Disruptive Technologies as a Driver to Organizational Success. Organizational Culture Perspective

There is a lot of evidence in the research literature that Information Technologies can play a crucial role in achieving competitive advantage, improving decision-making, and achieving organizational success. Unfortunately, research on exploring the issues of using Disruptive Technologies (DT) is still limited, especially studies into the relationship between the use of DT and organizational success. The main contribution of this study is to investigate the issue of DT's impact on organizational success, in particular identifying the benefits of using DT in organizations, as well as examining to what extent organizational culture can be a factor in enhancing organizational success. The study presents the results of research on the use of Disruptive Technologies carried out in 194 organizations, especially in the areas of DT usage and the benefits that organizations achieve from adopting them, as well as the impact of organizational culture on organizational success

Data Exploration as a Trigger for Customer Relationship Management

Today’s research shows a significant increase in the role of data exploration in the management of organizations. Despite the great importance of this problem, in the scientific literature on the subject, too little attention is paid to research presenting the benefits that organizations can derive from data mining methods and techniques in customer relationship management. This paper aims to identify the essence of customer relationship management systems and the most important methods and techniques of data mining (data, text, web and graph mining), as well as to examine the key benefits that Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) can derive from their use. The research covered seven selected organizations representing the KIBS sector. The collected extensive research material allowed to answer following questions: what methods do organizations use to collect information, what types of data are most often the subject of data analysis, what techniques are used for data mining, and what benefits organizations and their customers derive from data mining

Looking for hidden enemies of metabarcoding : species composition, habitat and management can strongly influence DNA extraction while examining grassland communities

Despite the raising preoccupation, the critical question of how the plant community is composed belowground still remains unresolved, particularly for the conservation priority types of vegetation. The usefulness of metabarcoding analysis of the belowground parts of the plant community is subjected to a considerable bias, that often impedes detection of all species in a sample due to insufficient DNA quality or quantity. In the presented study we have attempted to find environmental factors that determine the amount and quality of DNA extracted from total plant tissue from aboveand belowground samples (1000 and 10,000 cm2 ). We analyzed the influence of land use intensity, soil properties, species composition, and season on DNA extraction. The most important factors for DNA quality were vegetation type, soil conductometry (EC), and soil pH for the belowground samples. The species that significantly decreased the DNA quality were Calamagrostis epigejos, Coronilla varia, and Holcus lanatus. For the aboveground part of the vegetation, the season, management intensity, and certain species—with the most prominent being Centaurea rhenana and Cirsium canum—have the highest influence. Additionally, we found that sample size, soil granulation, MgO, organic C, K2O, and total soil N content are important for DNA extraction effectiveness. Both low EC and pH reduce significantly the yield and quality of DNA. Identifying the potential inhibitors of DNA isolation and predicting difficulties of sampling the vegetation plots for metabarcoding analysis will help to optimize the universal, low-cost multi-stage DNA extraction procedure in molecular ecology studies

A proposed integrated approach for the preclinical evaluation of phage therapy in Pseudomonas infections

Bacteriophage therapy is currently resurging as a potential complement/alternative to antibiotic treatment. However, preclinical evaluation lacks streamlined approaches. We here focus on preclinical approaches which have been implemented to assess bacteriophage efficacy against Pseudomonas biofilms and infections. Laser interferometry and profilometry were applied to measure biofilm matrix permeability and surface geometry changes, respectively. These biophysical approaches were combined with an advanced Airway Surface Liquid infection model, which mimics in vitro the normal and CF lung environments, and an in vivo Galleria larvae model. These assays have been implemented to analyze KTN4 (279,593 bp dsDNA genome), a type-IV pili dependent, giant phage resembling phiKZ. Upon contact, KTN4 immediately disrupts the P. aeruginosa PAO1 biofilm and reduces pyocyanin and siderophore production. The gentamicin exclusion assay on NuLi-1 and CuFi-1 cell lines revealed the decrease of extracellular bacterial load between 4 and 7 logs and successfully prevents wild-type Pseudomonas internalization into CF epithelial cells. These properties and the significant rescue of Galleria larvae indicate that giant KTN4 phage is a suitable candidate for in vivo phage therapy evaluation for lung infection applications

Disease-related social situation in family of children with chronic kidney disease - parents' assessment : a multicentre study

Introduction and Objective. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) in children burdens life of patients and their families. Little is known about parents` assessment of families’ social situation. However, the knowledge of the details of a patient’s and his family’s life standards might influence modification and optimization of applied therapy. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to explore the selected elements of life situation of patients suffering with CKD as well as their parents, depending on the CKD stage and appropriate treatment. Materials and Methods. Cross-sectional national study was conducted. A total of 203 children with CKD and 388 their parent-proxies (196 women and 192 men) were enrolled into this study. Patient data and questionnaires filled by both parents, concerning social-demographic parameters and assessment of changes in families after CKD diagnosis in the child, were analysed. Results. CKD children are being brought up in proper families whose financial situation is not good. Children need help in process of education. Perception of current situation differed between both parents in the change of the income source, taking care of CKD child, change in social relations and evaluating relations with medical staff. Parents do not obtain proper support from social workers. Conclusion. Families of CKD children require support in area of financial and educational help for school children. The discrepancies in evaluation of family situation between mothers and fathers of ill children might be the source of conflicts possibly resulting in worsening the outcome for CKD children

Anxiety in children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease - multicenter national study results

Background/Aims: Chronic medical illness is a significant risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders. The aims of the study were: to investigate the level of anxiety in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and to identify factors associated with the presence of that emotional problem. Methods: CKD children on hemodialysis (HD, n=22), peritoneal dialysis (PD, n=20,) and on conservative treatment (CT, n=95) were enrolled in the study. We used State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) for adolescents and STAI-C for children. Socio-demographic and physical factors were assessed. Results: There was a significantly higher level of anxiety-state among HD children (8-12 years) compared with other groups of participants of the same age and Polish population norms. The level of anxiety among adolescents (13-18 years), both anxiety-state and anxiety-trait, was significantly higher in the HD group compared with other groups, which did not differ among themselves. In the HD adolescents, there was a correlation between the anxiety-state and the duration of the disease as well as with the number of hospitalizations. PD adolescents in the mainstream education had higher levels of anxiety-state and anxiety-trait compared with home schooled patients. Conclusions: Even though children and adolescents with CKD are at risk of developing a variety of emotional disorders, the level of anxiety among the researched group, with the exception of HD patients, was not significantly different than the level of anxiety among healthy subjects. Adolescents on HD who present a high level of anxiety should undergo long-term psychological treatment

Perception of health-related quality of life in children with chronic kidney disease by the patients and their caregivers : multicentre national study results

Objective The aim of the study was to analyse the healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL) in Polish children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) dependant on the CKD stage, treatment modality and selected social life elements in families of the patients. Furthermore, potential differences between self-report and parent/proxy reports and the factors influencing them were assessed. Methods A total of 203 CKD children (on haemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD) and conservative treatment (CT)) and their 388 parent/proxies were enrolled into a cross-sectional national study. The demographic and social data were evaluated. We used the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales to assess the HRQoL in children. Results Health-related quality of life scores for all CKD groups were significantly lower in all domains compared with population norms, the lowest one being in the HD group. In CT children, HRQoL did not depend on the CKD stage. Both parents assessed the HRQoL of their children differently depending on their involvement in the care. There are differences between the HRQoL scores of the children and their parents

Regulations of Financial System in the European Union and the Constitution of Republic of Poland – Selected Issues

The aim of this article is to find out whether – and if so – to what extent, provisions included in the Polish Constitution are a barrier in the process of harmonization of the Polish law with the EU law and in the process of full achievement of the objectives of the European regulator. Looking for the answer to this question, this paper includes analysis of changes introduced by the Act of the 5th of August 2015 on macroprudential supervision of fi nancial system and crisis management in the financial system. This act transposes the directive No 2013/26/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of the 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment fi rms, amending Directive 2002/87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC, to the Polish legal Framework. This act also introduces adjustments of Polish law to provisions included in Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment fi rms and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012. The analysis conducted in this article leads to the conclusion that provisions included in the Constitution of Republic of Poland are a barrier in the process of harmonization and gives opportunity to put forward de lege ferenda implications