University of Houston

About: University of Houston is a education organization based out in Houston, Texas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 23074 authors who have published 53903 publications receiving 1641968 citations.

Implicit theories of relationships: Assessment and prediction of romantic relationship initiation, coping, and longevity.

Abstract: Belief in romantic destiny holds that potential relationship partners are either meant for each other or they are not. As hypothesized, a longitudinal study of romantic relationships revealed that the relation between initial satisfaction and relationship longevity was stronger for those who believe in romantic destiny. In addition, belief in destiny was associated with avoidance coping strategies in dealing with relationship stressors, and with taking more responsibility for ending the relationship. Belief in growth independently holds that successful relationships are cultivated and developed, and was associated with long-term approaches to dating, relationship-maintaining coping strategies and, once the relationship had ended, disagreeing that it seemed wrong from the beginning. Implications and future research avenues are discussed. Individuals have different beliefs about what makes for a good relationship (Fletcher & Kininmonth, 1992; Fletcher & Thomas, 1996). Indeed, the area of social cognition in close relationships continues to thrive, and relationship beliefs and knowledge structures have become a major focus (Berscheid, 1994; Fletcher & Fincham, 1991; Fletcher & Fitness, 1993). In addition, researchers are continually being urged to consider more fully the impact of cognition on relationships , and vice versa (Baldwin, 1992; Fiske, 1992; Ickes & Gonzales, 1996; Kenny, 1994; Reis & Knee, 1996; Schneider, 1991). One type of knowledge structure that has garnered much attention in the achievement and social judgment literatures, but no attention from relationship researchers, is the construct of implicit theories (Dweck, 1996; Dweck, Chiu, & Hong, 1995; Dweck, Hong, & Chiu, 1993). Implicit theories distinguish between the belief that attributes are fixed (or destined) and the belief that attributes are developed (or grown). These implicit theories can take on fascinating meaning when applied to relationships in that one can believe that relationships are destined and that relationships are characterized by growth. The present research examined how destiny and growth beliefs influence the initiation, coping, and longevity of romantic relationships.

A population study on changes in wave aberrations with accomodation

Abstract: Wave aberrations were measured with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWS) in the right eye of a large young adult population when accommodative demands of 0, 3, and 6 D were presented to the tested eye through a Badal system. Three SHWS images were recorded at each accommodative demand and wave aberrations were computed over a 5-mm pupil (through 6th order Zernike polynomials). The accommodative response was calculated from the Zernike defocus over the central 3-mm diameter zone. Among all individual Zernike terms, spherical aberration showed the greatest change with accommodation. The change of spherical aberration was always negative, and was proportional to the change in accommodative response. Coma and astigmatism also changed with accommodation, but the direction of the change was variable. Despite the large inter-subject variability, the population average of the root mean square for all aberrations (excluding defocus) remained constant for accommodative levels up to 3.0 D. Even though aberrations change with accommodation, the magnitude of the aberration change remains less than the magnitude of the uncorrected aberrations, even at high accommodative levels. Therefore, a typical eye will benefit over the entire accommodative range (0-6 D) if aberrations are corrected for distance viewing.

Time and Organizational Improvisation

Abstract: We argue that effective management action is impeded by a simplistic understanding of time—one dominated by a clock-time perspective. Using the concept of improvisation, we reconcile two major time dichotomies associated with organizational phenomena: clock time versus event time and linear time versus cyclical time. We propose that improvisation offers a means for management theorists and practictioners to overcome these apparent time dichotomies.

Tuning the carrier scattering mechanism to effectively improve the thermoelectric properties

Abstract: A high thermoelectric power factor not only enables a potentially high figure of merit ZT but also leads to a large output power density, and hence it is pivotal to find an effective route to improve the power factor. Previous reports on the manipulation of carrier scattering mechanisms (e.g. ionization scattering) were mainly focused on enhancing the Seebeck coefficient. In contrast, here we demonstrate that by tuning the carrier scattering mechanism in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials, it is possible to noticeably improve the Hall mobility, from ∼19 to ∼77 cm2 V−1 s−1, and hence substantially increase the power factor by a factor of 3, from ∼5 to ∼15 μW cm−1 K−2. The enhancement in mobility is mainly due to the reason that ionization scattering has been converted into mixed scattering between ionization and acoustic phonon scattering, which less effectively scatters the carriers. The strategy of tuning the carrier scattering mechanism to improve the mobility should be widely applicable to various material systems for achieving better thermoelectric performance.