Transcript Mathematical models to describe digestion and passage of nutrients

Mathematical models to describe digestion and passage of nutrients
in gastro-intestinal tract
Dr. Antonio Gallo
Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Piacenza
The object of this course will be to describe the assumptions, logic and mathematical
approaches used in current nutritional models for describing digestion and passage of
nutrients in different compartments of gastro-intestinal tract of animals. The use of multiple
pools models or logistic/sigmoidal models will be evaluated with the aim of addressing
limitations of currently adopted approaches, mainly based on single pool compartment
approach and adoption of exponential models. In present course will be also discussed the
practical implications of adding different types of complexities to current nutritional models.
Simulation language (Vensim®, free download for educational use) and Excel spreadsheets
will be used in practical sessions to develop and solve the numerical integration of simple or
complex series of mathematical equations.