Boom sprayer optimizations for bed-grown carrots at different growth stages based on spray distribution and droplet characteristics.

Background: Pesticide losses and uneven spray distribution should be avoided as much as possible as they reduce the effectiveness of spraying and increase environmental contamination as well as costs. Within the H2020-project OPTIMA the goal is to develop a smart sprayer for bed-grown carrots, including optimizations such as air support and variable nozzle spacing. This paper focuses on selecting the most optimal nozzle types, spacing and height for spraying bed-grown crops, while taking into account different target zone widths depending on the growth stage, based on spray distribution and droplet characterization measurements.

Using an Online Platform to Administer the Single-Session Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm: An Initial Examination of Feasibility and Validity.

Online platforms represent a cost-effective option for data collection; however, it is unclear whether online administration of certain kinds of tasks (e.g., behavioral measures of aggression) poses validity threats.

Volatilisation of pesticides under field conditions: inverse modelling and pesticide fate models.

Background: A substantial fraction of the applied crop protection products on crops is lost to the atmosphere. Models describing the prediction of volatility and potential fate of these substances in the environment have become an important tool in the pesticide authorisation procedure at the EU level. The main topic of this research is to assess the rate and extent of volatilisation of ten pesticides after application on field crops.