Introducing the Western Wedge

The article looks at the rationale for and potential of planning at the sub-regional scale, particularly in terms of labour and housing markets. This is illustrated by the case of the 'Western Wedge', stretching from central London westwards across the Greater London boundary into the South East region towards Oxford, Basingstoke and Newbury

Visualization of Publication Impact

Measuring scholarly impact has been a topic of much interest in recent years. While many use the citation count as a primary indicator of a publications impact, the quality and impact of those citations will vary. Additionally, it is often difficult to see where a paper sits among other papers in the same research area. Questions we wished to answer through this visualization were: is a publication cited less than publications in the field?; is a publication cited by high or low impact publications?; and can we visually compare the impact of publications across a result set? In this work we address the above questions through a new visualization of publication impact. Our technique has been applied to the visualization of citation information in INSPIREHEP (http://www.inspirehep.net), the largest high energy physics publication repository

A study of the problems of man-computer dialogues for naive users

The success of an interactive computing facility will depend, to a large extent, upon the effectiveness of the man-computer dialogue which it supports. Comparatively little work has been directed towards the design of effective dialogues for situations in which the 'man' is a 'naive' user i.e. a person without training or experience of computer procedures. Thus the aim of this project has been to produce a series of specialised guidelines for designers of dialogues for naive users. An examination of the literature reveals that published dialogue guidelines tend to be of a general purpose nature and therefore cannot be applied directly to specific situations. Furthermore, as each set of recommendations is based upon a limited range of experience, authors opinions appear to contradict or be in need of further qualification. At a practical level, a survey of computer games, intended to be self-explanatory and therefore suitable for naive users, bears out the widely held feeling that the dialogue interface is often a poorly considered aspect of interactive program writing. Pilot studies highlight the need for experimental work into man-computer dialogues to be carried out under conditions conforming as closely as possible to a 'real world' environment. The main study focuses upon the general public as users of a local information system developed and installed in Leicester's Information Bureau. Monitoring the public's usage of and reactions to the system has enabled a series of dialogue guidelines for public information systems to be produced. A review of the literature provides supplementary recommendations. The influence of dialogue recommendations on the software writing community is considered. Less than half of a sample of application programmers are found to refer to material of this kind. Follow up interviews indicate that the concept of a dialogue guideline is too narrow and should be broadened to cover all types of dialogue design information. This would render it more applicable to differing design situations. For designers who do not refer to published material, it is suggested that .sound principles can be communicated via trained experts and the use of library subroutines supporting dialogue creation. An example is considered of a routine to process textual inputs. A number of paths for future research are described concerning the development of experimental methodology suitable for testing man-computer dialogues, an evaluation of the proposed strategy for communicating dialogue design principles and the application of new input/output techniques to public information systems. It is also suggested that the likely social consequences of computerised information facilities should be determined

Using human factors standards to support user experience and agile design

The ISO 9241-210 standard provides a framework for human-centred design (HCD) activities comprising the four stages: context of use, specification of user and organisational requirements, design solutions, and evaluation against requirements. Other parts of the 9241 standard cover user interface design and usability. This paper uses the HCD framework to emphasise user experience (UX) design and methods used to help create good user experiences. It also relates the framework to an agile software development environment. It is concluded that the flexible and iterative nature of ISO 9241-210 makes it a good basis for both user experience design and an agile development process

Social context and status affect behavior, physiology and brain activity of the highly social cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni

Group living confers many benefits while at the same time exposing group members to intense competition for resources and status within the group. Monitoring the social environment involves not only participating in many fast paced social interactions but also monitoring the relationships and status of other group members. In chapter 1, we use a network analysis approach to study replicate communities of the cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni, which live in fast-paced social groups with a complex dominance hierarchy among males. We found several correlations between an individual’s behavior, their position in the social hierarchy and the social environment. In addition, we found that community properties are a key parameter that predicts both cortisol and testosterone levels. In chapter 2 we extend this paradigm and look at the effects of social status within a community on brain activity as measured by cytochrome oxidase histochemistry. In addition, we examined brain activity in transitioning animals as measured by cytochrome oxidase and egr-1 induction. We find that social status has a variety of subtle effects on brain activity. Finally, we tested the role of the sex steroid hormones estradiol and testosterone on social transition using an aromatase inhibitor as well as an androgen receptor antagonist. We found very few effects of blocking the nuclear androgen pathway. Blocking aromatase resulted in a hyperaggressive phenotype suggesting that estradiol plays an important role in the transition process in this species.Ecology, Evolution and Behavio

Better patient-doctor communication – a survey and focus group study

The study explored barriers to effective communication between doctors and patients, and to encourage patients to be more knowledgeable about their health. A survey was conducted with 128 people who commented on the effectiveness of the process of consulting their doctor and rated a number of alternatives to face-to-face consultations. A focus group explored the topics further and a range of possible solutions to address current barriers were suggested. These include: considering alternative methods for GP consultation, providing new systems to give doctors better overviews of the patient population, devising new methods for patients to record information from consultations, use of diagnostic systems in the surgery and meetings or online forums to promote better informed patients

An analysis of specialist and non-specialist user requirements for geographic climate change information

The EU EuroClim project developed a system to monitor and record climate change indicator data based on satellite observations of snow cover, sea ice and glaciers in Northern Europe and the Arctic. It also contained projection data for temperature, rainfall and average wind speed for Europe. These were all stored as data sets in a GIS database for users to download. The process of gathering requirements for a user population including scientists, researchers, policy makers, educationalists and the general public is described. Using an iterative design methodology, a user survey was administered to obtain initial feedback on the system concept followed by panel sessions where users were presented with the system concept and a demonstrator to interact with it. The requirements of both specialist and non-specialist users is summarised together with strategies for the effective communication of geographic climate change information

Usability and Accessibility in E-commerce Web Sites

This paper argues that the accessibility and usability of an e-commerce web site are the primary determinants of customer experience. They are also top factors for improving conversion rate and hence the return on investment. Accessibility of web sites to people with disabilities is a legal requirement in many countries. Section 805 in the US and the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK both require providers to make their web sites accessible to people with disabilities. Organizations are now realizing the social and financial benefits of making web sites accessible to people who are older or who have disabilities. The paper reviews usability and accessibility international Standards, guidelines and practice and the current state of e-commerce usability and accessibility. Case studies of e-commerce web sites accessibility and usability and an approach to their evaluation are presented. These include a major telecommunication company, a travel agency and a bank. These case studies describe examples of current practice in the United Arab Emirates; a country with a rapidly growing economy and the highest rate of Internet use in the Middle East [3]. Despite the wealth of information and guidelines available on accessibility, the web site tested neglected some basic accessibility features

Older people's experiences of their kitchens: 2000 to 2010

Purpose – This paper aims to present the quantitative results based on a comparison and evaluation of older people's experiences, needs and wants from their current kitchens, combining and comparing the results obtained from two studies conducted in 2000 and 2010 to see what progress has been made. Design/methodology/approach – A study in 2010 investigated the life-long and contemporary experiences of kitchens of 48 people aged over 60 years of age. The research included detailed questionnaire interviews asking people about their experiences of living in their current kitchen. A previous study, conducted in 2000, asked many of the same questions of 22 people in the same age group. Findings – By combining and comparing the two sets of data it seems that only limited progress has been made in terms of kitchen design meeting the needs of older people between 2000 and 2010. Research limitations/implications – Owing to the small sizes of the samples it is not possible to compare the figures statistically or present them as fully representative of the British older population but while the two samples are limited both had similar characteristics of age and gender, so differences do show potential trends over time. Practical implications – The research refers to guidance and a computer based design tool and identifies a number of practical implications for design. Social implications – As people age their abilities and needs can change and their kitchen may no longer be as accessible or appropriate to their needs. Originality/value – This paper adds to the relevant guidance for designers, developers and managers of buildings where the continued personal use of a kitchen is important for continuing independence of older people

Comparison test of website use with mobile phone and laptop computer

The study compared user performance and subjective ratings between a mobile phone and laptop computer for accessing the internet. Twenty four participants were required to carry out two equivalent sets of 5 tasks, one set of tasks with a mobile phone and the other set with a laptop. It was found that the task times for the mobile phone were higher than those of the laptop for all tasks but only significantly different for two of the task pairs. The most important reason for this result seemed to be the difference in size of the screens on each device. Participants were also asked to rate the difficulty of each task performed on both laptop and phone. Interestingly, participants did not rate the difficulty of using the mobile phone significantly higher than for the laptop. This seemed to be because of lower expectations when using the mobile phone, good dexterity in zooming in and out of the screen, and spending less time reviewing each page on the phone than on the laptop before moving on another page