University of Oklahoma

About: University of Oklahoma is a education organization based out in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Radar. The organization has 25269 authors who have published 52609 publications receiving 1821706 citations. The organization is also known as: OU & Oklahoma University.

A Model of Future-Oriented Motivation and Self-Regulation

Abstract: This article presents a theoretically grounded model of motivation and self-regulation that places personally valued future goals at its core. We attempt to integrate two lines of theorizing and research that have been relatively independent of one another: the social–cognitive perspective on self-regulation (e.g., Bandura, A., 1986) and theories of more future-oriented self-regulation (e.g., Markus, H., and Nurius, P., Am. Psychol. 41: 954–969, 1986; 1986; Nutin, J., Motivation, Planning, and Action: A Relational Theory of Behavior Dynamics, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1984; Raynor, J. O., Motivation and Achievement, Winston, & Sons, New York, Chap. 7, pp. 121–154, 1974). We argue that personally valued future goals influence proximal self-regulation through their impact in the development of proximal subgoals leading to future goal attainment. The development of a system of proximal subgoals increases the likelihood that proximal tasks are perceived as instrumental to attaining future goals. Proximal tasks that are perceived as instrumental to reaching personally valued future goals have greater overall incentive value and meaning than proximal tasks lacking this instrumental relationship, and their impact on task engagement is correspondingly greater. Research supporting these claims is reviewed and the implications of this model of future-oriented self-regulation for research and intervention are discussed.

Insights into evolution of multicellular fungi from the assembled chromosomes of the mushroom Coprinopsis cinerea (Coprinus cinereus)

Abstract: The mushroom Coprinopsis cinerea is a classic experimental model for multicellular development in fungi because it grows on defined media, completes its life cycle in 2 weeks, produces some 10(8) synchronized meiocytes, and can be manipulated at all stages in development by mutation and transformation. The 37-megabase genome of C. cinerea was sequenced and assembled into 13 chromosomes. Meiotic recombination rates vary greatly along the chromosomes, and retrotransposons are absent in large regions of the genome with low levels of meiotic recombination. Single-copy genes with identifiable orthologs in other basidiomycetes are predominant in low-recombination regions of the chromosome. In contrast, paralogous multicopy genes are found in the highly recombining regions, including a large family of protein kinases (FunK1) unique to multicellular fungi. Analyses of P450 and hydrophobin gene families confirmed that local gene duplications drive the expansions of paralogous copies and the expansions occur in independent lineages of Agaricomycotina fungi. Gene-expression patterns from microarrays were used to dissect the transcriptional program of dikaryon formation (mating). Several members of the FunK1 kinase family are differentially regulated during sexual morphogenesis, and coordinate regulation of adjacent duplications is rare. The genomes of C. cinerea and Laccaria bicolor, a symbiotic basidiomycete, share extensive regions of synteny. The largest syntenic blocks occur in regions with low meiotic recombination rates, no transposable elements, and tight gene spacing, where orthologous single-copy genes are overrepresented. The chromosome assembly of C. cinerea is an essential resource in understanding the evolution of multicellularity in the fungi.