The cerebellum has been proposed to be a crucial component in the state estimation process that combines information from motor efferent and sensory afferent signals to produce a representation of ...the current state of the motor system. Such a state estimate of the moving human arm would be expected to be used when the arm is rapidly and skillfully reaching to a target. We now report the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the ipsilateral cerebellum as healthy humans were made to interrupt a slow voluntary movement to rapidly reach towards a visually defined target. Errors in the initial direction and in the final finger position of this reach-to-target movement were significantly higher for cerebellar stimulation than they were in control conditions. The average directional errors in the cerebellar TMS condition were consistent with the reaching movements being planned and initiated from an estimated hand position that was 138 ms out of date. We suggest that these results demonstrate that the cerebellum is responsible for estimating the hand position over this time interval and that TMS disrupts this state estimate.
Hypocrisy is usually understood as inconsistencies between talk and action. Most research on hypocrisy in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) tends to evaluate such inconsistencies ...in the immediate present, thus disregarding the temporal dynamics of hypocrisy, that is, what hypocrisy might do to organizations and society over time. Taking our point of departure in a performative notion of communication, we present time as an important intervening factor in talk-action relationships. Specifically, we base our discussion on a reflexive conception of time according to which dimensions of the past and the future are inevitably reflected in the ongoing present. On this backdrop, we propose four temporal modes of hypocrisy: aspiration, deferment, evasion, and re-narration. Applying our discussion to the context of CSR, we consider in each mode the performative potential of hypocrisy beyond the immediate presence.
In this letter, the fiber-optic communication channel with a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) input constellation is treated. Using probabilistic shaping, we show that high-order QAM ...constellations can achieve and slightly exceed the lower bound on the channel capacity, set by ring constellations. We then propose a mapping function for turbo-coded bit-interleaved coded modulation based on optimization of the mutual information between the channel input and output. Using this mapping, spectral efficiency as high as 6.5 bits/s/Hz/polarization is achieved on a simulated single channel long-haul fiber-optical link excluding the pilot overhead, used for synchronization, and taking into account frequency and phase mismatch impairments, as well as laser phase noise and analog-to-digital conversion quantization impairments. The simulations suggest that major improvements can be expected in the achievable rates of optical networks with high-order QAM.
CSR as aspirational talk Christensen, Lars Thøger; Morsing, Mette; Thyssen, Ole
Organization (London, England),
05/2013, Letnik:
20, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Most writings on corporate social responsibility (CSR) treat lack of consistency between organizational CSR talk and action as a serious problem that needs to be eliminated. In this article, we argue ...that differences between words and action are not necessarily a bad thing and that such discrepancies have the potential to stimulate CSR improvements. We draw on a research tradition that regards communication as performative to challenge the conventional assumption that CSR communication is essentially superficial, as opposed to CSR action. In addition, we extend notions of organizational hypocrisy to argue that aspirational CSR talk may be an important resource for social change, even when organizations do not fully live up to their aspirations.
Transparency has achieved a mythical status in society. Myths are not false accounts or understandings, but deep-seated and definitive descriptions of the world that ontologically ground the ways in ...which we frame and see the world around us. We explore the mythical nature of transparency from this perspective, explain its social-historical underpinnings and discuss its influence on contemporary organizations. In doing so, we also theorize in a more general sense about the relationship between myth, as a foundational understanding and description of the world, and the constellation of metaphors, as specific ways of framing and seeing organizational reality, to which it gives rise. While observations and evidence can always be adduced to challenge a particular set of metaphors, the endogenous force of the myth may sustain the overall project. This process is explained with a detailed analysis of the transparency myth.
The current emphasis on organizational transparency signifies a growing demand for insight, clarity, accountability, and participation. Holding the promise of improved access to valid and trustworthy ...knowledge about organizations, the transparency pursuit has great potential for enhanced organizational effectiveness and widened democratic practice. Yet, with its most common operationalization, as information, transparency reinstalls a “purified” notion of communication devoid of mystery, inaccuracy, and (mis)representation. We apply transparency to itself by unpacking its implicit model of communication and critiquing its obliviousness to the representative nature of transparency‐related messages and the attendant complexities of motivation. This critique interrogates the ambiguities and ambivalence of the transparency pursuit and demonstrates how the goals of organizational transparency are counteracted by new types of opacity.
How does the pursuit of transparency and insight have a tendency to produce secrecy? And vice versa? In popular and political discourse, secrecy and transparency are usually depicted as mutually ...exclusive practices. At the same time, we know from extant research that the two are closely related, that they each have performative effects, and tend to encroach on each other. The inseparability and performative dynamics between the two, however, remains to be unfolded. This critical essay revisits the secrecy–transparency relationship through the lens of Edgar Morin’s dialogical principle. From this perspective, we argue that secrecy–transparency dialogics perform as a complex whole, involving both complementary and antagonistic forces. As an illustration of dialogic performativity, we draw on the phenomenon and practice of “open meetings” in public sector organizations. Specifically, we argue that the ambiguous fascination with knowing and not knowing create conditions for simulated insight and self-imposed conformity in ways that recalibrate the relationship between transparency and secrecy. On this background, we call for renewed critical and reflexive engagement with the transparency ideal and its presumed antipode, secrecy.
Female age-related estrogen deficiency increases the risk of osteoporosis, which can be effectively treated with the use of hormone replacement therapy. However, hormone replacement therapy is ...demonstrated to increase cancer risk. Bioavailable isoflavones with selective estrogen receptor affinity show potential to prevent and treat osteoporosis while minimizing or eliminating carcinogenic side effects.
In this study, we sought to determine the beneficial effects of a bioavailable isoflavone and probiotic treatment against postmenopausal osteopenia.
We used a novel red clover extract (RCE) rich in isoflavone aglycones and probiotics to concomitantly promote uptake and a favorable intestinal bacterial profile to enhance isoflavone bioavailability. This was a 12-mo, double-blind, parallel design, placebo-controlled, randomized controlled trial of 78 postmenopausal osteopenic women supplemented with calcium (1200 mg/d), magnesium (550 mg/d), and calcitriol (25 μg/d) given either RCE (60 mg isoflavone aglycones/d and probiotics) or a masked placebo control (CON).
RCE significantly attenuated bone mineral density (BMD) loss at the L2–L4 lumbar spine vertebra (P < 0.05), femoral neck (P < 0.01), and trochanter (P < 0.01) compared with CON (−0.99% and −2.2%; −1.04% and −3.05%; and −0.67% and −2.79, respectively). Plasma concentrations of collagen type 1 cross-linked C-telopeptide was significantly decreased in the RCE group (P < 0.05) compared with CON (−9.40% and −6.76%, respectively). RCE significantly elevated the plasma isoflavone concentration (P < 0.05), the urinary 2-hydroxyestrone (2-OH) to 16α-hydroxyestrone (16α-OH) ratio (P < 0.05), and equol-producer status (P < 0.05) compared with CON. RCE had no significant effect on other bone turnover biomarkers. Self-reported diet and physical activity were consistent and differences were nonsignificant between groups throughout the study. RCE was well tolerated with no adverse events.
Twice daily RCE intake over 1 y potently attenuated BMD loss caused by estrogen deficiency, improved bone turnover, promoted a favorable estrogen metabolite profile (2-OH:16α-OH), and stimulated equol production in postmenopausal women with osteopenia. RCE intake combined with supplementation (calcium, magnesium, and calcitriol) was more effective than supplementation alone. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02174666.
The theory and practice of corporate communication is usually driven by other disciplinary concerns than the field of organizational communication. However, its particular mind-set focusing on ...wholeness and consistency in corporate messages increasingly influence the domain of contemporary organizational communication as well. We provide a formative and critical review of research on corporate communication as a platform for highlighting crucial intersections with select research traditions in organizational communication to argue for a greater integration between these two areas of research. Following this review, we relax the assumptions underlying traditional corporate communication research and show how these dimensions interact in organizational and communication analysis, thus, demonstrating the potential for a greater cross-fertilization between the two areas of research. This cross-fertilization, as we will illustrate, enriches the theorization of corporate and organizational communication and may better link micro- and macro level analyses.
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