Using GPS, GIS & remote sensing to understand Niagara Terroir : Pinot noir in the Four Mile Creek & St. David's Bench sub-appellations

The relationships between vine water status, soil texture, and vine size were observed in four Niagara, Ontario Pinot noir vineyards in 2008 and 2009. The vineyards were divided into water status zones using geographic information systems (GIS) software to map the seasonal mean midday leaf water potential (,P), and dormant pruning shoot weights following the 2008 season. Fruit was harvested from all sentinel vines, bulked by water status zones and made into wine. Sensory analysis included a multidimensional sorting (MDS) task and descriptive analysis (DA) of the 2008 wines. Airborne multispectral images, with a spatial resolution of 38 cm, were captured four times in 2008 and three times in 2009, with the final flights around veraison. A semi-automatic process was developed to extract NDVI from the images, and a masking procedure was identified to create a vine-only NDVI image. 2008 and 2009 were cooler and wetter than mean years, and the range of water status zones was narrow. Yield per vine, vine size, anthocyanins and phenols were the least consistent variables. Divided by water status or vine size, there were no variables with differences between zones in all four vineyards in either year. Wines were not different between water status zones in any chemical analysis, and HPLC revealed that there were no differences in individual anthocyanins or phenolic compounds between water status zones within the vineyard sites. There were some notable correlations between vineyard and grape composition variables, and spatial trends were observed to be qualitatively related for many of the variables. The MDS task revealed that wines from each vineyard were more affected by random fermentation effects than water status effects. This was confirmed by the DA; there were no differences between wines from the water status zones within vineyard sites for any attribute. Remotely sensed NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) correlated reasonably well with a number of grape composition variables, as well as soil type. Resampling to a lower spatial resolution did not appreciably affect the strength of correlations, and corresponded to the information contained in the masked images, while maintaining the range of values of NDVI. This study showed that in cool climates, there is the potential for using precision viticulture techniques to understand the variability in vineyards, but the variable weather presents a challenge for understanding the driving forces of that variability.

Elucidation of the Retinoid Signalling Pathway Involved in Axon Guidance in Lymnaea stagnalis and Xenopus laevis

The vitamin A metabolite, retinoic acid (RA), is known to play a crucial role in several developmental processes including axial patterning and differentiation. More recently, RA has been implicated in the regenerative process acting through its classical signaling pathway, the nuclear receptors, retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR), to mediate gene transcription. Moreover, RA has been shown to act as a guidance molecule for growth cones of regenerating motorneurons of the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. Our lab has recently shown that RA can induce this morphological response independent of nuclear transcription, however, the role of the retinoid receptors in RA-induced chemoattraction is still unknown. Here, I show that the retinoid receptors, RXR and RAR, may mediate the growth cones response to the metabolically active retinoic acid isomers, all-trans and 9-cis RA, in Lymnaea stagnalis. Data presented here show that both an RXR and RAR antagonist can block growth cone turning in response to application of both isomers. Because no prior investigations have shown growth cone turning of individual vertebrate neurons, I aimed to show that both retinoic acid isomers were capable of inducing growth cone turning of embryonic spinal cord neurons in the frog, Xenopus laevis. For the first time in Xenopus, I showed that both all-trans and 9-cis RA were able to induce significantly more neurite outgrowth from cultured embryonic spinal cord neurons and induce positive growth cone turning of individual growth cones. In addition, I showed that the presence of the RXR antagonist, HX531, blocked 9-cis RA-induced growth cone turning and the RARβ antagonist, LE135, blocked all-trans RA-induced growth cone turning in this species. Evidence provided here shows for the first time, conservation of retinoic acid-induced growth cone turning in a vertebrate model system. In addition, these data show that the receptors involved in this morphological response may be the same in vertebrates and invertebrates.

An examination of how youth understand their rights during the criminal process

In order for young people to meaningfully participate in the criminal justice system they must possess an understanding of their rights and legal procedures. To examine their understanding, 50 young people between the ages of 13-17 who received an extrajudicial sanction or were sentenced to probation, were recruited from the Finch Courthouse in Toronto, Ontario. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants regarding their understanding of their due process rights and their rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Youth who indicated involvement in plea bargaining were also asked about their experiences during this procedure. In addition, the present study examined youths' perceptions of power differences in their interactions with criminal justice officials working within an institution that has tremendous control over offenders' lives. The results indicate that while youth seem to have some understanding oftheir rights and legal procedures, they nevertheless feel ill-equipped to invoke their rights in an adult-led criminal justice system. Furthermore, while past literature has often conceptualized youth understanding based on age (e.g., Crawford & Bull, 2006) the findings of the present study demonstrate that while age plays some role, the lack of power experienced by youth vis-a-vis adults, and specifically criminal justice professionals, has the most bearing on the inability of youth to exercise their rights.