Search

In this study, we investigate the effects of an enabling versus a coercive performance measurement system on how employees perceive the procedural quality of such systems. In particular, we examine the design characteristics and the development process of performance measurement systems. We hypothesize that an enabling design and an enabling development process, as compared to a coercive design and a coercive development process, lead to perceptions of greater procedural fairness and less red tape. To test our hypotheses, we conduct an experiment with two different samples (a student laboratory sample and an online sample). In general, our results indicate that an enabling performance measurement system design and an enabling system development process both independently increase procedural fairness and decrease red tape. These findings imply that organizations interested in improving the procedural quality of their performance measurement system should focus on designing and developing a system that is enabling rather than coercive.

Monitoring dairy cattle behavior can improve the detection of health and welfare issues for early interventions. Often commercial sensors do not provide researchers with sufficient raw and open data; therefore, the aim of this study was to develop an open and customizable system to classify cattle behaviors. A 3D accelerometer device and host-board (i.e., sensor node) were embedded in a case and fixed on a dairy cow collar. It was developed to work in two modes: (1) acquisition mode, where a mobile application supported the raw data collection during observations; and (2) operating mode, where data was processed and sent to a gateway and on the cloud. Accelerations were sampled at 25 Hz and behaviors were classified in 10-min windows. Several algorithms were trained with the 108 h of behavioral data acquired from 32 cows on 3 farms, and after evaluating their computational/memory complexity and accuracy, the Decision Tree algorithm was selected. This model detected standing, lying, eating, and ruminating with an average accuracy of 85.12%. The open nature of this system enables for the addition of other functions (e.g., real-time localization of cows) and the integration with other information sources, e.g., microenvironment and air quality sensors, thereby enhancing data processing potential.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), the enlarged kidneys can cause clinical problems, for instance pain or gastro-intestinal complaints, recurrent infections, or cause a lack of space for a kidney transplant. In selected ADPKD patients, a nephrectomy is required in the work-up for a kidney transplantation. Currently, it is unknown how this procedure affects quality of life (QoL), nor how leaving both kidneys in situ influences wellbeing. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of pretransplantation nephrectomy on quality of life in APDKD patients. METHOD In this retrospective cohort study all ADPKD patients, ≥18 years, who received a kidney transplantation in 2 ADPKD expertise centers in the Netherlands (UMC Groningen and UMC Leiden) between January 2000 and January 2016, were asked to participate. Of these two centers, one has a restrictive approach, wherein a unilateral procedure is only performed when strict indications are met, and one a proactive approach, wherein a bilateral procedure is performed routinely in the work-up for transplantation. Data were collected on patients characteristics, date of nephrectomy, date of kidney transplantation and QoL. QoL was assessed using validated questionnaires (the SF-36, PHQ-9 and ADPKD-Impact Score) on three different time points (12 months before transplantation, 12 months after transplantation and date of filling out the questionnaire). Patients were followed for at least 24 months after transplantation. RESULTS 321 ADPKD (61 ± 9 years, 57.9% male) patients were included. The minority of patients (n = 99, 30.8%) underwent native nephrectomy in preparation for transplantation, of which 43 patients (13.4%) underwent bilateral nephrectomy. Lack of space was the most common indication for nephrectomy (68.7%), followed by recurrent cyst infection (18.2%) and refractory pain complaints (9.1%). Age, sex and comorbidities did not differ before transplantation between patients who would later undergo a pretransplantation nephrectomy when compared to those who would not undergo this procedure, except for QoL. The SF-36 physical component score (PCS) and mental component score (MCS) were lower in the nephrectomy group vs. no nephrectomy group (33.8 versus 38.4, P = 0.003; 48.7 versus 51.7, P = 0.04, respectively). In addition, the PHQ-9 and ADPKD-IS were significantly lower in patients who would later undergo a pre-transplantation nephrectomy compared to patients who would not undergo this procedure (P = 0.01, P = 0.01, respectively). After transplantation the PCS and MCS improved significantly in both groups, with this improvement in PCS and MCS being significantly more in patients who had a pretransplant nephrectomy compared with those who did not have a nephrectomy (change in PCS 17.3, P CONCLUSION This study shows that ADPKD patients who underwent a pretransplantation nephrectomy experienced more complaints compared with patients without nephrectomy. After nephrectomy and transplantation, QoL significantly improved in these patients, resulting in a similar QoL level in all transplanted ADPKD patients on short as well as long-term follow-up. Bilateral nephrectomy had no additional benefit on QoL compared with unilateral nephrectomy. Together, this indicates that a restrictive approach, wherein a unilateral procedure is performed only when strict indications are met, may improve QoL in these patients and is therefore justified.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In some patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), one or both native kidneys are removed in the work-up for kidney transplantation. There is no consensus if and when a nephrectomy should be performed. Some centers advocate to routinely perform a (bilateral) nephrectomy to prevent complications associated with the native polycystic kidneys in the post-transplantation period. In our ADPKD expertise center, a restrictive approach is pursued: a nephrectomy is only performed in case of serious volume related complaints, lack of space for the allograft, recurrent cyst infections, persistent cyst bleedings or chronic invalidating pain. We analyzed in a retrospective study whether this approach is justified. METHOD All records of patients ≥18 years with ADPKD who received a kidney transplantation (Tx) in our ADPKD expertise center between January 2000 and January 2019 were reviewed. Data were collected on incidence, timing, indication and complications of nephrectomy, as well as on the kidney transplantation, graft function and mortality. Patients were subdivided into three groups: no nephrectomy (no-Nx), nephrectomy prior to (pre-Tx) or after kidney transplantation (post-Tx). Patients were followed for at least 12 months after transplantation. RESULTS About 391 ADPKD (54 ± 9 years, 55.2% male) patients were included. The majority of patients did not undergo a nephrectomy (n = 257, 65.7%). A unilateral nephrectomy was performed pre-Tx in 114 patients (29.2%), in most cases because of a lack of space (49.6%) or recurrent kidney cyst infection (28.1%). More male patients underwent a nephrectomy compared to women (65.7% versus 34.3%, P = 0.003). After Tx, nephrectomy was performed in only 30 patients (11%, median 4.4 years post-Tx), of which 10 were contralateral nephrectomies in patients who also had a nephrectomy pre-Tx. Most frequent indications for nephrectomy post-Tx were recurrent kidney cyst infection (51.4%) or severe pain (24.3%). Duration of nephrectomy was slightly longer when performed post-Tx (3.1 h post-Tx versus 2.6 h pre-Tx, P = 0.052). However, the median length of hospital admission was significantly shorter in these patients (6.0 days post-Tx versus 10.0 days pre-Tx, P CONCLUSION This study indicates that a minority of ADPKD patients require a native nephrectomy in the work-up for a kidney transplant. With a restrictive nephrectomy policy, only few patients need a nephrectomy after kidney transplantation for indications not foreseen before transplantation. Nephrectomy is a relatively safe procedure, even when performed in transplanted ADPKD patients where it did not result in more complications, graft failure or mortality. These data suggest that a restrictive nephrectomy policy in ADPKD is justified.

This thesis describes the incidence and costs of tibial shaft fractures in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the functional outcome after treatment with a tibial nail is described. The role of injury to the infrapatellar nerve in knee pain after this tibial nailing has been investigated and also whether another incision can reduce knee pain after tibial nailing.

This study combines ground-based gas phase, particle, and rainfall measurements at the ATTO site to study the impact of rainfall events on greenhouse and reactive gas concentrations and discuss how this process is relevant for producing new particles. Measurements of CO2, CH4, CO, O3, NO, and NO2 concentrations were collected from the surface to 79m using a tower at the ATTO site in the central Amazon forest northeast of Manaus, Brazil. Particle size distribution was measured by an SMPS and rainfall by a rain gauge at the top of the tower. Data collection started in 2012, and this analysis covered the period up to 2020. The 30-minute interval dataset was used to study how convective events modify the concentration of these gases. During the rainfall events, CO2, CO, and CH4 concentrations decrease, though CH4 varies less with height than CO and CO2. The daily cycle of NO2 presents an interesting characteristic showing distinct daily evolution for the concentration in the upper and lower levels. The decrease in NO2 concentration in the upper level and the increase near the surface in the afternoon, which is the typical time of rainfall events, indicate that a specific process occurs near the surface. With the joint analysis of gas-phase observations with ultrafine particles and rainfall data, it was possible to evaluate the interesting physical-chemical processes occurring during the rainfall events that might be important for particles nucleation. The time of rainfall events was defined as the first-time rain rate reaching 3 mm/hours, a typical value of the beginning of convective rainfall events. Interestingly, during rainfall events, there is a significant injection of O3 above and inside the canopy, and at this moment, its concentrations can increase by 300%. At the same time, NO decreases, and NO2 increases its concentration, suggesting a reaction between NO and O3 forming NO2. The concentration of NO2 follows the increase in particle concentration smaller than 20nm. This result opens new perspectives on the role of new particle formation related to rain and vertical mixing in the Amazon.

The study of moral judgements often centres on moral dilemmas in which options consistent with deontological perspectives (that is, emphasizing rules, individual rights and duties) are in conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (that is, following the greater good based on consequences). Greene et al. (2009) showed that psychological and situational factors (for example, the intent of the agent or the presence of physical contact between the agent and the victim) can play an important role in moral dilemma judgements (for example, the trolley problem). Our knowledge is limited concerning both the universality of these effects outside the United States and the impact of culture on the situational and psychological factors affecting moral judgements. Thus, we empirically tested the universality of the effects of intent and personal force on moral dilemma judgements by replicating the experiments of Greene et al. in 45 countries from all inhabited continents. We found that personal force and its interaction with intention exert influence on moral judgements in the US and Western cultural clusters, replicating and expanding the original findings. Moreover, the personal force effect was present in all cultural clusters, suggesting it is culturally universal. The evidence for the cultural universality of the interaction effect was inconclusive in the Eastern and Southern cultural clusters (depending on exclusion criteria). We found no strong association between collectivism/individualism and moral dilemma judgements. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Prosocial compensation (PC) is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice that involves donating money to a charitable cause on behalf of customers as a means to compensate them for their loss after a service failure. In order to determine the effectiveness of PC, we carried out three experiments while also comparing its effectiveness within private and public settings. Experiment 1 focused on the signaling effects of communicating the promise to offer PC to potential customers in the event of service failure. Results show that, in both private and public settings, PC has positive effects on corporate image, credibility, and word-of-mouth intent. More significantly, PC improved one’s CSR image, whereas more tangible compensation, such as a gift voucher, did not. Experiments 2A and 2B focused on the effects of offering PC after a service failure on perceptions of justice. Results show that PC contributes to perceived distributive justice, procedural justice, and post-recovery satisfaction in both private and public settings. Our study showed that PC could be a relevant new CSR practice for organizations wanting to enhance theirs CSR image while contributing to fulfilling their ethical and philanthropic CSR responsibilities. We discuss the implications of our findings and offer several avenues for follow-up research on this initial study on PC. ispartof: Journal Of Business Ethics vol:162 issue:1 pages:123-147 status: published

Vocal expression of emotions has been observed across species and could provide a non-invasive and reliable means to assess animal emotions. We investigated if pig vocal indicators of emotions revealed in previous studies are valid across call types and contexts, and could potentially be used to develop an automated emotion monitoring tool. We performed an analysis of an extensive and unique dataset of low (LF) and high frequency (HF) calls emitted by pigs across numerous commercial contexts from birth to slaughter (7414 calls from 411 pigs). Our results revealed that the valence attributed to the contexts of production (positive versus negative) affected all investigated parameters in both LF and HF. Similarly, the context category affected all parameters. We then tested two different automated methods for call classification; a neural network revealed much higher classification accuracy compared to a permuted discriminant function analysis (pDFA), both for the valence (neural network: 91.5%; pDFA analysis weighted average across LF and HF (cross-classified): 61.7% with a chance level at 50.5%) and context (neural network: 81.5%; pDFA analysis weighted average across LF and HF (cross-classified): 19.4% with a chance level at 14.3%). These results suggest that an automated recognition system can be developed to monitor pig welfare on-farm.

Purpose In patients with open tibial fractures, bone and wound infections are associated with an increased hospital length of stay and higher costs. The infection risk increases with the use of implants. Innovations to reduce this risk include antibiotic-coated implants. This study models whether the use of a gentamicin-coated intramedullary tibial nail is cost-effective for trauma centers managing patients with a high risk of infection. Efficacy Absolute infection risk and relative risk reduction, by fracture grade, for antibiotic-coated nails compared to standard nails for patients with open tibial fractures were estimated based on the results of a meta-analysis, which assessed the additional benefit of locally-administered prophylactic antibiotics in open tibia fractures treated with implants. The observed efficacy of antibiotic-coated nails in reducing infections was applied in an economic model. Methods The model compared infection rates, inpatient days, theatre usage and costs in high risk patients, with a Gustilo-Anderson (GA) grade III open fracture, for two patient cohorts from a trauma center perspective, with a 1-year time horizon. In one cohort all GAIII patients received a gentamicin-coated nail whilst GAI and GAII patients received a standard nail. All patients in the comparator cohort received a standard nail. Four European trauma centers provided patient-level data (n=193) on inpatient days, procedures and related costs for patients with and without infections. Results Using the gentamicin-coated nail in patients at high risk of infection (GAIII) was associated with 75% lower rate of infection and cost savings (€477 - €3.263) for all included centers; the higher cost of the implant was offset by savings from fewer infections, inpatient days (-26%) and re-operations (-10%). This result was confirmed by extensive sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Analyses demonstrated that infection rates and total costs for in-hospital treatment could be potentially reduced by 75% and up to 15% respectively, by using a gentamicin-coated nail in patients at high risk of infection. Fewer infections, reduced inpatient days and re-operations may be potentially associated with use of antibiotic-coated implants. Results are sensitive to the underlying infection risk, with greatest efficacy and cost-savings when the coated implant is used in high risk patients.

Transgressions committed by employees of non-profit (vs. of for-profit) organizations seem to be judged more harshly by the public. This research studies the underlying process of this relationship. We show that organizational stereotypes of morality and warmth “rub-off” from organizations to individuals affiliated with them (Study 1, N = 297). We show that stereotypes of morality and warmth predict expected communal sharing and market pricing behaviour. (Study 2, N = 300). Next, we identify downstream effects of this stereotype rub-off effect in case of transgressions. We show that communal sharing expectations elicit greater perceived expectancy violation and consequently higher punishment when employees commit transgressions (Study 3, N = 402). In sum, as a result of high perceived morality and warmth and subsequent expectations of communal sharing, transgressions of employees affiliated with non-profit organizations prompt increased expectancy violation in observers, leading to harsher punishment. Our findings have important implications for public relations management of non-profit organizations.