Decoy

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See Decoy (TV series) for the 1957 television series of this name.

A decoy is usually a person, device or event meant as a distraction to conceal what an individual or a group might be looking for. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes.

The decoy in war may for example be a wooden fake tank, designed to be mistaken by bomber plane crews to be real, or a device that fools an automatic system such as a guided missile, by simulating some physical properties of a real target.

For a defence system, decoys and chaff for ICBMs are released from the rocket in midcourse after reentry. If released before reentry the decoys and chaff would burn up in atmosphere.

A decoy was originally a small pond with a long cone-shaped wickerwork tunnel, used to catch wild ducks. After the ducks settled, a small trained dog would herd the ducks into the tunnel. The catch was formerly sent to market for food, but now these are only used to catch ducks to be ringed and released: see ornithology. The word came from Dutch eende(n)kooi = "duck cage". As the above meaning of a person or device supplanted the original meaning as the most common, the latter acquired the retronym "decoy pool".

Wildfowl decoys (primarily ducks, geese, shorebirds, and crows, but including some other species) are considered a form of folk art. Collecting decoys has become a significant hobby both for folk art collectors and hunters. The world record was set in January 2007 when a redbreasted merganser hen (circa 1875) by Lothrop Holmes of Kingston, MA sold for $856,000(US).^{[citation needed]} (UPI January 26, 2007: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/20070126-041246-1548r/ )

1 Decoys in protein folding
2 Decoys as Folk Art
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Decoys in protein folding

In protein folding simulations, a decoy is a computer-generated protein structure which is designed so to compete with the real structure of the protein. Decoys are used to test the validity of a protein model; the model is considered correct only if is able to identify the native state configuration of the protein among the decoys.

Decoys are generally used to overcome a main problem in protein folding simulations: the enormity of the conformational space. For very detailed protein models, it can be practically impossible to explore all the possible configurations to find the native state. To deal with this problem, one can make use of decoys. The idea behind this, is that the native configuration has not to be blindly searched through all possible conformations; the search can be limited to a relevant sub-set of structures. To start with, all non-compact configurations can be excluded. A typical decoy set will include globular conformations of various shapes, some having no secondary structures, some having helices and sheets in different proportions. The computer model being tested will be used to calculate the free energy of the protein in the decoy configurations. The minimum requirement for the model to be correct is that it identifies the native state as the minimum free energy state (see Anfinsen's dogma).

[edit] Decoys as Folk Art

Ever since Joel Barber, the first known decoy collector, started in 1918, decoys have become increasingly viewed as an important form of North American folk art. Barber's book Wild Fowl Decoys, was the first book on decoys as collectible objects. It was followed in 1965 by folk art dealer Adele Earnest's "The Art of the Decoy" and "American Bird Decoys" by collector Wm. F. Mackey.

By that time a milestone in collecting had already occurred with the publication of "Decoy Collectors Guide", a small magazine created by hobbyists Hal & Barbara Sorenson of Burlington, Iowa. The 'Guide' helped foster a sense of community and provided a forum for collectors to share their research.

By the 1970s decoys were becoming big business, at least by previous standards. The death of Wm. F. Mackey brought his decoys to market in a series of auctions in 1973 and 1974, with the star of his collection, a Long-billed Curlew by Wm. 'Bill' Bowman selling for a record US$10,500.

Since the 1960s numerous collectors organizations have been created, specialist books and magazines published, with specialist dealers, and special interest shows around the US and Canada.

The largest collectors organization is the Midwest Decoy Collectors Association (MDCA)which despite its name is the de facto international group. MDCA is a non-profit, [[[edit] 501(c)(3)]] organization which sponsors the biggest show of the year. There are numerous state and regional groups as well.

The current World Record price for an antique duck decoy: Red Breasted Merganser Hen by Lothrop Holmes for $856,000. Guyette & Schmidt and Christie's New York. January 2007.