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This article presents a conceptual model that systhesizes communication concepts and Adams' equity theory. Using a receiver-oriented approach, organizational communication has reward value that is subject to social comparisons. Judgments of equity and inequity in the receipt and evaluation of "salient messages" affect individual's perceptions of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction. (Author)

This article presents a conceptual model that synthesizes communication concepts and Adams' equity theory. Using a receiver-oriented approach, organizational communication is seen as having reward value that is subject to social comparisons. Judgments of equity and inequity in the receipt and evaluation of "salient messages" affect the individual's perceptions of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was reasoned that manifesting a "sense of humor" could elicit negative as well as positive responses from an audience, according to the reputation of the communicator. The results showed that when a communicator was reputed to be detached and aloof, reactions toward him tended to increase in positive magnitude with increases in manifest humor. When he was reputed to be "clownish," audience reactions toward the communicator were essentially the same regardless of the degree of humor manifested (F, linear interaction = 6.14; df = 1, 66; p < .025). Moreover, this effect was confined to a competence rating; liking for both communicators tended to increase slightly with increases in humor (F, linear interaction = 4.31; df = 1, 67; p < .05). The results were discussed in terms of their application to the attitude change-communicator credibility literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suggests that the time has come to develop ethical absolutes in business. Basic ethical considerations in individual economic institutions; Establishment of objectives by the Council of Better Business Bureaus Inc. to develop ethical guidelines for the society; Enforcement of truth in advertising through effective self-regulation in the advertising industry.

Huntington's disease is a devastating neurodegenerative genetic disorder that causes progressive motor dysfunction, emotional disturbances, and cognitive impairment. Unfortunately, there is no treatment to cure or slow the progression of the disease. Neuroinflammation is one hallmark of Huntington's disease, and modulation of neuroinflammation has been suggested as a potential target for therapeutic intervention. The relationship between neuroinflammation markers and the disease pathology is still poorly understood. To improve our understanding of neuroinflammation in Huntington's disease, we measured translocator protein (TSPO) expression using 11 C-PBR28 and simultaneous PET/MRI. Standardized-uptake-value ratios, normalized by whole brain uptake, were calculated for data acquired 60-90 min after radiotracer administration. We identified distinct patterns of regional neuroinflammation (as defined by TSPO overexpression relative to a control group) in the basal ganglia of Huntington's disease patients. These patterns were observed at the individual level in all patients, with region of interest analysis confirming significant differences between patients and the control group in the putamen and the pallidum. Additionally, we observed further distinct regional and subregional signatures, which may provide insights into phenotypical variability. For example, in certain Huntington's disease patients, we observed in vivo elevation of the level of TSPO binding in subnuclei in the thalamus and brainstem that have been previously associated with visual function, motor function, and motor coordination. Our main result is an objective score, based solely on 11 C-PBR28 measurements, that correlates well with measurements of brain atrophy. We conclude that PET/MR imaging using 11 C-PBR28 provides a high signal-to-background ratio and has the potential to be used to assess Huntington's disease progression. Our results suggest 11 C-PBR28 might prove useful in clinical trials evaluating therapies targeting neuroinflammation.

Predicting rice (Oryza sativa) productivity under future climates is important for global food security. Ecophysiological crop models in combination with climate model outputs are commonly used in yield prediction, but uncertainties associated with crop models remain largely unquantified. We evaluated 13 rice models against multi-year experimental yield data at four sites with diverse climatic conditions in Asia and examined whether different modeling approaches on major physiological processes attribute to the uncertainties of prediction to field measured yields and to the uncertainties of sensitivity to changes in temperature and CO2 concentration [CO2 ]. We also examined whether a use of an ensemble of crop models can reduce the uncertainties. Individual models did not consistently reproduce both experimental and regional yields well, and uncertainty was larger at the warmest and coolest sites. The variation in yield projections was larger among crop models than variation resulting from 16 global climate model-based scenarios. However, the mean of predictions of all crop models reproduced experimental data, with an uncertainty of less than 10% of measured yields. Using an ensemble of eight models calibrated only for phenology or five models calibrated in detail resulted in the uncertainty equivalent to that of the measured yield in well-controlled agronomic field experiments. Sensitivity analysis indicates the necessity to improve the accuracy in predicting both biomass and harvest index in response to increasing [CO2 ] and temperature., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)