Cross-cultural differences exist in the typical temperature of water served with meals. North American people typically drink iced water/beverages while eating, whereas European or Asian people show a preference for room temperature water or hot water/tea, respectively. It has been reported that food perception and acceptance are influenced by oral temperature, as well as by serving temperature of food. Based on the fact that the iced or hot water served with meals can alter the oral temperature, the present study aimed to determine whether the temperature of served water can affect the sensory perception and acceptance of food subsequently consumed. Following a mouth rinse with water served at 4, 20, and 50°C for 5s, two different types of food, dark chocolate and cheddar cheese, were evaluated in terms of sensory intensity and overall liking. For the dark chocolate, the intensity ratings for sweetness, chocolate flavor, and creaminess were significantly lower when following water at 4°C than when following water at either 20 or 50°C. However, the modulatory effect of water temperature on sensory perception was not obtained with cheddar cheese. In addition, the temperature of served water altered the acceptance for the foods subsequently presented. Specifically, the overall liking for the dark chocolate was significantly lower when following water at 4°C than when following water at either 20 or 50°C. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates new empirical evidence that the consumption of iced water can decrease perceived intensities of sweetness, chocolate flavor, and creaminess for subsequently consumed chocolate. Our findings may provide one of plausible answers to the question of why North American people, who are more used to drinking iced water, show a strong preference for more highly sweetened foods.

[Departement_IRSTEA]Eaux [TR1_IRSTEA]QUASARE | Food-chain length (FCL) is commonly used in ecological investigations to gain insight into how ecosystems function. Several studies have investigated the mechanisms underlying FCL patterns, but none has specifically examined the effect of temperature variability. In river ecosystems, water temperature variability can modify community structure, individuals' activity, and individuals' physiological rates, among other things. As such, we expected that it would negatively influence FCL. To test this prediction, we took advantage of a dataset comprising five streams, which mainly differ according to their temperature variability. At each stream, we (i) studied the species composition of macroinvertebrates and fish, and using nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes, (ii) estimated realized FCL, and (iii) examined food web structure. For macroinvertebrates, but not for fish, species composition differed among sites displaying low and high temperature variability. FCL was negatively influenced by temperature variability. Confirming this trend, we found a highly significant linear relationship between FCL and temperature variability using data from the literature. As for food web structure, the trophic position of filter-feeders/shredders may explain the FCL differences among sites. Our study gives additional support to the "dynamic stability" hypothesis and advances a step further by suggesting that temperature variability alone may reduce FCL.

RESUMEN: Objetivo: Describir las percepciones y prácticas relacionadas con el agua y sus usos por parte de habitantes de barrios sin cobertura de servicios públicos del municipio de Turbo, Antioquia, Colombia. Métodos: Investigación cualitativa abordada desde la etnografía enfocada. La información fue recolectada mediante entrevistas a habitantes de barrios informales y observación de actividades relacionadas con el agua. La información se codificó, se conformaron categorías empíricas y posteriormente analíticas. Resultados: Las familias han establecido una dinámica cotidiana para enfrentar el vivir sin agua, invirtiendo tiempo, dinero y esfuerzo y según sus percepciones y posibilidades, definen prácticas y usos para el agua con que cuentan. Las fuentes de agua disponibles son: acueducto, comprada o recolectada en otros barrios, considerada inadecuada para la alimentación; lluvia, valorada por su sabor y aparente calidad; agua comercial envasada, considerada apta para beber y cocinar pero más costosa. En momentos críticos de escasez se recurre a fuentes menos adecuadas. En medio de esta carencia, las prácticas alimentarias se modifican reemplazando preparaciones que requieren más agua y haciendo ajustes que limi tan lo que consideran una alimentación adecuada. Conclusiones: La carencia de agua afecta la seguridad alimentaria, la calidad de vida y el bienestar de las familias. Las prácticas relacionadas con el agua responden a las condiciones de vida; esto implica reconocer la articulación entre lo biológico y lo social. Se reafirma la importancia de concretar el derecho al agua y considerar en las acciones de política la mirada de quienes padecen esta carencia. | ABSTRACT: Objective: Describing water-related perceptions and practice and how slum dwellers lacking public service coverage in the town of Turbo in the Antioquia Department, Colombia, approach this. Methods: This study involved qualitative research from an ethnographic approach. Data was collected by means of interviews with slum dwellers and observing waterrelated activities. The information was encoded; empirical categories were initially constructed, followed by analytical ones. Results: The families had established daily dynamics for facing life without water, investing time, money and effort and, according to their perceptions and possibilities, defining practice and uses for the water which they had access to. The available water sources consisted of a piped water supply which had to be paid for or was collected from other neighborhoods (considered unsuitable for drinking), rain water (appreciated for its taste and alleged quality) and bought bottled water (considered suitable for drinking and cooking, but more expensive than the piped water). Less suitable water sources were resorted to at critical moments during shortage. Regarding such deficiency, feeding practice became modified by replacing preparations requiring more water and making adjustments, thereby limiting what could be considered as suitable feeding. Conclusions: The lack of water affected the target families’ food security, quality of life and welfare. Water-related practice corresponded to living conditions, meaning that biological and social aspects must be reconciled and recognized. The importance of the right to water and taking those suffering such deficiency in to consideration when making public health policy was thus highlighted. | COL0084935 | COL0000407

Este proyecto de investigación es importante porque permitirá que el poblador rural de la amazonia baja, tenga una alternativa más para su abastecimiento de agua; y que mejor, aprovechar fuentes de energía renovables; que no generen impactos negativos significativos al ambiente, ya que la bomba de ariete plástico es barata, limpia y no contamina. Objetivo General de la investigación fue: Utilizar una Bomba de Ariete Plástico; como alternativa para el abastecimiento de agua en zonas rurales de la Selva Baja, mediante la utilización de cauces naturales de agua. Políticamente, la Quebrada de Corrientillo; se ubica en la jurisdicción del Distrito de San Juan, Provincia de Maynas, Departamento de Loreto, República del Perú. El diseño de la investigación es del tipo Cuantitativo experimental, en la cual se Implementa directamente la bomba de ariete plástico de 1" de diámetro, en forma independiente lo cual se someterá a prueba de campo con la finalidad de estudiar su eficiencia y eficacia en rendimiento. Se concluye que: - La bomba de ariete plástico permite elevar agua a alturas mayores desde el nivel del agua del río, acequia, laguna o quebrada, gracias a la energía que produce la caída de agua. - Los valores del caudal de descarga, caudal de desecho, rendimiento y potencia desarrollada decrecen con el incremento de la altura de descarga. - La construcción del ariete plástico en nuestro medio es factible por la disponibilidad de materiales existentes en el mercado, al igual que la mano de obra necesaria. - Esta bomba de plástico representa una alternativa amigable con el medio ambiente ya que al no utilizar ningún tipo de fuente de energía no renovable, no produce contaminación alguna, por lo que este tipo de bomba puede ser una opción ideal en lugares donde se desea cuidar el medio ambiente. - Previo al diseño del sistema de bombeo se seleccionó el espacio físico y los parámetros como son caudal, altura de suministro y altura de entrega para que la operación sea garantizada. | Tesis

Six ponies were deprived of drinking water and food and compared over 24 hours with nondeprived ponies, ponies deprived of water but with food available, and ponies deprived of food but with water available. When food was eaten during water deprivation, plasma osmolality rose 4% from 284 mOsm/kg to 295 mOsm/kg. During water and food deprivation, plasma osmolality failed to rise, even over 24 hours, and usually fell. Packed cell volume was higher when food but not water was available. Food and/or water deprivation had no significant effect on plasma protein concentration. When food was available, the ponies drank three times more water (13.1 ± 2.1 kg) than when water but not food was available (3.5 ± 1.4 kg). Blood volume changes were calculated from packed cell volume and plasma protein data, and it was found that blood volume did not change significantly with deprivation. Urine volume did not vary with deprivation, but free water clearance changed significantly, falling when food but not water was available. Under these conditions, blood volume is maintained, but the mechanisms are not clear. When deprived of both drinking water and food, ponies failed to develop the hyperosmolality expected under these conditions. Water deprivation while food is available is a more powerful challenge to water and electrolyte homeostasis than deprivation of both food and water.

Latent inhibition (LI), operationally defined as the reduced conditioned response to a stimulus that has been preexposed before conditioning, seems to be determined by the interaction of different processes that includes attentional, associative, memory, motivational, and emotional factors. In this paper we focused on the role of deprivation level on LI intensity using an auditory fear conditioning procedure with rats. LI was observed when the animals were non-deprived, but it was disrupted when the rats were water- or food-deprived. We propose that deprivation induced an increase in attention to the to-be-CS, and, as a result, LI was disrupted in deprived animals. The implications of the results for the current interpretations of LI are also discussed.

Paper for presentation at the 27th SSEA/6th ASSS Conference held on October 20-25, 2013 in Nakuru, Kenya | To evaluate the performance of drought tolerant maize varieties under different water harvesting technologies (zai pits, tied ridges and conventional), the treatments were laid out in a split plot design with water harvesting methods as the main plots, and maize varieties as the sub-plots. Four maize varieties were evaluated under the three water harvesting technologies. Maize yields in zai pits and tied ridges treatments were significantly higher than for conventional treatment. Maize constitutes a major component of the diet in the region, with more than 70% of maize cultivated by farmers in small holder units of less than 20 hectares of land.

In the Middle East and North Africa, food security and water security are tightly entwined. In particular, choices about the extent to which food security policies rely on trade rather than domestically produced staples have stark consequences for the region's limited water resources. This paper builds on previous modeling results comparing the cost and benefits of policies to protect consumers against surging international wheat prices, and expands the analysis to consider the consequences of the policies for water resources. A self-sufficiency policy is analyzed as well. Results suggest that trade-based food security policies have no significant effect on the sustainability of water resources, while the costs of policies based on self-sufficiency for water resources are high. The analysis also shows that while information about the water footprint of alternative production systems is helpful, a corresponding economic footprint that fully measures the resource cost of water is needed to concisely rank alternative policies in economic terms that are consistent with sustainable outcomes.

This paper describes tools and lessons learned in operationalizing the principles of good local water governance and mult ple- use water services for food security in mid- and far-western Nepal. In these poor, water-scarce and food-insecure regions, the Rural Village Water Resources Management Project has shown that integrated water resources management for both blue and green water is a must. Water use master plans (WUMPs) and a participatory step-by-step approach, both backed up by a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) strategy, ensure appropriate and fair use of scarce water resources. Multiple-use water services (MUS) maximize livelihoods opportunities in a difficult environment.

West Africa's rice imports currently satisfy 70% of the soaring local demand, worsening the food vulnerability of an increasingly urbanized population. Despite considerable rice-growing potential, lack of water control systems, access to improved seeds, agrochemicals and appropriate mechanization have resulted in modest production growth rates, unable to alter the region's dependency on imported rice. Governments aim to boost production with import duties and input subsidies. However, questions remain as to whether these policies enable the rice sector to respond to changing consumers preferences for high grade rice and to contribute to national economic growth. We present the results from a Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) on rice production in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Niger and under three water management systems: irrigation (public scheme), supplemented rain-fed (rainfall aided by autonomously-sourced water supplies) and purely rain-fed. Our results show that policy interventions in these West African countries (i.e., input subsidies and import taxes) did not significantly enhance the profitability of rice production to farmers due to the effect of market failures (limited capital access and non-competitive market for rice) and the low quality of local milled rice. The PAM results point strongly to the importance of improving rice quality and yields through more efficient water management and post-harvest handling/processing and targeted breeding to match consumers' preferences.