Learning from a lot: Empirical Bayes for high‐dimensional model‐based prediction

Empirical Bayes is a versatile approach to “learn from a lot” in two ways: first, from a large number of variables and, second, from a potentially large amount of prior information, for example, stored in public repositories. We review applications of a variety of empirical Bayes methods to several well‐known model‐based prediction methods, including penalized regression, linear discriminant analysis, and Bayesian models with sparse or dense priors. We discuss “formal” empirical Bayes methods that maximize the marginal likelihood but also more informal approaches based on other data summaries. We contrast empirical Bayes to cross‐validation and full Bayes and discuss hybrid approaches. To study the relation between the quality of an empirical Bayes estimator and p, the number of variables, we consider a simple empirical Bayes estimator in a linear model setting. We argue that empirical Bayes is particularly useful when the prior contains multiple parameters, which model a priori information on variables termed “co‐data”. In particular, we present two novel examples that allow for co‐data: first, a Bayesian spike‐and‐slab setting that facilitates inclusion of multiple co‐data sources and types and, second, a hybrid empirical Bayes–full Bayes ridge regression approach for estimation of the posterior predictive interval.     

Predatory purchasing practices in global apparel supply chains and the employment relations squeeze in the Indian garment export industry

While the literature has long acknowledged worker rights abuses in global apparel supply chains, less attention has been paid to the recent worsening of certain decent work deficits and its causes, which this article links to predatory purchasing practices arising from growing power asymmetries. These practices, illustrated here by the garment export industry in India, exert downward pressure on wages and incite non‐standard forms of employment and greater verbal and physical abuse as productivity demands rise. They can be addressed through pricing mechanisms that cover the cost of decent work, appropriate State regulation and worker involvement.     

Self-Stigma of seeking help and job burnout in mental health care providers: the comparative study of Lithuanian and the USA samples

This study aimed to explore the correlation between job burnout and self-stigma of seeking help among nonmedical mental health care providers (psychologists, social workers, and counselors) in two countries – Lithuania and the US. The study included 234 professionals (111 social workers and 123 psychologists) from Lithuania and 93 professionals (33 counselors, 23 social workers, and 37 psychologists) from the US on a voluntary basis (93% females, mean age – 39.81?years). They completed a self-reported questionnaire with the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS). The results revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between self-stigmatization and burnout in the Lithuanian sample, but only weak positive correlation between depersonalization and self-stigma of seeking help in the US sample. The relationship between the self-stigma of seeking help and burnout was stronger in the Lithuanian sample of professionals when compared to their colleagues in the US.     

Data‐Driven Supply Chain Orientation and Financial Performance: The Moderating Effect of Innovation‐Focused Complementary Assets

Drawing on the complementary assets framework, this study explores the moderating effect of innovation‐focused complementary assets (CA‐I) on the relationship between a data‐driven supply chain orientation (DDSCO) and firm financial performance. To test the moderating effect, survey data gathered from 329 manufacturing firms in China were analysed using a moderated regression analysis. The results indicate that DDSCO has a significant positive effect on financial performance, and that capabilities for product and process innovation function as complementary assets moderating the DDSCO–performance relationship. The findings suggest that innovation‐focused complementary assets are performance differentiators when paired with a DDSCO and explain why some firms obtain financial benefits from the development of a DDSCO while others do not. Specifically, competitive advantage from a DDSCO may not be realized unless CA‐I and potentially other complementary assets are harnessed, thus providing useful practical guidance to managers. Hence, the study provides empirical support for the complementary assets framework.     

印度东北与中国西南的民族志诗歌

印度东北与中国西南在地域上山水相连,相互之间的文化交流是非常密切的。这个区域里居住着众多的民族或族群,他们的文化相似性和可比性是很明显的。从跨国的视角来探寻文化互动或文化个性,这是一个理想的地域。这些不同民族或族群身份的诗人写作的民族志诗歌是探寻各自文化共性和个性的较好途径：虽然诗歌创作过程中采用不同的语言,印度东北的土著诗人通常用英语写作,中国西南少数民族诗人经常用汉语写作,但是这些诗人都受到了近代西方现代主义诗歌潮流的影响。同时,这些诗人的诗歌也受到了当下全球化的影响,比如本民族传统文化与文化教育现代化、全球生态环境日益恶化等等冲突的影响。因为受到了相似的影响,这个区域内的民族志诗歌的风格和肌理是可以比较的;诗歌的主题和内容也是可以展开对比研究的。     

A Nation from the Sands

Abstract

Since its birth ninety years ago Tel Aviv has been a leading symbol ofthe Zionist, and subsequently, Israeli claim to be a modem, progressive, and essentially ‘Western’ nation. The power of this image has obscured both the intimate connection between the modern(ist) architectural and town-planning discourses upon which its identity has been constructed and the exclusivism of Zionism as a nationalist movement, and the fact that the neighboring town ofJaffa, long considered Tel Aviv’s ancient and backward alter ego, was in fact developing along similar lines as the Jewish city until its conquest in 1948.     

Religious Social Identities in the Hybrid Self‐presentations of Sikh Businesspeople

This paper explores the identity work practices of Thai Sikh businesspeople. The paper focuses on two important social identities in participants’ self‐presentations – those derived from religious (Sikh) and western business discourses – and identifies powerful tensions in their hybrid identity work. Conducting discourse analysis on identity work practices within interview settings, the authors explore how participants resolve, accommodate or reject these discursive tensions while attempting stable and coherent hybrid self‐presentations. They identify several different forms of hybridity, including what they term ‘equipollence’, which occurs when two equally powerful, contradictory discourses are incorporated in self‐presentations, producing potentially irresolvable intersections and leading to a lack of coherence. Contributions are made to the literatures on religion and work, hybrid identity work processes and social identities.     

Maintaining Sexual Desire in Long-Term Relationships: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Model

The most universally experienced sexual response is sexual desire. Though research on this topic has increased in recent years, low and high desire are still problematized in clinical settings and the broader culture. However, despite knowledge that sexual desire ebbs and flows both within and between individuals, and that problems with sexual desire are strongly linked to problems with relationships, there is a critical gap in understanding the factors that contribute to maintaining sexual desire in the context of relationships. This article offers a systematic review of the literature to provide researchers, educators, clinicians, and the broader public with an overview and a conceptual model of nonclinical sexual desire in long-term relationships. First, we systematically identified peer-reviewed, English-language articles that focused on the maintenance of sexual desire in the context of nonclinical romantic relationships. Second, we reviewed a total of 64 articles that met inclusion criteria and synthesized them into factors using a socioecological framework categorized as individual, interpersonal, and societal in nature. These findings are used to build a conceptual model of maintaining sexual desire in long-term relationships. Finally, we discuss the limitations of the existing research and suggest clear directions for future research.