Excessive Water Consumption Research Articles

Environmental sustainability challenges of China's edible vegetable oil industry: From farm to factory

With the increasing consumer demand and only 31% of the self-sufficiency rate, how to mitigate the supply safety of edible vegetable oil in an environmentally sustainable manner is a tremendous challenge for China. This study comprehensively qualified the potential environmental impact from the major edible vegetable oil production (i.e., soybean oil, rapeseed oil, and peanut oil) in China through the life cycle assessment method. Results show that rapeseed oil and peanut oil are environmentally friendly. More than 20% of environmental contamination could be avoided in 2025 by replacing the further increase in soybean oil production with a mix of the other products. The key contribution analysis indicates that the agricultural phase is a significant source of environmental pollution due to excessive fertilizer production and irrigation water consumption. During the oil processing phases of soybean oil and peanut oil, steam production also contributed to considerable environmental impact. Therefore, applying new fertilizers, developing water-saving irrigation technologies, and optimizing the steam heat exchange net are suggested. Moreover, increasing the oil extraction rate through electrotechnical technology has great potential in reducing the environmental damage caused by oil-bearing crop planting. Based on the spatial discrepancy in the agricultural phase, advantageous planting regions (e.g., Anhui, Henan, Shandong, and Jiangsu) are references for the further planting structure adjustment. Meanwhile, advocating scientific diets and optimizing the industry layout are recommended to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of China's edible vegetable oil industry.

Stand age rather than soil moisture gradient mainly regulates the compromise between plant growth and water use of Eucalyptus urophylla in hilly South China

AbstractLarge‐scale cultivation and short‐term rotation of Eucalyptus trees for economic reasons have led to excessive consumption of soil water, raising broader ecological, and environmental concerns. Therefore, exploring the balance between water use and plant growth of Eucalyptus trees has become increasingly important but remains understudied. Here, we hypothesized that stand age and soil moisture gradient can both regulate such balance and examined this hypothesis by collecting a field dataset of Eucalyptus urophylla plantations that respectively capture three age categories (i.e., young age of 3–4 years, mature age of 6–7 years, and old age of >25 years) and span three soil moisture gradients along a hilly slope in South China. The datasets collected in Jan/2018–Dec/2019 included (a) continuous measurements of tree sap flow and soil moisture and (b) periodic measurements of leaf water potential (Ψleaf), tree biometric parameters, and stand leaf area index (LAI). With the data, we derived the monthly tree transpiration (EL), annual growth rate, and tree water use efficiency (WUE). Our results showed that stand age importantly regulated plant growth and water use, as old trees transpired more water than young and mature trees, while the young trees have significantly higher WUE due to their relatively higher growth rate and lower water consumption. In contrast, we did not observe significant differences in tree transpiration along with soil moisture gradients at each age level, suggesting stand age rather than soil moisture gradient dominantly regulates the growth versus water‐use compromise. Our results also showed that the old trees can maintain a more stable water consumption, suggesting that they are less sensitive to environmental seasonality and thus more stable. Collectively, our study provides important insights into the management and ecosystem stability of Eucalyptus plantation in South China.

Changes in Deep Soil Water Content in the Process of Large-Scale Apple Tree Planting on the Loess Tableland of China

Soil water has become a major limiting factor in agriculture and forestry development on the Loess Plateau of China. In the past 20–30 years, large areas of apple orchards have been built in this region, which have resulted in excessive consumption of deep soil water and soil desiccation. To evaluate the effects of orchard development on deep soil water content (SWC), a meta-analysis of 162 sampling sites on the loess tableland from 44 peer-reviewed publications was conducted in this study. The results showed that the deep SWC in orchards depended on stand age, planting density and annual precipitation. In regions with 550–600 mm precipitation, the orchard with lower planting density showed no soil desiccation in young and early fruiting stages, while deep soil (>2 m) desiccation occurred in full fruiting and old orchards. The effect of planting density on deep SWC varied with stand age. There were significant differences in SWC among different planting densities in early fruiting orchards (p < 0.05), in which soil desiccation occurred in orchards with higher planting density. However, with the continuous consumption of soil water by apple trees, deep soil desiccation occurred in old orchards regardless of planting density. Further, affected by the spatial variation of annual precipitation, deep SWC in orchards significantly decreased with annual precipitation from 650 to 500 mm among the 44 study sites (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that the planting density should be reasonably regulated on the level of annual precipitation, and apple trees need to be pruned appropriately with a goal of moderate productivity, so as to achieve the sustainable use of regional water resources, food security and economic development.

ОЦЕНКА СТЕПЕНИ ЗАГРЯЗНЕНИЯ ДОННЫХ ОТЛОЖЕНИЙ МАЛЫХ РЕК РОСТОВСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ

Purpose: to study the degree of pollution of bottom sediments of small rivers of the Rostov region. Materials and Methods: the research was carried out in 2019–2020 according to the decree of the Government of Rostov region of 25.09.2013 no. 595 and in accordance with the orders of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment no. 432 of 08.10.2014 and no. 112 of 24.02.2014. The work on monitoring the pollution of bottom sediments carried out by the authors included: samples selection, description, conservation, delivery and preparation; conducting an integral assessment of toxicity. The studies were carried out on microalgae according to the biotesting method for inhibiting the growth of unicellular algae Chlorella vulgaris Beijer and ciliates Paramecium caudatum. A sample was considered toxic if the value of the toxic effect was 50 % or more. In case of detecting high toxicity, the repeated sampling to determine the prevailing priority and specific pollutants was carried out. Results: according to the approved research program, 70 samples (33 in 2019, 37 in 2020) at 21 water bodies were selected. As a result of an integrated assessment of the toxicity of bottom sediments of water bodies, an excess was revealed only in two samples taken in 2019 at the site of the river Temernik. Conclusions: the results of biotesting did not reveal an excess of the permissible toxicity values in all areas of water bodies, except for the river Temernik, where a slight excess was revealed (55 %). In this case, when forming a program for the environmental protection measures implementation, more attention should be paid to a number of other environmental problems of water bodies in the region, among which a special place is taken by low water associated with both climate change and excessive water consumption for the needs of economic activities, land plowing to the water's edge, washing out dams and other blocking structures, including due to improper functioning of culverts.

Pre-emptively Averting the Advent of Water Crisis using AI/ML

With a diverse population that is three times the size of the United States but one-third the physical size, India has the second largest population in the world. Despite harbouring 18 percentage of the global population, India only accounts for 4 percentage of the world’s water resources. Although India has made improvements over the past decades to both the availability and quality of municipal drinking water systems, its large population has stressed planned water resources and rural areas are left out. India is also a major grain producer with a great need for water to support the commodity. As with all countries with large agricultural output, excess water consumption for food production depletes the overall water table. Also, regardless of improvements to drinking water, many other water sources are contaminated with both bio and chemical pollutants, and over 21 percentage of the country’s diseases are water-related. Other concern is that India may lack overall long term availability of replenishable water resources. India’s water crisis is often the result of a lack of government planning, limited business closure, industrial and human pollution, and government corruption. In addition, India’s water shortage is expected to increase as population growth is expected to rise to 1.6 billion by 2050. Niti Aayog estimates that around 100 Million Indians are expected to run out of water by 2030. To that end, global water scarcity is expected to become a leading cause of national political conflict in the future, and the prognosis for India is no different. In such scenario rain-water harvesting and desalination becomes inevitable. On a positive note, some areas of India are fortunate to have a relatively wet climate, even in the most arid regions. However, with no rain catchment programs in place, most of the water is displaced or dried up instead of used. In these areas, rain harvesting could be one solution for water collection. Collected water can be immediately used for agriculture, and with improved filtration practices to reduce water-borne pathogens, also quickly available for human consumption. Whatever the means, India needs solution. Children in 100 million homes in the country lack water, and one out of every two children are malnourished. Environmental justice needs to be restored to India so that families can raise their children with dignity, and providing water to communities is one such way to best ensure that chance. Hence the solution is “USWAD: Unified system for Sustainable Water management solutions using AI/ML (Deep Learning) and Data Analytics.” The details of this system are explained ahead in the report.

“smart” agriculture tools

The article provides information on what innovative technologies have been implemented for the application of smart technology in agriculture. At the same time, the following goals are achieved: a large harvest is collected from a smaller area and manual labor is replaced by robotics. Automation of irrigation allows you to minimize the cost of irrigation water and at the same time obtain high yields. Modern systems allow you to analyze each area and determine the amount of moisture needed, avoiding excessive water consumption.

Temporal Variation of Water Environment Carrying Capacity in a Highly Urbanized Region of China

China has experienced an unparalleled urbanization process in recent decades, which has dramatically changed the water environment. Quantification of the water environment carrying capacity (WECC) is crucial given its importance to sustainable development. Existing studies have typically focused on the overall WECC system and lacked analysis of its internal features. In this study, the concepts, calculations, and classifications of the WECC were further developed. Using Nanjing, China, as a case study, we developed a hierarchical evaluation indicator system including three system layers (social, environmental and economic subsystems). We applied the entropy weight and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to evaluate the temporal variation tendency of WECC, and explored the deep-seated problems stemming from urbanization. The results indicated that WECC in Nanjing was 0.3045–0.5302 during 2006–2017, thus approaching a moderate grade with a relatively slow growth rate. Social, environmental, and economic subsystems increased by 29.3%, 83.1%, and 97.2%, respectively. Overall, Nanjing had a solid foundation regarding its economic subsystem, but its social and environmental subsystems were under pressure. Factors such as slow population growth as well as reduced energy and water use intensity improved WECC, whereas factors such as increased population density and excessive water consumption blocked WECC. Practical suggestions were proposed to resolve the primary problems of the WECC under urbanization. This holistic approach is urgently needed to achieve water environmental sustainability, both for Nanjing and for other emerging cities.

Evaluation of resource and energy utilization, environmental and economic benefits of rice water-saving irrigation technologies in a rice-wheat rotation system

Currently, numerous challenges such as excessive irrigation water consumption, labor shortage, lower economic and environmental benefits pose serious threats to rice cultivation systems. Therefore, more water- and labor-efficient irrigation technologies are needed in rice production for minimal environmental hazards and greater economic benefits. After the screening experiment of water-saving cultivation technologies and cultivars, a two-year field experiment was conducted to further explore the effects of efficient water-saving technologies and rice cultivars on the comprehensive benefits, global warming potential (GWP), grain yield, economic benefits, water productivity, nitrogen partial factor productivity, radiation, accumulated temperature and energy use efficiency (EUE) of a rice-wheat rotation system. Conventional flooding irrigation (F), intermittent irrigation (IR), transplanting rainfed (TR) and rice dry cultivation (D) were implemented with two rice cultivars, including Hanyou73 (HY) and Huanghuazhan (HH). After rice harvest, a winter wheat cultivar (Huamai 2566) was planted with traditional methods. The system of rice dry cultivation and wheat rotation had higher comprehensive benefits, which were attributed to greater water productivity, economic benefits and EUE and lower GWP, especially in the rice growing season. D treatment enhanced the comprehensive and economic benefits by 2.5% and 26.8%, 1.6% and 11.3%, 3.3% and 0.6%, and reduced the GWP by 3.4%, 56.7% and 30.2% compared with F, IR and TR treatments in the rotation system, respectively. During the rice season, D treatment significantly (P < 0.05) increased the economic benefits, water productivity and EUE, but slight decreased the grain yield than other treatments. Overall, rice dry cultivation (especially with the HY cultivar) can achieve higher comprehensive benefits in rice growing season as well as in the whole rotation system.

Effects of high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus on perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and its potential in bioremediation of highly eutrophic water.

The conservation and management of rain and water in a city environment are a crucial aspect of sustainability. Sponge cities are a solution for the remediation of excessive water consumption, high pollution, and rainstorm waterlogging in urban areas. Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is a common species and promising bioremediation plant for the construction of sponge cities. It could be useful to purify high nitrogen and phosphorus content in wastewater runoff, but its response to high total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) levels has not been studied. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of high TN + TP level on seed germination, plant growth, antioxidant response, and assimilation rate of N and P in perennial ryegrass. Compared with the control, treatments with 20 mg/L N + 4 mg/L P (20N4P) significantly decreased germination potential at day 3, but the germination rate at day 10 was similar between all treatments and the control, suggesting that a high TN + TP concentration might delay germination, but not prevent it. Treatment with 20N4P also induced significant withering and decreased shoot length, root length, and dry shoot weight of ryegrass seedlings, compared with the control. Treatments with 80N16P significantly decreased levels of chlorophyll a (Chl-a) and chlorophyll b (Chl-b), demonstrating inhibition of photosynthesis. Compared with the control, treatment with 40N8P increased the carotenoid (Car), malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione (GSH) content, which might alleviate oxidative stress induced by high TN + TP concentration. Moreover, high levels of TN + TP (160N32P and 320N64P) significantly reduced the removal capacity of N and P by plants. Overall, the present results provide a theoretical foundation for the development of ryegrass for bioremediation of wastewater during construction of sponge cities.

Effects of tillage depth on soil hydrological characteristics and potato yield on northwest Loess Plateau

<p indent=0mm>The subsoiling can break the plough pan and optimize soil hydrological characteristics. However, the study on the effects of tillage depths on soil water characteristics, potato water consumption and yield, is insufficient. The field experiment was conducted with three tillage depths of <sc>15 cm</sc> (TT), <sc>40 cm</sc> (VRT), and <sc>60 cm</sc> (VRT6), to investigate the effect of tillage depths on the yield and water utilization of potato in semiarid rain-fed area in 2016 and 2017 on northwest Loess Plateau. The parameters of soil bulk density, soil hydrological properties, potato SPAD (soil and plant analyzer development) value, leaf area index (LAI), and tuber yield were measured. The soil bulk density, and increased saturation moisture, capillary moisture and field water capacity of VRT6 treatment compared with VRT and TT were decreased in <sc>40–60 cm</sc> and <sc>0–60 cm</sc> profile, respectively. Water consumption of VRT6 treatment was significantly increased in pre-squaring stage, resulting in the decrement of soil water storage in <sc>0–100 cm</sc> profile by <sc>22.3 mm</sc> and <sc>49.0 mm</sc> in 2016, and <sc>43.9 mm</sc> and <sc>56.6 mm</sc> in 2017. Water consumption in pre-squaring stage of VRT6 was significantly increased by <sc>42.2 mm</sc> and <sc>38.3 mm</sc> compared with VRT and TT treatment in 2017, respectively. Based on the excessive water consumption in pre-flowering period, the LAI of VRT6 was significantly higher than TT in whole growth period, than VRT in post-squaring period, and the SPAD value was higher than VRT in expanding stage in 2017, which indicated that the vigorous growth was subsistent in VRT6 treatment. The tuber yield of VRT6 were significantly higher than TT, but it significantly decreased in 2017 compared to VRT, and the water use efficiency (WUE) of VRT6 were significantly decreased by 61.2%–67.5% and 41.0%–53.5%, as compared with VRT and TT. Consequently, the suitable tillage depth for potato cultivation was <sc>40 cm</sc> in semiarid area, which could optimize the soil hydrological properties and potato water consuming process, and relieved the drought stress efficiently, resulting in significantly higher tuber yield and WUE.

Business center construction project as the model of resource-saving building

Design with resource-saving technologies has become an important part of the Terms of Reference for the project, and environmental friendliness has become a key core of the business center marketing strategy. The purpose of research was to develop the business center construction project as the model of resource-saving building. The research results are the following tasks: to create the comfortable environment for lessees and guests: thermal and visual comfort, air exchange quality; to ensure high energy efficiency of the building; to reduce the resource consumption costs to maximum (energy, water and heat). In the research, the project concept and business plan were developed, the project risks analysis was conducted and the project economic efficiency assessment was performed. In the course of research, the calculations of the full life cycle cost of the building were analyzed and made. The following technical characteristics on internal and external lighting, heat supply of the building, comfortable environment, heat exchange quality, water treatment and re-use, and energy-efficient elevators were considered. The project comprises the land improvement plan for adjacent territory, including introduction of the “green” roof technology to into operation. In the project, the risk of excess water consumption and damage of finishing materials and equipment were brought to minimum. It is planned to have separate accounting of the energy, water and heat by various lessees, floors and functional areas of the business center. The readings will be recorded by the automated control and dispatch system of the building. This will make it possible to conduct a detail results analysis, keep statistics and set the goals to reduce the resource consumption.

Association between percentage of obese people and water hardness in water purification plants

In 1974, the significant association between the softness of water and the death rate due to cardiovascular diseases was reported. Recently, the association of excessive hard water consumption, body mass index, and waist circumference with the risk of hypertension was described among individuals living in regions supplied with hard and soft water. The risk was low in people living in regions with high water hardness. Thus, there was a conflicting result with regard to the effects of water hardness on metabolic syndrome. Therefore, we investigated the association between water hardness and the percentage of obese people. We utilized the annual report of Kenko 21 and water quality inspection data of Maebashi City, Japan, which is the prefectural capital of Gunma Prefecture belonging to the Kanto plain and located approximately 100 km north of Tokyo. The population of Maebashi City is 336,154. In this study, data from 9 of 15 regions (Kasukawa, Miyagi, Souzya, Ogo, Haga, Eimei, Shikishima, Fujimi, and Kiyosato) in Maebashi City were analyzed. A significant negative correlation was observed between the percentage of obese people and water hardness in water purification plants. Thus, even in the soft water range, water hardness affects the percentage of obese people. Our results could provide a hint for the prevention and treatment of obesity regarding the importance of not only nutrition but also water quality. However, further studies involving more number of subjects are needed to confirm our results at a global scale.

Energy efficiency of multi-apartment residential houses with individual heat supply

The aim of this work is to study the functioning of heating and hot water systems of the discussed houses, to find the reasons for increased energy consumption. Four energy-efficient houses in the Brest region (Republic of Belarus) with apartment heat supply and a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery were selected as the object of study. The research methodology of the heating and hot water supply systems of the houses consisted of the following stages: study of project documentation; thermal imaging inspection of building structures and instrumental studies of the operation of heating systems and hot water supply; questionnaire of residents to analyze the nature of their use of the studied systems; processing received data. The values of the operational specific consumption of thermal energy for heating were determined, which doubled the design values equal to 43 kW·h/m2. The main reasons for the excess of the operating specific consumption of thermal energy for heating and ventilation over the design value is the increased heating season compared to the design average for a month and the maintenance of elevated indoor air temperatures in apartments, on average, at +21°C, which leads to increased heat losses. The functioning of the hot water supply system of energy-efficient houses is generally satisfactory for the used design solution, but sometimes due to the specific appartments’ planning leads to an excessive consumption of water and causes dissatisfaction of residents with a long waiting time for hot water with required temperature. Studies have shown that currently, the existing tariff policy in the Republic of Belarus due to low tariffs for gas and thermal energy for the population does not contribute to the efficient use of energy-efficient solutions by the masses of the population, which leads to an excessive consumption of thermal energy in modern residential buildings.

Water resource saving in irrigation networks through improving the efficiency of reinforced concrete coatings

This article examines the hydraulic conditions of the soils and their defects by analyzing the hydrogeological conditions of the land along their alignments to reduce the excessive water consumption in the irrigation networks and the rational use of the existing canals. The surveys were conducted on the example of the Dustlik channel in the Syrdarya region and the Khamdam channel in the Tashkent region. The technical condition of reinforced concrete coatings in these channels was analyzed and recommendations were given to increase the icing resistance and waterproofing of cement mixtures using the chemical additive Antihydron – 2D to fill the cracks and deformations also for repair, restoration, protection and waterproofing of structures and products from concrete, stone, brick.

Water-reduction potential of air-cooled condensers in coal power plants in India and anticipated trade-offs

Wet cooling towers (WCT) are widely used to reject the unutilized heat in coal thermal power plants (TPPs). But this comes at the cost of excessive water consumption. Adoption of air-cooled condensers (ACC), also known as dry cooling systems, in all proposed Indian TPPs would reduce their water consumption by 26% in 2030. However, power producers are reluctant to install ACC due to technical and economic disadvantages such as high capital investment and land footprint. This study evaluates the major challenges in implementing ACC by quantifying them in terms of cost of electricity generation. Critical parameters of WCT and ACC, such as water and auxiliary consumption, are also estimated at varying ambient air conditions. The study shows that cost of electricity generation in TPPs with ACC would increase by 0.26–0.30 INR/kWh (0.37–0.42 US cents/kWh) compared to those TPPs with WCT. Despite this, installation of ACC would still be economically viable for those TPPs that are susceptible to at least 1 month of shutdown annually due to water shortages. On an average, Indian plants that are located at high water-stressed regions operate 1.5 months lesser than those at low and medium water-stressed regions. Such TPPs would see an increase in cost of electricity generation by 0.17 INR/kWh (0.24 US cents/kWh) compared to TPPs with ACC.

Decrease of both river flow and quality aggravates water crisis in North China: a typical example of the upper Yongding River watershed.

Due to unevenly distributed water resources, semi-arid regions are particularly prone to severe water shortage and quality degradation. In this study, based on long-term hydrological database (1935-2015), and the latest available water quality data sets (2011-2016), we analyzed the water crisis and its driving forces in the upper Yongding River watershed, a typical water shortage area in North China. The results showed that human induced excessive water consumption is responsible for the significantly decreased river flow over the past eight decades. Although the capacity of the watershed wastewater treatment has improved, current water quality does not meet the requirements of the national water management goals, because of the excessive nitrogen and CODCr (chemical oxygen demand), which mainly come from the wastewater and feedlots discharge. Due to the decreased river flow, current Yongding River is unable to dilute and assimilate pollutions. The analysis of river pollutant load illustrated that more than 60 % of the nitrogen in the river water system is diverted for reservoir storage, and more than 50 % of the CODCr and TP are diverted for irrigation, thereby, increasing the risk of reservoirs eutrophication and threatening food safety. Besides, the high Cl- (388.2 ± 322.5 mg/L) and SO42- (470.6 ± 357.7 mg/L) imply that the upper river water are not suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes, and a potential risk of salinization if the river flow continues to decrease. We conclude that water resources over extraction and quality degradation are the main driving factors of the Yongding River water crisis.

Water flux management with low-cost iot technology for residences

Implementation of a low-cost water flux management System for residences. Applying bibliographic research for better comprehension of the concepts applied in the work, adopting quali-quantitative research through a survey aimed at a random audience, documentary research for information support on informal agencies and finally a case study to accomplish the construction of a profile of the average expenditure by a Brazilian family. The average water expenditure on Brazilian households exceeds the required amount stipulated by the World Health Organization to achieve sustainable usage, bad habits we maintain about water usage in our daily activities, get us even closer to a future shortage. The expense of water wastage, either by reading failure or clandestine connections, cost to the country a large amount of money. With the export, there is an excessive water consumption in large cities and a lack of control on the part of residents in moderating their use. With the implementation of this system, the resident will have the possibility to obtain the control, clearly over its residential consumption, besides a better awareness about how its actions affects the environment and consequently the people around it.

Extreme Risk-Taking Behaviors in Patients With Eating Disorders

BackgroundPatients with eating disorders (EDs) engage in different self-inflicted at-risk behaviors, including suicide, attempted suicide and non-suicidal self-injury. Our aim was to describe the occurrence and underlying motivations of non-suicidal extreme risk-taking behaviors in patients with EDs.MethodsFour cases from different treatment centers in Israel were analyzed.ResultsAll patients were females hospitalized in inpatient settings because of long lasting anorexia nervosa (AN) with either binge/purge or purging episodes (AN-B/P/AN-P), including in most cases both self-induced voting and laxative abuse. Case [1] was an adolescent also diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus. She abused insulin, both omission and overdose, was highly suicidal, and suffered from comorbid oppositional behavior, depression and anxiety. Case [2] was a 24-years old woman, transitioning from restricting to AN with vomiting and laxative use during inpatient treatment. She was also diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. In hospital, she developed excessive water consumption, leading to very low urine concentrations and sodium levels, and one episode of loss of consciousness. Case [3] was in her late thirties, demonstrating particularly massive laxative abuse. She also suffered from alcohol addiction, sexual trauma, and one attempted suicide. During hospitalization she developed laxative-abuse-related rectal prolapse that was successfully operated. Nonetheless, after operation she resumed laxative abuse. Case [4] was a 23-year old pregnant women with highly active AN-B/P during pregnancy. She was hospitalized at 23 weeks of gestation following abdominal pressure. She only partly complied with inpatient treatment, discharged herself against medical advice after 5 weeks, and gave birth at week 34.DiscussionAll cases were females with long-standing B/P type AN, often with multiple purging behaviors, other impulsive and non-impulsive comorbidities, and many environmental vulnerabilities. Different motivations were found for these extreme behaviors in addition to ED-related factors, mostly not related to suicide. The severity of the medical and psychological condition required multimodal medical and psychological inpatient interventions. The patients mostly did not comply with their treatment, showing considerable indifference to their grave medical condition.

Analysis of saline land and determination of the level of salinity of irrigated lands with use of the geographic information system technologies

In Uzbekistan, more than half of population lives in rural area, their well-being depends on quality of land and water resources availability. Quality of land is determined by ameliorative indicators: ground water depth level, ground water salt amount and salinity of soil. These factors do not appear naturally but rather due to the human activity. Inefficient irrigation and excessive consumption of irrigation water on irrigated land in Boyavut District of Syrdarya region of Uzbekistan within several decades have led to a salinization of soil. The primary objective of this article is determination of the level of salinity of soil for modelling spatial distribution of soil salinity throughout an irrigated land by using GIS technology. This technology is focused on automation of development and creation of ameliorative maps, while totally eliminating manual operations. Nowadays, ameliorative expedition specialists still create cadastral map using tracing paper over the marginal areas within irrigated lands based on their ameliorative conditions and by selecting from the three thematic maps and then selecting the poorest conditions of ameliorative indicators. The suggested technology is designed for professionals of cadastral subdivisions of regional ameliorative expeditions, who use the GIS-based software, such as ArcView 3.2. or ArcGIS 10x; their duties include creating of thematic maps based on salinity levels of irrigated lands. Exact coordinates of collection sites of soils samples (collected in 2018-2019) were determined using GPS. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation method was applied to use that data to create ameliorative maps categorized by the salinity levels (non-saline, slightly saline, saline area and highly saline areas). Those maps were then analysed to develop procedures on how to improve ameliorative conditions of irrigated areas.

Age- and climate- related water use patterns of apple trees on China’s Loess Plateau

The Loess Plateau of China is a major apple-cultivating region, but much of the Plateau is water-limited, and the expansion of apple-growing is putting pressure on soil water resources. Plants’ water consumption patterns have been intensively studied to facilitate formulation of robust agricultural strategies, but previous studies have generally applied indirect methods to characterize their water use. Moreover, the few studies that have applied direct (isotopic) methods have mostly focused on shallow (0–200 cm) soil layers, usually in stands of a single age or single climatic region. To avoid these limitations, we have investigated the primary water sources of apple trees of three ages (10, 15 and 22 years) in semiarid and semihumid climatic regions of the Plateau using both natural stable isotopic signatures (δ2H values) and injections of 2H2O into deep soil layers. We found that water content in apple orchards’ soil decreased with increases in depth and stand age, and was higher in the semihumid area than in the semiarid area. Nevertheless, patterns of apple trees’ water uptake from shallow (0–300 cm) soil layers were similar in the two climatic regions and the main water sources became shallower with increases in stand age. However, water uptake from deep (400–500 cm) soil layers was also detected, particularly in the blossom and young fruit stage in apple orchards of the semiarid area. Moreover, older trees absorbed more water from these layers than younger trees in the semiarid area (but not in the semihumid area) throughout the growing season. Excessive consumption of deep soil water inevitably results in deep soil drying and severely threatens the sustainability of apple cultivation. Our work suggests that it is necessary to take actions (e.g. supplementary irrigation, landscaping and mulching combinations) to reduce the proportion of deep soil water used by apple trees to prevent the development of dried soil layers. It also highlights the need to assess uptake patterns of plants at multiple developmental stages and ages to identify times when and places where interventions may be required or most effective.