Footloose Business Plan

Savannah, Georgia has over ten million visitors that spend over three billion dollars each year. The streets of Savannah are filled with countless retail stores to meet the needs of every tourist and local. Unfortunately, even with all of these stores there is still an unmet need. There is currently no store in Savannah that offers a trendy and affordable shoe. The following business plan presents a way to capitalize on this unmet market need. Our company, Footloose, has the potential to have a competitive advantage in an unsaturated shoe market. Footloose will cater affordable shoes to any women looking to elevate their style for whatever occasion

Reflections in the Mirror: Women’s Self Comparisons to Mannequins and Peers

The fashion industry has been under fire for years for using unrealistic body sizes in the form of stick-thin fashion models to promote the sale of clothing. Typical Western fashion models in today’s society are sized 0-2 and weigh approximately 23% less than the average U.S. woman, who weighs approximately 163 pounds and wears a size 14 (Vesilind, 2009). According to Vartanian (2009), many women suffer from body image self-discrepancies when they compare themselves with others, including fashion models. As such, social comparison has been documented to create negative emotions, such as body dissatisfaction and disappointment (Posavac & Posavac, 2002). Although a number of studies have investigated how an idealized body image in media impacts social comparison among females, no research has explored to what extent comparisons of mannequins to a customer’s self may impact self-image and consumer behavior. Since mannequins serve to show consumers how clothing may look on the human body and consumers may be drawn to the clothing due to the way the clothing fits the mannequin and/or the poise, stature, or grace of the mannequin itself (Schneider, 1997), it should be expected that mannequins would also influence self-image and behavior. Utilizing Social Comparison Theory as the theoretical foundation, this study examines the influencing factors affecting U.S. females\u27 social comparison tendencies and psychological well-being when a female compares her body to that of a mannequin and to other women. Data was collected using an online survey through the use of snowball convenience sampling, yielding 314 usable responses. Results indicate that the use of idealized mannequins in retail stores have a significant impact on social comparison and body dissatisfaction for female consumers. These results suggest that female consumers do indeed compare their bodies to those of mannequins and that the greater the discrepancy between the size of the mannequin and their own size, the more dissatisfied the woman is with her body. This research extends Social Comparison Theory as the findings show women also compare themselves to mannequins. In addition, results of this study show that women who are categorized with a BMI classification of overweight or obese are more likely to compare themselves to other females. Results also show that the top five body parts/characteristics most commonly compared to mannequins and other females are body size, weight, body shape, waist, and legs

Attitudes toward home furnishings case goods: an investigation of motivations and values relative to product choice

The purpose of this dissertation was twofold: (a) to investigate consumer's attitudes toward home furnishings case goods; and (b) to determine how their attitudes influence their home furnishings case good consumption choices. Based on preliminary research findings and an analysis of the attitude-behavior relationship literature, the main research constructs were determined and operationalized. The Theory of Reasoned Action was deemed to be most suited for the study. A conceptual model, Home Furnishings Case Goods Consumption Model, was then created. The model's foundation was the Theory of Reasoned Action with the addition of three constructs: home furnishings case goods attributes/evaluative criteria, hedonic and utilitarian motivations, and consumer perceived consumption values. The sample for the study was drawn from a home furnishings retailer's database, which included participants from Georgia and Florida. Participants completed a 14 page booklet survey questionnaire that contained scales to measure research constructs, as well as demographic, socioeconomic, and dwelling-specific information (n =190). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to measure the adequacy of the Home Furnishings Case Goods Consumption Model and the eight formulated hypotheses were individually analyzed through the use of multiple regression analysis. Although the findings of this research are market specific, they have important implications for the home furnishings case goods industry. This research demonstrated usefulness of the individual scales used. Overall, this study provides product developers, manufacturers, and marketers with a greater understanding of the home furnishings case goods consumer and it could allow sellers to create lead times, which could ultimately provide a source for competitive advantage. Furthermore, by delving into the mind of the home furnishings case goods consumer, manufacturers and retailers could provide consumers with more tailored offerings/selections that would better suit their needs and desires

Genomic investigation of a legionellosis outbreak in a persistently colonized hotel

Objectives: A long-lasting legionellosis outbreak was reported between November 2011 and July 2012 in a hotel in Calpe (Spain) affecting 44 patients including six deaths. Intensive epidemiological and microbiological investigations were performed in order to detect the reservoirs. Methods: Clinical and environmental samples were tested for the presence and genetic characterization of Legionella pneumophila. Six of the isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. Results: Sequencing of 14 clinical and 260 environmental samples revealed sequence type (ST) 23 as the main responsible strain for the infections. This ST was found in the spa pool, from where it spread to other hotel public spaces, explaining the ST23 clinical cases, including guests who had not visited the spa. Uncultured clinical specimens showed profiles compatible with ST23, ST578, and mixed patterns. Profiles compatible with ST578 were obtained by direct sequencing from biofilm samples collected from the domestic water system, which provided evidence for the source of infection for non ST23 patients. Whole genome data from five ST23 strains and the identification of different STs and Legionella species showed that different hotel premises were likely colonized since the hotel opening thus explaining how different patients had been infected by distinct STs. Conclusions: Both epidemiological and molecular data are essential in the investigation of legionellosis outbreaks. Whole-genome sequencing data revealed significant intra-ST variability and allowed to make further inference on the short-term evolution of a local colonization of L. pneumophila

Laboratory-based evaluation of legionellosis epidemiology in Ontario, Canada, 1978 to 2006

BACKGROUND: Legionellosis is a common cause of severe community acquired pneumonia and respiratory disease outbreaks. The Ontario Public Health Laboratory (OPHL) has conducted most testing for Legionella species in the Canadian province of Ontario since 1978, and represents a multi-decade repository of population-based data on legionellosis epidemiology. We sought to provide a laboratory-based review of the epidemiology of legionellosis in Ontario over the past 3 decades, with a focus on changing rates of disease and species associated with legionellosis during that time period. METHODS: We analyzed cases that were submitted and tested positive for legionellosis from 1978 to 2006 using Poisson regression models incorporating temporal, spatial, and demographic covariates. Predictors of infection with culture-confirmed L. pneumophila serogroup 1 (LP1) were evaluated with logistic regression models. Results: 1,401 cases of legionellosis tested positive from 1978 to 2006. As in other studies, we found a late summer to early autumn seasonality in disease occurrence with disease risk increasing with age and in males. In contrast to other studies, we found a decreasing trend in cases in the recent decade (IRR 0.93, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.95, P-value = 0.001); only 66% of culture-confirmed isolates were found to be LP1. CONCLUSION: Despite similarities with disease epidemiology in other regions, legionellosis appears to have declined in the past decade in Ontario, in contrast to trends observed in the United States and parts of Europe. Furthermore, a different range of Legionella species is responsible for illness, suggesting a distinctive legionellosis epidemiology in this North American region

Comparative study of entropy sensitivity to missing biosignal data

Entropy estimation metrics have become a widely used method to identify subtle changes or hidden features in biomedical records. These methods have been more effective than conventional linear techniques in a number of signal classification applications, specially the healthy pathological segmentation dichotomy. Nevertheless, a thorough characterization of these measures, namely, how to match metric and signal features, is still lacking. This paper studies a specific characterization problem: the influence of missing samples in biomedical records. The assessment is conducted using four of the most popular entropy metrics: Approximate Entropy, Sample Entropy, Fuzzy Entropy, and Detrended Fluctuation Analysis. The rationale of this study is that missing samples are a signal disturbance that can arise in many cases: signal compression, non-uniform sampling, or data transmission stages. It is of great interest to determine if these real situations can impair the capability of segmenting signal classes using such metrics. The experiments employed several biosignals: electroencephalograms, gait records, and RR time series. Samples of these signals were systematically removed, and the entropy computed for each case. The results showed that these metrics are robust against missing samples: With a data loss percentage of 50% or even higher, the methods were still able to distinguish among signal classes.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, research project TEC2009-14222.Cirugeda Roldan, EM.; Cuesta Frau, D.; Miró Martínez, P.; Oltra Crespo, S. (2014). Comparative study of entropy sensitivity to missing biosignal data. Entropy. 16(11):5901-5918. doi:10.3390/e16115901S590159181611Garrett, D., Peterson, D. A., Anderson, C. W., & Thaut, M. H. (2003). 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Footloose Business Plan

Savannah, Georgia has over ten million visitors that spend over three billion dollars each year. The streets of Savannah are filled with countless retail stores to meet the needs of every tourist and local. Unfortunately, even with all of these stores there is still an unmet need. There is currently no store in Savannah that offers a trendy and affordable shoe. The following business plan presents a way to capitalize on this unmet market need. Our company, Footloose, has the potential to have a competitive advantage in a unsaturated shoe market. Footloose will cater affordable shoes to any women looking to elevate their style for whatever occasion

Engineering an improved cartilage repair strategy combining cells and ECM-derived materials

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability in the US. The avascularity, low cellularity, and slow proliferation of chondrocytes as well as joint inflammation all limit the regenerative capacity of cartilage. Cell therapies, such as autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), offer promising options for treating cartilage lesions, but the inability to expand chondrocytes to sufficient numbers without adversely affecting their phenotype remains a significant problem. ACI is not indicated for OA or other inflammatory diseases, likely due to the inflammatory environment cells are exposed to upon implantation since multiple inflammatory mediators are involved in OA. Anti-inflammatory therapies with single molecular inhibitors are unable to modulate the complex inflammatory environment in OA. Thus, novel therapies capable of modulating multiple signaling pathways and cell types are an attractive alternative to address OA inflammation. Therefore, the objective of this proposal was to engineer an improved cartilage repair strategy combining cells and ECM materials to address problems with both cartilage repair and OA-associated inflammation. Decellularized cartilage microcarriers were developed to expand chondrocytes while retaining their phenotype. We also characterize the effects of aggregation, culture conditions, and donor variability on mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) immunomodulation of OA. To this end, we quantified MSC paracrine factor production, suppression of activated synoviocyte inflammation, and therapeutic efficacy in the rat medial meniscal transection (MMT) model of OA. Furthermore, we investigated the interaction between MSCs and human amniotic membrane and the influence of cell-cell and cell-ECM therein on the modulation of inflammation, both in vitro and in vivo. Overall, this work broadens current understanding of cartilage tissue engineering and immunomodulation via ECM and stem cell-based therapies, providing valuable information that can be used to develop strategies to improve efficacy of osteoarthritis treatments.Ph.D