Public value and the planet : accounting in ecological reconstitution

Purpose This paper explores the role of accounting in ecological reconstitution and draws attention to the public value as a topic of strategic interest for developing it. Design/methodology/approach The process of ecological reconstitution described by Latour in the “Politics of Nature” is traced towards a distinct set of accounting practices. These accounting practices, designated here as full-tax accounting, offer indications of the changing shape and role of accounting in ecological renewal. Findings Full-tax accounting extends the planetary public towards the inclusion of nonhuman planetarians. It establishes matters of care in multimodal accounts and haunts constitutional processes with the spectre of exclusion. Starting with full-tax accounting, public-value accountants emerge as curators of matters of care. Research limitations/implications The association of accounting in ecological reconstitution with matters of care highlights the mediating and immersive effects of accounting practice, inviting accounting scholars to explore these effects more systematically. Practical implications Accountants need to reconsider their stewardship role in relation to the fundamental uncertainties implied in planetary public-value accounting, support the process of ecological reconstitution by associating themselves with matters of care and develop ethics of exclusion. Social implications Broad alliances among planetary accountants are needed to extend the terms of ecological reconstitution, to gain and preserve attunement to matters of care and defend these attunements, in the atmospheric politics of ecological renewal, against regressive tendencies. Originality/value In problematising public value, the paper draws attention to a convergence of interests among scholars in accounting, public sector research and the environmental humanities. It presents a case for planetary accounting in ecological reconstitution that calls for participation from across disciplines, professions, arts and environmental activism

Administrative Ambitions and Realities within the Reform Discourse of the 1990's. The Discursive Order of Reform Communication

Sozialwissenschaftliche Verwaltungsexperten haben den Reformdiskurs der neunziger Jahre häufig als Anzeichen der Bedrohung ihrer Expertenschaft durch eine Verbetriebswirtschaftlichung des Verwaltens empfunden. Anstatt der mit solchen Befürchtungen verbundenen Annahme einer Art Kontamination öffentlicher Verwaltungen durch die Ambitionen eines externen Reformdiskurses zu folgen, untersucht die vorliegende Studie diesen Diskurs daraufhin, inwieweit er systematische Regelmäßigkeiten von Reformkommunikation offenbart. Die fortlaufende Unterscheidung von Ansprüchen und Wirklichkeiten des Verwaltens wird dabei als zentrales Ordnungsmerkmal von Reformkommunikation identifiziert. Anhand publizierter Reformkommunikation - Kommunikation von Reformkritik inbegriffen - wird gezeigt, wie der Reformdiskurs diese Unterscheidung operationalisiert und sich dabei als diskursive Ordnung ausdifferenziert. Die daraus resultierende Selektivität des Reformdiskurses der neunziger Jahre hat Reformkommunikation von Verwaltungskommunikation entkoppelt und Chancen einer Soziologisierung des vornehmlich rechnungstechnischen Reformgeschehens in Verwaltungsorganisationen weitgehend verdeckt. Soziologische Kommunikation, so eine Schlußfolgerung, sollte ihrerseits stärker als bislang von Reformkommunikation entkoppelt werden.In regard to the discourse of administrative reform in the 1990's many social scientists specializing in public administration, indicated their jurisdiction was being threatened by economic experts. The present study refrains from recreating the associated images of public administrations as contaminated by aspirations of an external reform discourse, but instead analyzes this discourse in order to identify systematic characteristics of reform communication. The recurrent distinction between ambitions and realities in public administration is revealed to be the central organizing element. Analyzing published reform communication, including criticism of reform, the discourse of administrative reform is shown to operationalize the distinction between administrative ambitions and realities in establishing discursive order and defending it against deconstruction. As a result, reform communication within the discourse of the 1990's has become uncoupled from administrative communication, and opportunities for social scientists to build up expertise on current matters of administrative reform have been systematically neglected. In turn, it is suggested, sociological communication should be more thoroughly separated from reform communication

Consequences and Functions of Organized Calculation

Organisiertes Rechnen umfaßt Praktiken wie Buchführung, Kostenrechnung, Controlling, Bilanzierung, Budgetierung, Evaluation und eine ganze Reihe weiterer Formen organisierten Umgangs mit Zahlen. Trotz eines produktiven interdisziplinären Diskurses über organisiertes Rechnen unter dem englischen Oberbegriff des "Accounting" hat die Soziologie diesen Gegenstandsbereich seit Weber und Sombart weitgehend unbeachtet gelassen. Der Aufsatz bemüht sich um eine Wiederbelebung soziologischer Aufmerksamkeit. Zunächst diskutiert er, in Abgrenzung von der dominierenden betriebsökonomischen Reflexionstheorie, Systemfunktionen des Umgangs mit Zahlen im Rahmen der Aufrechterhaltung organisierter Sozialordnungen. Die Stiftung von Wirklichkeiten durch die Reproduktion von Zahlen aus Zahlen erweist sich diesbezüglich als dominant. Unter historischen Gesichtspunkten zeigt sich allerdings, daß die Dominanz dieser Systemfunktion erst daraus resultiert, wie sich der Umgang mit Zahlen in organisierten Sozialordnungen der Gegenwart eingelebt hat: in der Artikulation und Abarbeitung von Ordnungs- und Regulierungsansprüchen, der Verdichtung von Lebenswelt, der Entstehung derivativer Zahlenspiele. Erst diese eingelebten Formen des Umgangs mit Zahlen bringen organisierte Sozialordnungen in zunehmende Abhängigkeit von ihren Zähl- und Rechenapparaturen und ziehen weiteres Organisieren derart nachhaltig in den Bann organisierten Rechnens, daß selbst auf Fälle spektakulären Versagens à la Enron und Parmalat nur der Ruf nach anderen, besseren und (im Zweifelsfall immer) mehr Zahlen folgt.Organized calculation encompasses bookkeeping, cost accounting, comptrollership, financial reporting, budgeting, evaluation, and a host of other organizational practices engaging in the use of numbers. Despite an extraordinarily productive interdisciplinary discourse about organized calculation among scholars of accounting, academic sociology has since Weber and Sombart largely neglected this field. The paper tries to re-mobilize sociological attention. It starts by discussing the systemic functions of the use of numbers within the maintenance of organized social orders and dissociating the analysis from the dominant conceptualization of organized calculation within mainstream economic thinking. The construction of realities by reproducing numbers from numbers turns out to be the dominant systemic function of organized calculation. Historical analysis, however, reveals this dominance to result from the way in which Hendrik Vollmer: Folgen und Funktionen organisierten Rechnens 469 organized calculation is embedded in organizational life. The main present determinants of this embedding are the articulation and operationalization of regulatory aspirations, the condensation of life-worlds, and the emergence of derivative numbers games. Such consequences of organized calculation cause social order to depend more and more upon apparatuses of counting and calculation, so that nowadays, even in cases of severe disruptions within systems of organized calculation like those associated with recent corporate collapses (Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, etc.) the response is always to call for further, better, and (in the meantime) more numbers

Editorial 2015

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Fiber optic distributed temperature sensing for the determination of the nocturnal atmospheric boundary layer height

A new method for measuring air temperature profiles in the atmospheric boundary layer at high spatial and temporal resolution is presented. The measurements are based on Raman scattering distributed temperature sensing (DTS) with a fiber optic cable attached to a tethered balloon. These data were used to estimate the height of the stable nocturnal boundary layer. The experiment was successfully deployed during a two-day campaign in September 2009, providing evidence that DTS is well suited for this atmospheric application. Observed stable temperature profiles exhibit an exponential shape confirming similarity concepts of the temperature inversion close to the surface. The atmospheric mixing height (MH) was estimated to vary between 5 m and 50 m as a result of the nocturnal boundary layer evolution. This value is in good agreement with the MH derived from concurrent Radon-222 (Rn-222) measurements and in previous studies

Forms of Understanding of XAI-Explanations

Explainability has become an important topic in computer science and artificial intelligence, leading to a subfield called Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI). The goal of providing or seeking explanations is to achieve (better) 'understanding' on the part of the explainee. However, what it means to 'understand' is still not clearly defined, and the concept itself is rarely the subject of scientific investigation. This conceptual article aims to present a model of forms of understanding in the context of XAI and beyond. From an interdisciplinary perspective bringing together computer science, linguistics, sociology, and psychology, a definition of understanding and its forms, assessment, and dynamics during the process of giving everyday explanations are explored. Two types of understanding are considered as possible outcomes of explanations, namely enabledness, 'knowing how' to do or decide something, and comprehension, 'knowing that' -- both in different degrees (from shallow to deep). Explanations regularly start with shallow understanding in a specific domain and can lead to deep comprehension and enabledness of the explanandum, which we see as a prerequisite for human users to gain agency. In this process, the increase of comprehension and enabledness are highly interdependent. Against the background of this systematization, special challenges of understanding in XAI are discussed

Association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the multinational Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been associated with exposures in the workplace. We aimed to assess the association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease study. Methods We analysed cross-sectional data from 28 823 adults (≥40 years) in 34 countries. We considered 11 occupations and grouped them by likelihood of exposure to organic dusts, inorganic dusts and fumes. The association of chronic cough, chronic phlegm, wheeze, dyspnoea, forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/FVC with occupation was assessed, per study site, using multivariable regression. These estimates were then meta-analysed. Sensitivity analyses explored differences between sexes and gross national income. Results Overall, working in settings with potentially high exposure to dusts or fumes was associated with respiratory symptoms but not lung function differences. The most common occupation was farming. Compared to people not working in any of the 11 considered occupations, those who were farmers for ≥20 years were more likely to have chronic cough (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.19–1.94), wheeze (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.16–1.63) and dyspnoea (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.53–2.20), but not lower FVC (β=0.02 L, 95% CI −0.02–0.06 L) or lower FEV1/FVC (β=0.04%, 95% CI −0.49–0.58%). Some findings differed by sex and gross national income. Conclusion At a population level, the occupational exposures considered in this study do not appear to be major determinants of differences in lung function, although they are associated with more respiratory symptoms. Because not all work settings were included in this study, respiratory surveillance should still be encouraged among high-risk dusty and fume job workers, especially in low- and middle-income countries.publishedVersio

Dealloying of Cobalt from CuCo Nanoparticles under Syngas Exposure

International audienceThe structure and composition of core−shell CuCo nanoparticles were found to change as a result of cleaning pretreatments and when exposed to syngas (CO + H 2) at atmospheric pressure. In situ X-ray absorption and photoelectron spectroscopies revealed the oxidation state of the particles as well as the presence of adsorbates under syngas. Transmission electron microscopy was used for ex situ analysis of the shape, elemental composition, and structure after reaction. The original core−shell structure was found to change to a hollow CuCo alloy after pretreatment by oxidation in pure O 2 and reduction in pure H 2. After 30 min of exposure to syngas, a significant fraction (5%) of the particles was strongly depleted in cobalt giving copper-rich nanoparticles. This fraction increased with duration of syngas exposure, a phenomenon that did not occur under pure CO or pure H 2. This study suggests that Co and Cu can each individually contribute to syngas conversion with CuCo catalysts

Cohort Profile: Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study

The Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study was established to assess the prevalence of chronic airflow obstruction, a key characteristic of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and its risk factors in adults (≥40 years) from general populations across the world. The baseline study was conducted between 2003 and 2016, in 41 sites across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, the Caribbean and Oceania, and collected high-quality pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry from 28 828 participants. The follow-up study was conducted between 2019 and 2021, in 18 sites across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. At baseline, there were in these sites 12 502 participants with high-quality spirometry. A total of 6452 were followed up, with 5936 completing the study core questionnaire. Of these, 4044 also provided high-quality pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry. On both occasions, the core questionnaire covered information on respiratory symptoms, doctor diagnoses, health care use, medication use and ealth status, as well as potential risk factors. Information on occupation, environmental exposures and diet was also collected

Fundstellen von Zahlenforschung

Mennicken A, Vollmer H. Fundstellen von Zahlenforschung. In: Mennicken A, Vollmer H, eds. Zahlenwerk: Kalkulation, Organisation und Gesellschaft. Organisation und Gesellschaft. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften; 2007: 9-17