Nowadays, oil companies have to deal with an increasingly competitive environment. In this sense, the optimization of operational processes to enhance efficiency is crucial. This article addresses the design of a decision support tool for the inland upstream transport logistics in the oil industry based on a case of study in Argentina. This problem is traditionally difficult to solve for managers due to the large number of demand facilities scattered on a large geographic area that have to be served and the consideration of several operational requirements, such as maximum allowable travel times for vehicles, availability of a limited fleet size with a small number of drivers, plus the usual demand constraints as well as those arising from security risks derived from the incompatibility of chemical products. A novel mathematical formulation and a constructive heuristic are proposed in order to address this problem. The results allow to reduce the time that the company spends for obtaining a feasible distribution plan that minimizes the time horizon of the distribution schedule provided to the clients and enhances customer satisfaction.

This project was started when an unknown peak was being detected in the organic volatile impurity (OVI) analysis (using the head-space vapor sampling procedure) of bortezomib (BZB) active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), in pharmaceutical companies. During the OVI analysis of the API of BZB, a huge-area peak with an unknown source appeared in the chromatograms of the gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The data prepared by GC-MAS revealed that the considered huge peak was 3-methylbutanal (3MBut). But, investigating the synthesis procedures showed that during all the synthesis steps, 3MBut or any other solvent containing this impurity was not being applied. Thus, we had concluded that there is a possibility for emergence of this aldehyde from bortezomib itself. To find out which part of bortezomib might turn into 3MBut, we began to investigate all its molecular structure, and hypothesized that the α-amino-boronic acid part of the molecule turned into 3MBut. The experimental analysis and theoretical quantum chemical calculations confirmed that the α-amino-boronic acid center of bortezomib molecule undergoes a rare and unexpected aerobic oxidation by O2 molecule, even in catalyst and solvent-free conditions. The result of this project not only might make clear the passive source of the 3MBut peak of the OVI of bortezomib, but also, it would suggest to store this API in an inert oxygen-free atmosphere to improve the long-term and accelerated (thermal) stability of this very expensive anti-cancer drug.

This review article aims to provide a greater understanding of on-going research in fracture behavior of additively manufacturable microcellular structures. Despite growing recent investigations in the mechanics of microcellular structures, predominantly on their constitutive behavior and structural optimization, understanding the fracture behavior is still in its infancy, particularly for functionally patterned microcellular structures. While presenting a comprehensive review of the past and current research activities, this paper discusses potential future directions that are necessary to fully cover unexplored areas in this field.

Distribution-free (or nonparametric) monitoring schemes are needed in industrial, chemical and biochemical processes or any other analytical non-industrial process when the assumption of normality fails to hold. The Mann-Whitney (MW) test is one of the most powerful tests used in the design of these types of monitoring schemes. This test is equivalent to the Wilcoxon rank-sum (WRS) test. In this paper, we propose a new distribution-free generally weighted moving average (GWMA) monitoring scheme based on the WRS statistic. The performance of the proposed scheme is investigated using the average run-length, the standard deviation of the run-length, percentile of the run-length and some characteristics of the quality loss function through extensive simulation. The proposed scheme is compared with the existing parametric and nonparametric GWMA monitoring schemes and other well-known control schemes. The effect of the estimated design parameters as well as the effect of the Phase I sample size on the Phase II performance of the new monitoring scheme are also investigated. The results show that the proposed scheme presents better and attractive mean shifts detection properties, and therefore outperforms the existing monitoring schemes in many situations. Moreover, it requires a reasonable number of Phase I observations to guarantee stability and accuracy in the Phase II performance.

Flibanserin (Addyi) is a medication used to treat women who have not gone through menopause who have low sexual desire. Specific and simple stability indicating method was developed and validated by high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) for the determination of Flibanserin. Separation was carried out by using a mobile phase consisting of 0.01M Potassium phosphate monohydrate buffer (KH₂PO₄) pH 3.50 buffer: Acetonitrile in the ratio of 60:40. The column used was Agilent C18, (150×4.6) mm, 5µm with a flow rate of 1.0ml/min and temperature at 30°C. The detection was carried out at 248 nm and Flibanserin was eluted at around 2.8min. This method was validated as per ICH guidelines and validation included specificity, precision, linearity, accuracy, forced degradation, and robustness. Forced degradation was conducted under the conditions of hydrolysis, oxidation, thermal, acid, base, and peroxide hydrolysis. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range from 20 to 200µg/mL and the coefficient of determination (r²) was observed as 0.9998. The precision and accuracy of the method were within the acceptable range. The results of this study showed that the validated method is simple and accurate, which confirmed that the method is suitable for the determination of Flibanserin.

The present manuscript describes an in-depth analysis of various interactions present in the crystal structure of formyl coumarins using Crystal explorer 17.0. Element based interactions were quantified by the decomposition of generated 3D surfaces into 2D fingerprint regions. DFT methods were used to explore electrostatic parameters, global and local reactivity descriptors. Electrophilicity based charge transfer (ECT) analysis was done to explore the probability of charge transfer between formyl coumarins and DNA base pairs. The reactivity and selectivity of different formyl coumarins have been accessed using Fukui functions in their reduced form. Non-bonding orbital (NBO) analysis revealed the presence of various hyperconjugative interactions and their stabilization energy in formyl coumarins. Non-linear optical properties are presented in terms of first order hyperpolarizibility (β₀), where maximum β₀ is observed for C4 (1.64 × 10-30esu.) which is found to be 2 times greater than that of p-nitroaniline. Molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) plots are mapped in terms of electron density.

The Vehicle Routing Problem with Loading Constraints (VRPLC) is strongly related to real life applications in distribution logistics. It addresses the simultaneous loading and routing of vehicles, which are two crucial activities in transportation. Since treating these operations separately may result in impractical solutions, the development of applications for VRPLCs has gained the attention of researchers in recent years. Several heuristic methods have been proposed, but they consider only a limited group of practical characteristics that arise in real world situations. This study proposes a hybrid heuristic method based on the Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) metaheuristic and the Clarke and Wright Savings algorithm, to solve a VRPLC with several loading and routing constraints that have not been considered simultaneously before. Experimental results show that the proposed procedure produces competitive solutions in short processing times. Lastly, the impact of the added operational constraints is also analyzed.

The literature on flow shop scheduling has extensively analyzed two classes of problems: permutation and non-permutation ones (PFS and NPFS). Most of the papers in this field have been just devoted on comparing the solutions obtained in both approaches. Our contribution consists of analyzing the structure of the critical paths determining the makespan of both kinds of schedules for the case of 2 jobs and m machines. We introduce a new characterization of the critical paths of PFS solutions as well as a decomposition procedure, yielding a representation of NPFS solutions as sequences of partial PFS ones. In structural comparisons we find cases in which NPFS solutions are dominated by PFS solutions. Numerical comparisons indicate that a wider dispersion of processing times improves the chances of obtaining optimal non-permutation schedules, in particular when this dispersion affects only a few machines.

This paper is interested in pharmaceuticals distribution which is one of the most important activities and ensures the availability of drug products to a set of customers (pharmacies). The study introduces the Disrupted Vehicle Routing problem with Soft Time Windows since pharmaceutical distributors should respond to increased demands for products to ensure timely and efficient delivery to dynamic demands. We also propose an improved multiobjective local search (IMOLS), which uses methods of neighborhood search such as large neighborhood search (LNS) and variable neighborhood search (VNS) based on a hybrid approach in the optimization of vehicle routes. The algorithm is expected to achieve competitive results compared with previously published studies.

Most of the organizations today look forward to streamlining their business with the rapid needs of the society. However, they do not consider the holistic view of various digital driving factors. The paper aimed to develop a structural framework using the enablers of Digital Transformation (DT) by applying qualitative and rational approaches to develop a conceptual model of DT adoption for various industries. The assimilated approach of Delphi and Interpretive Structural Modelling demonstrated the qualitative data-driven theoretical structure by identifying fourteen enablers of DT and developed a logical model in nine levels. The driving and dependency powers of each enabler were portrayed in MIC MAC analysis. The government regulation and market pressure found as key drivers with strong driving and low dependency powers occupying the lowest level which influences customer demand, behavior and expectations and process, performance improvement of the business. The model demonstrates a deep understanding of global firms to leverage various dimensions while taking transformation decisions in their business process and gain a competitive edge. Further, any organization that looks for adopting digital transformation can consider these factors or models in deciding the implementation process. It recommends researchers to validate the model or may prioritize the factors and sub-factors for multi-criterion based decision making process for unique findings.