Theoretical Complementarity Research Articles

“We grow earth”: performing eco-agrarian citizenship at the semi-periphery of Europe

ABSTRACT Peasant studies have long demonstrated the historical contribution of peasants to the stewardship of earth’s commons. We enter the debate on ecological citizenship through a concern for environmental and food justice/sovereignty, two scholarly fields that have rarely been connected despite their theoretical complementarity. We argue that peasants have historically acted as eco-citizens, even if they still have to reclaim their political status as citizens with rights . We focus on the labor practices and advocacy efforts of peasants in Romania and Portugal and analyze their testimonies to identify rural civic engagements as acts of planetary eco-citizenship based on interdependence and care. Building on Wittman´s concept of agrarian citizenship, we look at three dimensions of collective action – peasant agroecology, seed sovereignty and re-localization of food – as political acts which expand prevailing visions of eco-citizenship by de-centering urban and national spaces as the locus of civic engagement and the promotion of transnational political action.

Characterisation of Indian gut microbiome for B-vitamin production and its comparison with Chinese cohort.

The human gut microbiota can biosynthesize essential micronutrients such as B-vitamins and is also known for its metabolic cooperative behaviour. The present study characterises such B-vitamin biosynthesizers, their biosynthetic pathways, explores their prevalence and abundance, examines how lifestyle or diet affects them in multiple Indian cohorts and compares it with the Chinese cohort. To achieve this, publicly available faecal metagenome data of healthy individuals from multiple Indian (two urban and three tribal populations) and a Chinese cohort were analysed. The distribution of prevalence and abundance of B-vitamin biosynthesizers showed similar profiles to that of the entire gut community of the Indian cohort, and there were 28 B-vitamin biosynthesizers that had modest or higher prevalence and abundance. The omnivorous diet affected only the prevalence of a few B-vitamin biosynthesizers; however, lifestyle and/or location affected both prevalence and abundance. A comparison with the Chinese cohort showed that fourteen B-vitamin biosynthesizers were significantly more prevalent and abundant in Chinese as compared with Indian samples (False Discovery Rate (FDR) <= 0·05). The metabolic potential of the entire gut community for B-vitamin production showed that within India, the tribal cohort has a higher abundance of B-vitamin biosynthesis pathways as compared with two urban cohorts namely, Bhopal and Kasargod, and comparison with the Chinese cohort revealed a higher abundance in the latter group. Potential metabolic cooperative behaviour of the Indian gut microbiome for biosynthesis of the B-vitamins showed multiple pairs of species showed theoretical complementarity for complete biosynthetic pathways genes of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and pantothenate.

Lean and action learning: towards an integrated theory?

PurposeBeing acquainted with both lean and action learning in theory and in practice, this study finds that the theoretical complementarity of these two research streams has traditionally been underexploited. In this conceptual paper, this study aims to advance the theoretical understanding of lean by exploring the complementarity of lean thinking and action learning leading to a proposed integrated theory of these two research streams. Target audience is the operations management research community.Design/methodology/approachBy deliberately adopting a process of theorising, this paper explores, reflects upon and combines individual experiences of researching, teaching and engaging in lean and action learning as operations management scholars.FindingsHaving taken a gemba walk through the literature and practices of lean and action learning, this study views and notices a systematic and complementary relationship between the two domains. The overlapping theoretical and practical complementarities of lean and action learning suggest that these two research streams are ripe for synthesis into an integrated theory. This finding provides an opportunity to (1) progress towards an integrative design of interventions leading to more sustainable lean system adoptions and (2) add new depth to our theoretical explanation of the success and failures of lean system adoptions.Originality/valueThis paper contributes an original integrated theory perspective on lean and action learning.

Understanding Involvement in Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Theoretical Integration through the ABC Model

ABSTRACT Scholars seeking to understand why individuals become involved in terrorism and violent extremism rely on a multitude of theoretical frameworks. While these are commonly interpreted as being in antagonistic opposition, the core premise of this article is that further advances in our understanding of this violence are contingent upon us treating them as complementary. Limiting ourselves to three frameworks that are perhaps most in tension, we survey the core premises of the rational choice perspective (RCP), the social identity perspective (SIP), and the ideological perspective (IP), identifying opportunities for theoretical integration. We argue that individuals are driven to involvement in this violence by both personal rewards and collective objectives, making both the RCP and SIP frameworks indispensable. We also conclude that SIP interpretations are incomplete without the IP, as ideologies play a pivotal role in constructing and amplifying ingroup and outgroup identities. The RCP is also deficient in the absence of the IP as many rewards that motivate involvement can only be understood through reference to the ideational context in which they are conferred. Systematic recognition and application of this theoretical complementarity is facilitated, we further argue, by the Attitudes-Behaviors Corrective (ABC) Model, which we apply as a heuristic device throughout the article.

Madeleine and Willy Baranger’s contribution to psychoanalysis

ABSTRACT This paper provides a summary of the careers of the psychoanalysts Madeleine and Willy Baranger and the context in which their ideas developed. It will outline their training contributions in Latin American psychoanalytic associations, which culminated in the foundation of the Uruguayan Psychoanalytic Association. The theory of the bipersonal field, later known as the intersubjective field, will be described. This was conceptualized to study the analytic situation when problems of stagnation arise in the analytic process and focuses on the common, unique unconscious phantasy created between analyst and analysand. The concept of the “bastion” and the notion of the “second look” directed toward the intersubjective field will be described as well as the differences between the theory of the intersubjective field and the concept of enactment. The repetition of the analyst will be considered, in particular when the analyst only uses one theory. The distinction between Klein’s early Oedipus and the Freudian Oedipus complex, which the Barangers considered to be two different concepts, will be explored. The essential points of Madeleine Baranger’s article on “bad faith” will be presented. Finally, the concept of resignification and the use of theoretical complementarity will be highlighted.

Didactic Engineering (DE) and Professional Didactics (PD): A Proposal for Historical Eesearch in Brazil on Recurring Number Sequences

The present work presents some examples of data originated from a set of investigations developed in Brazil, at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of the State of Ceará - IFCE, in the context of teacher education, and the consideration of elements of a historical, mathematical, and evolutionary nature. Thus, from a perspective of theoretical complementarity involving the research elements derived from the notion of the didactic engineering for development and some assumptions of the French aspect of the professional didactics, two sets of data are discussed. The first set involved research carried out between 2017 and 2020. The second set considered involved studies still under development in Brazil, considering the period of 2020 - 2023. The historical landscape of investigation rests on considering the recurring number sequences of Fibonacci, Lucas, Pell, Jacobsthal, Coordonier or Padovan, Perrin, Mersenne, Oresme, Naraynna, and Leonardo. Furthermore, in a broad sense, the study aims to provide a learning scenario for the teacher, affected by a perspective of mathematical knowledge evolution, including the repercussions and applications with current technology.

Media Exposure of Portfolios as a Measure of Relevance ,

The distribution of ministerial portfolios in the formation of government coalitions in Brazilian presidentialism is a crucial factor in determining the governability of the political system. Objective measurement of the relevance of ministries to political parties offers a means of shedding light on the relations between the executive and legislative branches of Brazil’s government. This research note aims to improve the empirical measurement of the relevance of Federal ministries in negotiations between presidents and political parties by including a fundamental theoretical aspect to political behavior: the media exposure of the various ministries. Given the importance of the media in shaping the political agenda and public opinion, we have expanded the theoretical conceptualization of the means to effect such measurements by adding a construct of ministerial relevance that is exogenous to the government apparatus. We have made empirical use of concepts such as the relative prestige of the various ministries and the degree of public exposure to them by quantifying the frequency of their appearances on the front pages of the three Brazilian newspapers with the largest readerships. Our results demonstrate the empirical utility and theoretical complementarity of the insertion of a variable relating to media exposure into Batista’s ministerial relevance (2017).

PEDAGOGIGAL ASPECTS OF THE FORMATION LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL COMPETENCE

The main result of the learning process in primary school depends on how many competencies the student has mastered. a student who has developed linguistic and cultural competencies is immersed in the grammatical structural secrets of the Kazakh language, understands the laws of applying certain grammatical rules in speech, and learns the mechanism of sentence formation. And without competence, the undocumented skills of theoretical complementarity are transformed into the preparation of a single plateau. On a conscious scale, students ' language competencies become a necessary condition for organizing their language skills and abilities. Properly formed language and cultural competencies help students to understand the studied phonetic, lexical, grammatical phenomena in depth, to understand the mechanism of Word formation, correct spelling rules, the presence of certain types of speech in the language presence, syntactic structures, etc.

Review of the test methods of the interface characterization of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites

How to measure the interfacial strength of matrix and reinforcement is one of the key problems in the study of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. The measurement technologies to study interface strength include destructive methods and non-destructive methods, which principles are introduced in this paper. Different tests can provide theoretical complementarity. Reasonable combination and improvement of interface strength tests can provide strong practical support for the study of interface property.

Transaction Costs in the Automotive Sector: Transactional Attributes, Behavioral Assumptions and Theoretical Limitations

Objetivo: O objetivo no presente artigo foi compreender como a escolha das estruturas de governança pelas montadoras para obtenção das suas autopeças é influenciada pelos custos de transação. Método: Para atender o objetivo proposto, foi realizada uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa, do tipo descritiva e com recorte transversal nos anos de 2016 e 2017. Os dados primários foram coletados a partir de entrevistas semiestruturadas com agentes de três montadoras automotivas e da Federação das Indústrias do Estado do Paraná (FIEP). Originalidade/Relevância: Pela Economia dos Custos de Transação (ECT), diante da presença de autopeças de elevada especificidade no setor automotivo, a integração vertical seria a estrutura mais eficiente. No entanto, questiona-se se essa é a realidade no referido setor, dado que movimentos de integração e desintegração são identificados na literatura. Analisa-se, assim, a força do atributo de transação como fator determinante para a escolha da estrutura de governança. Resultados: Para os casos estudados, não foram encontrados indícios robustos que justifiquem a escolha pela integração vertical ou pela contratação, considerando os pressupostos da ECT (base teórica do estudo), uma vez que em ambas estruturas são observadas autopeças de elevada especificidade. Contribuições teóricas/metodológicas: Conclui-se que o elevado nível de especificidade, por si só, não justifica a escolha pela integração vertical ou pela contratação nas montadoras investigadas, sendo necessárias abordagens teóricas complementares para compreender as decisões sobre as fronteiras da firma. Contribuições sociais / para a gestão: A opção pela complementaridade teórica para compreensão dos fenômenos, notadamente associados às decisões de integrar ou não atividades, pode auxiliar os gestores em suas decisões operacionais e estratégicas.

Mutually unbiased bases: a group and graph theoretical approach

In this contribution the main ideas underlying recent work aiming at the construction of mutually unbiased bases in finite dimensional Hilbert spaces are discussed. This approach relies on a systematic use of group and graph theoretical concepts announced by Charnes and Beth (2005 ERATO Conf. on Quantum Information Science) and extended significantly by Charnes (2018 in preparation) recently. A principal feature of this method is its independence of prime number restrictions thus distinguishing it from almost all previous constructions which have relied on finite fields and related concepts of finite geometry. This group and graph theoretical approach offers the possibility to gain new insight into the intricate relation between quantum theoretical complementarity as encoded in mutually unbiased bases and characteristic geometrical structures of the Hilbert space involved.

Landscape archaeology and geography: between observation, transfers and co-constructions

Since the end of the 19th century, relationships between landscape archaeology and geography appear to have been determined as much by the concept of time as by that of space. We can distinguish an initial period when geography and historical sciences were linked by a cyclical perception of the dynamic of landforms. From the 1960s, theoretical complementarities became more difficult because the explanatory model changed in geography, towards a view of a present which was no longer dynamically linked to the past. Since the 1990s, the theory of self-organisation and the concept of resilience, by introducing time as an agent in its own right within organisations, have made theoretical co-constructions possible once again.

Utilization Focused Developmental Evaluation: Learning Through Practice

Background: Utilization-focused evaluation provides an overall decision-making framework with the intention of ensuring evaluation products and processes are actually used. Developmental evaluation provides a structure to learn from an experiment or pilot in the making and provide feedback to course-correct and improve the ongoing effort. In this paper we report on a project where we combined both into a utilization-focused developmental evaluation (UFDE).Purpose: To determine the theoretical complementarities and the practical advantages of combining UFE with DE, by reflecting on a practical experience. We include a synopsis of the methodology along with a sample of findings, followed by a reflection of the overall process. We emphasize the conditions that enabled this experience to evolve to guide other practitioners interested in this learning approach to evaluation.Setting: The context was the piloting of a social and financial education curriculum for youth called Aflateen that was developed by Aflatoun Child Savings International in Amsterdam and test-driven by over forty partners around the World. Intervention: The evaluation experience took place during a ten-month period between December 2012 and October 2013. This paper provides a summary of the context and a justification for the approach.Research Design: Not applicable.Data Collection and Analysis: In additional to conventional data collection instruments, we applied participatory inquiry tools from Social Analysis Systems (www.sas2.net) as a means of engaging stakeholders in real-time data collection and analysis.Findings: Examples are provided to demonstrate how some developmental evaluation findings informed organizational strategic and operational decisions during the life of the evaluation.

Comment on Boyer’s multiattentional method

Spurred by Rabinow's (1999:181) aspiration making something happen in a field of but wary of pronouncements that smack of rejecting as a norm of intellectual practice, Boyer asks us to reflect on how we should best understand as intellectual practice. He sets the stage through a stimulating look at the development of social in the European tradition across several centuries, aimed at revealing the roots of contemporary expressions of concern, including Rabinow's, regarding the exhaustion, crisis, or failure of despite epistemic abundance. In light of this discussion, he queries: Is it sufficient to say that is a of framing data, of determining causality, or of producing a meta-reading? After referring to Bourdieu's depiction of the proscriptive, authoritarian capacities of the 'theory effect' (1991:106), Boyer goes on to mention his own work on theory as language, specifically as an exclusionary register of professional communication and as a medium of value-circulation through practices of citation. However, rather than continue to list the purposes or functions of theory, Boyer proposes a new way of thinking about social in terms of specialized analytical attentions and new ethics of theoretical complementarity grounded in the explicit cultivation and valuation of what he calls the multiattentional method of analytic engagement. In another piece, Boyer (2008:39) defines intellectuals as knowledge special? ists...especially... those who operate as members of professional networks in organizational or institutional contexts. I found it useful in writing this commentary to slightly reframe the orientation of understanding social as intellectual practice to one of understanding social theorizing as the practice of intellectuals. Further, despite, or perhaps because of, the discussion concerning para-ethnography in relation to the de facto and self-conscious critical faculty that operates in any expert domain (Holmes and Marcus 2005:237) and the

On the ethics and practice of contemporary social theory: from crisis talk to multiattentional method

Using an approach derived from the anthropology and sociology of knowledge, this article explores the historical emergence of European social theory and its contemporary place in the human sciences. I direct ethnographic attention to a sense of crisis or impasse in social theory’s capacity to frame and to analyze the complexity of contemporary relations in the world. By reanalyzing this crisis talk as a phenomenological reaction to the growing (sub)specialization of social theory, I offer a new way of thinking about social theory in terms of specialized analytical attentions. I also suggest how we can move from crisis talk to a new ethics of theoretical complementarity, inspired by Dilthey, which I term “multiattentional method.”

L'adhésion des responsables opérationnels aux systèmes de contrôle : une étude du rôle des contrôleurs de gestion

Résumé Si la dimension relationnelle du contrôle de gestion a été traitée par de nombreux auteurs, force est de constater que très peu de travaux portent sur les activités à caractère relationnel exercées par les contrôleurs de gestion et visant à favoriser l’acceptation, par les responsables opérationnels, de leur fonction et des outils qu’ils proposent. Afin de cerner plus précisément le contenu de ces activités relationnelles, la présente recherche propose une grille de lecture issue du marketing relationnel. Cette complémentarité théorique est testée dans une étude empirique à caractère exploratoire, laquelle vise également à définir certains déterminants de ces actions relationnelles.

Modern Theories of Entrepreneurial Behavior: A Comparison and Appraisal

This paper compares and appraises three principal, contemporary theories of entrepreneurial decision making – neoclassical, Austrian and behavioral. We employ theory appraisal criteria made available in Fritz Machlup’s (1967) celebrated article on alternative theories of the firm. The paper considers theories that treat sequences of behavior by which individual entrepreneurs reach decisions on two levels: the discovery of profit opportunities and their exploitation. We also consider how each theory characterizes the entrepreneur’s decision making process by contrast with the posited behavior of other economic agents. Austrian theory is suited to explaining novel, adventurous behavior at the discovery stage. The algorithm for opportunity exploitation in both the neoclassical and Austrian approaches is a single-repertoire, optimization rule. Neoclassical theory is situated in frictionless, atomistic Walrasian markets and emphasizes mathematical tractability. Austrian and behavioral theories conceive entrepreneurial acts taking place in market processes understood as complex institutional phenomena. There are strong theoretical complementarities between Austrian and behavioral approaches; both approaches value descriptive accuracy, though the behavioralists place more weight on operational tractability. Austrians and behavioralists share an interest in heuristics; they emphasize the role of prior micro-level knowledge at the discovery stage. Therefore more collaborative research in future between Austrians and behavioralists should prove fruitful.

Labour process theory and critical accounting: Conceptualising managerial control

This paper examines the need to limit managerial control in the corporate world, by using the contribution of the labour process theory and critical accounting, in which the theoretical complementarity of these two scientific disciplines is pointed out. Neither labour process nor accounting are mere technical phenomena, but should be placed in the totality of social relations, which means the context of alienating effects of the capitalist mode of production. Relying on the works by Braverman, Tinker and Thompson, this paper is the introduction to an interdisciplinary methodology based on Marx’s labour theory of value, and its goal is to provide a guide for working-class action to change society.

The Influence of a Structurationist View on Strategic Management Research*

ABSTRACT In this article, strategic management research using structuration theory from 1995 to 2000 is reviewed. I describe and analyse the theoretical articulations adopted to make sense of strategy using a structurationist view. I found that, instead of being applied as the sole theoretical foundation, Giddens’ propositions have been incorporated into other perspectives, the effects of which should be known by researchers looking for theoretical frameworks that avoid dichotomist thinking. The paper draws on the effects that structurationist arguments may produce regarding classical oppositions such as micro/macro and voluntarist/determinist. Its main contribution is to show how theoretical complementarities using structuration theory are promising avenues of research in the strategic management field. It also suggests that, although other alternatives of avoiding dichotomist logic exist, making a choice among them is more a question of ontological affinity than of making the ‘better choice’ among competing accounts. There are several routes to advance the understanding of the possibilities of human choice.

Prospectus for Information Ecology

Information Ecology (hereafter IE) is a field of inquiry being developed, in part, by members of the Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia (Appendix A). The following prospectus represents a work in progress and is the latest incarnation in a series of revisions since the first IE prospectus was developed in 1990 (Appendix B). The purpose of the prospectus is not to bound what is, admittedly, an eclectic mode of investigation, but rather to outline a field of inquiry that is inherently multidisciplinary and seeks theoretical complementarity both among disparate fields and levels of analysis. The goals are as follows: 1) to suggest some lines of inquiry and thought that might be borrowed from established disciplines and incorporated into IE; 2) to illustrate the breadth and complexity of IE as an approach to human ecology; 3) to provide impetus for establishing consensus as to the domain(s) of IE; 4) to provide an introductory document for those unfamiliar with IE; and finally, 5) to present an outline of contents for a university course of study.