Assessment of Shopping Mall Customers’ Experience through Criteria of Attractiveness in Tier-II and Tier-III Cities of India: An Exploratory Study

The present research attempts to develop a theoretical framework for the assessment of shopping mall customer experience dimensions. It further classifies the variables associated with retail experiences that may attract customers in Tier-II and Tier- III cities towards the malls. Exhaustive literature review and expert opinion approaches have been used to explore the evaluation criteria for the assessment of the mall experience. ISM is used to develop a structural model that represents relationships among variables at different levels along with driving and dependence relationships in the structural model. The result highlights that factors like customer value orientation, tenant mix, employees, facilities management are the most significant benchmarking criteria for customers’ assessment of their mall experience in the present study. To achieve profitable operations in these cities, retailer’s need to acquaint themselves with the expectations of customers in order to attract their attention. This indicates that it is imperative for mall managers to identify how consumers benchmark different parameters while evaluating a mall experience. Understanding the importance of such parameters will allow malls to be built according to some standard specifications that can meet a consumer’s threshold for appeal and attractiveness. The study adds to the existing literature of assessing shopping experience in Tier-II and Tier-III cities’ malls through a structural model. The most and the least dominant factors found in this study will help mall managers to develop strategies to enhance the customer shopping experience in malls

Analysis and optimization of data storage using enhanced object models in the .NET framework

The purpose of thesis is to benchmark the database to examine and analyze the performance using the Microsoft COM+ the most commonly used component framework heavily used for developing component based applications. The prototype application based on Microsoft Visual C#.NET language used to benchmark the database performance on Microsoft .NET Framework environment 2.0 and 3.0 using the different sizes of data range from low (100 Rows) to high volume (10000 Rows) of data with five or ten number of users connections. There are different type of application used like COM+, Non-COM+ and .NET based application to show their performance on the different volume of data with specified numbers of user on the .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0.The result has been analyzed and collected using the performance counter variables of an operating system and used Microsoft .NET class libraries which help in collecting system’s level performance information as well. This can be beneficial to developers, stakeholders and management to decide the right technology to be used in conjunction with a database. The results and experiments conducted in this project results in the substantial gain in the performance, scalability and availability of component based application using the Microsoft COM+ features like object pooling, application pooling, role- based, transactions isolation and constructor enabled.The outcome of this project is that Microsoft COM+ component based application provides optimized database performance results using the SQL Server. There is a performance gain of at least 10% in the COM+ based application as compared to the Non COM+ based application. COM+ services features come at the performance penalty. It has been noticed that there is a performance difference between the COM+ based application and the application based on role based security, constructor enable and transaction isolation of around 15%, 20% and 35% respectively. The COM+ based application provides performance gain of around 15% and 45% on the low and medium volume of data on a .NET Framework 2.0 in comparison to 3.0. There is a significant gain in the COM+ Server based application on .NET Framework 3.0 of around 10% using high volume of data. This depicts that high volume of data application works better with Framework 3.0 as compared to 2.0 on SQL Server.The application performance type results represents that COM+ component based application provides better performance results over Non-COM+ and .NET based application. The difference between the performance of COM+ application based on low and medium volume of data was around 20% and 30%. .NET based application performs better on the high volume of data results in performance gain of around 10%.Similarly more over the same results provided on the test conducted on the MS Access. Where COM+ based application running under .NET Framework 2.0 performs better result other than the Non-COM+ and .NET based application on a low and medium volume of data and .NET Framework 3.0 based COM+ application performs better results on high volume of data

SMAD-signaling inhibition : potential for developing newer treatments for corneal fibrosis [abstract]

Transforming growth factor [beta] (TGFb) is known to cause fibrosis in the cornea following injury and/or infection. Effective reduction in corneal fibrosis has been reported by inhibiting TGFb activity. However, associated molecular mechanism is still unknown. The aim of study was to test the hypothesis that the alteration in SMAD signaling is a novel approach for treating corneal fibrosis using an established in vitro model

Vector Delivery Technique Affects Gene Transfer in the Cornea \u3cem\u3ein vivo\u3c/em\u3e

Purpose: This study tested whether controlled drying of the cornea increases vector absorption in mouse and rabbit corneas in vivo and human cornea ex vivo, and studied the effects of corneal drying on gene transfer, structure and inflammatory reaction in the mouse cornea in vivo. Methods: Female C57 black mice and New Zealand White rabbits were used for in vivo studies. Donor human corneas were used for ex vivo experiments. A hair dryer was used for drying the corneas after removing corneal epithelium by gentle scraping. The corneas received no, once, twice, thrice, or five times warm air for 10 s with a 5 s interval after each 10 s hair dryer application. Thereafter, balanced salt solution (BSS) was topically applied immediately on the cornea for 2 min using a custom-cloning cylinder. The absorbed BSS was quantified using Hamilton microsyringes. The adenoassociated virus 8 (AAV8) vector (1.1×108 genomic copies/μl) expressing marker gene was used to study the effect of corneal drying on gene transfer. Animals were sacrificed on day 14 and gene expression was analyzed using commercial staining kit. Morphological changes and infiltration of inflammatory cells were examined with H & E staining and immunocytochemistry. Results: Mice, rabbit or human corneas subjected to no or 10 s drying showed 6%–8% BSS absorption whereas 20, 30, or 50 s corneal drying showed significantly high 14%–19% (pin vivowith mild-to-moderate changes in corneal morphology. The 30 s of drying also showed significantly (pin vivowithout jeopardizing corneal morphology whereas 10 or 20 s drying showed moderate degree of gene transfer with no altered corneal morphology. Corneas that underwent 50 s drying showed high CD11b-positive cells (p Conclusions: Controlled corneal drying with hair dryer increases vector absorption significantly. The dispensing of efficacious AAV serotype into cornea with optimized minimally invasive topical application technique could provide high and targeted expression of therapeutic genes in the stroma in vivo without causing significant side effects

The Transcriptomic Response of Rat Hepatic Stellate Cells to Endotoxin: Implications for Hepatic Inflammation and Immune Regulation

With their location in the perisinusoidal space of Disse, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) communicate with all of the liver cell types both by physical association (cell body as well as cytosolic processes penetrating into sinusoids through the endothelial fenestrations) and by producing several cytokines and chemokines. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), circulating levels of which are elevated in liver diseases and transplantation, stimulates HSCs to produce increased amounts of cytokines and chemokines. Although recent research provides strong evidence for the role of HSCs in hepatic inflammation and immune regulation, the number of HSC-elaborated inflammatory and immune regulatory molecules may be much greater then known at the present time. Here we report time-dependent changes in the gene expression profile of inflammatory and immune-regulatory molecules in LPS-stimulated rat HSCs, and their validation by biochemical analyses. LPS strongly up-regulated LPS-response elements (TLR2 and TLR7) but did not affect TLR4 and down-regulated TLR9. LPS also up-regulated genes in the MAPK, NFκB, STAT, SOCS, IRAK and interferon signaling pathways, numerous CC and CXC chemokines and IL17F. Interestingly, LPS modulated genes related to TGFβ and HSC activation in a manner that would limit their activation and fibrogenic activity. The data indicate that LPS-stimulated HSCs become a major cell type in regulating hepatic inflammatory and immunological responses by altering expression of numerous relevant genes, and thus play a prominent role in hepatic pathophysiology including liver diseases and transplantation

Gene transfer technology : a tool for studying gene function and role in corneal pathogenesis [abstract]

Transforming growth factor β (TGFb) is associated with many corneal pathologies, diseases and dystrophies. The function of TGFb in adult corneas cannot be studied using conventional transgenic approach because TGFb1 and TGFb2 deficient transgenic animals suffer multiple inflammatory diseases, severe developmental defects, and death by 3-4 weeks of age. This study tested the hypothesis that selective tissue-targeted gene transfer approaches will permit examination of TGFb gene function in the adult cornea without altering TGFb expression in vital organs

Assessment of Shopping Mall Customers’ Experience through Criteria of Attractiveness in Tier-II and Tier-III Cities of India: An Exploratory Study

The present research attempts to develop a theoretical framework for the assessment of shopping mall customer experience dimensions. It further classifies the variables associated with retail experiences that may attract customers in Tier-II and Tier- III cities towards the malls. Exhaustive literature review and expert opinion approaches have been used to explore the evaluation criteria for the assessment of the mall experience. ISM is used to develop a structural model that represents relationships among variables at different levels along with driving and dependence relationships in the structural model. The result highlights that factors like customer value orientation, tenant mix, employees, facilities management are the most significant benchmarking criteria for customers’ assessment of their mall experience in the present study. To achieve profitable operations in these cities, retailer’s need to acquaint themselves with the expectations of customers in order to attract their attention. This indicates that it is imperative for mall managers to identify how consumers benchmark different parameters while evaluating a mall experience. Understanding the importance of such parameters will allow malls to be built according to some standard specifications that can meet a consumer’s threshold for appeal and attractiveness. The study adds to the existing literature of assessing shopping experience in Tier-II and Tier-III cities’ malls through a structural model. The most and the least dominant factors found in this study will help mall managers to develop strategies to enhance the customer shopping experience in malls

Attenuation of corneal myofibroblast development through nanoparticle-mediated soluble transforming growth factor-β type II receptor (sTGFβRII) gene transfer

Purpose: To explore (i) the potential of polyethylenimine (PEI)-DNA nanoparticles as a vector for delivering genes into human corneal fibroblasts, and (ii) whether the nanoparticle-mediated soluble extracellular domain of the transforming growth factor–β type II receptor (sTGFβRII) gene therapy could be used to reduce myofibroblasts and fibrosis in the cornea using an in vitro model. Methods: PEI-DNA nanoparticles were prepared at a nitrogen-to-phosphate ratio of 30 by mixing linear PEI and a plasmid encoding sTGFβRII conjugated to the fragment crystallizable (Fc) portion of human immunoglobulin. The PEI-DNA polyplex formation was confirmed through gel retardation assay. Human corneal fibroblasts (HCFs) were generated from donor corneas; myofibroblasts and fibrosis were induced with TGFβ1 (1 ng/ml) stimulation employing serum-free conditions. The sTGFβRII conjugated to the Fc portion of human immunoglobulin gene was introduced into HCF using either PEI-DNA nanoparticles or Lipofectamine. Suitable negative and positive controls to compare selected nanoparticle and therapeutic gene efficiency were included. Delivered gene copies and mRNA (mRNA) expression were quantified with real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and protein with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The changes in fibrosis parameters were quantified by measuring fibrosis marker α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) mRNA and protein levels with qPCR, immunostaining, and immunoblotting. Cytotoxicity was determined using cellular viability, proliferation, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. Results: PEI readily bound to plasmids to form nanoparticular polyplexes and exhibited much greater transfection efficiency (p<0.01) than the commercial reagent Lipofectamine. The PEI-DNA-treated cultures showed 4.5×10[superscript 4] plasmid copies/µg DNA in real-time qPCR and 7,030±87 pg/ml sTGFβRII protein in ELISA analyses, whereas Lipofectamine-transfected cultures demonstrated 1.9×10[superscript 3] gene copies/µg DNA and 1,640±100 pg/ml sTGFβRII protein during these assays. The PEI-mediated sTGFβRII delivery remarkably attenuated TGFβ1-induced transdifferentiation of corneal fibroblasts to myofibroblasts in cultures, as indicated by threefold lower levels of SMA mRNA (p<0.01) and significant inhibition of SMA protein (up to 96±3%; p<0.001 compared to no-gene-delivered cultures) in immunocytochemical staining and immunoblotting. The nanoparticle-mediated delivery of sTGFβRII showed significantly better antifibrotic effects than the Lipofectamine under similar experimental conditions. However, the inhibition of myofibroblast in HCF cultures by sTGFβRII overexpression by either method was significantly higher than the naked vector transfection. Furthermore, PEI- or Lipofectamine-mediated sTGFβRII delivery into HCF did not alter cellular proliferation or phenotype at 12 and 24 h post-treatment. Nanoparticles treated with HCF showed more than 90% cellular viability and very low cell death (2–6 TUNEL+ cells), suggesting that the tested doses of PEI-nanoparticles do not induce significant cell death. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that PEI-DNA nanoparticles are an attractive vector for the development of nonviral corneal gene therapy approaches and that the sTGFβRII gene delivery into keratocytes could be used to control corneal fibrosis in vivo.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (RO1EB000244