Effects of health behaviours on the quality of life of patients following intervention cardiology procedures

Introduction: Diseases of the cardiovascular system are the main health problem of the population not only Polish, but also highly developed countries. Invasive treatment largely contributes to the reduction of mortality, cardiac complications and improves the quality of life of patients. Paying attention to the quality of life of people after cardiac episodes, can help to modify and achieve better therapeutic effects. The aim of a study: Assessment of the impact of health behaviours on the quality of life of patients following intervention cardiology procedures. Material and methods: The study was carried out on a group of 100 people, treated in the Department of Cardiology, the Department of Intensive Cardiac Supervision, the Hemodynamic Work of the Multidisciplinary Hospital of Ludwik Blazek in Inowroclaw. A questionnaire consisting of 22 single-choice questions was used to assess the quality of life of patients. Conclusions: 1. Close to 60% of respondents positively determines their quality of life. 2. The relationship between the effects of pro-health behaviours and quality of life has not been demonstrated. 3. The level of patient awareness of positive health behaviours is small, only a minority progresses according to their principles. 4. Unconsciousness of the health status of patients of the branch causes no reference to staff recommendations. 5. Alarming is prefering anti-health behaviour

Opposing effects of DNA on proteolysis of a replication initiator

DNA replication initiation proteins (Reps) are subjected to degradation by cellular proteases. We investigated how the formation of nucleoprotein complex, involving Rep and a protease, affects Rep degradation. All known Escherichia coli AAA+ cytosolic proteases and the replication initiation protein TrfA of the broad-host-range plasmid RK2 were used. Our results revealed that DNA influences the degradation process and that the observed effects are opposite and protease specific. In the case of ClpXP and ClpYQ proteases, DNA abolishes proteolysis, while in the case of ClpAP and Lon proteases it stimulates the process. ClpX and ClpY cannot interact with DNA-bound TrfA, while the ClpAP and Lon activities are enhanced by the formation of nucleoprotein complexes involving both the protease and TrfA. Lon has to interact with TrfA before contacting DNA, or this interaction can occur with TrfA already bound to DNA. The TrfA degradation by Lon can be carried out only on DNA. The absence of Lon results with higher stability of TrfA in the cell

Non-price factors stabilizing importance of the broker insurance distribution channel in the context of development of direct online sales

Artykuł omawia pozacenowe czynniki, tj. instytucjonalne (prawne), kulturowe i technologiczne, które stabilizują znaczenie tradycyjnego brokerskiego kanału w dystrybucji ubezpieczeń, a jednocześnie stanowiące przeszkodę w rozwoju sprzedaży przez Internet. W Polsce sprzedaż ubezpieczeń przez Internet ma aktualnie marginalne znaczenie, zaś kanał brokerski ma od lat ugruntowaną pozycję w dystrybucji ubezpieczeń majątkowych i pozostałych osobowych. Względem wybranych rynków ubezpieczeniowych na świecie, które były analizowane przez Swiss Re Institute, sprzedaż internetowa w Polsce rozwija się bardzo powoli. Trudno oczekiwać, aby uwarunkowania rynku ubezpieczeniowego w Polsce w najbliższych latach mogły umniejszyć rolę brokerów na rzecz dystrybucji internetowej. W zasadzie tylko czynniki instytucjonalne mogą stanowić pewne zagrożenie dla działalności brokerskiej w krótkim okresie.The article discusses non-price factors (institutional, cultural and technological) which stabilize the importance of the traditional broker channel in insurance distribution. These factors are at the same time an obstacle to the development of Internet sales. In Poland, direct online sales of insurance are currently of minor significance while the broker channel has for years been an important item in the distribution of non-life insurance. In relation to selected insurance markets in the world which were analyzed by the Swiss Re Institute, direct online insurance sales in Poland are developing very slowly. It is unlikely that the conditions and environment of the insurance market in Poland in the coming years will diminish the role of brokers towards online distribution. In principle, only institutional factors can pose some threat to insurance brokers’ activity in the short term

Ubezpieczenie odpowiedzialności cywilnej samorządu gminnego w Polsce

Effective protection of insurance interest of local government in the field of civil liability requires consideration of the two areas of functioning: dominium and imperium. The main attribute of local government is exercising of public authority. Insurance of this area of activity requires the inclusion of pure economic loss into contract. A study conducted on 45 municipalities showed that the main areas of activity are covered by general liability insurance in most of the municipalities. In 2/3 of the examined municipalities pure economic loss resulting from official authority is covered by insurance. The insurance in most cases is based on act committed trigger, which is the best solution both from the point of view of the insured as well as the potential victim.Artykuł nie zawiera abstraktu w języku polski

Determinants of the buying of insurance by the local governments in Poland

The article categorizes the determinants of the buying of insurance by the local governments in Poland. Division presented in article includes objective and subjective factors. Authors divide determi- nants into five groups: economic, legal, historical, cultural-organizational, and social. It is worth noting that some of the determinants have specific nature as it results from the public nature of the activities carried out by local government units. The impact of presented factors may vary in the different local governments. Comprehensive identification of possible determinants of the buying of insurance coverage by the local governments makes it easy to identify the determinants of the buying of insurance by a particular government.Artykuł nie zawiera abstraktu w języku polski

Importance of the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Creation of Companies Value

In recent years, more and more interest (in view of building long-term value) of companies both large and those in the SME sector, has the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The article attempts to identify the concept of CSR as a tool to build long-term value of the company. This text presents the results of empirical research on the level of business awareness of corporate social responsibility and performance and expected benefits of implementing CSR

Determinanty nabywania ubezpieczeń przez samorządy gminne w Polsce

The article categorizes the determinants of the buying of insurance by the local governments in Poland. Division presented in article includes objective and subjective factors. Authors divide determi- nants into five groups: economic, legal, historical, cultural-organizational, and social. It is worth noting that some of the determinants have specific nature as it results from the public nature of the activities carried out by local government units. The impact of presented factors may vary in the different local governments. Comprehensive identification of possible determinants of the buying of insurance coverage by the local governments makes it easy to identify the determinants of the buying of insurance by a particular government.Artykuł nie zawiera abstraktu w języku polski

Identification of human resource risk by managers and employees through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The main purpose of the paper is to identify the gap between the risks indicated by managers at the beginning of the pandemic and some selected actual challenges. Design/methodology/approach: The text includes both a literature review and the authors’ own study consisting of two parts. The first one deals directly with how companies manage risk. The study used a descriptive form that was completed by managers in the first half of 2020. The second part of the study was conducted using the CAWI method and concerned the evaluation of remote working from the perspective of employees. The particular value of combining these surveys is the possibility to compare risk management with the actual risk. External reports were also used to comment on the results. Findings: Research findings concerning the risks identified at the beginning of the pandemic and the attempt to assess them through the prism of the opinions of employees who worked under pandemic conditions indicate that technology will be an important aspect of many components of the HR function in the future. Thus, it can be accepted that the technological aspect (including the increasing use of IT at work) should be more widely taken into account by employers in the HR risk management methodologies. It is useful to carry out ex-post analysis in risk management methodologies in order to improve the methods of risk identification. Research limitations/implications: The research results presented and the statements put forward are certainly subject to limitations. As mentioned earlier, many of the indications are region- or sector-specific, and a detailed assessment of risk management must be carried out using case study methods. The conclusions arrived at should therefore be treated in a directional manner. However, this does not change the fact that the pandemic itself is certainly a regional as well as a universal issue and poses similar challenges to all. Practical implications: Pointing to the application aspect of the study results, it is worth noting that COVID-19 effects or market changes are conducive to the creation of new standards in the field of human resources risk and the promotion of sustainable use of human capital. The research methodology can be used to analyse the phenomenon of HR risk in organisations, and the research results can be a valuable contribution to building the mentioned standards in organisations. Social implications: Work on new types of risk should also have a positive impact on human capital construction. Further advances in knowledge in this area will be particularly important as it is estimated that the challenges of work organisation (including remote working) in times of pandemic will stay for long time. Originality/value: This paper addresses the issue of HR risk management in the face of the pandemic and the development of remote working. The research problem being identified is whether the pandemic situation gives rise to new areas of HR risk and whether the experiences of this period should influence the way risk is managed in the future

How does the society perceives modern technology? A biometric technology case

Zabezpieczenia biometryczne coraz częściej przedstawiane są jako skuteczny środek podnoszenia poziomu bezpieczeństwa również w ramach sektora publicznego. Stosowanie biometrii wywołuje jednakże kontrowersje związane z wrażliwością danych biometrycznych oraz z negatywnymi skutkami, jakie wywołać może ich ewentualna kompromitacja. Pomimo słyszalnych głosów sprzeciwu obrońców prawa do prywatności, faktyczna akceptowalność społeczna wykorzystania biometrii nie jest w Polsce znana. Celem artykułu jest zatem częściowe odniesienie się do problemu akceptowalności społecznej biometrii poprzez przedstawienie wyników badań jakościowych przeprowadzonych w ramach projektu „Opracowanie i stworzenie systemu mającego na celu identyfikację osób (sprawców przestępstw) na podstawie wizerunku utrwalonego na zdjęciu lub w materiałach video” (nr DOB-BIO7/18/02/2015 finansowany ze środków NCBiR). W badaniach wykorzystano technikę badawczą w postaci zogniskowanego wywiadu grupowego (FGI) pozwalającą na bezpośredni kontakt prowadzącego wywiad z badanymi. Uczestnicy badania reprezentowali przekrój polskiego społeczeństwa ze względu na główne cechy demograficzne odzwierciedlające jego strukturę (płeć, wiek, wykształcenie). Biorąc pod uwagę ograniczenia, jakie wiążą się z badaniami jakościowymi, przeprowadzone badania pokazały, iż akceptowalność społeczna biometrii zależy od wielu czynników. Pierwszym z nich jest cecha, jaką wykorzystuje się w procesie weryfikacji/identyfikacji. Badania pozwalają wysunąć tezę, że wizerunek twarzy oraz odbitki linii papilarnych są bardziej akceptowalne niż inne z wykorzystywanych obecnie cech. Badania pokazały również, że uczestnicy wywiadów nie mieli wystarczającej wiedzy na temat sposobu wykorzystania części identyfikatorów (np. sposób poruszania się, układ naczyń krwionośnych palca), co mogło być jednym z czynników przekładających się na niską akceptowalność społeczną tychże cech. Kolejnym czynnikiem wpływającym na akceptowalność społeczną biometrii okazał się sposób wykorzystania wskazanej technologii, a także rodzaj podmiotu odpowiedzialnego za przetwarzanie danych biometrycznych (wyższa akceptowalność przy wykorzystaniu przez policję, a niższa w przypadku podmiotów sektora usługowego). Pomimo ograniczeń metody jakościowej, badania pozwoliły na wskazanie tendencji akceptowalności zabezpieczeń biometrycznych w Polsce i mogą stać się przyczynkiem do przeprowadzenia badań ilościowych na reprezentatywnej grupie ogólnopolskiej.Biometric technology is nowadays seen as a suitable measure to increase security level both in public and private sector. On the other hand the use of the biometric security measures raises controversy due to the fact that biometric data are perceived as more sensitive that the ‘traditional’ ones. This leads to the problem of the consequences of illegal access to the biometric data. As it is possible to change password or PIN number it is not possible to change information connected with our organism (ex. fingerprints) what is consider to be a treat in using biometric security measures. This weakness of biometric technology may have an influence on the social acceptance of collecting biometric data. However the actual level of acceptance in Poland unknown. The aim of the article is to present the results of the qualitative research made on acceptance of biometrics security measures in various areas of life. The research was made as a part of the project “Design and construction of a system for recognition of persons (offenders) based on face images captured on photograph or video material” (DOB-BIO7/18/02/2015, finance by The National Center for Research and Development). The qualitative research based on the methodology of focus group interview (FGI) which allowed to make interviews witch people representing the cross-section of the Polish society (taking into account demographical features such as sex, age and the level of education). Taking into account the limitations associated with qualitative research methods, the interviews showed that there are several factors which influence the level of acceptance of biometrics security measures. The first factor is a kind of feature used in a process of identifying a person/verifying his/hers identity. The research showed that the most acceptable is comparing the identity based on the face geometry or fingerprints. On the opposite side (the least acceptable) we can find the features which were less known for the interviewees such as gain pattern and vain pattern. The next feature influencing the acceptance of using the biometric security measures is the aim of collecting the data and the entity responsible for processing them (we noted higher acceptance when the entity responsible is law enforcement agency than in the case of a private entity). Despite the limitations of the qualitative research the result of the interviews showed a tendency in social acceptance of using the biometrics systems in Poland. The study can be a base for the quantitative research on the representative nationwide group

Laser Treatment of Surfaces for Pool Boiling Heat Transfer Enhancement

The laser treatment of surfaces enables the alteration of their morphology and makes them suitable for various applications. This paper discusses the use of a laser beam to develop surface features that enhance pool boiling heat transfer. Two types of structures (in the ‘macro’ and ‘micro’ scale) were created on the samples: microfins (grooves) and surface roughness. The impact of the pulse duration and scanning velocity on the height of the microfins and surface roughness at the bottom of the grooves was analyzed with a high precision optical profilometer and microscope. The results indicated that the highest microfins and surface roughness were obtained with a pulse duration of 250 ns and scanning velocity of 200 mm/s. In addition, the influence of the ‘macro’ and ‘micro’ scale modifications on the boiling heat transfer of distilled water and ethyl alcohol was studied on horizontal samples heated with an electric heater. The largest enhancement was obtained for the highest microfins and roughest surfaces, especially at small superheats. Heat flux dissipated from the samples containing microfins of 0.4 mm height was, maximally, over three times (for water) and two times (for ethanol) higher than for the samples with smaller microfins (0.2 mm high). Thus, a modification of a selected model of boiling heat transfer was developed so that it would be applicable to laser-processed surfaces. The correlation proved to be quite successful, with almost all experimental data falling within the ±100% agreement bands