This study represents an empirical, comprehensive investigation of two different inter-organisational collaborative approaches, offering a novel perspective on collaborative circular business models in the modern economy. In this vein, we explore how open innovation strategies foster the implementation of circular economy practices within a circular supply chain and a circular ecosystem. In addition, we identify and characterise stakeholders' roles in facilitating the translation of circular principles into a viable business. An inductive theorising approach was employed, leveraging an explorative multiple case (...) study methodology. Data were collected from 13 organisations involved in two collaborative networks, designed to establish upcycling practices to recover waste from the food and beverage industry. A critical realist philosophical positioning underpinned researchers' data collection and analysis. As a result, we outline the nature of two different collaborative approaches to pursue a regenerative production system through open innovation strategies: a circular supply chain and a circular ecosystem architecture. The characterisation of the coordinator and orchestrator of collaborative circular business models is also highlighted in our findings. In sum, this study contributes to the literature on circular economy by unveiling the role of open innovation in fostering circular business development. From a practical standpoint, it offers insights for managers of sustainability-oriented companies willing to implement upcycling practices. (shrink)

The paper explores the adoption and operationalization of the circular economy strategy within the ambit of cooperatives, anchoring this exploration in the embeddedness theory. In more detail, our study aims to discern whether territorial and network embeddedness act as catalysts for the adoption of a circular economy strategy and subsequently influence the operationalization of circular initiatives. Given that cooperatives intrinsically emphasize community bonds and mutualistic relationships, understanding the nuances of their embeddedness can elucidate the pathways in adopting and operationalizing circular (...) economy strategies. The study draws from a survey encompassing 1116 Italian cooperatives to fathom how these organizations integrate and operationalize the circular economy in their routine operations. Data were scrutinized using a structural equation model. Outcomes reveal that both territorial and network embeddedness emerge as strong influencers of circular economy strategies, which subsequently sway the operationalization of circular initiatives. Our investigation, assessing also the mediating role of circular economy strategy adoption in relation to both territorial and network embeddedness on the assimilation of circular endeavors, offers enriched theoretical and managerial perspectives on the embeddedness theory and its practical implications. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis article explores the critical realist conceptualization of authenticity through its development in tourism, especially in relation to indigenous Sámi culture. Authenticity is discussed...

This article explores the critical realist conceptualization of authenticity through its development in tourism, especially in relation to indigenous Sámi culture. Authenticity is discussed through the often relativistic perspectives surrounding it. This paper proposes a middle ground between objective and existential views; it considers authenticity to be a compromise, and it focuses on both universal components (present in all Sámi people in the tourism context) as well as mediated components (such as characteristics differently influenced by geo-history). The role of cultural (...) tourism labels is also discussed. The overlying objective is to conceptualize authenticity so that it produces a positive effect on the tourism operations of Sámi people. Specifically, it argues that the use of certain labels or certifications, based on the concrete universal aspects of Sámi, can be beneficial. If the Sámi themselves are involved in the creation of such labels, they need not betray the objective of respecting Sámi culture. (shrink)

ABSTRACTIn this paper, I discuss my personal experience of the issues that can arise when adopting critical realism in academic contexts dominated by irrealist methodological approaches. I draw inspiration for my analysis from the concept of Gramscian hegemony and the concept of ‘authenticity’. These concepts are related because hegemonic processes prevent individuals from freely expressing themselves. In my case, academic hegemony has resulted in social pressure to sacrifice my authentic critical realist self in order to achieve academic success. I also (...) discuss groupthink dynamics, suggesting that they are a mechanism by which hegemony – and denial of individual authenticity – can be achieved. This paper is meant to be a theoretical and reflexive discussion, which could be the starting point for empirical studies investigating the situation of a critical realist in a hegemonic academic context. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to analyse the structure of written argumentative texts produced by pupils in grades 3, 5, 7 and 11 in relation to three different tasks: Group A — subjects are assigned a topic question consisting of a single statement ; Group B — subjects are given a topic question consisting of both a statement and its opposite ; Group C — subjects are given an initial and a final sentence of a text, which they have (...) to complete, and which refers to opposite opinions . Six different types of text organization were evidenced on the basis of the argumentative moves presented in the texts, the linguistic indexes used to express the relationships between the moves, the presence or absence of counter-arguments and the type of argumentation or reasoning used. The organization of the texts range from a simple affirmation of a position to a use of data or reasons to support a position, to others still in which two positions are presented in the body of a unitary structure, developed ‘in parallel’ and interconnected regularly. Our analysis found a well-defined tendency corresponding to the age levels in the types of texts produced by the subjects. The texts produced by the younger group, the pupils in elementary school, contained a fairly simple structural organization, characterized by very few argumentations or a lack of explicitness of the essential moves and a juxtaposing of arguments. The older subjects, in particular those attending secondary school, were able to produce texts which were more complex with regard to the presence and the organization of the argumentative moves, and more coherent and cohesive with respect to their articulation of opinions and use of adequate linguistic indices to analyze t topic. As regards the different types of tasks, when the subjects were presented explicitly with two opposite opinions , they developed both positions in their responses, contrary to the situation in which they produced one position when only one of two opinions was presented. (shrink)

En el presente artículo, exploramos diversos interrogantes relacionados con la construcción de las sexualidades mediáticas mapeando las formas en que los medios masivos de comunicación y las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación forman, conforman, crean, re-crean y reproducen las sexualidades hoy, comprendiendo que ninguna sexualización queda por fuera de la política y lo normado. Profundizamos en quiénes son seres sexuados en los medios masivos de comunicación (en adelante, MMC), quiénes tienen derecho a visibilizar su sexualidad y si existen (...) diferencias en la sexualización de mujeres y hombres, heterosexuales y homosexuales, personas blancas y negras. Igualmente, ahondamos en el análisis de la construcción de sí como ser sexual y sexuado a través de las redes sociales, reality shows y otros tipos de plataformas actuales, que desestabilizan las fronteras entre lo público y lo privado al cambiar los regímenes de visibilidad de sí y de los/as otros/as. Partiendo del análisis de contenido de los mensajes mediáticos, buscamos comprender e interpretar las sexualidades dominantes y reflexionar sobre los cuerpos sexuados marginados de los MMC. Igualmente, a partir del marco conceptual y de una sistematización de la legislación vigente en la región y en el mundo, proponemos formas de escapar de las nuevas formas de producción y reproducción de desigualdad. (shrink)

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to illustrate how the adoption of new enterprise resource planning systems affects sensemaking in the process of Organizational Identity integration after a Merger and Acquisition.Design/methodology/approachWithin a wider case study about an acquisition in chemical/pharmaceutical industry, the paper describes the effects of SAP adoption and implementation on the organizational identity. This methodology, based on semi‐structured interviews to project leaders and to team members, has allowed a deep comprehension of the context, even if results cannot provide (...) statistical evidence of relationships.FindingsUsing the Swanson and Ramiller's approach to innovation, the paper argues that ERP adoption and implementation support sensemaking process if innovation takes place with mindfulness and because, in that case, people interact on symbolic meanings sharing retrospective knowledge and cognitive causal maps. After an M&A there are conditions for a mindful innovation with IT and therefore innovating with IT can be an effective way to enforce sensemaking process and, as a consequence, to influence the Organizational Identity evolution. In a constructionist approach, the evolution of organizational identity requires a social negotiation among members where sensemaking has a primary role. So, the integration process following acquisitions can be facilitated by adopting, implementing and assimilating common IT solutions with mindfulness.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation of this study is referred to timing. The author entered into the company within a year after the acquisition and went out at the beginning of SAP assimilation phase. Therefore, some perceptions could still evolve in different ways. The second limitation depends on the fact that the author analyzed a single case. By focusing on one case of acquisition – an acquisition that gives value to acquired company – the author might be limiting the transferability of the findings.Practical implicationsThese results can be useful for both scholars and practitioners. Managers who face organizational change can consider the adoption and implementation of ERP as an opportunity to influence the evolution of Organizational Identity according to strategic priorities.Originality/valueThe value of this study is in its approach that links a strategic level with a social level. This link is realized not using the ERP as an artefact but using the process of its adoption and implementation. (shrink)

Recent attempts at making sense of toleration as an ideal of political morality have focused on how liberal democratic institutions generate political arrangements that protect people’s freedom to “live their life as they see fit.” We show how these views rely on a one-dimensional interpretation of the liberal democratic political project. In so doing, they underestimate an important “interactive” dimension. This dimension concerns what it means for liberal democracies to realize toleration as a property inherent to their constitutive political processes. (...) We illustrate this claim with reference to the liberal democratic decision-making process. Such a process realizes toleration as forbearance in itself. It does so because it establishes the participants in the process as political agents who recognize their mutual standing to share the political authority to make collectively binding decisions, despite their grounds for reciprocal objection. (shrink)

_Logic and Pragmatism_ features a number of the key writings of Giovanni Vailati, the Italian mathematician and philosopher renowned for his work in mechanics, geometry, logic, and epistemology. The selections in this book—many of which are available here for the first time in English—focus on Vailati’s significant contributions to the field of pragmatism. Accompanying these pieces are introductory essays by the volume’s editors that outline the traits of Vailati’s pragmatism and provide insights into the scholar’s life.

Logic and Pragmatism features a number of the key writings of Giovanni Vailati (1863–1909), the Italian mathematician and philosopher renowned for his work in history of mechanics, geometry, logic, and epistemology. The selections in this book—many of which are available here for the first time in English—focus on Vailati’s significant contributions to the field of pragmatism. Two introductory essays by the volume’s editors outline the traits of Vailati’s pragmatism and provide insights into the scholar’s life.

Math and reading are related, and math problems are often accompanied by problems in reading. In the present study, we used a dimensional approach and we aimed to assess the relationship of reading and math with the cognitive skills assumed to underlie the development of math. The sample included 97 children from 4th and 5th grades of a primary school. Children were administered measures of reading and math, non-verbal IQ, and various underlying cognitive abilities of math. We also included measures (...) of phonological awareness and working memory. Two approaches were undertaken to elucidate the relations of the cognitive skills with math and reading. In the first approach, we examined the unique contributions of math and reading ability, as well as their interaction, to each cognitive ability. In the second approach, the cognitive abilities were taken to predict math and reading. Results from the first set of analyses showed specific effects of math on number sense and number system knowledge, whereas counting was affected by both math and reading. No math-by-reading interactions were observed. In contrast, for phonological awareness, an interaction of math and reading was found. Lower performing children on both math and reading performed disproportionately lower. Results with respect to the second approach confirmed the specific relation of counting, number sense, and number system knowledge to math and the relation of counting to reading but added that each math-related marker contributed independently to math. Following this approach, no unique effects of phonological awareness on math and reading were found. In all, the results show that math is specifically related to counting, number sense, and number system knowledge. The results also highlight what each approach can contribute to an understanding of the relations of the various cognitive correlates with reading and math. (shrink)

The ethical climate is the perception of health professionals about the work environment, meaning the reflection on care practices and ethical-related decisions. There are extensive studies in the international literature about the ethical climate, but there are still theoretical gaps about it in health services. In this reflection article, the objective was to explore conceptual components about the ethical climate, proposing new elements of analysis of the construct. The starting point was the accumulated knowledge itself, the possibilities for expansion, and (...) the conceptual progress emerging from contributions from studies on nursing ethics. It was understandable that the ethical climate is considered in its procedural model and cyclically, being articulated with organizational elements, as established in the literature, and, expanding the concept, with the worker’s health and the ethical expressiveness at work. Regarding this last contribution, the suggestion is to think about the potential for work to allow, limit, or favor professionals to express their ethical and esthetic values in the most daily decisions and relationships, in care, management, and education. The conceptual framework of this study progressed by addressing the ethical climate as a process articulating several concepts and elements regarding the organizational aspect, ethics, and the workers’ well-being. (shrink)

In what follows, I would like to trace Dietrich von Hildebrand’s thinking on the nature of axiological properties. Hildebrand begins his analysis from the phenomenology of what we experience as important and distinguishes three categories of importance: the subjectively satisfying, the value and the objective good of the person. He then moves on to metaphysical analysis to clarify whether the categories describe properties of objects and concludes that the foundation of all importance is value, the intrinsic preciousness. He also examines (...) the families of values and the relations between being and value. This analysis has an important completion in the investigation of the types of oughtness, which allow us to understand the foundation of norms. Hildebrand’s value theory makes it possible to address some crucial metaphysical problems, in particular the question of whether good ultimately triumphs. The epistemological premise of Hildebrand’s perspective, however, is the thesis that man experiences not only facts, but also values. (shrink)

This paper aims to investigate the nature of trust in others. First, we argue that the feeling of trust is an important phenomenon of human existence, but it is not the true root of trust in others. Trust is above all an intentional response of the person, one that must be motivated and adequate to its object. When we trust, we entrust a good that is important to another person so that he or she can take care of it. For (...) trust to be authentic, the other must be trustworthy. The feeling of trust, then, arises as a spontaneous response when we are aware that our trust is properly placed. When we have understood that trust is a response, it is possible to examine the ethical relevance of trust in others: trust fulfils morally relevant values, is the source of moral duties, introduces the person in the logic of self-giving and is nourished by a variety of moral virtues. (shrink)

Cet article analyse les situations d’injustice environnementale au Sri Lanka, en comparant vingt-six conflits socio-environnementaux identifiés dans l’Atlas mondial de la justice environnementale. Ils sont été compilés par l’auteur, en collaboration avec des activistes du Center for Environmental Justice (CEJ) du Sri Lanka. En nous appuyant sur différentes sources (rapports d’ONG, journaux, blogs, sources gouvernementales, déclarations commerciales et articles universitaires), et en privilégiant une approche d’écologie politique, nous analysons quelles sont les activités économiques qui génèrent des affrontements, quels acteurs y (...) participent et de quelle manière les différents groupes se sont mobilisés contre des projets d’investissement. (shrink)

The paper introduces Vailati’s life and works, investigating Vailati’s education, the relation to Peano and his school, and the interest for pragmatism and modernism. A detailed analysis of Vailati’s scientific and didactic activities, shows that he held, like Peano, a a strong interest for the history of science and a pluralist, anti-dogmatic and anti-foundationalist conception of definitions in mathematics, logic and philosophy of language. Vailati’s understanding of mathematical logic as a form of pragmatism is not a faithful interpretation of Peano’s (...) conception, but it is essential to understand the relations of Peano’s logic with other philosophical traditions and some epistemological aspects of Peano’s perspective, such as the search for a universal language. (shrink)

Programa Aventurémonos en Familia, busca generar un espacio para el reconocimiento, la regulación y la recuperación emocional de los niños, niñas, jóvenes y sus familias en medio de la crisis presentada por la Covid-19, y que se encuentran inmersos en contextos de violencia. Es un Programa de educación emocional, orientado a promover la salud mental y la funcionalidad familiar. En el marco de su implementación se desarrolló una investigación mixta con 159 cuidadores y 139 niñas y niñas de los departamentos (...) de Córdoba, Atlántico y Sucre. Los resultados muestran mejoras en la funcionalidad familiar y habilidades emocionales de sus integrantes. (shrink)

Is the assessment of motor milestones valid and scaled equivalently for all infants? It is not only important to understand if the way we use gross and fine motor scores are appropriate for monitoring motor milestones but also to determine if these scores are confounded by specific infant characteristics. Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate the latent structure underlying motor milestone assessment in infancy and measurement invariance across sex, birth weight, and gestational age. For this study, the (...) birth cohort data from the United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study was used, which includes the assessment of eight motor milestone tasks from the Denver Developmental Screening Test in 9-month-old infants, depicting early motor development of the first children of generation Z. Confirmatory factor analyses showed a better model fit for a two-factor structure compared to a one-factor structure, and multiple indicators multiple causes modeling revealed no differential item functioning related to sex, birth weight, and gestational age. The study provides support for the use of gross and fine motor scores when assessing motor milestones in infants—both boys and girls with different birth weights and of varying gestational ages. Further investigation into widely adopted assessment tools is recommended to support the use of valid composite scores in early childhood research and practice. (shrink)

The complexity of our ‘object’ of study, leading to the question ‘what is really the city?’ requires the use of different levels of analyses. At the same time, a way must be found to develop an explanatory model that brings together the knowledge thus produced. The study of governance in the city is necessarily part of any research aimed at investigating empirically the processes regulating the social life. The key implication is to address its impact; a task made particularly complex (...) by the often difficult relationship between the implementation of governance and the interaction with a diversity of societal actors, for the ongoing dialectic between the formal and the informal in urban life. We often find that this dialectic produces ambiguity, unexpected results, gaps between planned objectives, and competition instead of cooperation among actors, pointing to the weakness of the rationalistic model of public action. Perhaps the most important lesson that we have learnt about government and governance is that the delusion that we feel when trying to understand urban policies results from our incapacity fully to grasp the complexity of human life. (shrink)

Diogenes, Ahead of Print. The complexity of our ‘object’ of study, leading to the question ‘what is really the city?’ requires the use of different levels of analyses. At the same time, a way must be found to develop an explanatory model that brings together the knowledge thus produced. The study of governance in the city is necessarily part of any research aimed at investigating empirically the processes regulating the social life. The key implication is to address its impact; a (...) task made particularly complex by the often difficult relationship between the implementation of governance and the interaction with a diversity of societal actors, for the ongoing dialectic between the formal and the informal in urban life. We often find that this dialectic produces ambiguity, unexpected results, gaps between planned objectives, and competition instead of cooperation among actors, pointing to the weakness of the rationalistic model of public action. Perhaps the most important lesson that we have learnt about government and governance is that the delusion that we feel when trying to understand urban policies results from our incapacity fully to grasp the complexity of human life. (shrink)

Restoration involves individuals’ physical, psychological and social resources, diminished by meeting demands of everyday life. Psychological restoration can be provided by specific environments, in particular by natural environments. Research reports a restorative effect of nature on human beings, specifically in terms of the psychological recovery from attention fatigue and restored mental resources previously spent in activities that require attention. Two field studies in two Italian primary schools tested the hypothesized positive effect of recess-time spent in a natural (vs. built) environment (...) on pupils’ cognitive performance and their perceived restorativeness, using standardized tests. In Study 1, children’s psychological restoration was assessed measuring sustained and selective attention, working memory, and impulse’ control, before and after morning recess-time. Team standardized play-time was conducted in a natural (vs. built) environment, measuring perceived restorativeness after each recess-time. Results showed a greater increase in sustained and selective attention, concentration, and perceived restorativeness from pre-test to post-test after the Natural Environment condition. In Study 2 the positive effect of free-play recess-time in a natural (vs. built) environment was assessed during the afternoon school-time on sustained and selective attention and perceived restorativeness. Results showed an increase of sustained and selective attention after the Natural Environment condition (vs. Built) and a decrease after the built environment break. Higher scores in perceived restorativeness were registered after the Natural (vs. Built) Environment condition. Team standardized and individual free-play recess in a natural environment (vs. built) support pupils’ attention restoration during both morning and afternoon school-time, as well as their perceived restorativeness of recess environment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in terms of nature’s role both for school ground design or re-design, and for school’s activities organization. (shrink)

Despite that it is commonly accepted that migraine is a disorder of the nervous system with a prominent genetic basis, it is comorbid with a plethora of medical conditions. Several studies have found bidirectional comorbidity between migraine and different disorders including neurological, psychiatric, cardio- and cerebrovascular, gastrointestinal, metaboloendocrine, and immunological conditions. Each of these has its own genetic load and shares some common characteristics with migraine. The bidirectional mechanisms that are likely to underlie this extensive comorbidity between migraine and other (...) diseases are manifold. Comorbid pathologies can induce and promote thalamocortical network dysexcitability, multi-organ transient or persistent pro-inflammatory state, and disproportionate energetic needs in a variable combination, which in turn may be causative mechanisms of the activation of an ample defensive system with includes the trigeminovascular system in conjunction with the neuroendocrine hypothalamic system. This strategy is designed to maintain brain homeostasis by regulating homeostatic needs, such as normal subcortico-cortical excitability, energy balance, osmoregulation, and emotional response. In this light, the treatment of migraine should always involves a multidisciplinary approach, aimed at identifying and, if necessary, eliminating possible risk and comorbidity factors. (shrink)

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) uses the conceptualization of psychopathology to make psychiatric diagnoses operational. The use of explicit operational criteria appears to be based on an implicit neo-positivist epistemology. Operationalism involves an excessive focus on quantitative descriptions of behavior manifestations, contesting that psychopathology is understood as a deviation from the normal or the average in a given population. Consequently, the normal and the psychopathological become homogeneous. Our analysis investigates if this neo-positivist epistemology narrows (...) psychopathology conceptualization and endanger integration with the hybrid biopsychosocial model of psychiatry. Based on Georges Canguilhem’s theorization of a qualitative approach to the individual organism who is in a state of morbidity, we show that the (psychiatric) pathology also contains differences in quality. Moreover, that humans are norm-producing organisms that actively respond to changes in their internal and external environment. In this regard, the operationalization of mental disorders could include the normativity in humans, i.e., the ability to produce norms. We argue this will mitigate the one-sided psychopathology conceptualization and strengthen the relationship between psychiatric nosology and psychiatry’s hybrid biopsychosocial model. (shrink)

BackgroundThe psychological burden possibly deriving from not immediately undergoing radical treatment for prostate cancer could be a potential disadvantage of active surveillance, especially in the eve of some relevant clinical exams [i.e., re-biopsy, prostate-specific antigen test, and medical examination]. Even if it is known from the literature that the majority of PCa men in AS do not report heightened anxiety, there is a minority of patients who show clinically significant levels of anxiety after diagnosis. The present study aimed to investigate (...) if demographic, clinical, and psychological variables at the entrance in AS were associated with the risk of developing clinically significant PCa-related anxiety 2 months before the first re-biopsy and to offer psychological support to improve quality of life.Materials and MethodsA total of 236 patients participated in the PCa Research International: AS protocol and in PRIAS-QoL study. Demographic/clinical features, health-related QoL domains, coping with cancer, PCa-related anxiety [Memorial Anxiety Scale for PCa ], personality traits, and decision-making-related factors were assessed at T0. MAX-PC was also administered at T1. PCa-related anxiety at T1 was considered to be of clinical significance if the MAX-PC score was ≥1.5. Multivariable logistic regression coupled to bootstrap was used to detect factors associated with high levels of anxiety.ResultsThe median age was 64.4 years. Fifty-six patients reported MAX-PC total score above the cutoff. Three factors were associated with a high level of PCa anxiety at T1: anxious preoccupation [odds ratio = 4.36], extraversion, and prostate-related symptoms. Physical well-being was associated with a low PCa anxiety subscale ; neuroticism and functional well-being were associated with PSA anxiety. Neuroticism and helplessness/hopelessness were associated with fear of progression.ConclusionOnly a partial portion of the sample experienced significant levels of anxiety after 10 months. Psychological assessment should be routinely conducted to detect risk factors for increased anxiety, offering tailored psychological interventions aimed at promoting interpersonal awareness and emotional well-being. (shrink)