To study pairs of people is to study how individuals establish senses of self, other, and us. Every time two individuals meet, they confront their intersections; they align, collide, refract, reflect, and maybe even absorb one another. I am interested in a third element of betweenness created at the intersection of one-to-one interactions, and how that betweenness holds relationships between individuals in constant dialogue. In choreographing and directing Three Completely Distinct Duets with Absolutely Nothing in Common (TCDDwANiC), I investigate contradictions in the duet form in order to mine and frame a betweenness loaded with awkward aesthetics. In a world in which awkwardness is often shamed, I seek to illuminate its presence in my art-making. In this manner, TCDDwANiC immediately questions whether it is or is not what it says it is. In an attempt to conceptually and choreographically destabilize some of my contradictory relationships to my own trainings in Western concert dance forms, I rigorously conceived of the production through its framing, character developments, and re-distributed narrative layers. Having set up specific working procedures with rigid creative boundaries regarding time and space, I have come to recognize ways in which my research actively disallows a certain amount of pleasure in its making. Demanding the watching, witnessing, and participating spectator to engage with complex layers of contradiction, TCDDwANiC reflects its own making, and carries social implications more relevant than the production itself or its most direct communal reach.

Title: A Multiple Case Study on Contradictions and Pre-conditions for Outsourcing Agile Software Development ProjectsAuthor: Maksim Buslovič & Samson DeribeSupervisor: Jonas SöderlundDate: May 30th, 2012Background: In today’s turbulent business environment organizational success depends on its ability to embrace change and adapt quickly. The ability to satisfy customer is core to profitability; thus being agile is a prominent factor, because customer expectations are never static. One of the project management methods which is quite popular in the software development are is Agile Method. Agile methods depart from the classical project approach as it emphasizes more on interaction among participant, short iteration and continuous feedback to embrace the continuously evolving customer requirements. However, implementing Agile methods in a distributed project work seems to be challenging, thus limiting projects to optimize form their distributed resource as well as external parties.Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to understand how Agile methods contradict with the Outsourcing practice, which ultimately lead to identifying the possibilities to successfully outsource project work based on Agile methods. In addition, the study aims in providing a good ground for future study in ‘Outsourcing within Agile Methods’ to fill the big theoretical gap identified in the area.Methodology: The thesis used a qualitative approach that intends to build theory through iteration by waving back and forth between data and literatures in an inductive manner. The research design was based on multiple case study that used five interviews and one direct observation as an instrument to collect primary data along with secondary data; all three together ensure proper triangulation resulting in higher research validity. Open coding system was used to analyze data; and findings were presented by tables, figures, models and direct quotations.Results: The study shows that values and principles of agile software development which gives much emphasis on proximity in order to have a daily stand-up meetings, visualizations, constant contact with customers and other team members, knowledge sharing and fun disappear when the project is involved in outsourcing partly the development process; because the need use more plans & documentation, clear contracts and less interaction implying a contradiction in both ‘Agile methods’ and ‘Outsourcing’ practices. However, the study identified preconditions that must be considered while involving in outsourcing part of Agile software development: Outsource only if the part to be outsourced is not related to core product; Put a complete team in a co-located manner; Minimize interdependence among distributed teams; and there should be enough time before delivering product to customers.

Architecture is a representation of our society’s aspirations and of our social, economic and political paradigms. Since 1994, has the city of Pretoria been successfully represented? Does the city succeed architecturally in creating space that is democratic and that embraces our country’s diversity? The large influx of people within the city of Pretoria has created a terrain consisting of a series of contradictions and conflicts. These conflicts and contradictions within the city are a result of social, economic, spatial, physical and historical tensions that exist within society's social, economic and political paradigms. Physical and spatial reactions have occurred as a result of these tensions that exist within the city of Pretoria. This dissertation will explore these urban spaces that are in tension and investigate what opportunities and limitations such spaces offer the city of Pretoria. The objective is to consider what architectural intervention will arise from the resolution, synthesis or conflict of these tensions. Can these spaces that are in tension within the city foster a new post-apartheid way of city-making. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

This thesis commences with the notion that interorganizational exchange relationships are dynamic to an unprecedented degree. It is argued that, global production networks have integrated firms into interdependent structures that blur traditional geographical and organizational boundaries. It is also true that the same networks bring together companies with diverse socio-cultural and economic backgrounds. Thus, the thesis focuses on the complexity of the contemporary international business landscape. The purpose of the work performed was to understand the process of change in interorganizational relationships under these complexities. Through a qualitative study of two main cases and a pilot study, the thesis investigates the networking behavior and the relationship dynamics between multinational companies from Sweden and Turkey, operating in Turkish and Swedish markets, respectively. By examining how firms create, maintain, dissolve and reconstruct their relationships, the thesis contributes to problematizing some of the assumptions that are commonly taken for granted, but which underpin several studies of interorganizational relationship dynamics. The findings illustrate that as recent trends such as cross-border acquisitions frequently perturb the contexts within which firms are embedded, the impact might be favorable for some actors, while others might push for new and different ‘directions’, finding the existing relational arrangements and resource structures counter to their future goals. Yet, the actions of parties are constrained by the structural position in which they find themselves. Thus, the development of an exchange relationship involves multiple processes, often inconsistent with one another, thereby disturbing the stability of the relationship. Through the aggregation of each paper’s contribution, the “Thesis Summary” offers a wide perspective of the relationship dynamics. By incorporating both teleological and dialectical views, the framework proposed captures both the actions undertaken by individual firms to make change, and the structural forces both promoting and opposing change. Ultimately, the thesis offers a framework for investigating the impact of complexity on change in interorganizational relationships, opening doors to an improved understanding of the significance divergent perspectives and disruptive experiences have on relationship change.

Parents constantly experience contradictions because children’s development may lead to new or surprising interactions that fail to fit parents’ current ways of thinking about their children. This qualitative study used a dialectical perspective of contradictions from social relational theory to explore how contradictions instigate parental change (Kuczynski & Parkin, 2007; Kuczynski, Pitman, & Mitchell, 2009). Forty families with children aged 8-13 participated in open-ended interviews that were analyzed with thematic analysis. Results revealed that contradictions occurred because of parents’ own incompatible or inconsistent thoughts and/or behaviours, and children’s behaviours. Parents processed and managed contradictions with description, information gathering and reflecting, and acting on contradictions. The nature of the outcome of parents’ contradictions included: outcome not evident, outcome in process, partial strategy or temporary solution and contradiction is resolved. Surprise, sadness, anxiety, stress, and anger were the emotions associated with contradictions. Analyses indicated that parents constantly experience contradictions and few are fully resolved.

Recent reports by the Swedish School Inspectorate have shown preschool teachers’ understanding of their teaching mission to be complex and the responsibility of teaching in preschool, multifaceted.  While the school law places responsibility for goal-directed teaching on preschool teachers, the current Swedish preschool curriculum makes no mention of the concept of teaching, defined in Swedish as undervisning. This study examines contradictions between the domains of Swedish preschool education research, policy, and practice as visible in pre-service and in-service preschool teachers’ conceptions of teaching, as it is delineated in the steering documents, and as it is evident in the classroom. The research questions are how do pre-service and in-service preschool teachers conceptualize teaching, as it is defined in government steering documents? What do pre-service and in-service preschool teachers see as evidence of teaching in their classrooms, and how do they determine their role in teaching? Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was used to formulate and analyze semi-structured individual interviews of pre-service and in-service preschool teachers to consider the teachers’ conceptions of teaching as a product of the historical and cultural mediated activity system of preschool. Analysis of interview transcripts highlighted how complex not only the practice of teaching is for preschool teachers, but also how there is no consensus around the definition of teaching in Swedish preschools. If preschool teachers are to abide by steering documents and undertake teaching in their practice, there needs to be a new inclusive definition that imparts some clarity to preschool teaching. The new working definition, theorized using Leontiev’s hierarchy of activity, action, and operation, may help researchers, policy makers, and preschool teachers negotiate some of the confusion surrounding how to adopt and adapt teaching into Swedish preschool.

L’influence du néolibéralisme sur la production de l’urbain se traduit par la marchandisation des espaces, la miseen concurrence des villes, et le processus de métropolisation. Elle se traduit aussi par la généralisation de motsd’ordre dont les plus répandus sont le projet, le développement urbain durable, la participation, et la mixitésociale. Cela introduit des contradictions entre la rhétorique et la pragmatique de la production urbaine :l’opposition entre l’horizon théoriquement infini du projet et sa concrétisation dans des opérations en tempslimité ; le décalage entre les valeurs du développement urbain durable et des réalisations dictées par des impératifséconomiques ; la contradiction entre l’injonction participative et une pratique de l’urbanisme demeurantdescendante ; l’écart entre une mixité prônée et une urbanisation socialement sélective.Bien que ces contradictions soient identifiées par les concepteurs et les habitants et malgré leurs critiques, laconflictualité autour de la production contemporaine de l’urbain est faible. Partant de l’idée que si elles neconduisent pas à l’opposition, ces contradictions occupent une autre fonction, ce travail vise à s’en saisir et àl’expliquer.Pour cela, la thèse s’appuie sur une épistémologie constructivo-structuraliste, et sur l’outil conceptuel que sontles représentations. L’accès aux représentations des habitants et des concepteurs se fait grâce au recueil et àl’analyse des discours qu’ils portent sur les projets emblématiques de Bottière-Chénaie (Nantes) et Confluence(Lyon), considérés comme des dispositifs de médiation de leurs représentations.L’analyse montre que les contradictions identifiées sont intégrées au mode de production. Elles occupent unefonction mobilisationelle, puisqu’elles participent à enrôler concepteurs et habitants dans la productioncontemporaine de l’urbain. / The influence of neoliberalism on the production of urban spaces results in the commodification of spaces, thecompetition between cities, and the metropolisation process. It also generates the spread of watchwords, amongwhich “project”, “sustainable urban development”, “participation” and “social diversity” are the most common.This creates contradictions between the rhetorical and practical aspects of the urban production: the oppositionbetween the theoretically infinite horizon of the urban project on one side, and its realization in timed operationson the other side ; the gap between the values of sustainable urban development, and its achievements dictatedby economic imperatives ; the contradiction between the injunction to participate and urban planning as a practicethat remains top down ; the gap between advocated social diversity and socially selective urbanization.These contradictions are identified by both designers and inhabitants. However, despite their criticism, the levelof conflict in contemporary urban production remains low. Therefore, this work aims to understand and explainwhich function these contradictions occupy, since they do not lead to an opposition.To achieve this objective, the thesis bases itself on structural constructivism, and the use of representations.Access to the representations of inhabitants and designers is achieved through the collection and analysis of theirdiscourses on two emblematic projects, that are approached as mediation apparatuses of their representations:Bottière-Chénaie in Nantes and Confluence in Lyon.The analysis shows that the contradictions that were identified are integrated into the production mode. Theirfunction is to mobilize: they are part of the enrollment of designers and inhabitants in the contemporary urbanproduction.

Dans le contexte actuel, les organisations sont soumises à des bouleversements constants et confrontées de manière croissante à des objectifs contradictoires. Le secteur public ne fait pas exception, notamment dans le cadre du nouveau management public qui amène les organisations publiques à transposer des principes de gestion issus du secteur privé et à faire face à de nombreux paradoxes. Pour Morgan (2007), si le paradoxe est une des forces majeures qui font retarder le changement à tous les paliers de l’organisation, tendant à l’immobilisation, tant sur le plan psychologique que sur celui de l’action, il peut se transformer en important levier de changement. L’approche par étude de cas retenue dans le cadre de la présente recherche, nous amène à nous intéresser à un organisme de service public contraint suite à d’importantes réformes réglementaires à évoluer vers le modèle marchand. La confrontation de deux logiques antagonistes, celle d’une culture de moyens longtemps entretenue par le régime de la subvention et celle d’une culture de résultat, incontournable dans le contexte de la mise en concurrence, se manifeste à tous les niveaux de l’organisation. Après nous être attaché à mieux comprendre l’émergence et la dynamique des paradoxes organisationnels en analysant leur évolution à des périodes clés de la vie de l’organisation, nous nous intéressons aux mécanismes de transmission et aux effets des tensions contradictoires sur les acteurs de l’organisation. Nous proposons ensuite, dans le cadre d’une approche de recherche-action, des pistes permettant à l’organisation de tirer profit de ces tensions contradictoires plutôt que d’en subir leurs effets dysfonctionnants. / 21st Century organizations encounter continuous change and are increasingly confronted with contradictory objectives. The public sector is no exception particularly in the context of new public management that results in public organizations implementing management principles originating from the private sector which lead to paradoxical outcomes. If paradox is one of the major forces constraining change at all levels of an organization, including both a psychological and action level, it can however according to Morgan (2007) be alternatively transformed into a major lever or catalyst for change. This research focuses on a case study of a public service organization confronting market pressure and examines the confrontation of two contrasting approaches, the first being one of long term objectives supported by a regime of subsidies, as opposed to a second approach consisting of short term objectives, that are self-financing and results orientated. After investigating the emergence and the dynamics of organizational paradoxes at critical periods in the evolution of the organization we focus on the transmission mechanisms and effects of conflicting tensions on the actors of the organization. We then suggest, through an action research approach, ways that enable organizations to take advantage of these conflicting tensions rather than suffer their dysfunctional effects.

In this paper I present, and offer a solution to, a heretofore unacknowledged textual puzzle that arises from Margaret Cavendish's use of inconceivability to make claims about what is metaphysically impossible. On the one hand, Cavendish asserts that objects or events she cannot conceive of are impossible in nature (i.e., inconceivability entails impossibility in nature). On the other hand, she writes that there are some things that exist or occur in nature that are inconceivable to humans (i.e., inconceivability does not entail impossibility in nature). Put simply, Cavendish seemingly contradicts herself. This textual puzzle not only threatens to undermine Cavendish's philosophical method; it also calls her opposition to human exceptionalism into question. By asserting that what is inconceivable to her is impossible in nature, Cavendish implies by contraposition that she can conceive of everything that is metaphysically possible. In so doing, she seems to make an exception at least for herself: though she believes that other parts of nature cannot conceive of everything in nature, she implies that she can. Ultimately, I argue that Cavendish thinks we can sometimes tell why something is inconceivable. In some cases, something is inconceivable because it lies beyond the limits of humans' mental capacities. In other cases, something is inconceivable because it is contradictory. This interpretation solves the textual puzzle, as it is consistent for Cavendish to maintain that some objects and events in nature are beyond our mental limits and that we can derive the impossibility of some object or event in nature from its contradictoriness. My interpretation preserves Cavendish's opposition to human exceptionalism, moreover, as no part of nature can conceive of contradictions. That is, Cavendish's claim is not merely that what is inconceivable to her is impossible in nature, but rather that what is inconceivable to her and to every other part of nature is impossible in nature. / Master of Arts / Margaret Cavendish, a seventeenth century philosopher, makes two seemingly contradictory claims throughout her philosophical works. On the one hand, she implies that if something is inconceivable to her — that is, if she cannot form a mental picture of it — that thing is impossible in nature. On the other hand, she writes that there are plenty of things that exist or occur in nature which are inconceivable to humans. A textual puzzle therefore arises: Cavendish seems to simultaneously maintain (1) that something is impossible in nature if she cannot conceive of it, and (2) that something is not necessarily impossible in nature if she cannot conceive of it. In this paper, I propose that Cavendish believes humans can at least sometimes determine why something is inconceivable. That is, we can at least sometimes diagnose our inability to form a mental picture of something. In some cases, Cavendish thinks, we cannot form a mental picture of something because of our limited, human mental capacities. (We might think, for example, that this is why we cannot form a mental picture of all the colors butterflies see.) In other cases, we cannot form a mental picture of something because that thing is contradictory. (We might think, for instance, that this is why we cannot form a mental picture of an apple that is both red all over and not red all over.) I further argue that Cavendish only asserts that something is impossible in nature if it is inconceivable because it is contradictory. On my account, the textual puzzle I presented above is in fact not so puzzling. Cavendish thinks that if something is inconceivable because it is contradictory, then it is impossible in nature. She also thinks that there are plenty of things in nature that we cannot conceive of because of our limited human mental capacities. Thankfully, these two claims are not in tension.

Actuellement, l’industrie chimique est confrontée au défi de la production durable qui exige une évolution depuis la réduction de polluants pour les procédés existants vers une écologie industrielle qui permet l’équilibre entre le développement économique, sociale et environnemental. Ajouté aux exigences actuelles pesant sur la conception des procédés, la prise en compte des contraintes environnementales dès la phase amont du processus de conception. Cette exigence clé couplée aux enjeux actuels pour la conception préliminaire ont conduit à des changements par rapport à la conception classique des procédés, il y a un accent accru sur la recherche d’innovation et d’écoinnovation pour développer des nouveaux concepts, de nouvelles technologies et de nouveaux procédés. La question centrale sur la façon d’améliorer la créativité dans la phase de conception préliminaire nécessite des recherches plus poussées sur les méthodologies d’aide à la génération de solutions innovante et éco-innovante. Ainsi, dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous avons développé une méthodologie pour la formulation et la résolution de problèmes d’éco-innovation basée sur une approche à base de conflits. Ce cadre permet de traiter les exigences multi-objectifs et la nature combinatoire complexe de la phase de recherche de concepts de solutions. La méthodologie développée reflète la nature des problèmes à traiter avec de nombreuses contradictions (conflits) à résoudre simultanément. Dans ce contexte, les méthodes actuelles atteignent rapidement leurs limites car elles ne résolvent qu’un seul conflit à la fois. Or il devient très difficile (voire impossible) de faire émerger une contradiction unique des situations problématiques complexes telles que nous en rencontrons en génie des procédés. La méthodologie proposée pour traiter la problématique de multi-contradictions pour l’écoconception se divise en deux étapes principales. D’un part, une première cadre d’analyse pour la formulation des contradictions en s’appuyant sur une version adaptée d’OTSM-TRIZ. Il permet la représentation graphique d’un problème et intégré une méthode pour limiter la situation aux contradictions principales. D’un autre part, la résolution des contradictions principales se décompose en deux sous étapes. Dans un premier temps, la résolution individuelle de chaque contradiction au travers d’un outil alliant la simplicité conceptuelle des contradictions de TRIZ et les solutions concrètes que proposent les effets et phénomènes de la physique, chimie, biologie. Dans un deuxième temps, nous proposons un processus d’agrégation des solutions afin d’obtenir une solution finale plus intégrée. Un cas d’étude sur la réduction des polluants en sortie d’étape de gazéification de la biomasse est présenté afin d’illustrée l’approche. / In recent years, the chemical industry is facing the challenge of sustainable production in order to create a balance between the economic, social and environmental development. This shift requires an evolution from the reduction of pollutants for existing processes to industrial ecology. In the design process, this shift demands that the current requirements and the environmental constraints should be taken into account in the early stages. At these stages, however, there is an increased emphasis on innovation and eco-innovation to develop new concepts, new technologies and new processes, thereby limiting the problem-solving ability of the traditional design methodologies. Hence, there is a great necessity for new methodologies in order to develop innovative and eco-innovative solutions. Consequently, in this research, we developed a methodology for the formulation and solution of ecoinnovation problems based on a conflict approach. This framework can handle multi-objective requirements with the combinatorial complexity of the search phase of solution concepts. Thus, the methodology considers the problem of solving many contradictions (conflicts) simultaneously. In this context, current approaches quickly reach their limits because they solve one conflict at a time or it is very difficult to define only one contradiction in complex problems, such as those in process engineering. The proposed methodology for treating the problem of multi-contradictions for eco-design is divided into two main steps. On one hand, an analytical framework for the formulation of contradictions based on an adapted version of OTSM-TRIZ, which provides a graphical representation of a problem and integrated method to reduce the problem situation to the main contradictions. On the other hand, the resolution of contradictions which is itself divided into two sub-steps. At first, the resolution of each individual contradiction through a tool that combines conceptual simplicity of TRIZ contradictions and the practical solutions using the physics, chemical and biological effects and phenomena. In a second step, we propose an aggregation process solution to obtain a more integrated final solution. A case study about the reduction of pollutants at output stage gasification of biomass is presented to illustrate this approach.