A Poisson-Based Framework for Setting Poverty Thresholds Using Indicator Lists

Poverty is one of the most important concepts in the social sciences, yet commonly-used thresholds for the operationalization of poverty have little or no conceptual basis. This is especially true of the “relative deprivation” poverty concept, where the arbitrary threshold of missing k ≥ 3 items from a list of socially defined necessities is the accepted operationalization. This paper presents a conceptual framework for meaningfully setting k based on the properties of the Poisson distribution. Data from the 2011 Swiss Household Panel are used to illustrate this approach for three poverty concepts: conventional relative deprivation based on non-affordability of items (“afford-deprivation”), simplified relative deprivation based on non-possession of items (“possess-deprivation”), and a novel approach based on the status syndrome concept (“high life burden”). Proof-of-concept analyses suggest thresholds of k ≥ 2 for conventional afford-deprivation, k ≥ 5 for possess-deprivation, and k ≥ 6 for high life burden. In addition to providing a rationale for k, the Poisson-based approach allows for the systematic variation of k in different empirical contexts. It also supports the estimation of “adjusted” poverty rates that account for the chance probability that non-poverty households are accidentally miscategorized as being in poverty.     

Servicing the body: placing glasses on the client’s head at the opticians

Various forms of service work rely upon personnel undertaking activities that necessitate close, and in some cases potentially intimate, contact with a client’s body. In this paper, we consider the ways in which opticians place and position glasses on the head of their clients and how they avoid, or at least ameliorate, the problems and sensitivities that might arise in this close encounter with the co-participant. The paper is based on the analysis of a substantial corpus of video-recordings, augmented by field work, undertaken both in UK and Denmark. The analysis draws on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis and contributes to our understanding of the interactional accomplishment of body work and embodied conduct and to the growing corpus of research concerned with ‘multimodality’ and the social organisation of service encounters.     

Applying the rescaling bootstrap under imputation: a simulation study

Resampling methods are a common measure to estimate the variance of a statistic of interest when data consist of nonresponse and imputation is used as compensation. Applying resampling methods usually means that subsamples are drawn from the original sample and that variance estimates are computed based on point estimators of several subsamples. However, newer resampling methods such as the rescaling bootstrap of Chipperfield and Preston [Efficient bootstrap for business surveys. Surv Methodol. 2007;33:167–172] include all elements of the original sample in the computation of its point estimator. Thus, procedures to consider imputation in resampling methods cannot be applied in the ordinary way. For such methods, modifications are necessary. This paper presents an approach applying newer resampling methods for imputed data. The Monte Carlo simulation study conducted in the paper shows that the proposed approach leads to reliable variance estimates in contrast to other modifications.     

A study of the properties of Gaussian mixture model for stable isotope standard quantification in MALDI-TOF MS

The quantification of peptides in Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrum analysis coupled with stable isotope standards has been used to quantify native peptides under many experimental conditions. This approach has difficulties quantifying samples containing peptides with ion currents in overlapping (convolved) spectra. In a previous article we proposed a reparametrized Gaussian mixture model based on the known characteristics of the peptides that could also accommodate overlapping spectra. We demonstrated the application of our model in a series of single and overlapping peptides quantification experiments. Here, we focus solely on studying the properties of our approach and examine the characteristics of the GMM approach in convolved peptides using simulated spectra and provide a method for simulating these spectra.     

Die Definition in der betriebswirtschaftlichen Forschung — Reflexionen und empirischer Befund

Zusammenfassung  Definitionen geh?ren zum Handwerkszeug eines jeden Wissenschaftlers. Durch sie muss — speziell in den Realwissenschaften — den Adressaten wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis laufend der Rückschluss von der sprachlichen Darstellung auf den behandelten in der Wirklichkeit vorhandenen Gegenstand erm?glicht werden. Dieser Beitrag hat zum Ziel, Funktion und alternative Formen der Definition zu verdeutlichen und zu beurteilen. Eine empirische Untersuchung über den Gebrauch der Definition in der Betriebswirtschaftslehre versucht die Konvention zu erheben, damit eigene Definitionen auf „festen Grund“ gestellt werden k?nnen.

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On the use of definitions in business research — thoughts and empirical findings

Summary  Definitions are among the most basic tools of every scientist. Especially in the social sciences, they constitute an essential means for the addressee of the scientific insight, in order to infer from the linguistic term to the actual object in reality. The aim of this article is to explain and assess functions and alternative forms of definitions. By an empirical study on the use of definitions in business science literature, we identify linguistic conventions which assist in laying the foundation for subsequent definitions.