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Room to roam and hotspots of conservation conflicts: Lions, livestock and people in the matrix
Full text linkPh. D. ThesisGlobally, large terrestrial carnivores have suffered precipitous declines in population and range. Today, they must persist in increasingly isolated natural habitat patches within a human-dominated landscape matrix. For the African lion (Panthera leo), approximately 44% of their remaining range lies outside of protected areas and retaliatory killing in response to the negative impacts of lions on communities is a key driver of lion declines in human-modified landscapes.
In this thesis, I investigate the ecological and social aspects of human-lion interactions in order to understand the viability of the landscape matrix for supporting free-roaming lion populations. My literature review reveals that lion habitat preferences are varied and context-specific. While prey abundance and proximity to water are important drivers, lions adapt their habitat use in response to anthropogenic pressures. I demonstrate the use of two modelling techniques to develop maps of livestock depredation risk in the Ruaha landscape of Tanzania, showing that lion attacks follow predictable patterns in space based on features including distance to protected areas and rivers, and net primary productivity. I then examine the transferability of my approach as a simple, scalable method for predicting livestock depredation across three additional study sites. Finally, I trial the use of a novel experimental game to examine pastoralist decision-making in response to human-lion conflict. My findings suggest that non-lethal deterrents are the preferred mitigation strategy and that while incentive-based instruments can promote pro-conservation behaviour, these may be more effective when targeted at individuals rather than groups.
This work contributes to our understanding of human-lion interactions and the resulting conservation conflicts. I highlight the complexity of the system and the broad range of methods and disciplines needed to understand it. To manage Africa’s changing landscapes effectively for roaming lions, future research should focus on habitat use outside of protected areas and develop collaborative approaches which lead to mutually beneficial results for both people and wildlife.National Geographi
Self-Flipped Classroom Reuse of Student-Produced Videos for Flipped Classrooms
Full text linkPh. D. ThesisThe cultures of social media and prosumerism enter the domain of modern education and power
a shift towards learner-centred active learning with a focus on learning through making in
nearly every subject, discipline and level of teaching. Keeping pace with these changes requires
pedagogical innovation and motivates us to develop and evaluate a new instructional and
learning approach that is built on the reuse of student-produced content.
This research has defined such a pedagogical approach, the Self-Flipped Classroom, built on
the synergy of Flipped Classroom and learning through making pedagogies. In the proposed
approach, the self- part of the name refers to materials that students produce as part of their own
learning; and the -flip part of the name refers to reuse of these materials by instructors for
teaching other students in the flipped classroom pedagogical model. This thesis presents the
Self-Flipped Classroom both from theoretical and practical viewpoints, and discusses the
experience of implementing the approach in courses related to Human-Computer Interaction
discipline in two universities (Newcastle University, UK and Uppsala University, Sweden).
The main contribution of this work is twofold. First, theoretical – in terms of the positioning of
the new pedagogy within existing theories and pedagogical approaches. Second, practical – in
presenting the testing and evaluation of two variants of the approach (the Distributed and the
Enclosed Self-Flipped Classrooms) in real case studies. Anyone who is interested in trying the
approach in their own practice will find the results of the presented case studies to be
informative from two perspectives: a) student attitudes to and experiences of the Self-Flipped
Classroom; b) associated benefits and challenges of the Self-Flipped Classroom for instructors.
As part of the investigation of student experiences of the presented approach, this thesis
explores lifelong learning skills development (media literacy, collaboration, attribution and
others) that are found amid other benefits for students who engage with the Self-Flipped
Classroom. The presented research has been conducted in the context of Computer Science
education, however, the presented results, and particularly the proposed Self-Flipped
Classroom approach, can be applicable to other disciplines.Newcastle Universit
Factors involved in the regulation of Long Interspersed-Nuclear-Elements (L1) retrotransposons in the context of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Full text linkPhD thesisHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) generally develops on the background of a chronic liver
disease following the accumulation of genetic damage and epigenetic alterations of growth
regulatory genes, leading to activation of oncogenes and loss of function of tumour
suppressor genes. Recent studies indicate that epigenetic aspects play an important role in
the initiation of HCC. This includes dysregulation of repeat elements belonging to the Long
Interspersed Nuclear Elements (LINE1 or L1) class. The L1 elements are autonomous mobile
elements and upon activation contribute towards genomic instability via insertional
mutagenesis. The thesis is aimed at understanding the factors leading to aberrant activation
of retrotransposons and regulators of active retrotransposition in the context of HCC. All the
liver cancer cell lines (Huh7, HepG2, Hep3B, PLC-PRF/5 and SK-Hep1) supported active
retrotransposition in vitro irrespective of their basal L1 expression status or TP53 status.
Since, active L1 retrotransposition through ‘Target Primed Reverse Transcription’ (TPRT)
involves first DNA strand nicking by ORF2 endonuclease followed by second strand cleavage,
we hypothesised that the DNA damage response pathways are involved in regulating the
process. To decipher the influence of individual DNA repair pathway elements on the process
of active retrotransposition, small molecule inhibitors towards ATM (KU-55933), DNA-PK (NU7441), ATR (VE-821), CHK1 (SRA737) and PARP (Rucaparib) were utilised. Overall, inhibition
of ATR (Ataxia Telangiectasia And Rad3-Related Protein), a serine/threonine kinase involved
in DNA replication stress and DNA damage signalling increased retrotransposition rate in all
the cell lines. In addition, an increase in active retrotransposition was observed in Huh7 cell
in presence of subgenomic copy of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV, a prevalent cause of HCC and
contributes towards hepatocarcinogenesis by inducing oxidative stress, DNA damage and
epigenetic changes in hepatocytes). Interestingly, the rate of retrotransposition remained
higher in cells compared to control cell lines even when they were treated with PSI7977
(antiviral agent) successfully eliminating the viral genome from the cells. Hence, HCV
upregulated active retrotransposition even beyond viral clearance and thus can contribute
towards hepatocarcinogenesis by a ‘hit-and-run’ mechanism. Interrogating publicly available
datasets - GSE84346 (RNAseq of Chronic HCV Hepatitis (CHC) patients and controls) and
RNAseq data of non-tumour liver from the Cancer Genome Atlas HCC study - confirmed
upregulation of L1 transcripts in chronic hepatitis patients liver. Hence, L1s can be activatedNewcastle University NUORS fellowship and JGW
Patterson special gran
Modelling the 3D-Genome: The development of network theory approaches to characterise and predict active enhancers
Full text linkPh. D. Thesis.Gene regulation is an important mechanism that ensures the correct functioning of a cell and
is generally orchestrated by gene regulatory elements such as transcriptional enhancers.
Identification of these genomic regions are important in understanding a wide range of
phenomena such as evolution, homeostasis and disease. During gene regulation, signals
pertaining to transcriptional activation are transferred across the chromatin regulatory
network from enhancers to genes in the form of transcription factors and cofactors that in
turn, recruit transcriptional machinery such as RNA Polymerase II to increase the rate of
gene transcription. Conceptually, we describe this as a flow of information from enhancers to
genes, mediated by the chromatin conformation. We exploit this relationship in order to
decode the regulatory landscape of genes and identify active enhancers.
This thesis outlines the difficulties associated with identifying pathogenic mutations in the
non-coding genome due to a lack of robust enhancer annotations. We use network theory to
annotate these regions and develop a new method, 3D-SearchE, that serves to predict the
location of novel putative active enhancers. 3D-SearchE achieves this by reverse
engineering the flow of information between enhancers and genes to calculate an imputed
activity score (IAS) at intergenic loci. We show that intergenic loci with a high IAS are also
present for other enhancer associated features including the histone marks H3K27ac,
H3K4me1 and H3K4me2, P300, CAGE-seq, Starr-seq, eQTLs and RNA Polymerase II.
3D-SearchE successfully leverages and summarises the relationship between the 3D
organisation of chromatin and global gene expression and represents a novel enhancer
associated feature that can be used to predict active enhancers
a Extracellular processes in wastewater treatment
No full textPhD ThesisOne of the limitations of low-temperature anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater is
poor lipid degradation. Even when psychrophiles are used as an inoculum, the lipids
degrade relatively less than carbohydrates and proteins. The first step towards the rational
engineering of lipolysis in any system is to identify the lipolytic bacteria.
In this study the combination of metagenomics and metaproteomics is used to screen for
potential and actual lipolytic bacteria and their extracellular lipases in anaerobic membrane
bioreactors treating domestic wastewater at 4℃ and 15℃. The reactors were inoculated by
psychrophilic biomass collected from the sediment and soils of Lake Geneva, Switzerland
(annual temperature range -11 – 21 °C) and Svalbard, Norway (annual temperature range -
16 – 6 °C), respectively. The feed of the reactors was primary influent collected from an
activated sludge plant. The bacterial psychrophilic community and their lipases at 4℃ and
15℃ were compared.
Of the 40 recovered putative lipolytic metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), only
three (Chlorobium, Desulfobacter, and Mycolicibacterium) were common and abundant
(relative abundance ≥ 1%) in all reactors. Notably, some MAGs that represented aerobic
autotrophs (Nitrosomonas) contained lipases. Therefore, the lipases found may not always
be associated with exogenous lipid degradation and may have other roles such as
polyhydroxyalkanoates accumulation/degradation and interference with the outer
membranes of other bacteria.
Different protein classification tools were used for the putative lipase sequences identified
by metagenomics to verify if they have potential lipolytic activity. None of the current
tools, including InterProScan, could precisely assign lipolytic activity to these sequences.
Enrichment of public databases by lipase sequences that have been experimentally tested
can alleviate this problem.
Metaproteomics did not provide sufficient proteome coverage for relatively lower abundant
proteins such as lipases. The expression of fadL genes (long-chain fatty acid transporters)
was confirmed for four genera (Dechloromonas, Azoarcus, Aeromonas and Sulfurimonas),
but none of them was recovered as putative lipolytic MAGs. Metaproteomics also
confirmed the presence of 15 relatively abundant (≥1%) genera in all reactors, of which at
least 6 can potentially accumulate lipid/polyhydroxyalkanoates. For most putative lipolytic
MAGs, there was no statistically significant correlation between the read abundance and
ii
reactor conditions such as temperature, phase (biofilm and bulk liquid), and feed type
(treated by ultraviolet light or not). Reactor temperature had no statistical correlation with
the length of the lipases either. Results obtained by metagenomics and metaproteomics did
not confirm each other and further work is required to identify the true lipid degraders in
these systems
Chemical and physical transformation of aerosol droplets in Raman tweezers
Full text linkPh. D. Thesis.Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particles are one of the most abundant mineral aerosol
totalling to approximately 8% of the total mass of mineral aerosols in the atmosphere,
amounting to a loading of ~1.3 Tg.
It is possible to produce CaCO3 via a “simple” ion exchange reaction between
calcium chloride (CaCl2) and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). This reaction seems
simple, however as a mineral CaCO3 can also have multiple polymorphs, such as
calcite, vaterite and a hydrated crystal ikaite (calcium carbonate hexahydrate,
CaCO3∙6H2O). This reaction and its mechanism is important in both inorganic and
biological chemistry, as CaCO3 is major component of bones and shells of living
organisms, and the exact mechanism of formation and transformation of the different
polymorphs is not known. In the atmosphere it can react with various reactive gases,
such as NOx and SOx gases.
This thesis can be split in to two major parts: a comparison of the hygroscopic
responses of CaCl2, sodium chloride and a hydrocarbon (2-Hydroxypropyl)-βcyclodextrin using aerosol optical tweezing and dynamic vapour sorption, and the
other focusing on the investigation of the formation and transformation of CaCO3
polymorphs in an optically tweezed aerosol droplet using Raman spectroscopy. In
this thesis the formation and transformations CaCO3 is looked at from different
perspectives: a theoretical model of the changes in the equilibrium size of the particle
at a set relative humidity as a function of depletion of CaCl2 available for the reaction,
and a spectroscopic point of view focusing on the evolution of the Raman spectrum
of the droplet as the CaCO3 forms and transitions between polymorphs.
The thesis also looks at potential ways of overcoming the issues encountered in the
previously mentioned parts of the thesis, such as the use of Brownian motion of the
droplet in a video recording for sizing
Optimisation of the ozone pre-treatment of agricultural residues and conversion to platform chemicals
Full text linkPh. D. ThesisBiomass in the form of agricultural residues offers clear potential for conversion into energy,
especially the use of processing residues such as corn cob and rice husk etc, due to their
abundance/availability and high carbohydrate content. Depending on the conversion process,
pre-treatment allows easier access to the carbohydrate components (cellulose and
hemicellulose) for conversion to advanced generation biofuels and platform chemicals such as
5-hydroxymethyl furfural, furfural etc. leaving lignin as a low-value residue which is often
burnt to provide parasitic energy for the conversion process. The conversion of lignin into high value platform chemicals will increase the profitability and sustainability of the biorefinery
process. However, to achieve complete utilisation of the lignin, it must be of high purity and
lack extensive modifications. Ozone pre-treatment is recently gaining attention as a promising
green alternative for cellulose isolation. However, the drawback of using ozone for large-scale
industrial applications is the high costs for generating ozone in-situ as it cannot be stored due
to its short lifetime and high reactivity.
This study aims to pre-treat and fractionate the agricultural processing residues (corn cob and
spelt husk) and convert the carbohydrate components to chemical platforms (5-hydroxymethyl
furfural and furfural) that can be used in several applications i.e medicines, diesel, fuel
additives and plastics.
The first stage of this study developed an energy-efficient surface two-zone plasma ozone
generator consisting of two stainless-steel mesh electrodes and a dielectric of quartz glass. The
design offered good temperature control, which produced 2.5 times higher concentration and
quantity of ozone at the same power input than a conventional single-zone plasma reactor. A
maximum ozone concentration of 140g m-3
and 90g (kWh)
-1
productivity was obtained from
the two-zone system, comparable to commercial ozone generators but with 30 – 40% lower
power consumption (11kWh kg-1 O3). Hence mitigating the drawbacks with the use of ozone
in industrial applications caused by large energy demand.
Optimisation of the ozone pre-treatment process was achieved by incorporating ultrasound
which enhanced lignin separation by 38.5%. Following organosolv fractionation at low
temperature (80⁰C), about 90% and 94% of lignin with high purity (95%) were recovered for
corn cob and spelt husk respectively with guaiacyl-syringyl lignin the major fraction from corn
cob and guaiacyl lignin from spelt husk. In addition, 84 - 85% cellulose was recovered with
III
78% purity. The recovered cellulose had its crystallinity decreased by 19% and its degree of
polymerisation (DP) decreased by 17%.
In a microwave reactor, corn cob and spelt husk (untreated and pre-treated) were reacted in a
DMSO-H2O media to produce HMF and furfural. HMF and furfural yields of untreated corn
cob were higher than those from spelt husk due to a difference in their morphology with
increased porosity of corn cob allowing easy access to cellulose. Pre-treatment led to a 58%
and 74% increase in HMF yield for corn cob and spelt husk respectively, while a 10% and
66.7% increase in furfural. Reacting fractionated cellulose from corn cob and spelt husk yielded
a similar HMF yield of 40mg g
-1
irrespective of the feedstock used. Overall, HMF and furfural
yields were influenced by changes in cellulose properties following pre-treatment such as fibre
size, increased surface area, decrease in the degree of polymerisation and decrease in lignin
content following lignocellulose pre-treatment.
The economic efficiency and competitiveness of the conversion process for large scale co production of HMF, furfural and lignin from spelt husk was determined. The proposed
approach was compared with process where HMF and furfural were co-produced without
lignin. Co-production with lignin yielded a profit of $213,657 higher than without lignin for a
plant size of 100 tonnes per day of spelt husk due to extra revenue obtained from lignin sales,
meaning fractionation of lignin had a positive effect on the process economics than its
utilisation for heat or boiler fuel.
Thus, the improved pre-treatment and quality separation of biomass components enhanced
downstream conversion to value-added products, thereby improving the sustainability and
cost-effectiveness of the ozone pre-treatment process and conversion to HMF and furfural. In
addition, the co-production of lignin will offset the cost of production of platform chemicals,
thereby increasing the economics of a biorefinery.Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) Nigeri
Subcritical Behaviour in Rotating Convection and Convectively-Driven Dynamos
Full text linkPhD ThesisIn planets and stars, convection is thought to be key for generating and maintaining largescale magnetic fields. Many planets possess a hydromagnetic dynamo driven by convective
motions, such as the geodynamo. However, a number of smaller planetary bodies, such
as Mars, show evidence of once possessing a dynamo that suddenly ceased to exist. One
suggested cause for the sudden cessation of the Martian dynamo is that it was operating in
a subcritical parameter regime, that is, the dynamo continued to exist when its controlling
parameter decreased below the critical value for linear onset, before eventually collapsing
towards the non-magnetic trivial state. This thesis aims to explore subcritical behaviour
in dynamo action and convection in order to better understand the dynamic processes
that affect planetary dynamos.
In the first part of this thesis, we focus upon the simpler problem of rotating convection in the absence of a magnetic field. In two-dimensional rotating convection, localised
states, known as ‘convectons’, have previously been observed for moderate rotation rates.
Convectons are associated with systematic shear flows which locally reduce the inhibiting
nature of rotation on convection, potentially promoting subcritical behaviour. We study
convectons in 2D Boussinesq convection in a rotating plane layer and perform parametric
surveys in both a fully-truncated model with restricted symmetries, and a model where the
full horizontal structure is allowed. We successfully obtain rotating convectons for rapid
rotation and explore their bifurcation structure, stability and key features. In particular,
we show that convectons are typically associated with a full local reduction in the effective
rotation.
In the second part of this thesis, we study dynamo action using 3D numerical simulations of planar Boussinesq convection at rapid rotation, focussing again on subcritical
behaviour. We first generate a large-scale magnetic field in the supercritical regime that
significantly influences convective motions. Subcritical solutions are then found by tracking this solution branch into the subcritical regime. Here the dynamo is sustained for
convective driving below the critical value for the linear onset of non-magnetic convection.
We show that increasing rotation leads to an extension of the subcritical range to an optimal value. At more rapid rotation, subcriticality is then hampered by the emergence of
a large-scale convective mode. The inability of the large-scale mode to sustain dynamo
action leads to an intermittent behaviour that appears to inhibit subcriticality. Finally, we
study the key parameter regimes at which subcritical dynamos exist, such as an optimal
magnetic Reynolds number
Investigation and therapeutic targeting of the metabolic relationship between pancreatic stellate cells and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Full text linkPh. D. ThesisIntroduction
Pancreatic
ductal
adenocarcinoma
(PDAC)
remains
one
of
the
most
aggressive
solid
organ
malignancies
with
persistently
poor
survival
despite
advancements
in
chemotherapy
and
surgical
techniques.
Pancreatic
stellate
cells
(PSCs)
are
key
pro-‐tumourigenic
players
within
the
inflammatory
microenvironment/stroma
of
PDAC,
and
thus
represent
an
attractive
therapeutic
target.
This
project
aimed
to
examine
the
under-‐investigated
relationship
of
PSCs
to
cancer
metabolism,
and
identify
novel
translational
treatment
approaches.
Methodology
Human
PSC
and
PDAC
(Panc1,
Miapaca2
and
Bxpc3)
cell
lines
were
utilised
in
numerous
in
vitro
transwell
co-‐culture
experiments
to
investigate
the
effect
on
activity
and
more
specifically
metabolic
phenotype,
including
the
use
of
qPCR,
western
blot,
metabolic
assays,
and
seahorse
technology.
The
impact
of
drugs
targeting
enzymes
and
transporters
specific
to
lactate
metabolism
were
then
examined.
In
addition
immunohistochemistry
(IHC)
was
performed
on
resected
tumours
to
examine
the
expression
patterns
and
prognostic
relevance
of
certain
metabolic
markers
within
the
tumour
microenvironment.
Results
Initial
co-‐culture
experimentation
revealed
PSCs
and
PDAC
impact
on
lactate
metabolism,
with
a
significant
pro-‐glycolytic
effect
of
PSCs
on
the
PDAC
cell
lines.
In
keeping
with
this,
a
notable
upregulation
in
the
monocarboxylate
transporters
6
MCT1
and
MCT4
was
also
observed,
indicating
an
impact
on
lactate
flux.
PSC
interactions
with
the
PDAC
lines
were
influenced
by
the
underlying
genetic/metabolic
phenotype
of
each
cell
line.
IHC
staining
revealed
distinct
MCT
expression
patterns,
with
a
positive
correlation
between
the
tumoural
and
stromal
compartments,
whilst
expression
of
MCT1
and
MCT4
within
the
stroma
and
tumour
respectively
correlating
with
reduced
overall
survival.
The
MCT1
inhibitor
AZD3965
exerted
a
KRAS-‐dependent
de-‐activating
effect
on
PSCs,
with
a
reduction
in
αSMA
and
IL6
expression.
AZD3965
also
exerted
a
KRAS-‐
dependent
anti-‐proliferative
effect
on
the
PDAC
lines,
a
cell
line-‐specific
PSC-‐
dependent
reduction
in
PDAC
metabolic
processes,
as
well
as
a
reduction
in
PSC
lactate
transporter
expression.
Inhibition
of
all
LDH
isoforms
with
Galloflavin
revealed
a
mixed
effect
on
both
PDAC
proliferation
and
apoptosis,
although
an
over-‐riding
reduction
in
lactate
acidification.
Conclusion
This
project
has
proven
a
metabolic
symbiosis
exists
between
PDAC
and
PSCs,
which
appears
to
be
inextricably
related
to
lactate
metabolism.
Inhibition
of
lactate
transporters
or
enzymes
has
demonstrated
effects
on
both
cancer
cells
and
PSCs
which,
in
combination
with
the
correlation
to
poor
prognosis
in
resected
specimens,
holds
great
promise
in
a
potentially
beneficial
translational
impact
for
patients.
The
heterogeneity
of
results
observed
between
cell
lines,
postulated
to
be
due
to
either
KRAS
status
or
underlying
metabolic
phenotype,
suggests
a
patient/tumour-‐specific
personalized
approach
to
MCT
or
LDH
inhibition
should
be
adopted
in
any
future
clinical
trials
The regulation of feed intake in broiler chickens in sickness and in health
Full text linkPhD ThesisThere is an increased interest in the use of alternative feed ingredients in broiler production
systems on the grounds of food security and reduced environmental impact. Such ingredients
are typically bulky in their nature and consequently lead to feeds whereby the energy and
nutrient composition is diluted in comparison to more traditional feeds. Therefore, interest is
growing in the ability of broiler chickens to cope with bulky ingredients. Understanding such
an ability and the limiting factors of such feeds is vital for the development of accurate
simulation models that predict broiler performance and the environmental impact. As broilers
are challenged by ubiquitous pathogens during their growth, additional understanding of how
birds deal with bulky feeds under such challenge is also relevant to such predictions.
There are concerns that modern broilers have lost their ability to regulate their energy intake
and that genetic selection for carcass yield has limited the size of their gastrointestinal tract
(GIT), thus limiting their capacity to cope with energy dilution. The first two chapters of this
thesis investigated the capacity of a modern broiler strain to deal with increasing levels of
various bulky ingredients and aimed to identify a feed bulk dimension responsible for limiting
feed intake. These experiments also allowed the investigation of the capacity and rate of
adaptation of the gastrointestinal tract on these bulky feed ingredients. The results of these
experiments showed: 1) Birds showed a remarkable ability to regulate energy intake when
feed energy content was reduced up to a point, which was presumed to reflect the maximum
capacity for bulk. 2) Further feed dilution with bulky ingredients limited feed intake and
penalised performance. 3) The Water holding capacity of the feeds was able to predict the
feed intake of birds not previously adapted to bulky feeds, i.e. in the short term. 4) Birds
adapted very rapidly on the bulky feeds and the rate of adaptation depended on the bulkiness
of the feed, i.e. the bulkier the feed the longer the adaptation.
Infection with coccidia was used as the infectious model to investigate the interaction between
feed bulkiness and infection. In the third experiment, infected birds were given access to feeds
which were progressively diluted with a bulky ingredient, lignocellulose. In uninfected birds
feed intake was reduced as feed dilution increased and performance decreased, whereas in
infected birds feed intake increased as feed bulkiness increased, and performance was
unaffected by feed bulkiness. In the final experiment, the protein content of the feed was
diluted by substituting an ingredient with a high protein content for one with a low protein
content, whilst maintaining the energy contents of the feeds. In both uninfected and infected
birds feed intake increased as the protein level of the feed increased, and performance
ii
increased. The results from these experiments show that performance during infection is
indeed sensitive to feed composition and it may altogether be absent when broilers are offered
feeds diluted with bulky ingredients, such as lignocellulose.
The findings of this thesis facilitate the development of models to predict the feed intake and
performance of broiler chickens offered feeds with alternative, bulky ingredients. Unravelling
how feed intake is regulated during Eimeria infection will help to understand how these birds
should be fed during the critical stages of infection