The corner point singularity of surface cracks by finite element method (FEM) has become a numerical concern decades ago. The literature showed that the stress intensity factors (SIFs) at the corner points were often excluded. Further, most SIFs were reported for larger ratios of the crack depth over cylinder diameter. This paper presents the SIFs (Modes I, II and III) of a semi-elliptical surface crack at a solid round bar under torsion. The tetrahedral and hexahedral elements were used in the finite element modelling. The effects of the loading mode and the crack aspect ratio on the corner point singularity were discussed. The tetrahedral meshing was generally observed to be more suitable for modelling relatively small surface cracks, particularly in respect to the corner point singularity. For all loading modes, the SIFs away from the corner points of using the tetrahedral meshing were found to have fairly good agreement with those by dual boundary element method (DBEM).

Regioselective acylation of monosaccharides are highly significant for the preparation of both natural and non-natural carbohydrate compounds and their synthetic intermediates. In this respect, an efficient simple method for site selective 6-O-hexanoylation of octyl β-D-glucopyranoside (OG) at low temperature is described. The 6-O-hexanoylglucoside, thus formed, was then treated with five acyl halides and obtained novel corresponding O-acylglupyranosides at C-2, C-3 and C-4 positions with high yields. Activity spectra prediction for substances (PASS) indicated that these glucoside esters are potential against antimicrobials especially against fungi. In vitro antibacterial test indicated them as weak to moderate inhibitor of Gram-positive organisms. ADMET prediction indicated that these OGs are overall safe to use. Density functional theory (DFT) optimized electronic energy, enthalpy (ΔH), Gibbs free energy, entropy, dipole-moment (μ), and molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) are also discussed.

Amidoalkylation of secondary heterocyclic amines by N-[5-(alkylsulfanyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl]-2'-chloroacetamide resulted the new compounds 5-10 that contain 1,3,4-thiadiazole-5-thione moiety alongside pyperidine, morpholine, and cytisine fragments. In vitro screening of antimicrobial activity of synthesized compounds showed that N-[5-(amylsulfanyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl]-2'-morpholinacetamide exhibited an appreciable antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacteria of Escherichia coli (inhibition zone diameter of 16 mm) and gram-positive bacteria of Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis (10-13 mm).

The aim of the research was to analyse fragrance allergens in selected alcohol-based perfumery products with the application of gas chromatography. Toilet waters and scented waters were analysed. Samples of the selected perfumery products were tested for the presence of typical allergens, such as linalool, citral, citronellol, geraniol, eugenol and alpha-isomethyl ionone, in the so-called fragrance concentrate. The obtained results showed that each of the products contained at least a few of the above-mentioned allergens. Nevertheless, the majority of the analysed products satisfied the recommendations of the Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products and Non-food Products valid for cosmetics intended to remain on the skin for some time.

In this report, novel chromium incorporated fluorapatite encapsulated iron oxide (γ-Fe2O3@FAp@Cr) nanocatalyst was synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, TEM, SEM, XRD and EDX techniques. The catalyst was used in the synthesis of various derivatives of pyrazole-triazole hybrids via the reaction of thiosemicarbazide or semicarbaside and pyrazolecarbaldehydes at room temperature with excellent yields and short reaction times. The protocol was also used in the synthesis of bis-triazoles in high yield and reasonable reaction time. The nanocatalyst was comfortably separated from the reaction mixture by an external magnet and was reused in six consecutive cycles without any remarkable changes in its catalytic performance.

Investments in the agricultural sector represented by innovations and new technologies strongly influence the economic growth in developing countries. In this context, purchasing decisions have become more relevant. Multiple-criteria decision-making techniques are well suited for decision-makers (DMs) who are considering the introduction of new technologies. In this paper, a multi-criteria model is built to help a Colombian agricultural research company make decisions on purchasing different laboratory equipment. A compensatory approach based on trade-offs is used to elicit the preferences of a group of DMs. The high number of answers and cognitive effort required from them during the elicitation process led to using an alternative approach based on partial information, called the FITradeoff (The Flexible and Interactive Tradeoff) method. It showed to be the best fit to solve the company’s purchasing problem and allowed its managers to make decisions that consider criteria other than price, taking account of the DMs’ conflicting viewpoints. The proposed model aimed at contributing to the articulation of the end-user knowledge in decision-making in order to ensure effective articulation of actors and strengthening of science, technology and innovation in agriculture.

Facility layout problem is related to the location of departments in a facility area, with the aim of determining the most effective configuration. Researches based on different approaches have been published in the last six decades and, to prove the effectiveness of the results obtained, several instances have been developed. This paper presents a general overview on the extant literature on facility layout problems in order to identify the main research trends and propose future research questions. Firstly, in order to give the reader an overview of the literature, a bibliometric analysis is presented. Then, a clusterization of the papers referred to the main instances reported in literature was carried out in order to create a database that can be a useful tool in the benchmarking procedure for researchers that would approach this kind of problems.

2-pyridyl [3H]-quinazolin-4-one derivatives fused or substituted with different oxygen or nitrogen heterocycle moieties as potential anti-tumor and anti-microbial agents were prepared, characterized and biologically screened. The synthesis process started from 5-bromo-2-[pyridin-4-ylcarbonyl]amino]benzoic acid which was converted to the crucial building block 6-Bromo-2-(pyridin-4-yl)quinazolin-4(3H)-one via two alternative routes. Compound 3 underwent halogenation reaction POCl3 and PCl5 to afford compound 6-Bromo-4-chloro-2-(pyridin-4-yl)quinazoline 4. The novel cyclized products 5a,b-10 were subsequently prepared. Some of the newly synthesized compounds 5a, 5b, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were screened for their antiproliferative and antimicrobial activities against various eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Compound 9 showed selective antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus (IZ = 26 mm, MIC = 256 µg/ml) and may serve as a good candidate for further developmental studies.

Preliminary normalization is central to the decision process of several popular, recent or completely new multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) methods. However, a number of authors have pointed out serious pitfalls attributed to normalization methods. One major pitfall, which has been identified, is that normalization methods may lead to different final rankings of alternatives when a ranking procedure (RP) based on them is used for solving a MADM problem. The current paper aims to ascertain and illustrate the effectiveness of some RPs based on prominent primary WEighted Self-NORmalizing Distance (WESNORD) metrics and their averages. The effectiveness of the selected RPs is demonstrated by solving a logistics service provider (LSP) selection problem taken from the literature. The results reveal that the RPs considered deliver final rankings of alternatives, which are very similar to the SAW-produced reference ranking.

This article has studied a full truckload transportation problem in the context of an empty return scenario, particularly an order selection and vehicle routing problem with full truckload, multiple depots and time windows (SFTMDVRPTW). The aim is to develop a solution where a set of truck routes serves a subset of selected transportation demands from a number of full truckload orders to maximize the total profit obtained from those orders. Each truck route is a chain of selected demands to serve, originating at a departure point and terminating at an arriving point of trucks in a way that respects the constraints of availability and time windows. It is not mandatory to serve all orders, and only the profitable ones are selected. In this study, we have formulated the SFTMDVRPTW as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. Finally, Computational results are conducted on a new data set that contains thirty randomly generated problem instances ranging from 16 to 30 orders using the CPLEX software. The findings prove that our model has provided good solutions in a reasonable time.