Relational Becoming: Considering Classroom Dialogue in Ethico-ontological Terms

This paper draws on Bakhtin’s ethico-ontological vision of dialogue to theorize “relational becoming” on a micro-level. To do so, it introduces three “ethical dimensions of dialogue” (responsibility, responsiveness, and capacitation) and develops the interrelated concepts of addressability and presencing as analytical lenses. Drawing on transcript data from a series of high school and college students’ discussions about controversial political issues, the analysis examines how interlocutors made themselves addressable, addressed each other, and were “presenced” in dialogue. It also discusses the ethico-ontological potential of these interactions, identifying a problematic tendency among interlocutors to not “show up” in verbal discourse in a variety of ways, including, in particular, reliance on abstractions.

Coordinating nominations: how to deal with an incumbent surplus after electoral reform

How do parties and candidates react to electoral system reform? While the literature on causes and consequences of electoral reforms is receiving increasing attention, we lack a systematic micro-level account on how parties and candidates adopt to changes in electoral rules and district boundaries. This paper examines the case of the Japanese Liberal Democrats to explore how the party has managed to accommodate a surplus of incumbents to a reduced number of nominal tier seats following the 1994 electoral reform. By using micro-level data, I examine how the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has matched candidates based on their expected electoral strength and ideological positioning to new districts. Moreover, I investigate how the newly instituted party-list allowed the LDP to avoid its disintegration at the local level by systematically defusing local stand-offs through the handing out of promising list positions. My findings help to understand how the LDP could avoid its disintegration and could continue to dominate Japanese politics until today.

Terence’s Eunuchus

Suetonius (Vita Terenti 3) asserts that Eunuchus was Terence’s most commercially successful play. While we cannot confirm this claim, Eunuchus (as all Terence’s plays) enjoyed continuous readership after performances of it ceased in antiquity, was often cited by ancient writers and grammarians, and received a commentary in the 4th century ce. While Eunuchus is not without its critics—some have found fault with its dramatic structure and the ethics of its finale, to say nothing of its unique (in New Comedy) foregrounding of violent rape—it has generated enormous interest in both medieval and modern cultures, including numerous commentaries and translations. Eunuch’s unusual deception-plot, that is, the impulsive Chaerea’s costuming as a eunuch to sexually overpower Pamphila, no doubt accounts for much of the attention the play has attracted. For scholars of gender and sexuality, Eunuch invites interrogation of Roman attitudes toward sexual violence, norms of masculinity, and constructions of gender, as well as of the sexually ambiguous figure of the eunuch in this dramatic and cultural context. Eunuch’s prologue has also captivated scholars of Roman comedy and literary history more generally, as it so clearly articulates recurring concerns of Terence’s characteristically metadramatic prologues: Terence’s adaptation of both his Greek and Latin sources, including charges of “contamination” and “plagiarism,” and the broader challenges of finding novelty within circumscribed comic tradition (for Terence’s “anxiety of influence” see esp. Eun. 35–43). Some scholarship has been conducted on linguistic differentiation among Eunuch’s characters, and it is hoped that burgeoning sociolinguistic work on Plautine Latin will continue to be extended to Terence. Recent criticism has largely focused on aspects of Eunuch’s performance, both on the micro-level of costumes, stage movements, and musicality, and more broadly on the play’s pervasive metatheatricality.

From the Margins to the Core of Haute Couture: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Coco Chanel

We trace the history of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s entrepreneurial journey as a fashion designer from her early years as an outsider (early 1900s) to her rise to success and consecration as an icon within the French haute couture field (early 1930s)—a field controlled by powerful insiders. Our study sheds light on the social forces and historical circumstances underlying an outsider’s journey from the margins of an established field to its core. Drawing on unique historical material, we develop a novel process view that highlights the shifting influence of forces operating at different levels in the accumulation, deployment, and conversion of various forms of capital (i.e., human, social, economic, and symbolic) that outsiders need to promote their ideas. In particular, our multilevel perspective accounts simultaneously for the individual’s efforts to push forward these ideas (micro-level), as well as the audience dynamics (meso-level) and exogenous forces (macro-level) that shape their recognition. Chanel’s historical case analysis also affords a window into one of the first female entrepreneurs with global impact in business history, with the added challenge of establishing herself in what at the time was a male-dominated and mature field.

Trust building in science-based SMEs in the North East of England: an ecosystem perspective

PurposeThis paper identifies exigent factors that enable and constrain trust building in a science-based innovation ecosystem.Design/methodology/approachSet in the Northeast England, this study adopts a processual sensemaking approach to thematically analyse interviews with a diverse range of participants in six science-based SMEs.FindingsThe findings provide a unique exposition of trust building in an innovation ecosystem across geographic and platform relationships. In doing so, the findings highlight factors outside of contractual agreements that enable or constrain trust building in an innovation ecosystem.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations centred on subjectivity in the use of thematic analysis, sample bias and size. Sampling limitations were mitigated through the research design and analysis.Practical implicationsThe findings provide unique insights into understanding the exigent factors that enable or constrain trust building in a science-based innovation ecosystem.Originality/valueThe study identifies five exigent factors that constrain or enable trust building in science-based SMEs' innovation ecosystem at a micro-level – building network relationships, degree of novelty, protection of innovations, propensity for adding value, propensity for risk.

Measuring adoption of industry 4.0 technologies via international trade data: insights from European countries

The investigation of the adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies and its implications, both at the macro and micro level, has attracted growing interest in the recent literature. Most studies have looked at the production and diffusion of related innovations and knowledge, but what do we know about the adoption of these technologies over time and across countries? In this paper, we look at three I4.0 technologies and present a new empirical perspective able to overcome the limitations of existing attempts at measuring their adoption, generally based on small-scale and country-specific studies. Our study provides a methodology that allows measuring adoption across countries for a relatively long time period. In so doing, we build on the well-established idea in the international economics literature that trade of capital goods captures technology diffusion, and so adoption across countries. We provide preliminary and comprehensive evidence on the adoption of these I4.0 technologies in Europe and set the premise for monitoring its evolution and implications on a large scale and over time.

A crosscorrelation methodology for in vivo pharmacokinetic study by the trans-scale fluorescent system

Conventional single-organ-isolation-based pharmacokinetics study is short of time-course information and exists considerable inaccuracy due to the inter-individual differences and characteristic imparities between in vivo and ex vivo tissues/cells. The in vivo time-course and multi-organs study of model drugs in living subjects could afford precise spatio-temporal correlation. Herein, a revolutionized trans-dimensional fluorescence system was home built, with the macro-level detection part for simultaneous pharmacokinetic study in different organs, and one confocal imaging needle for micro-level visualizing cellular uptake of drugs with super-high resolution (0.472 μm). Correlating these simultaneous acquired trans-scale data, an innovative physiologically-based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) model was firstly created for predicting drug disposition in other species. Its accuracy and reliability was firmly supported by the high consistent predicted-data with the real-measured data in mice and in human, respectively. This study provides an innovative methodology and revolutionized instrument for in vivo real-time advancing assessment of druggability.

SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES IN INDIA: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

Small Scale Industries (SSI) consist entrepreneurs who all are engaged in production, manufacturing or service at micro level. Small industries have been playing a major role in India's economic and social development in the post-independence era. Small scale industries are fundamental to a developing economy with its effective, efficient, flexible and innovative entrepreneurial spirit. SSI units across the world have been approved on the basis of promoters of economic growth and indicative of promoting equitable development. SSI's contribution to the Indian economy in terms of job creation opportunities, reducing regional imbalances, promoting inter-regional linkages, increasing exports and promoting equal economic growth potential has been quite amazing. The sector ranges from traditional to high technology through over 6000 products, comprising over 36 million units across the country, employing over 80 million individuals. SSI helps in the growth of industrial development of the country. This paper attempts to discuss the role of small scale industries in developing the economy and explores various problems faced by it.