More nonparametric Bayesian inference in applications

Discussion of “Nonparametric Bayesian Inference in Applications” by Peter Mueller, Fernando A. Quintana, Garritt Page: More Nonparametric Bayesian Inference in Applications.     

Speaking French in Portugal: An analysis of contested models of emigrant personhood in narratives about return migration and language use

I address how the offspring of Portuguese emigrants in France, Luso‐descendants (LDs), interpret their language practices and identities relative to models of language and personhood from their ‘sending’ society. Specifically, I examine how LDs tell each other narratives about having been identified as an emigrant in Portugal, based on French‐influenced speech. In telling each other these stories, LDs position themselves relative to two models of language and personhood. The first diasporic model interprets LDs' French as willful abandonment of an essential Portuguese identity. The second transnational model interprets LDs' French as the legitimate result of extended residence abroad. I examine how participants explicitly and/or implicitly invoke both models, through the relationship between narrating and narrated participants' language use. I conclude by asking about LDs' awareness of their simultaneous adherence to multiple models of language and identity.     

‘They More or Less Blended in with Society’: Changing Attitudes to European Migrant Workers in Post-war Lancashire

European volunteer workers have received comparatively little attention in the history of British post-war immigration, with greater coverage given to, for example, demobilised members of the Polish Resettlement Corps. This paper is based upon oral history interviews with a group of European immigrants, predominantly European volunteer workers, and local Lancastrians who started work in the Lancashire cotton industry between 1946 and 1951, and examines perceptions of how they integrated into British life in a variety of domains. The paper emphasises that ‘blending-in’ was context-dependent, with a sense of being welcomed and fitting-in applying to certain domains and in certain situations but not necessarily in others. It argues that migration fosters particular cultural attitudes and practices amongst both migrants and hosts as social identities are produced and reproduced, changed and challenged.     

Engaged with eBay

eBay promises individuals varied identity positions but renders the most traditional roles—particularly wedding engagements and marriages between a woman and a man. The company indicates that “you can get it on eBay” and the site satisfies desires, fulfills consumer needs, and connects people. Yet, eBay also controls the messy and queer aspects of collecting, and institutes a normalizing structure that compels most individuals to follow eBay's directives, attend to its moral codes, and facilitate community trust. I use close visual and textual analysis and feminist and collecting literature to interrogate how eBay deploys narratives about engagement rings, weddings, and heterosexual unions. I also consider the related ways women sellers list their personal wedding dresses. By providing representations of their weddings and marriages, these women support eBay's normalizing structure and trouble some of its functions. Studying such practices is important because wedding cultures and related rituals ordinarily articulate gender, race, and sexuality positions; conceptions of the individual, family, community, and state; connections between love and consumerism; and the standards by which people are expected to live their lives.     

Discourses of Identity at the Spanish/Portuguese Border: Self-Identification Strategies of Centre and Periphery

This article examines the self-identification strategies that officials of two border towns use to characterise their respective localities. These strategies are considered relative to four theoretical paradigms used to analyse identity: centre-periphery, regionalist, essentialist and non-essentialist. Clear differences are revealed between the two towns, despite their similar geographical location at the periphery, general demographic features and shared history. In one case, the evidence suggests that the identity is centred locally and affirmed through daily behaviour or 'practices', while in the other, that the identity focus is regional and essentialist in nature.     

Treatment Utilization Among Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Participants of Corrections-Based Substance Abuse Programs Reentering the Community

ABSTRACT

This study examines differences in drug use and recidivism outcomes at 12 months postrelease from jail or prison as a function of geographic location and treatment utilization. Participants (N= 700) were previously enrolled in drug treatment during the last 6 to 9 months of their incarceration and were released to the community on either parole or serve-out. Findings from this study indicated that offenders returning to metropolitan areas reported more use of community treatment services following release than offenders in nonmetropolitan areas. Although offenders in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas who reported community treatment following release were less likely to be reincarcerated, community treatment utilization was not a significant correlate of relapse. Findings are discussed, and future directions include favorable outcomes when community treatment is utilized.     

Exploring the role of supervisor trust in the associations between multiple sources of relationship conflict and organizational citizenship behavior

We develop and test a model that builds directly on social exchange theory to predict different roles for supervisor trust in the relationships between organizational citizenship behavior and relationship conflict occurring between supervisors and subordinates and between peers. Specifically, we posit that the association between citizenship behavior and relationship conflict between employees and supervisors is mediated by supervisor trust, while the association between citizenship behaviors and relationship conflict occurring between peers is moderated by supervisor trust. We test our dual role for supervisor trust in a field study of 160 supervisor–employee dyads. Results support the different roles played by supervisor trust. We close by discussing the implications of our results for theory and practice in the relationship conflict and citizenship domains.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Bidge's Mob: Written and illustrated by Gaye Dell Creative Family Therapy Techniques: Play, Art, and Expressive Activities to Engage Children in Family Sessions: Editor: Liana Lowenstein Essential Skills in Family Therapy, from the first interview to termination: JoEllen Patterson, Lee Williams, Todd M. Edwards, Larry Chamow, Claudia Grauf‐Grounds Multi‐Family Therapy: Concepts and Techniques: Eia Asen, Michael Scholz     

Recurrence in Workers' Compensation Claims: Estimates from a Multiple Spell Hazard Model

This paper estimates both single and multiple spell hazard models using a sample of workers' compensation claims (with soft tissue musculoskeletal injuries) from Ontario, Canada. Most of the results in this paper are consistent with the estimates in the existing literature. However, the duration elasticities for workers' compensation benefits and pre-injury earnings from the multiple spell hazard models are much larger than the estimates from the single spell models. This suggests that the estimates in existing literature that use single spell hazard models may underestimate the effect of benefits and pre-injury earnings on the duration of soft tissue musculoskeletal claims.