The cultural impact of navigation design in global e-commerce

Purpose: The present paper investigates the effect of the navigation design (static or dynamic) in e-commerce. Specifically, a comparison is made of consumers from two cultures: the Dutch and the Greek. Methods: A total of 221 Dutch and Greek subjects participated in an experimental survey, where they judged an online search page of a hotel booking website. The study had a 2x2 between-subjects design with the factors navigation design (dynamic or static) and cultural background (Dutch or Greek). The primary dependent variable was the behavioural intention to use (the website). The hedonic and utilitarian attitudes were the mediators. Results: The analysis of the results showed that the navigation design preferences are culturally affected and influence the consumers’ attitudes and behavioural intentions. The static navigation design was perceived as less useful, compared to the dynamic navigation design. For the Dutch group the dynamic navigation was more persuasive than the static one, whereas for the Greek group no significant difference was found. Implications: As a future recommendation, localising the websites’ content should be considered in global e-commerce, especially when it comes to the hospitality and hotel industry, in order to avoid unintended effects that a specific navigation design may have on the targeted audiences

Η επίδραση της εξάσκησης στην οπτική αντίληψη κατά την εκτέλεση δεξιοτήτων ενόργανης γυμναστικής

Η αντίληψη και η πρόβλεψη των ενεργειών των άλλων διαφέρει ως συνάρτηση της κινητικής εμπειρίας. Στην παρούσα έρευνα εξετάστηκε αν η εξάσκηση μιας κινητικής δεξιότητας επηρεάζει την οπτική αντίληψη της συγκεκριμένης δεξιότητας. Για αυτό το λόγο, 30 φοιτητές/τριες του τμήματος Φυσικής Αγωγής και Αθλητισμού που δεν είχαν προπονητική εμπειρία στις συγκεκριμένες εξεταζόμενες δεξιότητες χωρίστηκαν τυχαία σε πειραματική ομάδα και ομάδα ελέγχου. Τα άτομα της πειραματικής ομάδας συμμετείχαν στην εκμάθηση δύο νέων κινητικών δεξιοτήτων, α) της φόρας - αναπήδησης προς και από το βατήρα για το άλμα στο γυμναστικό ίππο και β) της τροχοστροφής (rondat). Οι συμμετέχοντες της ομάδας ελέγχου δεν ήταν παρόντες κατά τη διάρκεια των προπονήσεων ούτε συμμετείχαν σε οποιαδήποτε γυμναστική δραστηριότητα που να αφορούσε τις εξεταζόμενες ασκήσεις. Οι δύο ομάδες αξιολόγησαν τις θέσεις των μελών του σώματος μέσω βίντεο διαφόρων εκτελέσεων σε κινητικές δεξιότητες με ένα ερωτηματολόγιο πριν και στο τέλος της παρεμβατικής μεθόδου που περιλάμβανε τρεις συνεδρίες εξάσκησης αυτών των δεξιοτήτων. Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα, αναφορικά με την συνολική εκτέλεση των δύο ασκήσεων (φόρα, προσέγγιση και απογείωση από το βατήρα και rondat-σάλτο πίσω) δεν παρατηρήθηκε αλληλεπίδραση μεταξύ των δύο ομάδων στις μετρήσεις αξιολόγησης (πριν και μετά). Όμως βρέθηκε στατιστικά σημαντική διαφορά στον παράγοντα χρόνος, ενώ δεν βρέθηκε στατιστικά σημαντική διαφορά στον παράγοντα ομάδα για την κινητική δεξιότητα στο βατήρα. Στο rondat - σάλτο πίσω δεν βρέθηκε στατιστικά σημαντική διαφορά στον παράγοντα χρόνος ούτε στον παράγοντα ομάδα. Συμπερασματικά, το παρεμβατικό πρόγραμμα των τριών συνεδριών δεν επέφερε στατιστικά σημαντικές αλλαγές μεταξύ των δύο εξεταζόμενων ομάδων.ΟΧ

The application of the Appropriate Level of Protection (ALOP) and Food Safety Objective (FSO) concepts in food safety management, using Listeria monocytogenes in deli meats as a case study

To establish a link between governmental food safety control and operational food safety management, the concepts of the Appropriate Level of Protection (ALOP) and the Food Safety Objective (FSO) have been suggested by international bodies as a means of making food safety control transparent and quantifiable. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the concepts of ALOP and FSO could be applied in practice. As a case study, the risk of severe listeriosis due to consumption of deli meat products in the Netherlands was taken. The link between these concepts was explored for two situations following a “top-down” approach, using epidemiological country data as a starting point, and a “bottom-up” approach, using data on the prevalence and concentration of the pathogen at retail as a starting point. Models based on both approaches were able to describe the link between ALOP and FSO and our results showed that meaningful estimations are feasible, although interpretations need to be made with care. For the top-down approach, the mean estimated value derived for ALOP was 3.2 cases per million inhabitants per year (95% CrI: 1.1-6.6). For the bottom-up approach, ALOP values ranged considerably, 4.7-55 (with 95% CrI ranging from 2.9-162), depending on the input parameters selected. The level of detail considered in the stochastic models considerably influenced the ALOP and FSO estimates. As best practice it is recommended to develop both approaches, although depending on the application context one may appear more appropriate than the other

Tracking the Vector of Onchocerca lupi in a Rural Area of Greece

During a hot Mediterranean summer, an expedition brought parasitologists from Brazil, France, Greece, Italy, and Serbia to a wooded area near Xanthi, Thrace, northeastern Greece, near the Turkish border, on the track of the vector of the little-known nematode Onchocerca lupi. The scientific purposes of the expedition blended then with stories of humans, animals, and parasites in this rural area

Measuring underreporting and under-ascertainment in infectious disease datasets: a comparison of methods

Gibbons CL, Mangen M-JJ, Plaß D, et al. Measuring underreporting and under-ascertainment in infectious disease datasets: a comparison of methods. BMC Public Health. 2014;14(1): 147.Background: Efficient and reliable surveillance and notification systems are vital for monitoring public health and disease outbreaks. However, most surveillance and notification systems are affected by a degree of underestimation (UE) and therefore uncertainty surrounds the 'true' incidence of disease affecting morbidity and mortality rates. Surveillance systems fail to capture cases at two distinct levels of the surveillance pyramid: from the community since not all cases seek healthcare (under-ascertainment), and at the healthcare-level, representing a failure to adequately report symptomatic cases that have sought medical advice (underreporting). There are several methods to estimate the extent of under-ascertainment and underreporting. Methods: Within the context of the ECDC-funded Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE)-project, an extensive literature review was conducted to identify studies that estimate ascertainment or reporting rates for salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis in European Union Member States (MS) plus European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries Iceland, Norway and Switzerland and four other OECD countries (USA, Canada, Australia and Japan). Multiplication factors (MFs), a measure of the magnitude of underestimation, were taken directly from the literature or derived (where the proportion of underestimated, under-ascertained, or underreported cases was known) and compared for the two pathogens. Results: MFs varied between and within diseases and countries, representing a need to carefully select the most appropriate MFs and methods for calculating them. The most appropriate MFs are often disease-,country-, age-, and sex-specific. Conclusions: When routine data are used to make decisions on resource allocation or to estimate epidemiological parameters in populations, it becomes important to understand when, where and to what extent these data represent the true picture of disease, and in some instances (such as priority setting) it is necessary to adjust for underestimation. MFs can be used to adjust notification and surveillance data to provide more realistic estimates of incidence