Learning Agent for a Service-Oriented Context-Aware Recommender System in Heterogeneous Environment

Traditional recommender systems provide users with customized recommendations of products or services. They employ various technologies and algorithms in order to search and select the best options available while taking into account the user's context. Increasingly often, such systems run on devices in heterogeneous environments (including mobile devices) making use of their functionalities: various sensors (e.g. movement, light), wireless data transmission technologies and positioning systems (e.g. GPS) among others. In this paper, we propose an innovative recommender system that determines the best service (including photo and movie conversion) and simultaneously accommodates the context of the device in a heterogeneous environment. The system allows the choice between various service providers that make their resources available using cloud computing as well as having the services performed locally. In order to determine the best possible recommendation for users, we employ the concept of learning agents, which has not been thoroughly researched in connection with recommender systems so far

Drivers for farmland value revisited: adapting the returns discount model (RDM) to the sustainable paradigm

In recent studies many researchers have identified non-agricultural attributes of land that significantly contribute to its value. They claim that the increasing proportion of the value of land may now be explained by environmental amenities in rural areas. On the other hand, mainstream economics says that farmland values are determined by the discounted stream of returns (present value model). The main aim of this work was to adapt neoclassical concept of the Returns Discount Model (RDM) of Saphiro–Gordon type to the case of a land market in Poland. We introduced a modified RDM (i.e. the multilevel variance component model) to answer whether it remains applicable to the valuation of farmland in the context of sustainable agriculture. It was found that in spite of the growing role of non-productive functions of agriculture the improved RDM continues to perform well as a tool to assess changes in land price

Pineal cyst-related sleep disorders – a narrative review

The pineal gland is an endocrine gland, which is responsible for the human circadian rhythm, through the regulation of its hormone – melatonin. The most common pathology of a pineal gland is pineal cyst – its population incidence is estimated as 1-23%, depending on the publication. The most common symptoms of a pineal cyst include headache (87%), visual field defects (54%), nausea/vomiting (34%), and dizziness/vertigo (31%). Among the majority of patients with the asymptomatic pineal cyst, the wait-and-see strategy is proper.             According to the newest meta-analyze, the prevalence of sleep disturbances among patients with pineal cyst estimates to be 17%. The results of direct melatonin level measurements in pineal cysts remain unclear. The study focused on sleep disturbances in pediatric patients with pineal cysts and showed a significantly higher score on Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) in the domains of disorders of excessive sleepiness and disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep than the control groups. The impact of lesion on sleep quality correlated with its size.             The pineal cyst may be considered a rare, and potentially reversible, cause of sleep disorders. Nevertheless, according to the present reports (often opposite to each other), this thesis and the mechanism of its occurrence need to be further researched

Multidisciplinary approach for a severe head burn caused by high-voltage electrical shock - a case report

In modern reconstructive medicine, personalized bone substitutes provide therapeutic hope for patients with non-standard bone defects. The study aims to present a description of a case of using a personalized bone substitute material, taking into account the vascular connections formed after a previous skin transplant.  The 29-year-old patient was admitted to the plastic surgery department urgently after being electrocuted with high voltage. Due to extensive scalp burns, a skin graft was performed in the area of previously removed skin along with a charred skull bone vault.  After a few months, the patient was qualified for cranioplasty with the use of personalized bone substitutes. The necessity to make cuts around the vascular connections present in the transplanted tissue was the main difficulty in the for the operator.  The operation was successful and the recovery was uneventful. The patient was discharged home in good general and local condition.  The presented case illustrates the need to take into account creating vascular connections with the use of personalized bone substitutes in patients after skin transplants

Severe course of radiation-induced meningioma — a new insight in screening for patients after radiotherapy?

Meningiomas, being mostly benign tumours, are derived from the arachnoid cap cells. Their etiopathogenesis is based on various factors, including past radiation. The presented case of a 25-year-old patient, who developed a radiation-induced superior sagittal sinus meningioma based on his past head radiation distributed during acute lymphocytic leukaemia. The tumour’s clinical image presented at first as headache, nausea, and dizziness, computer tomography and subsequently MRI were performed. The imaging examination revealed a very extensive, contrast-enhanced tumour mass located centrally on both sides and within the superior sagittal sinus. With the most likely diagnosis of parasagittal meningioma, the patient was qualified for tumour excision. The surgery was performed successfully resulting in maximal safe subtotal resection. After the surgery, the patient developed complications including hydrocephalus, which resulted in 5-months long hospitalization. The presented case illustrated the need for increased clinical attention in patients threatened by radiation (including radiotherapy), focused on possible head lesions

Age-dependent determinants of infectious complications profile in children and adults after hematopoietic cell transplantation : lesson from the nationwide study

Incidence and outcome of microbiologically documented bacterial/viral infections and invasive fungal disease (IFD) in children and adults after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) were compared in 650 children and 3200 adults in multicenter cross-sectional nationwide study. Infections were diagnosed in 60.8% children and 35.0% adults, including respectively 69.1% and 63.5% allo-HCT, and 33.1% and 20.8% auto-HCT patients. The incidence of bacterial infections was higher in children (36.0% vs 27.6%; p  21 days were risk factors for death from infection. In conclusion, pediatric patients have 2.9-fold higher incidence and 2.5-fold better outcome of infections than adults after HCT