Insights Research Articles

Personal Growth and Well-Being Among University Students: A Comprehensive Analysis

This comprehensive analysis examines the current research on personal growth and well-being among university students with a comparative approach. The review explores the key dimensions of personal growth, including the tendency to make long-term goals and possessing effective resource allocation skills. It also investigates the influential factors that shape personal growth, such as social support, academic engagement, and coping strategies, which can help students adapt to university learning environments. The relationship between personal growth and overall student well-being is critically analyzed. This comprehensive analysis also provides valuable insights into the contextual and institutional factors that may impact personal growth and well- being in higher education settings. The review concludes by discussing evidence-based interventions and strategies that can be implemented to foster holistic student development and support successful transitions to adulthood. Moreover, it explores the reciprocal nature of the relationship between personal growth and well-being, unveiling the dynamic interplay between these two constructs. By synthesizing existing literature and incorporating empirical evidence, this article provides valuable insi ghts into the vital connection between personal growth and well-being, offering a nuanced understanding of this crucial association for researchers, educators, and practitioners in the field of higher education.

Twelve Insights into This Issue

Twelve Insights into This Issue

Primacy and Sinodality. Deepening Insights

Primacy and Sinodality. Deepening Insights

Truth against Arrogance: Insights and Eclipse, Investigation and Insights Again

Knowledge, rather than being a constant virtue of one’s mind, is an acquaintance of an unsteady, precarious character. Contrary to the expectations people like to associate with it, it is neither i...

Insights from outside BJOG

Insights from outside BJOG

Critical Insights into After Whiteness

Critical Insights into <i>After Whiteness</i>

Muslims and Islamophobia in ‘Raceless’ Societies: Critical insights from Denmark and Quebec

Muslims and Islamophobia in ‘Raceless’ Societies: Critical insights from Denmark and Quebec

Aquaporin 4 and brain-related disorders: Insights into its apoptosis roles.

Brain-related disorders are leading global health problems. Various internal and external factors are involved in the progression of brain-related disorders. Inflammatory pathways, oxidative stresses, apoptosis, and deregulations of various channels are critical players in brain-related disorder pathogenesis. Among these players, aquaporins (AQP) have critical roles in various physiological and pathological conditions. AQPs are water channel molecules that permit water to cross the hydrophobic lipid bilayers of cellular membranes. AQP4 is one of the important members of AQP family. AQPs are involved in controlling apoptosis pathways in brain-related disorders. In this regard, several reports have evaluated the pathological effects of AQP4 by targeting the apoptosis-related processes in brain-related disorders. Here, for the first time, we highlight the impact of AQP4 on apoptosis-related processes in brain-related disorders.

Reimagining the Post-COVID 19 World: A Critique of Arundhati Roy’s Azadi . Freedom. Fascism. Fiction.

&#x0D; Arundhati Roy’s Azadi . Freedom. Fascism. Fiction. (2020) is a clarion call to the world at large and India in particular to break the shackles of obsoleteness, and reimagine a new and improved world. This wakeup call has been prompted by the pandemic which has brought the entire globe down on its knees. It has forced humankind to question the values that modern societies have been built on – all that they have chosen to venerate and those they have derided. COVID-19 has ridiculed borders: geographical, political, economic and cultural. The pandemic for Roy is a “portal, a gateway between one world and the next” (214). This anthology consists of 9 essays/ lectures written between 2018-2020. They are all linked together as they yield insights into how the world should be recreated. This paper attempts to critically assess the diverse ways in which Roy seeks to reinvent the world post -pandemic.

DNA barcoding of selected alpine beetles with focus on Curculionoidea (Coleoptera)

Selected beetles, mainly weevils, from the Alpine Arc were barcoded. From 187 samples of 106 assigned species of the families Curculionidae (152 samples, mainly Entiminae, Cyclominae and Hyperinae), Carabidae (18), Apionidae (6), Chrysomelidae and Staphylinidae (each 1 sample), sequences from the COI (subunit 1 of the cytochrome oxydase gene) were obtained, with a success of more than 86% (162 samples). In the cases of Otiorhynchus pupillatus Gyllenhal, 1834, O. nodosus (O. F. Muller, 1764), O. meridionalis Gyllenhal, 1834, Dichotrachelus koziorowicziDesbrochers des Loges, 1873, D. augusti F. Solari, 1946 and D. maculosus Fairmaire, 1869 more diversity was hidden than foreseen in the beginning, suggesting partly cryptic (not yet described) species. One name is thus resurrected from junior synonymy (O. civisStierlin, 1861stat. rev. from synonymy with O. meridionalis). In another case with strictly parthenogenetically reproducing populations of O. pupillatus and O. nodosus in the Swiss Alps, several lineages from hypothetical postglacial immigration events, or alternatively complexes of species in statu nascendi might explain the results observed. Moreover, some morphologically debated species-pairs/triples confirmed to be problematic too, even with our COI sequence data [Hypera nigrirostris (Fabricius, 1775) – ononidis (Chevrolat, 1863) – melarynchus (Olivier, 1807)]. On the other hand, in some cases the lspecies' identity, based on the monophyly of the investigated populations, could be confirmed [Anthonomus rubi (Herbst, 1795), Polydrusus chaerodrysius Gredler, 1866, P. paradoxus Stierlin, 1859]. In the hyperdiverse genus Otiorhynchus Germar, 1822, some preliminary insights into the systematics at the subgenus-level could be made, suggesting that many changes of the present morphologically based systematic structure will be necessary.

When the levees break.

Researchers are learning where, when, and why rivers leap from their channels in deadly avulsions.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MANUSCRIPTS

Articles follow the 7th edition of Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA*) and are subjected to double peer-review and selected for publication on the basis of the following criteria: • the study is thematically relevant to the aim of the journal; • original, previously unpublished, not submitted to other journals during the evaluation process, ethical parameters highlighted; • presents empirical analysis or in-depth theoretical consideration; • contains basic structural elements:o Empirical study – introduction, background, aim, research parameters (sample, method, instrument), ethics, findings, discussion, conclusions, implications, references.o Conceptual study – introduction, background, aim, method, ethics, reflection and discussion, conclusions, insights, references. • focuses on an acute research problem; • is of adequate stylistic and linguistic quality.

Hearing Paul’s Voice: Insights for Teaching and Preaching

Hearing Paul’s Voice: Insights for Teaching and Preaching

Molecular characterization and improved diagnostics of Nocardia strains isolated over the last two decades at a German tertiary care center.

Nocardiosis is a rare but life-threatening infection caused by aerobic Actinomycetes of the genus Nocardia particularly affecting immunocompromised hosts. The identification of Nocardia ssp. and antibiotic susceptibility testing by standard microbiological methods are incomplete and molecular techniques may improve diagnostics. We studied 39 Nocardia strains isolated from 33 patients between 2000 and 2018. Twenty-four patients (72.7 %) were immunocompromised. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) revealed a broad taxonomic range of those isolates spanning 13 different species, including four strains that belonged to three novel species based on average nucleotide identity (ANI < 95 % with currently available genome sequences). 16S rRNA gene analyses mirrored WGS results. Conventional MALDI-TOF analysis correctly identified 29 isolates at the species level (74.4 %). Our advanced protocol with formic acid and acetonitrile treatment increased identification to 35 isolates (89.7 %). Antibiotic resistance was tested using both a microdilution method and MIC strip testing. Results were in good concordance with an overall trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT) resistance rate of 13.5 %. WGS of a SXT resistant N. farcinica isolate showed a deletion of several amino acids in a homolog of dihydropteroate synthase (FolP2) that was not seen in sensitive members of this species. Diversity of Nocardia isolates was high and involved many different species, suggesting that this taxon has broadly distributed mechanisms for infecting individuals. Widely applicable diagnostic methods including MALDI-TOF and 16S rRNA gene analyses correctly identified most strains. WGS additionally revealed molecular insights into SXT resistance mechanisms of clinical Nocardia isolates highlighting the potential application of (meta)genomic-based diagnostics in the future.

Comparison of two sample preparation methods for 1H-NMR wine profiling: Direct analysis and solid-phase extraction

This study compares two sample preparation methods: direct analysis (DA) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) for wine samples analysis by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy. For this purpose, the profile of Mexican commercial wines was evaluated. The selected wines were produced with different grape varieties: ('Barbera', 'Nebbiolo', 'Zinfandel', 'Merlot', 'Petite Syrah', 'Cabernet Sauvignon', 'White Zinfandel' and mixture of 'Chenin blanc' and 'Colombard') coming from the principal wine-producing region of Mexico, Baja California State. DA provided faster data acquisition in comparison to SPE and preserved the original sample composition. Using DA-NMR thirty two metabolites were identified, including organic acids, amino acids, sugars, alcohols and phenolic compounds. Furthermore, SPE-NMR using a polymeric sorbent allowed to retain phenolic compounds giving a better picture on the aromatic region and eliminating major polar compounds like water, ethanol and sugars. Fourteen compounds were identified by SPE-NMR including higher alcohols, flavanols and hydroxybenzoates. A control chart for the first principal component allowed to confirm the precision of the SPE-NMR method, while a comparison of the concentration of two metabolites found in both methods was used to evaluate their recovery (20 % for isoamyl alcohol and 78 % for phenethyl alcohol). The information obtained with both methods about the main compounds and phenolic metabolites provides new insights into the metabolomic profile of wine, which could be useful in future targeted studies.

Rule-based inferencing diagnosis in HBIM

The aim of this paper is the implementation of a methodological workflow for the diagnosis of masonry settlings, within the HBIM approach, developing a rule-based logical inference tool in Visual Programming Language. The rule-based inferencing diagnosis is a guided process, which increases the confidence factor about settlings and actual causes, on the basis of surveyors’ technical insights and evidences. The final step is the suggestion of appropriate interventions. The results show that inference logic is directly applicable to the diagnosis problem; their efficacy depends on i) the structured parametric and data modelling of decay patterns in the HBIM model and ii) the knowledge base training. The application has been validated on a case study, Masseria Don Cataldo (Bari, South Italy).

In response to 'Vardi's insights'

In response to 'Vardi's insights'

Branching out: new insights into sucrose-induced branching.

Branching out: new insights into sucrose-induced branching.

Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Risk: Another Way to Assess the Connection

Blood pressure (BP) targets continue to generate lots of discussion and even confusion. For further insights, investigators made use of UK Biobank data

Ozarow, D. The Mobilization and Demobilization of Middle-Class Revolt: Comparative Insights from Argentina

Ozarow, D. The Mobilization and Demobilization of Middle-Class Revolt: Comparative Insights from Argentina