Innovation and adaptation in the Ontario grape and wine industry: An integrated, transdisciplinary response to climate change

With scientific consensus supporting a 4oC increase in global mean temperature over the next century and increased frequency of severe weather events, adaptation to climate change is critical. Given the dynamic and complex nature of climate change, a transdisciplinary approach toward adaptation can create an environment that supports knowledge sharing and innovation, improving existing strategies and creating new ones. The Ontario wine industry provides a case study to illustrate the benefits of this approach. We describe the formation and work of the Ontario Grape and Wine Research Network within this context, and present some preliminary results to highlight the opportunities for innovation that will drive the successful adaption of the Ontario grape and wine industry.Thank you to all our partners in The Ontario Grape and Wine Research Network. The support of the Ontario Research Fund for Research Excellence Funding (Round 5), Ontario Grape and Wine Research Inc., the Wine Council of Ontario, the Grape Growers of Ontario, and the Winery and Growers Alliance of Ontario is gratefully acknowledged

(Multi)wavelets increase both accuracy and efficiency of standard Godunov-type hydrodynamic models

This paper presents a scaled reformulation of a robust second-order Discontinuous Galerkin (DG2) solver for the Shallow Water Equations (SWE), with guiding principles on how it can be naturally extended to fit into the multiresolution analysis of multiwavelets (MW). Multiresolution analysis applied to the flow and topography data enables the creation of an adaptive MWDG2 solution on a non-uniform grid. The multiresolution analysis also permits control of the adaptive model error by a single user-prescribed parameter. This results in an adaptive MWDG2 solver that can fully exploit the local (de)compression of piecewise-linear modelled data, and from which a first-order finite volume version (FV1) is directly obtainable based on the Haar wavelet (HFV1) for local (de)compression of piecewise-constant modelled data. The behaviour of the adaptive HFV1 and MWDG2 solvers is systematically studied on a number of well-known hydraulic tests that cover all elementary aspects relevant to accurate, efficient and robust modelling. The adaptive solvers are run starting from a baseline mesh with a single element, and their accuracy and efficiency are measured referring to standard FV1 and DG2 simulations on the uniform grid involving the finest resolution accessible by the adaptive solvers. Our findings reveal that the MWDG2 solver can achieve the same accuracy as the DG2 solver but with a greater efficiency than the FV1 solver due to the smoothness of its piecewise-linear basis, which enables more aggressive coarsening than with the piecewise-constant basis in the HFV1 solver. This suggests a great potential for the MWDG2 solver to efficiently handle the depth and breadth in resolution variability, while also being a multiresolution mesh generator. Accompanying model software and simulation data are openly available online

Genetic associations with childhood brain growth, defined in two longitudinal cohorts

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are unraveling the genetics of adult brain neuroanatomy as measured by cross-sectional anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (aMRI). However, the genetic mechanisms that shape childhood brain development are, as yet, largely unexplored. In this study we identify common genetic variants associated with childhood brain development as defined by longitudinal aMRI. Genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data were determined in two cohorts: one enriched for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (LONG cohort: 458 participants; 119 with ADHD) and the other from a population-based cohort (Generation R: 257 participants). The growth of the brain's major regions (cerebral cortex, white matter, basal ganglia, and cerebellum) and one region of interest (the right lateral prefrontal cortex) were defined on all individuals from two aMRIs, and a GWAS and a pathway analysis were performed. In addition, association between polygenic risk for ADHD and brain growth was determined for the LONG cohort. For white matter growth, GWAS meta-analysis identified a genome-wide significant intergenic SNP (rs12386571, P = 9.09 × 10-9 ), near AKR1B10. This gene is part of the aldo-keto reductase superfamily and shows neural expression. No enrichment of neural pathways was detected and polygenic risk for ADHD was not associated with the brain growth phenotypes in the LONG cohort that was enriched for the diagnosis of ADHD. The study illustrates the use of a novel brain growth phenotype defined in vivo for further study

Human-like hip joint loading in Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus.

Adaptations indicative of habitual bipedalism are present in the earliest recognized hominins. However, debate persists about various aspects of bipedal locomotor behavior in fossil hominins, including the nature of gait kinematics, locomotor variability across different species, and the degree to which various australopith species engaged in arboreal behaviors. In this study, we analyze variation in trabecular bone structure of the femoral head using a sample of modern humans, extant non-human hominoids, baboons, and fossil hominins attributed to Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, and the genus Homo. We use μCT data to characterize the fabric anisotropy, material orientation, and bone volume fraction of trabecular bone to reconstruct hip joint loading conditions in these fossil hominins. Femoral head trabecular bone fabric structure in australopiths is more similar to that of modern humans and Pleistocene Homo than extant apes, indicating that these australopith individuals walked with human-like hip kinematics, including a more limited range of habitual hip joint postures (e.g., a more extended hip) during bipedalism. Our results also indicate that australopiths have robust femoral head trabecular bone, suggesting overall increased loading of the musculoskeletal system comparable to that imposed by extant apes. These results provide new evidence of human-like bipedal locomotion in Pliocene hominins, even while other aspects of their musculoskeletal systems retain ape-like characteristics

Dilemmas in doing insider research in professional education

This article explores the dilemmas I encountered when researching social work education in England as an insider researcher who was simultaneously employed as an educator in the host institution. This was an ethnographic project deploying multiple methods and generating rich case study material which informed the student textbook Becoming a Social Worker the four-year period of the project. First, ethical dilemmas emerged around informed consent and confidentiality when conducting surveys of students and reading their portfolios. Second, professional dilemmas stemmed from the ways in which my roles as a researcher, academic tutor, social worker and former practice educator converged and collided. Third, political dilemmas pertained to the potential for the project to crystallize and convey conflicts among stakeholders in the university and community. Since the majority of research in social work education is conducted by insiders, we have a vital interest in making sense of such complexity

Biological survey of the Prince Edward Islands, December 2008

A biological survey of the Prince Edward Islands took place in December 2008. The survey repeated an earlier survey of the populations of surface-nesting seabirds on both islands and of fur seals (Arctocephalus spp.) and alien plants on Prince Edward Island in December 2001. Observations on burrowing seabirds, macro-invertebrates and plant communities on Prince Edward Island and an oceanographic survey of surrounding waters were also included. The survey confirmed many of the observations made on the earlier survey and permitted an assessment of trends in the abundance and distribution of biota since 2001

Evaluation of a low-cost optical particle counter (Alphasense OPC-N2) for ambient air monitoring

A fast-growing area of research is the development of low-cost sensors for measuring air pollutants. The affordability and size of low-cost particle sensors makes them an attractive option for use in experiments requiring a number of instruments such as high-density spatial mapping. However, for these low-cost sensors to be useful for these types of studies their accuracy and precision need to be quantified. We evaluated the Alphasense OPC-N2, a promising low-cost miniature optical particle counter, for monitoring ambient airborne particles at typical urban background sites in the UK. The precision of the OPC-N2 was assessed by co-locating 14 instruments at a site to investigate the variation in measured concentrations. Comparison to two different reference optical particle counters as well as a TEOM-FDMS enabled the accuracy of the OPC-N2 to be evaluated. Comparison of the OPC-N2 to the reference optical instruments shows some limitations for measuring mass concentrations of PM1, PM2.5 and PM10. The OPC-N2 demonstrated a significant positive artefact in measured particle mass during times of high ambient RH (>85%) and a calibration factor was developed based upon °-Köhler theory, using average bulk particle aerosol hygroscopicity. Application of this RH correction factor resulted in the OPC-N2 measurements being within 33% of the TEOM-FDMS, comparable to the agreement between a reference optical particle counter and the TEOM-FDMS (20%). Inter-unit precision for the 14 OPC-N2 sensors of 22±13% for PM10 mass concentrations was observed. Overall, the OPC-N2 was found to accurately measure ambient airborne particle mass concentration provided they are (i) correctly calibrated and (ii) corrected for ambient RH. The level of precision demonstrated between multiple OPC-N2s suggests that they would be suitable devices for applications where the spatial variability in particle concentration was to be determined

Evaluation of a low-cost optical particle counter (Alphasense OPC-N2) for ambient air monitoring

A fast growing area of research is the development of low-cost sensors for measuring air pollutants. The affordability and size of low-cost particle sensors makes them an attractive option for use in experiments requiring a number of instruments such as high density spatial mapping. However, for these low-cost sensors to be useful for these types of studies their accuracy and precision needs to be quantified. We evaluated the Alphasense OPC-N2, a promising low-cost miniature optical particle counter, for monitoring ambient airborne particles at typical urban background sites in the UK. The precision of the OPC-N2 was assessed by co-locating 14 instruments at a site to investigate the variation in measured concentrations. Comparison to two different reference optical particle counters as well as a TEOM-FDMS enabled the accuracy of the OPC-N2 to be evaluated. Comparison of the OPC-N2 to the reference optical instruments demonstrated reasonable agreement for the measured mass concentrations of PM1, PM2.5 and PM10. However, the OPC-N2 demonstrated a significant positive artefact in measured particle mass during times of high ambient RH (> 85 %) and a calibration factor was developed based upon κ-Kohler theory, using average bulk particle aerosol hygroscopicity. Application of this RH correction factor resulted in the OPC-N2 measurements being within 33 % of the TEOM-FDMS, comparable to the agreement between a reference optical particle counter and the TEOM-FDMS (20 %). Reasonable inter-unit precision for the 14 OPC-N2 sensors was observed. Overall, the OPC-N2 was found to accurately measure ambient airborne particle mass concentration provided they are i) correctly calibrated and ii) corrected for ambient RH. The reasonable level of precision demonstrated between multiple OPC-N2 suggests that they would be suitable device for applications where the spatial variability in particle concentration was to be determined

Exploring differences in adverse symptom event grading thresholds between clinicians and patients in the clinical trial setting

Symptomatic adverse event (AE) monitoring is essential in cancer clinical trials to assess patient safety, as well as inform decisions related to treatment and continued trial participation. As prior research has demonstrated that conventional concordance metrics (e.g., intraclass correlation) may not capture nuanced aspects of the association between clinician and patient-graded AEs, we aimed to characterize differences in AE grading thresholds between doctors (MDs), registered nurses (RNs), and patients using the Bayesian Graded Item Response Model (GRM)