DePaul University

About: DePaul University is a education organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 5658 authors who have published 11562 publications receiving 295257 citations.

Socially Responsible Investing: An Investor Perspective

Abstract: Given the growing importance of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), it is surprising that there is no consensus of what the term SRI means to an investor. Further, most studies of this question rely solely on the views of investors who already invest in SRI funds. Our study surveys a unique pool of approximately 5,000 investors that contains both investors who have used SRI criteria in investment decisions and those who have not, and involves a broad array of criteria associated with SR investing. Our findings offer new insight into the SRI debate. For both sets of investors, environmental and sustainability issues dominate as the major category associated with SR investing. We find strong agreement in the ranking of the relative importance of various SRI factors despite differences between these two groups in their opinion of their overall importance. We also find that investors prefer to consider the SRI question in more holistic terms rather than using the exclusionary format favored by most SRI funds. Investors seem to prefer to reward firms who display overall positive social behavior rather than to exclude firms on the basis of certain products or practices. These findings can help providers of SR investment vehicles to improve the SRI products that they offer to the general investor, thus both encouraging the initial adoption of SR criteria by investors and increasing overall investment in SR choices.

The milieu of managerial work: an integrative framework linking work context to role requirements.

Abstract: Theoretical and empirical efforts focusing on the interplay between work context and managerial role requirements have been conspicuously absent in the scholarly literature. This paucity exists despite over 60 years of research concerning the requirements of managerial work and with the rather universal recognition that work context meaningfully shapes organizational behavior. The authors developed a theoretical model linking different types of role requirements to different forms of work context. They empirically tested this framework with a nationally representative sample of 8,633 incumbents spanning 52 managerial occupations. Findings from hierarchical linear modeling analyses demonstrated that discrete forms of context (task, social, and physical) exert significant and predictable effects on managerial role requirements.

The structure of strontium-doped hydroxyapatite: an experimental and theoretical study

Abstract: First-principles modeling combined with experimental methods were used to study hydroxyapatite in which Sr2+ is substituted for Ca2+. Detailed analyses of cation–oxygen bond distributions, cation–cation distances, and site 1–oxygen polyhedron twist angles were made in order to provide an atomic-scale interpretation of the observed structural modifications. Density functional theory periodic band-structure calculations indicate that the Ca2+ to Sr2+ substitution induces strong local distortion on the hydroxyapatite lattice: the nearest neighbor Sr–O bond structures in both cationic sites are comparable to pure SrHA, while Sr induces more distortion at site 2 than site 1. Infrared vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis suggest increasing lattice disorder and loss of OH with increasing Sr content. Rietveld refinement of synchrotron X-ray diffraction patterns shows a preference for the Ca1 site at Sr concentrations below 1 at.%. The ideal statistical occupancy ratio Sr2/Sr1 = 1.5 is achieved for ∼5 at.%; for higher Sr concentrations occupation of the Ca2 site is progressively preferred.

Utilizing supporting evidence to improve dynamic requirements traceability

Abstract: Requirements traceability provides critical support throughout all phases of a software development project. However practice has repeatedly shown the difficulties involved in long term maintenance of traditional traceability matrices. Dynamic retrieval methods minimize the need for creating and maintaining explicit links and can significantly reduce the effort required to perform a manual trace. Unfortunately they suffer from recall and precision problems. This paper introduces three strategies for incorporating supporting information into a probabilistic retrieval algorithm in order to improve the performance of dynamic requirements traceability. The strategies include hierarchical modeling, logical clustering of artifacts, and semi-automated pruning of the probabilistic network. Experimental results indicate that enhancement strategies can be used effectively to improve trace retrieval results thereby increasing the practicality of utilizing dynamic trace retrieval methods.