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This paper investigates how dominant retailers should choose appropriate markup pricing strategies (a fixed-dollar markup, or a percentage markup), and how their supplier responds by choosing wholesale pricing strategies (a retailer-specific wholesale pricing, or a uniform wholesale pricing). Our results show that, all other things being equal, the uniform wholesale pricing strategy weakens the position of the retailers in the supply chain and thus is more favorable for the supplier. Specifically, when both retailers choose the same markup scheme, it is better for the supplier to choose the uniform wholesale pricing strategy since it can lead a higher profit for himself. The uniform wholesale pricing strategy also benefits the whole channel and the end-consumers, but hurts the dominant retailers. When the two retailers choose different markup schemes, the best choice for the supplier will still be the uniform wholesale pricing scheme if the level of downstream competition is sufficiently high; otherwise, the supplier would prefer the retailer-specific wholesale pricing scheme. The preference of the retailer using fixed-dollar markup pricing is just the opposite as compared to that of the supplier, while the retailer using percentage markup pricing always prefers retailer-specific wholesale pricing. Besides, the uniform wholesale pricing is beneficial to the whole channel. After anticipating the supplier’s reactions, both retailers are better off choosing percentage markup pricing no matter which wholesale pricing strategy the supplier chooses and what the level of competition is. Therefore, the final equilibrium would be the case where the dominant retailers choose the percentage-markup variant and the supplier always responds by adopting the uniform pricing scheme no matter what the level of bcompetition is. This equilibrium enhances the supply chain efficiency and benefits the end-consumers since it leads to the highest channel profits and the lowest retailing prices. Moreover, under this equilibrium, the supplier gets better while the retailers get worse as the level of competition increases.

Using a triazole carboxylic ligand (H2L = 4-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl) isophthalic acid), four water-stable lanthanide metal–organic frameworks (Ln(III)-MOFs) (1-Ln, Ln(III) = Tb, Eu, Dy, and Sm), [Ln(L)(HL)(H2O)2], where the deprotonated H2L ligands have two different coordination modes: L2− and HL− [(a): η2μ2χ2, η2μ1χ2; (b): η2μ1χ2], have been synthesized by solvothermal reaction and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses show that Ln(III)-MOFs are isostructural with 2D-layered structures with uncoordinated carboxylic and triazole groups. The luminescent properties of 1-Tb in aqueous solution containing different cationic solutions and small organic solvents have been explored under ultraviolet irradiation at room temperature. The high quenching constant K SV values and low detection limits indicate that 1-Tb exhibits extremely high detection sensitivity and selectivity toward Fe3+ ions and nitrobenzene; 1-Tb can keep its original network and be reused after the sensing experiments, which provide us with an optical material for detecting Fe3+ ions and nitrobenzene. Magnetic studies show that antiferromagnetic exchange interactions exist between Dy(III) ions in 1-Dy.

By systematic change of the solvothermal synthesis, three new coordination polymers, [Cd(L)∙(H2O)]∙2H2O (1), [Cd(L)∙(H2O)]∙H2O (2), and [Cd(L)] (3), have been synthesized based on a tritopic ligand 4-(pyridin-3-yl)isophthalic acid (H2L). Compounds 1 and 2 show very similar two-dimensional (2D) bilayers further linked by interlayer hydrogen bonds into three-dimensional (3D) supramolecular structures, while 3 displays a 3D structure constructed form one-dimensional (1D) Cd-carboxyl chains. Notably, 1 and 2 have a pair of unusual isomers with the opposite orientation of coordinated H2O on the metal centers, leading to different hydrogen bonding interactions. Thermal stabilities and solid-state photoluminescences for 1 – 3 were also investigated.