Loving transgressions: Queer of color bodies,affective ties,transformative community

ABSTRACT

This introductory article considers the importance of queer woman of color theorizations of affect in thinking more fully the recent interdisciplinary turn to affect. The affective turn has vitally invited culture and feminist critics to interrogate emotion beyond the individual to examine the political and cultural production of emotion. Even as women of color are often associated with excessive affect, the theoretical contributions women of color make to the field of affect studies are often overlooked. Our introduction and this special issue more broadly examine how this solipsism shapes projects invested in critical knowledge production, as well as the stakes of centering a queer woman of color genealogy. For instance, we argue for the importance of retaining U.S. third-world feminist concepts—like interpellation, oppositional consciousness, and the generative force of negative affects—even as they fall out of favor within affect studies. Centering theory that emerges from the vexed spaces of queer women of color lived experiences generates a vital interdisciplinary conversation that contributes to the ongoing political task of mobilizing affect for social action as a critical praxis. In the articles that follow we see this critical praxis at work in the form of community organizing, music, poetry, and performance art.     

Social work and the politics of ‘austerity’: Ireland and Italy

ABSTRACT

No detailed analyses have been undertaken comparing and contrasting how social work is responding to the problems generated by the imposition of so-called ‘austerity’ measures in Europe. Comprised of three sections, the discussion is focused on Ireland and Italy. This comparative exploration locates social work within encompassing frameworks related to the changing population, political economy and welfare regime in each of these jurisdictions. Aspects of contemporary social work within Ireland and Italy are charted and the possibilities for confronting neoliberal ‘austerity’ are analysed. The article seeks to prompt and encourage comparative reflection within Europe in relation to how the social work imagination can be imbued with a new radicalism in the first quarter of the twenty-first century.     

A finite mixture approach to joint clustering of individuals and multivariate discrete outcomes

In this work, we modify finite mixtures of factor analysers to provide a method for simultaneous clustering of subjects and multivariate discrete outcomes. The joint clustering is performed through a suitable reparameterization of the outcome (column)-specific parameters. We develop an expectation–maximization-type algorithm for maximum likelihood parameter estimation where the maximization step is divided into orthogonal sub-blocks that refer to row and column-specific parameters, respectively. Model performance is evaluated via a simulation study with varying sample size, number of outcomes and row/column-specific clustering (partitions). We compare the performance of our model with the performance of standard model-based biclustering approaches. The proposed method is also demonstrated on a benchmark data set where a multivariate binary response is considered.     

A new generalized weighted Weibull distribution with decreasing,increasing, upside-down bathtub,N-shape and M-shape hazard rate

Recently, Domma et al. [An extension of Azzalinis method, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 278 (2015), pp. 37–47] proposed an extension of Azzalini's method. This method can attract readers due to its flexibility and ease of applicability. Most of the weighted Weibull models that have been introduced are with monotonic hazard rate function. This fact limits their applicability. So, our aim is to build a new weighted Weibull distribution with monotonic and non-monotonic hazard rate function. A new weighted Weibull distribution, so-called generalized weighted Weibull (GWW) distribution, is introduced by a method exposed in Domma et al. [13]. GWW distribution possesses decreasing, increasing, upside-down bathtub, N-shape and M-shape hazard rate. Also, it is very easy to derive statistical properties of the GWW distribution. Finally, we consider application of the GWW model on a real data set, providing simulation study too.     

From Transition to Innovation: Policy Issues in a Knowledge-based Economy

This paper contains a general vision of the main issues on innovation policies in East European new member countries and candidate countries. It is based both on the data taken from the main European benchmarking studies on innovation perspectives, and on the direct experience of advisors who worked in East European pilot countries (Slovenia). This paper focuses on the problems arising from the encounter of European innovation policies and local culture and governance structures in these countries. This situation shows that the innovation phase, following transition, generally calls for a further tuning of EU innovation policies in these countries. In order to develop effective market spin-offs from innovation policies, greater attention should be given to triggering bottom-up policies at regional level by reducing decision-making centralism; lowering the risk of imitative and trend-oriented policies; supporting the birth of new enterprises besides backing the existing ones; developing mostly software rather than hardware policy components. All of this should fit in a general framework recognising the central role of individuals – and thus of culture, starting from entrepreneurial culture – within a knowledge-based innovation process. The recent Slovenian action plan for innovation is included as an example of a strategic plan able to spotlight these main issues.     

NORMS OF PUNISHMENT: EXPERIMENTS WITH STUDENTS AND THE GENERAL POPULATION

Norms of cooperation and punishment differ across societies, but also within a single society. In an experiment with two subject pools sharing the same geographical and cultural origins, we show that opportunities for peer punishment increase cooperation among students but not in the general population. In previous studies, punishment magnified the differences across societies in people's ability to cooperate. Here, punishment reversed the order: with punishment, students cooperate more than the general population while they cooperate less without it. (JEL C72, C90, Z13)     

Groupthink and Project Performance: The Influence of Personal Traits and Interpersonal Ties

This study explores whether the negative impact of “groupthink concurrence‐seeking behavior” (GTB) on business process reengineering (BPR) projects is affected by group members personal traits and interpersonal ties within the group. To this purpose we conduct and present the results of a longitudinal controlled field experiment over 18 BPR projects lasting 3 months and involving 18 teams comprising 71 first‐year MBA students. The main contribution of this study is twofold. First, we explicitly consider and measure the core construct of groupthink phenomenon: that is, GTB. Existing organizational behavior literature has, contrarily, considered only its causes, symptoms, and outcomes. Second, we show evidence that GTB does have a negative impact on group performance in BPR project settings. In this regards, results also indicate that while perceived control, conscientiousness and interpersonal evaluation mitigate the negative impact of GTB on group project performance, confidence, and previous relationships amplify this negative impact, even if they have a direct positive effect on performance. Thanks to the findings of this study, we are able to provide valuable suggestions to managers in charge of BPR projects for ensuring effective performance of project teams and controlling for potential obstacles due to GTB.     

Exploring the absolutist vs relativist perception of poverty using a cross-country questionnaire survey

Questionnaires eliciting the absolutist vs relativist perception of poverty are administered to 1941 undergraduate students in eight countries - Bolivia, Brazil, Italy, Kenya, Laos, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. We find that the perception of poverty expressed by a large fraction of respondents exhibits both absolutist and relativist concerns, with the former components prevailing over the latter. High-income countries exhibit a significantly more pronounced relativist attitude. Personal characteristics such as past experience of material hardship and relative standard of living play a germane role in shaping respondents’ views.