Propuesta de un modelo de sistema de información interorganizacional: aplicación en el sector de la domótica para la gestión de servicios del hogar digital

El sector de la edificación es uno de los principales sectores económicos en España y, además, es un componente básico de la actividad económica y social, debido a su importante papel como generador de empleo, proveedor de bienes e incentivador del crecimiento. Curiosamente, es uno de los sectores con menos regulación y organización y que, además, está formado mayoritariamente por empresas de pequeña y mediana dimensión (pymes) que, por su menor capacidad, a menudo, se quedan detrás de las grandes empresas en términos de adopción de soluciones innovadoras. La complejidad en la gestión de toda la información relacionada con un proyecto de edificación ha puesto de manifiesto claras ineficiencias que se traducen en un gasto innecesario bastante representativo. La información y los conocimientos aprendidos rara vez son transmitidos de una fase a otra dentro del proyecto de edificación y, mucho menos, reutilizados en otros proyectos similares. De este modo, no sólo se produce un gasto innecesario, sino que incluso podemos encontrar información contradictoria y obsoleta y, por tanto, inútil para la toma de decisiones. A lo largo de los años, esta situación ha sido motivada por la propia configuración del sector, poniendo de manifiesto la necesidad de una solución que pudiera solventar este reto de gestión interorganizacional. Así, la cooperación interorganizacional se ha convertido en un factor clave para mejorar la competitividad de las organizaciones, típicamente pymes, que componen el sector de la edificación. La información es la piedra angular de cualquier proceso de negocio. Durante la última década, una amplia gama de industrias han experimentado importantes mejoras de productividad con la aplicación eficiente de las TIC, asociadas, principalmente, a incrementos en la velocidad de proceso de información y una mayor coherencia en la generación de datos, accesibilidad e intercambio de información. La aplicación eficaz de las TIC en el sector de la edificación requiere una combinación de aspectos estratégicos y tácticos, puesto que no sólo se trata de utilizar soluciones puntuales importadas de otros sectores para su aplicación en diferentes áreas, sino que se buscaría que la información multi-agente estuviera integrada y sea coherente para los proyectos de edificación. El sector de la construcción ha experimentado un descenso significativo en los últimos años en España y en Europa como resultado de la crisis financiera que comenzó en 2007. Esta disminución está acompañada de una baja penetración de las TIC en la interorganizacionales orientadas a los procesos de negocio. El descenso del mercado ha provocado una desaceleración en el sector de la construcción, donde sólo las pymes flexibles han sido capaces de mantener el ritmo a pesar de la especialización y la innovación en los servicios adaptados a las nuevas demandas del mercado. La industria de la edificación está muy fragmentada en comparación con otras industrias manufactureras. El alto grado de esta fragmentación está íntimamente relacionado con un impacto significativo en la productividad y el rendimiento. Muchos estudios de investigación han desarrollado y propuesto una serie de modelos de procesos integrados. Por desgracia, en la actualidad todavía no se está en condiciones para la formalización de cómo debe ser la comunicación y el intercambio de información durante el proceso de construcción. El paso del proceso secuencial tradicional a los procesos de interdependencia recíproca sin lugar a duda son una gran demanda asociada a la comunicación y el flujo de información en un proyecto de edificación. Recientemente se está poniendo mucho énfasis en los servicios para el hogar como un primer paso hacia esta mejora en innovación ya que la industria de los servicios digitales interactivos tiene un alto potencial para generar innovación y la ventaja estratégica para las empresas existentes. La multiplicidad de servicios para el hogar digital (HD) y los proveedores de servicios demandan, cada vez más, la aparición de una plataforma capaz de coordinar a todos los agentes del sector con el usuario final. En consecuencia, las estructuras organizacionales tienden a descentralizarse en busca de esa coordinación y, como respuesta a esta demanda, se plantea, también en este ámbito, el concepto de cooperación interorganizacional. Por lo tanto, ambos procesos de negocio -el asociado a la construcción y el asociado a la provisión de servicios del hogar digital, también considerado como la propia gestión de ese hogar digital o edificio, inteligente o no- deben de ser vistos en su conjunto mediante una plataforma tecnológica que les dé soporte y que pueda garantizar la agregación e integración de los diversos procesos, relacionados con la construcción y gestión, que se suceden durante el ciclo de vida de un edificio. Sobre esta idea y atendiendo a la evolución permanente de los sistemas de información en un entorno de interrelación y cooperación daría lugar a una aplicación del concepto de sistema de información interorganizacional (SIIO). El SIIO proporciona a las organizaciones la capacidad para mejorar los vínculos entre los socios comerciales a lo largo de la cadena de suministro, por lo que su importancia ha sido reconocida por organizaciones de diversos sectores. Sin embargo, la adopción de un SIIO en diferentes ámbitos ha demostrado ser complicada y con una alta dependencia de las características particulares de cada sector, siendo, en este momento, una línea de investigación abierta. Para contribuir a esta línea de investigación, este trabajo pretende recoger, partiendo de una revisión de la literatura relacionada, un enfoque en un modelo de adopción de un SIIO para el objeto concreto de esta investigación. El diseño de un SIIO está basado principalmente, en la identificación de las necesidades de información de cada uno de sus agentes participantes, de ahí la importancia en concretar un modelo de SIIO en el ámbito de este trabajo. Esta tesis doctoral presenta el modelo de plataforma virtual de la asociación entre diferentes agentes del sector de la edificación, el marco de las relaciones, los flujos de información correspondientes a diferentes procesos y la metodología que subyace tras el propio modelo, todo ello, con el objeto de contribuir a un modelo unificado que dé soporte tanto a los procesos relacionados con la construcción como con la gestión de servicios en el hogar digital y permitiendo cubrir los requisitos importantes que caracterizan este tipo de proyectos: flexibilidad, escalabilidad y robustez. El SIIO se ha convertido en una fuente de innovación y una herramienta estratégica que permite a las pymes obtener ventajas competitivas. Debido a la complejidad inherente de la adopción de un SIIO, esta investigación extiende el modelo teórico de adopción de un SIIO de Kurnia y Johnston (2000) con un modelo empírico para la caracterización de un SIIO. El modelo resultante tiene como objetivo fomentar la innovación de servicios en el sector mediante la identificación de los factores que influyen en la adopción de un SIIO por las pymes en el sector de la edificación como fuente de ventaja competitiva y de colaboración. Por tanto, esta tesis doctoral, proyectada sobre una investigación empírica, proporciona un enfoque para caracterizar un modelo de SIIO que permita dar soporte a la gestión integrada de los procesos de construcción y gestión de servicios para el hogar digital. La validez del modelo de SIIO propuesto, como fuente y soporte de ventajas competitivas, está íntimamente relacionada con la necesidad de intercambio de información rápido y fiable que demandan los agentes del sector para mejorar la gestión de su interrelación y cooperación con el fin de abordar proyectos más complejos en el sector de la edificación, relacionados con la implantación del hogar digital, y contribuyendo, así a favorecer el desarrollo de la sociedad de la información en el segmento residencial. ABSTRACT The building industry is the largest industry in the world. Land purchase, building design, construction, furnishing, building equipment, operations maintenance and the disposition of real estate have an unquestionable prominence not only at economic but also at social level. In Spain, the building sector is one of the main drivers of economy and also a basic component of economic activity and its role in generating employment, supply of goods or incentive for growth is crucial in the evolution of the economy. Surprisingly, it is one of the sectors with less regulation and organization. Another consistent problem is that, in this sector, the majority of companies are small and medium (SMEs), and often behind large firms in terms of their adoption of innovative solutions. The complexity of managing all information related to this industry has lead to a waste of money and time. The information and knowledge gathered is frequently stored in multiple locations, involving the work of thousands of people, and is rarely transferred on to the next phase. This approach is inconsistent and makes that incorrect information is used for decisions. This situation needs a viable solution for interorganizational information management. So, interorganizational co-operation has become a key factor for organization competitiveness within the building sector. Information is the cornerstone of any business process. Therefore, information and communication technologies (ICT) offer a means to change the way business is conducted. During the last decade, significant productivity improvements were experienced by a wide range of industries with ICT implementation. ICT has provided great advantages in speed of operation, consistency of data generation, accessibility and exchange of information. The wasted money resulting from reentering information, errors and omissions caused through poor decisions and actions, and the delays caused while waiting for information, represent a significant percentage of the global benefits. The effective application of ICT in building construction sector requires a combination of strategic and tactical developments. The building sector has experienced a significant decline in recent years in Spain and in Europe as a result of the financial crisis that began in 2007. This drop goes hand in hand with a low penetration of ICT in inter-organizational-oriented business processes. The market decrease has caused a slowdown in the building sector, where only flexible SMEs have been able to keep the pace though specialization and innovation in services adapted to new market demands. The building industry is highly fragmented compared with other manufacturing industries. This fragmentation has a significant negative impact on productivity and performance. Many research studies have developed and proposed a number of integrated process models. Unfortunately, these studies do not suggest how communication and information exchange within the construction process can be achieved, without duplication or lost in quality. A change from the traditional sequential process to reciprocal interdependency processes would increase the demand on communication and information flow over the edification project. Focusing on home services, the digital interactive service industry has the potential to generate innovation and strategic advantage for existing business. Multiplicity of broadband home services (BHS) and suppliers suggest the need for a figure able to coordinate all the agents in sector with the final user. Consequently, organizational structures tend to be decentralized. Responding to this fact, the concept of interorganizational co-operation also is raising in the residential market. Therefore, both of these business processes, building and home service supply, must be complemented with a technological platform that supports these processes and guarantees the aggregation and integration of the several services over building lifecycle. In this context of a technological platform and the permanent evolution of information systems is where the relevance of the concept of inter-organizational information system (IOIS) emerges. IOIS improves linkages between trading partners along the supply chain. However, IOIS adoption has proved to be difficult and not fully accomplished yet. This research reviews the literature in order to focus a model of IOIS adoption. This PhD Thesis presents a model of virtual association, a framework of the relationships, an identification of the information requirements and the corresponding information flows, using the multi-agent system approach. IOIS has become a source of innovation and a strategic tool for SMEs to obtain competitive advantage. Because of the inherent complexity of IOIS adoption, this research extends Kurnia and Johnston’s (2000) theoretical model of IOIS adoption with an empirical model of IOIS characterization. The resultant model aims to foster further service innovation in the sector by identifying the factors influencing IOIS adoption by the SMEs in the building sector as a source of competitive and collaborative advantage. Therefore, this PhD Thesis characterizes an IOIS model to support integrated management of building processes and home services. IOIS validity, as source and holder of competitive advantages, is related to the need for reliable information interchanges to improve interrelationship management. The final goal is to favor tracking of more complex projects in building sector and to contribute to consolidation of the information society through the provision of broadband home services and home automation.

Inter-organizational information systems adoption for service innovation in building sector

The building sector has experienced a significant decline in recent years in Spain and Europe as a result of the financial crisis that began in 2007. This drop accompanies a low penetration of information and communication technologies in inter-organizational oriented business processes. The market decrease is causing a slowdown in the building sector, where only flexible small and medium enterprises (SMEs) survive thanks to specialization and innovation in services, which allow them to face new market demands. Inter-organizational information systems (IOISs) support innovation in services, and are thus a strategic tool for SMEs to obtain competitive advantage. Because of the inherent complexity of IOIS adoption, this research extends Kurnia and Johnston's (2000) theoretical model of IOIS adoption with an empirical model of IOIS characterization. The resultant model identifies the factors influencing IOIS adoption in SMEs in the building sector, to promote further service innovation for competitive and collaborative advantages. An empirical longitudinal study over six consecutive years using data from Spanish SMEs in the building sector validates the model, using the partial least squares technique and analyzing temporal stability. The main findings of this research are the four ways an IOIS might contribute to service innovation in the building sector. Namely: a) improving client interfaces and the link between service providers and end users; b) defining a specific market where SMEs can develop new service concepts; c) enhancing the service delivery system in traditional customer?supplier relationships; and d) introducing information and communication technologies and tools to improve information management.

CLIMA ORGANIZACIONAL E BURNOUT: UM ESTUDO COM SERVIDORES PÚBLICOS FEDERAIS

As condições inadequadas vivenciadas nas organizações afligem não só os trabalhadores da iniciativa privada, pois são igualmente encontradas no segmento estatal, contrariando a expectativa de que o aparato governamental eliminaria as condições insalubres e criaria outras melhores nas quais prevalecesse à promoção de saúde. Diante desse panorama questionou-se porque, uma vez que, pelo menos do ponto de vista da sociedade leiga, esses servidores estão submetidos a condições privilegiadas de trabalho. O presente estudo objetivou identificar e descrever possíveis relações entre o clima organizacional e o burnout em servidores públicos de uma instituição federal de ensino. Objetivou-se ainda descrever o clima organizacional predominante. A pesquisa realizada teve cunho quantitativo, tipo estudo de caso e exploratória. A coleta de dados deu-se por meio das escalas ECO (escala de clima organizacional), ECB (escala de caracterização do burnout) e um questionário sociodemográfico, todos os instrumentos autoaplicáveis eletronicamente disponíveis à instituição. Participaram do estudo 201 servidores públicos federais, com idade média de 37 anos, majoritariamente de nível superior e casados. Os resultados revelaram que cerca de um quarto dos participantes raramente experimentaram burnout, no entanto outra quarta parte deles frequentemente experimentaram altos níveis de burnout, resultado bastante expressivo. Os servidores perceberam clima organizacional mediano, destacando-se a boa coesão entre os colegas de trabalho e a percepção de baixa recompensa. Merece destaque a grande dispersão entre as percepções de clima, o que permite inferir haver subclimas não identificados nesta investigação, possivelmente ocasionados por uma força de clima fraca e pela participação dos servidores de unidades de ensino geograficamente distintas, geridas por gestores locais com relativa autonomia. Os resultados dos cálculos de correlação revelaram que, quanto menos os participantes percebem apoio da chefia e da organização, coesão entre colegas, e mais controle/pressão, mais exaustos se sentem, mais desumanizam as pessoas com quem tratam e mais se decepcionam no trabalho e vice-versa. Conforto físico menor está associado a maior desumanização e a mais decepção no trabalho e vice-versa; e que controle/pressão, relaciona-se positiva e fracamente com desumanização e vice-versa. Desta forma, a hipótese de que existe associação entre burnout e clima organizacional foi confirmada. Os resultados também revelaram que os servidores com burnout, perceberam pior clima organizacional que os seus pares sem burnout, confirmando a segunda hipótese. Esses servidores também se mostraram neutros quanto à percepção de apoio da chefia e conforto físico; não percebem controle pressão, nem recompensa; todavia percebem coesão entre os colegas. Esses resultados sugerem que os participantes têm se apoiado nessas relações para suportar a indiferença e ausência de estímulos experimentados no trabalho. Os resultados obtidos nesse estudo permitiram concluir que o clima organizacional é fraco, provavelmente influenciado por uma cultura organizacional fraca, explicando a heterogeneidade da percepção do clima organizacional pelos servidores. Além disso, embora haja burnout entre poucos participantes, há que se atentar que cerca de um quarto deles, encontra-se acometido desta síndrome e isto poderá contagiar os demais.

Stress in telephone helpline nurses is associated with failures of concentration, attention and memory, and with more conservative referral decisions

Peer reviewed

Identifying effective behavioural components of Intervention and Comparison group support provided in SMOKing cEssation interventions (IC-SMOKE) : a systematic review protocol

Funding The research described in this paper is funded by Cancer Research UK, registered under application number C50862/A18446. The systematic review protocol reported in this paper was previously peer-reviewed by Cancer Research UK as part of the funding process. The funders had no role in protocol design, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Quantitative analysis of the immunopotency of genetically transfected dendritic cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) instruct and activate a naive immune system to mount a response toward foreign proteins. Therefore, it has been hypothesized that an ideal vaccine strategy would be to directly introduce genes encoding antigens into DCs. To test this strategy quantitatively, we have compared the immune response elicited by a genetically transfected DC line to that induced by a fibroblast line, or standard genetic immunization. We observe that a single injection of 500–1,000 transfected DCs can produce a response comparable to that of standard genetic immunization, whereas fibroblasts, with up to 50-fold greater transfection efficiency, were less potent. We conclude that transfection of a small number of DCs is sufficient to initiate a wide variety of immune responses. These results indicate that targeting genes to DCs will be important for controlling and augmenting the immunological outcome in genetic immunization.

Swi5 Controls a Novel Wave of Cyclin Synthesis in Late Mitosis

We have shown previously that the Swi5 transcription factor regulates the expression of the SIC1 Cdk inhibitor in late mitosis. This suggests that Swi5 might control other genes with roles in ending mitosis. We identified a gene with a Swi5-binding site in the promoter that encoded a protein with high homology to Pcl2, a cyclin-like protein that associates with the Cdk Pho85. This gene, PCL9, is indeed regulated by Swi5 in late M phase, the only cyclin known to be expressed at this point in the cell cycle. The Pcl9 protein is associated with a Pho85-dependent protein kinase activity, and the protein is unstable with peak levels occurring in late M phase. PCL2 is already known to be expressed in late G1 and we find that, in addition, it is also regulated by Swi5 in telophase. The expression of PCL2 and PCL9 at this stage of the cell cycle implies a role for the Pho85 Cdk at the end of mitosis. Consistent with this a synthetic interaction was observed between pho85Δ and strains deleted for SIC1, SWI5, and SPO12. These and other studies support the notion that the M/G1 switch is a major cell cycle transition.

Association of the Cell Cycle Transcription Factor Mbp1 with the Skn7 Response Regulator in Budding Yeast

We previously isolated the SKN7 gene in a screen designed to isolate new components of the G1-S cell cycle transcription machinery in budding yeast. We have now found that Skn7 associates with Mbp1, the DNA-binding component of the G1-S transcription factor DSC1/MBF. SKN7 and MBP1 show several genetic interactions. Skn7 overexpression is lethal and is suppressed by a mutation in MBP1. Similarly, high overexpression of Mbp1 is lethal and can be suppressed by skn7 mutations. SKN7 is also required for MBP1 function in a mutant compromised for G1-specific transcription. Gel-retardation assays indicate that Skn7 is not an integral part of MBF. However, a physical interaction between Skn7 and Mbp1 was detected using two-hybrid assays and GST pulldowns. Thus, Skn7 and Mbp1 seem to form a transcription factor independent of MBF. Genetic data suggest that this new transcription factor could be involved in the bud-emergence process.

Neonatal lead exposure impairs development of rodent barrel field cortex

Childhood exposure to low-level lead can permanently reduce intelligence, but the neurobiologic mechanism for this effect is unknown. We examined the impact of lead exposure on the development of cortical columns, using the rodent barrel field as a model. In all areas of mammalian neocortex, cortical columns constitute a fundamental structural unit subserving information processing. Barrel field cortex contains columnar processing units with distinct clusters of layer IV neurons that receive sensory input from individual whiskers. In this study, rat pups were exposed to 0, 0.2, 1, 1.5, or 2 g/liter lead acetate in their dam's drinking water from birth through postnatal day 10. This treatment, which coincides with the development of segregated columns in the barrel field, produced blood lead concentrations from 1 to 31 μg/dl. On postnatal day 10, the area of the barrel field and of individual barrels was measured. A dose-related reduction in barrel field area was observed (Pearson correlation = −0.740; P < 0.001); mean barrel field area in the highest exposure group was decreased 12% versus controls. Individual barrels in the physiologically more active caudoventral group were affected preferentially. Total cortical area measured in the same sections was not altered significantly by lead exposure. These data support the hypothesis that lead exposure may impair the development of columnar processing units in immature neocortex. We demonstrate that low levels of blood lead, in the range seen in many impoverished inner-city children, cause structural alterations in a neocortical somatosensory map.

Sequence-specific antitumor activity of a phosphorothioate oligodeoxyribonucleotide targeted to human C-raf kinase supports an antisense mechanism of action in vivo

To determine the mechanism of action responsible for the in vivo antitumor activity of a phosphorothioate antisense inhibitor targeted against human C-raf kinase (ISIS 5132, also known as CGP69846A), a series of mismatched phosphorothioate analogs of ISIS 5132 or CGP69846A were synthesized and characterized with respect to hybridization affinity, inhibitory effects on C-raf gene expression in vitro, and antitumor activity in vivo. Incorporation of a single mismatch into the sequence of ISIS 5132 or CGP69846A resulted in reduced hybridization affinity toward C-raf RNA sequences and reduced inhibitory activity against C-raf expression in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Moreover, incorporation of additional mismatches resulted in further loss of in vitro and in vivo activity in a manner that correlated well with a hybridization-based (i.e., antisense) mechanism of action. These results provide important experimental evidence supporting an antisense mechanism of action underlying the in vivo antitumor activity displayed by ISIS 5132 or CGP69846A.

An evaluation of the performance of cDNA microarrays for detecting changes in global mRNA expression

The cDNA microarray is one technological approach that has the potential to accurately measure changes in global mRNA expression levels. We report an assessment of an optimized cDNA microarray platform to generate accurate, precise and reliable data consistent with the objective of using microarrays as an acquisition platform to populate gene expression databases. The study design consisted of two independent evaluations with 70 arrays from two different manufactured lots and used three human tissue sources as samples: placenta, brain and heart. Overall signal response was linear over three orders of magnitude and the sensitivity for any element was estimated to be 2 pg mRNA. The calculated coefficient of variation for differential expression for all non-differentiated elements was 12–14% across the entire signal range and did not vary with array batch or tissue source. The minimum detectable fold change for differential expression was 1.4. Accuracy, in terms of bias (observed minus expected differential expression ratio), was less than 1 part in 10 000 for all non-differentiated elements. The results presented in this report demonstrate the reproducible performance of the cDNA microarray technology platform and the methods provide a useful framework for evaluating other technologies that monitor changes in global mRNA expression.