What is Sexual Satisfaction? Thematic Analysis of Lay People's Definitions

Sexual satisfaction is an important indicator of sexual health and is strongly associated with relationship satisfaction. However, research exploring lay definitions of sexual satisfaction has been scarce. We present thematic analysis of written responses of 449 women and 311 men to the question “How would you define sexual satisfaction?” The participants were heterosexual individuals with a mean age of 36.05 years (SD = 8.34) involved in a committed exclusive relationship. In this exploratory study, two main themes were identified: personal sexual well-being and dyadic processes. The first theme focuses on the positive aspects of individual sexual experience, such as pleasure, positive feelings, arousal, sexual openness, and orgasm. The second theme emphasizes relational dimensions, such as mutuality, romance, expression of feelings, creativity, acting out desires, and frequency of sexual activity. Our results highlight that mutual pleasure is a crucial component of sexual satisfaction and that sexual satisfaction derives from positive sexual experiences and not from the absence of conflict or dysfunction. The findings support definitions and models of sexual satisfaction that focus on positive sexual outcomes and the use of measures that incorporate items linked to personal and dyadic sexual rewards for both men and women.     

Effects of variations in water quantity and quality in the structure and functions of invertebrates’ community of a Mediterranean urban stream

Urban Ecosystems - Urban streams provide important ecosystem services to cities’ population, from the maintenance of urban biodiversity, temperature, humidity and air quality to improving...     

Structuring composite local governance indicators

The importance of good governance is praised by many academics and practitioners. The prominence of the subject suggests that measurement is important. However, setting out to measure the quality of governance empirically is controversial. Doubts regarding the feasibility and meaningfulness of this undertaking are widespread in the literature. Recognizing the potential caveats, the current article discusses a set of guidelines for structuring a theoretically sound local governance assessment tool based on the Decision Analysis and Operational Research literatures. The authors argue that using a multi-criteria model which employs several objective (quantitative and qualitative) indicators and relies on a participatory method to aggregate them is a suitable way of developing sensible Local Governance Indicators. The purpose here is to provide a detailed roadmap for any country (or region, or locality) willing to engage in the assessment of the quality of local governance. The real-world implementation of a model developed according to these guidelines could help raise awareness, promote good practices and increase the ‘governance literacy’ of citizens. By operationalizing good governance, analysts may also be able to further investigate the relationships between local governance practices and several socio-economic factors.     

Scratch cards in Portugal: a hidden threat

This letter aims to highlight a hidden threat in Portugal, scratch cards. Despite having highly addictive components, as compared to other gambling products, scratch card regulation is almost non-existent, possibly leading to an ever-growing multibillion industry. Vulnerable people are easily attracted and there are no strategies to prevent problematic use. Interestingly, however, scratch cards and other lotteries are exclusively provided by a non-profit state-owned organization supposedly promoting responsible gambling. This concern is presented as a starting point for raising awareness in the general public, scientific community and regulatory bodies, so that effective action can follow.     

DOES HIGH COST OF MORTGAGE DEBT EXPLAIN WHY YOUNG ADULTS LIVE WITH THEIR PARENTS?

Young adults leave their parents' homes at a higher rate in Northern Europe or in the United States than in Southern Europe, with broad implications on labor market mobility and on fertility. We assess if differences in household formation are associated to differences in access to credit by estimating the impact of the cost of a mortgage on the probability that a young adult leaves his or her parents' home. Exogenous changes in the cost of credit are identified using the reform in 1998 and the cancellation in 2002 of Crédito Bonificado, a Portuguese program that provided four different reductions of the interest rate of mortgages signed by low‐ and medium‐income youth. Using a unique data set that links administrative records of debt with the 1998–2004 waves of the Employment Survey, we document three findings. First, borrowing among young adults fell when borrowing costs increased. Second, the elasticity of new household formation with respect to net interest rates lies between −0.8 and −3.3. Third, young adults responded to the increase in mortgage costs by delaying home purchases or by reducing the quality of housing services purchased, but there was only a modest increase of the probability of renting a new accommodation. (JEL: D91, H24, J13)     

Consuming Youth: Timorese in the Resistance Against Indonesian Occupation

This article explores the role played by risk-seeking Timorese youth, known as the New Generation (Geraçao Foun), in the resistance movement against Indonesian occupation (1975–1999). It discusses the capture, regimentation and marginalisation of youthful radicalism by the national resistance movement. The paper looks at these processes of youth revolutionary involvement sympathetically though the memories of former participants in the clandestine struggle and is representative of a new reflexive phase in young Timorese' post-colonial self-realisation. This phase is decidedly non-triumphalist, one which dwells on the inability to be ‘recompensed’ for the dreams that were captured and lives that were side-tracked in a conflict that consumed youth.     

Commerce et emploi en Europe: le rôle des exportations de services «mode 5»

Dans l'UE, l'emploi lié aux exportations extracommunautaires de biens et de services a augmenté sensiblement ces dernières décennies, et la contribution à cet emploi des services incorporés dans des articles manufacturés s'est élevée. Pour mieux comprendre le phénomène, les auteurs procèdent à une décomposition systématique des flux commerciaux, en utilisant un modèle entrées‐sorties multirégional et des données de la base WIOD. L'analyse porte sur 40 pays et 35 branches d'activité, suivis de 1995 à 2011. Elle tend à remettre en question la classification en quatre modes de fourniture de services de l'Accord général sur le commerce des services, qui ne reflète plus la réalité actuelle.     

Trade and jobs in Europe: The role of mode 5 service exports

Over the past two decades, EU employment supported by extra‐EU exports of goods and services has increased markedly, with a shift towards jobs supported by services exported as part of manufactured goods. The authors seek further insight into this trend through the full decomposition of trade flows using a multi‐regional input–output model and the World Input–Output Database for 40 countries and 35 industries over the period 1995–2011. Their findings call for reflection by policy‐makers regarding the four traditional modes of service supply under the General Agreement on Trade in Services with a view to adequately capturing this new reality in global trade.     

An ontology of power and leadership

In this article I draw upon the social ontologies developed by John Searle, Roy Bhaskar, Margaret Archer and Tony Lawson in order to distinguish between power and leadership. To do so, I distinguish the different organizing principles behind natural phenomena, collective phenomena and institutional phenomena, and argue that an understanding of those different organizing principles is essential to a clearer conceptualization of power and leadership. Natural power and cultural power, as I argue, depend upon the organizing principles of natural phenomena, and differ depending on whether those organizing principles have been transformed by humans, in which case it becomes cultural power, or not, in which case it simply is natural power. Leadership emerges with the ability of making other humans share mental states through collective intentionality. Institutional power, in contrast, is connected to the creation of a deontology of rights and obligations that provide what Searle calls desire‐independent reasons for action.