7,912 research outputs found

    Understanding family food purchasing behaviour of low-income urban UK families: An analysis of parent capability, opportunity and motivation

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    Objective Family food purchasing decisions have a direct influence on children's food environments and are powerful predictors of obesity and dietary quality. This study explored parents' capability, opportunities, and motivations regarding food purchasing for their families, as well as barriers and facilitators of healthy food purchasing behaviour, in an ethnically diverse, low-income area. Design Semi-structured interviews with parents of under-11-year-old children were conducted to investigate family food purchases, both when eating inside and outside the home. Interviews were analysed using framework analysis mapped against the COM-B model (Michie et al., 2011). Setting An ethnically diverse, low-income area in Birmingham, UK. Participants Sixteen parents (13F, 3M) of under-11-year-old children. 75% Pakistani, 12.5% White British, 6.3% White and Black Caribbean, and 6.3% “Other”. Results Four themes were identified: i) I know how to provide healthy meals for my family, ii) Family food purchase decisions are complex, iii) I want what they are eating and iv) Healthy eating is important but eating outside of the home is a treat. The barriers of healthy family food purchasing were predominantly at family and community levels, including time, cost, and both parents' and children's food enjoyment and preferences. Facilitators of healthy family food purchasing were primarily identified at an individual level, with high levels of capability and motivation for healthy food provision. Conclusions Attempts to enhance parental capability to improve healthy food purchasing through nutrition education is not likely to be a useful intervention target in this group. Emphasis on enjoyment, palatability and value for money could be key to increasing parental motivation to purchase healthy family foods

    Spatial adaptive settlement systems in archaeology. Modelling long-term settlement formation from spatial micro interactions

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    Despite research history spanning more than a century, settlement patterns still hold a promise to contribute to the theories of large-scale processes in human history. Mostly they have been presented as passive imprints of past human activities and spatial interactions they shape have not been studied as the driving force of historical processes. While archaeological knowledge has been used to construct geographical theories of evolution of settlement there still exist gaps in this knowledge. Currently no theoretical framework has been adopted to explore them as spatial systems emerging from micro-choices of small population units. The goal of this thesis is to propose a conceptual model of adaptive settlement systems based on complex adaptive systems framework. The model frames settlement system formation processes as an adaptive system containing spatial features, information flows, decision making population units (agents) and forming cross scale feedback loops between location choices of individuals and space modified by their aggregated choices. The goal of the model is to find new ways of interpretation of archaeological locational data as well as closer theoretical integration of micro-level choices and meso-level settlement structures. The thesis is divided into five chapters, the first chapter is dedicated to conceptualisation of the general model based on existing literature and shows that settlement systems are inherently complex adaptive systems and therefore require tools of complexity science for causal explanations. The following chapters explore both empirical and theoretical simulated settlement patterns based dedicated to studying selected information flows and feedbacks in the context of the whole system. Second and third chapters explore the case study of the Stone Age settlement in Estonia comparing residential location choice principles of different periods. In chapter 2 the relation between environmental conditions and residential choice is explored statistically. The results confirm that the relation is significant but varies between different archaeological phenomena. In the third chapter hunter-fisher-gatherer and early agrarian Corded Ware settlement systems were compared spatially using inductive models. The results indicated a large difference in their perception of landscape regarding suitability for habitation. It led to conclusions that early agrarian land use significantly extended land use potential and provided a competitive spatial benefit. In addition to spatial differences, model performance was compared and the difference was discussed in the context of proposed adaptive settlement system model. Last two chapters present theoretical agent-based simulation experiments intended to study effects discussed in relation to environmental model performance and environmental determinism in general. In the fourth chapter the central place foragingmodel was embedded in the proposed model and resource depletion, as an environmental modification mechanism, was explored. The study excluded the possibility that mobility itself would lead to modelling effects discussed in the previous chapter. The purpose of the last chapter is the disentanglement of the complex relations between social versus human-environment interactions. The study exposed non-linear spatial effects expected population density can have on the system and the general robustness of environmental inductive models in archaeology to randomness and social effect. The model indicates that social interactions between individuals lead to formation of a group agency which is determined by the environment even if individual cognitions consider the environment insignificant. It also indicates that spatial configuration of the environment has a certain influence towards population clustering therefore providing a potential pathway to population aggregation. Those empirical and theoretical results showed the new insights provided by the complex adaptive systems framework. Some of the results, including the explanation of empirical results, required the conceptual model to provide a framework of interpretation

    Financial and Economic Review 22.

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    Resilience and food security in a food systems context

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    This open access book compiles a series of chapters written by internationally recognized experts known for their in-depth but critical views on questions of resilience and food security. The book assesses rigorously and critically the contribution of the concept of resilience in advancing our understanding and ability to design and implement development interventions in relation to food security and humanitarian crises. For this, the book departs from the narrow beaten tracks of agriculture and trade, which have influenced the mainstream debate on food security for nearly 60 years, and adopts instead a wider, more holistic perspective, framed around food systems. The foundation for this new approach is the recognition that in the current post-globalization era, the food and nutritional security of the world’s population no longer depends just on the performance of agriculture and policies on trade, but rather on the capacity of the entire (food) system to produce, process, transport and distribute safe, affordable and nutritious food for all, in ways that remain environmentally sustainable. In that context, adopting a food system perspective provides a more appropriate frame as it incites to broaden the conventional thinking and to acknowledge the systemic nature of the different processes and actors involved. This book is written for a large audience, from academics to policymakers, students to practitioners

    Signifiers as a First-class Abstraction in Hypermedia Multi-Agent Systems

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    Hypermedia APIs enable the design of reusable hypermedia clients that discover and exploit affordances on the Web. However, the reusability of such clients remains limited since they cannot plan and reason about interaction. This paper provides a conceptual bridge between hypermedia-driven affordance exploitation on the Web and methods for representing and reasoning about actions that have been extensively explored for Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and, more broadly, Artificial Intelligence. We build on concepts and methods from Affordance Theory and Human-Computer Interaction that support interaction efficiency in open and evolvable environments to introduce signifiers as a first-class abstraction in Web-based MAS: Signifiers are designed with respect to the agent-environment context of their usage and enable agents with heterogeneous abilities to act and to reason about action. We define a formal model for the contextual exposure of signifiers in hypermedia environments that aims to drive affordance exploitation. We demonstrate our approach with a prototypical Web-based MAS where two agents with different reasoning abilities proactively discover how to interact with their environment by perceiving only the signifiers that fit their abilities. We show that signifier exposure can be inherently managed based on the dynamic agent-environment context towards facilitating effective and efficient interactions on the Web

    Bio-inspired optimization in integrated river basin management

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    Water resources worldwide are facing severe challenges in terms of quality and quantity. It is essential to conserve, manage, and optimize water resources and their quality through integrated water resources management (IWRM). IWRM is an interdisciplinary field that works on multiple levels to maximize the socio-economic and ecological benefits of water resources. Since this is directly influenced by the river’s ecological health, the point of interest should start at the basin-level. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the application of bio-inspired optimization techniques in integrated river basin management (IRBM). This study demonstrates the application of versatile, flexible and yet simple metaheuristic bio-inspired algorithms in IRBM. In a novel approach, bio-inspired optimization algorithms Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) are used to spatially distribute mitigation measures within a basin to reduce long-term annual mean total nitrogen (TN) concentration at the outlet of the basin. The Upper Fuhse river basin developed in the hydrological model, Hydrological Predictions for the Environment (HYPE), is used as a case study. ACO and PSO are coupled with the HYPE model to distribute a set of measures and compute the resulting TN reduction. The algorithms spatially distribute nine crop and subbasin-level mitigation measures under four categories. Both algorithms can successfully yield a discrete combination of measures to reduce long-term annual mean TN concentration. They achieved an 18.65% reduction, and their performance was on par with each other. This study has established the applicability of these bio-inspired optimization algorithms in successfully distributing the TN mitigation measures within the river basin. Stakeholder involvement is a crucial aspect of IRBM. It ensures that researchers and policymakers are aware of the ground reality through large amounts of information collected from the stakeholder. Including stakeholders in policy planning and decision-making legitimizes the decisions and eases their implementation. Therefore, a socio-hydrological framework is developed and tested in the Larqui river basin, Chile, based on a field survey to explore the conditions under which the farmers would implement or extend the width of vegetative filter strips (VFS) to prevent soil erosion. The framework consists of a behavioral, social model (extended Theory of Planned Behavior, TPB) and an agent-based model (developed in NetLogo) coupled with the results from the vegetative filter model (Vegetative Filter Strip Modeling System, VFSMOD-W). The results showed that the ABM corroborates with the survey results and the farmers are willing to extend the width of VFS as long as their utility stays positive. This framework can be used to develop tailor-made policies for river basins based on the conditions of the river basins and the stakeholders' requirements to motivate them to adopt sustainable practices. It is vital to assess whether the proposed management plans achieve the expected results for the river basin and if the stakeholders will accept and implement them. The assessment via simulation tools ensures effective implementation and realization of the target stipulated by the decision-makers. In this regard, this dissertation introduces the application of bio-inspired optimization techniques in the field of IRBM. The successful discrete combinatorial optimization in terms of the spatial distribution of mitigation measures by ACO and PSO and the novel socio-hydrological framework using ABM prove the forte and diverse applicability of bio-inspired optimization algorithms

    Financial reporting in Europe: Accounting for regulatory and technical challenges

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    This thesis explores the challenges facing financial reporting in Europe both regulatory and technical in nature. This has involved research into the background of European legislation and conducting face to face semi-structured interviews with senior elite actors from institutions governing the regulatory and technical arrangements of general-purpose financial reporting practice in Europe. European companies are required to disclose information about their financial affairs. The European legislation governing company financial reporting was delegated to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) by the EU institutions via Regulation 1606/2002. This thesis argues that European agencies (represented by EFRAG) are caught in a devolved regulatory relationship where the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has been able to assume a relatively strong self-regulatory position. This weakens the agency that European legislative institutions have over their own legislation with regards to financial reporting practice. This thesis argues this loss of agency by European institutions over their legislation governing accounting practice is not a fait accompli but is challenged and contested as European institutions seek and need a more co-regulated arrangement. A key argument developed in this thesis is that regulatory arrangements governing accounting practice are evolving in terms of the distribution of responsibilities and control over European financial reporting practice. To understand how the regulatory landscape governing European accounting practice is changing we employ an investigative lens that is grounded in accounting. This investigative lens employs three elements that are regarded in the literature review as significant technical challenges facing accounting practice in Europe. The first of these is retaining or not prudent accounting practice, the second is concerned with the development of non-financial reporting and the third, concerns with installing the public interest not just investor interests in financial disclosures. It is through this investigative lens that this thesis assesses the extent to which regulatory arrangements and agency governing accounting practice in Europe are shifting sands

    Faculty of Mathematics and Science 1st Graduate Research Day Conference, 2022

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    FMS Graduate Research Day (FMS GRaD) is an academic conference open to all FMS students with a mandate to celebrate and communicate Brock University research and teaching. The FMS GRaD 2022 conference was hosted by the Dean’s office of the Faculty of Mathematics and Science and Graduate Mathematics and Science Society at Brock University. With 57 presenters and over 300 attendees this first FMS GRaD held on September 16th 2022 strengthened the STEM research community and highlight the research and profile of FMS graduate student research programs

    Time-slot based architecture for power beam-assisted relay techniques in CR-WSNs with transceiver hardware inadequacies

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    Over the past two decades, numerous research projects have concentrated on cognitive radio wireless sensor networks (CR-WSNs) and their benefits. To tackle the problem of energy and spectrum shortfall in CR-WSNs, this research proposes an underpinning decode-&-forward (DF) relaying technique. Using the suggested time-slot architecture (TSA), this technique harvests energy from a multi-antenna power beam (PB) and delivers source information to the target utilizing energy-constrained secondary source and relay nodes. The study considers three proposed relay selection schemes: enhanced hybrid partial relay selection (E-HPRS), conventional opportunistic relay selection (C-ORS), and leading opportunistic relay selection (L-ORS). We present evidence for the sustainability of the suggested methods by examining the outage probability (OP) and throughput (TPT) under multiple primary users (PUs). These systems leverage time switching (TS) receiver design to increase end-to-end performance while taking into account the maximum interference constraint and transceiver hardware inadequacies. In order to assess the efficacy of the proposed methods, we derive the exact and asymptotic closed-form equations for OP and TPT & develop an understanding to learn how they affect the overall performance all across the Rayleigh fading channel. The results show that OP of the L-ORS protocol is 16% better than C-ORS and 75% better than E-HPRS in terms of transmitting SNR. The OP of L-ORS is 30% better than C-ORS and 55% better than E-HPRS in terms of hardware inadequacies at the destination. The L-ORS technique outperforms C-ORS and E-HPRS in terms of TPT by 4% and 11%, respectively

    Stakeholders’ perceptions of wetland conservation and restoration in Wakiso District, Uganda

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    Natural wetlands are critically important to the lives and livelihoods of many people. Human activities result in the degradation of wetlands globally, and more so in developing countries prioritizing fast economic growth and development. With an increasing population in their immediate surroundings, wetlands in Wakiso District, Uganda, have become over-exploited to meet human needs. Policies, plans and projects have been put in place aiming at wetland conservation and restoration, but with limited stakeholder participation, have achieved limited success. Our research objective was to identify stakeholders, their perceptions, and understand the role these perceptions play in wetland conservation and restoration activities. To achieve these objectives, we used the ecosystem services concept within a qualitative, multi-site case study research approach. Findings show that stakeholders hold divergent perceptions on wetland ecosystem services, perceiving them as source of materials, fertile places for farming, cheap to buy and own, as well as being “God-given”. Furthermore, wetlands as habitats are perceived as not prioritized by central government. Implications for conservation and restoration vary with stakeholders advocating for (1) over-use, wise-use or not-use of wetlands and their resources, (2) educating and sensitization as well as (3) the implementation of the available laws and policies. This paper explores the findings and important implications for the conservation and restoration of wetlands in Wakiso District, Uganda
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