A new durable antibacterial cotton fabric was successfully prepared by free-radical graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and itaconic acid (IA) onto a cotton fabric in an aqueous medium. Ammonium persulfate (APS) was used as the initiator in the presence of a crosslinker, methylene bisacrylamide (MBA). The nanocomposite hydrogel was obtained from in situ formation of silver nanoparticles from reduction of silver cations by sodium borohydride. A proposed mechanism for nanocomposite formation was suggested and the effect of ratio of IA to AA on water absorbency discussed. FTIR, UV-Vis, X-ray, and scanning electron microscopy were employed to characterize the structure of the prepared superabsorbent. The antibacterial activity of the hydrogel was tested qualitatively and quantitatively. Results showed that the silver nanoparticle-loaded fabric has potent antibacterial activity to Escherichia coli Gram-negative bacteria.

To calculate the change in the values of efficiency and productivity of public hospitals in Greece during the period 2015 to 2019. The calculation of the efficiency values includes the technical, pure and scale efficiency using the window-DEA method and the productivity change using the Malmquist index. The source of the data used to calculate the change in the efficiency of Greek public hospitals is the statistical databases of the Greek Ministry of Health that have resulted from the collection of data through Information Systems in combination with data provided by the Greek Statistical Authority (ELSTAT). The design of the study was based on the realization of a Window DEA study and the calculation of the Malmquist index with its components. The study was designed to measure the change in efficiency and productivity but over a relatively long period of time. The data were obtained from the databases of both financial and operational data of Greek Public Hospitals held by the Greek Ministry of Health and located on the Ministry’s website. Also, additional data were requested and obtained from ELSTAT. The data were examined and those which were appropriate for the conduct of the study were selected. The technical efficiency of Greek hospitals follows a slightly upward trend with ups and downs. Their pure efficiency follows a steady course with ups and downs. Scale efficiency is on an upward course. Productivity exhibits an overall negligible change. The research’s fluctuation of the inputs and outputs determines the change in the values of efficiency and, in combination with technological change, of productivity. During the period under study, the best placement of Greek hospitals on the scale is achieved in terms of their size. Hospital management cannot achieve better utilization of resources. A parallel increase of some of the inputs and outputs prevents increase in the values of technical and pure efficiency. The change in efficiency constrains the change in productivity.

Outsourcing is a common practice among the organizations and it is a major element in business strategy. It has recognized as an area of strategic importance. This article represents the application of the DMAIC Six Sigma approach to improve outsourcing management process with an emphasis to reduce delay of delivery time for a manufacturing company. The paper identifies each stage of the DMAIC cycle and the Six Sigma tools that were applied. The improvement project has been implemented in seven months.

This research paper is an attempt to examine the Bilateral Trade and Economic Growth between China and India, it also gives attention to draw outcome of trade, economic cooperation in future. They are the fastest growing economies in Asia as well as in the world. Both economies are classified by many international agencies as emerging markets with prospective for rapid economy growth. They play an increasingly dominant role in world economy affair. Especially, this paper investigates the major trends and changes in the Import- Export, Terms of Trade (TOT), Total Trade, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and Trade Openness. By applying various statistical techniques, the results reveal that China has leading trading partner with India and across the world. The findings are also used to draw policy implications for future trade and economic co-operation between two Asian developing economics. The results clearly showed the supremacy of China over India, but India also elucidates the sign of prominent growing economies in the world.

Imines of six new quinolin-5-ylamine derivatives 3(a-c) and 5(a-c) were synthesized by the reaction of quinolin-5-ylamine (1) with different aldehydes 2(a-c) and ketones 4(a-c). The chemical structures of the compounds were confirmed by UV-visible, FT-IR and 1H NMR spectral study. New compounds were screened for the antioxidant activity by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method. Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) was used as standard. All the compounds showed DPPH radical scavenging activity, where compound 3c was the best radical scavenger.

Over the past three decades, the unified approach of the optimization of the logistic systems has become one of the most important aspects of optimizing the supply chain so that in recent decades it has had a large application in practice and has been used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the logistic fleet. The inter-urban transport networks by the terminals play an important role in logistic fleet and the goods distribution. In some cases, numbers of terminals face with an overload and others encounter with additional vehicles, which result delay in the load post and unnecessary car downtime. The present paper aims at modeling, scheduling and routing of the vehicles network and minimizing delays in order to create an optimal balance between the number of vehicles and the capacity of the car terminals to use the maximal capacity of vehicles. So that the multi-objective mathematical model is presented to quantify the regular transportation costs and to minimize the car downtime. The proposed model has two conflicting objectives where on tried to increase costs and the other decreases unused cars. Due to the high complexity of the problem, the multi-objective differential evolutionary algorithm (MODE) has been used. To prove the proposed algorithm, it has compared with the NSGA-II algorithm using four comparing indexes. The computational results show the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

In this study, for the first time we report a highly selective and sensitive lutetium ions chemical optical sensor based on immobilization of a asymmetrically S–N Schiff’s base, namely N-(thien-2-ylmethylene)pyridine-2,6-diamine (TPD) on a triacetylcellulose membrane. This optode exhibits a linear range of 5.0 ×10-7 –1.0 ×10-5 M of the Lu(III) ion concentration with a detection limit of 9.3 ×10-8 M at a wavelength of 336 nm. The influence of responsible factors for improving sensitivity of the sensor was studied and identified. Response time of the newly designed optode was within 20-30 s depending on the Lu(III) ion concentration. Response of the optical sensor is independent of the pH of the solution in the range of 3.0–9.0. It manifests advantages of fast response time, low detection limit and most significantly, very good selectivity with respect to a number of lanthanide ions. The sensor can readily be regenerated with thiourea solutions and its response was reversible and reproducible. This optode was applied to the determination of Lu(III) in aqueous and CRM samples.

In today’s competitive economy, quality plays an essential role for the success business units and there are considerable efforts made to control and to improve quality characteristics in order to satisfy customers’ requirements. However, improving quality is normally involved with various criteria and we need to use Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) to handle such cases. In this state-of the-art literature survey, 45 articles focused on solving quality problems by MCDM methods are investigated. These articles were published between 1994 and 2013.Seven areas were selected for categorization: (1) AHP, Fuzzy AHP, ANP and Fuzzy ANP, (2) DEMATEL and Fuzzy DEMATEL, (3) GRA, (4) Vikor and Fuzzy Vikor, (5) TOPSIS, Fuzzy TOPSIS and combination of TOPSIS and AHP, (6) Fuzzy and (7) Less frequent and hybrid procedures. According to our survey, Fuzzy based methods were the most popular technique with about 40% usage among procedures. Also AHP and ANP were almost 20% of functional methods. This survey ends with giving recommendation for future researches.

There is an emergent need for corporates to incorporate environment friendly practices into supply chain management. Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) practices are the processes, which reduce the environment hazards from the supply chain. These practices help industries provide the competitive advantage from their core competitors by reducing environmental hazards. The literature gives an idea about a number of evidences of green supply-chain management practices, which are not developed. The study discusses the rules and the regulations made by the environmental authorities to meet social and environmental concerns to help in both developments of economies as well as business units suffering from insufficient GSCM practices. This research helps academicians, practitioners and researchers in incorporating and understanding GSCM practices in a broad manner. The research on the GSCM practices is at a very nascent stage in Indian manufacturing environment despite the fact that sustainability is the foremost worry of Indian industries. Using the rich literature, an attempt is made to bring out the need for GSCM practices and environmental sustainability of organizations. Finally, the findings and interpretations are summarized, and the main research issues and opportunities are highlighted.

HDPE was functionalized with two different esters in an inert atmosphere at 160°C, under different experimental conditions by thermolysis method. The order of the functionalization and crosslinking reactions was determined. The C=C formation peak is assigned at 1610 cm-1.The percentage of functionalization was determined by FTIR spectroscopy method. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetric methods were also used to study about the thermal properties of the functionalized HDPE.