Christian, especially Protestant, identity is often framed through the lens of belief, particularly belief understood as an interior orientation. Through examination non-denominational Protestant group, ‘Little Flock’, founded by Watchman Nee in early 20th century, we trace enduring aspects Little Flock theology contemporary Chinese practice. In particular, attend to conceptions and debates sur...

In Java, Indonesia, during March 2007-March 2008, 96 farms with scavenging ducks that were not vaccinated against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) were monitored bimonthly. Bird-level (prevalence among individual birds) H5 seroprevalence was 2.6% for ducks and 0.5% for chickens in contact with ducks. At least 1 seropositive bird was detected during 19.5% and 2.0% of duck- and chicken-fl...

Recently, performance controlled wireless sensor networks have attracted significant interest with the emergence of mission-critical applications (e.g. health monitoring). Performance control can be carried out by robust congestion control approaches that aim to keep the network operational under varying network conditions. In this study, swarm intelligence is successfully employed to combat co...

NPIP-mandated serological screening of a multiplier breeder flock detected possible Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) exposure. The flock was quarantined and further samples including blood and choanal swabs were collected and sent to a research facility for independent testing and confirmation. Subsequent analyses included diagnosis by Serum Plate Agglutination (SPA), MG-specific Polymerase Chain ...

Predator detection is improved when individuals join groups. Theory assumes that the transfer of social information about predators among individuals is immediate and accurate. However, animals in groups space themselves at different distances. Little is known about the shape of the social information transfer function over distance, which can affect group cohesion and ultimately the costs and ...

In automated lane-free traffic, vehicles can choose any arbitrary lateral location. This enables vehicle flocking where, compared to platooning, the grouping of is possible with smaller space gaps, not only longitudinally but also laterally. Vehicle fulfill several purposes, such as increasing road capacity, saving energy by reducing aerodynamic drag force, and dampening shockwaves. Within this...

This case study presents a female aged 54 yrs with a 12 months history of progressive pulmonary impairment after a 7-yr period of occupational exposure to rotary-cut polyethylene. An open lung biopsy revealed the histopathology of follicular bronchiolitis that is viewed as a stereotypical feature for flock worker's lung. It seems to be the first case of plastic flock-associated interstitial lun...

We study a one-dimensional lattice flocking model incorporating all three of the flocking criteria proposed by Reynolds [Computer Graphics 21, 4 (1987)]: alignment, centering, and separation. The model generalizes that introduced by O. J. O'Loan and M. R. Evans [J. Phys. A. 32, L99 (1999)]. We motivate the dynamical rules by microscopic sampling considerations. The model exhibits various flocki...

This paper explores the differential impact of multi-agent system heterogeneity in context an idealised herding task. In simulation, a team simple herders must move flock towards target location continuous 2d space. Flock is controlled by dividing into number non-overlapping social groups that influence sheep movement. Results demonstrate increasing (i.e., different groups) reduces performance ...

The number of lambs sold per ewe mated in the breeding flock has a considerable impact on sheep operation profitability. This depends primarily on fertility, prolificacy (# of lambs), and lamb survival, mothering ability, milk production of the ewe and lamb growth rate. Optimal reproduction does vary by environment and management system – some sheep operations don’t want a lambing rate over 200...