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The dairy sector is experiencing a trend towards scale enlargement and specialization. The increasing number of cows per farm in combination with a constant amount of labour input, implies that less time can be devoted to each cow and close monitoring of the cows is more difficult. In this context, there is an increasing demand for automated monitoring systems. One disease that requires close monitoring, is mastitis. Many mastitis detection systems have been developed, but the follow up after treatment has received less attention. The goal of this thesis is to characterize the dynamics of quarter milk yields during clinical mastitis, which can aid in the development of a mastitis recovery monitoring system. Since mastitis has a different effect on the 4 quarters, a quarter level approach was opted. All clinical mastitis cases and their symptoms were monitored from February 2016 until August 2018 at the test farm ‘the Hooibeekhoeve’. The quarter milk yield (QMY) and electrical conductivity (EC) values for each milking session in the automated milking system from March 2014 until February 2019, were used. The first day of deviating QMY and EC values due to clinical mastitis was determined and further named the ‘infection days in milk’ (IDIM). The average difference between the detection date and IDIM was 4,09 days, indicating that earlier detection of mastitis might still be possible. Next, a quarter level mixed model was constructed to predict milk yields in unperturbed state. With this model, the QMY in the absence of perturbations, was estimated. From these estimations the milk losses were calculated. The behaviour of the milk losses was visualised by fitting a smoothing spline to the milk loss data. As expected, the milk losses behaved differently in the infected quarter and the non-infected quarter. A new transformation of the milking interval, which better represents the milk production, was proposed for the construction of the model. This transformation predicts milk yields better at higher levels of MI than the original model, while performing equally good at medium and low levels of MI. To quantify the severity of clinical mastitis, a ‘Degree of Inflammation’ or DOI score, based on the presence of clinical symptoms, was proposed. Six different scores, assigning different weights to the symptoms, were calculated. All six were found to have a significant correlation with the milk losses. The DOI score with the strongest association with the milk losses had a R2 of 0,164. The insight in the QMY dynamics that was gained in this thesis may serve as a stepping stone for the development of an automated mastitis monitoring system. Following up the effectivity of the treatment through milk yield and/or a severity index, allows for mastitis treatment in function of the individual recovery process. This paradigm shift might result in a more targeted antibiotics usage, higher economic efficiency, better animal welfare and a more sustainable dairy sector.

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At the time Kant begins to philosophize about the nature and aims of education in the 1760s, the concept of Bildung was for the first time being used to designate the total process of human intellectual, moral, and aesthetic formation. Kant is one of the earliest theorists to contribute to the development of this concept, giving it center stage in his philosophy of education, philosophy of history, and anthropology. Kant even suggests that one way to define the human being is in terms of our need for Bildung. Though this aspect of his thought has traditionally received little attention, a full exposition of it is capable of illuminating a range of issues in Kant's broader philosophy. It can serve to correct common distortions of his moral philosophy that stem from an exclusive focus on the metaphysics of morals to the neglect of the moral anthropology and the process of moralische Bildung. It can also illuminate the connections between Kant's morality, teleology, and philosophy of history. Beyond this it is capable of establishing Kant as an original and highly relevant philosopher of education - one who diverges from most of his contemporaries (and ours) in significant ways, and who presents a vision of education that is extremely far-sighted and animated by a concern for global justice.

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Achtergrond: Terpenen zijn plantaardige moleculen die bestaan uit eenheden van telkens 5 koolstoffen (5C). Deze worden door planten gebruikt als bouwstenen in hun ontwikkeling, maar ook om zichzelf te beschermen tegen aanvallen van schimmels, virussen, bacteriën en insecten. Het verhogen van de eigen verdediging van de plant kan een daling teweeg brengen in het gebruik van pesticiden, wat op zijn beurt goed is voor het milieu, leidt tot een kostendaling bij de boeren en beter is voor de gezondheid van mensen en dieren. Er werden twee aparte lijnen (VvTPS2 en VvTPS3) van de wijnrank cultivar Merlot gemaakt door middel van genetische transformatie. Hierbij werd in de VvTPS2 lijn een sesquiterpeen synthase ingebracht, een gen dat terpenen produceert bestaande uit drie 5C eenheden, en in de VvTPS3 lijn een monoterpeen synthase, een gen dat terpenen produceert bestaande uit twee 5C eenheden. Het doel van deze thesis was: (i) bewijzen dat de transformaties gelukt waren en het gen succesvol was ingebracht, (ii) bekijken of deze genen meer werden afgeschreven, en (iii) een analyse maken van de moleculen die werden aangemaakt door deze ingebrachte genen. Resultaten: De transformaties waren allemaal geslaagd, de getransformeerde planten bevatten het juiste nieuwe gen. In de VvTPS3 mutanten werd dit gen ook telkens meer afgeschreven dan in de controle plant, wat kon worden verwacht van succesvol getransformeerde planten. Maar in de VvTPS2 mutanten werd het gen soms meer en soms minder afgeschreven dan de controle plant. Wanneer de moleculen bekeken werden die meer werden aangemaakt door de getransformeerde planten dan de controle planten, kon dit worden toegeschreven aan de inbreng van de terpeen synthasen. De VvTPS3 planten produceerden de monoterpenen 'linalool' en 'furfural' meer dan de controle plant. De VvTPS2 planten produceerden meer '2- heptanol' en ' 4-hydroxy-3a,7a-dimethyl-3a,4,5,7a-tetrahydro-2-benzofuran-1(3H)-one' dan de controle plant, beide geen terpenen. Aangezien de VvTPS3 planten een verhoging van monoterpenen toonden, kunnen deze planten gebruikt worden om te zien wat deze terpenen precies teweeg brengen in planten en in wijn. Aangezien de VvTPS2 planten geen verhoging in sesquiterpenen toonden, kan deze lijn niet voor dit soort studies worden gebruikt. Het kan echter wel interessant zijn om na te gaan waarom de transformatie hier niet de verwachte resultaten gaf.

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Online monitoring of animals in intensive production systems is subject to lots of research today. This is necessary because, due to various reasons like small margins, high production costs, the role of retail and distribution, the overall concerns of the consumers and the stern legislations, farmers are obliged to grow more pigs to reach a liveable income. The result of this is an extra load for the animal, the environment and the farmer. Automated individual monitoring and detection of problems can relieve the workload of the farmer and reduce the economic losses, can minimize the use of antibiotics, but can also and in particular improve animal welfare and health. In this work, a system is developed that can assist the farmer in detecting welfare and health problems. Drinking behaviour is a good tool to monitor the health and welfare status of pigs: it is shown that it deviates when pigs are ill or other problems are present. Although not much is known in literature on the impact of diseases on drinking behaviour, it is clear that there is an effect. Therefore, monitoring the drinking behaviour of individual pigs can be useful to detect problems. Individual monitoring is only possible when pigs can be individually identified. In this study, electronic ear tags are used (Radio Frequency Identification, RFID). Using these, the pigs can be identified in a simple and reliable way at the drink nipples. The data of these registrations at the drink nipples can then be used to screen the pigs for problems. The data was very variable because pigs were sometimes registered at the nipples without drinking. After collection of the data, it is modified so it can be used in a control chart. Three criteria are used to construct drinking bouts out of the RFID data. Then, the control charts are used to alert the farmer when the drinking behaviour of a pig significantly deviates from behaviour of the previous days. The aberrant drinking of one pig, which was dying without the caretakers noticing, could be detected three days in advance. The system is not optimized yet, and collecting more reliable data of the drinking behaviour with flow meters (instead of using only the time spent at the nipples) will probably provide more reliable and less variable data. Nevertheless, it is concluded that monitoring drinking behaviour with the aid of RFID is a very promising tool to support the farmer when optimized. Further work is necessary.

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