Variable selection and updating in model-based discriminant analysis for high dimensional data with food authenticity applications

Food authenticity studies are concerned with determining if food samples have been correctly labelled or not. Discriminant analysis methods are an integral part of the methodology for food authentication. Motivated by food authenticity applications, a model-based discriminant analysis method that includes variable selection is presented. The discriminant analysis model is fitted in a semi-supervised manner using both labeled and unlabeled data. The method is shown to give excellent classification performance on several high-dimensional multiclass food authenticity datasets with more variables than observations. The variables selected by the proposed method provide information about which variables are meaningful for classification purposes. A headlong search strategy for variable selection is shown to be efficient in terms of computation and achieves excellent classification performance. In applications to several food authenticity datasets, our proposed method outperformed default implementations of Random Forests, AdaBoost, transductive SVMs and Bayesian Multinomial Regression by substantial margins

Consumer Purchasing Behavior in Response to Media Coverage of Avian Influenza

Understanding consumer response to food safety information is important for quantifying consumer response to food safety events, predicting market impacts, and developing appropriate risk communication strategies. In this study, we present a methodology for analysis of consumer response to media coverage of avian influenza and an application using Italian data.Avian influenza, food safety, Italy, meat demand, media index, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q11, Q18,

ARER Guidelines for Manuscript Submission

Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, Industrial Organization, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Political Economy, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Public Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Peer Effect, Risk-Pooling and Status Seeking: Which Matters to Gift Spending Escalation in Rural China?

This paper is based on our ongoing joint work with Ravi Kanbur. Xi Chen is grateful to Ravi Kanbur for invaluable comments, guidance and encouragement. For comments and suggestions, please direct correspondence to Xi Chen at [email protected] Network, Peer Effect, Risk-pooling, Status Seeking, Gift-giving, Ceremony, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Public Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty, I32, J22, D13, D63,

Windsor Village revitalization : urban agriculture takes root

The current American food system is defined by rising food prices, industrial production practices, immense transportation and energy costs, and lack of education about food choices. Many communities directly impacted are found in urban environments, where lack of access to healthy food choices is compounded by environmental factors that limit safe opportunities to exercise. There have been attempts to solve these problems including educational programs, and the construction of urban agricultural farms, greenways, and trail systems. However, a comprehensive review of how these projects can be integrated within a neighborhood and park context has not been completed. This creative project centered on this topic, and includes study of emerging ideas around urban park design and the role of community design, urban agriculture, and community building in addressing health concerns. Methods for this project included interviews of administrative personnel from health and parks organizations, content analysis of food related videos, literature on hunger, food, and park design, and outdoor educational settings was reviewed, and an assessment of park use patterns was undertaken. Traditional site design methods were also employed. Findings from the research phase were used to develop design concepts for a community park and surrounding area for the Windsor Village neighborhood at the junction of I-465 and I-70 East in Indianapolis. Outcomes include an analysis of connections between food sources, consumers, health care facilities, schools and community centers in this area of Indianapolis, and conceptual designs for a community park and the surrounding neighborhood.Department of Landscape ArchitectureThesis (M.L.A.

A time series analysis for sales of chicken based food product

This study provides a time series analysis and interpretation of the output for forecast sales of chicken based food product of weekly sales data. These data were collected directly from the outlet shop of one factory in Malacca started from January 2015 to December 2016. Methods of forecasting include autoregressive (AR) method and simple exponential smoothing (SES) method. The accuracy for both methods will be compared using mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean absolute deviation (MAD). There will be 1 period ahead of predictions for AR method and 1 period ahead for SES method. This analysis found that AR method with AR (1) model is more accurate than SES method and can be used for the future prediction of chicken based food product of weekly sales data. Recommendations for future study is trying out other method to analyse this sales of chicken based food product and using R software to analyse the dataset

INVESTIGATING RAPESEED PRICE VOLATILITIES IN THE COURSE OF THE FOOD CRISIS

Multivariate GARCH, MATIF, rapeseed, crude oil, volatilities, food crisis, Demand and Price Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C32, E44, G1, Q11, Q13, Q49,

International Evidence on Food Consumption Patterns: An Update Using 2005 International Comparison Program Data

In a 2003 report, International Evidence on Food Consumption Patterns, ERS economists estimated income and price elasticities of demand for broad consumption categories and food categories across 114 countries using 1996 International Comparison Program (ICP) data. This report updates that analysis with an estimated two-stage demand system across 144 countries using 2005 ICP data. Advances in ICP data collection since 1996 led to better results and more accurate income and price elasticity estimates. Low-income countries spend a greater portion of their budget on necessities, such as food, while richer countries spend a greater proportion of their income on luxuries, such as recreation. Low-value staples, such as cereals, account for a larger share of the food budget in poorer countries, while high-value food items are a larger share of the food budget in richer countries. Overall, low-income countries are more responsive to changes in income and food prices and, therefore, make larger adjustments to their food consumption pattern when incomes and prices change. However, adjustments to price and income changes are not uniform across all food categories. Staple food consumption changes the least, while consumption of higher-value food items changes the most.ICP 2005, high-value food products, consumption patterns, marginal share, income elasticity, price elasticity, ERS, USDA, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Integrated DNA walking system to characterize a broad spectrum of GMOs in food/feed matrices

Background: In order to provide a system fully integrated with qPCR screening, usually used in GMO routine analysis, as well as being able to detect, characterize and identify a broad spectrum of GMOs in food/feed matrices, two bidirectional DNA walking methods targeting p35S or tNOS, the most common transgenic elements found in GM crops, were developed. These newly developed DNA walking methods are completing the previously implemented DNA walking method targeting the t35S pCAMBIA element. Results: First, the newly developed DNA walking methods, anchored on the sequences used for the p35S or tNOS qPCR screening, were tested on Bt rice that contains these two transgenic elements. Second, the methods were assessed on a maize sample containing a low amount of the GM MON863 event, representing a more complex matrix in terms of genome size and sensitivity. Finally, to illustrate its applicability in GMO routine analysis by enforcement laboratories, the entire workflow of the integrated strategy, including qPCR screening to detect the potential presence of GMOs and the subsequent DNA walking methods to characterize and identify the detected GMOs, was applied on a GeMMA Scheme Proficiency Test matrix. Via the characterization of the transgene flanking region between the transgenic cassette and the plant genome as well as of a part of the transgenic cassette, the presence of GMOs was properly confirmed or infirmed in all tested samples. Conclusion: Due to their simple procedure and their short time-frame to get results, the developed DNA walking methods proposed here can be easily implemented in GMO routine analysis by the enforcement laboratories. In providing crucial information about the transgene flanking regions and/or the transgenic cassettes, this DNA walking strategy is a key molecular tool to prove the presence of GMOs in any given food/feed matrix