Internet of Things and Their Coming Perspectives: A Real Options Approach

Internet of things is developing at a dizzying rate, and companies are forced to implement it in order to maintain their operational efficiency. The high flexibility inherent to these technologies makes it necessary to apply an appropriate measure, which properly assesses risks and rewards. Real options methodology is available as a tool which fits the conditions, both economic and strategic, under which investment in internet of things technologies is developed. The contribution of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it offers an adequate tool to assess the strategic value of investment in internet of things technologies. On the other hand, it tries to raise awareness among managers of internet of things technologies because of their potential to contribute to economic and social progress. The results of the research described in this paper highlight the importance of taking action as quickly as possible if companies want to obtain the best possible performance. In order to enhance the understanding of internet of things technologies investment, this paper provides a methodology to assess the implementation of internet of things technologies by using the real options approach; in particular, the option to expand has been proposed for use in the decision-making process

Visualisation of Perception of Experiential Activities in Business and Administration and Economy

This paper explores how to incorporate information visualization tools into qualitative studies to represent the underlying structure of knowledge. Information visualization plays a key role in many areas such as decision-making, data mining, market studies, or knowledge management. A case of experiential learning was developed for Quantitative Techniques in Business and Administration and Economy Degrees at the University of Granada, Spain. The goal is to analyze the opinion of students (n = 227) on the development of the activity through information visualization techniques. The gathered information was subjected to a categorization process to unify and homogenize the responses. After a term-clumping process, a co-word analysis using the VosViewer software is used to analyze the relationships among terms and provide the network maps. Results display the main associations and clusters of terms used when assessing the experiential activity, using qualitative techniques. In conclusion, the strengths of data visualization enabling a better understanding of data for qualitative studies are established

Actions of the entreprise’s social responsibility.Does it attract, retain and motivate theintellectual capital of the company?

[Resumo] Este artigo establece, a través dunha investigación de campo, a importancia da implantación da responsabilidade social nas empresas co fin de estas reteren o seu capital intelectual. A fugade cerebros e a retención do talento é arestora un tema de actualidade que preocupa as grandes entidades, as cales intentan motivar, atraer e reter o seu know how para lograren desta forma posicionarse como líderes no seu sector ou nicho de mercado. Para isto, implementan dentro das súas políticas a responsabilidade social empresarial, con accións que varían en función da xeración a que pertence o seu cadro de persoal e que se relacionan neste estudo.[Abstract] This article establishes the importance of the implantation of the enterprise social responsibility in the companies to retain its intellectual capital through a field research. The brain drain and the retention of talent, are very current subjects and a concern for the big companies, that try to motivate, to attract and to retain its know how and thus to position themselves as the leader sin its sector or niche of market. For this reason, they implement enterprise social responsibility within their policies, with actions that vary based on the generation to which their group belongs and that is related in this study

Subtraction: More than an Algorithm?

[EN] One of the aims of compulsory education is for students to adequately handle basic maths, owing to its importance in their future professional and personal lives. However, mechanical knowledge of an algorithm may not be sufficient to train future citizens with critical and creative thinking if it is not accompanied by a comprehensive understanding of the concept. In this regard, existing research shows that a high percentage of students in primary education commit errors when they attempt subtraction. However, little is known about whether adults perform the same calculations correctly. In this context, 535 university students completed a questionnaire composed of 20 subtractions. The results showed that only one quarter of respondents performed the subtractions correctly. Analysis of error type showed that the most frequent mistakes corresponded to the systematic errors made by primary-level students. This may indicate that the types of errors committed during early learning persist over time, implying that subtraction may not have been adequately taught. New educational approaches and initiatives are required to encourage the teaching and learning of subtraction in a more reasoned and critical manner during early learning

Rapid antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 and primary health care

Carta al editor[EN] Rapid antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 and primary health careS

El Museo del Mar de Santa Pola. Su historia y colecciones

El Museo del Mar de Santa Pola, creado en 1982, tiene su sede en el Castillo-Fortaleza, construido en el siglo XVI para protección del puerto. Su exposición permanente tiene como objetivo la divulgación del patrimonio marítimo, vinculado a la historia y forma de vida de la población de Santa Pola. El mar y sus actividades articulan el discurso museográfico, el cual se desarrolla de forma lineal permitiendo al usuario hacer un recorrido que abarca desde la prehistoria hasta nuestros días. La mayoría de sus fondos los constituyen las colecciones de Arqueología y Etnografía, que se muestran al público mediante recreación histórica, ambientaciones y audiovisuales que nos aproximan a la historia de la Villa. La investigación arqueológica y etnográfica y el programa científico y didáctico constituyen los pilares fundamentales del Centro. Otros aspectos relevantes son la conservación, la comunicación, la seguridad y la programación periódica de exposiciones temporales

Social networks and open innovation: business academic productivity

Is there any type of relationship between the academic productivity of business researchers and their social networking activity? What does this mean in terms of open innovation? With these objectives, in this paper we have focused on the Technology Acceptance Model and the concept of performativity, filling the gap that exists in the current scientific literature. At the empirical level, we carried out a review of 211 articles from the Web of Science (SSCI), obtaining a total set of 12,939 data points. Our statistical model has showed a clear symbiotic relationship between productivity in Google Scholar and presence in ResearchGate. Furthermore, researchers with a greater presence on LinkedIn or Twitter have low Google Scholar or Web of Science h-indices. We concluded that there is currently a dissociation between academic and professional online networks, something that does not help the applicability of research in business and society, the enduring aim of any search for knowledge. Information Science can play an important role in helping to bridge the gap between academia and the real world. Furthermore, in order to contribute to enhancing the role of universities in open innovation practices, it is essential to design and implement new tools such as online communities that stimulate interaction and facilitate network effects

Can We Treat Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's Disease?

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), considered the most common type of dementia, is characterized by a progressive loss of memory, visuospatial, language and complex cognitive abilities. In addition, patients often show comorbid depression and aggressiveness. Aging is the major factor contributing to AD; however, the initial cause that triggers the disease is yet unknown. Scientific evidence demonstrates that AD, especially the late onset of AD, is not the result of a single event, but rather it appears because of a combination of risk elements with the lack of protective ones. A major risk factor underlying the disease is neuroinflammation, which can be activated by different situations, including chronic pathogenic infections, prolonged stress and metabolic syndrome. Consequently, many therapeutic strategies against AD have been designed to reduce neuro-inflammation, with very promising results improving cognitive function in preclinical models of the disease. The literature is massive; thus, in this review we will revise the translational evidence of these early strategies focusing in anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory molecules and discuss their therapeutic application in humans. Furthermore, we review the preclinical and clinical data of nutraceutical application against AD symptoms. Finally, we introduce new players underlying neuroinflammation in AD: the activity of the endocannabinoid system and the intestinal microbiota as neuroprotectors. This review highlights the importance of a broad multimodal approach to treat successfully the neuroinflammation underlying AD

Role of Rapid Antigen Testing in Population-Based SARS-CoV-2 Screening

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).[EN] This study evaluates a population‐based screening of asymptomatic people, using a rapid antigen diagnostic test (RADT), in areas of high transmission. To detect sources of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, nasopharyngeal samples were taken and were tested using RADT. Confirmatory RT-qPCR tests were performed in both positive and negative cases. The internal validity of the RADT, the prevalence of infection, and the positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) were estimated, based on the percentages of confirmed cases with 95% confidence interval.. Of the 157,920 people registered, 50,492 participated in the screening; 50,052 were negative, and 440 were positive on the RADT (0.87%). A total of 221 positive RADT samples were reanalysed using RT-qPCR and 214 were confirmed as positive (96.8%; 95% CI: 93.5–98.7%), while 657 out of 660 negative RADT samples were confirmed as RT‐qPCR negative (99.5%; 95% CI 98.7–99.9%). The sensitivity obtained was 65.1% (38.4–90.2%) and the specificity was 99.97% (99.94–99.99%). The prevalence of infection was 1.30% (0.95–2.13%). The PPVs were 95.4% (85.9–98.9%) and 97.9% (93.3–99.5%), respectively, while the NPVs were 99.7% (99.4–100%) and 99.2% (98.7–100%), respectively. The high specificity found allow us to report a high screening performance in asymptomatic patients, even in areas where the prevalence of infection was less than 2%.SIThis research received no external funding.Authors are grateful the collaboration of the Primary Care Management and all workers and volunteers who participated in the screenings