Integrated production and maintenance planning for parallel machine system considering cost of rejection

Production scheduling and maintenance planning have interdependencies but been often considered and optimized independently in practice and in the literature. Furthermore, product quality has direct relationship with maintenance planning. This paper proposes an integrated approach for production scheduling and maintenance planning for parallel machine system considering the effect of cost of rejection. The approach aims to determine optimal production schedule and maintenance plan such that overall operations cost is minimized. A simulation-based optimization approach is used to solve the problem. A numerical investigation is performed to illustrate the approach. The integrated approach shows between 0.6 and 35.8% improvement in term of overall operations cost over independent approach for various scenarios. The results indicate that simultaneous consideration of production scheduling and maintenance planning results into better system performance.     

Ellipsometric and mechanical characterization of nanostructured anodic oxide film formed on Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy

In this work, we grow TiO₂ nanotube layers by using the single-step direct anodization of Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy in aqueous electrolytes containing F^? ions. Nanotube layers are characterized by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and field-emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM). We also use SE to monitor the anodization process for TiO₂ nanotube layers on biocompatible Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy. In addition, we study mechanical properties by nanoindentation.     

C60-C70-C6H5CH3 crystal solvates: Structure and thermal stability

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction were used to study the thermal stability and structure of C₆₀-C₇₀-C₆H₅CH₃ crystal solvates synthesized at room temperature. The decomposition of the crystal solvates generates C₆₀-C₇₀ solid solutions with hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure.     

Oxidation of fullerene mixtures obtained by the electric arc evaporation of graphite rods

A mixture of stable derivatives of fullerenes containing ether/diketone functional groups, some of which are water-soluble, were obtained during the destruction of fullerenes upon annealing in air. The results were confirmed by IR and UV spectroscopy.     

An efficient synthesis of some new 3-bipyridinyl substituted coumarins as potent antimicrobial agents

As a part of the ongoing studies in developing new antimicrobials,a series of structurally novel 3- bipyridinyl substituted coumarin derivatives 4a-f and 5a-f were synthesized by a single-step reaction protocol under Krohnke’s reaction conditions.¹H NMR,¹³C NMR,IR and mass spectral techniques were employed for the structural elucidation of the synthesized compounds.An evaluation of antimicrobial activity showed that almost all compounds exhibited better results than the referenced drugs.Among the synthesized derivatives 4f,5a and 5d were found to be the most potent analogs.Thus they could be promising lead for novel drugs.     

Diethylamine: A smart organocatalyst in eco-safe and diastereoselective synthesis of medicinally privileged 2-amino-4H-chromenes at ambient temperature

Diethylamine has been demonstrated to be an efficient organocatalyst in the diastereoselective synthesis of Bcl-2 protein antagonist (HA-14-1) and of its structural analogues by one-pot condensation between salicylaldehyde and three different C–H acids, viz. ethyl cyanoacetate, phenylsulfonyl acetonitrile, and malononitrile. Easy commercial availability of the catalyst at extremely low cost and avoidance of conventional work-up as well as purification procedures qualifies this scalable protocol for a “near-ideal synthesis”.     

Morphological features of C60 and C70 microcrystals obtained from C6H5CH3 and CCl4 solutions

Fullerene C₆₀ and C₇₀ microcrystals of different morphologies obtained by crystallization from toluene and carbon tetrachloride solutions were investigated using scanning electron microscopy and diffuse reflectance IR Fourier transform spectroscopy. The obtained results are discussed with regard to the features of fullerenes clusterization processes in solutions.     

Direct determination of the racemate ratio of labetalol hydrochloride by HPLC

Summary A direct, isocratic, reversed phase HPLC procedure is developed for the separation of the diastereomeric racemates of labetalol, a combined α- and β-adrenoreceptor antagonist. The aminoalcohol-type diastereomers were resolved on a C₁₈ column using methanolwater-25% ammonia 27-75-2 mobile phase and detection at 220nm. The procedure is simple and convenient to carry out. The method may be of use in the determination of the individual diastereomeric racemates of labetalol in different forms such as bulk substance, pharmaceutical dosage preparations and biological fluids. Presented at the 17th International Symposium on Chromatography, September 25–30, Vienna, Austria.     

Protein-lipid interactions at the air/water interface

Surface pressure measurements and external reflection FTIR spectroscopy have been used to probe protein-lipid interactions at the air/water interface. Spread monomolecular layers of stearic acid and phosphocholine were prepared and held at different compressed phase states prior to the introduction of protein to the buffered subphase. Contrasting interfacial behaviour of the proteins, albumin and lysozyme, was observed and revealed the role of both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions in protein adsorption. The rate of adsorption of lysozyme to the air/water interface increased dramatically in the presence of stearic acid, due to strong electrostatic interactions between the negatively charged stearic acid head group and lysozyme, whose net charge at pH 7 is positive. Introduction of albumin to the subphase resulted in solubilisation of the stearic acid via the formation of an albumin-stearic acid complex and subsequent adsorption of albumin. This observation held for both human and bovine serum albumin. Protein adsorption to a PC layer held at low surface pressure revealed adsorption rates similar to adsorption to the bare air/water interface and suggested very little interaction between the protein and the lipid. For PC layers in their compressed phase state some adsorption of protein occurred after long adsorption times. Structural changes of both lysozyme and albumin were observed during adsorption, but these were dramatically reduced in the presence of a lipid layer compared to that of adsorption to the pure air/water interface.     

Isoconversional <Emphasis Type="Italic">vs.</Emphasis> Model fitting methods

The crystallization of metallic glasses has been studied quite extensively using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. Most methods rely on isokinetic hypothesis for the kinetic analysis of crystallization for which the choice of a reliable model is very important. Due to inherent uncertainty in the determination of kinetic parameters, the model-free isoconversional analytical techniques were proposed. However, these isoconversional methods are scarcely used for metallic glasses. In the present work, the crystallization kinetics of Fe₆₇Co₁₈B₁₄Si₁ metallic glass through both isoconversional and isokinetic methods has been investigated and attention has been focused on the relative applicability of the two methods.