The mechanisms that underlie fascinating inter-individual interactions among animal groups have attracted increasing attention from biologists, physicists, and system scientists. There are two well-known types of interaction patterns: hierarchical and egalitarian. In the former type, individuals follow their leaders, whereas they follow their neighbors in the latter. Using high-resolution spati...

OBJECTIVE The main objectives of the present study were to investigate the rock pigeon parasitic communities from Iraq as well as reporting on the prevalence and intensity of various infections from both sexes. METHODS An examination of 128 specimens of the live rock pigeon Columba livia from Iraq was undertaken. The samples were obtained from several localities of Iraq. Blood samples were ex...

Plant species preferences of birds were determined by comparing the proportional bird use of plant species during direct observations with the proportions of plant species present on point-height intercepts in lowland rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum) forest in North Okarito, Westland. Plant species and bird use of plant species were divided into 5 m height classes, and rimu trees were divided into ...

Cookies were produced from blends of germinated pigeon pea, fermented sorghum and cocoyam flours. The study was carried out to evaluate the effects of varying the proportions of these components on the sensory and protein quality of the cookies. The sensory attributes studied were colour, taste, texture, crispiness and general acceptability while the protein quality indices were Biological Valu...

BACKGROUND Invasive fungal infections cause considerable morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised hosts. Pigeon droppings could especially be a potential carrier in the spread of pathogenic yeasts and mold fungi into the environment. The objective of this study was to isolation of Cryptococcus neoformans and other opportunistic fungi from pigeon droppings. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundre...

We isolated five classes of retinal opsin genes rh1(Cl), rh2(Cl), sws1(Cl), sws2(Cl), and lws(Cl) from the pigeon; these encode RH1(Cl), RH2(Cl), SWS1(Cl), SWS2(Cl), and LWS(Cl) opsins, respectively. Upon binding to 11-cis-retinal, these opsins regenerate the corresponding photosensitive molecules, visual pigments. The absorbance spectra of visual pigments have a broad bell shape with the peak,...

A number of clinicopathological manifestations may define the presence of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Histological study is used to establish the diagnosis and to differentiate the disease from other respiratory disorders. This case report suggests that immunohistological demonstration of the causative antigen in the lung may be a useful diagnostic approach in cases of pigeon hypersensitivity...

Information collection in the disaster area is an important application of pigeon networks—a special type of delay tolerant networks (DTNs) that borrows the ancient idea of using pigeons as the telecommunication method. The aim of this paper is to explore highly efficient scheduling strategies of pigeons for such applications. The upper bound of traffic that can be supported under the deadline ...

In this paper, we describe a new multi-mode telestimulation system for brain-microstimulation for the navigation of a robo-pigeon, a new type of bio-robot based on Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) techniques. The multi-mode telestimulation system overcomes neuron adaptation that was a key shortcoming of the previous single-mode stimulation by the use of non-steady TTL biphasic pulses accomplished...

Cryptococcosis has been a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with Aids. Many reservoirs of the agent Cryptococcus neoformans have been reported, but the ecology of this yeast must be elucidated in order to establish surveillance programs and to prevent infections. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of C. neoformans in Rio de Janeiro City, RJ, Brazil. ...