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The purpose of this paper is to present a theory that applies Miller et al.’s (1960) Test-Operate-Test-Exit (TOTE) concept to the psychophysiology involved in electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback (BFB).

Six components are presented, namely, the teleological brain, attractors as the “test” in TOTEs, EEG production, positive and negative feedback, synaptogenesis and designated actor, and then integrated into a theoretical structure. Comparisons with the previous conceptualizations are discussed, and finally, suggestions for practical application and needed research are offered.

Previous theories neglected significant variables and promoted unverified conceptualizations. These issues are redressed with a psychophysiological, cybernetic theory.

The pursuit of substantive research needed to verify the theory would improve the scientific foundations for EEG BFB.

This theory shifts the designated actor in BFB to the participant’s brain, away from the BFB provider. EEG BFB is thus viewed as a means for neuronominalization driven by the brain’s attractor systems instead of as an intrusive intervention.

The theory proposes a much more participant-centric process than previous modes, which also promotes self-determination. The research validation needed for the theory could produce wider EEG BFB acceptance and application.

The theory is a complete departure from previous conceptualizations. It is the first instance of TOTE application to psychophysiological processes, and it is the first fully cybernetic conceptualization of EEG BFB.

This paper aims to explain the pros and cons of the crime of self-laundering and of the voluntary discovery rule in light of the recent reform of the Italian criminal law system. More specifically, it focuses on the Italian anti-money laundering legislation as introduced by law no. 186 of 15 December 2014 that has dismissed the privilege of self-laundering.

To reach such an aim, a comparative approach has been adopted, focusing first on the crime of money laundering as previously described by Article 648 bis of the Italian Criminal Code and on the reasons underlying the adoption of the so-called privilege clause and, subsequently focusing on its discipline in a common law system, the USA. Afterwards, there is the analysis of the above mentioned reform, focusing on the ratio of the new crime of self-laundering to tackle financial crimes and allow capital return from abroad.

Nevertheless, considering how recent the reform is, the absence of case law on the subject has made it difficult to well evaluate its implications.

The analysis shows how Article 648 bis of the Italian Criminal Code has been the safeguard against self-laundering incriminations.

Therefore, it points out the importance of the reform in light of the concerns stemming from the privilege of self-laundering (for example, propagating the effects of the crime of self-laundering). In addition, it highlights the importance of a strict interpretation of the new crime to assure its compatibility with the criminal law principles of legality and fragmentation.

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on how perspectives and assumptions embedded in the complexity paradigm contribute to make logistics management research better aligned with real-life logistics. This is necessary, due to increasing supply chain complexity caused by an increasing request for sustainable development (SD).

The research is exploratory and based on a narrative literature review of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) from a complexity science perspective. Qualitative research interviews have been conducted with 12 logistics and supply chain managers in international companies and have focussed on their daily experiences and the underlying assumptions related to their actual work.

Logistics and SCM research is embedded in the functionalistic paradigm with reductionistic assumptions as the dominant logic. These do not sufficiently align with the complexity related, for example, to the daily work of SD in logistics management practice.

It is proposed that the inclusion of complexity-based assumptions in logistics management research can increase realism in the advancement of the discipline. A key result is that the recognition of logistics as complex means inclusion of human and social aspects – which is apparent in any logistics process or phenomenon – in logistics knowledge creation processes.

Increased realism in logistics management research by addressing complexity, instead of merely reducing it, will provide logistics and supply chain managers with increased understanding and appropriate knowledge when they deal with emerging challenges such as SD.

Based on Boulding’s levels of complexity, this paper challenges the underlying assumptions of logistics management in research and practice, and provides reflective frameworks for advancing the discipline and aligning it to the complexity of contemporary challenges in logistics management.

Technology entrepreneur' competence is one of the main domains of study in the field of technology entrepreneurship. In the dominant rationalistic view, competence is seen as constituted by a set of components used in performing particular functions. This study aims to expand this field of study by using an interpretive view.

Phenomenology is proposed and explored as an interpretive methodology that is more compatible with technology entrepreneurship. The empirical material is based on interviews with 19 technology entrepreneurs who have established new technology-based firms in Iran.

Findings show that the nature of the technology entrepreneurship's competence is emergent, holistic and relational. Also, the entrepreneurs' perception of entrepreneurship specifies which competence's components they develop and what meaning these components take.

By examining how technology entrepreneurs experience competence in the context of business creation, this study moves beyond the lists or categories of competencies, and it contributes to a broader understanding of competence at technology entrepreneurship.

By examining the literature on the ethical dilemmas of H/RM practitioners, the paper aims to put an “H” in H/RM.

Analysing the significant contribution which H/RM scholars have made in studying the ethical dilemmas of H/RM practitioners, the paper builds a view of an H/RM practitioner as a “conscientious HR manager” loosely connected to an ethical dilemma, a “Rubik's Cube”. Using these linguistic devices to simplify others scholarly work, the paper introduces a complex autopoietic system to provide a more “connected knowing” of ethical dilemmas and the “H” in H/RM.

Generalising from this analysis, the paper connects a social sub‐system (H/RM) with a living human system.

Naturalistic “grounds” for launching a normative critique of H/RM that celebrates humans as social and biological animals are provisionally outlined.

The paper adapts Capra's complex autopoietic system to present a normative critique of H/RM from the Darwinian left.

This article aims to develop a framework that considers digital archiving as a form of networked information production, in which the different stages of producing a digital archive are modularized and distributed across different actors. The framework is applied and developed within the context of designing a digital archive for the electronic artwork Rider Spoke. More specifically the framework is applied and developed within the context of designing a subject scheme that provides its users with consistent yet relevant access to the content of the archive.

A total of 74 postgraduate students from the Information School at the University of Sheffield were invited to tag four videos from the Riders Have Spoken archive as a voluntary exercise. Students were evenly distributed across the four videos and each participant was invited to generate up to ten tags; with each tag or annotation representing a point of interest in the content of the video for viewer. The time was also noted. In total, 46 students completed the exercise and this generated 356 user tags. As a collection these tags and annotations represent the terms and vocabulary on which a subsequent content analysis was conducted and a subject language developed.

The development of a subject scheme for a particular single electronic artwork with seven facets, sub-facets, and illustrative examples is presented. The design of the scheme and its relations to prior work in classification is discussed.

Implications of the research for the design of a digital archive and the methods used to construct them are discussed

The originality of the article lies in its characterization of digital archiving as a form of networked information production; and the application of the framework to the design of a faceted scheme enabling subject access to the digital archive of an electronic artwork called Rider Spoke.

Presents the scientific methodology from the enlarged cybernetical perspective that recognizes the anisotropy of time, the probabilistic character of natural laws, and the entry that the incomplete determinism in Nature opens to the occurrence of innovation, growth, organization, teleology communication, control, contest and freedom. The new tier to the methodological edifice that cybernetics provides stands on the earlier tiers, which go back to the Ionians (c. 500 BC). However, the new insights reveal flaws in the earlier tiers, and their removal strengthens the entire edifice. The new concepts of teleological activity and contest allow the clear demarcation of the military sciences as those whose subject matter is teleological activity involving contest. The paramount question “what ought to be done”, outside the empirical realm, is embraced by the scientific methodology. It also embraces the cognitive sciences that ask how the human mind is able to discover, and how the sequence of discoveries might converge to a true description of reality.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and apply teleological approaches from complexity sciences in services.

The performance of service encounters and the outcome of service quality are dependent upon complex and dynamic interactions between service providers and service receivers. A set of teleological approaches from complexity sciences is incorporated and applied in the context of service settings.

A teleological application from complexity sciences in relation to the interactive nature of the performance of service encounters and the outcome of service quality offers opportunities to apply innovative research designs and alternative methodological approaches to future research problems in services.

Future research could focus on where and how the insights from other research disciplines can be used that have encapsulated teleological approaches from complexity sciences more sophisticated, and how this knowledge could be incorporated and applied in services.

The inclusion and consideration of teleological approaches from complexity sciences in the performance of service encounters and the outcome of service quality generates a series of managerial and research implications regarding the dynamics and complexity of the interactive nature in services.

The research opportunities into service quality and service encounters by applying teleological approaches from complexity sciences are extensive. They might also stimulate innovative analytical techniques that may generate important empirical findings, in extension, with relevant and valuable implications for practice in services. A maintained focus on multi‐disciplinary aspects of research may enhance contemporary research and practice of services.

This paper intends to shed some light on the relationship between leadership performance and corporate accomplishment through the aid of complexity sciences. The objective is to describe leadership performance in corporate accomplishment using different teleological approaches.

The paper discusses the underlying criteria of the relationship between leadership performance and corporate accomplishment. Case illustration and narrative analogy are also provided.

The authors believe that the discussion highlights a potential downside of leadership performance in corporate accomplishment and its precision rarely highlighted in practice and literature.

There is a reigning assumption in management practice that is based on the belief that a top‐down approach of leadership performance in management and business practices is superior to the bottom‐up approach. It proffers the assumed importance of strategic management issues, but neglects the knowledge, experience, competence and awareness inherent among employees at tactical and operational levels of business practices. It also proffers a mechanical view of employee performance and ignores the worth of the generation of ideas from subordinates in management and business practices that contribute to corporate achievements. Furthermore, it neglects the fact that it is not possible to know the future nor it is predictable.

The paper contends that the importance of top management tends to be inflated in respect to corporate achievements in the management/leadership literature. It also contends that it should be questioned as to whether the top management of corporations are largely responsible for the corporate results on which they attempt to justify their salaries and other benefits. Furthermore, the paper contends that it also should be questioned as to what extent corporate accomplishment may be derived from the performance of the top management in organizations.

The paper strives to contribute to the ongoing discussion of leadership performance in corporate accomplishment in various ways. The principal contributions are: a set of teleological sub‐processes of leadership performance and a case illustration and narrative analogies of teleological leadership performance patterns, in respect to corporate accomplishment in management and business practices. These contributions provide theoretical and managerial ideas and insights to anticipate and avoid deficient or erroneous grounds of leadership performance evaluation in corporate accomplishment.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights and describe teleological approaches in the context of Supply Chain Management (SCM).

A conceptual framework is outlined derived from complexity sciences to widen and enhance the exploration and understanding of SCM.

Research and literature in the field of SCM have to a large extent neglected the possible underlying formative and rationalist nature of it, rather than considering or highlighting its potentially transformative nature.

Teleological approaches of SCM provide valuable insights in managing supply chains. They also provide innovative and challenging opportunities for further research in the field of SCM.

The application of teleological approaches in supply chains may encourage and lead to managerial ideas and insights to anticipate and avoid deficient or erroneous grounds in the planning, implementation and evaluation of SCM.

Teleological approaches make a contribution to the ongoing exploration and discussion of SCM, such as: incorporating a frame of reference from complexity sciences. The author believes that it also provides a timely topic in times of crisis as it compares different teleological approaches – some more dynamic and flexible than others.