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Crop identification and classification are of great significance to agricultural land use management. The physically constrained general model-based decomposition (PCGMD) has proven to be a promising method in comparison with the typical four-component decomposition methods in scattering mechanism interpretation and identifying vegetation types. However, the robustness of PCGMD requires further investigation from the perspective of final applications. This paper aims to validate the efficiency of the PCGMD method on crop classification for the first time. Seven C-band time-series RADARSAT-2 images were exploited, covering the entire growing season over an agricultural region near London, Ontario, Canada. Firstly, the response and temporal evolution of the four scattering components obtained by PCGMD were analyzed. Then, a forward selection approach was applied to achieve the highest classification accuracy by searching an optimum combination of multi-temporal SAR data with the random forest (RF) algorithm. For comparison, the general model-based decomposition method (GMD), the original and its three improved Yamaguchi four-component decomposition approaches (Y4O, Y4R, S4R, G4U), were used in all tests. The results reveal that the PCGMD method is highly sensitive to seasonal crop changes and matches well with the real physical characteristics of the crops. Among all test methods used, the PCGMD method using six images obtained the optimum classification performance, reaching an overall accuracy of 91.83%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research draws from a community-engaged methodology and qualitative interviews to narrate the creation and daily operations of an Indigenous food bank in London, Ontario, Canada. In-depth interviews (n = 10) with program leaders, volunteers, and recipients detailed the day-to-day operations, including where and how foods were collected and distributed, and a preliminary analysis of the meanings and challenges of the food bank. The key strengths of the food bank are its focus on cultural safety, provision of traditional foods, and its community-led approach. The limitations of the food bank relate to the structure of the workload and sustainability of program funding. Community-led research with Indigenous non-profit organizations, such as that presented here, offer approaches that are critically important for creating culturally relevant and inclusive data that can both explain and address Indigenous health inequities, and provide the evidence needed to advocate for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about railway externalities and residential property prices. In light of the difficulties in estimating a railway pollution damage function directly, this paper attempts to determine the economic costs of railway pollution indirectly, namely, through a study of its influence on housing prices. The rationale underlying this approach is that if people have some knowledge of the effects of railway pollution on themselves and their property and are able to place a monetary value on these damages, they will be willing to offer a higher price for a property which is free or has suffered less from railway pollution than for a similar house which is affected by railway pollution. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether railway pollution is capitalized in residential property prices and to derive an estimate of the economic costs of railway pollution. The linear and log forms do not indicate where railway adverse effects on property value would terminate. However, the quadratic form seems to indicate that discount in sale price terminates around 800 to 900 feet from the railway track.

Solar powering the increasing fleet of electrical vehicles (EV) demands more surface area than may be available for photovoltaic (PV)-powered buildings. Parking lot solar canopies can provide the needed area to charge EVs but are substantially costlier than roof- or ground-mounted PV systems. To provide a low-cost PV parking lot canopy to supply EV charging, in this study, we provide a full mechanical and economic analysis of three novel PV canopy systems: (1) an exclusively wood, single-parking-spot spanning system, (2) a wood and aluminum double-parking-spot spanning system, and (3) a wood and aluminum cantilevered system for curbside parking. All three systems can be scaled to any amount of EV parking spots. The complete designs and bill of materials (BOM) of the canopies are provided, along with basic instructions, and are released with an open-source license that will enable anyone to fabricate them. Analysis results indicate that single-span systems provide cost savings of 82–85%, double-span systems save 43–50%, and cantilevered systems save 31–40%. In the first year of operation, PV canopies can provide 157% of the energy needed to charge the least efficient EV currently on the market if it is driven the average driving distance in London, ON, Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess restaurant children's menus for content and nutritional quality; and to investigate the relationship between the restaurant consumer food environment for children and neighbourhood-level socio-economic characteristics within and between one Canadian city and one US city.Design: Cross-sectional observational study.Setting: London, ON, Canada and Rochester, NY, USA.ParticipantsRestaurant children's menus were assessed, scored and compared using the Children's Menu Assessment tool. We quantified neighbourhood accessibility to restaurants by calculating 800 m road-network buffers around the centroid of each city census block and created a new Neighbourhood Restaurant Quality Index for Children (NRQI-C) comprising the sum of restaurant menu scores divided by the total number of restaurants within each area. After weighting by population, we examined associations between NRQI-C and neighbourhood socio-economic characteristics using correlations and multiple regression analyses.Results: Nutritional quality of children's menus was greater, on average, in Rochester compared with London. Only one variable remained significant in the regression analyses for both cities: proportion of visible minorities had a positive effect on neighbourhood NRQI-C scores in London, whereas the reverse was true in Rochester.Conclusions: Results suggest the presence of a socio-economic disparity within Rochester, where children in more disadvantaged areas have poorer access to better nutritional quality restaurant choices. In London, results suggest an inverse relationship across the city where children in more disadvantaged areas have better access to better nutritional quality restaurant choices. Given these disparate results, research on restaurant nutritional quality for children requires additional consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Objective 1: To determine if it is feasible to conduct an RCT of online Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) for frontline hospital and long-term care home staff under the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and need for remote trial monitoring. Objective 2: To assess whether online versions of SKY and/or Health Enhancement Program (HEP) result in improvement in self-rated measures of insomnia, anxiety, depression, and resilience.Trial Design: This is an open-label feasibility randomized controlled trial (RCT), comparing an online breath based yogic intervention SKY versus an online control mind-body intervention HEP in frontline hospital and long-term care home staff managing the COVID-19 pandemic.Participants: Participants will include frontline hospital and long-term care home staff that are involved in the management of COVID-19 patients in London, Ontario, Canada. Participants will be willing and able to attend via online video conferencing software to participate in the study interventions. Participants must have an adequate understanding of English and be able to sit without physical discomfort for 60 minutes.Intervention and Comparator: Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY): The online version of SKY will be delivered by at least one certified Canadian SKY teacher, with at least one back up teacher at all times, under the supervision of Ms. Ronnie Newman, Director of Research and Health Promotion, Art of Living Foundation, USA. The online version of SKY for healthcare workers has a total duration of 3 hours. Phase I will consist of 5 self-paced online modules of 4-10 minutes each to learn the breath control techniques. Participants will be sent an online survey in REDCap requesting that they self-confirm completion of the Phase I modules. In Phase II, 2 interactive online sessions of 1 hour each will be held on consecutive days with a certified SKY teacher, during which participants will learn the fast, medium and slow breaths. For ease of scheduling, multiple time windows will be offered for Phase II. There will be at least one back up teacher at all times. Both Phase I and II will be completed in the first week. Health Enhancement Program (HEP): The active control arm, HEP, will consist of time-matched online self-paced modules for Phase I. Phase II will consist of mindfulness-based meditation sessions delivered by mental health staff. HEP will be an active treatment program that incorporates mind-body interventions. HEP will consist of time-matched online self-paced modules with psychoeducation on healthy active living as well as interactive modules comprising of guided de-stressing exercises including music therapy, mindfulness and progressive muscle relaxation. Weekly follow up sessions will be offered to all recruited participants for 30 minutes each for the subsequent 4 weeks in both study arms.Main Outcomes: The following feasibility outcomes will be measured at the end of the study: (1) rate of participant recruitment, (2) rate of retention, (3) completeness of data entry, (4) cost of interventions, and (5) unexpected costs. Such measures will be collected on a daily basis through-out the study and tabulated 5 weeks later at the end of the study.Randomisation: Participants will be randomized after they have electronically signed the consent form and the research staff have confirmed eligibility. We will use REDCap to perform randomization in a 1:1 ratio as well as allocation concealment. REDCap is widely used by health researchers worldwide to significantly reduce data entry and study management errors to improve data fidelity.Blinding (masking): All study participants will be blinded to the study hypotheses so as to prevent any expectation bias. Group allocation will be masked during analysis.Numbers To Be Randomised (sample Size): This study will randomize a total of 60 participants in a 1:1 ratio to either SKY or HEP interventions.Trial Status: Protocol version number 2.0 (June 5, 2020). Recruitment is currently ongoing (starting June 25, 2020). We anticipate to complete recruitment by June 30, 2021 and complete the study by September 30, 2021.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov protocol ID NCT04368676 (posted April 30, 2020).Full Protocol: The full protocol is attached as an additional file, accessible from the Trials website (Additional file 1). In the interest in expediting dissemination of this material, the familiar formatting has been eliminated; this Letter serves as a summary of the key elements of the full protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]