Hi:
 
We have an interesting ongoing research project and are looking for a
collaborator/reviewer.  Last summer, we equipped a nucleus hive with 96
temperature probes (about one per every inch of space inside the hive).
All 96 probes are read by a computer every 5 minutes.  We have continuous
data for this hive from July through early December.
 
3 undergraduate students and their science instructor, Bob Madsen, from
Dull Knife College in Lame Deer Montana (about 500 miles from Missoula)
have been collecting the data (the hive is located in Missoua) from the
Internet and plotting the temperature profiles as 3-D movies for days,
weeks, months, and the entire season.
 
The results are fascinating and in many ways not what one would expect.  In
some ways, the bees tolerate more variation than expected.  But at some
critical thresholds, they kick in with a control system that exceeds the
best available technology known to us.  Also, air flow inside the hive (as
evidenced by temperatures) does not fit the classical models for proposed
for beehives.
 
It seems to me that at least one beekeeper on this list might be a
specialist in designing heating and cooling control systems for buildings.
We would be interested in obtaining feedback and comments from such a
person.  We can provide the temperature data as text files, and the 3-D
movies as animated gif files.
 
This data would also be a great exercise in modeling of thermoregulation
inside a hive.  Any mathematician's or computer scientists out there who
need a thesis project?
 
We intend to publish this work.  At this time, we can make the information
available to people who would be willing to collaborate with us, or who
would use the information in a constructive way (such as a thesis project).
 We are not ready at this time to release this information to everyone on
the List - we have some hard work to do before we come to final conclusions
about the data.
 
Cheers
 
 
Jerry J. Bromenshenk
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http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees