Web Scraping and Review Analytics. Extracting Insights from Commercial Data

Web scraping has numerous applications. It can be used complementary with APIs to extract useful data from web pages. For instance, commercial data is abundant, but not always relevant as it is presented on websites. In this paper, we propose the usage of web scraping techniques (namely, two popular libraries – BeautifulSoup and Selenium) to extract data from web and other Python libraries and techniques (vaderSentiment, SentimentIntensityAnalyzer, nltk, n consecutive words) to analyze the reviews and obtain useful insights from this data. A web scraper is built in which prices are extracted and variations are tracked. Furthermore, the reviews are extracted and analyzed in order to identify the relevant opinions, including complaints of the customers

Electricity Price Evolution and the Disruptive Economic and Geopolitical Context on the Spot Market. A Romanian Case Study

The current context of the electricity markets is marked by the lingering effects of COVID-19 and the conflict in Ukraine that have a significant influence on the European wholesale electricity markets. Both Day-Ahead Market (DAM) and balancing market have been heavily impacted by fluctuating prices. This trend started in October 2021 when the lockdowns were removed and the high request for commodities led to a higher inflation. Then in 2022, the conflict in Ukraine accentuated this evolution and even higher prices were recorded for electricity, gas, oil and other resources. In this paper, we analyze a set of fundamental variables and provide an electricity price forecast on DAM using a multiple regression model. The exogenous variables considered in this paper are the following: power system data (total consumption, total generation and its breakdown: renewables (RES) and Non-RES), economic data (inflation, interest rate), certificate price for CO2 emissions (EU-ETS), level of Danube River and other resources prices (oil, gas). Interesting insights can be extracted from a data set that consists of merged time series collected from January 2019 until August 2022. The results are measured using Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE)

The role of CT and biopsy in the assessment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Introduction: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is the most common cancer originating in the nasopharynx. However, the lack of symptoms makes it difficult to diagnose. It is most frequent in males and when it occurs in women, viral and genetic factors are involved. Methods: We present the case of a female patient who was admitted to the hospital with severe headache and tinnitus. Symptoms started 3 months prior to hospitalization, but without response to analgesics. She was diagnosed in March 2011 with mild hypertension, but she did not follow any treatment. We performed a complete examination of the patient .Except for high blood pressure (180 mmHg/ 70mmHg) and increased VSH the analyses were normal. In June 2011 the patient came to our clinic complaining of the same symptoms. During physical examination we discovered a latero-cervical nodular formation, not as a result of a number of diagnostic modalities were used in order to evaluate and determine the diagnosis: thyroid echography, barium examination of esophagus, stomach and duodenum, abdominal echography, CT. Results: CT and the biopsy of the formation confirmed the diagnosis: nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Conclusion: The paraclinical examination is fundamental and most valuable step in order to put the right diagnosis in this particular case

The impact of specific balneotherapy on the endocrine physio-pathological mechanism in obesity

Obesity is a complex, multifactorial metabolic pathology, within the path of modification of the endocrine system plays a significant role. Changes in growth hormone (GH) and in-sulin growth factor (IGF) have been associated with obesity in various ways, mainly through changes in GH-binding proteins, insulin and ghrelin levels. The balneal treat-ment with Techirghiol Romanian sapropelic mud has an important impact on the endo-crine system, primarily through the action on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. We investigated the secretory changes of the IGF-1 hormone that appeared after the balne-al treatment. It was a total number of 52 patients, divided into two groups: 1 group who performed the treatment with Techirghiol sapropelic mud at thermoneutrality tempera-tures - warm mud baths, and the second group who followed treatment with the balneal therapeutic factor in a thermal contrast regime - cold mud baths. We studied whether there are correlations between the body mass index (BMI) and the secretion of this hor-mone. We also determined the serum levels of blood glucose at admission and discharge. In the cold mud baths- thermal contrast therapy, can be observed a statistically significant increase in IGF-1 values during the balneal treatment (p = 0.044 α = 0.05). There were no statistically significant correlations between BMI and IGF-1 hormone secretion at admission and at discharge. The results showed a statistically significant decrease in blood glucose values determined at admission and discharge in the group that performed warm mud baths. The balneal treatment with sapropelic mud of Techirghiol lake, from Romania, through the impact on the endocrine system, on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, can be registered as a treatment with a natural therapeutic factor with an impact on obesity, ther-apy carried out within the parameters of metabolic safety, and the conduct of future re-search in this direction it will help develop new concepts and approaches to obesity

Implementation of a pharmacologic protocol for testing bovine colostrum nutraceutical products in Broilers

As antibiotic additives were deemed illegal to use in poultry feed as a growth promoter but also to prevent certain diseases such as necrotic enteritis, researches are increasingly oriented towards finding an alternative that will provide both economic gain for the farmer and safety for the end consumer. Bovine colostrum, the first milk secretion postpartum, is widely known for its beneficial properties, not only on the newborn organism, but also in the adult one. The bioactive components of the colostrum have healing properties in the gut, furthermore they help prevent bacteria from adhering to the intestinal mucosa. The biochemical constituents also have an antibacterial effect through lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase. The main objective of this paper was to establish a protocol through which to obtain consistent scientific data when researching the effects of a nutraceutical product in poultry. In order to achieve this we have conducted a study, in the University of Agricultural sciences and Veterinary medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on a population of 60 broilers that were divided into three groups: the control group and two other groups that were administered distinct nutraceutical products in their drinking water. The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of replacing antibiotic growth promoters and anticoccidial drugs with nutraceutical products from bovine colostrum. Various microbiological, health and productivity parameters were assessed and compared between the groups, over a period of 45 days. The immunoglobulins from the bovine colostrum, as bioactive components, will achieve its highest peak in day 14 in the blood serum of the bird. As such, blood samples were deemed best to be harvested on EDTA and Clotting agents every 14 days, as the products were administered 2 times throughout the study. Cloacal swabbing was also performed, feces samples were evaluated for microbial concentration and bacterial strain identification. A comparison was made with several other researches that performed similar clinical studies and we recommend that when administering bovine colostrum nutraceuticals, in order to obtain scientifically consistent results, a strict protocol has to be implemented, periodical evaluations have to be made according to the parameters that are assessed but also in compliance with the bioactive components of the product

Current data regarding the evolution of hematological profile in Broiler chickens: a review

In the last decades, along with the progress of poultry farming, avian medicine has seen remarkable progress. The use of improved breeds has raised the issue of their increased susceptibility to pathological factors and environmental conditions. Currently, the detection of diseases in birds, especially in poultry, is based on serological and necropsy investigations; complementary laboratory investigations, such as hematological and biochemical, are only used in companion birds. The assessment of the health of poultry through hematological and biochemical tests, especially those from intensive breeding farms, allows the early detection of signs of disease before it causes mortality and implicitly economic loss. Chickens were used as an animal model of research to establish physiological parameters for other avian species. However, little information has been published on the evolution of their hematological and biochemical parameters. Furthermore, the establishment of reference intervals for interpretation of results in birds in general and chickens in particular has proved extremely difficult due to their hematological and biochemical features. Hematology in birds partly mirrors health status can vary due to race, age, gender, stress, bacterial and viral infections. Considering the complexity of the animal organism and the complex interrelation established between its different systems, the administration of an exogenous substance will cause complex reactions

Methods and results – therapeutical rehabilitative approaches of a patient with a behaviour and psycho-cognitive status (minimally responsive state) after severe trauma brain injury (TBI) in a polytraumatic context – Case report

This case presentation was evaluated and endorsed by the hospital ethics committee, respecting the rights, safety and comfort of the patient. THEBA Bioethics Commission approval (9181 / 11.04.2018)

Complex rehabilitation and therapeutic care involving a polytraumatized patient with traumatic brain injury, cervical spinal cord injury and multiple associated lesions - case report

The subject matter of the present scientific paper is the report of the therapeutic and rehabilitation program of a polytraumatized patient with severe traumatic brain injury and mild cervical spinal cord injury, that led to serious functional consequences: psychocognitive, neuromotor, neurosensitive and autonomous