1,720,968 research outputs found
NEIGHBORHOOD BLIGHT AND FOOD SWAMPS: INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF CRIME AND ABANDONED HOMES IN AN URBAN FOOD SYSTEM
Get PDFBackground: Suboptimal diet is ranked among the top causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. While many factors influence diet, research on access to food stores has received substantial attention in the public health literature. Still lacking are empirical evidence and a deep understanding of the mechanisms driving the disproportionate availability of unhealthier food outlets relative to healthier food outlets, or food swamps, in low-income areas. Prior studies and theory point to the need to disentangle the role of distinct domains within the neighborhood context that interact with food stores. Specifically, factors of disorder that are deemed threatening to the built and social environments and how they compromise the food environment have yet to be explored. Objective: To evaluate the relationships between upstream neighborhood factors of disorder (crime rates, foreclosure and vacancy rates) and food swamps (quantified as the food swamp score, which is the density of BMI-unhealthy and BMI-intermediate food outlets out of the density of all food outlets, multiplied by 100), in Baltimore City, MD. Methods: Using a combination of food business data from Dun and Bradstreet and InfoUSA and neighborhood data from the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, longitudinal associations were examined between neighborhood crime rates and the food swamp score over a 13-year period and between foreclosure and vacancy rates and the food swamp score over a 12-year period in Baltimore’s 55 Community Statistical Areas, using fixed-effects linear regression models. Interaction terms were included to assess heterogeneity in the crime-food swamp score association by neighborhood socioeconomic status and by total population. For the foreclosure rate-food swamp score and vacancy rate-food swamp score relationships, interaction terms were included to assess heterogeneity by neighborhood socioeconomic status and population change. To contextualize quantitative analyses, this dissertation also included the design and implementation of a community-based system dynamics workshop that leveraged the perspectives of diverse stakeholders to develop a causal loop diagram depicting the system of neighborhood factors that influence access to healthy foods in Baltimore. Results: Over the study period, the average food swamp score increased from 93.5 to 95.3 percentage points. The interactions between neighborhood socioeconomic status and crime and between total population size and crime were not statistically significant, therefore, were excluded from the final model. Comparing neighborhoods to themselves over time, each one-unit increase in neighborhood crime rate was associated with a statistically significant increase in the food swamp score by an estimated 0.13 percentage points (95% CI, -0.00017 to 0.25), after accounting for concurrent change in neighborhood racial diversity, median sales price of households, and total population size. Overall, the association between foreclosure and vacancy rates and the food swamp score differed by neighborhood socioeconomic status and by neighborhood population change. Most notably, comparing low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods to themselves over time, a one-unit increase in foreclosure and vacancy rates was associated with a statistically significant increase in the food swamp score by 0.74 percentage points (95% CI, 0.19 to 1.29; p-value: 0.008) and 0.15 percentage points (95% CI, 0.014, 0.30; p- value: 0.03), respectively, after accounting for concurrent change in neighborhood racial diversity and total population size. Among high-socioeconomic status neighborhoods, increases in foreclosure and vacancy rates were associated with a less unhealthy food environment; however, this association was not statistically significant. Five key themes related to healthy food access emerged from the community-based system dynamics workshop, including factors associated with an unhealthy eating culture, healthy eating culture, individual and community wealth, social stability and support, and local and federal policies. In particular, crime played a role in several feedback loops within the neighborhood food system: contributing to healthy food being “risky food,” supporting unhealthy food stores, and severing social ties important for learning about healthy food. Conclusions: Understanding more distal drivers in the neighborhood context, such as crime and distressed homes, provide a more complete narrative of drivers shaping the neighborhood food environment. Findings from this dissertation underscore the need to consider the co-occurrence of the consumer, food outlet, and neighborhood environment, which will better equip public health practitioners and stakeholders in their efforts to revitalize neighborhoods and mediate equitable food access
EXAMINING ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURES, HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY STATUS, AND NUTRITION EQUITY IN THE UNITED STATES
No full textBackground
In 2021, over 13.5 million households (10%) in the United States (U.S.) reported experiencing food insecurity. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations experience food insecurity the deepest. These disparities, in part, result from structural racism in the U.S. which has led to the racialization communities, resulting in differential access and availability of resources needed to achieve food security.
Objectives
To understand the relationships between different social infrastructures (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), social networks, and charitable food support), household food security, and the advancement of nutrition equity in racialized communities in the U.S.
Methods
This multiple methods study was conducted using nationally representative data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 2018 Panel and data from a sample of low-income and predominantly Black residents living in Buffalo, New York in 2021 – 2022. We quantitatively assessed the association between household food insecurity and changes in SNAP benefit amounts (an increase, a decrease, a total loss of SNAP, or consistent SNAP receipt) in 2018 compared to 2017. We then quantitatively assess the associations between household food insecurity and social network characteristics. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with people living in a racialized area of Buffalo, New York in May – July 2022.
Results
Among a nationally representative sample of SNAP households (n=10 million households), compared to people who received a SNAP increase in 2018, those that totally lost SNAP had 58% lower odds of household food insecurity (OR=0.42; 95% CI= 0.18 – 1.02; p=0.057), but there was no statistically significant relationship found among people who received a SNAP decrease or consistent SNAP. Among a sample of predominantly low-income and Black residents living in Buffalo, New York (n=232) residents having 7 or more close social network members was associated with a 60% lower odds of experiencing food insecurity for each additional close member in the network (OR=0.40, 95% CI=0.18 – 0.87), but no relationship was detected when there were fewer than seven close members in the network (OR=0.92, 95% CI= 0.67 – 1.27). Further, every additional person that provided any food support was associated with 56% higher odds of experiencing food insecurity (OR=1.56, 95% CI=1.15 – 2.13), but no association was detected between reciprocity and household food security (OR=0.88, 95% CI=0.69 – 1.12). Finally, through in-depth interviews with 40 predominantly low-income and Black residents in Buffalo we found people commonly used the SNAP and food pantries to meet food needs over receiving support from social network members. Poverty, challenges accessing and affording healthy food, and the inability to reciprocate support to others undermined the advancement of nutrition equity. Historical and ongoing acts of disempowerment and disinvestment also hindered the advancement of nutrition equity.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that social infrastructures are important resources people use to meet food needs. Yet, these infrastructures both individually, and as a collective, do not address the root cause of food insecurity—poverty—and, therefore, cannot fully promote the advancement of nutrition equity as currently structured. Future research and policies should focus on mechanisms to expand social infrastructures, not further restrict them, so food security and nutrition equity can be actualized by all people
EXAMINING ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURES, HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY STATUS, AND NUTRITION EQUITY IN THE UNITED STATES
Get PDFBackground
In 2021, over 13.5 million households (10%) in the United States (U.S.) reported experiencing food insecurity. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations experience food insecurity the deepest. These disparities, in part, result from structural racism in the U.S. which has led to the racialization communities, resulting in differential access and availability of resources needed to achieve food security.
Objectives
To understand the relationships between different social infrastructures (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), social networks, and charitable food support), household food security, and the advancement of nutrition equity in racialized communities in the U.S.
Methods
This multiple methods study was conducted using nationally representative data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 2018 Panel and data from a sample of low-income and predominantly Black residents living in Buffalo, New York in 2021 – 2022. We quantitatively assessed the association between household food insecurity and changes in SNAP benefit amounts (an increase, a decrease, a total loss of SNAP, or consistent SNAP receipt) in 2018 compared to 2017. We then quantitatively assess the associations between household food insecurity and social network characteristics. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with people living in a racialized area of Buffalo, New York in May – July 2022.
Results
Among a nationally representative sample of SNAP households (n=10 million households), compared to people who received a SNAP increase in 2018, those that totally lost SNAP had 58% lower odds of household food insecurity (OR=0.42; 95% CI= 0.18 – 1.02; p=0.057), but there was no statistically significant relationship found among people who received a SNAP decrease or consistent SNAP. Among a sample of predominantly low-income and Black residents living in Buffalo, New York (n=232) residents having 7 or more close social network members was associated with a 60% lower odds of experiencing food insecurity for each additional close member in the network (OR=0.40, 95% CI=0.18 – 0.87), but no relationship was detected when there were fewer than seven close members in the network (OR=0.92, 95% CI= 0.67 – 1.27). Further, every additional person that provided any food support was associated with 56% higher odds of experiencing food insecurity (OR=1.56, 95% CI=1.15 – 2.13), but no association was detected between reciprocity and household food security (OR=0.88, 95% CI=0.69 – 1.12). Finally, through in-depth interviews with 40 predominantly low-income and Black residents in Buffalo we found people commonly used the SNAP and food pantries to meet food needs over receiving support from social network members. Poverty, challenges accessing and affording healthy food, and the inability to reciprocate support to others undermined the advancement of nutrition equity. Historical and ongoing acts of disempowerment and disinvestment also hindered the advancement of nutrition equity.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that social infrastructures are important resources people use to meet food needs. Yet, these infrastructures both individually, and as a collective, do not address the root cause of food insecurity—poverty—and, therefore, cannot fully promote the advancement of nutrition equity as currently structured. Future research and policies should focus on mechanisms to expand social infrastructures, not further restrict them, so food security and nutrition equity can be actualized by all people
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
- …
