Supplier Encroachment as an Enhancement or a Hindrance to Nonlinear Pricing

The objective of this study was to extend existing understanding of supplier encroachment to contexts in which there is information asymmetry and the supplier can use nonlinear pricing. Prior research has shown that supplier encroachment can mitigate double marginalization and thus benefit both the supplier and the reseller. However, under symmetric information, this benefit disappears if the supplier can use nonlinear pricing. In our model, the reseller observes the true market size while the supplier knows only the prior distribution, that is, a seemingly ideal setting for implementing mechanism design through nonlinear pricing. We first show that, because encroachment capability enables the supplier to make an ex post output decision, it fundamentally alters the structure of the optimal nonlinear pricing policy. In addition to the usual downward distortion effect, where the reseller may purchase less than the efficient quantity, we also have the possibility for upward distortion. Thus, under asymmetric information and nonlinear pricing, supplier encroachment has two opposing effects. On one hand, the ability to shift sales to the direct channel allows the supplier to reduce information rents with less sacrifice of efficiency; but on the other hand, by introducing the possibility of her own opportunistic behavior, it can result in upward distortion of the quantities sold through the reselling channel, which is a new source of inefficiency. Depending upon the relative efficiency of the reselling channel and the demand distribution, either of these two effects may dominate and the supplier's ability to encroach may either benefit or hurt both the supplier and the reseller.     

GENDER AND OFF-FARM EMPLOYMENT IN TWO FARMING SYSTEMS: Responses to Farm Crisis in the Cornbelt and the Mississippi Delta

An important farm household survival strategy in the 1980s agricultural crisis was off-farm employment. Recent research shows that gender role expectations structure off-farm employment's effects on farm operations. However, this research does not evaluate off-farm employment's effects within different socioeconomic and cultural settings. This article explores case studies of two localities with different farming systems: family farming in the Cornbelt and capitalist (or wage labor) farming in the Mississippi Delta. Farmers in two counties representative of each system responded to mail questionnaires covering various topics including farm and household changes made during the 1980s financial crisis. Loglinear modèls estimating the relationship between changes in off-farm employment and selected changes in farm operations derive results for the Cornbelt that confirm previous studies. Women's off-farm employment, in particular, relates to a variety of changes in the farm enterprise and improves its capital position. As expected, given its historic separation of household and enterprise, the Mississippi Delta evinces no such pattern of change. These results indicate the need for additional research on this topic, comparing different agrarian class structures.     

FURTHER VALIDATION OF THE FAMILY OF ORIGIN SCALE: A FACTOR ANALYSIS*

The present study attempted to describe the factor structure of the Family of Origin Scale (FOS) and to determine if this structure is congruent with that proposed by the test authors. The study also sought to evaluate the research merit of the FOS. Two factor analyses based upon college student responses to the FOS yielded similar factor structure and identified a salient factor which is common to other factor analyses of scales measuring perceived family environments. Discrimination studies suggest that the FOS differentiates between college students and other distinctive groups. It was concluded that, although the FOS measures dimensions that differ somewhat from those hypothesized by the test authors, it has potential valve in applied research.     

An evaluation of youth empowerment tobacco prevention programs in the Southwest

Evaluation research pertaining to the development of assessment instruments that fully capture the facets of empowerment prevention perspectives among youth are sparse. With funding from the American Legacy Foundation, the University of New Mexico Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, in partnership with the New Mexico State Department of Health, developed a measure of individual empowerment. Drawing from the various bodies of literature in adolescent development, substance abuse prevention, and program/coalition building, a questionnaire was developed to capture facets of individual empowerment as it pertains to tobacco prevention efforts among youth within New Mexico. Utilizing a sample of 112 youth participants, principal axis factor analysis with Varimax rotation revealed four valid sub-scales entitled active participation, empowerment efficacy, external organizational involvement, and participant satisfaction. Internal consistency reliabilities were satisfactory with Cronbach's alpha ranging from .78 to .84. Regression mediation analysis revealed that active participation mediated the relationship of empowerment efficacy and self-esteem. Challenges associated with conceptualizing and assessing empowerment among youth are discussed.     

Using Standardized Clients to Train Social Workers in Intimate Partner Violence Assessment

Evidence-based assessment in intimate partner violence (IPV) is critical to the accurate understanding of risk and to the development of interventions that increase safety. In this study standardized clients (actors) were used to train Army civilian social workers in evidence-based assessment of IPV and in the evaluation of the curriculum's effectiveness. Participation in this training curriculum increased the following: the participants' knowledge about the empirical basis for content areas explored in IPV assessment, their exploration of content critical to an IPV assessment interview, and their interviewing process skills. The results support the effectiveness of using standardized clients in IPV assessment training and evaluation.     

A Strange Invitation: On the Ordinary Problem of Pornography

Pornography in the clinical psychoanalytic situation is an ordinary problem that is most effectively approached in the manner a psychoanalyst would any other part of a patient's experience that registers in the transference/countertransference in order to be worked with. However, because pornography often seems to do with sexual excitement, it may evoke more anxiety than other kinds of material in an analysis and so may lead to a transference/countertransference situation that can feel difficult to handle. This essay examines several aspects of pornography—how it produces its effects and what sort of product it is—but also discusses how an analyst works to regain what feels like a useful therapeutic stance when pornography has been part of the clinical dialogue. This involves the tension that grabs hold when ideas generated by applied psychoanalysis combined with volatile subjective experience of pornography produce a specific countertransference situation.     

Childhood Maltreatment and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation: Associations with Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction among Young Adult Women

This study examined relations among childhood maltreatment, difficulties in emotion regulation, and sexual and relationship satisfaction among young adult women reporting current involvement in committed, romantic relationships. A sample of 192 women (ages 18–25) completed self-report questionnaires as part of an Internet-based survey. It was hypothesized that severity of childhood maltreatment and difficulties in emotion regulation would each independently and negatively predict (a) sexual satisfaction, (b) relationship intimacy, and (c) expression of affection within the context of the relationship. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that greater emotion regulation difficulties would moderate the effects of childhood maltreatment on these sexual and relationship variables (i.e., sexual satisfaction, relationship intimacy, and expression of affection). Findings suggest that difficulties in emotion regulation demonstrated an incremental effect with regard to sexual satisfaction, but not with intimacy and affection expression. In contrast to predictions, no significant interactive effects were documented. Clinical implications and future directions related to this line of inquiry are discussed.     

Effect of Seminar on Compassion on student self-compassion,mindfulness and well-being: A randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT

Objective: Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to have psychological benefits in college students. We explored the effects of an academic Seminar on Compassion on student psychological health. Participants: Forty-one participants (14 male, 27 female, mean age 19.8 ± 1.4 years) were assessed pre- and post- spring semesters 2013 and 2014. Methods: Students were randomized to the Seminar on Compassion or a wait-list control group. Participants completed self-report measures on anxiety, depression, perceived stress, self-compassion, compassion and mindfulness. Salivary alpha-amylase was also assessed. Results: At baseline, self-compassion and mindfulness were negatively correlated with depression, anxiety, and perceived stress. There were significant changes between the intervention and control group from Time 1 to Time 2 in mindfulness, self-compassion, compassion, and salivary alpha-amylase; however, there were no significant changes in depression, anxiety, and perceived stress. Conclusions: The course was effective in increasing mindfulness, self-compassion and compassion, and decreasing a salivary marker of stress.     

Four (Pathological) Examples in Asymptotic Statistics

Four simple examples illustrating varieties of pathological asymptotic behavior are presented. The examples are based on some recent work on l ₁ asymptotics. The examples have some pedagogical value in clarifying the role of certain standard regularity conditions.