Applying the Paradigm of Relational Ethics into Contextual Therapy. Analyzing the practice of Ivan Boszormenyi‐Nagy

Ivan Boszormenyi Nagy introduced with his contextual therapy a challenging theory into the world of family therapy. It is rooted in a relational ethical perspective on human relations and shifts the focus of therapy from pathology to evoking reciprocal care and a genuine dialogue, based on the conviction that inter‐human relations are resources for individual growth and health. This article presents a research project on the practice of the founder himself, to describe how the principles of the contextual theory and therapy can be integrated into concrete therapeutic interventions. Using the Constant Comparison Method, the authors found six clusters of interventions representing methodical elements through which Ivan Boszormenyi‐Nagy applies the paradigm of his approach.     

The evaluation of team lifting on physical work demands and workload in ironworkers

Lifting and carrying heavy loads occur frequently among ironworkers and result in high prevalence and incidence rates of low back complaints, injuries and work-disability. From a health perspective, little information is available on the effect of team lifting on work demands and workload. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare the effects of team lifting of maximally 50 kg by two ironworkers (T50) with team lifting of maximally 100 kg by four ironworkers (T100). This study combined a field and laboratory study with the following outcome measures: duration and frequency of tasks and activities, energetic workload, perceived discomfort and maximal compression forces (Fc peak) on the low back. The physical work demands and workload of an individual iron worker during manual handling of rebar materials of 100 kg with four workers did not differ from the manual handling of rebar materials of 50 kg with two workers, with the exception of low back discomfort and Fc peak. The biomechanical workload of the low back exceeded for both T50 and T100 the NIOSH threshold limit of 3400N. Therefore, mechanical transport or other effective design solutions should be considered to reduce the biomechanical workload of the low back and the accompanying health risks among iron workers.     

Does team lifting increase the variability in peak lumbar compression in ironworkers?

Ironworkers frequently perform heavy lifting tasks in teams of two or four workers. Team lifting could potentially lead to a higher variation in peak lumbar compression forces than lifts performed by one worker, resulting in higher maximal peak lumbar compression forces. This study compared single-worker lifts (25-kg, iron bar) to two-worker lifts (50-kg, two iron bars) and to four-worker lifts (100-kg, iron lattice). Inverse dynamics was used to calculate peak lumbar compression forces. To assess the variability in peak lumbar loading, all three lifting tasks were performed six times. Results showed that the variability in peak lumbar loading was somewhat higher in the team lifts compared to the single-worker lifts. However, despite this increased variability, team lifts did not result in larger maximum peak lumbar compression forces. Therefore, it was concluded that, from a biomechanical point of view, team lifting does not result in an additional risk for low back complaints in ironworkers.     

Mixed Hitting‐Time Models

We study mixed hitting‐time models that specify durations as the first time a Lévy process—a continuous‐time process with stationary and independent increments—crosses a heterogeneous threshold. Such models are of substantial interest because they can be deduced from optimal‐stopping models with heterogeneous agents that do not naturally produce a mixed proportional hazards structure. We show how strategies for analyzing the identifiability of the mixed proportional hazards model can be adapted to prove identifiability of a hitting‐time model with observed covariates and unobserved heterogeneity. We discuss inference from censored data and give examples of structural applications. We conclude by discussing the relative merits of both models as complementary frameworks for econometric duration analysis.     

The identifiability of the mixed proportional hazards competing risks model

Summary. We prove identification of dependent competing risks models in which each risk has a mixed proportional hazard specification with regressors, and the risks are dependent by way of the unobserved heterogeneity, or frailty, components. We show that the conditions for identification given by Heckman and Honoré can be relaxed. We extend the results to the case in which multiple spells are observed for each subject.     

Political and organizational preconditions for application of the standards for educational evaluation : The standards for educational evaluation seen in a wider perspective in relation to policy making and organization

Some of the standards for educational evaluation refer to the political and organizational context in which evaluation projects take place: “conflicting interests,” “political viability,” and various standards which have to do with the identification of the evaluation object and of the most important groups and persons involved. Whereas the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation seems to focus on the level of the individual research project, the present authors feel that in addition, contextual influences on evaluations should be analyzed at a higher level of aggregation. Political and organizational factors at the macro level can even be seen as preconditions for the application of the standards at project level. This point of view is illustrated by referring to a study of the functioning of evaluation research within some innovative programs in Dutch education.     

Why RDAs and ULs Are Incompatible Standards in the U‐Shape Micronutrient Model: A Philosophically Orientated Analysis of Micronutrients' Standardizations

Risk assessments of micronutrients are carried out in the customary deficiency‐excess model. It is regarded as straightforward and unambiguous. Nevertheless, it is a problematic amalgamation of two different and to a certain extent contrasting perspectives on risk and science that we will criticize in this contribution. Our critique is framed in a conceptual scheme of opposing perspectives highlighted by the rival characteristics of RDAs and SULs and the role of science therein. The one part of our scheme holds the typically modern approach that centers on risks that can be scientifically assessed more or less confidently. Subsequent policies are aimed at preventing major health problems that affect the majority of the population from early on in life. The RDAs are the ideal type‐case here. The other part of our scheme holds a much more postmodern approach in which health risks are explicitly recognized as “uncertain.” Dealing with those risks has little to do with major health problems from early on in life. Here, we encounter the scientific quandary of disentangling complex factors and impacts that may relate to some extra quality of life later on in life. SULs are exemplarily thereof. We will show that RDAs originally spawned from the scientific aim of securing objective knowledge “to lay down the requirements of an adequate” diet. SULs, conversely, are the upshot of generating acceptable outcomes driven by ever‐increasing safety requirements. This shift from securing objective knowledge to generating acceptable outcomes will be addressed in relation to precautionary culture.