The current research study aims to analyze the impact of cash holding on investment efficiency by moderating the role of corporate governance among financially distressed firms. The data for 14 years (2006-2019) is gathered from 400 companies of two Asian emerging economies (Pakistan and India). The results are obtained by applying a generalized method of moments (GMM), which postulates that corporate governance improves cash holding with investment efficiency in the Indian scenario and decreases in the Pakistani scenario. Concerning financially distressed firms, corporate governance strengthens the relationship of cash holding with investment efficiency in the Pakistani context but showing no moderating role in the Indian scenario. The results are helpful in cash management decisions to minimize the agency issue and to avail investment opportunities.

In this paper, a memory-based simulated annealing algorithm called the Dual Memory Simulated Annealing Algorithm (DMSA) is presented to solve multi-line facility layout problems. The objective is to minimize the total material handling cost. Two memory buffers and a restart mechanism are considered. Two benchmark problems were selected from the literature review papers and solved using the standard simulated annealing (SA) algorithm and the DMSA. The obtained results show that solutions provided by the DMSA algorithm are cost-effective compared to the standard SA algorithm and the other algorithms used for solving these test cases. Moreover, to further evaluate the performance of the DMSA algorithm in large scale problems, eleven test cases were selected from the benchmark library of the quadratic assignment problem (QAP). According to the results, the performance of the algorithm in finding solutions to complex problems is exemplary.

As foodborne diseases are current major health issues worldwide, food safety is a global health target. The present work has used social cognitive theory as theoretical support for examining the social and cognitive factors [outcome expectations (OE), self-regulation (SR), environmental determinants (ED), and self-efficacy (SE)] of Jordanian restaurant managers’ and supervisors’ food safety behavior (FSB). The moderator was willingness to comply (WC). Data were collected from the participants via Google Forms using purposive sampling methods. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed, where 250 questionnaires were sent each to the Jordanian Restaurant Association (JRA, representing international and chain food restaurants in Jordan) as well as the Jordanian Union of Restaurants and Confectionary Proprietors (URCP, representing the local Jordanian restaurants). Two hundred and ninety-six completed questionnaires were returned. The hypotheses were analysed with smart partial least squares by structural equation modelling. The analysis determined that OE, SR, ED, and SE had positive impacts on FSB, while WC played a role in moderating the interlinkage among SE, OE, and FSB. To sum up, the current study as a whole also has significant theoretical and practical contributions for the practitioners in the given context.

The present paper elicits the zinc oxide nanoparticles-assisted synthesis of a new series of seven-membered 1,4-diazepine heterocyclic compounds as potent lead scaffolds. Structures of synthesized compounds were corroborated using spectroanalytical techniques viz, FT-IR, 1H, 13C NMR, Mass, and elemental analysis. Also, Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDAX), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to establish the structure and morphology of the synthesized nanocatalyst. The clean workup procedure, high to excellent yields, relatively short reaction times, and high atom economy are the incredible advantages associated with the protocol.

In this research, a maximal covering location problem (MCLP) with real-world constraints such as multiple types of facilities and vehicles with different setup costs is taken into account. An original mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is constructed in order to find the optimal solution. Since the problem at hand is shown to be NP-hard, a constructive heuristic method and a meta-heuristic approach based on genetic algorithm (GA) are developed to solve the problem. To find the most effective solution technique, a set of problems of different sizes is randomly generated and solved by the proposed solution methods. Computational results demonstrate that the heuristic method is capable of producing optimal or near-optimal solutions in a rational execution time.

The development of land use in Badung Regency in the period 2013-2021 has an impact on changes in the ecological structure of the landscape. Changes in the ecological structure of the landscape occur in the three parameters, namely patch, matrix and corridor, which are indicated by changes in the area and function of the three parameters. The addition of matrix area in the settlement land use class and golf course patches causes changes in the area of the matrix of mixed gardens, rice fields and mangroves as well as corridors of non-volcanic coastal sand that dominantly have ecological functions. The objectives to be achieved in this study are to analyze the dynamics of changes in the ecological structure of the landscape caused by land use development in Badung Regency. The dynamics of changes in the ecological structure of the landscape due to large-scale changes is a driving factor in the deviation of spatial utilization and a decrease in the quality of the environment in Badung Regency. The research concluded that landscape ecology analysis is an important aspect in the development of regional zones in Badung Regency that takes into account the principles of sustainable development. This research found a new formulation in the analysis of ecological zone development that integrates the landscape ecology approach with the spatial approach and regional approach. The ecological zones of Badung Regency are grouped into 4 (four), namely: very high ecological zone, high ecological zone, medium ecological zone and low ecological zone.

Tracking abundant gene transcripts quantification over continuous cancer progression stages may reveal the mechanism of disease advancement. In this work, we profile the transcript quantification over the stages using a time-series approach, in which the stages/sub-stages of the disease are the time points, and the quantification measurements are the values. The values over time points are used to interpolate the growth of the progression using the cubic spline function. Then, the transcripts profiles are universally aligned and clustered using the time-series profile hierarchical clustering method based on the area between each pair of the aligned profiles; the method is named (HC-UAP). We compare the proposed method with a hierarchical clustering method based on Euclidean distance (HC-ED). Both methods were applied on two next-generation sequencing (NGS) prostate cancer datasets, the first from the Chinese and the second from the North American population. HC-ED clusters the dataset to find patterns while HC-UAP was able to single out outliers that trend differently in both datasets. While finding patterns in gene expression that trend over stages is the standard approach for analyzing time-series models, identifying outlier transcripts that grow differently than other transcripts can provide more details about the contribution of the mRNA transcriptional activity to the disease. They also can be a potential biomarker for the disease progression.

Lion Air is an airline that has a low-cost carrier concept, which makes Lion Air an airline that has low prices. With these low prices, does it improve customer fulfillment? This study aims to determine the effects of service quality, amenities, and pricing on purchase choices. Associative quantitative research methodologies are used in this kind of study. The sample comprised 210 individuals who had taken a flight on Lion Air during COVID-19 and were at least 17 years old. The analysis technique uses Amos 24 software and SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) analysis. The results showed that service quality has a favorable and considerable impact on customer satisfaction. Facilities have a significant and positive effect on customer satisfaction. Price has a positive and substantial influence on customer satisfaction.

The chemistry of Schiff base has received remarkable attention in different applications, both organic synthesis and industries. Over the past few years many reports have been on the synthesis, characterization and application of vanadium Schiff base complexes. However, heterogeneous vanadium Schiff base catalysts are active for various oxidation reactions, making catalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons a great interest. This review summarizes the recent development of organic substrate oxidation with heterogeneous vanadium Schiff base catalysts.

An inventory control system having multiple items in stock is developed in this paper to optimize total cost of inventory and space requirement. Inventory modeling for both the raw material storage and work in process (WIP) is designed considering independent demand rate of items and no volume discount. To make the model environmentally aware, the equivalent carbon emission cost is also incorporated as a cost function in the formulation. The purpose of this study is to minimize the cost of inventories and minimize the storage space needed. The inventory models are shown here as a multi-objective programming problem with a few nonlinear constraints which has been solved by proposing a meta-heuristic algorithm called multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO). A further meta-heuristic algorithm called multi-objective bat algorithm (MOBA) is used to determine the efficacy of the result obtained from MOPSO. Taguchi method is followed to tune necessary response variables and compare both algorithm's output. At the end, several test problems are generated to evaluate the performances of both algorithms in terms of six performance metrics and analyze them statistically and graphically.