Skill Development in Music Reading. The Eye-Movement Approach

This dissertation examined skill development in music reading by focusing on the visual processing of music notation in different music-reading tasks. Each of the three experiments of this dissertation addressed one of the three types of music reading: (i) sight-reading, i.e. reading and performing completely unknown music, (ii) rehearsed reading, during which the performer is already familiar with the music being played, and (iii) silent reading with no performance requirements. The use of the eye-tracking methodology allowed the recording of the readers’ eye movements from the time of music reading with extreme precision. Due to the lack of coherence in the smallish amount of prior studies on eye movements in music reading, the dissertation also had a heavy methodological emphasis. The present dissertation thus aimed to promote two major issues: (1) it investigated the eye-movement indicators of skill and skill development in sight-reading, rehearsed reading and silent reading, and (2) developed and tested suitable methods that can be used by future studies on the topic. Experiment I focused on the eye-movement behaviour of adults during their first steps of learning to read music notation. The longitudinal experiment spanned a nine-month long music-training period, during which 49 participants (university students taking part in a compulsory music course) sight-read and performed a series of simple melodies in three measurement sessions. Participants with no musical background were entitled as “novices”, whereas “amateurs” had had musical training prior to the experiment. The main issue of interest was the changes in the novices’ eye movements and performances across the measurements while the amateurs offered a point of reference for the assessment of the novices’ development. The experiment showed that the novices tended to sight-read in a more stepwise fashion than the amateurs, the latter group manifesting more back-and-forth eye movements. The novices’ skill development was reflected by the faster identification of note symbols involved in larger melodic intervals. Across the measurements, the novices also began to show sensitivity to the melodies’ metrical structure, which the amateurs demonstrated from the very beginning. The stimulus melodies consisted of quarter notes, making the effects of meter and larger melodic intervals distinguishable from effects caused by, say, different rhythmic patterns. Experiment II explored the eye movements of 40 experienced musicians (music education students and music performance students) during temporally controlled rehearsed reading. This cross-sectional experiment focused on the eye-movement effects of one-bar-long melodic alterations placed within a familiar melody. The synchronizing of the performance and eye-movement recordings enabled the investigation of the eye-hand span, i.e., the temporal gap between a performed note and the point of gaze. The eye-hand span was typically found to remain around one second. Music performance students demonstrated increased professing efficiency by their shorter average fixation durations as well as in the two examined eye-hand span measures: these participants used larger eye-hand spans more frequently and inspected more of the musical score during the performance of one metrical beat than students of music education. Although all participants produced performances almost indistinguishable in terms of their auditory characteristics, the altered bars indeed affected the reading of the score: the general effects of expertise in terms of the two eye- hand span measures, demonstrated by the music performance students, disappeared in the face of the melodic alterations. Experiment III was a longitudinal experiment designed to examine the differences between adult novice and amateur musicians’ silent reading of music notation, as well as the changes the 49 participants manifested during a nine-month long music course. From a methodological perspective, an opening to research on eye movements in music reading was the inclusion of a verbal protocol in the research design: after viewing the musical image, the readers were asked to describe what they had seen. A two-way categorization for verbal descriptions was developed in order to assess the quality of extracted musical information. More extensive musical background was related to shorter average fixation duration, more linear scanning of the musical image, and more sophisticated verbal descriptions of the music in question. No apparent effects of skill development were observed for the novice music readers alone, but all participants improved their verbal descriptions towards the last measurement. Apart from the background-related differences between groups of participants, combining verbal and eye-movement data in a cluster analysis identified three styles of silent reading. The finding demonstrated individual differences in how the freely defined silent-reading task was approached. This dissertation is among the first presentations of a series of experiments systematically addressing the visual processing of music notation in various types of music-reading tasks and focusing especially on the eye-movement indicators of developing music-reading skill. Overall, the experiments demonstrate that the music-reading processes are affected not only by “top-down” factors, such as musical background, but also by the “bottom-up” effects of specific features of music notation, such as pitch heights, metrical division, rhythmic patterns and unexpected melodic events. From a methodological perspective, the experiments emphasize the importance of systematic stimulus design, temporal control during performance tasks, and the development of complementary methods, for easing the interpretation of the eye-movement data. To conclude, this dissertation suggests that advances in comprehending the cognitive aspects of music reading, the nature of expertise in this musical task, and the development of educational tools can be attained through the systematic application of the eye-tracking methodology also in this specific domain.

Tunable lumped-element bandpass filters for Cognitive Radio application

In this thesis the design of bandpass filters tunable at 400 MHz – 800 MHz was under research. Microwave filters are vital components which provide frequency selectivity in wide variety of electronic systems operating at high frequencies. Due to the occurrence of multi-frequency bands communication and diverse applications of wireless devices, requirement of tunable filters exists. The one of potential implementation of frequency-agile filters is frontends and spectrum sensors in Cognitive Radio (CR). The principle of CR is to detect and operate at a particular available spectrum without interfering with the primary user’s signals. This new method allows improving the efficiency of utilizing allocated spectrum such as TV band (400 MHz – 800 MHz). The focus of this work is development of sufficiently compact, low cost tunable filters with quite narrow bandwidth using currently available lumped-element components and PCB board technology. Filter design, different topologies and methods of tuning of bandpass filters are considered in this work. As a result, three types of topologies of bandpass filter were simulated and realised. They use digitally tunable capacitors (DTCs) for adjusting central frequency at TV "white space" spectrum. Measurements revealed that schematics presented in this work have proper output response and filters are successfully tuned by DTCs.

Drivers and barriers of mobile travel and tourism service adoption : a study of individual perceptions and business model development in a travel and tourism context

The Travel and Tourism field is undergoing changes due to the rapid development of information technology and digital services. Online travel has profoundly changed the way travel and tourism organizations interact with their customers. Mobile technology such as mobile services for pocket devices (e.g. mobile phones) has the potential to take this development even further. Nevertheless, many issues have been highlighted since the early days of mobile services development (e.g. the lack of relevance, ease of use of many services). However, the wide adoption of smartphones and the mobile Internet in many countries as well as the formation of so-called ecosystems between vendors of mobile technology indicate that many of these issues have been overcome. Also when looking at the numbers of downloaded applications related to travel in application stores like Google Play, it seems obvious that mobile travel and tourism services are adopted and used by many individuals. However, as business is expected to start booming in the mobile era, many issues have a tendency to be overlooked. Travelers are generally on the go and thus services that work effectively in mobile settings (e.g. during a trip) are essential. Hence, the individuals’ perceived drivers and barriers to use mobile travel and tourism services in on-site or during trip settings seem particularly valuable to understand; thus this is one primary aim of the thesis. We are, however, also interested in understanding different types of mobile travel service users. Individuals may indeed be very different in their propensity to adopt and use technology based innovations (services). Research is also switching more from investigating issues of mobile service development to understanding individuals’ usage patterns of mobile services. But designing new mobile services may be a complex matter from a service provider perspective. Hence, our secondary aim is to provide insights into drivers and barriers of mobile travel and tourism service development from a holistic business model perspective. To accomplish the research objectives seven different studies have been conducted over a time period from 2002 – 2013. The studies are founded on and contribute to theories within diffusion of innovations, technology acceptance, value creation, user experience and business model development. Several different research methods are utilized: surveys, field and laboratory experiments and action research. The findings suggest that a successful mobile travel and tourism service is a service which supports one or several mobile motives (needs) of individuals such as spontaneous needs, time-critical arrangements, efficiency ambitions, mobility related needs (location features) and entertainment needs. The service could be customized to support travelers’ style of traveling (e.g. organized travel or independent travel) and should be easy to use, especially easy to take into use (access, install and learn) during a trip, without causing security concerns and/or financial risks for the user. In fact, the findings suggest that the most prominent barrier to the use of mobile travel and tourism services during a trip is an individual’s perceived financial cost (entry costs and usage costs). It should, however, be noted that regulations are put in place in the EU regarding data roaming prices between European countries and national telecom operators are starting to see ‘international data subscriptions’ as a sales advantage (e.g. Finnish Sonera provides a data subscription in the Baltic and Nordic region at the same price as in Finland), which will enhance the adoption of mobile travel and tourism services also in international contexts. In order to speed up the adoption rate travel service providers could consider e.g. more local initiatives of free Wi-Fi networks, development of services that can be used, at least to some extent, in an offline mode (do not require costly network access during a trip) and cooperation with telecom operators (e.g. lower usage costs for travelers who use specific mobile services or travel with specific vendors). Furthermore, based on a developed framework for user experience of mobile trip arrangements, the results show that a well-designed mobile site and/or native application, which preferably supports integration with other mobile services, is a must for true mobile presence. In fact, travel service providers who want to build a relationship with their customers need to consider a downloadable native application, but in order to be found through the mobile channel and make contact with potential new customers, a mobile website should be available. Moreover, we have made a first attempt with cluster analysis to identify user categories of mobile services in a travel and tourism context. The following four categories were identified: info-seekers, checkers, bookers and all-rounders. For example “all-rounders”, represented primarily by individuals who use their pocket device for almost any of the investigated mobile travel services, constituted primarily of 23 to 50 year old males with high travel frequency and great online experience. The results also indicate that travel service providers will increasingly become multi-channel providers. To manage multiple online channels, closely integrated and hybrid online platforms for different devices, supporting all steps in a traveler process should be considered. It could be useful for travel service providers to focus more on developing browser-based mobile services (HTML5-solutions) than native applications that work only with specific operating systems and for specific devices. Based on an action research study and utilizing a holistic business model framework called STOF we found that HTML5 as an emerging platform, at least for now, has some limitations regarding the development of the user experience and monetizing the application. In fact, a native application store (e.g. Google Play) may be a key mediator in the adoption of mobile travel and tourism services both from a traveler and a service provider perspective. Moreover, it must be remembered that many device and mobile operating system developers want service providers to specifically create services for their platforms and see native applications as a strategic advantage to sell more devices of a certain kind. The mobile telecom industry has moved into a battle of ecosystems where device makers, developers of operating systems and service developers are to some extent forced to choose their development platforms.

Licensing Model Development for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) - Focusing on the Finnish Regulatory Framework

Recently, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) have attracted increased public discussion. While large nuclear power plant new build projects are facing challenges, the focus of attention is turning to small modular reactors. One particular project challenge arises in the area of nuclear licensing, which plays a significant role in new build projects affecting their quality as well as costs and schedules. This dissertation - positioned in the field of nuclear engineering but also with a significant section in the field of systems engineering - examines the nuclear licensing processes and their suitability for the characteristics of SMRs. The study investigates the licensing processes in selected countries, as well as other safety critical industry fields. Viewing the licensing processes and their separate licensing steps in terms of SMRs, the study adopts two different analysis theories for review and comparison. The primary data consists of a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaire responses concerning licensing processes and practices. The result of the study is a recommendation for a new, optimized licensing process for SMRs. The most important SMR-specific feature, in terms of licensing, is the modularity of the design. Here the modularity indicates multi-module SMR designs, which creates new challenges in the licensing process. As this study focuses on Finland, the main features of the new licensing process are adapted to the current Finnish licensing process, aiming to achieve the main benefits with minimal modifications to the current process. The application of the new licensing process is developed using Systems Engineering, Requirements Management, and Project Management practices and tools. Nuclear licensing includes a large amount of data and documentation which needs to be managed in a suitable manner throughout the new build project and then during the whole life cycle of the nuclear power plant. To enable a smooth licensing process and therefore ensure the success of the new build nuclear power plant project, management processes and practices play a significant role. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of how licensing processes are structured and how they are put into action in practice. The findings clarify the suitability of different licensing processes and their selected licensing steps for SMR licensing. The results combine the most suitable licensing steps into a new licensing process for SMRs. The results are also extended to the concept of licensing management practices and tools.

Identification of research trends in the field of separation processes. Application of epidemiological model, citation analysis, text mining, and technical analysis of the financial markets

Choice of industrial development options and the relevant allocation of the research funds become more and more difficult because of the increasing R&D costs and pressure for shorter development period. Forecast of the research progress is based on the analysis of the publications activity in the field of interest as well as on the dynamics of its change. Moreover, allocation of funds is hindered by exponential growth in the number of publications and patents. Thematic clusters become more and more difficult to identify, and their evolution hard to follow. The existing approaches of research field structuring and identification of its development are very limited. They do not identify the thematic clusters with adequate precision while the identified trends are often ambiguous. Therefore, there is a clear need to develop methods and tools, which are able to identify developing fields of research. The main objective of this Thesis is to develop tools and methods helping in the identification of the promising research topics in the field of separation processes. Two structuring methods as well as three approaches for identification of the development trends have been proposed. The proposed methods have been applied to the analysis of the research on distillation and filtration. The results show that the developed methods are universal and could be used to study of the various fields of research. The identified thematic clusters and the forecasted trends of their development have been confirmed in almost all tested cases. It proves the universality of the proposed methods. The results allow for identification of the fast-growing scientific fields as well as the topics characterized by stagnant or diminishing research activity.

Integration of learning supportive applications into the development of the e-portfolio construction process

The portfolio as a means of demonstrating personal skills has lately been gaining prominence among technology students. This is partially due to the introduction of electronic portfolios, or e-portfolios. As platforms for e-portfolio management with different approaches have been introduced, the learning cycle, traditional portfolio pedagogy, and learner centricity have sometimes been forgotten, and as a result, the tools have been used for the most part as data depositories. The purpose of this thesis is to show how the construction of e-portfolios of IT students can be supported by institutions through the usage of different tools that relate to study advising, teaching, and learning. The construction process is presented as a cycle based on learning theories. Actions related to the various phases of the e-portfolio construction process are supported by the implementation of software applications. To maximize learner-centricity and minimize the intervention of the institution, the evaluated and controlled actions for these practices can be separated from the e-portfolios, leaving the construction of the e-portfolio to students. The main contributions of this thesis are the implemented applications, which can be considered to support the e-portfolio construction by assisting in planning, organizing, and reflecting activities. Eventually, this supports the students in their construction of better and more extensive e-portfolios. The implemented tools include 1) JobSkillSearcher to help students’ recognition of the demands of the ICT industry regarding skills, 2) WebTUTOR to support students’ personal study planning, 3) Learning Styles to determine students' learning styles, and 4) MyPeerReview to provide a platform on which to carry out anonymous peer review processes in courses. The most visible outcome concerning the e-portfolio is its representation, meaning that one can use it to demonstrate personal achievements at the time of seeking a job and gaining employment. Testing the tools and the selected open-source e-portfolio application indicates that the degree of richness of e-portfolio content can be increased by using the implemented applications.

Synthesis, characterization and chemical sensor application of conducting polymers

Polymeric materials that conduct electricity are highly interesting for fundamental studies and beneficial for modern applications in e.g. solar cells, organic field effect transistors (OFETs) as well as in chemical and bio‐sensing. Therefore, it is important to characterize this class of materials with a wide variety of methods. This work summarizes the use of electrochemistry also in combination with spectroscopic methods in synthesis and characterization of electrically conducting polymers and other π‐conjugated systems. The materials studied in this work are intended for organic electronic devices and chemical sensors. Additionally, an important part of the presented work, concerns rational approaches to the development of water‐based inks containing conducting particles. Electrochemical synthesis and electroactivity of conducting polymers can be greatly enhanced in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) in comparison to conventional electrolytes. Therefore, poly(para‐phyenylene) (PPP) was electrochemically synthesized in the two representative RTILs: bmimPF6 and bmiTf2N (imidazolium and pyrrolidinium‐based salts, respectively). It was found that the electrochemical synthesis of PPP was significantly enhanced in bmimPF6. Additionally, the results from doping studies of PPP films indicate improved electroactivity in bmimPF6 during oxidation (p‐doping) and in bmiTf2N in the case of reduction (n‐doping). These findings were supported by in situ infrared spectroscopy studies. Conducting poly(benzimidazobenzophenanthroline) (BBL) is a material which can provide relatively high field‐effect mobility of charge carriers in OFET devices. The main disadvantage of this n‐type semiconductor is its limited processability. Therefore in this work BBL was functionalized with poly(ethylene oxide) PEO, varying the length of side chains enabling water dispersions of the studied polymer. It was found that functionalization did not distract the electrochemical activity of the BBL backbone while the processability was improved significantly in comparison to conventional BBL. Another objective was to study highly processable poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) water‐based inks for controlled patterning scaled‐down to nearly a nanodomain with the intention to fabricate various chemical sensors. Developed PEDOT:PSS inks greatly improved printing of nanoarrays and with further modification with quaternary ammonium cations enabled fabrication of PEDOT:PSS‐based chemical sensors for lead (II) ions with enhanced adhesion and stability in aqueous environments. This opens new possibilities for development of PEDOT:PSS films that can be used in bio‐related applications. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a broad group of π‐conjugated materials consisting of aromatic rings in the range from naphthalene to even hundred rings in one molecule. The research on this type of materials is intriguing, due to their interesting optical properties and resemblance of graphene. The objective was to use electrochemical synthesis to yield relatively large PAHs and fabricate electroactive films that could be used as template material in chemical sensors. Spectroscopic, electrochemical and electrical investigations evidence formation of highly stable films with fast redox response, consisting of molecules with 40 to 60 carbon atoms. Additionally, this approach in synthesis, starting from relatively small PAH molecules was successfully used in chemical sensor for lead (II).

Weed control in young coffee plantations through post emergence herbicide application onto total area

This study was carried out to investigate the efficiency of several herbicides under field conditions, by post-emergence application onto the entire area, their effect on the control of weeds in young coffee plantations and commercial coffee and bean intercropping system, as well as on both crops. Seedlings of Coffea arabica cv. Red Catuaí with four to six leaf pairs were transplanted to the field and treated according to conventional agronomic practices. A bean and coffee intercropping system was established by sowing three lines of beans in the coffee inter-rows. At the time the herbicides were sprayed, the coffee plants had six to ten leaf pairs; the bean plants, three leaflets; and the weeds were at an early development stage. Fluazifop-p-butyl and clethodim were selective for coffee plants and controlled only Brachiaria plantaginea and Digitaria horizontalis efficiently. Broad-leaved weeds (Amaranthus retroflexus, Bidens pilosa, Coronopus didymus, Emilia sonchifolia, Galinsoga parviflora, Ipomoea grandifolia, Lepidium virginicum, and Raphanus raphanistrum) were controlled with high efficiency by sole applications of fomesafen, flazasulfuron, and oxyfluorfen, except B. pilosa, C. didymus, and R. raphanistrum for oxyfluorfen. Sequential applications in seven-day intervals of fomesafen + fluazifop-p-butyl, or clethodim, and two commercial mixtures of fomesafen + fluazifop-p-butyl simultaneously controlled both types of weed. Cyperus rotundus was only controlled by flazasulfuron. Except for fluazifop-p-butyl and clethodim, all herbicide treatments caused only slight injuries on younger coffee leaves. However, further plant growth was not impaired and coffee plant height and stem diameter were therefore similar in the treatments, as evaluated four months later. Fomesafen, fluazifop-p-butyl, and clethodim, at sole or sequential application, and the commercial mixtures of fomesafen + fluazifop-p-butyl were also highly selective for bean crop; thus at doses recommended for bean crop, these herbicides may be applied to control weeds in coffee and bean intercropping systems by spraying the entire area.

Development of bean plants in soil contaminated with trifloxysulfuron-sodium after Stizolobium aterrimum and Canavalia ensiformis cultivation

Phytoremediation, the use of plants to decontaminate soils and water resources from organic pollutants such as herbicides, is economically and environmentally a promising technique applied in many areas, including agriculture. The objective of this work was to evaluate the development of bean plants cultivated in the field, in soil with different levels of trifloxysulfuron-sodium contamination, following cultivation of two green manure species, as well as to evaluate the possibility of recontamination of the area by such herbicide with the straw permanence on the soil. The experiment was carried out in Coimbra, MG, Brazil, on a sandy clayey Red - Yellow Argisol from March to November 2003. Four levels of soil contamination with trifloxysulfuron-sodium (0.00; 3.75; 7.50; and 15.00 g ha-1) were used as well as the following five types of cultivation prior to bean sowing in the area after herbicide application: black velvet beans (Stizolobium aterrimum) followed by removal of straw; S. aterrimum, followed by permanence of straw; jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis), followed by removal of straw; C. ensiformis followed by permanence of straw; and without prior cultivation, weed-free (weeded control). The leguminous plants were kept in the area for 65 days, cut close to the soil, and with its aerial part left or not on the surface of the experimental plot, depending on the treatment. Fifteen days after the species were cut, bean was sown in the area. At 45 days after emergence (DAE) of the bean plants, plant height and dry mass of the aerial part were evaluated. Grain productivity was determined during harvest. Height, dry matter of the aerial part and grain productivity of the bean plants, cultivated in an area previously contaminated with trifloxysulfuron-sodium at any of the levels tested, were higher with prior cultivation of S. aterrimum or C. ensiformis. At the lowest level of herbicide contamination, prior cultivation of C. ensiformis was found to be more efficient than that of S. aterrimum in mitigating the harmful effects of trifloxysulfuron-sodium on bean grain production. The permanence of the straw of the green manure species during the bean cycle did not harm the development of the plants or caused culture productivity losses, indicating that straw permanence in the area does not promote recontamination of the area.

A Model-Based Development and Verification Framework for Distributed System-on-Chip Architecture

The capabilities and thus, design complexity of VLSI-based embedded systems have increased tremendously in recent years, riding the wave of Moore’s law. The time-to-market requirements are also shrinking, imposing challenges to the designers, which in turn, seek to adopt new design methods to increase their productivity. As an answer to these new pressures, modern day systems have moved towards on-chip multiprocessing technologies. New architectures have emerged in on-chip multiprocessing in order to utilize the tremendous advances of fabrication technology. Platform-based design is a possible solution in addressing these challenges. The principle behind the approach is to separate the functionality of an application from the organization and communication architecture of hardware platform at several levels of abstraction. The existing design methodologies pertaining to platform-based design approach don’t provide full automation at every level of the design processes, and sometimes, the co-design of platform-based systems lead to sub-optimal systems. In addition, the design productivity gap in multiprocessor systems remain a key challenge due to existing design methodologies. This thesis addresses the aforementioned challenges and discusses the creation of a development framework for a platform-based system design, in the context of the SegBus platform - a distributed communication architecture. This research aims to provide automated procedures for platform design and application mapping. Structural verification support is also featured thus ensuring correct-by-design platforms. The solution is based on a model-based process. Both the platform and the application are modeled using the Unified Modeling Language. This thesis develops a Domain Specific Language to support platform modeling based on a corresponding UML profile. Object Constraint Language constraints are used to support structurally correct platform construction. An emulator is thus introduced to allow as much as possible accurate performance estimation of the solution, at high abstraction levels. VHDL code is automatically generated, in the form of “snippets” to be employed in the arbiter modules of the platform, as required by the application. The resulting framework is applied in building an actual design solution for an MP3 stereo audio decoder application.

The contributions of netnography in new product development

Netnography has been studying in various aspects (e.g. definitions of netnography, application of netngoraphy, conducting procedure…) within different industrial contexts. Besides, there are many studies and researches about new product development in various perspectives, such as new product development models, management of new product development project, or interaction between customers and new product design, and so on. However, the connection and the interaction between netnography and new product development have not been studied recently. This opens opportunities for the writer to study and explore unrevealed issues regarding to applying netnography in new product development. In term of the relation between netnography and new product development, there are numerous of matters need to be explored; for instance, the process of applying netnography in order to benefit to new product development, the involvement degree of netnography in new product development process, or eliminating useless information from netnography so that only crucial data is utilized, and so on. In this thesis, writer focuses on exploring how netnography is applied in new product development process, and what benefits netnography can contribute to the succeed of the project. The aims of this study are to understand how netnography is conducted for new product development purpose, and to analyse the contributions of netnography in the new product development process. To do so, a case-study strategy will be conducted with triple case studies. The case studies are chosen bases on many different criteria in order to select the most relevant cases. Eventually, the writer selected three case studies, which are Sunless tanning product project (HYVE), Listerine (NetBase), and Nivea co-creation and netnography in black and white deodorant. The case study strategy applied in this thesis includes four steps e.g. case selection, data collection, case study analysis, and generating the research outcomes from the analysis. This study of the contributions of netnography in the new product development process may be useful for the readers in many ways. It offers the fundamental knowledge of netnography market research method and basic understanding of new product development process. Additionally, it emphasizes the differences between netnography and other market research methods in order to explain the reasons why many companies and market research agents recently utilized netnography in their market research projects. Furthermore, it highlights the contributions of netnography in the new product development process in order to indicate the importance of netnography in developing new product. Thus, the potential readers of the study can be students, marketers, researchers, product developers, or business managers.

Selectivity of glyphosate in tank mixtures for RR soybean in sequential applications with mixtures only in the first or second application

Tank mixtures among herbicides of different action mechanisms might increase weed control spectrum and may be an important strategy for preventing the development of resistance in RR soybean. However, little is known about the effects of these herbicide combinations on soybean plants. Hence, two experiments were carried out aiming at evaluating the selectivity of glyphosate mixtures with other active ingredients applied in postemergence to RR soybean. The first application was carried out at V1 to V2 soybean stage and the second at V3 to V4 (15 days after the first one). For experiment I, treatments (rates in g ha-1) evaluated were composed by two sequential applications: the first one with glyphosate (720) in tank mixtures with cloransulam (30.24), fomesafen (125), lactofen (72), chlorimuron (12.5), flumiclorac (30), bentazon (480) and imazethapyr (80); the second application consisted of isolated glyphosate (480). In experiment II, treatments also consisted of two sequential applications, but tank mixtures as described above were applied as the second application. The first one in this experiment consisted of isolated glyphosate (720). For both experiments, sequential applications of glyphosate alone at 720/480, 960/480, 1200/480 and 960/720 (Expt. I) or 720/480, 720/720, 720/960 and 720/1200 (Expt. II) were used as control treatments. Applications of glyphosate tank mixtures with other herbicides are more selective to RR soybean when applied at younger stages whereas applications at later stages might cause yield losses, especially when glyphosate is mixed with lactofen and bentazon.

Project Management Tools in Agile Embedded Systems Development

Agile methods have become increasingly popular in the field of software engineering. While agile methods are now generally considered applicable to software projects of many different kinds, they have not been widely adopted in embedded systems development. This is partly due to the natural constraints that are present in embedded systems development (e.g. hardware–software interdependencies) that challenge the utilization of agile values, principles and practices. The research in agile embedded systems development has been very limited, and this thesis tackles an even less researched theme related to it: the suitability of different project management tools in agile embedded systems development. The thesis covers the basic aspects of many different agile tool types from physical tools, such as task boards and cards, to web-based agile tools that offer all-round solutions for application lifecycle management. In addition to these two extremities, there is also a wide range of lighter agile tools that focus on the core agile practices, such as backlog management. Also other non-agile tools, such as bug trackers, can be used to support agile development, for instance, with plug-ins. To investigate the special tool requirements in agile embedded development, the author observed tool related issues and solutions in a case study involving three different companies operating in the field of embedded systems development. All three companies had a distinct situation in the beginning of the case and thus the tool solutions varied from a backlog spreadsheet built from scratch to plug-in development for an already existing agile software tool. Detailed reports are presented of all three tool cases. Based on the knowledge gathered from agile tools and the case study experiences, it is concluded that there are tool related issues in the pilot phase, such as backlog management and user motivation. These can be overcome in various ways epending on the type of a team in question. Finally, five principles are formed to give guidelines for tool selection and usage in agile embedded systems development.

Glyphosate tolerant volunteer corn control at two development stages

The loss of grains during the harvest of glyphosate tolerant corn may generate volunteer plants, which can interfere in the conventional or glyphosate crop in succession. The current work aim to evaluate the control of the volunteer corn glyphosate tolerant under two weed stages. Aimed to evaluate the control of volunteer glyphosate tolerant corn in two stages of development. There were conducted two experiments with hybrid 2B688 HR (lepidoptera and glyphosate tolerant), the application were at V5 and V8 stage. The experiment was randomized block design with four replicates, using the treatments: haloxyfop at 25, 50 and 62 g ha-1 alone and associated with 2,4-D at 670 g ha-1 or fluroxypyr at 200 g ha-1. The standard was clethodim at 84 g ha-1 with 2,4-D and fluroxypyr at same rates. The applications of haloxyfop and clethodim both isolated or in a mixture with 2,4-D and fluroxypyr at V5 stage showed total control (100%) at 32 and 39 days after the application, except for haloxyfop + 2,4-D (25 + 670 g ha-1) mixture, which did not provided adequate control. At V8 stage, haloxyfop + 2,4-D (50 + 670 g ha-1) and haloxyfop + 2,4-D (62 + 670 g ha-1) mixtures took up to 6 and 10 days or longer to reach adequate to excellent control, when compared to haloxyfop isolated applications in the same doses, respectively. Either isolated clethodim or mixed with 2, 4-D and fluroxypyr did not show adequate control. The treatments showed efficient control on volunteer corn plants at V5 stage, except for haloxyfop + 2, 4-D (25 + 670 g ha-1) mixture. At V8 stage applications, haloxyfop either isolated or mixture with fluroxypyr demonstrated excellent control on every evaluated dose. The mixture with 2, 4-D can reduce haloxyfop efficiency at low doses. Clethodim alone or mixed with 2,4-D or furoxypyr did not provide acceptable level of control.

Application of Sulfentrazone in Stages of Germination of IAC 90 Cassava Cuttings in Clay Soils and Sandy

Weeds interfere dramatically in the productive potential of cassava; however, information regarding herbicides that are selective to crops is still scarce. Thus, the aim in this study was to assess the initial growth of IAC 90 cassava plants after the application of sulfentrazone at different stages of germination of cassava in clayey and sandy soils. Three experiments were simultaneously deployed: the first experiment consisted in the application of sulfentrazone in the non-germinated stage of cassava cuttings; the second one in the stage of germinated cassavas cuttings (0.9 cm shoots); and the third one in applications in the stage of cassava cuttings with buds emerging (6.5 cm shoots and emerging from the soil). For each experiment the experimental design in randomized blocks was used in the 2 x 5 factorial arrangement with four replications. The factors were composed of two soils (sandy and clayey) and five doses of sulfentrazone (0, 250, 500, 750 and 1,000 g ha-1). It was found that depending on the herbicide dose, development stage of the buds of cassava cuttings and the type of soil, damage can occur in the initial development of the IAC 90 cassava plants. The greatest potential of sulfentrazone selectivity has occurred in applications in the non-germinated cassava cuttings stage and in doses lower than 500 g ha-1 in the clayey soil.