University of Rhode Island

About: University of Rhode Island is a education organization based out in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Bay. The organization has 11464 authors who have published 22770 publications receiving 841066 citations. The organization is also known as: URI & Rhode Island College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.

Social influence processes and college student drinking: the mediational role of alcohol outcome expectancies

Abstract: Objective: Social influences are among the most robust predictors of adolescent substance use and misuse. Studies with early adolescent samples have supported the need to distinguish among various types of social influences to better delineate relations between social factors and alcohol use and problems. Method: The first major goal of the present study (N = 399, 263 women) was to examine unique relations between particular facets of social influence and alcohol use and problems in a relatively heavy-drinking population (i.e., college students). We hypothesized that active social influences (offers to drink alcohol) and passive social influences (social modeling and perceived norms) would demonstrate positive associations with measures of alcohol use and problems. We also tested the hypothesis that alcohol outcome expectancies would mediate associations between social influences and drinking behaviors. Results: Structural equation modeling analyses provided strong support for the first hypothesis. Social...

Comparative Genomic Analysis of the Class Epsilonproteobacteria and Proposed Reclassification to Epsilonbacteraeota (phyl. nov.)

Abstract: The Epsilonproteobacteria is the fifth validly described class of the phylum Proteobacteria, known primarily for clinical relevance and for chemolithotrophy in various terrestrial and marine environments, including deep-sea hydrothermal vents. As 16S rRNA gene repositories have expanded and protein marker analysis become more common, the phylogenetic placement of this class has become less certain. A number of recent analyses of the bacterial tree of life using both 16S rRNA and concatenated marker gene analyses have failed to recover the Epsilonproteobacteria as monophyletic with all other classes of Proteobacteria. In order to address this issue, we investigated the phylogenetic placement of this class in the bacterial domain using 16S and 23S rRNA genes, as well as 120 single-copy marker proteins. Single- and concatenated-marker trees were created using a data set of 4,170 bacterial representatives, including 98 Epsilonproteobacteria. Phylogenies were inferred under a variety of tree building methods, with sequential jackknifing of outgroup phyla to ensure robustness of phylogenetic affiliations under differing combinations of bacterial genomes. Based on the assessment of nearly 300 phylogenetic tree topologies, we conclude that the continued inclusion of Epsilonproteobacteria within the Proteobacteria is not warranted, and that this group should be reassigned to a novel phylum for which we propose the name Epsilonbacteraeota (phyl. nov.). We further recommend the reclassification of the order Desulfurellales (Deltaproteobacteria) to a novel class within this phylum and a number of subordinate changes to ensure consistency with the genome-based phylogeny. Phylogenomic analysis of 658 genomes belonging to the newly proposed Epsilonbacteraeota suggests that the ancestor of this phylum was an autotrophic, motile, thermophilic chemolithotroph that likely assimilated nitrogen from ammonium taken up from the environment or generated from environmental nitrate and nitrite by employing a variety of functional redox modules. The emergence of chemoorganoheterotrophic lifestyles in several Epsilonbacteraeota families is the result of multiple independent losses of various ancestral chemolithoautotrophic pathways. Our proposed reclassification of this group resolves an important anomaly in bacterial systematics and ensures that the taxonomy of Proteobacteria remains robust, specifically as genome-based taxonomies become more common.

Work Motivation: The Incorporation of Self-Concept-Based Processes

Abstract: This paper proposes a metatheory of work motivation incorporating theories of self-concept that have been proposed in the sociological and psychological literatures. Traditional theories of work motivation are reviewed, and the selfconcept-based sources of motivation are presented. How the self-concept influences behavior in organizations is explained and used to develop a metatheory of motivational sources. Both research and managerial implications of the model are presented.