National Geographic was established in 1888 to advance human understanding of the world's cultural, historical, and natural resources. National Geographic is a non-prof t organization that has contributed greatly to scientif c research. One of the most recent examples of its contribution to science is the Genographic Project (https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/).
According to the National Geographic website, the Genographic Project is a "landmark study of the human journey." Scientists believe that we all descended from a common group of ancestors who lived in Africa some 60,000 years ago. Over the millennia, that group reproduced and migrated to populate the entire globe. The Genographic Project intends to map that migration to allow individuals to trace their ancestry back through time and location using advanced DNA research.
Dozens of researchers distributed around the world have been engaged in genetic research of indigenous cultures. DNA is being collected from select individuals and stored in a database where sequences can be automatically studied. Comparing commonalities between DNA strands allows researchers to draw conclusions about where an individual originated and where his or her ancestors may have migrated to and from.
Stage 2 of the study brings in the general public. Volunteers from around the world can sign up online to become part of the study and trace their own heritages and family migrations. For a few, anyone can purchase a Genographic Project kit, which includes abundant information and a swab for gathering DNA from the inside of the mouth. The DNA sample is sent to the Genographic Project by mail. Participants can trace the progress of the research on their DNA online. Once analyzed, the participant is provided with historical information about their ancestors and migration paths dating back to that African community 60,000 years ago.
The same data-mining and business intelligence tools used by businesses to find correlations between business data is applied to the DNA information stored by the Genographic Project. Advanced trend mapping and analysis tools provide a deeper understanding of mutation rates and DNA-merging behaviour. The participation of over 300,000 volunteers has created one of the world's largest repositories of genetic information, providing new insight into our migratory history and fuelling collaboration on new projects.
Without the automation provided by database tools, this research would not be possible. Dr. Spencer Wells, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and scientific director of the project, stated that "with hundreds of thousands of samples, researchers could easily become lost in our collected data. But, by working with IBM, we can distil this information into something useful-research breakthroughs and new findings."
Question:
1- What type of data is stored in the genographic database? Design a set of relational tables to store this data. . Identify the primary key in each table. Identify the foreign keys needed in the table to implement referential integrity