Search

The objective of this study is to assess whether the carbonation process can modify the physicochemical characteristics of the natural radionuclides of the three natural radioactive series, together with 40K. Three mortar specimens with different percentages of ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS), cured under water for 1, 3, 7, 14, or 28 days, were subjected to a natural carbonation process. Activity concentrations for the solid and ground mortars were determined by gamma spectrometry and by radiochemical separation of isotopic uranium. The novelty of this paper relies principally on the study we have carried out, for the first time, of the radiological characteristics of carbonated Portland cement mortars. It was found that the chemical properties of the 3 mortar specimens were not affected by the carbonation process, with particular attention placed on uranium (238U, 235U, and 234U), the activity concentrations of which were equivalent to the 226Ra results and ranged from 5.5 ± 1.6 Bq kg−1 to 21.4 ± 1.2 Bq kg−1 for the 238U. The average activity concentrations for the 3 types of mortars were lower than 20.1 Bq kg−1, 14.5 Bq kg−1, and 120.2 Bq kg−1 for the 226Ra, 232Th (212Pb), and 40K, respectively. Annual effective dose rates were equivalent to the natural background of 0.024 mSv. In addition, it was observed that the variation rate for the 222Rn emanation was due primarily to the Portland cement hydration and not due to the pore size redistribution as a consequence of the carbonation process. This research will provide new insights into the potential radiological risk from carbonated cement-based materials. Moreover, the assessment that is presented in this study will convey valuable information for future research that will explore the activity concentration of building materials containing NORM materials.

The use of smart contracts has grown exponentially over the last few years. This is a phenomenon associated with the development of other technologies, such as the blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT). Smart contracts run in a decentralized way on the blockchain and are self- executing. This is a source of advantages in business operations, but there are also some limitations and drawbacks. Regulatory issues are also of key importance, as the legal frameworks differ across countries. Smart contracts are likely to have an impact on external auditing, as external auditors will have to adapt their capabilities and procedures to an environment where many companies use this technology. But smart contracts may also be used to define a framework which ensures continuous audit reports and direct access of authorized stakeholders to the results of audit procedures. Conversely, internal auditing will also experiment changes, both caused by a series of new risks that will have to be adequately addressed and new tools to monitor business operations. In addition, some promising research opportunities arise, both in the IT, the Legal and the Business field.

Research and development (R&D) investments are a key issue for companies. In an increasingly competitive economy, R&D can be a source of competitive advantage. Therefore, a profuse research line on the reasons that can motivate firms for R&D investment has emerged. Theoretical frameworks include the resource-based theory, the creative destruction model, the domestic competitive pressure model, and the exposure to international competition model, among others. However, the culture of the country is not widely used as an explanatory variable. Therefore, in this article we will test the extent to which R&D intensity in European countries may be explained by cultural dimensions. Our study included observations from 6,919 firm-year data from 1,517 firms in a sample of 13 European countries. The results support the idea that culture influences R&D intensity.

E-commerce has grown significantly in recent years. Although the factors that contribute to the implementation of e-commerce have been studied in prior literature, little has been done about the impact that the introduction of e-commerce has on both profitability and revenue. This is important because, as Solow (1987) points out, the information technology expenditures do not always allow firms to achieve a better performance. For this purpose, the authors use the data from the Spanish Survey on Business Strategies (ESEE). The research covers an eight-year period (2008-2015). 2,544 Spanish companies belonging to the manufacturing sector were analysed. Results show that neither business-to-business (B2B) nor business-to-consumers (B2C) e-commerce seem to have influence on the revenue growth. Therefore, a substitution effect may exist between the sales by physical channels and e-commerce sales. However, the authors have found evidence that companies which adopt a high level of e-commerce (B2C and B2C simultaneously) immediately experience increase in their profitability. Moreover, if firms adopt only B2B or B2C the positive effects on profitability are achieved in the year subsequent to that of the measurement of the e-commerce status.

La correcta predicción de costes es crucial para el éxito de un proyecto de ingeniería del software, dado que una estimación incorrecta puede derivar en el fracaso del mismo. Existen multitud de modelos propuestos para abordar esta parte de la gestión del proyecto, algunos orientados específicamente para proyectos de componente Web. Este trabajo trata de analizar si esta gestión específica de proyectos Web está justificada, examinando el comportamiento diferencial de los costes entre proyectos de desarrollo software Web y no Web. El análisis se centra en dos aspectos del cálculo de costes: las deseconomías de escala que se dan en este tipo de proyectos, y el impacto que conllevan algunas características de estos proyectos que son frecuentemente utilizados como cost drivers. Tras una revisión de las características principales de los desarrollos de proyectos Web, se enuncian dos hipótesis: (a) en estos proyectos las deseconomías de escala son mayores y (b) el efecto del incremento de coste que provocan los cost drivers de coste es menor para los proyectos Web. Se contrastaron estas hipótesis utilizando una base de datos con datos de proyectos reales. Los resultados sugieren que ambas hipótesis se cumplen, lo que justificaría el desarrollo y uso de modelos específicos para este tipo de proyectos.

Estimation of effort costs is an important task for the management of software development projects. Researchers have followed two approaches –namely, statistical/machine-learning and theory-based– which explicitly rely on mean/median regression lines in order to model the relationship between software size and effort. Those approaches share a common drawback deriving from their inability to properly incorporate risk attitudes in the presence of heteroskedasticity. We propose a more flexible quantile regression approach that enables risk aversion to be incorporated in a systematic way, with the higher order conditional quantiles of the relationship between project size and effort being used to represent more risk adverse decision makers. A cubic quantile regression model allows consideration of economies/diseconomies of scale. The method is illustrated with an empirical application to a database of real projects. Results suggest that the shapes of higher order regression quantiles may sharply differ from that of the conditional median, revealing that the naive expedient of translating or multiplying some average norm (adding a safety margin to median estimates or including a multiplicative correction factor) is a potentially biased way to consider risk aversion. The proposed approach enables a more realistic analysis, adapted to the specificities of software development databases.

This research assesses whether universities from varied cultures rank significantly different with respect to the quality of their web contents and with regard to their web accessibility (WA) level. Moreover, this article tests whether universities, which make stronger efforts to improve the quality of their web contents, also take into account WA issues to ease the access to such contents. We use a database containing 399 universities from 16 countries. Main results suggest that universities in Anglo-Saxon countries pay more attention to WA issues and that those in Germanic countries rank significantly higher with regard to web quality contents. On a global basis, there is a significant relationship between the level of accessibility at university webpages and the quality of the web contents. However, if countries are grouped, results are different. While in Germanic, Nordic, and Anglo-Saxon countries, there is no relation between the level of accessibility of university webpages and the quality of the web contents, in Latin countries, this relation is direct and significant.

An improved classification device for bankruptcy forecasting is proposed. The proposed approach relies on mainstream classifiers whose inputs are obtained from a so-called multinorm analysis, instead of traditional indicators such as the ROA ratio and other accounting ratios. A battery of industry norms (computed by using nonparametric quantile regressions) is obtained, and the deviations of each firm from this multinorm system are used as inputs for the classifiers. The approach is applied to predict bankruptcy on a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms. Results indicate that our proposal may significantly enhance predictive accuracy, both in linear and nonlinear classifiers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Web accessibility (WA) is an innovation in Web design; it can be considered as part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy of the firms. As adoption of innovations and CSR commitment are linked with firm size and national culture/legislation, we hypothesize that size and national culture/legislation, may have an effect on WA level. The authors studied an international sample made up of companies included in EUROSTOXX600 (The STOXX Europe 600 Index). The main results suggest that both size and culture have a significant effect on WA. Large firms as well as Anglo-Saxon companies are more prone to have higher WA levels. A deeper analysis, which was done through the estimation of quantile regression equations, showed that the influence of size is significant for companies trying to excel or for those trying to avoid the worst WA. However, the effect of size is significant only in the lowest part of the conditional distribution. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The present article aims to assess, from a dynamic viewpoint, the influence on the decision to implement an ERP system in Spanish companies of two key characteristics of adopters: prior performance and managers' independence. The main results indicate that the importance of those factors greatly depended on the moment of the implementation. Moreover, the article gives support to the necessity of a proper consideration of national culture when studying the process of diffusion of innovations.

During the last years, hybrid models have proven to be a promising approach for the design of classification systems for the forecasting of bankruptcy. In the present research we propose a hybrid system which combines fuzzy clustering and MARS. Both models are especially suitable for the bankruptcy prediction problem, due to their theoretical advantages when the information used for the forecasting is drawn from company financial statements. We test the accuracy of our approach in a real setting consisting of a database made up of 59,336 non-bankrupt Spanish companies and 138 distressed firms which went bankrupt during 2007. As benchmarking techniques we used discriminant analysis, MARS and a feed-forward neural network. Our results show that the hybrid model outperforms the other systems, both in terms of the percentage of correct classifications and in terms of the profit generated by the lending decisions.

This paper proposes a hybrid approach to the forecasting of firms’ bankruptcy of Spanish enterprises from the construction sector. Our proposal starts splitting the group of healthy companies into two subgroups: borderline and non-borderline companies. Borderline companies are healthy companies with marked financial similarities with bankrupt ones. Then, each subgroup is divided in clusters according to their financial similarities and then each cluster is replaced by a director vector which represents the companies included in the cluster. In order to do this, we use Self Organizing Maps (SOM). Once the companies in clusters have been replaced by director vectors, we estimate a classification model through Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS). Our results show that the proposed hybrid approach is much more accurate for the identification of the companies that go bankrupt than other approaches such as a multi-layer perceptron neural network and a simple MARS model.

Pese al cada vez más creciente empuje de las fundaciones, el sector fundacional es hoy en día objeto de un reducido estudio. En el ámbito contable, existen cuestiones que exigen un estudio en profundidad, máxime tras la aprobación del PGC-2007. En concreto, la determinación del cálculo del destino de rentas se hace especialmente compleja a la luz de la normativa sobre fundaciones. Por ello en el presente trabajo se aborda la determinación de las rentas y la efectividad de su destino atendiendo a la normativa contable actual. Todo ello se ilustra con un ejemplo que muestra los problemas que pueden surgir en la determinación del destino de rentas. Por último, se apuntan los aspectos que exigen una mayor concreción en el futuro.

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the factors influencing the implementation of web accessibility.Design/methodology/approachFollowing the theoretical framework three hypotheses were developed. The database consisted of 108 non‐financial firms listed in the Dow Jones Industrial, CAC‐40, DAX and IBEX35 indexes. A multivariate regression equation was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsReasons for the implementation of web accessibility are technical rather than social or financial. The implementation of web accessibility is aimed at increasing the efficiency of the operations of the firm. Furthermore, web accessibility policies are more important in countries where the incorporation of the firms into the net has taken place at a date some time after the beginning of the scheme.Research implicationsAn implication of the results is the advisability of orienting governmental policies to raise awareness that web accessibility should be part of corporate social responsibility activities.Originality/valueThis is a pioneering empirical study of the factors influencing web accessibility. The results of the present research are of interest to other countries.

Ratios used in financial analysis suffer from several drawbacks, and the tools - ranging from linear least-squares regressions to neural networks - suggested as alternatives also have serious disadvantages. We propose an alternative approach, based on quantile regression techniques, which exploits financial information in a more efficient way, not achievable by conventional tools. Our proposal is applied to the ROA (return on assets) ratio, this being one of the most popular ratios among both economic analysts and researchers. An empirical analysis is carried out on real data. Results indicate that the quantile approach provides a more accurate assessment of the financial position of the firm.

Summary Quantile regression models are examined from the standpoint of their suitability to analyse company profitability. Some linear and non-linear (B-spline) structures are proposed. Linear conditional quantile models provide an intuitive framework which permits conventional statistical inference tools to be applied. Non-parametric spline-based quantile regression is a flexible approach, allowing a different grade of curvature for each conditional quantile, thus providing the possibility of capturing certain non-linear effects that are predicted by economic theory. The behaviour of these variants of the quantile framework is tested on a representative database, which was obtained from the Spanish book publishing industry. Our results confirm the usefulness of the quantile regression approach. Linear models seem to provide suitable descriptions for the behaviour of average performing firms, whereas non-parametric estimates provide the best fit for the extreme conditional quantiles (i.e. companies which exhibit the highest and the lowest performance in terms of profitability).

Objective To compare the effectiveness of two methods of vascular access in newborns. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting Neonatal intensive care unit in Regional Hospital of Valdivia, Chile. Participants Seventy‐four high‐risk newborns. Interventions Peripherally inserted central catheter and peripheral intravenous catheter. Main Outcome Measures Length of neonatal intensive care unit stay and incidence of sepsis and phlebitis. Results/Data Analysis There were no statistically significant differences in the length of the neonatal intensive care unit stay and in the incidence of sepsis between groups. There was a significant higher incidence of phlebitis in the peripheral intravenous catheter group. Conclusions Although there was not a significant effect of the kind of catheter on length of neonatal intensive care unit stay, the peripherally inserted central catheter is recommended because of the decreased risk of phlebitis and the decreased number of venipuncture attempts and catheters needed to complete intravenous therapy.

RESUMENEn este trabajo se analiza la incidencia de la implantacion de los sistemas ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) sobre un conjunto de 17 variables economico-financieras a lo largo del tiempo. A traves de una encuesta realizada entre las grandes empresas espanolas se ha formado una base de datos integrada por 66 empresas. Tomando como referencia la paradoja de la productividad se ha comparado la evolucion de las variables en las empresas que implantaron un ERP y las que no. Como resultado mas relevante hay que destacar que las empresas adoptantes experimentaron una caida significativa en su rentabilidad, causada por un deterioro en el margen. Para el resto de variables las diferencias no son significativas. Hay que senalar como limitaciones del trabajo el reducido tamano de la base de datos y el hecho de que en las hipotesis que se aceptan el nivel de robustez de la prueba es casi siempre bajo.

Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. Hospital de Pediatr?a. Centro M?dico Nacional Siglo XXI. Unidad de Investigaci?n M?dica en Enfermedades Infecciosas. Ciudad de M?xico, M?xico. Minist?rio da Sa?de. Secretaria de Vigil?ncia em Sa?de. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Ananindeua, PA, Brasil. Universidad de La Frontera. Centro de Excelencia Capacitaci?n, Investigaci?n y Gesti?n para la Salud basada en Evidencias CIGES. Temuco, Chile. Universidad de La Frontera. Centro de Excelencia Capacitaci?n, Investigaci?n y Gesti?n para la Salud basada en Evidencias CIGES. Temuco, Chile. Universidad de La Frontera. Centro de Excelencia Capacitaci?n, Investigaci?n y Gesti?n para la Salud basada en Evidencias CIGES. Temuco, Chile. GSK Vaccines. Panam? City, Panam?. GSK Vaccines. Panam? City, Panam?. Background: RotaTeq? (RV5; Merck & Co. Inc., USA) and Rotarix? (RV1, GlaxoSmithKline, Belgium) vaccines, developed to prevent rotavirus diarrhea in children under five years old, were both introduced into national immunization programs in 2006. As many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have included either RV5 or RV1 in their routine childhood vaccination programs, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to analyze efficacy, safety and effectiveness data from the region. Methods: We conducted a systematic search in PubMed, EMBASE, Scielo, Lilacs and the Cochrane Central Register, for controlled efficacy, safety and effectiveness studies published between January 2000 until December 2011, on RV5 and RV1 across Latin America (where both vaccines are available since 2006). The primary outcome measures were: rotavirus-related gastroenteritis of any severity; rotavirus emergency department visits and hospitalization; and severe adverse events. Results: The results of the meta-analysis for efficacy show that RV1 reduced the risk of any-severity rotavirus-related gastroenteritis by 65% (relative risk (RR) 0.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.25; 0.50), and of severe gastroenteritis by 82% (RR 0.18, 95%CI 0.12; 0.26) versus placebo. In trials, both vaccines significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization and emergency visits by 85% (RR 0.15, 95%CI 0.09; 0.25) for RV1 and by 90% (RR 0.099, 95%CI 0.012; 0.77) for RV5. Vaccination with RV5 or RV1 did not increase the risk of death, intussusception, or other severe adverse events which were previously associated with the first licensed rotavirus vaccine. Real-world effectiveness studies showed that both vaccines reduced rotavirus hospitalization in the region by around 45?50% for RV5 (for 1 to 3 doses, respectively), and, by around 50?80% for RV1 (for 1 to 2 doses, respectively). For RV1, effectiveness against hospitalization was highest (around 80?96%) for children vaccinated before 12 months of age, compared with 5?60% effectiveness in older children. Both vaccines were most effective in preventing more severe gastroenteritis (70% for RV5 and 80?90% for RV1) and severe gastroenteritis (50% for RV5 and 70?80% for RV1). Conclusion: This systematic literature review confirms rotavirus vaccination has been proven effective and well tolerated in protecting children in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A comparative study of the performance of a number of classificatory devices, both parametric (LDA and Logit) and non-parametric (perceptron neural nets and fuzzy-rule-based classifiers) is conducted, and a Monte Carlo simulation-based approach is used in order to measure the average effects of sample size variations on the predictive performance of each classifier. The paper uses as a benchmark the problem of forecasting the level of profitability of Spanish commercial and industrial companies upon the basis of a set of financial ratios. This case illustrates well a distinctive feature of many financial prediction problems, namely that of being characterized by a high dimension feature space as well as a low degree of separability. Response surfaces are estimated in order to summarize the results. A higher performance of model-free classifiers is generally observed, even for fairly moderate sample sizes.

En el presente trabajo, se indaga acerca de los factores que motivan a una empresa a elegir un criterio concreto, de entre las distintas alternativas posibles para la valoracion de existencias. En primer lugar y tras la revision de la normativa y pronunciamiento sobre el tema, se exponen las causas que a priori pueden tener influencia en esta eleccion. El estudio se completa con un analisis empirico en el que, a partir de una base de datos formada por empresas cotizadas en el mercado continuo espanol, se contrastan las hipotesis formuladas. Los principales resultados indican que la mayoria de las empresas se decanta por el criterio del Coste Promedio ponderado, seguido a considerable distancia por el FIFO. Ademas, se comprueba que no es facil en los estados contables, indicadores que tengan un elevado poder explicativo de la decision sobre el criterio de valoracion. Unicamente la adscripcion sectorial, la tasa de reparto de dividendos y la presion fiscal ejercera cierta influencia sobre esta eleccion.

We have identified and cloned a human fetal lung cDNA encoding a new protein of the ADAM-TS family (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain, with thrombospondin type-1 modules) that has been called ADAM-TS12. This protein exhibits a domain organization similar to the remaining family members including a propeptide and metalloproteinase-like, disintegrin-like, and cysteine-rich domains. However, the number and organization of the TS repeats is unique with respect to other human ADAM-TSs. A total of eight TS-1 repeats arranged in three groups are present in this novel ADAM-TS. Analysis of intracellular processing of ADAM-TS12 revealed that it is synthesized as a precursor molecule that is first activated by cleavage of the prodomain in a furin-mediated process and subsequently processed into two fragments of different size: a 120-kDa N-terminal proteolytically active fragment containing the metalloproteinase and disintegrin domains, and a 83-kDa C-terminal fragment containing most of the TS-1 repeats. Somatic cell hybrid and radiation hybrid mapping experiments showed that the human ADAM-TS12 gene maps to 5q35, a location that differs from all ADAM genes mapped to date. Northern blot analysis of RNAs from human adult and fetal tissues demonstrated that ADAM-TS12 transcripts are only detected at significant levels in fetal lung but not in any other analyzed tissues. In addition, ADAM-TS12 transcripts were detected in gastric carcinomas and in tumor cell lines from diverse sources, being induced by transforming growth factor-beta in KMST human fibroblasts. These data suggest that ADAM-TS12 may play roles in pulmonary cells during fetal development or in tumor processes through its proteolytic activity or as a molecule potentially involved in regulation of cell adhesion.

All clinical S. pneumoniae specimens isolated from patients with invasive or sterile-site infections admitted to one regional general hospital in southern Chile were collected during a 5-year period (February 1994 to September 1999). A total of 247 strains belonging to 50 serotypes were isolated in this survey: 69 in patients under 5 years of age, 129 in patients 5 to 64 years old, and 49 from patients 65 years and older. Eight serotypes were identified in all age groups, while all other serotypes were found exclusively in one age group or in patients over 4 years of age. Serotype 3 was never found in patients under 5 years old, and serotype 14 was not found in patients >64 years of age. There was no difference in the serotypes causing infection in each one of the 5 years of the survey. Our results suggest that both bacterial virulence factors and host factors play an important role in the selection of S. pneumoniae serotypes causing invasive infection. Possible host factors include age-related differences in the immune response. Comparative studies with other areas of the world may help to further understanding of our observations in southern Chile.

Proximate analyses, heating values and natural radionuclide contents (238U, 232Th, 40K) of 36 samples of bituminous coals and 4 samples of anthracite were determined. The proximate analysis data and higher heating value were correlated by multiple linear regression analysis with the radionuclide contents. For each coal rank, the correlations obtained (giving in most cases r2 > 0.9) are comparable with previous correlations based on measurements of natural gamma-ray activity of coal. Some improved correlations were obtained by considering separately the coals from each washing plant, with a degree of accuracy in accordance with the reproducibility tolerances of the Spanish and international standards UNE 32 004, 32 019 and ISO 1928-76.

Artificial neural networks have proven to be useful tools for solving financial analysis problems such as financial distress prediction and audit risk assessment. In this paper we focus on the performance of robust (least absolute deviation-based) neural networks on measuring liquidity of firms. The problem of learning the bivariate relationship between the components (namely, current liabilities and current assets) of the so-called current ratio is analyzed, and the predictive performance of several modelling paradigms (namely, linear and log-linear regressions, classical ratios and neural networks) is compared. An empirical analysis is conducted on a representative data base from the Spanish economy. Results indicate that classical ratio models are largely inadequate as a realistic description of the studied relationship, especially when used for predictive purposes. In a number of cases, especially when the analyzed firms are microenterprises, the linear specification is improved by considering the flexible non-linear structures provided by neural networks.

Gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualität ist ein multidimensionales Konzept, für dessen Messung geeignete Instrumente erforderlich sind, die wiederum eine Kombination qualitativer und quantitativer Verfahren voraussetzen. Zusätzlich müssen Instrumente, die zunächst in anderen Ländern entwickelt wurden, einer sozio-kulturellen Adaptation und Validierung unterzogen werden. Und es sind weitere Schritte erforderlich, wenn diese Instrumente für Kinder genutzt werden sollen, dies zum einen, weil der kognitive und emotionale Entwicklungsstand in dieser Altersgruppe Konsequenzen für das Konstrukt "Lebensqualität" hat, zum anderen beeinflusst er das Vermögen der Patient/innen zu unabhängigen Urteilen – zusammengefasst sind sehr spezifische Arbeiten in der qualitativen Projektphase erforderlich, wenn es sich um Kinder, in diesem Fall mit chronischen Erkrankungen, handelt. In dem Beitrag wird gezeigt, in welcher Weise qualitative Verfahren zur Anwendung kamen im Prozess der Validierung eines Instruments zur Messung gesundheitsbezogener Lebensqualität für Kinder (zwischen 8 und 16 Jahren), die an einem Herzfehler leiden. Quality of life related to health (QLRH) is a multidimensional concept, which requires the elaboration of instruments through the combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in order to measure it. Furthermore, to use a QLRH measurement instrument designed in another country, it must first undergo a socio-cultural adaptation and validity process. In addition to these two moves, further special consideration is needed for patients who are children. This is because the different degrees of cognitive and emotional development in this age group have an influence on the dimensions of the construct of quality of life as well as on the capacity of respondents for giving autonomous responses during their evaluations, and so the qualitative phase of this process has special considerations which must be taken into account for children with a chronic illness. This article discusses how qualitative methodologies were used in the validation process of a measurement instrument of QLRH for children (8-16 aged) who suffered from a congenital cardiopathy. Calidad de Vida Relacionada con Salud (CVRS) es un concepto multidimensional, que para medir, requiere de la elaboración de instrumentos a través de la combinación de metodología cualitativa y cuantitativa. Para aplicar un instrumento de medición de CVRS diseñado en otro país, debe someterse previamente a un proceso de adaptación sociocultural y validación. Un grupo particular de pacientes, que requiere consideraciones especiales, son aquellos de edad pediátrica, ya que los distintos grados de desarrollo cognitivo y emocional influyen tanto en las dimensiones del constructo de calidad de vida, como en la capacidad de respuesta autónoma durante sus evaluaciones. En niños con una enfermedad crónica, la fase cualitativa de este proceso tiene consideraciones especiales que es necesario tener en cuenta. Este artículo señala como se aplicaron metodologías cualitativas en el proceso de validación de un instrumento de medición de CVRS en niños portadores de una cardiopatía congénita.

This chapter aims to determine the factors influencing the decision of implementing an ERP system in a country where technology awareness and the technological development are not as high as those of some others. Firstly, the authors assume that adopters make rational choices but the authors also introduce an alternative innovation model based on the imitation perspective. A questionnaire was sent to the Spanish listed companies and the ERP; adopting firms were compared with a matched control group. The main results indicate that the only factors stemming from the rational-choice perspective, whose influence is relevant, are firm size and the ROI ratio. Also, the authors found that the introduction of the euro and the Y2K issue had an influence in the ERP decision. The influence of the sectoral adscription was supported partially. These findings evidence a certain influence of the imitation effect. The results of this chapter could eventually be extrapolated to the countries whose national culture is similar to that of Spain.