Media releases

• Brock set to share cutting-edge wine research with return of CCOVI Lecture Series

  Wednesday, January 10, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 10 January 2018 – R00006

  Wine aficionados from around the world can soak up Brock University’s leading grape and wine research as the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) Lecture Series returns for its 11th year.

  Ten speakers from across CCOVI’s network of researchers, scientists, fellows and professional affiliates are participating in this year’s series. Topics will span a wide range from the debate over screw cap versus cork closures on wine bottles, to why we buy certain sparkling wines and the latest research on cold hardiness, leaf removal impacts and extracting polyphenolics during ice syrup production.

  The series has become a highly anticipated event both locally and for those accessing the lecture remotely through livestreaming capabilities. In 2017, the CCOVI Lecture Series garnered more than 1,200 views from 51 countries around the world.

  “We are pleased to once again bring the latest in grape and wine research from the lab to the classroom,” said CCOVI Director Debbie Inglis. “Sharing knowledge and providing outreach opportunities like the lecture series is an important part of CCOVI’s mandate and is of tremendous benefit to our industry and our students.”

  The series will begin Monday, Jan. 15 with a special presentation of the late Karl Kaiser’s popular talk, “Pinot Noir: The savage yet seductive grape,” by Flat Rock Cellars winemaker David Sheppard.

  Having worked predominantly on Pinot Noir production alongside Kaiser at Inniskillin makes Sheppard uniquely qualified to pay tribute to the industry icon though sharing his still-relevant lecture with a new audience.

  “Being able to once again share Karl Kaiser’s lecture and record it for future generations to access is so exciting,” said Inglis. “He was a gifted educator and there is no better way to pay tribute to his life’s work than beginning our lecture series by educating a new generation.”

  The free lectures start at 2 p.m. every Monday and will take place in room H313 of the Mackenzie Chown complex at Brock University. Paid parking is available in the nearby Lot E. The lectures will also be available to watch online by visiting webapp.lifesizecloud.com

  For more information and to see archived lecture videos, visit the CCOVI Lecture Series website.
  2018 CCOVI Lecture Series:

  • Jan. 15:  David Sheppard, Winemaker, Flat Rock Cellars
    “Pinot Noir: The savage yet seductive grape.”
  • Jan. 22: Janet Dorozynski, Trade Commissioner, Canadian Wine, Beer, Spirits and Tourism at Global Affairs Canada
    “Promoting Canada internationally through wine and food.”
  • Jan. 29: Belinda Kemp, CCOVI Senior Oenologist, Brock University
    “How method, timing and severity of leaf removal impacts Cabernet franc wine flavour.”
  • Feb. 5: Ronald Jackson, Wine Writer, Author
    “Get corked (the intricacies of cork closures and their alternatives).”
  • Feb. 12: Annette Nassuth, Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, University of Guelph
    “Do grapes SCREAM for frost tolerance?”
  • Feb. 26: Jim Willwerth, CCOVI Senior Viticulturist, Brock University
    “Effects of abscisic acid form, concentration and application timing on grapevine cold hardiness.”
  • March 5: George Soleas, President and CEO at LCBO
    “TBA”
  • March 12: Tek Thongpapanl, Professor of Marketing and Product Innovation,
    Marketing, International Business & Strategy, Goodman School of Business, Brock University
    “Why we buy the sparkling wine that we buy.”
  • March 19: Baozhong Meng, Associate Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph
    “Grapevine viruses, their impact and their distribution in Ontario.”
  • Mar. 26: Jeff Stuart, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
    Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Brock University
    “Sweet, sticky, and healthy — using metabolomics to develop a ‘green’ protocol for extracting resveratrol and other polyphenolics from the waste pomace of ice syrup production.”

   

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases

• Teens who bully will use those traits to get sex, new research shows

  Wednesday, January 10, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 10 January 2018  – R00005

  New research by Brock University shows adolescent bullies have a higher number of sexual partners than their non-bullying peers.

  Building on previous studies on the issue, Brock Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies Tony Volk looked at what makes teens willing and able to use bullying as a strategy to meet their sexual needs.

  “Is it being really angry? Is it being really reckless? Is it being really low in empathy? These are all common ideas to explain this behaviour,” says Volk, whose research was published last month in the journal Evolutionary Psychology Science.

  “The answer, generally speaking, was no to all of that,” he says. “The one common personality trait was being willing to exploit others, an arrogant belief that you deserve better than other people or that different rules apply to you, something, sadly, we see in the adult world.”

  The research team, headed by Volk, set up two groups, one consisting of younger teens with an average age of 13.5, and another group with an average age of 18.5.

  Participants in both groups filled out the HEXACO Personality Inventory and a questionnaire that measured how frequently they were involved in bullying activities in school.

  Co-developed by Brock University and the University of Calgary, the HEXACO model measures six major dimensions of personality: honesty-humility; emotionality; extraversion; agreeableness (versus anger); conscientiousness; and openness to experience.

  The team found that both older and younger teens who scored low in honesty-humility were most “willing and able to use bullying as a way to get sexual partners, which in turn may increase their sexual opportunities,” says the study, titled “Do Bullies Have More Sex? The Role of Personality.”

  Older teens who scored low on agreeableness and were more introverted were also more likely to be bullies, although they didn’t necessarily have more sexual partners than their non-bullying peers.

  Teens bullying to gain sexual partners exhibit several characteristic behaviours, Volks says.

  Boys tend to intimidate girls by controlling the girls’ movements and who they have access to, and threaten to harm the girls’ reputations if they don’t go along with the boys’ demands.

  Volk says girls tend to “browbeat” boys into doing what the girls want and also threaten to harm the boys’ reputations.

  Both boys and girls will attack their same-sex competitors.

  “Because the bullies view themselves as being more deserving and others as less deserving, they’re more likely to view life as a competition where there are winners and losers: ‘I’m going to knock down the losers so I can be a winner,’” says Volk.

  Opinions vary as to the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate on whether bullying and other types of behaviours are biologically determined or come about as a result of environment.

  This includes mixed messages about respecting women and prominent figures who bully to get what they want, says Volk.

  “The analogy I always use when I talk about development is that it’s like baking chocolate chip cookies,” says Volk. “What’s more important to have? Chocolate chips, which are your biological ingredients, or an oven, which is the environment? You need both.”

  He says bullying by teens who score low on honesty-humility can be reduced if parents are aware of their teens’ activities.

  “Our results suggest that both research and intervention efforts with older and younger adolescents need to recognize and respond to the relationships between personality, sex and bullying,” says the study, whose first author, Daniel Provenzano, was a master’s student at Brock. Provenzano is now at the University of Windsor.

  There are ways to cut down on teen bullying, says Volk. These include:

  ·      Changing competitions in schools to move away from a winner-loser model to one where many people win

  ·      Addressing issues of income inequality

  ·      Provide bullies with meaningful roles and responsibilities in schools and at home

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases