Why don’t humanitarian organizations provide safe abortion services?

Background Although sexual and reproductive health services have become more available in humanitarian settings over the last decade, safe abortion services are still rarely provided. The authors’ observations suggest that four reasons are typically given for this gap: ‘There’s no need’; ‘Abortion is too complicated to provide in crises’; ‘Donors don’t fund abortion services’; and ‘Abortion is illegal’. Discussion However, each of these reasons is based on false premises. Unsafe abortion is a major cause of maternal mortality globally, and the collapse of health systems in crises suggests it likely increases in humanitarian settings. Abortion procedures can be safely performed in health centers by mid-level providers without sophisticated equipment or supplies. Although US government aid does not fund abortion-related activities, other donors, including many European governments, do fund abortion services. In most countries, covering 99 % of the world’s population, abortion is permitted under some circumstances; it is illegal without exception in only six countries. International law supports improved access to safe abortion. Summary As none of the reasons often cited for not providing these services is valid, it is the responsibility of humanitarian NGOs to decide where they stand regarding their commitment to humanitarian standards and women’s right to high quality and non-discriminatory health services. Providing safe abortion to women who become pregnant as a result of rape in war may be a more comfortable place for organizations to begin the discussion. Making safe abortion available will improve women’s health and human rights and save lives

Impact of Cleaning Frequency on Nitrogen Balance in Open Feedlot Pens

Pen cleaning frequency of feedlot pens was evaluated during the summer of 2001 and 2002. Dry matter, organic matter and nitrogen recoveries were evaluated on a per head basis. Cleaning pens monthly compared to cleaning at the end of the feeding period resulted in significantly more DM, OM and N recovered. Cleaning pens every month increased N removal by 7.0 lb per steer (49.9% increase) above manure N removed at the end of the feeding period

Particulate and water-soluble carbon measured in recent snow at Summit, Greenland

Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), waterinsoluble particulate organic carbon (WIOC), and particulate elemental carbon (EC) were measured simultaneously for the first time on the Greenland Ice Sheet in surface snow and in a 3-meter snow pit. Snow pit concentrations reveal that, on average, WSOC makes up the majority (89%) of carbonaceous species, followed by WIOC (10%) and EC (1%). The enhancement of OC relative to EC (ratio 99:1) in Greenland snow suggests that, along with atmospheric particulate matter, gaseous organics contribute to snow-phase OC. Comparison of summer surface snow concentrations in 2006 with past summer snow pit layers (2002 – 2005) found a significant depletion in WSOC (20 – 82%) and WIOC (46 – 65%) relative to EC for 3 of the 4 years. The apparent substantial loss of WSOC and WIOC in aged snow suggests that post-depositional processes, such as photochemical reactions, need to be considered in linking ice core records of organics to atmospheric concentrations. Citation: Hagler, G. S. W., M. H. Bergin, E. A. Smith, J. E. Dibb, C. Anderson, and E. J. Steig (2007), Particulate and water-soluble carbon measured in recent snow at Summit, Greenland, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16505, doi:10.1029/2007GL030110

Complementary medicine in psychology practice: an analysis of Australian psychology guidelines and a comparison with other psychology associations from English speaking countries.

BACKGROUND: Psychologists, and their clients, are engaging with complementary medicine (CM). Increasing evidence for CM approaches, such as improved nutrition and St John's wort, has led to their inclusion in the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Psychiatrists clinical practice guidelines for mood disorders. This research aims to determine in what ways, and to what extent, Australian psychology regulatory bodies and associations consider CM relevant to psychology practice. Specifically, how these regulatory bodies and professional association's ethical and practice guidelines engage with CM. METHODS: Documents from Australian regulatory bodies and professional associations, that relate to the governance or guidance of psychologists' clinical practice, were systematically searched for key terms relating to CM. RESULTS: There were no direct references to CM in the 58 ethical and practice guidelines reviewed. There was also no reference to the relevance of CM to ethnocultural groups, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional healing practices. CONCLUSION: While other mental health care disciplines are working toward integrating CM, the discipline of psychology in Australia is not currently engaged in such developments. Given the exponential rise of CM use amongst those with mental health problems, psychology associations should consider developing resources and guidelines to assist psychologists in navigating CM in relation to clinical practice to help minimise risks, such as patient safety associated with concurrent CM use

Hard-wall and non-uniform lattice Monte Carlo approaches to one-dimensional Fermi gases in a harmonic trap

We present in detail two variants of the lattice Monte Carlo method aimed at tackling systems in external trapping potentials: a uniform-lattice approach with hard-wall boundary conditions, and a non-uniform Gauss-Hermite lattice approach. Using those two methods, we compute the ground-state energy and spatial density profile for systems of N=4 - 8 harmonically trapped fermions in one dimension. From the favorable comparison of both energies and density profiles (particularly in regions of low density), we conclude that the trapping potential is properly resolved by the hard-wall basis. Our work paves the way to higher dimensions and finite temperature analyses, as calculations with the hard-wall basis can be accelerated via fast Fourier transforms, the cost of unaccelerated methods is otherwise prohibitive due to the unfavorable scaling with system size