The Cooperative, a hybrid institutional arrangement, compatible with free-market capitalism

The cooperative phenomenon is a social and economic process that has, throughout history, been subjected to the most contra-dictory interpretations. Assigned to the causal register, which re-veals the origins of human action, the cooperative is given a logi-cal explanation: in the economic evolution of the world, two economic facts remain fundamental —the division of labor and human cooperation. This perspective is attributed to Smith and Hayek, according to whom the economic actors cooperate, with-out being self-sufficient or compelled by the division of labor (in-cluding the natural one). Following this natural path, the coop-erative was manifest in the form of a hybrid institutional arrangement, between the private firm with a hierarchical struc-ture, and the market, with a positive role in developing the free economy. Unfortunately, the cooperative phenomenon was not spared either ideological interpretations or pure scientistic ones. On the one hand, since the beginning, both left- and right-wing doctrines claimed the cooperative in order to provide a «social» touch to their development networks. By so doing, they diluted, sometimes to distortion, the technical substance of the phenome-non, describing it as a compromise formula between liberalism and socialism. Interestingly, today, this «third way», within which the cooperative aims to be recognized as a strong lead, is claimed especially by the milder interpreters of the liberal doctrine. In so-cialist thought, following the paths of associational and, allegedly, scientific socialism, the idea of the cooperative was severely com-promised.

Cooperative phenomenon of vapochromism and proton conduction of luminescent Pt(ii) complexes for the visualisation of proton conductivity

The cooperative phenomenon between proton conduction and vapochromism of luminescent Pt(ii) complexes, [PtCl(tpypy)]Cl and [PtCl(tpypyH)]Cl2, is reported.

Minimal cooperation: insights from autism

In this article, I aim to elucidate minimality in cooperation by drawing on a previously developed multi-dimensional approach to cooperation. This approach provides a useful framework to locate any cooperative phenomenon at a specific point on the continua of different dimensions. That point, in turn, determines the criteria for a particular cooperative phenomenon to emerge. Thus, on one hand, the analysis provides a contribution to the philosophical debate on minimal cooperation by elucidating different kinds of minimalism in cooperation that are characterized by the lowest point of the continua of either dimension, including (1) cognitive minimalism, (2) behavioural minimalism, (3) affective minimalism, (4) social minimalism and (5) contextual minimalism. On the other hand, it facilitates the dialogue among disciplines insofar as it helps determining whether the skills and capacities that are required for particular cooperative activities (e.g. cooperative games like the Joint Simon task or the prisoner’s dilemma) are not only present in typically developing individuals but also individuals with developmental disorders like autism. Drawing on an externalist/internalist distinction, the analysis shows that high-functioning individuals with autism perform particularly well in cooperative activities that amount to externalism and are highly defined by an institutional context, social rules and regularities as well as the roles of the agents.

The cooperative economic groups and the problem of the quantification of the social economy entities

The Portuguese Cooperative Code allows cooperatives to set up commercial companies, subsidiaries, and acquire shares in the capital of commercial companies, provided this does not affect the autonomy of the cooperative. If through these group strategies, the cooperative aims to meet the needs of its members, we will be facing on the concept of ‘indirect mutuality’, a concept expressly admitted by the doctrine and the rules of certain jurisdictions. In these cases, the Social Economy Satellite Account should consider these commercial companies owned or participated by cooperatives as entities of the social economy. Therefore, a case-by-case analysis will be carried out to distinguish situations of indirect mutuality from situations of companization of the cooperative phenomenon.

Magnetic Cooperative Phenomenon with Unpaired sp-Electrons System by MBE Low-Temperature Growth

We present a new possibility of crystal growth as synthesis of materials containing high concentrations of unpaired sp electrons by growth of Be doped Gallium Arsenides at low temperatures of 200-3000C using Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and investigate a possibility of applications of magnetotransport properties based on these unpaired sp-electrons to spintronics devices.The present study using high concentration of unpaired sp-electrons by the growth of Beryllium-doped GaAs layers at low temperatures resulted in a cooperative transition of localized spins at low temperature and also affected the mechasnism of tranport properties of the sample from hopping conduction to valence band conduction.This attempts will give rise to a possibility of adding new functions to existing electronic devices.