Evaluating the prevalence, content and readability of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) web pages on the internet.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is growing rapidly. As CAM is relatively unregulated, it is important to evaluate the type and availability of CAM information. The goal of this study is to deter-mine the prevalence, content and readability of online CAM information based on searches for arthritis, diabetes and fibromyalgia using four common search engines. Fifty-eight of 599 web pages retrieved by a "condition search" (9.6%) were CAM-oriented. Of 216 CAM pages found by the "condition" and "condition + herbs" searches, 78% were authored by commercial organizations, whose pur-pose involved commerce 69% of the time and 52.3% had no references. Although 98% of the CAM information was intended for consumers, the mean read-ability was at grade level 11. We conclude that consumers searching the web for health information are likely to encounter consumer-oriented CAM advertising, which is difficult to read and is not supported by the conventional literature.

Misunderstanding Creativity : User Created Content in Virtual Worlds and its Constraints by Code and Law

Virtual worlds have moved from being a geek topic to one of mainstream academic interest. This transition is contingent not only on the augmented economic, societal and cultural value of these virtual realities and their effect upon real life but also on their convenience as fields for experimentation, for testing models and paradigms. User creation is however not something that has been transplanted from the real to the virtual world but a phenomenon and a dynamic process that happens from within and is defined through complex relationships between commercial and non-commercial, commodified and not commodified, individual and of the community, amateur and professional, art and not art. Accounting for this complex environment, the present paper explores user created content in virtual worlds, its dimensions and value and above all, its constraints by code and law. It puts forward suggestions for better understanding and harnessing this creativity.

Three “Bali Deliverables” for more Food Security

As the clock is ticking for a positive outcome at the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Bali in December 2013, agricultural negotiators are scrambling to find solutions to issues such as tariff-rate quota (TRQ) administration and export competition in order to improve trade flows. The main issue seems to be whether WTO rules applying to public stockpiles in developing countries need to be changed or temporarily suspended as a means to enhance national food security. This paper is based on a note submitted to the ICTSD-IPC Expert Group “Meeting on Agriculture and Food Security – Policy Options for MC9 and beyond” (Geneva, June 2013). It lists the policy instruments impacting on global, national and (urban and rural) household food security – “The Food Security Tool Box” – and asks which immediate decisions the WTO Ministers might take in this field despite the political difficulties such as continued agro-dumping practices or the “land grab” issue. Three such “deliverables” are outlined: (i) regional and “virtual” food security schemes could be allowed to provide reserves to other countries without violating the obligation to “form an integral part of a food security programme identified in national legislation” (Agreement on Agriculture, Annex II, para 3); (ii) TRQ under-fills could be improved by mandatory enquiries into low fill rate situations; and (iii) World Food Program (WFP) and other non-commercial food purchases could be exempted from export restrictions and prohibitions. High ambitions for Bali seem to be misplaced. A more realistic yet real progress could restore the dwindling credibility of the WTO as a forum for trade negotiations.

The World of Indicators. The Making of Governmental Knowledge through Quantification

The twenty-first century has seen a further dramatic increase in the use of quantitative knowledge for governing social life after its explosion in the 1980s. Indicators and rankings play an increasing role in the way governmental and non-governmental organizations distribute attention, make decisions, and allocate scarce resources. Quantitative knowledge promises to be more objective and straightforward as well as more transparent and open for public debate than qualitative knowledge, thus producing more democratic decision-making. However, we know little about the social processes through which this knowledge is constituted nor its effects. Understanding how such numeric knowledge is produced and used is increasingly important as proliferating technologies of quantification alter modes of knowing in subtle and often unrecognized ways. This book explores the implications of the global multiplication of indicators as a specific technology of numeric knowledge production used in governance. Combination of insights from anthropology of law, history of science, science and technology studies, sociology of quantification, economics and geography will appeal to those who are uncomfortable with the separation between 'theoretical' and 'empirical' approaches and with the current weakness of critique that address the main trends shaping the relations between capitalism, markets, law and democracy Theoretical discussion of the nature and historical formation of quantification will appeal to those who ask questions such as, 'What is new or different about our contemporary reliance on quantitative knowledge?' Groundbreaking empirical case studies uncover the social work and politics that often go into the making of indicators and explore the far-reaching effects and impacts of these numerical representations in specific settings

The Marginal Impact of ENGOs in Different Types of Democratic Systems

Conventional wisdom suggests that environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) play a major role in pushing states towards more ambitious environmental policies. However, demonstrating that this presumption is in fact true is rather difficult, because the same system structures of democracies that may create more opportunities for ENGO activities are also, on their own, conducive to better environmental policies. This leaves open the possibility that the additional (marginal) impact of ENGOs on policy making is smaller than presumed. In trying to disentangle these effects, this paper examines the influence of ENGOs contingent on key structural characteristics of democratic systems. We develop the argument that presidential systems with a plurality electoral rule per se tend to provide more environmental public goods, which induces a smaller marginal impact of ENGOs. Conversely, parliamentary systems with a proportional representation electoral rule are likely to provide fewer environmental public goods, which allows for a larger marginal impact of ENGOs. We find robust empirical support for these hypotheses in analyses that focus on the ratification behavior of 75 democracies vis-à-vis 250 international environmental agreements in 1973–2002.

Public Commons for Geospatial Data: A Conceptual Model

A wide variety of spatial data collection efforts are ongoing throughout local, state and federal agencies, private firms and non-profit organizations. Each effort is established for a different purpose but organizations and individuals often collect and maintain the same or similar information. The United States federal government has undertaken many initiatives such as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, the National Map and Geospatial One-Stop to reduce duplicative spatial data collection and promote the coordinated use, sharing, and dissemination of spatial data nationwide. A key premise in most of these initiatives is that no national government will be able to gather and maintain more than a small percentage of the geographic data that users want and desire. Thus, national initiatives depend typically on the cooperation of those already gathering spatial data and those using GIs to meet specific needs to help construct and maintain these spatial data infrastructures and geo-libraries for their nations (Onsrud 2001). Some of the impediments to widespread spatial data sharing are well known from directly asking GIs data producers why they are not currently involved in creating datasets that are of common or compatible formats, documenting their datasets in a standardized metadata format or making their datasets more readily available to others through Data Clearinghouses or geo-libraries. The research described in this thesis addresses the impediments to wide-scale spatial data sharing faced by GIs data producers and explores a new conceptual data-sharing approach, the Public Commons for Geospatial Data, that supports user-friendly metadata creation, open access licenses, archival services and documentation of parent lineage of the contributors and value- adders of digital spatial data sets.

Policy analysis of iron micronutrient programs at USAID: The FANTA program in East Africa and the micronutrient initiative in Bihar region of India, using comparative cost effective and cost benefit analysis

It is the aim of this paper to examine iron supplementation programs which receive funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) but approach combating iron deficiency anemia in two vastly different ways. A brief literature review and background information on iron deficiencies and the differences between supplementation programs and micronutrient fortification were reviewed. Two non-governmental organizations (NGO's) were examined for this paper: the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance II (FANTA) and the MicroNutrient Initiative. The FANTA program included an educational component to their supplementation program while the MicroNutrient Initiative solely used supplementation of micronutrients to their population. Methods used were cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis to determine the overall effectiveness of each program in reducing iron deficiency anemia in each population, if the added costs of the incentives in the FANTA program changed the cost-effectiveness of the program compared to the MicroNutrient Initiative program and to determine which program imparted the greatest benefit to each population by reducing the disease burden in Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY). Results showed that the unit cost of the FANTA program per person was higher than the MicroNutrient Initiative program due to the educational component. The FANTA program reduced iron deficiency anemia less overall but cost less for each percentage point of anemia decreased in their respective populations. The MicroNutrient Initiative program had a better benefit cost ratio for the populations it served. The MicroNutrient Initiative's large scale program imparted many advantages by reducing unit cost per person and decreasing iron deficiency anemia. The FANTA program was more effective at decreasing iron deficiency anemia with less money: $5,660 per 1% decrease in iron deficiency anemia versus $18,450 per 1% decrease in iron deficiency anemia for the MicroNutrient Initiative program. ^ In conclusion, economic analysis cannot measure all of the benefits associated with programs that contain an educational component or large scale supplementation. More information needs to be gathered by NGOs and reported to USAID, such as detailed prevalence rates of iron deficiency anemia among the populations served. Further research is needed to determine the effects an educational supplementation program has on compliance rates of participants and motivation to participate in supplementation programs whose aim is to decrease iron deficiency anemia in a targeted population.^

The New Futuro College Plan: Facilitating College Access

Built on a free, bilingual, "high-touch, high-tech" platform, New Futuro has created a robust community of Latino students and parents, non-profit organizations, education institutions, government agencies, and corporations to connect those that need help with those that provide it. One of the resources developed by New Futuro is a proprietary 10-Steps College Plan that provides structured information targeted to Latino students and families to help them prepare, apply and pay for college.

Plan de manejo de la costa de Río Negro : observatorio del ecosistema litoral y monitoreo de la biodiversidad

La Provincia de Río Negro, a través de su Constitución y de leyes específicas, adhiere “a los principios que sustentan el desarrollo sustentable de conformidad con la Carta de Naciones Unidas." En la costa marítima de Río Negro existen poblaciones relativamente densas y en aumento básicamente por la inmigración en busca de nuevos horizontes laborales. Los conflictos ambientales que se presentan son comunes a otras zonas costeras: contaminación de las aguas costeras por insuficiente o falta de servicios de tratamiento de aguas residuales, modificación, para desarrollo urbano, industrial y comercial, de hábitats críticos para el sostenimiento de pesquerías, vida silvestre, desarrollo de infraestructura costera inapropiada o mal diseñada que favorece procesos erosivos acelerados y/o interrumpen procesos ecológicos básicos, ocupación espacial desordenada que impide el acceso público a playas y otros terrenos públicos, manejo inapropiado de desechos sólidos, incumplimiento de la legislación en la zona costera; generación de conflictos intersectoriales, desarrollo desordenado de infraestructura con altos costos socioeconómicos, crecimiento de la frontera agropecuaria, deterioro de los suelos (sobrepastoreo, desertificación), introducción de especies exóticas, etc. En Río Negro se han relevado, aunque a diferente escala y muchas veces en forma discontinua, la mayor parte de los ambientes costeros considerados de mayor interés desde el punto de vista ecológico y/o productivo. Ejemplo de productos de estos estudios son las Areas Naturales Protegidas de Punta Bermeja, Caleta de Loros, Bahía de San Antonio, Complejo Islote Lobos y Puerto Lobos, así como la Reserva Pesquera Golfo San Matías. Sin embargo, la información se halla dispersa, por lo que la mayor parte de las veces no se puede contar con un panorama actualizado y globalizador que permita la toma de decisión en forma ágil y un real manejo de las especies y/o de su ambiente. Por ello se considera necesario g enerar un Plan de Manejo de la Costa Marítima de Río Negro, esto es, una clasificación del territorio de acuerdo a su grado de sensibilidad ecológica, expresado en unidades cartográficas ambientales, y estableciendo pautas de manejo para las mismas. Se optó por un Sistema de Inventario y Planificación de Recursos, adaptado a un método de Planificación Participativa en el que se involucra en forma directa, a través de encuentros y talleres, a los diferentes estamentos provinciales, municipales, centros de investigación, organizaciones no gubernamentales ambientalistas, organizaciones intermedias, especialistas. Para la Evaluación de los Elementos e identificación de Zonas de Mayor Sensibilidad Ecológica se utilizó un Método de Evaluación de Riesgos que permite cartografiar grado de Amenazas, Vulnerabilidad y Riesgo.

El aborto inseguro en América Latina y el Caribe

En América Latina, la tasa es de 32 abortos por cada 1000 mujeres y el 95% de estos presentan riesgos para la vida y la Salud de la mujer. La tasa de aborto en Europa Occidental, donde la Interrupción Voluntaria del Embarazo es legal, es de tan solo 12 casos por cada 1000 mujeres. Su prohibición solo alienta al aborto clandestino y en condiciones de riesgo. Idea y realización: Pieter Van Eecke Concepto y producción: Objeto Directo Diseño gráfico: Florencia Lastreto Fotografía: Natalie Mikhaloff y Médicos del Mundo Voz en off español: Jorge Varela Cámara: Pieter Van Eecke Animaciones: Florencia Lastreto Musica (Creative Commons Licence - Attribution - Non Commercial - Share alike) Bonifrate - Estudio Rural Em R Major Fabrizio Paternili - Profondo Blu Robin Grey - Ninety Days Instrumental Robin Grey – Every Walking Hour Instrumental Médicos del Mundo Francia Coordinadora General Uruguay: Carine Thibaut Comunicación: Mauricio de los Santos Agradecimientos: MYSU, Lilián Abracinskas, Morgane Aveline, Camila Giugliani, Jean Guerini, Sandrine Simon, Alain Forgeot, Aurore Voet.