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The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrative framework bringing together results from neuroplasticity and decision-making from a neuroscience perspective with those from market plasticity, i.e. with which practices market actors shape markets.

Provided that developments in neuroscience indicate that training the brain for orientation toward efficient decision-making processes under uncertainty is possible, an in-depth analysis can be conducted by using the integrative framework, which was set up by the authors for advancing research efforts in neuroeconomics and neurofinance on these lines.

Markets have a plastic character; they can change shape and form and remain in that way thereafter. The marketers have always been causing this change to succeed in their marketing strategies and efforts. Plasticity, hitherto considered by marketing, market sociology and evolutionary economics, has a potential in financial decision-making processes, especially regarding its role in training the brain for stable financial decisions.

The theoretical approach can be incorporated for delivering an alternative representation of the knowledge processes associated with financial decisions.

The practical approach can be used for improving the practical aspects of financial decision-making processes.

The contribution is the first of its kind which integrates neuroscience approaches of plasticity and decision-making with the concept of market plasticity from the literature on economics and management, showing their similarities and opening a new front of discussion on how these two approaches can learn from each other to increase the explanatory power of financial decision-making processes and to gain new insights for financial decision makers on how to make more efficient financial decisions in the times of uncertainty.

This viewpoint article is concerned with an attempt to advance organisational plasticity (OP) modelling concepts by using a novel community modelling framework (PhiloLab) from the social simulation community to drive the process of idea generation. In addition, the authors want to feed back their experience with PhiloLab as they believe that this way of idea generation could also be of interest to the wider evidence-based human resource management (EBHRM) community.

The authors used some workshop sessions to brainstorm new conceptual ideas in a structured and efficient way with a multidisciplinary group of 14 (mainly academic) participants using PhiloLab. This is a tool from the social simulation community, which stimulates and formally supports discussions about philosophical questions of future societal models by means of developing conceptual agent-based simulation models. This was followed by an analysis of the qualitative data gathered during the PhiloLab sessions, feeding into the definition of a set of primary axioms of a plastic organisation.

The PhiloLab experiment helped with defining a set of primary axioms of a plastic organisation, which are presented in this viewpoint article. The results indicated that the problem was rather complex, but it also showed good potential for an agent-based simulation model to tackle some of the key issues related to OP. The experiment also showed that PhiloLab was very useful in terms of knowledge and idea gathering.

Through information gathering and open debates on how to create an agent-based simulation model of a plastic organisation, the authors could identify some of the characteristics of OP and start structuring some of the parameters for a computational simulation. With the outcome of the PhiloLab experiment, the authors are paving the way towards future exploratory computational simulation studies of OP.

This paper aims to bring to the fore some conditions of possibility surrounding the audit society thesis that might have contributed to construct a sense of distinctiveness around it, thereby facilitating its spread and travel in the accounting research community (and beyond) as a meaningful epistemological agenda.

My argument is that the aura of distinctiveness surrounding the audit society thesis as a noteworthy epistemological agenda relates to outsider influences, concept plasticity, and in-depth persuasiveness. I discuss these three features of distinctiveness through excerpts from the book and my own interpretations, the whole analytic process being circumscribed by a disciplined imagination exercise (Weick, 1989).

While the webs of unpredictability surrounding social life necessarily influenced the travel of the audit society thesis in academia, it seems to me that the thesis’ journey may have been helped by the author’s outsider status, the malleability of the thesis’ key concepts, and the medium (as a book) through which the thesis was articulated (which provided a persuasive platform to underline and demonstrate the depth of the argument).

In an age where journal rankings abound, the audit society thesis constitutes a telling demonstration that one can have a meaningful impact in setting an epistemological agenda and consolidate her/his scholarly reputation through the publication of a scholarly book.

Queer scholars and activists share a central predicament with critical management studies: how to avoid the dangers of self-defeat. That is, how can one make a critical difference without becoming embroiled with or turning into the powers that be? This chapter offers suggestions for how to remain critical and queer by first introducing the notion of queer posing then exploring its conditions of possibility in terms of performativity and affectivity, respectively.

Here, we encounter another seeming impasse between the epistemological voluntarism of which studies in the performative vein are sometimes accused and the charge of ontological determinism that is often levelled against affect theory. Turning from vain dichotomies to productive tensions, we propose that potential for critical performativity is inherent to affective organizing of materiality as events in relation to which action becomes possible. The concept of plasticity, we suggest, enables investigations of the simultaneously formed and formative character of being and, further, the explosive potential of critique – the shaping of corporeal events is not only confining, but also holds potential for blowing up existing configurations.

On this basis, we sketch three plastic relations of affectivity and performativity, three modes of organizing material assemblages as actionable events: invitation, intervention, and celebration. We illustrate the performative power and critical potential of these three modes of affective organizing by indicating how they give form to, are formed by, and become explosive to Sabaah, a Danish activist network and community for LGBT people with minority ethnic background.

In terms of continuum mechanics a twin is represented by the sudden appearance of a shear eigenstrain state in a distinct region. The corresponding elastic strain energy, the interface energy and the energy dissipated due to the irreversible character of the deformation process are investigated. If the total amount of these energy terms, spent by the twinning process, can be provided by the interaction energy of an external and/or internal stress state with respect to the twin shear eigenstrain, then either a deformation twin band or a twin nucleus may appear. Realistic estimations of the dimensions of deformation twins can be presented. This energetic interpretation of twinning is experimentally demonstrated for intermetallic TiAl.

This paper aims to propose a framework to map partnerships as practiced in higher education institutions (HEIs) and trace the current mode of engagement between HEIs and their partners. This paper reflects on the alignment between current practices and what is understood in the literature as “true” partnerships. We are interested in the different modes of engagement that are labeled by the HEIs as partnerships and consider the plasticity of the term. The interest is in how the term is operationalized by HEIs and how variations in approach can be accounted for while still maintaining some stability and common understanding of the term partnership.

Drawing on extant literature in the field of cross-sector partnerships, a three-dimensional framework is proposed to map partnerships as practiced in HEIs. Furthermore, this paper draws on insights gained from the partnership stories of 13 leading principles of responsible management education (PRME) signatories to evidence examples of how this framework can help us to categorize the different types of engagement that the HEIs call partnerships. These case stories were gathered in the fall of 2019, based on a brief inquiry form sent to the 39 PRME signatories who were part of the PRME Champions Cycle 2018–2019.

This paper sees cases where faculty drive interaction on sustainable development goal-related issues with external stakeholders, but where the impact of these interactions seems to reside within the main business of the HEI (teaching and research). In contrast, much partnering work addresses broader social impacts. Of particular, interest in partnerships that seek to address a specific local issue, first and foremost and doing so in such a way as to apply the unique resources of the HEI working in multi-stakeholder networks. This paper also notes important variation between individual faculty-driven initiatives and initiatives where the school provides a strategic framework to support these efforts.

By focusing on the academic sector and its stakeholder partnerships, this paper contributes to the literature on cross-sector partnerships. In particular, the specifics of this context and the importance of, for example, academic freedom have been under-researched in this field. Furthermore, the framework presented is novel in that it helps us to grasp the nuances of external university partnerships that can form out of individual, programmatic and other institutional levels.

From a practice perspective, the framework offers a useable tool for HEI partnership managers to position themselves and their activities and reflect more on how they organize external partnerships. Further, this tool offers a more precise framework for the discussion on partnerships within the PRME to sharpen the partnership instrument and bring more clarity about what is meant by the partnership for the goals.

The paper offers a novel partnership portfolio framework that contributes both to theory and practice. The framework aids in mapping the locus of benefits/outcomes and the material and affective commitments made by the HEI to bring these collaborations about. In dimensionalizing partnerships in this way, this paper can conceptualize a balanced portfolio in an HEI’s partnerships for the goals.

This paper aims to investigate with strain-rate controlled uniaxial cyclic compression tests the softening behavior of concrete and its elastic stiffness degradation with increasing plastic straining.

Such tests at ambient temperature show that concrete exhibits the phenomenon of elastic stiffness degradation, which can be captured by damage-plasticity models.

The experimentally derived evolutions of the elastic stiffness with plastic strain confirm the suitability of the damage-plasticity modeling concept for concrete in compression at elevated temperatures and provide novel calibration data.

Temperature-dependent concrete models implementing this modeling concept are often used presently in structural fire engineering, despite the lack of experiment-based validation data.

This conceptual article presents a schematic of rat maternal behavior and niche stress epigenetic effects as a case study that is then aligned with current evolutionary concepts, which raises new questions regarding immigrant assimilation and niche dynamics.

The necessary background material for rat maternal and niche(s) stress factors are incorporated into a recursive, test-operate-test (rTOT), information-only-transfer, schematic (Patterson, 2023), which is an extension and refinement of the test-operate-test-exit (TOTE) schematic of Miller et al. (1960).

The generated epigenetic rTOT demonstrates the fundamental evolutionary unit of the flexible organism within its niche(s). The rTOT also confirms that epigenetic processes, epigenetic inheritance and phenotype plasticity are significant conceptual tools for understanding evolution. The teleology of rat adaptations for niche fitness via maternal behavior has been demonstrated. Sterling's (2011) allostasis, or predictive homeostasis, is extended to include species-niche(s) interaction(s) that are governed by recursive information feedback loops that function via self-organized criticality (SOC) for species and niche(s). Use of a rat model for biosocial issues in humans is strengthened.

Epigenetic rTOT only covers the species side of the evolutionary unit. Niche(s) require(s) a separate rTOT schematic. The information modeled does not include the entire system producing epigenetic effects but models a substantial portion of it.

Epigenetic rTOT demonstrates the utility of phenotypic plasticity, epigenetics and epigenetic inheritance as explanations for inheritable behavior patterns. rTOT is a useful computational model for evolutionary issues. The issues involved in niche modeling using an rTOT schematic are briefly reviewed.

When the demonstrated epigenetic model of rat genetics and inherited behavior are applied to the issues of immigrant enclaves, epigenetic complications for the difficulties of assimilation into the culture within which the enclaves are embedded become apparent. However, the questions raised must be addressed with extreme care to avoid cultural imperialism. Such cultural issues must be modeled with an rTOT application that covers the materials involved. The limitations of human Learning III restrictions when attempting to model Learning IV issues are addressed. Research into the means by which abuse and trauma are maintained by epigenetic means is urgently needed.

The rTOT schematic visualizes rat maternal behavior and stress epigenetic effects that produce inheritable behavior patterns, which answers Jablonka's (2017) request for new computational modeling representations. The concept of allostasis, or predictive homeostasis, (Sterling, 2011) is extended to the niche(s) of the organism under study so that allostasis becomes a fully cybernetic concept governed by SOC for both the organism and its niche(s). This new case study confirmed evolutionary effects of epigenetics, epigenetic inheritance and phenotypic plasticity. Niche control of organism evolution is presented. Epigenetic applications for immigrant assimilation issues have been suggested and niche dynamic questions have been raised.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an improved analytical model for predicting the damage response of multi‐storey reinforced concrete frames modelled as an elastic beam‐column with two inelastic hinges at its ends.

The damage is evaluated in the hinges, using the concentrated damage concepts and a new member damage evaluation method for frame members, which leads to a meaningful global damage index of the structure. A numerical procedure for predicting the damage indices of the structures using matrix structural analysis, plastic theory and continuum damage model is also developed. The method is adequate for the prediction of the failure mechanisms.

Using the proposed framework numerical examples are finally included. From the obtained results, the advantages and limitation of the proposed model are observed.

The numeric model presented is useful to solve multi‐storey reinforced concrete frames using an inexpensive procedure that combines structural finite elements (beams) of low execution cost, with the moment‐curvature constitutive models deriving from classic stress‐strain ones. The proposed techniques give an inexpensive and reliability procedure to model the frame structures.