Selection of a Third‐Party Logistics Provider: Capturing the Interaction and Influence of Performance Metrics with the Analytical Network Process

When a business decides to outsource its logistics operations to improve its performance, the organization will need to select a third‐party logistics provider (3PL) that shares common goals and satisfies service level requirements. In this paper, we identify a set of 3PL performance measures from the perspective of the supply chain and organize them into a time‐phased format, beginning with the post production stage and continuing through the delivery of the goods to the customer distribution center. The supply chain flow is presented as a Metrics Arrow. To integrate the performance metrics (PM) into one model, we propose an analytical network process (ANP) to capture all PM and to understand the interrelated influences among them. Additionally, to derive the weights for PM, the proposed ANP model offers managerial insight into the relative impact of each metric as well as warning signals or trigger points within the network of PM. The model provides a realistic framework to choose the 3PL that can help achieve the greatest improvements within the supply chain. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hungry pigeons make suboptimal choices, less hungry pigeons do not

Hungry animals will often choose suboptimally by being attracted to reliable signals for food that occur infrequently (they gamble) over less reliable signals for food that occur more often. That is, pigeons prefer an option that 50?% of the time provides them with a reliable signal for the appearance of food but 50?% of the time provides them with a reliable signal for the absence of food (overall 50?% reinforcement) over an alternative that always provides them with a signal for the appearance of food 75?% of the time (overall 75?% reinforcement). The pigeons appear to choose impulsively for the possibility of obtaining the reliable signal for reinforcement. There is evidence that greater hunger is associated with greater impulsivity. We tested the hypothesis that if the pigeons were less hungry, they would be less impulsive and, thus, would choose more optimally (i.e., on the basis of the overall probability of reinforcement). We found that hungry pigeons choose the 50?% reinforcement alternative suboptimally but less hungry pigeons prefer the more optimal 75?% reinforcement. Paradoxically, pigeons that needed the food more received less of it. These findings have implications for how level of motivation may also affect human suboptimal choice (e.g., purchase of lottery tickets and playing slot machines).     

Multialternative context effects obtained using an inference task

When decision-makers are faced with a choice among multiple options that have several attributes, preferences are often influenced by how the options are related to one another. For example, consumer preferences can be influenced, and even reversed, by the context defined by available products. This article discusses three standard context effects found in the preferential-choice literature: the attraction, similarity, and compromise effects. While decision theorists have attempted to explain these three effects under single modeling accounts, it has never before been demonstrated that these effects can be obtained within the same experimental paradigm. A set of experiments is described that demonstrate the three effects in an inference task. The paradigm is completely novel, as no previous experimental work has examined the standard context effects in inference. The experiments also add to evidence that the effects are not confined to choices among options with affective value, such as consumer products. The experimental results provide evidence that these effects might be a general property of human choice behavior and bring into question explanations of the effects that are based on the concept of loss-aversion asymmetry.     

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Crossover Comparison of MK-0929 and Placebo in the Treatment of Adults With ADHD

Objective: Preclinical models, receptor localization, and genetic linkage data support the role of D4 receptors in the etiology of ADHD. This proof-of-concept study was designed to evaluate MK-0929, a selective D4 receptor antagonist as treatment for adult ADHD. Method: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study was conducted in adults with primary ADHD. The primary end point was changed from baseline in total score on the Adult ADHD Investigator Symptom Rating Scale following a 4-week treatment regimen. Additional measures included Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scale and D4 genotype analysis. Results: No statistically significant treatment differences were found between MK-0929 and placebo in any of the primary or secondary assessments. Conclusion: Results from this study suggest that blockade of the D4 receptor alone is not efficacious in the treatment of adult ADHD.     

On the overlap between victimization and offending: A review of the literature

Theoretical and empirical research investigating victimization and offending has largely been either ‘victim-focused’ or ‘offender-focused.’ This approach ignores the potential theoretical and empirical overlap that may exist among victims and offenders, otherwise referred to as ‘victim-offenders.’ This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research that has examined the relationship between victimization and offending. The review identified 37 studies, spanning over five decades (1958-2011), that have assessed the victim-offender overlap. The empirical evidence gleaned from these studies with regard to the victim-offender overlap is robust as 31 studies found considerable support for the overlap and six additional studies found mixed/limited support. The evidence is also remarkably consistent across a diversity of analytical and statistical techniques and across historical, contemporary, cross-cultural, and international assessments of the victim-offender overlap. In addition, this overlap is identifiable among dating/intimate partners and mental health populations. Conclusions and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Motor proficiency and emotional/behavioural disturbance in autism and Asperger's disorder: another piece of the neurological puzzle?

The relationship of motor proficiency with emotional/behavioural disturbance, autistic symptoms and communication disturbance was investigated in children diagnosed with autism and Asperger's disorder (AD). The Movement Assessment Battery for Children was used as a measure of motor impairment, and the Developmental Behavioural Checklist was used as a measure of emotional/behavioural disturbance in the following groups: AD (n?=?22), high functioning autism (HFA) (n?=?23), LFA (n?=?8) and typically developing children (n?=?20). The HFA group had more difficulty with motor items, such as ball skills and balance, than did the AD group. There were significant positive correlations between impairments in motor proficiency (in particular ball skills and balance) and emotional/behavioural disturbance, autistic symptoms and communication disturbance. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that there are qualitative and quantitative differences in the motor profile between autism and AD. In addition, the association between motor proficiency impairment and emotional/behavioural disturbance in autism and AD emphasizes the importance for screening of co-occurring emotional/behavioural symptoms in individuals with motor difficulties. These findings have implications for the potential use of adjunct motor measures in the diagnosis and definition of autism spectrum disorders.     

Images of exercising: Exploring the links between exercise imagery use, autonomous and controlled motivation to exercise, and exercise intention and behavior

Objectives

In the present study, we tested a model examining the relationships between exercise imagery use, motivational regulations for exercise engagement, intention to exercise, and self-reported exercise behavior. This work represents an initial attempt to examine relationships between a new type of exercise imagery (enjoyment imagery) and motivational regulations for exercise.

Design

Cross-sectional.

Method

Exercisers with a mean age of 40.29 years (SD = 13.29; 177 female, 141 male) completed measures of the targeted variables.

Results

Structural equation modeling analyses revealed direct and indirect (via motivational regulations) links between imagery and exercise-related outcomes. Technique and enjoyment imagery were positively related to autonomous motivation. Conversely, appearance imagery was positively associated with controlled motivation. Direct relationships were evidenced between energy imagery and self-reported exercise behavior, and between appearance imagery and intention to exercise.

Conclusions

The potential motivational functions served by different exercise imagery types are discussed, and the inclusion of enjoyment imagery in future exercise imagery research is recommended.     

Smiles as signals of lower status in football players and fashion models: Evidence that smiles are associated with lower dominance and lower prestige

Across four studies, the current paper demonstrates that smiles are associated with lower social status. Moreover, the association between smiles and lower status appears in the psychology of observers and generalizes across two forms of status: prestige and dominance. In the first study, faces of fashion models representing less prestigious apparel brands were found to be more similar to a canonical smile display than the faces of models representing more prestigious apparel brands.?In a second study, after being experimentally primed with either high or low prestige fashion narratives, participants in the low prestige condition were more likely to perceive smiles in a series of photographs depicting smiling and non-smiling faces. A third study of football player photographs revealed that the faces of less dominant (smaller) football players were more similar to the canonical smile display than the faces of their physically larger counterparts. Using the same football player photographs, a fourth study found that smiling was a more reliable indicator of perceived status-relevant personality traits than perceptions of the football players' physical sizes inferred from the photographs.