Ergonomic work analysis as a tool of prevention for the occupational safety and health management system

This paper introduces the Ergonomic Work Analysis as a relevant instrument to identify the risks in occupational environments through the investigation of factors that influence the relationship between the worker and the productive process. It draws a parallel between the several aspects of risk identification in traditional tools of Health and Safety Management and the factors embraced by the Ergonomic Work Analysis, showing that the ergonomic methodology is able to go deeper in the scenarios of possible incident causes. This deepening enables the establishment of a relationship between the work context and the upcoming damage to the physical integrity of the worker. It acts as a complementary instrument in the traditional approach to the risk management. In order to explain the application of this methodology in a preventive way, it is presented a case study of a coal mill inspector in a siderurgic company.     

Practice Wisdom Meets Evidence-Based Practice: Building Capacity in Agencies

Agencies have a need to develop and evaluate therapeutic practices that show efficacy in treating specific client problems. University-agency collaborations combine the wisdom of practitioners with research skills that appraise evidence of efficacy, operationalize concepts and skills, and identify and implement evaluation methods. This article discusses the processes involved as practitioners and administrators collaborated with university researchers to transform a well-established mutual aid (MA) model of group work into an evidence-based model that showed efficacy in preventing substance use with adolescent populations. A case study will include the phases of the collaboration including relationship building, reviews of similar programs, identification of appropriate evaluation measures, development of a curricular-based manual and analysis and interpretation of the data for use in applying for funding. Implications for agency practice that respond to current demands in social services will be discussed.     

Breadth of Vocational Interests: The Role of Career Adaptability and Future Orientation

The authors examined the relationship between career adaptability, future orientation, and vocational interests. Specifically, they tested the role of career adaptability and future orientation in promoting a broader range of vocational interests, based on the principle that experiencing more interests can be useful in giving one's best in multiple occupations and in planning a broad range of career goals. A total of 762 Italian adolescents (383 males, 379 females) participated in the study. Results highlight the mediating role of future orientation in the relationship between 4 career adaptability resources and breadth of vocational interests. These results underscore that specific interventions in career adaptability and future orientation may foster a broader range of vocational interests, providing more opportunity for adolescents to respond to the demands of the current job market.     

Displaying Gender: Transgender People's Strategies in Everyday Life

Drawing upon data from in‐depth interviews with transgender people in Portugal and in the United Kingdom, this article critically reflects upon different ways through which transgender people recreate their gender displays, particularly in terms of gender embodiment and aesthetics, in order to navigate their everyday lives. I focus on four strategies of articulating gender displays with one's own gender subjectivities: “blending in,” “masking,” “naturalizing,” and “subverting.” These strategies are not exclusive of one another. They are used differently throughout the participants' own lives in accordance to the social contexts they were in.     

“It Seems That Things Take Care of Themselves”: Routines in Busy Family Lives

In this study we analyze how 15 working mothers talk about the ways in which routines contribute to sustaining the accomplishment of their domestic work. In particular, we analyze the routines’ function of coordinating multiple lines of activity, their property of anticipating the unexpected and incorporating alternative responses, and their character of being a local resource for practical thinking and action. We then discuss the role that moral personal positioning and ideologies of parenthood, time management, and efficiency might have in accounting for the variety and diversification of routines among families.     

Specification and testing of multiplicative time-varying GARCH models with applications

In this article, we develop a specification technique for building multiplicative time-varying GARCH models of Amado and Teräsvirta (2008, 2013). The variance is decomposed into an unconditional and a conditional component such that the unconditional variance component is allowed to evolve smoothly over time. This nonstationary component is defined as a linear combination of logistic transition functions with time as the transition variable. The appropriate number of transition functions is determined by a sequence of specification tests. For that purpose, a coherent modelling strategy based on statistical inference is presented. It is heavily dependent on Lagrange multiplier type misspecification tests. The tests are easily implemented as they are entirely based on auxiliary regressions. Finite-sample properties of the strategy and tests are examined by simulation. The modelling strategy is illustrated in practice with two real examples: an empirical application to daily exchange rate returns and another one to daily coffee futures returns.     

Wholly proprietary versus wholly open knowledge strategies: some empirical evidences from Italian biotech firms

This paper focuses on biotechnologies and biotech companies. Our aim is to develop a model for assessing the openness degree of knowledge governance strategies, applying it to the biotech firms. Biotech production is described as an emerging meta-industry in the global economy, fostering through new products, many socio-economic fields. Its main features are: a close relationship among knowledge, innovation and competitiveness; the need for collaborative research; the importance of small firms. Our paper begins with a brief characterization of the biotech meta-sector. We then review the literature regarding the advantages and disadvantages of ??wholly proprietary?? versus ??wholly open?? knowledge strategies. Next we propose a model and report the main results of its application to biotech companies in Italy. In conclusion, we evaluate the degree of openness of the company knowledge strategies based upon empirical evidence from our research in the field.     

The Business Environment Perceived by Foreign Investors in the Region Transylvania,Romania

The paper provides an overview of the perception of the business environment by foreign investors in Transylvania (Romania) as a result of a survey conducted on firms with foreign capital in this region. The first part of our study considers general information about the companies in the sample, regarding size, type of contribution, domain of activity, market, and other aspects. The second part of the study deals with factors concerning the location decision: the factors that influenced the success of operations and impediments and barriers encountered. The fact that despite several obstacles, the business environment is perceived by the majority of investors as a good one, allows the conclusion that the transformation process of the economy is moving in the right direction.