Food Allocation Research Articles

Interaction between nestling behaviour and nest-space use

For most animals, the rearing environment is an important factor influencing early offspring development and behaviour. Also, in altricial birds, where the rearing environment (nest) is usually restricted, it is known that if sufficient nest space is provided, offspring show social interactions and a variety of other behaviours. In fact, the available nest space has been identified as an important determinant for the occurrence or outcome of social interactions. In this context, we predict different behaviours like food acquisition, intra-brood competition, comfort behaviour or defecation activities also happen at specific sites within the nest and allow differential nest-space use. We further predict, that even offspring within a brood may differently experience their rearing environment. In line with this, e.g. nestling age, brood size or parental food allocation rules could be influential factors. In this study, we therefore investigated offspring nest-space use in altricial hoopoe nestlings (Upupa epops) raised in spacious nest boxes. In particular, we focused on nest-space use in relation to four major offspring behaviours, namely successful food acquisition, aggressive interactions, comfort and resting behaviour and defecation, additionally including parental feeding strategy (feeding from inside or outside the nest box), nestling age and brood size as potentially influential factors. Our results reveal that nestlings do not use the nest space equally but use specific locations for different purposes. Our results further suggest that beside behaviour also offspring age, brood size and parental feeding strategy influence their nest-space use. In conclusion, differential nest-space use can occur even in nestlings and already at an early age. Thus, nest space seems to be an important nest quality feature determining not only nest-space use but also affects offspring social interactions.

SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Acceptance: We May Need to Choose Our Battles.

In this issue, Fisher and colleagues report the results of a nationally representative U.S. survey that found that only approximately 6 in 10 respondents said that they will get vaccinated when a vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 becomes available. The editorialist discusses the findings and why closing the intention-to-behavior gap for those willing to be vaccinated rather than focusing on those hesitant about vaccination is likely to have the population health benefit.

Sustainable resource optimization under water-energy-food-carbon nexus

Pressures from growing demands and shrinking supplies have reached a critical junction in major global resources, particularly water, energy, and food (WEF). Recognizing the complex interaction across those highly interconnected resources, the nexus concept evolved to boost efficiencies across all nexus pillars. Several modeling efforts tried to capture the complexity of this problem, but most attempts captured only one or two nexus pillars, remained localized to fixed case-studies or applications, or used simulations to assess pre-defined scenarios rather than solving for optimum solutions under defined objective function and constraints. Here, we present an optimization model for water, energy, and food nexus resource management and allocation at a regional scale. The model was successfully validated using a hypothetical case study to test its efficiency under several resource availability scenarios and different policy targets. The results enhanced the understanding of the interlinkages among the nexus sectors by demonstrating the sensitivity of the WEF nexus to adopted strategies. For example, imposing food variety constraints changed water consumption by an order of magnitude and more than doubled energy requirements. Moreover, adopting renewable energy may cause increased demands for land, but can significantly cut CO2 emissions. The model serves as an effective decision-making tool that enables policy makers to assess multiple WEF sources and recommends the optimum resource allocation under various policy, technology, and resource constraints.

Gender, time use, and food consumption in India

To understand the intrahousehold distribution of calorie, we consider daily calorie consumption and daily calorie expenditure by an individual. This paper uses information obtained from a 24-h recall dietary survey and a time use survey, and a face-to-face questionnaire survey of poor urban individuals in India. We find gender discrimination in the intrahousehold allocation of food and distribution of work over a 24-h period. Combined domestic and market work of a sample wife is 2 h 22 min longer than her husband in a day. The results strongly suggest that wives are overburdened with unpaid household activities, and they are not getting their due share in consumption compared to their husbands. Chronic energy input deficiency is significantly 186.30 kcal points higher in wives than their husbands.

Uniformity of Food Protein Interpretation Amongst Dietitians for Patients with Phenylketonuria (PKU): 2020 UK National Consensus Statements.

In phenylketonuria (PKU), variable dietary advice provided by health professionals and social media leads to uncertainty for patients/caregivers reliant on accurate, evidence based dietary information. Over four years, 112 consensus statements concerning the allocation of foods in a low phenylalanine diet for PKU were developed by the British Inherited Metabolic Disease Dietitians Group (BIMDG-DG) from 34 PKU treatment centres, utilising 10 rounds of Delphi consultation to gain a majority (≥75%) decision. A mean of 29 UK dietitians (range: 18–40) and 18 treatment centres (range: 13–23) contributed in each round. Statements encompassed all foods/food groups divided into four categories based on defined protein/phenylalanine content: (1) foods high in protein/phenylalanine (best avoided); (2) foods allowed without restriction including fruit/vegetables containing phenylalanine ≤75 mg/100 g and most foods containing protein ≤0.5 g/100 g; (3) foods that should be calculated/weighed as an exchange food if they contain protein exchange ingredients (categorized into foods with a protein content of: >0.1 g/100 g (milk/plant milks only), >0.5 g/100 g (bread/pasta/cereal/flours), >1 g/100 g (cook-in/table-top sauces/dressings), >1.5 g/100 g (soya sauces)); and (4) fruit/vegetables containing phenylalanine >75 mg/100 g allocated as part of the protein/phenylalanine exchange system. These statements have been endorsed and translated into practical dietary management advice by the medical advisory dietitians for the National Society for PKU (NSPKU).

A unified framework for efficient, effective, and fair resource allocation by food banks using an Approximate Dynamic Programming approach

In response to growing evidence linking food insecurity and poor nutrition to an increased risk of chronic health problems, such as diabetes and malnutrition, food bank personnel and policy makers must proactively seek new policies and practices that combat food insecurity and ensure that food bank systems function equitably and efficiently. We develop a framework for optimizing resource allocation by food banks among the agencies they serve. Our framework explicitly considers measures of the effectiveness and efficiency of the resource allocation problem faced by food banks, and it implicitly considers an equity performance measure. We measure effectiveness based on the nutritional value of the allocation decisions, efficiency as the utility of the agencies served, and equity as fairness in the allocation of food among those agencies. Specifically, we develop a dynamic programming model in which the primary decision is how much of each product to allocate/distribute to each agency. To deal with the high-dimensional state space in the dynamic program, we construct approximations to the value function that are parameterized by a small number of parameters. Computational experiments using real-world data obtained from a food bank in New York State, which serves about 19,000 individuals per week, are used to evaluate the performance of our approach. When compared against the policy currently in use, our algorithm demonstrated a 7.73% improvement in total utility. Furthermore, when compared against the offline model, where randomness is revealed upfront, the gap between our algorithm and the offline model was less than 9.50%. On the effectiveness side, our framework demonstrated a 3.0% improvement in the nutrition of the served population.

A cooperative game theory application in chicks brood food allocation by using shapley value method in good years data

Game theory as well as cooperative game theory has played a vital role in many fields of research since its introduction within the early twentieth century. During this paper we study food allocation in chick broods from the attitude of cooperative theory of games. We would like to explore whether or not food distribution data fit into the known solution concepts of cooperative game theory to create an economic temperature within the biological field. A primary approach to be handled is that the incontrovertible fact that within the chick brood data we only see the solutions, while the starting position, the game, isn't immediately clear. In and of itself we'd like to reconstruct the game from the solutions given. A second approach is that by using the answer concepts Shapley value we would like to investigate which of those fits best. Most interesting is to specifically address the properties that cause these solutions because these would be most useful to find motivation for the particular solution concept found in nature. The goal is to anticipate moves to create, which is able to cause ultimate victory.

Green Grocer: Using Spatial Analysis to Identify Locations for a Mobile Food Market.

The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank (GPCFB) developed the Green Grocer mobile food market to address limited access to fresh, affordable food options in local communities. GPCFB and researchers from the University of Pittsburgh established a partnership for Green Grocer implementation and evaluation, including application of geospatial techniques to help identify locations of stops for Green Grocer. We used geospatial analyses to identify locations in Allegheny County with limited food access as potential stops for the Green Grocer mobile food market. Using census, county, city, and public health data, we conducted a spatial overlay analysis based on five key metrics: poverty/income rates, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) use, obesity rates, grocery/supermarket access, and mass transit access. We first defined our base target areas by finding the intersection of tracts with high rates of poverty, SNAP use, and obesity. To obtain our final recommended target neighborhoods, we then calculated the symmetric difference between these base target areas and areas of low grocery access and transit use. As identified from our overlay analysis, six neighborhoods became the targeted pilot sites for Green Grocer. These particular communities had higher poverty rates than Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and Pennsylvania averages. A separate pilot evaluation was conducted after the initial sites were selected to examine additional population characteristics and to help determine any modifications to the program. Geospatial overlay analysis identified key locations to help the GPCFB target allocation of fresh food and produce. When used in tandem with other programmatic information and processes, this data-driven approach was essential in the development and identification of distribution of resources.

Feeding Behavior of Mice under Different Food Allocation Regimens.

Social interaction, a basic survival strategy for many animal species, helps maintain a social environment that has limited conflict. Social dominance has a dramatic effect on motivation. Recent evidence suggests that some primate and nonprimate species display aversive behavior toward food allocation regimens that differ from their peers. Thus, we examined the behaviors displayed by mice under different food allocation regimens. We analyzed changes in food intake using several parameters. In the same food condition, the mice received the same food; in the quality different condition, the mice received different foods; in the quantity different condition, one mouse did not receive food; and in the no food condition, none of the mice received food. To test differences based on food quality, one mouse received normal solid food as a less preferred reward, and the other received chocolate chips as a high-level reward. No behavioral change was observed in comparison to the same food condition. To test differences based on food quantity, one mouse received chocolate chips while the other received nothing. Mice who received nothing spent more time on the other side of the reward throughout the experiment. Interestingly, highly rewarded mice required more time to consume the chocolate chips. Thus, under different food allocation regimens, mice changed their behavior by being more hesitant. Moreover, mice alter food intake behavior according to the social environment. The findings help elucidate potential evolutionary aspects that help maintain social cohesion while providing insights into potential mechanisms underlying socially anxious behavior.

Size matters: shiny cowbirds secure more food than host nestmates thanks to their larger size, not signal exaggeration

Many hosts of obligate brood parasitic birds invest more in parasitic nestlings than they do in their own young. The shiny cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis, a generalist parasite, is fed at a higher proportion than its host nestmates when it is reared in nests of a smaller-bodied host, the house wren, Troglodytes aedon. We test two hypotheses that could account for this differential allocation of food by host parents. The signal exaggeration hypothesis states that cowbird chicks have visual and/or acoustic begging signals that elicit preferential feeding. The size-advantage hypothesis states that hosts preferentially feed large chicks and/or that larger chicks outcompete host chicks in a scramble competition for food. To gain insight into the relative importance of size versus species-specific signals on food allocation by house wrens, we performed audio and video recordings in nests with experimental broods of (1) a 2-day-old cowbird chick and a 2-day-old wren chick (different species, different size), (2) a 2-day-old cowbird chick and an 8-day-old wren chick (different species, same size) and (3) a 2-day-old house wren and an 8-day-old house wren (same species, different size). When cowbirds shared the nest with a same-size wren chick, both chicks received food in equal proportion. In contrast, larger chicks (both cowbirds and wrens) paired with small wren nestmates always received a higher food share. Cowbird begging behaviour and call traits differed from house wrens, but these differences did not always coincide with increased food. We conclude that, at least when cowbird nestlings are young (2 days old), their relatively large size accounts for the larger share of food they receive from house wren hosts, rather than some quality of their begging signal.

Food Security Level of Farmer Households in Rice Field Agroecosystem

Food security at the household level essentially shows the ability of households to meet the food adequacy. This ability is influenced by complex factors but generally related to socio-economic aspects, food production behavior, consumption and allocation of household resources. The objectives of the research are 1) to identify the social and economic characteristics, 2) to identify the food consumption pattern, and 3) to analyze the level of household food security based on the quality of food consumption. This research was conducted in Lanrisang Sub-district, Pinrang District, South Sulawesi Province. This research is a depth survey research in 50 farm households in rice field agroecosystem that were chosen through simple random sampling. The analysis method was descriptive analysis, farm activities analysis and food consumption quality. The results showed that the description of socio-economic conditions of farmer household is 60% low educated, 58% had < 7 years of working experience on farm, 52% have ⩾ 3 family members, 74% with the income of ⩾ IDR 1,800,000, 86% of household expenditure on food, and only 9 people (18%) have alternative job. The level of household food security of farmers in rice field agroecosystem is categorized as “food insecure.”

Food Consumption Habits and Nutritional Status of Women and Infants

This paper attempts to find-out the existing knowledge of nutrition on food consumptions and dietary practices of women and infants. I have used the systematic review of the Hinari database which were published from 2012 April to 2018.These data show that women and infant food consumption behaviour and nutrition status is directly related to family food consumptions. Research shows that low cobalamin and folic acid was found in women before they conceive and folate deficiency was uncommon on food consumptions. Low intakes of iron are consistent with a high prevalence of an aemia seen in the six to twenty-four months of children. Food beliefs and practices tend to reduce women’s consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, such as dietary restrictions during menstruation, pregnancy and lactation. The research shows that are overlapping with these beliefs and practices on intra household allocation of food. The poor dietary practice among pregnant women which ranges from 39.3 percent to 66.1 percent have limited nutritional knowledge and wrong perception towards dietary behaviour. It was also found that basis underweight is greater in rural areas (31 percent) than in urban areas (23 percent). Those children whose mothers are illiterate are more than twice as likely to be underweight than the children whose mothers have at least basic education.

A School Meals Program Implemented at Scale in Ghana Increases Height-for-Age during Midchildhood in Girls and in Children from Poor Households: A Cluster Randomized Trial

ABSTRACTBackgroundAttention to nutrition during all phases of child and adolescent development is necessary to ensure healthy physical growth and to protect investments made earlier in life. Leveraging school meals programs as platforms to scale-up nutrition interventions is relevant as programs function in nearly every country in the world.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a large-scale school meals program in Ghana on school-age children's anthropometry indicators.MethodsA longitudinal cluster randomized control trial was implemented across the 10 regions of Ghana, covering 2869 school-age children (aged 5–15 y). Communities were randomly assigned to 1) control group without intervention or 2) treatment group providing the reformed national school feeding program, providing 1 hot meal/d in public primary schools. Primary outcomes included height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age (BAZ) z scores. The analysis followed an intention-to-treat approach as per the published protocol for the study population and subgroup analysis by age (i.e., midchildhood for children 5–8 y and early adolescence for children 9–15 y), gender, poverty, and region of residence. We used single-difference ANCOVA with mixed-effect regression models to assess program impacts.ResultsSchool meals had no effect on HAZ and BAZ in children aged 5–15 y. However, in per-protocol subgroup analysis, the school feeding intervention improved HAZ in 5- to 8-y-old children (effect size: 0.12 SDs), in girls (effect size: 0.12 SDs)—particularly girls aged 5–8 y living in the northern regions, and in children aged 5–8 y in households living below the poverty line (effect size: 0.22 SDs). There was also evidence that the intervention influenced food allocation and sharing at the household level.ConclusionSchool meals can provide a platform to scale-up nutrition interventions in the early primary school years, with important benefits accruing for more disadvantaged children. This trial was registered at www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN66918874.

A critique of the objective function utilized in calculating the Thrifty Food Plan.

The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) is the basis of benefit allocations within the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which administers nearly $70 billion in benefits to over 42 million people annually. To produce the allocation of food within the TFP, the USDA uses a mathematical optimization model that solves for the daily apportionment across various food groups. The model is constrained by nutritional and consumption requirements to produce an “optimal” allocation. Despite the importance of the TFP, the computational solution developed by the USDA has received insufficient attention, with only a handful of articles written on the TFP optimization model. Here, we run three alternative objective functions that are simpler than the one used by USDA. Our first alternative objective function minimizes the sum of squared errors between the consumed market basket of goods and an allocated market basket of goods, the second alternative objective function minimizes the sum of the absolute value of the difference between the consumed market basket of goods and an allocated market basket of goods, and the third alternative objective function minimizes the weighted absolute deviation of allocations and actual consumption expressed as a proportion of observed consumption. A clear theoretical advantage of either of our methods is that they eliminate the need to arbitrarily set allocated consumption to nonzero values, as is the case for the logarithmic objective function used by USDA. In an operational sense, we find that our model formulations produce an allocation that fits actual consumption better than the objective function employed by the USDA.

Gender, Intra-Household Discrimination and Cash Transfer Schemes: The Case of Indian Punjab

For many years, the Punjab province of India has had the dubious distinction of having the worst sex ratio among all other states of India. In recent years, both the child sex ratio and the overall sex ratio has shown a marked improvement in the state. This paper analyses whether the improvement in sex ratios has narrowed down gender discrimination against the girl child in Punjab. This paper examines the intra-household gender differences in indicators of nutrition and well-being by employing logistic regression analysis on the latest available data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for the year 2015–2016. It also evaluates the cash transfer schemes currently being implemented in Punjab for the welfare of the girl child and analyses their relative efficacy. The key results from the study reveal that gender continues to have a significant impact on indicators of child well-being and nutrition such as the average duration of breastfeeding and intra-household food allocation. The paper also finds that cash transfer schemes do not have a statistically significant impact on indicators of child malnutrition in the state.

Lineal kinship organization in cross-specific perspective

I draw on insights from anthropology to outline a framework for the study of kinship systems that applies across animal species with biparental sexual reproduction. In particular, I define lineal kinship organization as a social system that emphasizes interactions among lineally related kin-that is, individuals related through females only, if the emphasis is towards matrilineal kin, and individuals related through males only, if the emphasis is towards patrilineal kin. In a given population, the emphasis may be expressed in one or more social domains, corresponding to pathways for the transmission of different resources across generations (e.g. the allocation of food, the transfer of access to the natal territory or household). A lineal bias in any domain can be viewed as a bias in investment towards a particular set of kin-specifically, towards the offspring of daughters if the bias is matrilineal, and towards the offspring of sons if the bias is patrilineal. Effectively, investment is restricted to the offspring of the females in the population in one case, and to the offspring of the males in the other. This is distinct from a bias in investment towards daughters and towards sons, respectively. Overall, I propose a shift in focus-from viewing matrilineal and patrilineal kinship as unitary phenomena, to consideration of the different aspects of the social system featuring a bias towards lineally related kin. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.

Hunger classification of Lates calcarifer by means of an automated feeder and image processing

In an automated demand feeder system, underlining the parameters that contribute to fish hunger is crucial in order to facilitate an optimised food allocation to the fish. The present investigation is carried out to classify the hunger state of Lates calcarifer. A video surveillance technique is employed for data collection. The video was taken throughout the daytime, and the fish were fed through an automated feeding system. It was demonstrated through this investigation that the use of such automated system does contribute towards a higher specific growth rate percentage of body weight as well as the total length by approximately 26.00% and 15.00%, respectively against the conventional time-based method. Sixteen features were feature engineered from the raw dataset into window sizes ranging from 0.5 min, 1.0 min, 1.5 min and 2.0 min, respectively coupled with the mean, maximum, minimum and variance for each of the distinctive temporal window sizes. In addition, the extracted features were analysed through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction as well as PCA with varimax rotation. The data were then classified using a Support Vector Machine (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) and Random Forest Tree models. It was demonstrated that the varimax based PCA yielded the highest classification accuracy with eight identified features. The prediction results based of the developed k-NN model on the selected features on the test data exhibited a classification rate of 96.5% was achieved suggesting that the features examined are non-trivial in classifying the fish hunger behaviour.

Context-dependent strategies of food allocation among offspring in a facultative cooperative breeder

Abstract Natural selection should favor adoption of parental strategies that maximize fitness when allocating investment among offspring. In birds, begging displays often convey information of nestling need and quality, allowing parents to make adaptive food allocation decisions. We investigated how adults utilized cues likely to represent nestling competitive ability (begging position) and need (begging intensity) and a cue independent of nestling control (nestling sex) to distribute food among nestlings in a facultative cooperative breeder, the black-throated tit (Aegithalos concinnus). We found that parents reduced their efforts when helped, suggesting that parents of helped broods would have the potential to satisfy nestling needs more than unhelped parents. This suggestion was supported by the fact that nestling mass increased faster in helped than in unhelped nests. We found no effect of nestling sex on food allocation, but, as predicted, we found that adults responded differently to begging signals in relation to the presence of helpers and brood size. First, helped parents were more responsive to nestling begging intensity than parents without helpers. Second, female parents and helpers had a stronger preference for nestling begging position in large than in small broods. Third, the preference for nestling begging position was greater for unhelped than for helped female parents. These results provide evidence that carers adjust their preference for different offspring begging signals based on availability of food resources.

Food allocation and feeding behaviours of Magellanic penguin, Spheniscus magellanicus, adults and chicks

In a food-limited system, parents may have to allocate resources in ways that do not benefit all their offspring equally. We investigated food allocation and parent and chick behaviours in Magellanic penguins at their colony in Punta Tombo, Argentina, by observing feedings in one- and two-chick broods after the chicks were more than 20 days of age. Feeds lasted 21 min on average, and the length of a feed was not correlated either with the number of chicks in a brood, or with the amount of food the parents gave. Parents with two-chick broods distributed food evenly to both chicks. Although single chicks were fed more than chicks with siblings, as a proportion of a chick's start weight, both single chicks and lighter chicks in two-chick broods received significantly more food than heavier chicks. Chicks continued begging after the last feed in nearly half of the two-chick broods, suggesting they were not sated and so are food-limited. In linear mixed-effects models that considered, respectively, the absolute amount of food a chick received and the amount of food it received as a proportion of its start weight, chick begging was the most significant predictor of how much it was fed. Jostling behaviours between the chicks did not correlate with the amount of food either one received. Parental nonfeeding behaviours in two-chick broods (e.g. bending towards a chick and opening the bill but not regurgitating food) were more frequently directed at the lighter chick, but did not correlate with the amount of food a chick received. These results suggest (1) parents are motived to feed their chicks quickly, (2) parents try to allocate food equally to chicks of this age and (3) chicks devote most of their energy trying to get fed by the parent, rather than competing antagonistically with one another.

The effect of gender on food insecurity among HIV-infected people receiving anti-retroviral therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BackgroundHIV-infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy have a high prevalence of food insecurity in both high- and low-income settings., Women bear an inequitable burden of food insecurity due to lack of control over resources and over household food allocation decision-making. The few studies conducted on the association between food insecurity and gender among HIV-infected adults have inconclusive findings. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the pooled effect of gender on food insecurity among HIV-infected adults receiving antiretroviral therapy.MethodWe conducted an electronic, web-based search using PubMed, CINAHL, PopLine, MedNar, Embase, Cochrane library, the JBI Library, the Web of Science and Google Scholar. We included studies which reported the association between food insecurity and gender among HIV-infected adults receiving antiretroviral therapy whose age was greater than 18 years. The analysis was conducted using STATA 14 software. A random effects model was used to estimate the pooled effect a 95% confidence interval(CI). Forest plots were used to visualize the presence of heterogeneity. Funnel plots and Egger’s and Begg’s tests were used to check for publication bias.ResultsA total of 776 studies were identified of which seventeen studies were included in the meta-analysis, with a total of 5827 HIV infected adults receiving antiretroviral therapy. We found that the gender of HIV-infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy had statistically significant effects on food insecurity. The pooled odds of developing food insecurity among female HIV infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy was 53% higher than male HIV infected adults (OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.29, 1.83). Our analysis indicate the findings of studies conducted in the high-income countries showed weakest associations between gender and food insecurity than those conducted in low- and middle-income countries.ConclusionOur systematic review and meta-analysis showed statistically significant effect of gender on food insecurity among HIV-infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy in which odds of food insecurity was higher among female HIV infected adults compared to male HIV-infected adults. These findings suggest that the need to include within food and nutrition interventions for HIV-infected adults receiving antiretroviral treatment, culture- and context-specific gender-based policies to address the sex/gender related vulnerability to food insecurity.