Methodologies Available (methodology + available)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Brains and brands: developing mutually informative research in neuroscience and marketing

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 4-5 2008
Tyler K. Perrachione
Advances in neuroimaging technology have led to an explosion in the number of studies investigating the living human brain, and thereby our understanding of its structure and function. With the proliferation of dazzling images from brain scans in both scientific and popular media, researchers from other fields in the social and behavioral sciences have naturally become interested in the application of neuroimaging to their own research. Commercial enterprises have long been interested in the prospects of literally "getting inside the heads" of customers and partners, with a variety of goals in mind. Here we consider the ways in which scholars of consumer behavior may draw upon neuroscientific advances to inform their own research. We describe the motivation of neuroscientific inquiry from the point of view of neuroscientists, including an introduction to the technologies and methodologies available; correspondingly, we consider major questions in consumer behavior that are likely to be of interest to neuroscientists and why. Recent key discoveries in neuroscience are presented which will likely have a direct impact on the development of a neuromarketing subdiscipline and for neuroimaging as a marketing research technique. We discuss where and how neuroscience methodologies may reasonably be added to the research inventory of marketers. In sum, we aim to show not only that a neuromarketing subdiscipline may fruitfully contribute to our understanding of the biological bases of human behavior, but also that developing this as a productive research field will rest largely in framing marketing research questions in the brain-centric mindset of neuroscientists. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Usefulness of the discrete choice methodology for marketing decision-making in new product development: an example from the European functional foods market

AGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010
Athanasios Krystallis
Understanding consumer needs should be a high-priority strategic objective in new product development (NPD). Despite their importance, however, NPD processes do not take full advantage of the consumer survey methodologies available. The authors investigate+ parents" preferences for three new functional children's snacks marketed in Greece. Using a very simple discrete choice experimental design, the authors aim (a) to provide an example of consumer research implementation in food-related NPD and to assess its marketing value, and (b) to evaluate the quality of the acquired consumer-related information for marketing decision-making in food consumer-led NPD processes against a number of criteria set in the relevant literature. "Functionality" is found to be a statistically significant attribute for all three children's snacks of the research design compared to other attributes such as flavor and price. Parents seem to perceive the functional snack alternative as offering greater utility as compared to its conventional (i.e., nonfunctional) counterpart. Overall, the authors conclude that, despite some inherent weaknesses, the advantage of the discrete choice methodology in connection with consumer-led food NPD lies in its ability to describe current consumer needs and desires realistically and to contribute to the optimization of existing products. [EconLit Classification: M310, C920, C930, D100]. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Implementing Evaluation of the Measurement Process in an Automotive Manufacturer: a Case Study

QUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 5 2003
Graeme Knowles
Abstract Reducing process variability is presently an area of much interest in manufacturing organizations. Programmes such as Six Sigma robustly link the financial performance of the organization to the degree of variability present in the processes and products of the organization. Data, and hence measurement processes, play an important part in driving such programmes and in making key manufacturing decisions. In many organizations, however, little thought is given to the quality of the data generated by such measurement processes. By using potentially flawed data in making fundamental manufacturing decisions, the quality of the decision-making process is undermined and, potentially, significant costs are incurred. Research in this area is sparse and has concentrated on the technicalities of the methodologies available to assess measurement process capability. Little work has been done on how to operationalize such activities to give maximum benefit. From the perspective of one automotive company, this paper briefly reviews the approaches presently available to assess the quality of data and develops a practical approach, which is based on an existing technical methodology and incorporates simple continuous improvement tools within a framework which facilitates appropriate improvement actions for each process assessed. A case study demonstrates the framework and shows it to be sound, generalizable and highly supportive of continuous improvement goals. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Anthropology and Fisheries Management in the United States

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2007
Palma Ingles
The collection of articles in this volume of NAPA Bulletin describes various types of social science research currently conducted in support of federal and state fisheries management by anthropologists and sociologists studying fishing-dependent communities and fisheries participants. The contributors work for NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); various state fisheries agencies; in academia; or as contract researchers. These articles represent a wide geographical range, employ a diverse set of methods, and demonstrate different research goals ranging from responding to specific statutory or management requirements to establishing broader baseline social information to exploring the theoretical constructs that constrain or advance the field of applied anthropology in fisheries. This introduction provides background to the recent expansion of anthropological capacity in U.S. fisheries management and the divergent methods employed by practitioners. The range of methods includes classic ethnography and survey methods, cultural modeling, participatory research, and quantitative indicators-based assessment. The compilation of articles presents an opportunity to think about standardizing some methodological approaches for certain types of tasks, while expanding the array of accepted methodologies available to anthropologists advising fisheries managers. [source]


Chemistry And Biological Effects Of Dietary Phenolic Compounds: Relevance To Cardiovascular Disease

CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHARMACOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000
Lincoln W Morton
SUMMARY 1. There has been considerable recent interest in the possibility that increased intake of dietary anti-oxidants may protect against cardiovascular disease. This is partly due to the knowledge that oxidative events in vivo may play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. 2. While dietary anti-oxidants, such as vitamins E and C, have received considerable attention in this regard, relatively little is known about a similar anti-oxidant role for plant-derived polyphenolic compounds, such as the flavonoids and phenolic acids. A review of the distribution, bioavailability and biological activity of these compounds suggests that they may have a physiological role as anti-oxidants. 3. Human trials on the anti-oxidant effects of beverages rich in polyphenolics, such as red wine, fruit juice or tea, have been limited and results are, at present, inconclusive. This is due, in part, to poor methodologies available to measure oxidative damage in vivo. 4. There is a sound rationale for considering polyphenolics as important contributors to the dietary anti-oxidant intake derived from fruits and vegetables. However, continuing research is needed using appropriate biomarkers of oxidant damage in vivo before these compounds can be conclusively considered as dietary anti-oxidants with nutritional benefit. [source]


Computation on symmetry-invariant bases

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 1 2003
Jian Wu
Abstract There is standard methodology available to facilitate electronic structure computations on a space that is invariant under a symmetry group. Here, we focus on additional consequences that arise if the basis itself is invariant under the symmetry group (i.e., in the case that application of symmetry operations to each basis vector yields, up to proportionality, a single basis vector). In illustration of the formal development, examples are considered where the symmetries are point-group symmetries and the basis vectors are Slater determinants over singly occupied atomic orbitals, as for an open-shell valence bond (VB) model. Several other types of examples are mentioned, e.g., a basis of chemically motivated resonance structures, as for a VB model, or an orbital basis of atomic orbitals for a one-electron Hückel-type model. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 94: 7,22, 2003 [source]


Increasing throughput and information content for in vitro drug metabolism experiments using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer

RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 6 2005
Jose Castro-Perez
The field of drug metabolism has been revolutionized by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) applications with new technologies such as triple quadrupoles, ion traps and time-of-flight (ToF) instrumentation. Over the years, these developments have often relied on the improvements to the mass spectrometer hardware and software, which has allowed users to benefit from lower levels of detection and ease-of-use. One area in which the development pace has been slower is in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In the case of metabolite identification, where there are many challenges due to the complex nature of the biological matrices and the diversity of the metabolites produced, there is a need to obtain the most accurate data possible. Reactive or toxic metabolites need to be detected and identified as early as possible in the drug discovery process, in order to reduce the very costly attrition of compounds in late-phase development. High-resolution, exact mass measurement plays a very important role in metabolite identification because it allows the elimination of false positives and the determination of non-trivial metabolites in a much faster throughput environment than any other standard current methodology available to this field. By improving the chromatographic resolution, increased peak capacity can be achieved with a reduction in the number of co-eluting species leading to superior separations. The overall enhancement in the chromatographic resolution and peak capacity is transferred into a net reduction in ion suppression leading to an improvement in the MS sensitivity. To investigate this, a number of in vitro samples were analyzed using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) system, with columns packed with porous 1.7,,m particles, coupled to a hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight (ToF) mass spectrometer. This technique showed very clear examples for fundamental gains in sensitivity, chromatographic resolution and speed of analysis, which are all important factors for the demands of today's HTS in discovery. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]