Water tanks as ecosystems. Local ecosystemic perception for integral management of water tanks in Tamil Nadu, South India

Water tanks offer from many centuries ago solutions in South India for several problems related with water scarcity. They are a traditional water harvesting system wide spread in this territory, allowing a potential decentralized and participatory management of the local population on their own resources. Although water tanks¿ main function is irrigation, they have many other uses, functions and natural resources associated, involving stakeholders in the villages apart from those farmers making use of the irrigation. Water tanks provide a variety of landscapes and biodiversity that creates a valuable heterogeneous territory. The complexity of such an ecosystem should be managed with an integral perspective, considering all the elements involved and their relations, and understanding that water tanks are not just water deposits. This multidisciplinary study tries to demonstrate the idea of water tanks as ecosystems, describing and analyzing deeply and in an unprecedentedly way the functions, uses, natural resources and stakeholders. The research also focuses in the assessment of the ecosystemic perception of the local population of some villages in Tamil Nadu, employing diverse anthropological methodology.

Psychometric evaluation of the IWQOL-Lite (Spanish version) when applied to a sample of obese patients awaiting bariatric surgery

Background Obesity may have an impact on key aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQOL). In this context, the Impact of Weight Quality of Life (IWQOL) questionnaire was the first scale designed to assess HRQOL. The aim of the present study was twofold: to assess HRQOL in a sample of Spanish patients awaiting bariatric surgery and to determine the psychometric properties of the IWQOL-Lite and its sensitivity to detect differences in HRQOL across groups. Methods Participants were 109 obese adult patients (BMI¿ 35 kg/m2) from Barcelona, to whom the following measurement instruments were applied: IWQOL-Lite, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales, Brief Symptom Inventory, and self-perception items. Results Descriptive data regarding the IWQOL-Lite scores obtained by these patients are reported. Principal components analysis revealed a five-factor model accounting for 72.05% of the total variance, with factor loadings being adequate for all items. Corrected itemtotal correlations were acceptable for all items. Cronbach"s alpha coefficients were excellent both for the subscales (0.880.93) and the total scale (0.95). The relationship between the IWQOLLite and other variables supports the construct validity of the scale. Finally, sensitivity analysis revealed large effect sizes when comparing scores obtained by extreme BMI groups. Conclusions This is the first study to report the application of the IWQOL-Lite to a sample of Spanish patients awaiting bariatric surgery and to confirm that the Spanish version of the instrument has adequate psychometric properties.

La escala de análisis: un tema central en didáctica de la geografía = The scale of analysis a central didactic theme in Geography

Geographical scale is not merely a technical question. The learning of geographical scale goes beyond geometricunderstanding; it implies the etymological comprehension of the concept, the recognition of the importance of scale in theelaboration of the geographical discourse. It implies placing oneself in the centre of the teaching and learning of Geographyand asking oneself, what scale? Why this scale? What progression of scales? The answer to these questions puts in doubtthe scientific discourse that is presently taught in schools especially on the scale of analysis, the sequencing of studiedspaces and the false dichotomy local and global