York University

About: York University is a education organization based out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 18899 authors who have published 43357 publications receiving 1568560 citations.

The effect of hospital type and surgical delay on mortality after surgery for hip fracture

Abstract: Death during the first year after hip fracture may be influenced by the type of hospital in which patients are treated as well as the time spent awaiting surgery. We studied 57,315 hip fracture patients who were admitted to hospital in Ontario, Canada. Patients treated in teaching hospitals had a decreased risk of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio (OR) 0.89; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83 to 0.97) compared with those treated in urban community institutions. There was a trend toward increased mortality in rural rather than urban community hospitals. In-hospital mortality increased as the surgical delay increased (OR 1.13; 95% CI 1.10 to 1.16) for a one-day delay and higher (OR 1.60; 95% CI 1.42 to 1.80) for delays of more than two days. This relationship was strongest for patients younger than 70 years of age and with no comorbidities but was independent of hospital status. Similar relationships were seen at three months and one year after surgery. This suggests that any delay to surgery for non-medical reasons is detrimental to a patient's outcome.

The Level of Expressed Emotion Scale: a new measure of expressed emotion.

Abstract: The Level of Expressed Emotion (LEE) scale was developed to provide an index of the perceived emotional climate in a person's influential relationships. Unlike existing measures, the scale was constructed on the basis of a conceptual framework described by expressed emotion theorists. In addition to providing an overall score, the 60-item scale assesses the following four characteristic attitudes or response styles of significant others: Intrusiveness, emotional response, attitude toward illness, and tolerance/expectations. The scale underwent extensive psychometric development procedures: (1) theoretically based item generation; (2) pilot testing with normal and psychiatric populations to select the final items; and (3) construct validation within a schizophrenic population. The results were quite favorable and indicate that the LEE scale has sound psychometric properties of internal consistency; reliability; independence from sex, age, and amount of contacts; and construct validity.

Innovation and Risk-Taking in a Transitional Economy: A Comparative Study of Chinese Managers and Entrepreneurs

Abstract: This research was set in the People’s Republic of China. As former socialist China moves from central planning toward a more market-driven economy, improved knowledge about the new environment and firm decisions within such an environment has significant implications. For organizational researchers, such a transition represents a genuine shift of paradigm, and thus offers a unique opportunity to test existing organizational theories and develop new ones. For multinational businesses seeking business opportunities, they have to compete or cooperate with these Chinese firms, whether state-owned or privately owned. Motivated by a deep curiosity in, using the language of Williamson (1996), “What is going on there” behind the “bamboo curtain,” and underpinned by a strong conviction that organizational researchers have much to gain as well as to offer by focusing on transitional economies, I undertook this study to examine characteristics of a regulatory environment and the impact on innovation and risk-taking among Chinese managers and entrepreneurs. I collected original primary data that represents managers from large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and entrepreneurs from small privately-owned enterprises (POEs) through personal interviews and a survey. Significant differences were found between managers and entrepreneurs in their reported environmental characteristics, strategic orientations, size, and firm performance, indicating that managers are not as innovative and are less willing to make risky decisions than entrepreneurs. Being smaller and faster than SOEs, entrepreneurial firms have adopted some strategies that distinguish them from their larger and more established competitors. Speed, stealth, and sound execution allow entrepreneurs to harvest first-mover advantages and thus increase their chances for survival in a turbulent environment.

American Girl and the Brand Gestalt: Closing the Loop on Sociocultural Branding Research:

Abstract: This article describes an investigation of the American Girl brand that provides a more complete and holistic understanding of sociocultural branding. Recent research on emotional branding, together with prior work on brands' symbolic nature and their role as relationship partners, represents a significant shift in the way marketers think about brands and brand management. However, a full understanding of powerful and emotionally resonant brands has been elusive, in part because sociocultural branding knowledge has accumulated in a piecemeal way and lacks coherence and integrity. In addition, powerful brands are extraordinarily complex and multifaceted, but in general they have been studied from a single perspective in a single setting. On the basis of a qualitative exploration of the American Girl brand that is both deep and broad, the authors posit that an emotionally powerful brand is best understood as the product of a complex system, or gestalt, whose component parts are in continuous interp...

An investigation of gender and other variables on time to completion of doctoral degrees

Abstract: A sample of factors presumed relevant to thetime required to complete doctoral degrees (TTC) wasexplored in a survey of 154 recent graduates of NaturalScience, Social Science, and Humanities doctoral programs at York University. In addition to thevariables of gender and discipline, characteristics ofthe supervisory relationship, as well as the graduate'sfinancial situation and enrollment status, were investigated. On average, respondents took5.94 years to complete their degrees with students inthe Natural Sciences the fastest completers. Althoughthere were no significant gender differences in TTC, male graduates were more satisfied withtheir doctoral education overall and the quality ofsupervision they received (from both their supervisorsand their supervisory committees) than were females. Males were also more likely to collaborate withtheir supervisors in the preparation of research papers.With respect to financial support, respondents who wereslower completers reported receiving more years of teaching assistantships. Additionally,respondents from the Natural Sciences reported receivingmore years of teaching assistantships and researchassistantships than respondents from the other disciplines. A multiple regression analysisrevealed that the following combination of variablesaccounted for 30% of the variance in TTC: beginning thedissertation research early in the program, remaining with the original topic and supervisor, meetingfrequently with supervisor, and collaborating withsupervisor on conference papers.