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

Probiotics Treatment Can Improve Cognition in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review

Background:In recent years, the existence of the gut-brain axis and the impact of intestinal microbiota on brain function has received much attention. Accumulated evidence has prompted the postulation of the infectious hypothesis underlying or facilitating neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Under this hypothesis, intervention with probiotics could be useful at a preventive and therapeutic level. Objective:The objective of this systematic review is to reveal a benefit of improved cognitive function following the use of probiotics in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Methods:We searched bibliographic databases and analyzed in detail the evidence and methodological quality of five recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials using the Cochrane Tool and the SIGN checklist. Results:Overall, and with satisfactory methodological quality, the evaluated studies support the use of probiotics as a weapon to slow the progression of cognitive decline in subjects with mild cognitive impairment. The reviewed literature also indicates that maximum benefit of probiotics is found in subjects with incipient cognitive dysfunction and has no effect in those with advanced disease or absence of disease. Conclusion:These results support the intervention with probiotics, especially as a preventive approach. However, caution is required in the interpretation of the results as microbiota has not been evaluated in all studies, and further large-scale research with a prolonged study period is necessary to ensure the translatability of the results into real practice

Teletrabajo y vida cotidiana : ventajas y dificultades para la conciliación de la vida laboral, personal y familiar

En este artículo discutimos si el teletrabajo constituye una estrategia de conciliación de la vida laboral, familiar y personal para las mujeres teletrabajadoras con cargas familiares. A través de nuestro análisis mostramos que el discurso de las mujeres entrevistadas sobre el teletrabajo no es homogéneo, compacto o lineal, sino que aparece plagado de contradicciones, paradojas y tensiones. Este hecho refuerza su enorme polisemia: libera y esclaviza, es una trampa y una oportunidad, realiza personalmente y puede significar una renuncia. Pero, a pesar de esta rica complejidad, nuestras entrevistadas están de acuerdo en una cuestión muy concreta: los riesgos y los posibles efectos perniciosos del teletrabajo no pueden ensombrecer ni su potencial laboral ni los beneficios que comporta de cara a conciliar su vida laboral, familiar, y sólo en algunos casos, personal.In this article we discuss whether telework constitutes a useful work-life balance strategy for women teleworkers with dependants. From our analysis we show that the discourse of the women interviewed about telework is not homogeneous, compact or linear, but includes plenty of contradictions, paradoxes and tensions. This fact reinforces telework's enormous polysemy: it liberates and enslaves, it is a trap and an opportunity, it fulfills and can mean self-sacrifice. But, despite this rich complexity, our women informants agree on one particular matter: telework's risks and possibly pernicious effects cannot hide either its advantages for work-life balance or the benefits it brings, at least in some cases, to one's personal life

Telework and daily life : its pros and cons for work-life balance

In this article we discuss whether telework constitutes a useful work-life balance strategy for women teleworkers with dependants. From our analysis we show that the discourse of the women interviewed about telework is not homogeneous, compact or linear, but includes plenty of contradictions, paradoxes and tensions. This fact reinforces telework’s enormous polysemy: it liberates and enslaves, it is a trap and an opportunity, it fulfills and can mean self-sacrifice. But, despite this rich complexity, our women informants agree on one particular matter: telework’s risks and possibly pernicious effects cannot hide either its advantages for work-life balance or the benefits it brings, at least in some cases, to one's personal life.En este artículo discutimos si el teletrabajo constituye una estrategia de conciliación de la vida laboral, familiar y personal para las mujeres teletrabajadoras con cargas familiares. A través de nuestro análisis mostramos que el discurso de las mujeres entrevistadas sobre el teletrabajo no es homogéneo, compacto o lineal, sino que aparece plagado de contradicciones, paradojas y tensiones. Este hecho refuerza su enorme polisemia: libera y esclaviza, es una trampa y una oportunidad, realiza personalmente y puede significar una renuncia. Pero, a pesar de esta rica complejidad, nuestras entrevistadas están de acuerdo en una cuestión muy concreta: los riesgos y los posibles efectos perniciosos del teletrabajo no pueden ensombrecer ni su potencial laboral ni los beneficios que comporta de cara a conciliar su vida laboral, familiar, y sólo en algunos casos, personal

Estudio de la especificidad de vías de insulina/IGF-1 en los patrones de arborización y señalización mediante el uso de virus asociados a adenovirus

Objetivo: Las vías de señalización de insulina y del factor de crecimiento insulínico tipo I(IGF-1) están involucradas en el control de la arborización dendrítica, señalización y crecimientocelular. Varios estudios han demostrado que déficits en estas vías están relacionadoscon trastornos cognitivos, tales como autismo, y con un elevado riesgo de sufrir demencia.Con tal de elucidar el papel exacto que tiene la señalización de insulina cerebral en las funcionesneuronales importantes para los procesos cognitivos, pretendemos silenciar la expresiónde los substratos del receptor de insulina; IRS-1 e IRS-2, los cuales son dos componentesclave en la vía de señalización de Insulina-IGF-1. Diseño experimental y Métodos: Contal de estudiar el papel de IRS-1 e IRS-2 en la arborización dendrítica y en la plasticidadneuronal, generaremos varios virus adeno asociados (AAV) que sean específicos de neurona.Además, estas partículas víricas contendrán específicos shRNA para poder silenciar laexpresión de IRS-1 y/o IRS-2, junto con un gen chivato para comprobar la eficiencia de lainfección del virus. La generación de estas partículas la hemos realizado siguiendo el métodode recombinación Gateway, utilizando un promotor específico de neurona y un shRNAcontra IRS-1/IRS-2 junto con EGFP como gen chivato. Resultados y conclusiones: Hemossido capaces de generar una partícula vírica que consta de un promotor genérico potente(CMV) junto con el gen chivato EGFP. Hemos testado la eficiencia y actividad de esta partículavírica in vivo en varias regiones del cerebro de rata.Objective: The Insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) pathway are involved in thenormal control of dendritic arborisation, cell signalling and development. Several studieshave shown that deficits in these pathways are related to cognitive disorders, such as autism,and an increased risk of dementia. To elucidate the specific role of brain insulin signallingin neuronal functions that are relevant for cognitive processes we want to silence thegene expression of the Insulin Receptor Substrate 1, and 2, (IRS-1, IRS-2) two key componentsof the Insulin-IGF-1 pathway. Research Design and Methods: To study the roleof IRS-1 and IRS-2 in dendritic arborisation and neural plasticity we want to generate severaladeno-associated viruses (AAV) that are neuron-specific. Besides these virus willcontain a specific shRNA to silence both IRS-1or IRS-2 and a reporter gene in order to tracktheir infection efficiency. To do so, we have followed the Gateway method for viral particlesgeneration, with a neuron-specific promoter and a shRNA against IRS-1/IRS-2 along withthe enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as a reporter gene. Results and conclusions:We have been able to generate a viral particle that contains a strong generic promoter(CMV) along with a reporter gene (EGFP). We have tested the efficiency and activityof this viral particle in vivo in several regions of the rat brain

Wastewater Treatment by Advanced Oxidation Process and Their Worldwide Research Trends

Background: Water is a scarce resource and is considered a fundamental pillar of sustainable development. The modern development of society requires more and more drinking water. For this cleaner wastewater, treatments are key factors. Among those that exist, advanced oxidation processes are being researched as one of the sustainable solutions. The main objective of this manuscript is to show the scientific advances in this field. Methods: In this paper, a systematic analysis of all the existing scientific works was carried out to verify the evolution of this line of research. Results: It was observed that the three main countries researching this field are China, Spain, and the USA. Regarding the scientific collaboration between countries, three clusters were detected—one of Spain, one of China and the USA, and one of Italy and France. The publications are grouped around three types of water: industrial, urban, and drinking. Regarding the research, 15 clusters identified from the keywords analyzed the advanced oxidation process (alone or combined with biological oxidation) with the type of wastewater and the target pollutant, removal of which is intended. Finally, the most important scientific communities or clusters detected in terms of the number of published articles were those related to the elimination of pollutants of biological origin, such as bacteria, and of industrial nature, such as pesticides or pharmaceutical products

Valuation of Barrier Options with the Binomial Pricing Model

Derivatives are products of different nature which are becoming increasingly common in financial markets. In certain cases, determining the assessment criteria can sometimes be a difficult task. Specifically, this paper focuses on one type of exotic option: the barrier option. This option has to satisfy some conceptual conditions which are specified at the time of its purchase and define its characteristics. In order to analyze this type of option more deeply, in this paper we choose a specific one, the so-called barrier option cap, whose value is going to be derived by the binomial pricing model

Relevance of financial information in quick loans negotiation

Nowadays, most loan transactions are contracted by using the exponential discounting as the underlying standard economic model to value this type of financial operations. In a framework of absence of fees to be paid by the borrower, the interest rate of the exponential discount function is, moreover, the true interest rate of the operation. Nevertheless, there exist a set of circumstances which make this identity false. Among others, these characteristics are: the use of linear discount as the underlying discount function, splitting time when using a nominal interest rate, and the existence of fees in a loan at 0% interest rate. All these cases will be analyzed in this paper in the context of the so-called quick loans

What We Talk About When We Talk About Psychometrics?

[EN]Understanding the meaning of the term psychometrics can be approached from different perspectives, such as the consultation of dictionaries, the point of view of international experts, or the analysis of a linguistic corpus. For this study, an up-to-date Spanish corpus was used as the starting point. The sample consisted of 90 valid documents from which the first text was selected so that the frequencies of the themes came from independent texts. The method used was structured tabular thematic analysis (ST-TA). The results indicate that the most frequent meaning in Spanish is that related to the analysis of the quality of measurements, followed by that referring to evaluation, and finally that of a methodological approach in general. This is consistent with the dictionaries of authorities, but departs from the majority perspective of international experts, who consider that psychometrics does not necessarily have to be linked to psychology.[ES]El significado del término psicometría se puede abordar desde distintas perspectivas, tales como la consulta de diccionarios, el punto de vista de expertos internacionales o el análisis de un corpus lingüístico. Para este estudio, se ha partido de un corpus actualizado del español. La muestra fue de 90 documentos válidos de los que se seleccionó el primer texto de modo que las frecuencias de los temas procedieran de textos independientes. El método empleado fue el análisis temático tabular estructurado (AT-TE). Los resultados indican que la acepción más frecuente en español es la relativa al análisis de la calidad de las medidas, seguida de la que refiere a la evaluación y finalmente la de un enfoque metodológico en general, lo que es coherente con los diccionarios de autoridades, pero se aleja de la perspectiva mayoritaria de expertos internacionales, que consideran que la psicometría no tendría por qué vincularse a la psicología