Ant-App-Database towards Neural, Behavioral Research on Deserts Ants and Approximate Solar Estimations
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1
Department of Neurobiology and Genetics, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Germany
The neural, behavioral research of desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis) [1], [2] requires on field analysis of the nest search runs, feeding habits, path segmentations, positioning at different day times and polarized sun light’s compass based celestial navigations [3] etc. Normally the experimentation is performed in the natural environmental conditions, which in return derive different kinds of information e.g. locations, feeders, geographical alignments, solar positions and timings etc. Due to the rise in temperature and unpredictable distribution of food at the fields, it is found to be complex and time consuming to perform such analytical and observatory studies without a comprehensive technological solution, which can help in quick and efficient way.
Meeting the technological objectives of this research, we took a step in the development of a new user friendly, embedded and biological database system i.e. Ant-App-Database; smart phone, tablet application towards the efficient experimental data manipulation and management (Fig. 1). Furthermore to have the approximate geographical measurements of the observer’s locations, using different Astronomical Algorithms [4], [5], [6] recommended by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it estimates approximate Georgian Day Number, Decimal Day, Decimal Day of the Year, Fractional Year, Equation of the Time, Declination, Solar Time Offset, Solar Time Solar Zenith Angle, Solar Hour Angle, Solar Azimuth Angle and Solar noon.
In addition, a desktop application i.e. Dataplus; is developed towards the efficient experimental data extraction from the database (generated by the smart phone application) and conversion into the Microsoft Excel format (Fig. 2). Both smart phone and desktop applications have been developed following the newly proposed software development paradigm i.e. Butterfly [7], integrating formal Unified Modelling Language (UML) [8] perspectives and incorporating Human Computer Interaction (HCI) [9], [10] design patterns.
This abstract/oral presentation is about to introduce and justify the usefulness of the newly proposed solution (first smart phone based application in the World), helpful for the observers in managing the experimental data including location, date, time, geographical measurements, feeders, registered and unregistered ants in a swift way. Moreover it’s about to brief architected designs, implementation details, used technologies, pitfalls and future recommendations.
The presented applications (Ant-App-Database and Dataplus) are not only beneficial for the behavioral research on desert ants but can also be used for other related experiments on different insects.
Figure Legends:
Fig. 1: Ant-App-Database; Graphical User Interface including following interfaces: Main (a), Quick Ant (b), Approximate Solar Calculations (c) and Admin (d).
Fig. 2: Dátaplus; Graphical User Interface.
Acknowledgements
Author would like to thank Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), collaborative research center SFB 1047 “Insect timing”, for funding on this research and development.
References
1. Petrov, I. Z. (1986). Distribution of species of the genus Cataglyphis Foerster, 1850 (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) in Yugoslavia. Arh. biol. Nauka., 38: 11-12.
2. Steck, K., Hansson, B. S., Knaden, M. (2009). Smells like home: Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, use olfactory landmarks to pinpoint the nest. Front. Zoology., 6:5.
3. Wehner, R. (2003) How miniature brains solve complex tasks. J. Comp. Physiol., 189:579-588.
4. Meeus, J. (1998). Astronomical Algorithms. 2nd ed. Willmann-Bell, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, USA.
5. Michalsky. J. J. (1988). The Astronomical Almanac's algorithm for approximate solar position 1950-2050. Sol. Ener., 40,227-235.
6. Reda, I. and Andreas A. (2007). Solar position algorithm for solar radiation applications. Sol. Ener., 81, 838.
7. Ahmed Z., Zeeshan S. and Dandekar T. (2014). Developing sustainable software solutions for bioinformatics using the “Butterfly” paradigm. F1000Research. 3, 71.
8. Kaur, H., and Singh, P. UML (Unified Modeling Language): Standard Language for Software Architecture Development, In International Symposium on Computing, Communication, and Control, Singapore, 2011.
9. Ahmed, Z., Ganti, S. K., Kyhlbäck, H. Design Artifact’s, Design Principles, Problems, Goals and Importance. In Fourth International Conference of Statistical Sciences, Pakistan, 2008, 57-68.
10. Klemmer, S. R. and Lee, B. Notebooks that Share and Walls that Remember: Electronic Capture of Design Education Artifacts. In ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, 2005.
Keywords:
Behavioural Physiology,
database,
Desert ants,
Insects,
Smart Phone Application,
Solar Estimations
Conference:
Neuroinformatics 2014, Leiden, Netherlands, 25 Aug - 27 Aug, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Demo, to be considered for oral presentation
Topic:
General neuroinformatics
Citation:
Ahmed
Z
(2014). Ant-App-Database towards Neural, Behavioral Research on Deserts Ants and Approximate Solar Estimations.
Front. Neuroinform.
Conference Abstract:
Neuroinformatics 2014.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fninf.2014.18.00001
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Received:
27 Mar 2014;
Published Online:
04 Jun 2014.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Zeeshan Ahmed, Department of Neurobiology and Genetics, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Bavaria, 97074, Germany, zahmed@ifh.rutgers.edu