Context: This paper explores the potential of transformative learning theory (TLT) to serve as a framework for career counsellor training. Currently, due to the lack of a study program in career guidance and counselling (CGC), lack of standard in this regard, as well as the underdevelopment of the profession in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), practitioners working in CGC have different professional backgrounds ranging from education sciences, psychology, social work or related disciplines who develop competencies in career counselling either through non-formal programs or self-directed learning. This diverse entry into the practice of CGC highlights the need for a well-founded training program developing relevant competencies and professional ethics. Approach: TLT is found to be particularly relevant in this context as it fosters personal development by encouraging individuals to revise their perspective and frames of reference. To empirically explore this assumption, the study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to examine the experiences of trainees coming from diverse professional backgrounds who participated in training programs for career counsellors. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten participants who completed the training capturing their subjective interpretations and meaning-making processes. Findings: Analysis revealed that trainees experienced transformative learning across three key processes. First, they expanded and revised their existing systems of knowledge related to CGC. Second, they engaged with new meaning schemes associated with CGC and attempted to internalize them. Finally, participants recognized the limitations of their previous frames of reference and reported a conscious effort to reorganize and transform them in the context of CGC. The findings suggest that the training programs created conditions that facilitated transformative learning, which participants described as both professionally and personally empowering. Conclusions: Data show that TLT provides a valuable theoretical and practical framework for training career counsellors, especially in such contexts where trainees come with already formed professional identities. By focusing on meaning-making and personal development, TLT encourages deep, reflective learning that enhances counsellors’ capacity to support others in career learning. This research offers a theoretically-relevant insight and practical implications for the design of a training program in CGC.
Universities are increasingly expected to engage with external stakeholders beyond traditional research and education. This “third mission” is driven by factors like policy pressures, funding needs, and graduate employability. University-Business Collaboration (UBC) has emerged as a key form of engagement, fostering innovation, regional development, and job creation. Prior studies focus on a narrow vision for engagement activities, primarily on research and commercialisation, which excludes many more academics than it includes, to the detriment of academia. Moreover, some of the studies control for knowledge area, however, limited research focuses specifically on these knowledge areas, which have a large impact on the way in which academics create impact across a broad range of UBC activities in education, research and management. Using a large European dataset (3153 academics, 33 countries), this research explores academic engagement through UBC across medical sciences, technology & engineering, and social sciences & humanities. Specifically, the study deepen how individual factors such as academics’ beliefs and capabilities, as well as the university context, influence UBC engagement. Statistical analyses reveal potential variations in how disciplines engage and create impact. The findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of UBC, potentially moving the conversation beyond traditional commercialization models towards a more holistic and transformative approach, which involves a much larger segment of the academic population. This research also lays the groundwork for future studies to explore a broader and more inclusive model of academic impact through engagement with industry and through UBC partnerships.
The photoacid 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonate (HPTS) is one of the most widely used fluorescent probes for studying proton transfer and local pH in systems from advanced materials to plants, environmental sensors to medicine. HPTS exists as two different species: the acid and its conjugate base, which lead to unique protonation-state-dependent translocation of the molecule when it is nanoconfined within anionic AOT reverse micelles. Using steady-state and time-resolved optical spectroscopy, molecular simulations, and IR solvation shell spectroscopy, we report that the protonated HPTS species associates strongly with the micelle interface via hydrogen bonding. In contrast, its deprotonated species resides in the micelle's aqueous interior. Our results show that photoexcitation of the acid species and its subsequent deprotonation leads the conjugate base to rapidly move away from the interface into the water pool. This light-induced translocation, an effect observed for a range of micelle sizes, challenges the prevailing view where molecular probes are assumed to be static reporters of their environments, remaining in a fixed location for the duration of an experiment. This is especially relevant for interpreting results in the numerous studies enlisting optical spectroscopy of HPTS to report on complex systems. Our findings reveal the potential for molecular probes as dynamic explorers capable of mapping environmental heterogeneity on the timescale of the very processes they are designed to measure.
Healthcare organizations operate in environments characterized by high job demands, resource constraints, and increasing service expectations. Under such conditions, sustaining employee work engagement becomes essential for maintaining service quality, employee well-being, and organizational performance. Drawing on the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) framework, this study examines the role of managerial competencies as organizational resources that may stimulate employee work engagement in healthcare institutions. The primary objective of this research is to investigate whether managerial competencies significantly predict employee work engagement and to determine the relative contribution of specific competency dimensions. The study focuses on five managerial competency domains: leadership, communication, strategic, operational, and emotional intelligence competencies. Data were collected through a survey conducted among 201 employees working in public and private healthcare institutions in Tuzla Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Work engagement was measured using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), while managerial competencies were assessed using a competency-based evaluation instrument. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression modeling.
Climate change affects all sectors, with a particularly significant impact on agricultural production. Therefore, agricultural production must adapt to these changes, and adaptive strategies for managing agricultural production should be applied. This research evaluates which adaptive strategies yield the best results in agricultural production in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia through expert decision-making. In doing so, the interval type-2 fuzzy set (IF2S) is applied, using symmetric fuzzy numbers through the membership function. The results obtained by applying IF2S M-SiWeC (Modified Simple Weight Calculation) show that the criteria of the greatest importance are yield stability and climate risk reduction. The ranking of the six selected adaptive strategies is carried out using the IF2S MABAC (Multi-Attributive Border Approximation area Comparison) method, which indicates that agricultural production diversification and adaptive water management strategies provide the best results according to expert assessments. These results are confirmed by additional analyses, including comparative analysis and sensitivity analysis. The contribution of this research is reflected in proposing guidelines on the adaptive strategies that should be applied in practice in agricultural production in order to reduce the negative effects of climate change.
This study reconstructs the formation, spatial evolution, and institutional development of the quarter (mahalle) founded around the mesjid of Kalin Haji Ali in Sarajevo during the 16th and 17th centuries. Drawing on a broad corpus of Ottoman archival sources, including the Bosnian Sanjak register of 1563/65, court records (sijils), and later cadastral surveys, alongside relevant modern scholarship, the research clarifies the genesis of this urban micro-unit by systematically examining its identification in the documentation, its spatial configuration, and its shifting toponymic layers. A particular focus is placed on the waqf established by Kalin Haji Ali, the administrative and legal mechanisms through which his mesjid attained the status of a mosque, and the ways in which the endowment’s assets shaped the social and physical development of the emerging neighbourhood. The urban landscape of Sarajevo was decisively structured by a dense network of waqf institutions founded by members of the urban elite. Through the establishment of religious, educational, commercial, and communal facilities, these endowments not only organised the city’s-built environment but also played a central role in configuring social relations, patterns of neighbourhood (mahalle) formation, and modes of communal interaction. Within this broader framework, the waqf of Kalin Haji Ali stands out as a representative example of the mechanisms through which a single philanthropic initiative could generate a lasting urban nucleus. Situated on the right bank of the Miljacka River, the mesjid he founded became the focal point of a new quarter, whose gradual consolidation reflects both the dynamics of urban expansion and the processes by which peripheral zones were incorporated into the fabric of the early modern city. A significant historiographical challenge has long been the precise identification of this quarter, given the existence of several Sarajevo quarters named after individuals bearing the name Haji Ali. By employing a comparative methodology and cross-referencing multiple source groups, this study resolves these ambiguities and reconstructs the neighborhood’s emergence, demographic profile, and spatial boundaries. The quarter was located in the area of the present-day National Theatre and bordered the quarters of Haje Kemal, Ayas Pasha, Haji Idris, and Haji Mahmud Bali. Archival evidence from the later 16th century indicates that parts of this zone were still covered in woodland vegetation, demonstrating that its urbanisation proceeded gradually. The continued use of local toponyms such as Pokrovnik and Čajirdžik (small meadow) alongside the official quarter name reveals the persistence of older topographic traditions and the survival of collective memory regarding the site’s pre-urban landscape. Although the original waqfiye has not survived, other Ottoman documents permit a reliable reconstruction of the waqf’s holdings. These included a mosque, a maktab, 14,000 silver coins (akçe) in cash, and several revenue-generating shops whose income funded the salaries of religious and educational personnel. Subsequent donations by affluent townspeople, including women such as Nevbihe Hatun, augmented the endowment’s capital base and ensured stable financial support for children’s education. By integrating dispersed archival evidence into a coherent analytical framework, the study demonstrates that the quarter of Kalin Haji Ali offers a paradigmatic illustration of the dynamics underpinning the formation of early urban micro-structures. Its development provides valuable insight into the processes of urbanisation, community organisation, and institutional life in Sarajevo during the 16th and 17th centuries.
ABSTRACT Background The preschool years are a crucial period for development. Stable environments and responsive caregivers support children's cognitive and motor development, two interrelated and essential domains. Caregiver smartphone use in front of children may reduce attention and responsiveness, which have been negatively associated with young children's health and development. We examined associations between the frequency of caregiver smartphone use in a child's presence and motor skills and executive functions, and whether these associations vary by country income level. Methods We analysed cross‐sectional data from 27 countries participating in the SUNRISE International Study. Caregivers reported the frequency of smartphone use in the child's presence across five scenarios: mealtime, playtime, travel, walk and bedtime routines. Children's motor skills were assessed using four established tests. Early Years Toolbox games were used to assess children's visual–spatial working memory and inhibition. Mixed‐effects linear regression models were used to assess the associations, including interaction terms to test variation by country income level. Models were adjusted for the child's sex, age, daily screen time, time spent outdoors, sleep duration and the caregiver's highest level of education. Results The analytical sample included 2232 preschoolers (mean age = 4.2 ± 0.6 years, 50.9% girls). In fully adjusted models, the frequency of caregiver smartphone use in a child's presence was not associated with gross motor skills, fine motor skills, visual–spatial working memory or inhibition (all p > 0.05). Results did not differ by country income level. Conclusions Findings suggest that the frequency of caregiver smartphone use in a child's presence alone may not be associated with performance on motor skills and executive function. There is a need for more sensitive measures that capture the frequency, duration and context of interruptions and more longitudinal studies that examine motor development and cognition. Future research should also account for socioeconomic and demographic diversity, environmental factors and cultural context when assessing such associations.
Nanoplastics have recently been detected in human liver tissue, raising concerns about their potential impact on liver function. However, early hepatocyte responses associated with nanoplastics exposure remain poorly understood. Here, we combined high-throughput Cell Painting-based phenomics, untargeted metabolomics, and Seahorse mitochondrial functional assay to investigate the effects of 100 nm polystyrene nanoplastics on human HepaRG hepatocytes, a surrogate for primary human hepatocytes. At the tested concentrations (6.25-100 µg/mL), exposure did not induce overt cytotoxicity, enabling assessment of early sublethal cellular responses. Phenomics revealed widespread subcellular perturbations, with 16.4% of the measured phenotypic features significantly altered. Mitochondria-associated features represented the dominant altered phenotypic signature, showing pronounced changes in granularity, texture, and radial distribution, alongside alterations in endoplasmic reticulum- and cytoskeleton-associated features. Untargeted metabolomics of intracellular metabolites and the extracellular secretome revealed metabolic alterations, characterized by changes consistent with altered β-oxidation, lipid handling, membrane stress, and central carbon metabolism, including changes in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and amino acid catabolism. Pathway analysis identified the TCA cycle as one of the most significantly affected pathways (FDR = 0.028). Integrated phenomic-metabolomic analysis revealed strong correlations between mitochondrial phenotypic features and metabolites involved in lipid and energy metabolism, indicating a coordinated structural-metabolic response to polystyrene nanoplastics exposure. Functional assessment using Seahorse assay showed reduced basal and maximal respiration and decreased ATP-linked O2 consumption. Together, these findings provide evidence that 100 nm polystyrene nanoplastics elicit early mitochondria-associated phenotypic, metabolic, and functional responses prior to overt cytotoxicity under the tested conditions. They also highlight the value of phenomic-metabolomic-functional integration for profiling sublethal nanotoxicological responses and guiding future targeted mechanistic studies.
Efficient generation of entangled photons typically relies on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in phase-matched macroscopic nonlinear media. However, generating entanglement under phase-matching constraints requires additional bulk optics or interferometers. In contrast, ultrathin van der Waals semiconductors - such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) - exhibit strong enough optical nonlinearities for SPDC to be observed from subwavelength-thick media, thereby bypassing conventional phase-matching constraints. In this microscopic domain, the intrinsic crystal symmetry governs the nonlinear optical response, enabling the native generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs. However, generating these states efficiently has been fundamentally restricted by the material's coherence length ($L_c$), which limits the attainable conversion efficiency. Here, we investigate periodically-poled TMDs (PPTMDs) designed to scale up this interaction via quasi-phase matching. We demonstrate that mechanically flipping the sign of the nonlinearity at precise intervals of $L_c$ introduces quasi-phase matching, that scales the pair-production rate while preserving the pristine, symmetry-generated polarization entanglement, with fidelities exceeding 99%. Backed by a rigorous theoretical model, our work clarifies the interplay between crystal symmetry and propagation effects in thin nonlinear media, providing a new avenue for engineering quantum light in nanophotonic systems.
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