In examining for unique insecticidal agents, two derivatives namely, 2-((3-cyano-4,6-distyrylpyridin-2-yl)thio)-N-(4-nitrophenyl)acetamide (2) and 3-amino-N-(4-nitrophenyl)-4,6-distyrylthieno[2,3-b]pyridine-2-carboxamide (3) were synthesized from distyrylpyridine-2-thione (1). The new compounds were structurally clarified by spectral and elemental analysis data. The insecticidal activity of these compounds were carried out against cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch. It is demonstrated that the compounds 2 and 3 have noteworthy insecticidal activity against nymphs of cowpea aphid with LC50 values of 0.025-0.027 ppm and 0.005-0.006 ppm after 24 h and 48 h of treatment, respectively. Also, the compounds 2 and 3 have noteworthy insecticidal activity against adults of cowpea aphid with LC50 values of 0.112-0.129 ppm and 0.014-0.015 ppm after 24 h and 48 h of treatment, respectively, that were comparable to that of the control acetamiprid.

Oxygen-containing heterocycles are largely distributed in natural and synthetic compounds. Coumarins are among the most famous heterocycles which possess one oxygen atom in their rings. Coumarins are classified as multifunctional scaffold and are used as anti-oxidant reagents, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-HIV active, analgesic, anti-histaminic, insecticides, dyes, herbicides, sensitizers, perfumes, cosmetics and food additives. Due to their diverse applications in industrial and pharmaceutical fields, many chemists have given significant interest to these compounds. Herein, the review highlights various methods for the synthesis and interactions of coumarin moiety as one of the most efficient categories of heterocycles.

Halal food is food whose halal status is regulated by sharia institutions such as LPPOM MUI which is set by the government. The halal status of food must be traced from the process of raw materials, processing, packaging, transportation, and distribution to the final consumer. It is difficult to trace the certainty of halal food, especially beef in Medan City because the supply chain information from upstream to downstream is not transparent. To increase the transparency of beef status and increase consumer confidence, especially Muslim consumers, a distributed and transparent system is needed, where many parties can access the status of food at any time. So Blockchain technology is used to help track the halal status of beef along the supply chain. The purpose of this study is to design a system to obtain information certainty that beef distributed along the supply chain is halal and safe for consumption by utilizing Blockchain technology and to increase public safety and trust in the LPPOM MUI halal certification system. Based on the discussion and research analysis, it is known that the information in the halal beef supply chain in Medan City uses blockchain technology designed with a data security system using smart contracts, where information that has been stored cannot be changed by any party. so that there is a guarantee of information security in the beef supply chain in the city of Medan. This research is expected to support transparency, security, and certainty of information about halal beef in Medan City.

The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze the influence of personality, motivation, job satisfaction, employee engagement, organizational commitment on employee performance in PT. PLN (Persero) The Power Generation Unit of Mahakam, Indonesia. There were 167 employees participated in this survey using a saturated sample in which all populations were sampled. The re-search model used in this study was a structural model to test the hypotheses proposed by the SEM (Structure Equation Modeling) analysis technique using the Warp PLS 6.0 program approach. The results show that personality and job satisfaction had a positive and significant effect on employee engagement. Motivation was not significant to employee engagement. Personality and motivation were not significant to organizational commitment. Job satisfaction had positive and significant effect on organizational commitment. Personality, motivation, and job satisfaction did not have significant effect on employee performance. Employee engagement was positive and significant for organizational commitment. Employee engagement and organizational commitment were positive and significant for employee performance.

Ratcheting is a second failure mode in low cycle fatigue loading where plastic strain accumulates in each cycle. It is difficult to precisely estimate component deformation due to the complexities of cyclic hardening. In order to study the deformation, all types of hardening rules must be determined priorly. In this study, the determination procedures of combined hardening parameters are presented using Abaqus software. The experiment data of API-5L X80 from the past research have been utilized. Lastly, the different inputs of non-linear kinematic hardening choices are analyzed and presented.

COVID-19 has spread to more than a hundred countries worldwide since the first case reported in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. As one of the countries affected by the spread of COVID-19 cases, the local government of Malaysia has issued several policies to reduce the spread of this outbreak. One of the measures taken by the Malaysian government, namely the Movement Control Order, has been carried out since March 18, 2020. In order to provide precise information to the government so that it can take the appropriate measures, many researchers have attempted to predict and create the model for these cases to identify the number of cases each day and the peak of this pandemic. Therefore, hospitals and health workers can anticipate a surge in COVID-19 patients. In this research, confirmed, recovered, and death cases prediction was performed using the neural network as one of the machine learning methods with high accuracy. The neural network model used is the Multi-Layer Perceptron, Neural Network Auto-Regressive, and Extreme Learning Machine. The three models calculated the average percentage error (APE) values for 7 days and obtained APE values for most cases less than 10%; only 1 case in the last day of one method had an APE value of approximately 11%. Furthermore, based on the best model, then the forecast is made for the next 7 days. In conclusion, this study identified that the MLP model is the best model for 7-step ahead forecasting for confirmed, recovered, and death cases in Malaysia. However, according to the result of testing data, the ELM performs better than the MLP model.

When operating in highly competitive business environments, contemporary manufacturing firms must persistently find ways to fulfill timely orders with quality ensured merchandise, manage the unanticipated fabrication disruptions, and minimize total operating expenses. To address the aforementioned concerns, this study explores the optimal runtime decision for a manufacturing system featuring an expedited fabrication rate, random equipment failures, and scrap. Specifically, the proposed study considers an expedited rate that is linked to higher setup and unit costs. The fabrication process is subject to random failure and scrap rates. The failure instance follows a Poisson distribution, is repaired right away, and the fabrication of interrupted batch resumes when the equipment is restored. The defective goods are identified and scrapped. Mathematical modeling and optimization method are used to find the total system cost and the optimal runtime of the problem. The applicability and sensitivity analyses of research outcome are illustrated through a numerical example. Diverse critical information regarding the individual/joint impacts of variations in stochastic time-to-failure, expedited rate, and random scrap on the optimal runtime decision, total system expenses, different cost components, and machine utilization, can now be revealed to assist in in-depth problem analyses and decision makings.

With growing concerns about healthcare services especially during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals are compelled to provide non-traditional forms of quality services. Total quality management (TQM) practices are gaining attention and becoming a driving force to improve quality performance. This research aims to investigate the impact of TQM practices and quality performance in Jordanian public hospitals. The research used an online survey to collect data from 222 respondents from several public hospitals in Jordan. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) confirms a positive relationship between supplier quality management, customer focus, and quality performance.

The article presents an analysis of the stress state of workpieces during upsetting of workpieces with an additional shear. For the analysis, the slip line method and the finite element method were used. A schematic diagram of upsetting in dies with “floating” elements, contributing to the implementation of additional shear, reduction of barreling, inhomogenous deformation and contour tensile stresses, is presented. The analysis of the research results showed that during upsetting of workpieces with additional shift forces, tensile stresses on the side surface of the workpieces decrease, which excludes the appearance of cracks on the side surface of the samples, especially when processing low-plastic alloy steels and alloys, and also reduces the barreling of the side surface.

This study examines effect of transformational leadership (TFL) on work motivation in Vietnam, through the mediating role of employee emotions (expressed by the effect of leader on employee satisfaction). This paper considers employee motivation using independent and intermediate variables characterizing individuals and organizations. In order to find relationships between the select-ed variables, and to evaluate the role of the mediator, a technique of Explore Factor Analysis method (EFA) is sued with primary data collected from 286 among 317 employees currently working using regression models and 500 bootstrapping samples in order to quantify the role of the mediator. For the purposes of the analysis, the structural equation modelling (SEM) method was efficiency applied. The quantitative research was conducted in SMEs selected by stratification technique. In both cases the outcomes are significantly determined by employees’ motivation. This practical model demonstrates an influential relationship between TFL and work motivation. The study provides proof that the relations of transformational leadership have been shown to have a direct indirect influence on employee motivation, in which the mediator is the satisfaction which has direct impact on work motivation. The results of the research show strong evidences for policy makers and enterprises for management at SMEs as well as it contributes to literature review of behavior organization. Findings also strongly show implied solutions which would support for Vietnamese SMEs to improve stable job performance.