This chapter provides a detailed methodological framework for modelling bacterial population growth using physical processes, with Salmonella spp. as an illustrative example. It describes the development and application of an exponential model for studying bacterial population growth. Models of...

This chapter provides a detailed methodological framework for modelling human population growth, and illustrates how mathematical models can be useful for predicting important information on human population size which, in turn, can contribute to global planning for the future. Specifically, this...

This chapter discusses the physicochemical properties of water, and explores the concept of water potential and the Darcy equation.

Cereal aphid studies form the backbone of this chapter and will be discussed at length, but shall also occasionally discuss the dynamics of aphids that use other annual crops and trees as their host. The overall purpose is to outline the components of an aphid population that determine its...

The different methods that can be used to solve mixed model equations for the genetic evaluation of performance traits in livestock are presented.

Growth in a laying pullet prior to sexual maturity can be partitioned into three components: feathers, the feather-free body and reproductive organs. This study aimed to describe the growth of the feathers, the feather-free body, the reproductive organs and the liver of Dekalb White hens for...

The existing approaches to estimating the efficiency of subsidies on agricultural production are considered. The basic output regression equations have been enhanced by including more factors (subsidies, production profitability and quality of enterprise management) in addition to the primary ones...

This chapter deals with genomic prediction and genome-wide association studies in beef and dairy cattle. Topics discussed include conventional pedigree-based prediction, prediction using genomic information, validation of predictive ability, understanding predictive ability, blending genomic and...

Various host-vector-pathogen systems will be affected in different ways by particular aspects of climate. The likelihood of a particular class of climatic event causing or leading to an increase (or decrease) in vector-borne disease outbreaks will depend heavily on the ecology of the vectors (such...

In this chapter, best linear unbiased prediction's (BLUP) theoretical background is briefly presented, considering a univariate animal model, and its application to several univariate models in genetic evaluation is illustrated. Constructing the mixed model equations, progeny (daughter) yield...