A Study on the Promotional Methods Carried out by the Agro Retailers from Farmer’s Perspective: Theni District, Tamil Nadu

Background: Unlike other organized retailbusinesses agro retail business does not have any territorial rights to avoid competition. There are many new agro retailers who have entered the market and also the agromanufacturers by themselves have direct connect with these retailers to monitor the sales and movement of goods these days. Purpose:  The purpose of this study is to explore the promotional methods and strategies carried out by the agro retailers to influence farmers which results in repeat purchases. Theoretical framework:‘The repeat purchase by a customer is due to the benefits that he or she seeks from the retailer and how the purchasing behavior of the consumer changes over the time’ by Jacob, Frank. (2014).‘Customer retention is concerned with the relationship between the customer and the retailer on a long term and a main outcome of it is customer making repeat purchases from the same retailer’ according to Sohail M.S. (2012).Thus a repeat purchase by a customer can be the benefits they get from the retailer or the relationship that the retailer maintains. So this study will compare the monetary benefits like credits, discounts and offers provided by the retailer with the relationship factor between the farmer and the retailer. Objectives: To find out the various promotional factors by agro retailers to make farmers to revisit their shop for purchase. Secondly, to measures the effective promotional methods by agro retailers which results in more number of repeat purchases by the farmers Methodology: TargetTheni district has 94 villages. In which 120 farmers were selected through cluster random sampling.A questionnaire is developed to collect the primary data and also secondary data is collected to augment the information acquired through primary data for counsel Findings: The study discovers the effective promotional methods adopted by the agro retailers which make the farmers to do repeat purchases from their retail shop. This paper also deliberates the inference of the research discoveries and also provides few directions for future research with some limitations Research, Practical & Social implications:This study suggests the managers of agro manufacturers to design a marketing plan with effective road map of strategies and the findings of the study will be helpful for agro retailers to frame their marketing plan and budget accordingly in order to increase the customer loyalty. If all agro manufacturers, retailers and farmers go hand in hand then it might support the growth of agricultural sector in India Originality/Value: The study contributes to the research in rural marketing in two ways: At first, the methodological contribution, which is the introduction of monetary and non-monetary promotional approach in agro retail industry and secondly the theoretical contribution, which is uncovering of invisible value formation in the farmer retailer relationship. &nbsp

Face antimgaic labeling of double duplication for some special graphs

The main objective of the paper is to determine (a, d)− face antimagic labeling for the double duplication of all vertices by edges of ladder, tadpole and m-copies of path graphs. Also, if a graph G is (a, d)− face antimagic except for 3-sided faces then the double duplication of all vertices by edges of a graph G is also (a,d)-face antimagic.Publisher's Versio

JOB SATISFACTION IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY EMPLOYEES IN TIRPUR, INDIA

Indian Textile industry is playing a major role in the development of the Indian Economy. Tamil Nadu state provides more revenue through the Textile industry in this state. Tirupur contributes more revenue collection of the Tamilnadu state. Tirupur is the "knitwear capital" of India. It has spurred up the textile industry in India for the past three decades. Jab satisfaction is one of the factors of Quality to Work Life (QWL). Better quality of QWL ultimately improves production and gets more satisfaction among the employee. Job satisfaction indicates the positive affective responses of employees to their job environment. Nowadays textile industry employees are dissatisfied with job viz., absenteeism, annoyances, anxiety, reduction in efficiency, physical pains and this is evident through many earlier types of research on several aspects of human resources in the textile industry. Hence, the researcher wants to know the job satisfaction position of textile industry employee who is working in Tirupu

Histopathological Analysis and Role of p16INK4a as a Diagnostic Marker in Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

INTRODUCTION: Uterine cervical cancer is the most common cancer cause of death in the developing countries. Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the most important risk factor for cervical intraepithelial neoplasms and invasive cervical cancer. HPV oncogene expression and evidence of its deregulation can be monitored through direct detection of the cellular protein p16.p16 (INK4a) immunostaining shows great promise as a marker of lesions associated with high-risk HPV, and it may assist in improving the reproducibility of diagnoses in cervical dysplastic and reactive lesions. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence,age distribution, histopathological features of uterine cervical neoplasms and observe the frequency and distribution of p16INK4a protein expression as a diagnostic marker in uterine cervical neoplasms using immunohistochemical staining and relating its expression with the different histological grades of uterine cervical neoplasms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study, analyses 608 cases of uterine cervical neoplasms diagnosed in Thanjavur medical college during the one year period from January 2013 to December 2013.Among which 60 cases of uterine cervical lesions selected randomly for p16INK4a immunohistochemical expression by immunoperoxidase method. RESULTS: 1. Uterine cervical neoplasms accounts for 19% of total number of cervical biopsies.The mean age for cervical intraepithelial neoplasms is 39.8 years and cervical carcinoma is 52.61 years. 2. CIN 1 constitutes majority (77%) of total cervical intraepithelial neoplasms cases.Squamous cell carcinoma constitutes themost common subtype (95.8%) in the total cervical carcinoma cases. 3. p16ink4aimmunoreactivity waspositive in 100% of all cervical neoplasms cases included in the study (p<0.0001) and increasing intensity of staining & percentage of positive tumour cells with increasing grades of cervical neoplasms. CONCLUSIONS: The pattern of over expression demonstrates the potential use of p16 as a diagnostic marker for cervical squamous and glandular neoplastic lesions

Quantitative Electrochemical DNA Microarray on a Monolith Electrode with Ten Attomolar Sensitivity, 100% Specificity, and Zero Background

Circulating microRNA are promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of disease in quantitative blood tests. A label-free, PCR-free, electrochemical microarray technology on a monolith electrode is described, with 10 attomolar (aM) sensitivity and responsiveness to binding of \u3c1 zeptomole of target to immobilized ssDNA probes with zero background. Specificity is 100% in a mixture with five nonspecific miRNA each with a 103-fold higher concentration. Direct measurement on plasma-derived miRNA without cDNA conversion and PCR demonstrated multiplexing and near-ideal quantitative correlation with an equivalent pure sample. The dynamic range is a target concentration ranging from 10–2 to 103 femtomolar (fM). This PCR-free novel technology can be applied as a test for cancer diagnosis/prognosis to detect 103 copies of a miRNA sequence in RNA extracted from 100 μL of plasma

IN VITRO ACTIVITY OF VARIOUS POTENCIES OF HOMEOPATHIC DRUG THUJA AGAINST MOLDS INVOLVED IN MYCOTIC KERATITIS

Objective: Isolation and characterisation of clinically isolated fungi from mycotic keratitis and exploration of the in vitro efficacy of various potencies of homeopathic preparations of Thuja occidentalis on the ocular fungal isolates. Methods: Clinical samples were collected from fungal keratitis patients attending a tertiary eye care hospital in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu state, India. The scrapings were also subjected to Gram staining and 10% KOH mount to detect the presence of fungal hyphae. The fungal isolates were subjected to lacto phenol cotton blue (LCB) mount employing cello tape flag method. Homeopathic drug Thuja occidentalis with various potencies viz., Q, 30 C, 200 C, 1 M, 10 M and 50 M were investigated for the growth inhibition of various fungal isolates by plate assay method. Further, a follow up analyses with varying dilutions of Q and 10 M homeopathic potencies of Thuja was carried out for the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration of both microdilution and minimum fungicidal concentration for the Biopolaris isolates. Results: Out of 35 samples analysed, Fusarium spp. (n=5), Aspergillus flavus (n=6), Bipolaris spp. (n=3), Exserohilum spp. (n=3) and Curvularia spp (n=3) were identified. All the potencies of Thuja had good inhibitory activity against Bipolaris spp., followed by Curvularia spp., Exserohilum spp. and Aspergillus flavus. Statistical analysis revealed significant inhibition of all the test isolates by Thuja Q and 50 M. Significant growth inhibition was exhibited by Thuja 30, 200 C, I M for Bipolaris, Exserohilum &amp; A. flavus isolate and Thuja 10 M for all the isolates tested except Fusaria. It was revealed that for the Biopolaris isolates BS1, BS2, BS3 Thuja 10 M and Thuja Q had MIC and MFC of 0.125/10[20,00]0&amp; 0.0625/10 and 0.25/10[20][00]0 &amp; 0.125/10, respectively. Conclusion: The present investigation concludes that homeopathic drug Thuja has good inhibitory activity against the fungi causing keratitis, irrespective of the potencies. It is evident that no definite co-relation exists between various potencies of the same homeopathic drug with regard to their antimycotic properties

Assessement of background knowledge of diabetes mellitus in diabetic patients

The background knowledge of diabetes was assessed in 230 newly registered diabetic patients by a questionnaire. Patients with positive family history knew better about role of heredity, diet as a mode of therapy and also regarding the long-term complications of diabetes. Similarly, educational status improved background knowledge. The duration of diabetes Improved the knowledge regarding the need for life-long treatment and possibility of eye complications. There was a uniform lack of answers on the role of exercise In the treatment of diabetes. The results of this study thus provides information about the areas in which stress should be given while evolving diabetes education programmes

Delayed gastric emptying and reduced postprandial small bowel water content of equicaloric whole meal bread versus rice meals in healthy subjects: novel MRI insights

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Postprandial bloating is a common symptom in patients with functional gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Whole meal bread (WMB) often aggravates such symptoms though the mechanisms are unclear. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor the intragastric fate of a WMB meal (11% bran) compared to a rice pudding (RP) meal. SUBJECTS/METHODS: 12 healthy volunteers completed this randomised crossover study. They fasted overnight and after an initial MRI scan consumed a glass of orange juice with a 2267 kJ WMB or an equicaloric RP meal. Subjects underwent serial MRI scans every 45 min up to 270 min to assess gastric volumes and small bowel water content and completed a GI symptom questionnaire. RESULTS: The MRI intragastric appearance of the two meals was markedly different. The WMB meal formed a homogeneous dark bolus with brighter liquid signal surrounding it. The RP meal separated into an upper, liquid layer and a lower particulate layer allowing more rapid emptying of the liquid compared to solid phase (sieving). The WMB meal had longer gastric half emptying times (132±8 min) compared to the RP meal (104±7 min), P<0.008. The WMB meal was associated with markedly reduced MRI-visible small bowel free mobile water content compared to the RP meal, P<0.0001. CONCLUSIONS: WMB bread forms a homogeneous bolus in the stomach which inhibits gastric sieving and hence empties slower than the equicaloric rice meal. These properties may explain why wheat causes postprandial bloating and could be exploited to design foods which prolong satiation

Effect of yoghurt containing Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12® on faecal excretion of secretory immunoglobulin A and human beta-defensin 2 in healthy adult volunteers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Probiotics are used to provide health benefits. The present study tested the effect of a probiotic yoghurt on faecal output of beta-defensin and immunoglobulin A in a group of young healthy women eating a defined diet.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>26 women aged 18-21 (median 19) years residing in a hostel were given 200 ml normal yoghurt every day for a week, followed by probiotic yoghurt containing <it>Bifidobacterium lactis </it>Bb12^®(10⁹in 200 ml) for three weeks, followed again by normal yoghurt for four weeks. Stool samples were collected at 0, 4 and 8 weeks and assayed for immunoglobulin A and human beta-defensin-2 by ELISA. All participants tolerated both normal and probiotic yoghurt well. Human beta-defensin-2 levels in faeces were not altered during the course of the study. On the other hand, compared to the basal sample, faecal IgA increased during probiotic feeding (P = 0.0184) and returned to normal after cessation of probiotic yoghurt intake.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>Bifidobacterium lactis </it>Bb12^®increased secretory IgA output in faeces. This property may explain the ability of probiotics to prevent gastrointestinal and lower respiratory tract infections.</p