Nietzsche's holism: A paradigm for integration

With Europe at a crossroads, facing both nationalism and globalism, Nietzsche has some interesting things to say about our world today. Nietzsche's holism is multifaceted and complex, thus, he has attracted many critics. Recent scholarship has interpreted his holism as an offence to modern liberal society. Some have claimed that Nietzsche's “perspectivism” and the “overcoming of morality,” two essential categories of his holism, are essentially expressions of democratic ideals of tolerance. Still others have argued that Nietzsche's ‘will to power’ is to be understood as an expression of freedom where human bondage and prejudice are cast aside in the name of some brand of neo-Kantian liberalism. And finally, there are those voices who continue to paint Nietzsche's holism as nothing more than savage realism and harsh criticism. In this essay, I examine many of these claims (focusing principally on ‘the will to power’) with the expectation of trying to discern the value of his holism for advancing a paradigm for integration.     

The next decade in evaluation research

The field of evaluation research has developed rapidly in the past few years. Its growth is marked by:(1) establishment of an'entrepreneurial industry of considerable proportions; (2) emergence of a new profession as evidenced by the founding of professional associations, publication of books and journals, and the development of specialized training programs; (3) recognition of the importance of evaluation in the federal bureaucracy by the establishment of key executive positions in the various offices of the Secretaries; (4) quality control efforts by a variety of stakeholders and watchdog groups; and (5) efforts to address methodological problems and to maximize the dissemination and utilization of studies. In the future, continued federal funding in health, education, and welfare will be dependent on demonstrated program impact, and “sunset legislation.” Moreover, there will be fewer important “policy” evaluations and more administrative and managerial efforts. Evaluation questions, increasingly, will be specified either by Congress or the administering agency, including the setting of design and methodological requirements for studies. Opportunities for investigator-inspired studies and basic methodological development will decrease.     

The Voluntary–Community Sector and Political Development in Northern Ireland,Since 1972

This paper traces the development of the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland from the early 1970s onwards. Particular attention is given to the expansion of the voluntary and community sector in the 1970s, community action in conflict with government in the 1980s, and new funding--from the European Union and other international sources--for development work since the mid-1990s. More recent trends discussed include the rapprochement of the voluntary and community sector with government, which has seen a growth in formal partnerships and networking, as well as the impact of the 1998 Belfast Agreement.     

A Meta-Analysis of Children's Hand-to-Mouth Frequency Data for Estimating Nondietary Ingestion Exposure

Because of their mouthing behaviors, children have a higher potential for exposure to available chemicals through the nondietary ingestion route; thus, frequency of hand-to-mouth activity is an important variable for exposure assessments. Such data are limited and difficult to collect. Few published studies report such information, and the studies that have been conducted used different data collection approaches (e.g., videography versus real-time observation), data analysis and reporting methods, ages of children, locations, and even definitions of "mouthing." For this article, hand-to-mouth frequency data were gathered from 9 available studies representing 429 subjects and more than 2,000 hours of behavior observation. A meta-analysis was conducted to study differences in hand-to-mouth frequency based on study, age group, gender, and location (indoor vs. outdoor), to fit variability and uncertainty distributions that can be used in probabilistic exposure assessments, and to identify any data gaps. Results of this analysis indicate that age and location are important for hand-to-mouth frequency, but study and gender are not. As age increases, both indoor and outdoor hand-to-mouth frequencies decrease. Hand-to-mouth behavior is significantly greater indoors than outdoors. For both indoor and outdoor hand-to-mouth frequencies, interpersonal, and intra-personal variability are approximately 60% and approximately 30%, respectively. The variance difference among different studies is much bigger than its mean, indicating that different studies with different methodologies have similar central values. Weibull distributions best fit the observed data for the different variables considered and are presented in this article by study, age group, and location. Average indoor hand-to-mouth behavior ranged from 6.7 to 28.0 contacts/hour, with the lowest value corresponding to the 6 to <11 year olds and the highest value corresponding to the 3 to <6 month olds. Average outdoor hand-to-mouth frequency ranged from 2.9 to 14.5 contacts/hour, with the lowest value corresponding to the 6 to <11 year olds and the highest value corresponding to the 6 to <12 month olds. The analysis highlights the need for additional hand-to-mouth data for the <3 months, 3 to <6 months, and 3 to <6 year age groups using standardized collection and analysis because of lack of data or high uncertainty in available data. This is the first publication to report Weibull distributions as the best fitting distribution for hand-to-mouth frequency; using the best fitting exposure factor distribution will help improve estimates of exposure. The analyses also represent a first comprehensive effort to fit hand-to-mouth frequency variability and uncertainty distributions by indoor/outdoor location and by age groups, using the new standard set of age groups recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for assessing childhood exposures. Thus, the data presented in this article can be used to update the U.S. EPA's Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook and to improve estimates of nondietary ingestion in probabilistic exposure modeling.