

Microbes generally develop resistance towards organic antibacterial agents like ampicillin, Sulfonamides, methicillin, etc., and progressively new drugs are being invented to replace them. Hence, replacement of organic antibacterial agents with inorganic analogues requires constant research and the present investigation reports alternatives for conventional antimicrobial agents like methylparaben, diazolidinyl urea, etc., in the cosmetic products with silver incorporated calcium borates. The chemically synthesized silver-calcium borates have been analyzed for phase purity using powder XRD analysis, nature of bonding using FTIR vibrations, and morphology using SEM. The antibacterial and antifungal studies were carried out for the novel inorganic silver-calcium borates incorporated cosmetic products. The products were also subjected to thermal & photostability studies and found to be comparable with that of commercially available products. A minimum quantity of 3 ppm of silver-calcium borate concentration was required to bring about nearly 100% bacterial reduction in the cosmetic products.

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.