Do Auction Parameters Affect Buyer Surplus in E‐Auctions for Procurement?

Although the initial euphoria about Internet‐enabled reverse auctions has given way to a cautious but widespread use of reverse auctions in business‐to‐business (B2B) procurement, there is a limited understanding of the effect of auction design parameters on buyer surplus. In this paper, we study the effect of bidding competition, information asymmetry, reserve price, bid decrement, auction duration, and bidder type on buyer surplus. We collected field data on more than 700 online procurement auctions conducted by a leading auctioneer and involving procurement items worth millions of dollars. Consistent with the predictions of auction theory, the results indicate that bidding competition, reserve price, and information sharing affect buyer surplus. Unlike previous findings in the consumer‐to‐consumer context, we find that bid decrement and auction duration have no effect in B2B procurement auctions. Our results suggest that use of the rank‐bidding format increases buyer surplus when incumbent suppliers participate in the auction. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings for future research and for optimal design of online procurement auctions.     

Analysis of exacerbation rates in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: example from the TRISTAN study

Recurrent events in clinical trials have typically been analysed using either a multiple time-to-event method or a direct approach based on the distribution of the number of events. An area of application for these methods is exacerbation data from respiratory clinical trials. The different approaches to the analysis and the issues involved are illustrated for a large trial (n = 1465) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For exacerbation rates, clinical interest centres on a direct comparison of rates for each treatment which favours the distribution-based analysis, rather than a time-to-event approach. Poisson regression has often been employed and has recently been recommended as the appropriate method of analysis for COPD exacerbations but the key assumptions often appear unreasonable for this analysis. By contrast use of a negative binomial model which corresponds to assuming a separate Poisson parameter for each subject offers a more appealing approach. Non-parametric methods avoid some of the assumptions required by these models, but do not provide appropriate estimates of treatment effects because of the discrete and bounded nature of the data.     

Unmaking the Middle Eastern working classes: labour and the politics of historiography

This article surveys recent developments in academic approaches to the history of the working classes in the modern Middle East and argues that the decline of scholarly interest in Middle Eastern labour history is a product of the confluence of political, cultural and disciplinary transformations. Labour history thrived among historians of the Middle East in the late 1970s and 1980s but produced only a small handful of important texts in the following two decades. The marginalization of organized labour by post-populist authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, the sudden rise of political Islam as the dominant paradigm of political opposition to the state, and the general abandonment of class analysis by historians in the wake of the ‘cultural turn’ have all contributed to this decline of academic interest in the lives of Middle Eastern workers. These problems have been exacerbated by the political instability of the region and the corresponding difficulty of accessing state archives. The political spark provided by labour activism and agitation in the years preceding and following the ‘Arab Spring’, however, is once again bringing questions of labour and class to the attention of historians.     

My Favourite Chinese City- Shenzhen

For some reason,Shenzhen seems to have a bad reputation.Most people envision a maze of factories,constantly churning out the cheap goods we all know and love.As the mother ship of"Made in China",Shenzhen is hard for people to imagine as a livable city.Recently,I’ve found myself defending the largely misunderstood city with unexpected vigor.     

Building Solidarity with Subjects and Audience in Sociology and Documentary Photography

This article is part of a panel discussion addressing the sociological relevance of Sebastião Salgado’s work as well as documentary photography in general. ²     

The Natsal-SF Measure of Sexual Function: Comparison of Three Scoring Methods

The Natsal-SF is a psychometrically validated measure of sexual function for use in community health surveys, derived from 17 questions reflecting three components of sexual function. Scoring requires knowledge of complex statistical modeling and, given the methodological complexities, we assessed the validity of two simplified scoring methods calculated using the factor loadings produced when originally modeling the Natsal-SF items. Method 1 uses these factor loadings to three decimal places, while method 2 assigns whole numbers to each item based on the factor loadings. Scores from these simplified methods are compared to the original score using correlation coefficients, by comparing the distributions and the scores of each method in a linear regression model with key variables. We found scores from the simplified methods both correlate highly with the original score, and the distributions of scores closely match. The simplified methods result in different regression coefficients for gender and relationship context but estimate the coefficients of all other variables similarly to the original method. While the Natsal-SF should ideally be scored using latent variable modeling, the simplified methods perform well so can be used in similar contexts, increasing the utility of the Natsal-SF and enabling future studies to measure sexual function more comprehensively.     

Diversification and internationalization in the sociological study of science and religion

Classical sociology addressed the relationship between science and religion, but interest in the topic waned during the 20th century. A second wave of research has emerged in the 21st century, focusing on scientists' (ir)religiosity, evolution, and the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of scientific concepts. Most of this research has been conducted in the United States, used quantitative methods, and focused on creationism, although scholars have recently begun to explore different research methods and sites. Their results suggest that the “conflict thesis” is not valid and that publics and scientists' views tend to be fluid and strongly shaped by national context. The literature on nonreligion has also expanded, but its connection to science remains ripe for further development. A more intersectional approach would also benefit the field, as would increased engagement between public understanding of science scholars and sociologists studying science and religion. Research in both areas is showing that attitudes toward science and religion cannot be understood solely in terms of knowledge about either domain. There is scope for more empirical and theoretical work internationally eschewing the assumption that science and religion conflict and focusing more on identity, culture, and power relations.     

Venting to Unify the Front: Parents’ Negative Relational Disclosures about Their Children as Mediators of Coparental Communication and Relational Quality

In families with children, presenting a unified front is important for healthy couple and family functioning, yet the behavioral mechanisms that explain how coparental communication strengthens the interparental relationship remain unclear. In this study, we examined how parents’ negative relational disclosures about their children to each other serve as mediators of coparental communication and relational quality in divorced (n = 65 dyads) and married couples (n = 173 dyads). Coparents’ reports of closeness and satisfaction in both couple types were predicted primarily by their reports of supportive and antagonistic coparental communication. The results also revealed significant indirect effects of supportive coparental communication on closeness through negative relational disclosures about young adult children for married mothers and divorced fathers. Antagonistic coparental communication positively predicted married coparents’ disclosures about their children, but not divorced coparents’ disclosures. The results extend theoretical models of coparenting and provide implications for coparenting education programs.     

The power of difference in inclusive research

Inclusive research involves people with intellectual disabilities actively and strives for empowerment and normalisation. Less is written about the power dynamics in a research team consisting of researchers and people with intellectual disabilities and the possible value of such collaboration. In this auto-ethnography we reflect on these aspects and the challenges along the way. We conclude that striving for normalisation can be paralysing; ‘doing the same’ is not always possible and can be disempowering for all members of the research team. Acknowledging differences and uniqueness enriches research outcomes and makes us reflect on our own, sometimes rigid, academic frameworks.