Mapping Genomes of African Americans

John Novembre, UCLA assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a member of UCLA's Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, was interviewed Thursday on NPR’s “ Morning Edition ” about his research with colleagues, which has resulted in one of the first genetic maps pinpointing where DNA is likely to be reshuffled in the genomes of African Americans — a tool that could help scientists find genes that cause disease. The International Business Times reports today on NASA’s Dawn mission, which has begun its yearlong orbit and study of Vesta, a protoplanet some 143 million miles from Earth. UCLA is in charge of the mission’s science. Christopher Russell, UCLA professor of geophysics and space physics and the Dawn mission’s principal investigator, is quoted. Britain's BioNews and the SmartPlanet blog reported Monday that Dr. Steven Schwartz, Ahmanson Professor of Ophthalmology and chief of the retina division at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute, has performed the world’s first transplants of retinal cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into two patients’ eyes. The surgery is the first part of a clinical trial examining whether the treatment can help address vision loss in people suffering from Stargardt's disease and dry age-related macular degeneration. The July–August issue of Aging Today features a column by two former UCLA students who created the nonprofit Universal Gerontology and Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Association, which promotes Alzheimer’s awareness among students. Dr. Gary Small, professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and director of the UCLA Center on Aging, is quoted. Fernando Torres-Gil, associate dean of the UCLA School of Public Affairs and director of the UCLA Center for Policy Research on Aging; Dr. Isaac Yang, UCLA assistant professor-in-residence of neurosurgery; and Karen J. Miller, an assistant clinical professor at the Semel Institute, are cited.

RetailWire: RetailWire Discussion: CPGmatters: Frito-Lay Gains ...

By John Karolefski

Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the monthly e-zine, CPGmatters .

To better understand the mindset of consumers in the store as well their thinking beforehand and afterwards, Frito-Lay relies on deep insights gathered by cultural anthropologists using ethnographic research.

Anthropology is the study of people, according to Donna Romeo, group manager, consumer strategy & insights, shopper marketing at Frito-Lay.

"It is holistic, which means that everything is important. Also, it's about context," she said. "People are always culturally and socially situated. There is something about them that is connected with somebody else. They carry this context with them and it impacts how we make decisions. We could have lots of numbers, but we need to understand the 'why.'"

Ethnography is an inductive research method that employs in-depth interviews, video, analysis, participant observation, re-enactments and so forth. Frito-Lay relies on Smart Revenue of Stamford, Conn. for its ethnographic research.

Frito Lay outlined their 360 Shopping Process that aims to understand the food shopping cycle from a holistic perspective using ethnography at a recent presentation at the Shopper Insights in Action conference hosted in Chicago by the Institute for International Research (IIR). The study was done during the economic downturn and demonstrated the impact of the recession on shoppers.

"We wanted to understand what people do and when they do it," said Ms. Romeo, who is a cultural anthropologist. "and if 'pre-shop' really matters. Is there a lot going on before people got to the store?"

Ms. Romeo said the study sample was small - only 38 in-depth interviews. "I believe in small samples," she said. "They can reveal tremendous amounts of information that can generate factors for the eventual qualitative analysis.

Designing and conducting ethnographic research

As a guide to the contents of the Toolkit series, or as a stand-alone introduction to the qualitative enterprise, this volume will be extremely valuable to ...

Methods in Educational Research, From Theory to Practice

Sample Ethnographic Research Studies Markstrom, A., & Hallden, G. (2009). Childrenâs strategies for agency in preschool. Children and Society, 23(2), ...

The Research Process in Nursing

SELECTION OF SAMPLE AND SETTING Ethnographers use purposive or criterion-based ... The participants in ethnographic research are usually called inform- ...

What's wrong with ethnography?, methodological explorations

4 Probability sampling may be applicable in ethnographic research where the aim is to generalise within the setting studied, for example across participants ...

Interpretive ethnography of education, at home and abroad

We again administered the IAI and carried out an intensive ethnographic study of the school and its immediate community context. Our assumption was that the ...