Applying Cross-cultural theory to understand users’ preferences on interactive information retrieval platform design

Presented at EuroHCIR 2014, the 4th European Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction and Information Retrieval, 13th September 2014, at BCS London Office, Covent Garden, London.In this paper we look at using culture to group users and model the users’ preference on cross cultural information retrieval, in order to investigate the relationship between the user search preferences and the user’s cultural background. Initially we review and discuss briefly website localisation. We continue by examining culture and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. We identified a link between Hofstede’s five dimensions and user experience. We did an analogy for each of the five dimensions and developed six hypotheses from the analogies. These hypotheses were then tested by means of a user study. Whilst the key findings from the study suggest cross cultural theory can be used to model user’s preferences for information retrieval, further work still needs to be done on how cultural dimensions can be applied to inform the search interface design

Novel gene function revealed by mouse mutagenesis screens for models of age-related disease

Determining the genetic bases of age-related disease remains a major challenge requiring a spectrum of approaches from human and clinical genetics to the utilization of model organism studies. Here we report a large-scale genetic screen in mice employing a phenotype-driven discovery platform to identify mutations resulting in age-related disease, both late-onset and progressive. We have utilized N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis to generate pedigrees of mutagenized mice that were subject to recurrent screens for mutant phenotypes as the mice aged. In total, we identify 105 distinct mutant lines from 157 pedigrees analysed, out of which 27 are late-onset phenotypes across a range of physiological systems. Using whole-genome sequencing we uncover the underlying genes for 44 of these mutant phenotypes, including 12 late-onset phenotypes. These genes reveal a number of novel pathways involved with age-related disease. We illustrate our findings by the recovery and characterization of a novel mouse model of age-related hearing loss

Care management in social and primary health care: The gateshead community care scheme

This book provides an evaluation of the Gateshead Community Care Scheme which was devised as an alternative to residential and hospital care for frail elderly people. An important feature of the scheme was the decentralization of control of resources to individual social workers acting as care managers, with defined caseloads and expenditure limits to ensure accountability. The initial social social care scheme was subsequently extended to provide both health and social care to clients from a large general practice based in a health centre. The social care team was enlarged to include a nurse care manager and part-time doctor and physiotherapist. The study examines the operation of care management in both settings, the use of devolved budgets and services developed, the outcomes for clients and carers and the costs of care. Admissions to residential care were reduced and the elderly people who received the scheme's support experienced a better quality of care and greater well-being when compared with elderly people receiving the usual range of services. This was achieved at no greater cost. The characteristics of those for whom the scheme was most appropriate are described. In addition, the pattern of development of the scheme as it was incorporated into the mainstream of the Social Services and after the implementation of the NHS and Community Care Act are examined. Final, the implications for the development of care management are considered

Care Management in Social and Primary Health Care: The Gateshead Community Care Scheme

This book provides an evaluation of the Gateshead Community Care Scheme which was devised as an alternative to residential and hospital care for frail elderly people. An important feature of the scheme was the decentralization of control of resources to individual social workers acting as care managers, with defined caseloads and expenditure limits to ensure accountability. The initial social care scheme was subsequently extended to provide both health and social care to clients from a large general practice based in a health centre. The social care team was enlarged to include a nurse care manager and part-time doctor and physiotherapist. The study examines the operation of care management in both settings, the use of devolved budgets and services developed, the outcomes for clients and carers and the costs of care. Admissions to residential care were reduced and the elderly people who received the scheme’s support experienced a better quality of care and greater well-being when compared with elderly people receiving the usual range of services. This was achieved at no greater cost. The characteristics of those for whom the scheme was most appropriate are described. In addition, the pattern of development of the scheme as it was incorporated into the mainstream of the Social Services and after the implementation of the NHS and Community Care Act are examined. Final, the implications for the development of care management are considered. Link to Ashgate Publishing</a

Book reviews including 'A good antidote to ethnocentrism', by John Docker

Lorenzo Veracini reviews the book 'The poetics of diaspor' by John Docker, published by Continuum, London and New York, 2001; Robert Anchor reviews the book 'Theatre under the Nazis' edited by John London, published by Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 2000; Alexander G. Nesterov reviews the book 'Fascism in Spain, 1923-1977' by Stanley G. Payne, published by Winconsin Press, Madison, 1999; Edwin Black reviews the book 'The business of genocide: The SS, slave labor, and the concentration camps' by Michael Thad Allen, published by University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, 2002; Lorna Chessum reviews the books 'Blacks and Britannity' by Daniele Joy, published by Ashgate, Aldershot, 2001 and 'Beyond black: biracial identity in America' by Kerry Ann Rockquemore and David L. Brunsma, published by Sage Publications, London, 2002; Scott Ury reviews the books 'Jewries at the frontier: accommodation, identity, conflict' edited by Sander L. Gilman and Milton Shain, published by University of Illinois Press, 1999 and 'National variations in Jewish identity: implications for Jewish education' edited by Steven M. Cohen and Gabriel Horenczyk, published by State University of New York Press, Albany, 1999; Christopher Kobrak reviews the book 'Die politische Okonomie des Holocaust: Zur WirtschaftlichenLogik von Verfolgung und 'Wiedergutmachung'' edited by Dieter Stiefel, published by Oldenbourg Verlag/ Verlag fur Geschichte und Politk, Vienna and Munich, 2001; Dan Stone reviews the book 'Eugenic fantasies: racial ideology in the literature and popular culture of the 1920s' by Betsy L. Nies, published by Routledge, New York and London, 2002; Michael French reviews the book 'Cultures of opposition: Jewish immigrant workers, New York City, 1881-1905' by Hadassa Kosak, published by State University of New York Press, Albany, 2000; Howard Lupovitch reviews the book ' Dangerous diplomacy: the story of Carl Lutz, rescuer of 62,000 Hungarian Jews' by Theo Tschuy, published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing, MI and Cambridge, 2000; Dan Stone reviews the book 'Man and the sacred' by Roger Caillois and translated by Meyer Barash, published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 2001; Geoffrey Short reviews the book 'Delayed impact: the Holocaust and the Canadian Jewish community' by Franklyn Bialystok, published by McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal and Kingston, 2000; Michael Scott Christofferson reviews the book 'Fascism and communism' by Francois Furet and Ernst Nolte, published by University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2001; Ursula Seeber reviews the book 'Reclaiming Heimat: trauma and mourning in memoirs by Jewish Austrian Reemigres' by Jacqueline Vansant, published by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 2001; Karen Jones reviews the book 'Eternal Treblinka: our treatment of animals and the Holocaust' by Charles Patterson, published by Lantern Books, New York, 2002