Innovative food recommendation systems: a machine learning approach

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonRecommendation systems employ users history data records to predict their preference, and have been widely used in diverse fields including biology, e-commerce, and healthcare. Traditional recommendation techniques include content-based, collaborative-based and hybrid methods but not all real-world problems can be best addressed by these classical recommendation techniques. Food recommendation is one such challenging problem where there is an urgent need to use novel recommendation systems in assisting people to select healthy, balanced and personalized food plans. In this thesis, we make several advances in food recommendation systems using innovative machine learning methods. First, a novel recommendation approach is proposed by transforming an original recommendation problem into a many-objective optimisation one that contains several different objectives resulting in more balanced recommendations. Second, a unified approach to designing sequence-based personalised food recommendation systems is investigated to accommodate dynamic user behaviours. Third, a new food recommendation approach is developed with a temporal dependent graph neural network and data augmentation techniques leading to more accurate and robust recommendations. The experimental results show that these proposed approaches have not only provided a more balanced and accurate way of recommending food than the traditional methods but also led to promising areas for future research

Hungry and thirsty: the role of food and the senses in Spanish identity, 1750 - 1850

Nineteenth-century, Europeans experienced the rise of gastronomy alongside the rise of the modern nation-state. These two concepts were tied together inextricably by the intense consideration of national cuisines. Thus, the topic of food -- the judgment of food -- embedded and extended social commentary of the "other." Sensorial experience contributed to discourse, which expressed not only an awareness of aesthetics (traceable to the palate) but also a reflective characterization of those who ate the food. For England and the United States, the nineteenth-century witnessed moments of unrivaled power while the once-global power, Spain, was economically and politically anemic. Food becomes the axis point of three converging spectra: the senses which inform the individual with external environments and nationalism as discourse that creates understanding of the world; internal and external identities, meaning diet as tied to one's constitution and national cuisines reflecting culture; and the role of the historical memory in creating the political imagination. Through these concepts, the individual body and the body politic would be the material understanding of conceptual ideas. Eating is unique as the only act that employs all of the senses. Boundaries are crossed, and the individual becomes part of the collective. With these reoccurring themes, I argue that the boundaries of the past, of geography, and the body become ways a perceived knowledge and truth about Spain was created. By using a range of sources, which include material culture, cookbooks, and travelogues, and by paying particular attention to how sensorial experiences are portrayed, we can better understand the prominent connection of food and power. Spain's unique position -- of having 700 years of Islamic occupation and a failed empire from the "Spanish decadence" -- allowed the Spanish to consider who they were as a nation and for outsiders to reify the stagnate status of Spain, supported by economic and political evidence. By portraying Spain as romantic and savage, but also impotent, nineteenth-century English and American writers limited its cultural identity as inert and unprogressive; Spain's limited food supply and cuisine – good or bad –reflected a national character of stunted development that was circulated, reinterpreted and translated

EqualBITE: Gender equality in higher education

“The ivory tower, like other stately homes in the UK, might present a grand façade to the world but closer inspection reveals a dark, spidery basement full of inequalities.” Gender imbalances still exist across all areas of higher education. From salaries and promotion, to representation in the curriculum, formal approaches and good intentions rarely address the full complexity. EqualBITE digs into the messy reality of higher education gender issues, presenting people’s stories, experiences and frustrations and – more importantly – what can be done. University of Edinburgh students and staff share real-life experiences of gender challenges and opportunities, and their constructive responses. The book condenses current academic research into practical actions that do make a difference. EqualBITE is a pragmatic and positive response to gender issues in academia – a catalyst for creating a culture which is better for everyone