The objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate the genetic diversity of Navajo-Churro sheep using pedigree information; 2) examine the distribution of the Navajo-Churro population; and 3) evaluate the effect of breeder dynamics on genetic conservation of the breed. Pedigree data and breeder information (city and state) were obtained from the Navajo-Churro Sheep Breed Association. Inbreeding c...

We analysed pigeon flock flights using GPS trajectory data to reveal the most important kinematic aspects of flocking behaviour. We quantitatively investigated the internal motion of the flock based on pairwise statistics and found the following general relationships in all datasets: i) the temporal order of decisions characterised by the delay between directional changes is strictly related to...

Ad hoc teamwork refers to the challenge of designing agents that can influence the behavior of a team, without prior coordination with its teammates. This abstract summarizes a portion of our work on influencing a flock of agents to adopt a desired behavior within the context of ad hoc teamwork. We shortly summarize our work on examining how the ad hoc agents should behave in order to orient a ...

We introduce a spatial stochastic process on the lattice Z to model mass extinctions. Each site of the lattice may host a flock of up toN individuals. Each individual may give birth to a new individual at the same site at rate φ until the maximum of N individuals has been reached at the site. Once the flock reaches N individuals then, and only then, it starts giving birth on each of the 2d neig...

The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate a new algorithm for optimization. The new algorithm is named the Genetic Flock Algorithm. This algorithm is a type of hybrid of a Genetic Algorithm and a Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm. The paper discusses strengths and weaknesses of these two algorithms. It then explains how the Genetic Flock Algorithm combines features of both and g...

This trial examined the effect of 2 turkey breeder hen ages (33 or 55 wk of age) on performance, intestinal histology, and inflammatory immune response of female turkey poults grown to market weight. Using a randomized design, female poults were separated by breeder flock age (n = 8 floor pens/breeder flock age; n = 26 poults/pen; 0.195 m(2)/bird), fed identical commercial diets (9 phases), and...

SUMMARY Uruguay's national sheep performance recording scheme (Flock-Testing Se 1 described. Recent developments of the scheme are discussed. The sChemery,~ plemented and supervised by the Uruguayan Wool Secretariat (SUL). Cent S of responsabilities by SUL and continued co-participation of breeders a~11a tists are identified as the main factors contributing to the scheme's s ~ is suggested that...

Vaccination of your lambs and ewes is one of the more common, yet least understood health management practices performed by Michigan sheep producers each year. In talking with producers it is obvious that some producers vaccinate their flock for “everything”, while others choose a more conservative approach to immunology. However, regardless of your conservative or radical approach to vaccinati...