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Previous investigations of bovine seminal plasma (BSP) have revealed the identities of the three major proteins, BSP-PDC109, BSP-A3 and BSP-30 kDa, which together constitute about half of the total protein, as well as about 30 of the minor proteins. Analyses of BSP by 2-DE have revealed about 250 protein spots, suggesting that much of the BSP proteome remains undescribed. In this study, BSP has been analyzed by 2-D LC-based and SDS-PAGE-based proteomic methods. Ninety-nine proteins were identified, including 49 minor proteins that have not previously been described in seminal plasma of any species.

The experimental phenomena involving the changes in electron temperature and electron density as a function of pump frequency during an ionospheric heating campaign at European Incoherent Scatter near Tromsø, Norway, are reported. When the pump frequency is slightly above the fifth electron gyrofrequency, the UHF radar observation shows some apparent enhancements over a wide altitude range in radar echo, ion line, and electron density respectively, which are apparently altitude independent and consistent temporally with the upshifting and spread of plasma line around the reflection altitude. However, they do not, in fact, correspond to true increase in electron density. Based on some existing theories, some discussions are presented to try to explain the above enhancements and the upshifting and spread of plasma line. Even so, the mechanism remains to be determined. In addition, the observation also shows some enhancements in electron temperature as a function of pump frequency around the reflection altitude of the pump, which are dependent on the behavior of dispersion of the upper hybrid wave near the fifth electron gyrofrequency.

[1] Using monthly medians of ionosonde observations taken over a period including more than four solar cycles at Kokubunji (35.71°N, 139.49°E), Japan and a linear regression model to eliminate solar and geomagnetic effects, we derive the long-term trends of critical frequencies ( foE, foF1, and foF2), the E region height (h 0 E), and the F2 peak height (hmF2). The results show increasing trends for foE (+0.002 MHz/yr), h 0 E (+0.189 km/yr), and foF1 (+0.0107 MHz/yr) and decreasing trends for foF2 (À0.0058 MHz/yr at noon and À0.0016 MHz/year at midnight) and hmF2 (À0.398 km/yr at noon and À0.505 km/year at midnight). We have also analyzed seasonal and diurnal trend variations. These trends differed for various times of day and months, even with altering signs (except for hmF2). An interesting phenomenon was observed for the first time; that is, the morphologies of the overall seasonal trend variations of foE and foF1 were opposite each other to some extent, although the trends remained positive. A similar phenomenon was found for the seasonal trend variation of hmF2 between local noon and midnight. In addition, comparison of the results from four regression models indicated that the differences induced by linear and quadratic models are slightly significant for foF2 but not for other parameters. On the basis of the average of foF2 data obtained over 5 hours around noon, we have assessed the performance of each of these regression models. The performance differed depending on the month. The results showed that the quadratic model and the linear model that took saturation into consideration performed better than the linear ones which did not consider saturation. In addition, it was indicated that the effect of geomagnetic activity was not significant in regression models at this station.

Many animals have individual and social mechanisms for combating pathogens. Animals may exhibit short-term physiological tradeoffs between social and individual immunity because the latter is often energetically costly. Genetic tradeoffs between these two traits can also occur if mutations that enhance social immunity diminish individual immunity, or vice versa. Physiological tradeoffs between individual and social immunity have been previously documented in insects, but there has been no study of genetic tradeoffs involving these traits. There is strong evidence that some genes influence both innate immunity and behaviour in social insects – a prerequisite for genetic tradeoffs. Quantifying genetic tradeoffs is critical for understanding the evolution of immunity in social insects and for devising effective strategies for breeding disease-resistant pollinator populations. We conducted two experiments to test the hypothesis of a genetic tradeoff between social and individual immunity in the honey bee, Apis mellifera. First, we estimated the relative contribution of genetics to individual variation in innate immunity of honey bee workers, as only heritable traits can experience genetic tradeoffs. Second, we examined if worker bees with hygienic sisters have reduced individual innate immune response. We genotyped several hundred workers from two colonies and found that patriline genotype does not significantly influence the antimicrobial activity of a worker’s hemolymph. Further, we did not find a negative correlation between hygienic behaviour and the average antimicrobial activity of a worker’s hemolymph across 30 honey bee colonies. Taken together, our work indicates no genetic tradeoffs between hygienic behaviour and innate immunity in honey bees. Our work suggests that using artificial selection to increase hygienic behaviour of honey bee colonies is not expected to concurrently compromise individual innate immunity of worker bees.

Based on the double integrator mathematic model, a new kind of potential function is presented in this paper by referring to the concepts of the electric field; then a new formation control method is proposed, in which the potential functions are used between agent-agent and between agent-obstacle, while state feedback control is applied for the agent and its goal. This strategy makes the whole potential field simpler and helps avoid some local minima. The stability of this combination of potential functions and state feedback control is proven. Some simulations are presented to show the rationality of this control method.

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