Supply Chain Contracting Under Competition: Bilateral Bargaining vs. Stackelberg

We analyze contracting behaviors in a two‐tier supply chain system consisting of competing manufacturers and competing retailers. We contrast the contracting outcome of a Stackelberg game, in which the manufacturers offer take‐it‐or‐leave‐it contracts to the retailers, with that of a bargaining game, in which the firms bilaterally negotiate contract terms via a process of alternating offers. The manufacturers in the Stackelberg game possess a Stackelberg‐leader advantage in that the retailers are not entitled to make counteroffers. Our analysis suggests that whether this advantage would benefit the manufacturers depends on the contractual form. With simple contracts such as wholesale‐price contracts, which generally do not allow one party to fully extract the trade surplus, the Stackelberg game replicates the boundary case of the bargaining game with the manufacturers possessing all the bargaining power. In contrast, with sophisticated contracts such as two‐part tariffs, which enable full surplus extraction, the two games lead to distinct outcomes. We further show that the game structure being Stackelberg or bargaining critically affects firms' preferences over contract types and thus their equilibrium contract choices. These observations suggest that the Stackelberg game may not be a sufficient device to predict contracting behaviors in reality where bargaining is commonly observed.     

Trait Mindfulness and Relationship Satisfaction: The Role of Forgiveness Among Couples

This study sought to understand the link between trait mindfulness, forgiveness, and relationship satisfaction. Previous research established a significant positive relationship between mindfulness and relationship satisfaction, but forgiveness had not been studied in relation to these variables. Two hundred and nineteen couples in committed romantic relationships were included in the sample and completed self‐report measures on trait mindfulness, forgiveness, and relationship satisfaction. Upon conducting an actor–partner interdependence model mediation (APIMeM; Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 2006, 37, 27–40) analysis for dyadic data, results indicated significant positive associations for both inter and intrapersonal effects for both men and women. Findings indicated forgiveness is linked to both individual and partner mindfulness and relationship satisfaction, such that a person's ability to be mindful can impact the ability to forgive and therefore increase relationship satisfaction.     

Cultural diplomacy and internationalism in regional art institutions

This study posits that current cultural diplomacy practice in UK museums and galleries could be significantly improved. Indeed, cultural diplomacy is commonly viewed as nationalist propaganda. An attempt to theoretically debunk this proposition indicates that greater understanding between peoples can be engendered by unifying the ideologies of internationalism and liberalism in the cultural sector. Liberalism is viewed as the present ideology operating in Museums and Galleries whilst internationalism is considered as a nascent force. Working in symbiosis, liberalism allows for a multiplicity of discourse whilst internationalism allows for a critical reappraisal of the status quo and nation-state hegemony. Indeed, a multiplicity of dialogic discourse is essential for cultural institutions to maintain a non-hegemonic stance. This is, of course, particularly apparent in contemporary art work which can often be subversive of national governments and the very idea of a nation-state. Further to this, a form of localised cultural diplomacy can reach the public at large and question the cultural capital of world centres. Empirically speaking, the exhibition format is used as a means to render cultural diplomacy palatable for public consumption. Hence, the UK case study Art from Elsewhere will be introduced which has rendered the international a normative presence in local art galleries. This 2014–2016 exhibition comprised a tour of recent contemporary art acquisitions in regional permanent collections which were funded by a £5 million pound grant from the UK charitable organisation, Art Fund. Instead of monophonic exhibitions emanating from one nation, Art from Elsewhere engenders a multilateral dialogue catalysed by the polyphonic nature of artists from several different nations whose works are juxtaposed both in conflict, symmetry and contrast to one another.     

Gambling Disorder in Veterans: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Future Research

To review the scientific literature examining gambling behavior in military veterans in order to summarize factors associated with gambling behavior in this population. Database searches were employed to identify articles specifically examining gambling behavior in military veterans. Cumulative search results identified 52 articles (1983–2017) examining gambling behavior in veteran populations. Articles generally fell into one or more of the following categories: prevalence, psychological profiles and psychiatric comorbidities, treatment evaluations, measurement, and genetic contributions to gambling disorder. Results from reviewed articles are presented and implications for future research discussed. Research to date has provided an excellent foundation to inform potential screening, intervention and research activities going forward. The authors suggest that a public health approach to future research endeavors would strengthen the evidence base regarding gambling in veteran populations and better inform strategies for screening, prevention and treatment.     

Anorexia nervosa in males: A case report and review of the literature

Only 5–10% of the diagnosed cases of anorexia nervosa occur in males. Anorexia nervosa can be difficult to identify in males because it may occur in a different subset of the population as compared to females and because anorectic males use different terms to express conflicts regarding body size and shape than their female counterparts. This case study illustrates how a young prepubescent male responded to traumatic events in his life by developing anorexia nervosa with an eventual loss of 33% of his premorbid weight. Precipitants of this patient's illness were his parent's divorce, his mother's remarriage, a precipitous relocation, his mother's pregnancy, and his sister's development of a life-threatening disease, all occurring during the early stages of puberty. The study concludes that anorexia nervosa in young males can result from multiple psychologically traumatic events which occur at a particular stage of development.     

Sexy ladies sexing ladies: women as consumers in strip clubs

Recent shifts in the consumer base of the sex industry have involved greater female attendance in strip clubs. This article examines how strip clubs and dancers incorporate female patrons into a sexualized space traditionally designed for men by identifying three interactional processes: passing over, sidestaging, and tailoring. We suggest dancers pass over women because they perceive female patron behavior to include resistance to "buying the game" and spending patterns that diverge from male customers. Drawing on Goffman's dramaturgical analysis, we suggest the dynamic relationship between dancer and female patron involves what we term sidestaging, which refers to both dancers' disclosure and how the club's spatial organization inhibits the construction of women as customers through sharing gendered spaces, such as the bathroom. We argue that when a dancer tailors her lap dance for a female patron, she succeeds in acknowledging the female customer's sexual subjectivity and potential same-sex desires by providing an individualized avenue for exploring an erotic experience. Finally, we discuss data implications for understanding how same-sex desire and sexual identity operate in an environment that eroticizes the female form, and how the strip club becomes a potential space for engaging in same-sex eroticism that includes elements of play.     

How to partly bounce back the struggle against illegal immigration to the source countries

Recent models on the dynamics of immigration control claim that tightening internal borders may trigger the formation of networks supporting clandestine foreign workers. This may, in turn, increase the overall stock of illegal immigrants in the economy. One possible solution to this threatening situation might be to partly bounce back the struggle against illegal immigration to the source countries. This paper suggests that under certain conditions, the receiving country should direct some of the resources earmarked for coping with the problem of the illegal flow of workers to financially supporting the source countries, allowing them to compete among themselves for such aid. This support would be allocated according to the relative effort made by each source country in curbing illegal immigration, thereby motivating them to moderate the phenomenon. The model is also applicable to other fields of negative externalities, such as the smuggling of drugs and weapons, terrorism, and pollution.

Visiting ‘home’: Considering diasporic practices through assemblage dynamics

Visiting ‘home’ as a migrant may not always be about going home. Exploring a case where visiting is motivated by tourism as much as – or more than – migration, I argue for using assemblage as a set of ontological premises enables alternative appreciations of how practices of ‘visiting home’ evolve. Starting from a primacy of relationality and of malleable materialities, this perspective does not rely on migration-defined polarities to frame the spectrum of belonging in a homeland but allows for influences from many sources to interact and generate new formations that exceed the sum of their parts. Within this case, I analyse diasporic practices of visiting through three entwined dynamics: a contradictory sense of attachment to a place of ancestral origin, a desire for embodied leisure on vacation, and an instinct to insulate oneself from certain others. All three simultaneously contribute to the potency and perpetuation of diasporic visiting in Morocco.