Latest news with #JustinHolmes
Irish Examiner
09-08-2025
- Science
- Irish Examiner
Groundbreaking ammonia sensor developed at UCC
Farmers may benefit from a newly-developed ammonia sensor as it improves real-time detection. Researchers at University College Cork (UCC) have developed the sensor to help advance real-time detection of ammonia pollution. The development of the sensor was the result of the EU-funded RADICAL project led by UCC. The technology hopes to transform environmental monitoring as we know it, removing the cost barriers to farmers and supporting the enhancement of sustainable farming practices. Efficient detection of ammonia is essential for reducing air and water pollution, safeguarding human health, promoting sustainable agriculture, and shaping climate and environmental policies. Practical alternative to current sensors The researchers at UCC have developed the sensor out of silicon nanowire, promising a less bulky and more practical alternative to the spectroscopic sensors currently used to measure ammonia levels. The new sensor is said to be sensitive and precise while also consuming minimal power, and can operate at room temperature, allowing for real-time air quality monitoring. The sensor is designed to be compatible with existing technologies and is cost-effective and simple to produce. Initially designed to detect free radicals in the air, the team realised after meeting with several air quality companies that sensors for gases such as nitrogen dioxide from traffic fumes and ammonia from industry and agriculture were high on the priority list. The new technology can quickly and reliably detect ammonia, even in small amounts, and provide a portable solution for use in diverse environments. Vaishali Vardhan, lead author of the paper, said: 'This new sensor is a powerful tool for both air quality monitoring and research. "It is low in cost, small, and suitable for large-scale deployment. What distinguishes our technology is the use of bare silicon nanowires — avoiding complex hybridisation techniques — which makes the sensor more affordable and scalable. "The integration of UV light further boosts its sensitivity, enabling efficient detection of ammonia at low concentrations.' With ammonia playing a major role in Irish agriculture, and also sourced from vehicle emissions, it has become a growing concern. Once in the atmosphere, ammonia reacts with acidic gases to form particulate matter (PM2.5), which is harmful to human health and can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Direct exposure can irritate the skin, eyes, and lungs. Excess ammonia in an environment causes water pollution, leading to algal blooms and eutrophication, which harm aquatic life. It also impacts air quality and climate. RADICAL project coordinator, Professor Justin Holmes, commented: 'This pioneering technology is set to revolutionise environmental monitoring in the agricultural sector. It will allow farmers to make more informed decisions, benefiting both their businesses and the environment as a whole.'
Agriland
01-08-2025
- Science
- Agriland
Researchers Develop Cost Effective Ammonia Sensor for Farmers
Researchers at University College Cork (UCC) have developed a groundbreaking new sensor that they say significantly advances the detection of ammonia pollution in real-time. This technology is aimed at transforming environmental monitoring, removing the cost barriers to farmers and supporting the enhancement of sustainable farming practices. Efficient detection of ammonia (NH3) is essential for reducing air and water pollution, safeguarding human health, promoting sustainable agriculture, and shaping climate and environmental policies, according to the research team. Current technologies for NH3 measurement include spectroscopic techniques and sensors that can be expensive, bulky, and impractical for widespread or field applications. The new silicon nanowire sensor developed by UCC researchers is described as a "promising alternative". This breakthrough is a result of the EU-funded RADICAL project led by UCC, with the findings published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. The team has stated that the nanowire sensor is sensitive and precise, consumes minimal power, and operates at room temperature, allowing for real-time air quality monitoring. As the sensor design is compatible with existing technology, it is said to be cost effective and simple to produce. It reportedly can also quickly and reliably detect ammonia, even in small amounts, and provide a portable solution for use in diverse environments. Ammonia pollution primarily originates from agricultural activities and poses significant environmental and health risks. In Ireland, where agriculture plays a major role, ammonia emissions are a critical concern. Urban sources such as vehicle emissions also contribute. Once in the atmosphere, ammonia reacts with acidic gases to form particulate matter (PM2.5), which is harmful to human health and can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Direct exposure can irritate the skin, eyes, and lungs, the research team has said. Environmentally, excess ammonia causes water pollution, leading to algal blooms and eutrophication, which harm aquatic life. It also impacts air quality and climate. Dr. Vaishali Vardhan, lead author of the paper said: 'This new sensor is a powerful tool for both air quality monitoring and research. It is low in cost, small, and suitable for large-scale deployment. "What distinguishes our technology is the use of bare silicon nanowires - avoiding complex hybridisation techniques - which makes the sensor more affordable and scalable. "The integration of UV light further boosts its sensitivity, enabling efficient detection of ammonia at low concentrations." RADICAL project coordinator, Prof. Justin Holmes added: "This pioneering technology is set to revolutionise environmental monitoring in the agricultural sector. "It will allow farmers to make more informed decisions, benefiting both their businesses and the environment as a whole."
Toronto Sun
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
‘Silent majority' media event met with noisy protest at Toronto City Hall
Demonstrators crash Nathan Phillips Square news conference, air grievances about NIMBYism, bike lanes York Centre MP Roman Baber gestures at a map of the area around where a homeless shelter is due to be built in his ward during a news conference on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Photo by Justin Holmes/Toronto Sun For half an hour, Toronto's political divide was on full display at Nathan Phillips Square. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A joint news conference featuring an MP, a former mayoral candidate and several civic activists devolved into a noisy political spectacle Tuesday as a group of demonstrators crashed the scene, shouting about a hodgepodge of left-wing grievances such as NIMBYism and bike lanes. Their rivals weren't united on one political issue either, but they shared a broad, common message: Toronto City Hall is ignoring many of its constituents. Activist Daniel Tate speaks at a news conference on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. At left is former mayoral candidate Anthony Furey. Photo by Justin Holmes / Toronto Sun The speakers included a number of figures familiar to Toronto Sun readers, such as Roman Baber, the 416's only Conservative MP who shot to prominence when he broke with the provincial PC party over its COVID policies; Anthony Furey, the former mayoral candidate and Toronto Sun columnist; Daniel Tate, perhaps best known for organizing a petition opposing the renaming of Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square; and Diane Chester, who is part of a citizens' group that has spoken out about an impending shelter on Adelaide St. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Baber was speaking out about another proposed shelter, this one on Wilson Ave. near Keele St. While Councillor James Pasternak has made that plan an issue at city council, Baber has also taken up the fight. Read More With a large map of the site in tow, Baber pointed out a nearby school and daycare. 'I submit to everyone respectfully – irrespective of the discourse here, irrespective of the fact that some people value free speech but obviously do not allow others to exercise their free speech – that this is not an appropriate spot for a shelter,' Baber said as the protest rumbled on to his right. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Pro-bike lane and pro-shelter protesters are seen at the edge of a news conference on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Photo by Justin Holmes/Toronto Sun Furey said he expects Toronto will hear 'more and more from (the assembled speakers) in the months to come. 'What we are hearing today is the silent majority, from communities all across this city, from all walks of life, coming together to reclaim their city from the radical fringe who have dictated the terms at city hall for too long,' Furey said. (One of the protesters shouted that Furey was a right-wing loon.) Notable in his absence was Councillor Brad Bradford, who some see as the person most likely to champion these causes as a mayoral candidate in next year's municipal election. RECOMMENDED VIDEO While Bradford was listed as the last speaker at the event, he didn't show and was said to be tied up with his city hall duties. As the news conference began to wrap up, one of the protesters jeered: 'Where's Bradford?' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. At least one councillor was present, however. Alejandra Bravo was grinning off to the side with a handful of other people, one of whom appeared to move in an attempt to block a Toronto Sun reporter from taking a photo of the Davenport councillor. Bravo's chief of staff, Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy, told the Toronto Sun the councillor was not tied to the protest and only went outside to check out the commotion after hearing 'a lot of noise.' Councillor Alejandra Bravo shares a laugh not far from a news conference on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Photo by Justin Holmes/Toronto Sun One of the few common themes was the slate of homeless shelters the city intends to open. David Margulies, who is fighting a shelter planned for Third St. in New Toronto, said city council was 'shirking their responsibility' by 'delegating' decisions about where shelters will go to city bureaucrats. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'This is not democracy,' Margulies said. Tate spoke last and commanded his share of attention from the broadcast crews after the news conference. He called for an audit of city hall's shelter services division and railed against his ward's councillor, Chris Moise, for his focus on renaming city assets. He called the Sankofa change a 'con job' and urged a 'reset' on the Sumach-Shuter Parkette rebrand. Tate drew cheers when he thanked his lawyer Calvin Barry for representing him on a mischief charge, since dropped, that came when he spray-painted a plywood box that until recently held a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister. 'Citizens want respect again,' Tate said. jholmes@ Toronto & GTA Toronto & GTA NFL Editorial Cartoons Columnists
Toronto Sun
29-06-2025
- General
- Toronto Sun
Letters to the Editor, June 29, 2025
Sunday letters Photo by Illustration / Toronto Sun MOISE WITH NOTHING BUT TIME This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Re 'What's in a name?' (Justin Holmes, June 16): Chris Moise must have a lot of time on his hands. Maybe his ward doesn't really need a councillor as he seems to spend a good deal of time renaming things. Does he not have other important issues to tend to? Karen Benz Mississauga (Good question – other than obsessing about this, what has Moise done to contribute to the improvement of our city?) WAR TORN I was born at the beginning of the Second World War and since that time there's been continual wars with billions of dollars spent for weapons and millions of people killed. Sadly, today's drones and supersonic missiles make a nation's soldiers and its citizens no more than fodder during a war. It's an unending story for mankind who after gaining technical knowledge uses it for warring rather than people's betterment. Today, with war in Ukraine and the Middle East, one wonders when the hell will mankind ever learn. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Peter J. Middlemore Sr. Windsor (History keeps repeating itself and it would seem we never learn) HAHN A BLEEDING SCAB Re 'CUPE Ontario embraces madness with pro-Iranian protest' (Warren Kinsella, June 17): Totalitarian, murderous regimes do not now, or ever, deserve the support of rank-and-file Canadians or their enforced 'support' through our public unions: Full opt-out rights should be made available to all CUPE locals in Ontario. Fred Hahn is like a bleeding scab on the wound to the quality, coherence and integrity of our society, creating deep divisions and infecting a deep wound by now that CUPE Ontario has chosen to chronically reopen. Hahn does not in any way represent Canada's best values or advance workers fundamental rights or improve working conditions here. CUPE Ontario locals should receive materials to allow them to vote to disassociate — through members' free, democratic, unpressured secret-ballots — from this fascistic, grown-toxic, spoiled-rotten public service union. It is an embarrassment to thinking Ontarians. R.H. Bredin Toronto (Hahn appears to be quite comfortable with these insane positions because his membership isn't doing anything about it) Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto Maple Leafs NHL Columnists Columnists
Toronto Sun
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Letters to the Editor, June 1, 2025
Sunday letters Photo by Illustration / Toronto Sun FEVER PITCH Re 'T.O. still sorting out World Cup funding' (The Canadian Press, May 23): Just wondered why it costs $380 million to have six soccer games in Toronto. As far as I know, Blue Jays and Maple Leafs games don't cost taxpayers over $60 million a game, so why do soccer matches? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Gregg W. Collins Oro-Medonte, Ont. (World Cup of Suckers) COLOUR OF MONEY Re ''Black mandated' homeless shelter on way, City Hall says' (Justin Holmes, May 29): There is so much wrong with this idea. Firstly, those 'who self-identify as Black' — what does that even mean? So, someone who is not Black could decide to identify as Black? This proposal is being developed to start by 2033 — really? How many mayors will we have had by then? To apply to run one of these shelters, experience is not a prerequisite. Guess I qualify as soon as I identify as Black. And one other minor issue: The $800-million budget. I am almost speechless. Arnold de la Courneuve Mississauga (We identify as miffed) SLEEP ON IT You know, I have never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but projects like this, to represent our diversity in Toronto by employing and servicing only the Black community, make me feel like a genius! Let's review. Our great city of Toronto is multicultural and that is good. To focus on our diversity, we limit these much-needed jobs and beds to Black people only. On this same rock-solid platform, perhaps we can branch out to shelters limited only to Asian persons. The next one limited to Muslims. Nothing says diversity or inclusiveness like separating people based on colour or race. I think that was called 'segregation.' This strikes me as the antithesis of diversity. Does anyone at City Hall actually listen as these ideas are presented? Ideas like this make me want to punch myself in the face. Monique Simandl (You were expecting a less-woke Toronto under Olivia Chow?) Toronto & GTA Columnists Sunshine Girls Columnists Toronto & GTA
