Paradigmatic Framework Research Articles

Disentangling the critical signatures of neural activity

The critical brain hypothesis has emerged as an attractive framework to understand neuronal activity, but it is still widely debated. In this work, we analyze data from a multi-electrodes array in the rat’s cortex and we find that power-law neuronal avalanches satisfying the crackling-noise relation coexist with spatial correlations that display typical features of critical systems. In order to shed a light on the underlying mechanisms at the origin of these signatures of criticality, we introduce a paradigmatic framework with a common stochastic modulation and pairwise linear interactions inferred from our data. We show that in such models power-law avalanches that satisfy the crackling-noise relation emerge as a consequence of the extrinsic modulation, whereas scale-free correlations are solely determined by internal interactions. Moreover, this disentangling is fully captured by the mutual information in the system. Finally, we show that analogous power-law avalanches are found in more realistic models of neural activity as well, suggesting that extrinsic modulation might be a broad mechanism for their generation.

Paradigma Ahl Al-Sunnah Wa Al-Jama'ah dan Signifikansinya dalam Pendidikan Islam Multikultural

The discourse of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah (Aswaja) in the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) tradition has developed in a paradigmatic framework as the manhaj al-fikr (the method of thinking) to answer the challenges of heterogeneity in the Indonesian nation. This paper is a literature review using a descriptive-deductive approach in answering questions about how the Aswaja concept is a paradigmatic proposition in the midst of the plurality in the Indonesian nation and how significant it is in enriching the insight of multiculturalism in Islamic education. In this case, Aswaja as the manhaj al-fikr is a continuation of the madzhab diniyyah system (religious school) which stems from five main foundations, i.e. tawassut (moderate), tasammuh (tolerant), tawazun (balanced), ‘adalah (justice), and amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (encouraging good deeds and preventing evil deeds). In addition, Aswaja as the manhaj al-fikr contributes to multicultural Islamic education by providing a paradigmatic scheme as a weltanschauung or worldview in seeing and responding to all the diversity that exists in Indonesia. That is, performing Aswaja in a manhajiy manner means an ability to; 1) manage conflicts proportionally, 2) live side by side peacefully in the midst of differences, 3) seek improvement towards a better direction (al-ishlah ila ma huwa al-ashlah), 4) contextualize in responding to various problems, and 5) think methodologically. Thus, the Aswaja paradigm as the manhaj al-fikr has significance in enriching the concept of Islamic education with a multicultural perspective in the internalization aspect of religious moderating and strengthening national integration.

The Development of Pedagogical Competence in Tacit Knowing

Polanyi’s theory of personal knowledge provides a paradigmatic conceptual framework for the empirical analysis of tacit knowing and learning. We use this framework to analyze the development of pedagogical competence. Drawing on Polanyi, we regard pedagogical competence as a particular field of professional tacit knowing that relates subsidiary and focal awareness of events in class, effects situated appraisal, and relates events to teaching intentions. The development of pedagogical competence takes place when a teacher struggles to relate teaching intentions to ongoing events in tacit knowing and engages in situated experimentation. Based on Polanyi’s conception of subsidiary awareness, focal awareness, and appraisal, we present an empirical vignette from a case study. In it, a teacher engages in situated experimentation to resolve two opposing semantic fields in class: an intended field of interaction, which focuses on the lesson topic, and the field of student peer relations. Based on our analysis, we argue that the teacher’s competence development is focused on the educative task of managing students’ peer culture, while the teacher’s focal awareness remains on the didactical task of teaching a subject.

Paradigmatic framework for the development of monetary theories: features of formation

Paradigmatic framework for the development of monetary theories: features of formation

The Jihadi Current and the Lay Thinking: A “Re-Anchorage” Process Hypothesis

The Jihadi-salafist doctrine which is at the Islamist terrorism origin that affects several countries since the emergence of Al Qaeda in the late 80's, gave birth to the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham/Levant (ISIS/ISIL) established as a Caliphate in 2014. Despite the ISIS official military defeat in 2019, the Jihadi-Salafist current - whose history goes back a long way, is currently behind a number of attacks whether collective or individual, claimed by known organizations or committed in isolation. In our perspective, we try to apprehend the attraction power of the Jihadi narrative issue taking the Theory of Social Representations as a paradigmatic framework. This implies that we dont consider the Jihadi current membership as the manifestation of a deviation from normality or optimal rationality, but as the expression of a certain common sense resonance. More precisely, and taking the case of the Tunisian context, the success of the Jihadi narrative is explained by its effectiveness as an interpretive grid and as a guide for action, making it possible to re-anchor a reality lacking in meaning. This hypothesis of a re-anchoring implies that anchoring as described by Moscovici as one of the two processes at the origin of the social representations formation (with the objectification process), could be not only as a familiarization of the strange by inserting it in an already known pre-existing frame, but by substituting to the frame itself, a new one, in order to be able to insert familiar objects which would have lost their sense precisely because of the old frame itself. This hypothesis could offer a theoretical and heuristic perspective allowing the anchoring process to be conceived as a circular and non-definitive process.

The Economy Between Pandemics

This article analyzes the economic and social impact of the pandemic in Argentina. It begins with the macroeconomic crisis that the new government had to face in December 2019 and the degrees of freedom available to be able to carry out compensatory fiscal and monetary policies to alleviate the effects of the pandemic. The article also analyzes the impact of these compensatory measures, their limits and results. In particular, it reviews the global impact of the pandemic, the different types of response at the international level and the asymmetry of the global recovery, in addition to evaluating different scenarios and their impact in Argentina and other developing countries. Finally, it also studies the temporary and permanent changes that the pandemic causes at the global level and suggests policy alternatives to avoid external restriction to face the crisis. It does so by laying the foundations for equitable development on the philosophical basis of Latin American structuralism and progressive thought, all within a new paradigmatic framework.

Indigenous Made in Africa Evaluation Frameworks: Addressing Epistemic Violence and Contributing to Social Transformation

Transformative change is needed if the world is to achieve the sustainable development goals. Such change requires attention to culture, ethics, and values. We discuss the need to be responsive to the voices of Indigenous scholars in terms of the assumptions that guide methodological choices in the evaluation of international initiatives. We describe an Indigenous paradigmatic framework and then narrow the focus to a Made in Africa approach to evaluation that is designed to redress the epistemic violence perpetrated by the use of a Western cultural lens to determine evaluation approaches.

Theory and Technology in Organizational Psychology: A Review of Technology Integration Paradigms and Their Effects on the Validity of Theory

Despite the centrality of technology to understanding how humans in organizations think, feel, and behave, researchers in organizational psychology and organizational behavior even now often avoid theorizing about it. In our review, we identify four major paradigmatic approaches in theoretical approaches to technology, which typically occur in sequence: technology-as-context, technology-as-causal, technology-as-instrumental, and technology-as-designed. Each paradigm describes a typically implicit philosophical orientation toward technology as demonstrated through choices about theory development and research design. Of these approaches, one is unnecessarily limited and two are harmful oversimplifications that we contend have systematically weakened the quality of theory across our discipline. As such, we argue that to avoid creating impractical and even inaccurate theory, researchers must explicitly model technology design. To facilitate this shift, we define technology, present our paradigmatic framework, explain the framework's importance, and provide recommendations across five key domains: personnel selection, training and development, performance management and motivation, groups and teams, and leadership.

Paradigmatic framework of the development of modern economic theory: peculiarities of revision

The article considers the problems of revising the paradigmatic framework of the development of modern economic theories. The study is based on the use of constructivist methodology, which allows studying meaningfully the processes of economic development as a complex system. The emergence of the modern paradigmatic framework of economic theories is interpreted as a result of the use of an eclectic combination of elements of individualistic and holistic methodologies. The paper considers the issues of transition to the research paradigm of studying the links between economic relations, values and institutions, taking into account the diversity of economic motives and interests of subjects, which have the ability to create collective forms of economic activity.

Kuramoto model with additional nearest-neighbor interactions: Existence of a nonequilibrium tricritical point.

A paradigmatic framework to study the phenomenon of spontaneous collective synchronization is provided by the Kuramoto model comprising a large collection of phase oscillators of distributed frequencies that are globally coupled through the sine of their phase differences. We study here a variation of the model by including nearest-neighbor interactions on a one-dimensional lattice. While the mean-field interaction resulting from the global coupling favors global synchrony, the nearest-neighbor interaction may have cooperative or competitive effects depending on the sign and the magnitude of the nearest-neighbor coupling. For unimodal and symmetric frequency distributions, we demonstrate that as a result, the model in the stationary state exhibits in contrast to the usual Kuramoto model both continuous and first-order transitions between synchronized and incoherent phases, with the transition lines meeting at a tricritical point. Our results are based on numerical integration of the dynamics as well as an approximate theory involving appropriate averaging of fluctuations in the stationary state.

Von Neumann entropy and entropy production of a damped harmonic oscillator.

In this paper we analyze the entropy and entropy production of a nonisolated quantum system described within the quantum Brownian motion framework. This is a very general and paradigmatic framework for describing nonisolated quantum systems and can be used in any kind of coupling regime. We start by considering the application of von Neumann entropy to an arbitrarily damped quantum system making use of its reduced density operator. We argue that this application is formally valid and develop a path-integral method to evaluate that quantity analytically. We apply this technique to a harmonic oscillator in contact with a heat bath and obtain an exact form for its entropy. Then we study the entropy production of this system and enlighten important characteristics of its thermodynamical behavior on the pure quantum realm and also address their transition to the classical limit.

Conocimientos de la hipertensión: Health beliefs about hypertension in an under-resourced community in the Dominican Republic.

Understanding health beliefs is important to facilitate health promotion and disease prevention as they influence health behaviors, outcomes, and disease management. Given the rise of hypertension-related diseases in the Dominican Republic, the purpose of our study was to identify hypertension-related health beliefs of Dominicans in order to inform the development of culturally appropriate interventions for hypertension prevention, care, and treatment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 Dominicans, 15 of whom were receiving treatment for hypertension. Operating within the interpretative paradigmatic framework, we conducted thematic analyses of interview data to identify hypertension-related health beliefs and practices. Iterative data analysis revealed the following themes: 1) Negative emotions are a primary cause of hypertension, 2) Medication is the best treatment but adherence is challenging, 3) Systemic barriers impede treatment access, 4) Hypertension negatively impacts mental and physical well-being, and 5) Lifestyle changes, relaxation, and social support help manage hypertension. Data gathered from member checking validated these findings. This study enhances understanding of the beliefs and experiences of Dominicans and emphasize the importance of implementing culturally competent health programming and care.

Sacrificing Homo Sacer: René Girard reads Giorgio Agamben

Taking as its point of departure the existing critical literature on the intersections between René Girard’s and Giorgio Agamben’s anthropogenetic theories, this essay aims to add further considerations to the debate by discussing some of Agamben’s intuitions within a Girardian paradigmatic explanatory framework. I show how by regressing the archeological analysis to a pre-institutional and pre-legal moment, and by re-examining the antinomic structure of the sacred in its genetic organizing form (so briskly dismissed by Agamben in Homo Sacer), one can account more cogently for certain key issues relevant to Agamben’s theoretical project, such as the “paradox of sovereignty,” the nature of the “state of exception,” and the dissociation between culpa and individual responsibility in archaic law, as recently discussed in Karman. I also put forward arguments concerning the limitations of Agamben’s immanent ontology to account for the zoe/bios distinction as a key structural element of his particular take on biopolitics, viewing this specifically in the light

The landscape of somatic mutation in normal colorectal epithelial cells.

The colorectal adenoma-carcinoma sequence has provided a paradigmatic framework for understanding the successive somatic genetic changes and consequent clonal expansions that lead to cancer1. However, our understanding of the earliest phases of colorectal neoplastic changes-which may occur in morphologically normal tissue-is comparatively limited, as for most cancer types. Here we use whole-genome sequencing to analyse hundreds of normal crypts from 42 individuals. Signatures of multiple mutational processes were revealed; some of these were ubiquitous and continuous, whereas others were only found in some individuals, in some crypts or during certain periods of life. Probable driver mutations were present in around 1% of normal colorectal crypts in middle-aged individuals, indicating that adenomas and carcinomas are rare outcomes of a pervasive process of neoplastic change across morphologically normal colorectal epithelium. Colorectal cancers exhibit substantially increased mutational burdens relative to normal cells. Sequencing normal colorectal cells provides quantitative insights into the genomic and clonal evolution of cancer.

Educating management accountants as business partners

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a paradigmatic foundation for educators to prepare students of management accounting for the new demands of the role of trusted business partner in practice. Design/methodology/approach The paper argues for the use of pragmatic constructivism as a basis for development of a paradigmatic foundation for educating advanced students of management accounting. Furthermore, it contains an empirical insight through a case example of how pragmatic constructivism can be used as a pedagogical tool in different management accounting educational situations. Findings The analysis shows how pragmatic constructivism can be used as a less reductionist paradigm than realism to tackle the research-teaching-practice deficiencies found in conventional thinking on accounting education. Pragmatic constructivism is shown to provide important methodological and conceptual elements in developing, understanding and guiding the application of management accounting techniques in dynamic business practices. Placing an emphasis on teaching methodological skills relevant for management accountants is shown to have an important impact on students and their ability to act as business partners. Research limitations/implications The analysis is exploratory in the sense that a new paradigmatic framework for educating students of management accounting to be business partners is outlined and illustrated through its implementation in a specific master’s degree programme. However, this analysis should be viewed as only a first step towards developing pragmatic constructivism as a paradigmatic foundation for teaching management accounting as a basis for a business partner role. Originality/value The proposed use of research on pragmatic constructivism as a basis for management accounting education to support a future business partner role is novel in the literature on management accounting. The value of its application lies in its potential to create successful utilisation of the practices of management accounting.

Sieci współpracy i samokształcenia nauczycieli – pozory zmiany czy przestrzeń możliwości rozwoju kultury szkoły i jej uczestników

Setting up cooperation and teachers’ self-education networking has been determined by a top-down regulation of the Minister of Education. It seems that in the course of implementation activities, legislative and administrative interventions related to this recommendation, one has lost the thinking of the nature and special characteristics of this type of learning and knowledge. The article analyses the special features of the collective learning process, and presents the fundamental theories constituting the interpretive and paradigmatic framework for the learning interpreted in such a way: Lev S.Vygotski’s cultural-historical theory, Jerome S. Bruner’s socio-cultural theory, Yrjö Engeström’s expansive learning theory and learning by expanding, Jack Mezirow’s transformative learning, Etienne Wenger’s situated learning theory and Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger’s community of practice concept, a participant of “teaching conversation”, the specific tools and strategies necessary to equip the cognitive box with teachers’ tools, have been selected and characterised. An example of a network of learning professionals is shown. In conclusion, one highlights the apparent activities of the created networks, projecting a certain understanding and instrumental understanding of the practice on practitioners, which hinders Bruner’’s challenge of transforming the school into a culture of learning communities.

A practical theology of bereavement care: Re-ritualization within a paradigm of “comforting presence”

The investigation focuses on a concern for the marginalization of bereaved human beings in the context of cultural shifts now shaping twenty-first century pastoral care. The article advocates for a practical theology of bereavement to aid in nurturing care and eudaimonic well-being (including both vocational pastors and funeral directors) within the paradigmatic framework of a theopaschitic understanding of compassion (oiktirmos). The investigation examines the growing threat of deritualization – a public openness to revise, replace, minimize the significance of, and even eliminate or avoid long-held funerary rituals to assist in the adaptation of loss. The notion of re-ritualization is operationalized as an intentional act of restoring and re-engaging in creative and meaningful ritual forms that give symbolic expression to significant thoughts and feelings of the bereaved within a social ethos that is no longer committed to a conventional or fixed approach to ritualization. In order to facilitate a process of re-ritualization, bereavement care is linked to the notion of “comforting presence”.

Cántico de las siete estrellas, de Antón García Abril: hacia una construcción colectiva del significado

La cantata para coro y orquesta Cántico de las siete estrellas, de Antón García Abril, surge como una obra comisionada por la Comunidad de Madrid en el año 2004. Inspirado por la constelación de estrellas que circunda el escudo de la Villa, por primera vez en toda su producción vocal el compositor decide escribir él mismo un texto que se apoya en la tradición literaria humanística del XVI, dentro del marco paradigmático del hombre como un pequeño mundo o microcosmos cuya observación del universo es regida por los principios astronómicos y musicales del macrocosmos, tal y como se explicaba en el Quadrivium del medioevo. El atentado terrorista del 11.03.2004, meses antes de su estreno, no solo motivó la dedicatoria de esta obra a sus víctimas, sino que transformó la construcción de un sentido personal y privado en un nuevo significado social y colectivo. Este trabajo propone un examen detallado del contexto de su creación y vida performativa, filiación literaria, vinculación con la expresión del dolor ante la barbarie terrorista y un análisis musical que revele los instrumentos compositivos puestos al servicio de la palabra transformada por la realidad.

Educational change: A proposal for a subjective theories transformation model

The aim of this paper is to analyze and systematize subjective change in education based on a review of the main contributions derived from national and international studies on subjective theories (ST) conducted to date in the field of education. An overview of the research on ST in education is presented. Findings are then analyzed and systematized in a model of ST change in educational contexts that considers: (a) a paradigmatic framework, (b) a change process, (c) change factors, and (e) change indicators. In the conclusion section, a summary of the process of ST change in educational contexts is proposed, based on empiric studies reviewed and testable in future research, and the limitations that must be overcome in order to make strides in the construction of a theory of ST change in education are discussed.

Adolescent Academic Socialization: A Within-Group Comparative Analysis Among Mexican-Origin Families

Variability in parental academic involvement and socialization practices could explain academic disparities among adolescents. Academic socialization during adolescence is likely to vary based on students’ educational histories and ability levels. Thus, adolescents were purposively selected, from a larger longitudinal study, to vary in their grade point average (GPA) and academic tracking (e.g., Advanced Placement [AP]/honors, remedial). We examined 24 qualitative ecocultural family interviews with parents ( n = 12) and their Mexican-origin high school–attending children ( n = 12), conducted simultaneously but separately. Guided by the interpretative paradigmatic framework via thematic analysis, we examined practices in school, at home, and in the fostering of academic aspirations. Although families were met with low expectations from school personnel, we found variability in parents’ abilities to overcome challenges. At home, parents of low-achieving students reacted to unmet expectations during academic emergencies (e.g., risk for failing a class), while parents of high-achieving students reacted on a daily basis by incorporating communication regarding academics into the family’s routine. Although all parents aspired that their adolescents at least finish college, parents differed in their specific expectations of grades. Adolescents, in turn, differed in their own value of education. Understanding within-group differences in academic socialization practices may inform the way educators and interventionists work with families.