Texas Christian University

About: Texas Christian University is a education organization based out in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 3245 authors who have published 8258 publications receiving 282216 citations. The organization is also known as: TCU & Texas Christian University, TCU.

Spectro-photometric distances to stars: a general-purpose Bayesian approach

Abstract: We developed a code that estimates distances to stars using measured spectroscopic and photometric quantities. We employ a Bayesian approach to build the probability distribution function over stellar evolutionary models given these data, delivering estimates of model parameters for each star individually. The code was first tested on simulations, successfully recovering input distances to mock stars with <1% bias.The method-intrinsic random distance uncertainties for typical spectroscopic survey measurements amount to around 10% for dwarf stars and 20\% for giants, and are most sensitive to the quality of $\log g$ measurements. The code was validated by comparing our distance estimates to parallax measurements from the Hipparcos mission for nearby stars (< 300 pc), to asteroseismic distances of CoRoT red giant stars, and to known distances of well-studied open and globular clusters. The external comparisons confirm that our distances are subject to very small systematic biases with respect to the fundamental Hipparcos scale (+0.4 % for dwarfs, and +1.6% for giants). The typical random distance scatter is 18% for dwarfs, and 26% for giants. For the CoRoT-APOGEE sample, the typical random distance scatter is ~15%, both for the nearby and farther data. Our distances are systematically larger than the CoRoT ones by about +9%, which can mostly be attributed to the different choice of priors. The comparison to known distances of star clusters from SEGUE and APOGEE has led to significant systematic differences for many cluster stars, but with opposite signs, and with substantial scatter. Finally, we tested our distances against those previously determined for a high-quality sample of giant stars from the RAVE survey, again finding a small systematic trend of +5% and an rms scatter of 30%.

An examination of the antecedents and consequences of organizational IT innovation in hospitals

Abstract: The healthcare industry is widely recognized as information-intensive and IT is considered to be an intrinsic component of the success of healthcare organizations such as hospitals. While both researchers and practitioners have argued that hospitals should aspire to be IT innovators, most tend to be IT laggards. An understanding of the factors that drive hospitals to become IT innovators remains an important phenomenon of interest. However, there is a lack of theory-driven empirical research that systematically investigates the factors that influence a hospital's strategic choice to be an IT innovator and the influence of IT innovation on hospital performance. This study bridges the extant gaps in the literature by developing and testing an integrated model that seeks to understand why certain hospitals are IT innovators. Using IT innovation theory as our theoretical foundation, we examine three antecedents, including the chief information officer (CIO) strategic leadership, the top management team's (TMT) attitude toward IT, and the hospital's climate. Further, we examine the influence of IT innovation on the impact of IT within the hospital and the influence of IT impact on the hospital's financial performance. The research model was tested using both survey and archival data from 70 matched pairs of hospital CIOs and executives. The quantitative analysis is supplemented with by interviews with 10 participating CIOs to further examine the relationship of the CIO to hospital IT innovation. The results suggest that the CIO strategic leadership and the TMT's attitude toward IT are key factors that influence IT innovation; however, the influence of a hospital's climate on organizational IT innovation is contingent upon the CIO's level of strategic leadership. The results also suggest that hospitals that are IT innovators can generate greater impact from IT, which in turn results in greater performance for the hospital. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions are discussed.

The Advanced Placement Expansion of the 1990s:How Did Traditionally Underserved Students Fare?

Abstract: The College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Program, which allows students to take college-level courses while in high school, enjoyed tremendous growth in the 1990s. Despite overall growth, small rural schools and high poverty schools continue to offer relatively few AP courses, and black, Hispanic, and low income students remain grossly underrepresented in AP classes. During the 1990s, AP incentive programs primarily subsidized test fees for low income students, but this provided no incentive for low income and rural schools to expand their AP course offerings and did nothing to strengthen the weak academic preparation of low income, black and Hispanic students. Recent federal funding changes provide a step in the right direction by supporting a comprehensive approach to increasing the AP access and participation of traditionally underserved students.

Cause-Related Marketing: An Exploratory Study of Campaign Donation Structures Issues

Abstract: Over the past decade, cause-related marketing (CRM) has become a popular and unique promotional tool for brands. Academic research indicates outcomes of such campaigns are generally positive for all stakeholders. Consumers feel they are making a difference, firms benefit from improved public image and increased sales, and the cause or nonprofit organization receives increased publicity and funding. However, there are ethical issues involved when linking a firm with a nonprofit organization as well as potential negatives (Smith and Stodghill 1994; Andreasan 1996; Meyer 1999; Polonsky and Wood 2001). An exploratory research study was undertaken to understand the impact of the structural elements of cause-related marketing campaigns, including how the donation is quantified, the size of the donation relative to the price of the product, the presence of donation deadlines and caps, and the level of promotion used to publicize the campaign. Findings suggest that the structural elements of cause-relate...