University of Bath

About: University of Bath is a education organization based out in Bath, Bath and North East Somerset, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 15830 authors who have published 39608 publications receiving 1358769 citations. The organization is also known as: Bath University.

Bayesian Computing with INLA: A Review

Abstract: The key operation in Bayesian inference is to compute high-dimensional integrals. An old approximate technique is the Laplace method or approximation, which dates back to Pierre-Simon Laplace (1774). This simple idea approximates the integrand with a second-order Taylor expansion around the mode and computes the integral analytically. By developing a nested version of this classical idea, combined with modern numerical techniques for sparse matrices, we obtain the approach of integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA) to do approximate Bayesian inference for latent Gaussian models (LGMs). LGMs represent an important model abstraction for Bayesian inference and include a large proportion of the statistical models used today. In this review, we discuss the reasons for the success of the INLA approach, the R-INLA package, why it is so accurate, why the approximations are very quick to compute, and why LGMs make such a useful concept for Bayesian computing.

The Unmanaged Organization: Stories, Fantasies and Subjectivity

Abstract: This paper argues that within every organization there is a terrain which is not and cannot be managed, in which people, both individually and in groups, can engage in unsupervised, spontaneous activity This is referred to as the unmanaged organization, a kind of organizational dreamworld in which desires, anxieties and emotions find expressions in highly irrational construc tions The chief force in this terrain is fantasy and its landmarks include stories, myths, jokes, gossip, nicknames, graffiti and cartoons In the organizational dreamworld, emotions prevail over rationality and pleasure over reality The paper argues that fantasy offers a third possibility to organizational members, which amounts to neither conformity nor rebellion, but to a grudging material acceptance accompanied by a symbolic refashioning of events and official stor ies Far from being a marginal terrain, it is suggested that the unmanaged organisation is rich, multidimensional and the natural habitat of subjectivity Four diffe

The revival of death

Abstract: Talking about death is now fashionable, but how should we talk? Who should we listen to - priests, doctors, cousellors, or ourselves? Has psychology replaced religion in telling us how to die? This provocative book takes a sociological look at the revival of interest in death, focusing on the hospice movement and bereavement counselling. It will be required reading for anyone interested in the sociology of death and caring for the dying, the dead or bereaved.