Working Paper: The effect of restrictive policy instruments on Belgian fishing fleet dynamics

Even with the rapid changes in the level of complexity and the uncertainty of the environment in which Belgian sea fisheries operate, fisheries management in Belgium is still mainly based on restrictive policy instruments founded in the biological approach of fisheries management science. Since they will continue to play an important role, this paper evaluated changes in three restrictive policy instruments and their effect on future fleet performance and dynamics, i.e. maximum fishing days, total quota-restrictions and licences.These effects are tested through scenarios in a microeconomic simulation model, including sensitivity analysis. This study opts for a dynamic simulation model based on a microeconomic approach of fleet dynamics using system dynamics as a modelling technique (operational base: Vensim®DSS).The results indicated that changes in maximum fishing days and total quota resulted in higher fluctuations in fleet performance and dynamics compared to changes in licences. Furthermore, changes in maximum fishing days and total quota had a direct impact on fleet performance, though not always as expected, whereas licences only affected fleet performance indirectly since they only limit the entry of new vessels to the fleet and they can block the growth of successful sub fleets.The outcomes of this study are translated into practical recommendations for improving fisheries management. Firstly, policy makers need to be more aware of misperceptions of feedback. Secondly, the results proved that altering only one type of restrictive policy instrument at a time often fails to meet desired outcomes. Therefore, policy makers need to find a balance in combining policy instruments. Finally, this paper opens the discussion on the future value of restrictive policy instruments in the rapidly changing, complex and uncertain fisheries environment. It suggests rethinking their use from “preserving a status quo and social peace” toward a driving factor in “stimulating fleet dynamics.

Ethical leadership in times of change: the role of change commitment and change information for employees’ dysfunctional resistance

© 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: In the present study, the authors draw on social exchange theory to argue that ethical leaders offer positive exchanges in times of change and thereby encourage employees’ change commitment, which subsequently reduces their dysfunctional resistance. Drawing on uncertainty management theory, the authors further hypothesize that employees’ perception of change information (i.e. a change-specific context) not only moderates the negative relationship between employees’ change commitment and dysfunctional resistance but also the indirect relationship between ethical leadership and dysfunctional resistance via change commitment. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a two-source cross-sectional survey involving 144 matched pairs of employees and coworkers from a range of organizations. Findings: Employees’ change commitment mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and their dysfunctional resistance. Furthermore, employees’ perception of change information not only moderates the relationship between change commitment and dysfunctional resistance but, more importantly, also the indirect effect between ethical leadership and dysfunctional resistance via change commitment. More specifically, the effect of change commitment on employees’ dysfunctional resistance as well as the indirect effect of ethical leadership on employees’ dysfunctional resistance through change commitment are stronger when there is little change information. Research limitations/implications: Ethical leadership is able to reduce employees’ dysfunctional resistance, particularly when employees have limited information regarding the change. Originality/value: This study demonstrates how change commitment acts as a mediator and change information serves as a moderator in the ethical leadership–dysfunctional resistance relationship in the time of organizational change

Vergelijkend onderzoek van zeven merken verse slachtkuikens

Op verzoek van Koosurnenten Kontakt zijn door het IPS, het huidige COVP, op twee verschillende tijdstippen (week 39 en 41 van 1982) zeven soorten verse slachtkuikens ingekocht : vier nederlandse en drie franse. De monsters werden door het IPS vaktechnisch beoordeeld. Een gedeelte van de monsters werd verdeeld in borstvlees, pootvlees met vel en totaal eetbaar deel. Deze delen werden door het RIKILT onderzocht op de gehalten aan vocht, vet en eiwit

Chemisch en sensorisch onderzoek van enkele ambachtelijk en industrieel bereide boterhamworsten

Het verkrijgen van een indruk van de kwaliteit van een aantal door Konsumenten Kontakt gekochte boterhamworsten. De monsters werden door de afd. Vlees en Vleesprodukten onderzocht op een aantal chemische parameters. Door de Stichting Slagers Vakonderwijs werd een vaktechnisch en organoleptisch onderzoek uitgevoerd terwijl de afd. Microscopie de monsters heeft onderzocht op het gehalte aan botsplinters

Effecten van clenbuterol bij vleesstieren : pilot study

Om inzicht te krijgen in de effecten van clenbuterol bij vleesstieren wat betreft dosering, residuen, histologische veranderingen en L/C ratio in de urine is een oriënterende dierproef gedaan met 4 vleesstieren. Twee stieren zijn behandeld met de curatieve dosering clenbuterol en twee met de dubbele hoeveelheid van de voor vleeskalveren als optimaal beschouwde groeibevorderende dosering. Voor vleesstieren zijn weinig proeven gedaan om de optimale dosering aan clenbuterol vast te stellen. In dit rapport worden de resultaten beschreven van de dierproef. Het betreft de zootechniek, het histologisch onderzoek, onderzoek met de gangbare screenings- en bevestigingsmethoden voor clenbuterol, lactaat- en creatinegehalten en de daaruit afgeleide L/C ratio

Vergelijking van een screenings- en een bevestigingsmethode voor de bepaling van [beta]-agonisten in urine

Voor de bepaling van een aantal [beta]-agonisten in urine zijn een screenings- en een bevestigingsmethode ontwikkeld. De screeningsmethode is gebaseerd op een enzym-immunologische test (EIA), waarbij antilichamen worden gebruikt voor de herkenning van clenbuterol en kruisreagerende verbindingen (metabolieten en andere [beta]-agonisten). Naast een directe screeningsmethode (minimale monstervoorbewerking; geschikt voor ca. 100 monsters per dag) is een iets meer bewerkelijke combinatie met een op immuno-affiniteitschromatografie (IAC) gebaseerde monstervoorbewerking mogelijk. De methode waarbij gebruik wordt gemaakt van gaschromatografie in combinatie met massaspectrometrie (GC-MS) en IAC als monstervoorbewerking is vanwege de grote specificiteit geschikt als bevestigingsmethode (capaciteit 10-20 monsters per dag). In het in dit rapport beschreven onderzoek worden de resultaten verkregen na analyse van 1 013 urinemonsters, met zowel de screenings- als de bevestigingsmethode, met elkaar vergeleken

Innovation Across Cultures: Connecting Leadership, Identification, and Creative Behavior in Organizations

Innovation is considered essential for today's organizations to survive and thrive. Researchers have also stressed the importance of leadership as a driver of followers' innovative work behavior (FIB). Yet, despite a large amount of research, three areas remain understudied: (a) The relative importance of different forms of leadership for FIB; (b) the mechanisms through which leadership impacts FIB; and (c) the degree to which relationships between leadership and FIB are generalizable across cultures. To address these lacunae, we propose an integrated model connecting four types of positive leadership behaviors, two types of identification (as mediating variables), and FIB. We tested our model in a global data set comprising responses of N = 7,225 participants from 23 countries, grouped into nine cultural clusters. Our results indicate that perceived LMX quality was the strongest relative predictor of FIB. Furthermore, the relationships between both perceived LMX quality and identity leadership with FIB were mediated by social identification. The indirect effect of LMX on FIB via social identification was stable across clusters, whereas the indirect effects of the other forms of leadership on FIB via social identification were stronger in countries high versus low on collectivism. Power distance did not influence the relations

To continue or not to continue? Antipsychotic medication maintenance versus dose-reduction/discontinuation in first episode psychosis: HAMLETT, a pragmatic multicenter single-blind randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Antipsychotic medication is effective for symptomatic treatment in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. After symptom remission, continuation of antipsychotic treatment is associated with lower relapse rates and lower symptom severity compared to dose reduction/discontinuation. Therefore, most guidelines recommend continuation of treatment with antipsychotic medication for at least 1 year. Recently, however, these guidelines have been questioned as one study has shown that more patients achieved long-term functional remission in an early discontinuation condition-a finding that was not replicated in another recently published long-term study. METHODS/DESIGN: The HAMLETT (Handling Antipsychotic Medication Long-term Evaluation of Targeted Treatment) study is a multicenter pragmatic single-blind randomized controlled trial in two parallel conditions (1:1) investigating the effects of continuation versus dose-reduction/discontinuation of antipsychotic medication after remission of a first episode of psychosis (FEP) on personal and social functioning, psychotic symptom severity, and health-related quality of life. In total 512 participants will be included, aged between 16 and 60 years, in symptomatic remission from a FEP for 3-6 months, and for whom psychosis was not associated with severe or life-threatening self-harm or violence. Recruitment will take place at 24 Dutch sites. Patients are randomized (1:1) to: continuation of antipsychotic medication until at least 1 year after remission (original dose allowing a maximum reduction of 25%, or another antipsychotic drug in similar dose range); or gradual dose reduction till eventual discontinuation of antipsychotics according to a tapering schedule. If signs of relapse occur in this arm, medication dose can be increased again. Measurements are conducted at baseline, at 3, and 6 months post-baseline, and yearly during a follow-up period of 4 years. DISCUSSION: The HAMLETT study will offer evidence to guide patients and clinicians regarding questions concerning optimal treatment duration and when to taper off medication after remission of a FEP. Moreover, it may provide patient characteristics associated with safe dose reduction with a minimal risk of relapse. TRIAL STATUS: Protocol version 1.3, October 2018. The study is active and currently recruiting patients (since September 2017), with the first 200 participants by the end of 2019. We anticipate completing recruitment in 2022 and final assessments (including follow-up 3.5 years after phase one) in 2026. TRIAL REGISTRATION: European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT number 2017-002406-12. Registered 7 J

Solvent accessible surface area approximations for rapid and accurate protein structure prediction

The burial of hydrophobic amino acids in the protein core is a driving force in protein folding. The extent to which an amino acid interacts with the solvent and the protein core is naturally proportional to the surface area exposed to these environments. However, an accurate calculation of the solvent-accessible surface area (SASA), a geometric measure of this exposure, is numerically demanding as it is not pair-wise decomposable. Furthermore, it depends on a full-atom representation of the molecule. This manuscript introduces a series of four SASA approximations of increasing computational complexity and accuracy as well as knowledge-based environment free energy potentials based on these SASA approximations. Their ability to distinguish correctly from incorrectly folded protein models is assessed to balance speed and accuracy for protein structure prediction. We find the newly developed “Neighbor Vector” algorithm provides the most optimal balance of accurate yet rapid exposure measures

Identity Leadership, Employee Burnout and the Mediating Role of Team Identification: Evidence from the Global Identity Leadership Development Project

Do leaders who build a sense of shared social identity in their teams thereby protect them from the adverse effects of workplace stress? This is a question that the present paper explores by testing the hypothesis that identity leadership contributes to stronger team identification among employees and, through this, is associated with reduced burnout. We tested this model with unique datasets from the Global Identity Leadership Development (GILD) project with participants from all inhabited continents. We compared two datasets from 2016/2017 (n = 5290; 20 countries) and 2020/2021 (n = 7294; 28 countries) and found very similar levels of identity leadership, team identification and burnout across the five years. An inspection of the 2020/2021 data at the onset of and later in the COVID-19 pandemic showed stable identity leadership levels and slightly higher levels of both burnout and team identification. Supporting our hypotheses, we found almost identical indirect effects (2016/2017, b = −0.132; 2020/2021, b = −0.133) across the five-year span in both datasets. Using a subset of n = 111 German participants surveyed over two waves, we found the indirect effect confirmed over time with identity leadership (at T1) predicting team identification and, in turn, burnout, three months later. Finally, we explored whether there could be a “too-much-of-a-good-thing” effect for identity leadership. Speaking against this, we found a u-shaped quadratic effect whereby ratings of identity leadership at the upper end of the distribution were related to even stronger team identification and a stronger indirect effect on reduced burnout