The objective of this study was to determine an efficient way of detecting within-cultivar variation in rice varieties obtained from national and international germplasm collections. Seventy-one rice cultivars were evaluated for within-cultivar variation using a combination of phenotypic, RFLP, and microsatellite or simple sequence length polymorphism (SSLP). Variation between individuals within and accession and between duplicate accessions within a cultivar was detected even in cultivars that had been purified by phenotypic evaluation. Landrace cultivars were more heterogeneous and displayed a larger number of both RFLP and SSLP alleles than did modern cultivars. Microsatellite markers detected a greater number of alleles and were able to discriminate between even closely related individuals more efficiently than RFLPs. Some microsatellite markers were more informative than others for assessing genetic diversity. Single markers revealed 5.6-61.1% of the total variation detected by the 10 SSLP markers. Some marker combinations were complementary, providing more information than others. Several combinations of 4 SSLP markers detected as much as 94% of the total within-cultivar variation detected by the 10 SSLP markers. These results suggest that the use of four well-chosen microsatellites would be an efficient method for evaluating the heterogeneity of rice accessions.

Abstract:The current work explores the generalizability of a revised analysis of face and facework (Wilson, Aleman, & Leatham, 1998) by investigating the potential face threats that concern young adults as they seek to initiate, intensify, or end romantic relationships. Participants in Study 1 (N = 141 students) read three hypothetical scenarios in which they might attempt to (re)define a romantic relationship, and responded to open-ended questions regarding both parties' identity concerns and emotions. Emergent themes were utilized to develop a questionnaire assessing the extent to which participants in Study 2 (N = 274 students) associated unique potential face threats with initiating, intensifying, or ending romantic relationships, and varied what they said when pursuing these three goals in light of relevant potential face threats. Results indicated that people associate very specific sets of potential face threats with each of the three romantic (re)definition goals. This research advances understanding of how individuals utilize face-management strategies in romantic relationships and offers directions for future research.

Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT)—an explanation of the process and consequences of human symbolizing—has enjoyed popularity in communication studies but, in organizational communication, its appeal has declined, perhaps because of perceptions of its irrelevance to complex and contemporary concerns. To develop SCT’s appeal as well as its possible resurgence, this article rouses and redirects it. In rousing SCT, the article reviews its central statements, remembers its uses, and lays bare some weaknesses (i.e., explaining why humans narrate reality and share dramas, restrictive convergence assumptions, and restrictive assumptions about membership in rhetorical communities). In redirecting SCT, the article relaxes and complements its assumptions with ideas from organizational communication theories (i.e., sensemaking, power and politics, bona fide groups, and multiple identifications) and points a reinvigorated SCT toward exploring coalition action in response to leader behaviors at Harvard Business Review and the University of Colorado.

Employee upward influence for role changes implicates involvement in decision making, fit, and organizational functioning. Porter, Allen, and Angle’s framework is used to explore employee upward influence with supervisors during role change. Tactic selection is hypothesized to vary as a function of role change goals (i.e., magnitude of change and degree of personal and organizational benefit sought) and the quality of the leader-member exchange (LMX). Regression analyses of employee surveys (N = 128) indicate that employee goals (i.e., both personal and organizational) and the magnitude of role change interact to predict employee use of rationality and coalition. Furthermore, LMX and the magnitude of change interact to predict employee rationality. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Successful global health initiatives are executed on the recognition that globalization involves simultaneous pulls between global unification and fragmentation. This article responds to the need for more understanding of the role of fragmentation in global health initiatives through analyses of 52 northern Nigerian newspaper reports of the 2003-2004 northern Nigerian stoppage of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. By 2009 the stoppage had resulted in an epidemic in Nigeria and polio importations in 20 previously polio-free countries. Findings pointed to beliefs in contemporary forms of Western control and abuse through global organizations (nongovernmental organizations and for-profits), understandings of the "philanthropy" of the West and global organizations as self-serving and malevolent, and doubts about the polio vaccine product.