Effects of Sinusoidal Vibrations on the Motion Response of Honeybees

Vibratory signals play a major role in the organization of honeybee colonies. Due to the seemingly chaotic nature of the mechano-acoustic landscape within the hive, it is difficult to understand the exact meaning of specific substrate-borne signals. Artificially generated vibrational substrate stimuli not only allow precise frequency and amplitude control for studying the effects of specific stimuli, but could also provide an interface for human-animal interaction for bee-keeping-relevant colony interventions. We present a simple method for analyzing motion activity of honeybees and show that specifically generated vibrational signals can be used to alter honeybee behavior. Certain frequency-amplitude combinations can induce a significant decrease and other signals might trigger an increase in honeybees’ motion activity. Our results demonstrate how different subtle local modulatory signals on the comb can influence individual bees in the local vicinity of the emitter. Our findings could fundamentally impact our general understanding of a major communication pathway in honeybee colonies. This pathway is based on mechanic signal emission and mechanic proprio-reception of honeybees in the bee colony. It is a candidate to be a technologically accessible gateway into the self-regulated system of the colony and thus may offer a novel information transmission interface between humans and honeybees for the next generation of “smart beehives” in future beekeeping.

Download Full-text

Termites live in a material world: exploration of their ability to differentiate between food sources

Journal of The Royal Society Interface ◽

10.1098/rsif.2007.0223 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 4 (15) ◽

pp. 735-744 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Ra Inta ◽

Joseph C.S Lai ◽

Eugene W Fu ◽

Theodore A Evans

Keyword(s):

Mass Density ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Block Size ◽

Food Sources ◽

Potential Importance ◽

Internal Damping ◽

Wooden Block ◽

Vibrational Signals ◽

Drywood Termites ◽

Vibratory Signals

Drywood termites are able to assess wood size using vibratory signals, although the exact mechanism behind this assessment ability is not known. Important vibratory characteristics such as the modal frequencies of a wooden block depend on its geometry and boundary conditions; however, they are also dependent on the material characteristics of the block, such as mass, density and internal damping. We report here on choice experiments that tested the ability of the drywood termite Cryptotermes secundus to assess wooden block size using a solid wooden block paired with a composite block, the latter made of either wood and aluminium or wood and rubber. Each composite block was constructed to match mass or low-frequency vibratory modes (i.e. fundamental frequency) of the solid wooden block. The termites always chose the blocks with more wood; they moved to the solid wooden blocks usually within a day and then tunnelled further into the solid wooden block by the end of the experiment. Termites offered composite blocks of wood and rubber matched for mass were the slowest to show a preference for the solid wooden block and this preference was the least definitive of any treatment, which indicated that mass and/or damping may play a role in food assessment. This result clearly shows that the termites were not fooled by composite blocks matched for mass or frequency, which implies that they probably employ more than a single simple measure in their food assessment strategy. This implies a degree of sophistication in their ability to assess their environment hitherto unknown. The potential importance of alternative features in the vibrational signals is discussed.

Download Full-text

An autonomous system of detecting and attracting leafhopper males using species- and sex-specific substrate borne vibrational signals

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture ◽

10.1016/j.compag.2016.02.006 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 123 ◽

pp. 29-39 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

G. Korinšek ◽

M. Derlink ◽

M. Virant-Doberlet ◽

T. Tuma

Keyword(s):

Autonomous System ◽

Specific Substrate ◽

Vibrational Signals

Download Full-text

Alignment indices: a new, simple method for determining the ordered or chaotic nature of orbits

Journal of Physics A General Physics ◽

10.1088/0305-4470/34/47/309 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 34 (47) ◽

pp. 10029-10043 ◽

Cited By ~ 193

Author(s):

Ch Skokos

Keyword(s):

Simple Method ◽

Chaotic Nature

Download Full-text

Predatory bug Picromerus bidens communicates at different frequency levels

Open Life Sciences ◽

10.2478/s11535-011-0015-y ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 431-439 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Andrej Čokl ◽

Alenka Žunič ◽

Meta Virant-Doberlet

Keyword(s):

Communication Systems ◽

Feeding Habits ◽

Dominant Frequency ◽

Song Repertoire ◽

Vibrational Signals ◽

Males And Females ◽

Heteroptera Pentatomidae ◽

Gender Specific ◽

Dominant Frequencies ◽

Vibratory Signals

AbstractThe Asopinae (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) are a subfamily of stinkbugs with predaceous feeding habits and poorly understood communication systems. In this study we recorded vibratory signals emitted by Picromerus bidens L. on a non-resonant substrate and investigated their frequency characteristics. Males and females produced signals by vibration of the abdomen and tremulation. The female and male songs produced by abdominal vibrations showed gender-specific time structure. There were no differences in the temporal patterns of male or female tremulatory signals. The signals produced by abdominal vibrations were emitted below 600 Hz whereas tremulatory signals had frequency ranges extending up to 4 kHz. Spectra of male vibratory signals produced by abdominal vibrations contained different peaks, each of which may be dominant within the same song sequence. Males alternated with each other during production of rivalry signals, using different dominant frequency levels. We show that the vibratory song repertoire of P. bidens is broader than those of other predatory stinkbugs that have been investigated. The emission of vibrational signals with different dominant frequencies but the same production mechanism has not yet been described in heteropteran insects, and may facilitate location of individual sources of vibration within a group.

Download Full-text

Isolation of periportal, midlobular, and centrilobular rat liver sinusoidal endothelial cells enables study of zonated drug toxicity

AJP Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpgi.00302.2010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 299 (5) ◽

pp. G1204-G1210 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Guanhua Xie ◽

Lin Wang ◽

Xiangdong Wang ◽

Lei Wang ◽

Laurie D. DeLeve

Keyword(s):

Drug Toxicity ◽

Ischemia Reperfusion Injury ◽

Ischemia Reperfusion ◽

Cell Diameter ◽

Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial Cell ◽

Specific Substrate ◽

Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial Cells ◽

Drug Induced ◽

Simple Method ◽

Elevated Liver Enzymes

Many liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC)-dependent processes, including drug-induced liver injury, ischemia-reperfusion injury, acute and chronic rejection, fibrosis, and the HELLP (hemolytic anemia, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count) syndrome, may have a lobular distribution. Studies of the mechanism of this distribution would benefit from a reliable method to isolate LSEC populations from different regions. We established and verified a simple method to isolate periportal, midlobular, and centrilobular LSEC. Three subpopulations of LSEC were isolated by immunomagnetic separation on the basis of CD45 expression. Flow cytometry showed that 78.2 ± 2.3% of LSEC were CD45 positive and that LSEC could be divided into CD45 bright (28.6 ± 2.7% of total population), dim (49.6 ± 1.0%), and negative populations (21.8 ± 2.3%). Immunohistochemistry confirmed that in vivo expression of CD45 in LSEC had a lobular distribution with enhanced CD45 staining in periportal LSEC. Cell diameter, fenestral diameter, number of fenestrae per sieve plate and per cell, porosity, and lectin uptake were significantly different in the subpopulations, consistent with the literature. Endocytosis of low concentrations of the LSEC-specific substrate, formaldehyde-treated serum albumin, was restricted to CD45 bright and dim LSEC. Acetaminophen was more toxic to the CD45 dim and negative populations than to the CD45 bright population. In conclusion, CD45 is highly expressed in periportal LSEC, low in midlobular LSEC, and negative in centrilobular LSEC, and this provides an easy separation method to isolate LSEC from the three different hepatic regions. The LSEC subpopulations obtained by this method are adequate for functional studies and drug toxicity testing.

Download Full-text

A simple way for producing holographic filters suitable for image improvement

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100108271 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 226-227

Author(s):

K.-H. Herrmann ◽

E. Reuber ◽

P. Schiske

Keyword(s):

Transfer Functions ◽

Diffraction Order ◽

Lateral Position ◽

Simple Method ◽

Spatial Frequencies ◽

Resolution Electron ◽

Wiener Filters ◽

Image Improvement ◽

Optical Reconstruction ◽

Set Up

Aposteriori deblurring of high resolution electron micrographs of weak phase objects can be performed by holographic filters [1,2] which are arranged in the Fourier domain of a light-optical reconstruction set-up. According to the diffraction efficiency and the lateral position of the grating structure, the filters permit adjustment of the amplitudes and phases of the spatial frequencies in the image which is obtained in the first diffraction order.In the case of bright field imaging with axial illumination, the Contrast Transfer Functions (CTF) are oscillating, but real. For different imageforming conditions and several signal-to-noise ratios an extensive set of Wiener-filters should be available. A simple method of producing such filters by only photographic and mechanical means will be described here.A transparent master grating with 6.25 lines/mm and 160 mm diameter was produced by a high precision computer plotter. It is photographed through a rotating mask, plotted by a standard plotter.

Download Full-text

Rotary Beveling for In Situ Thin-Section Microscopy of Cell Cultures

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100099192 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

pp. 550-551

Author(s):

Dean A. Handley ◽

Jack T. Alexander ◽

Shu Chien

Keyword(s):

Cell Growth ◽

Cell Cultures ◽

Molecular Interactions ◽

Convenient Method ◽

Petri Dish ◽

Simple Method ◽

Thin Section Microscopy ◽

Thin Sectioning ◽

Organic Fluids

In situ preparation of cell cultures for ultrastructural investigations is a convenient method by which fixation, dehydration and embedment are carried out in the culture petri dish. The in situ method offers the advantage of preserving the native orientation of cell-cell interactions, junctional regions and overlapping configurations. In order to section after embedment, the petri dish is usually separated from the polymerized resin by either differential cryo-contraction or solvation in organic fluids. The remaining resin block must be re-embedded before sectioning. Although removal of the petri dish may not disrupt the native cellular geometry, it does sacrifice what is now recognized as an important characteristic of cell growth: cell-substratum molecular interactions. To preserve the topographic cell-substratum relationship, we developed a simple method of tapered rotary beveling to reduce the petri dish thickness to a dimension suitable for direct thin sectioning.

Download Full-text

The Demonstration of Human Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (Pap) With Phosphorylcholine

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100090427 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 34 ◽

pp. 88-89

Author(s):

José A. Serrano ◽

Hannah L. Wasserkrug ◽

Anna A. Serrano ◽

Arnold M. Seligman

Keyword(s):

Acid Phosphatase ◽

Prostate Gland ◽

Prostatic Acid Phosphatase ◽

Human Prostate ◽

Rat Tissues ◽

Specific Substrate ◽

Acid Phosphatases ◽

Lysosomal Acid ◽

Cacodylate Buffer

As previously reported (1, 2) phosphorylcholine (PC) is a specific substrate for prostatatic acid phosphatase (PAP) as opposed to other acid phosphatases, e.g., lysosomal acid phosphatase. The specificity of PC for PAP is due to the pentavalent nitrogen in PC, a feature that renders PC resistant to hydrolysis by all other acid phosphatases. Detailed comparative cytochemical results in rat tissues are in press. This report deals with ultracytochemical results applying the method to normal and pathological human prostate gland.Fresh human prostate was obtained from 7 patients having transurethral resections or radical prostatectomies. The tissue was fixed in 3% glutaraldehyde- 0.1 M cacodylate buffer (pH 7.4) for 15 min, sectioned at 50 μm on a Sorvall TC-2 tissue sectioner, refixed for a total of 2 hr, and rinsed overnight in 0.1 M cacodylate buffer (pH 7.4)-7.5% sucrose.

Download Full-text

Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP) Differentiated Ultracytochemically from Lysosomal Acid Phosphate in the Rat with a PAP/Specific Substrate, Phosphorylcholine

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100115870 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 450-451

Author(s):

W. Allen Shannon ◽

José A. Serrano ◽

Hannah L. Wasserkrug ◽

Anna A. Serrano ◽

Arnold M. Seligman

Keyword(s):

Acid Phosphatase ◽

Phosphate Buffer ◽

Prostatic Carcinoma ◽

Prostatic Acid Phosphatase ◽

Chemotherapeutic Agents ◽

Specific Substrate ◽

Acid Phosphate ◽

Lysosomal Acid ◽

Design And Synthesis ◽

New Chemotherapeutic Agents

During the design and synthesis of new chemotherapeutic agents for prostatic carcinoma based on phosphorylated agents which might be enzyme-activated to cytotoxicity, phosphorylcholine, [(CH3)3+NCH2CH2OPO3Ca]Cl-, has been indicated to be a very specific substrate for prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP). This phenomenon has led to the development of specific histochemical and ultracytochemical methods for PAP using modifications of the Gomori lead method for acid phosphatase. Comparative histochemical results in prostate and kidney of the rat have been published earlier with phosphorylcholine (PC) and β-glycerophosphate (βGP). We now report the ultracytochemical results.Minced tissues were fixed in 3% glutaraldehyde-0.1 M phosphate buffered (pH 7.4) for 1.5 hr and rinsed overnight in several changes of 0.05 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) containing 7.5% sucrose. Tissues were incubated 30 min to 2 hr in Gomori acid phosphatase medium (2) containing 0.1 M substrate, either PC or βGP.

Download Full-text