The Role of Traditional Pottery Production in Sustainable Community Development in Uganda: (A Case Study of the Ankole Sub-Region)

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Traditional pottery production is a significant but not broadly researched area in sustainable community development in Uganda, especially in rural areas where the economy is generally based on the crafts industry. This study aimed at the investigating socio-economic, cultural, and environmental impacts of traditional pottery production in sustainable community development in the Ankole Sub-Region, Western Uganda. The study was guided by the sustainable livelihood framework and the perspectives of culture-based development. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional case study design. This study used a sample size of 20 respondents, comprising 8 master potters, 4 long-term traders, 2 elders, 4 clay extractors, and 2 transporters. The researcher used a multistage sampling technique in areas with concentrated, accessible pottery activity in the Ankole sub-region. Semi-structured interviews and observations, together with structured interviews, were employed in data collection. Thematic data analysis, as described by Braun and Clarke (2006), was employed in analyzing the qualitative data, while descriptive statistics summarized the basic livelihood and production data.

The findings showed that traditional pottery-making is an important economic activity for diversifying income and minimize poverty level by empowering women economically, passing on skills to the next generation, preserving cultural identity, heritage, and improve community ties through working together, and helping the development of the circular economy through the availability of local resources such as clay and organic matter for firing, and the simple technology for pottery-making.

However, the sustainability of the traditional pottery is also limited by factors such as less access to the market, insufficient production facilities and modern kilns, reduced access to suitable clay materials, health risks from inhaling smoke and dust, and less institutional backing for the value steam. These findings also confirm previous evidence suggesting that pottery production results in employment and alleviates poverty in Ankole, while also emphasizing environmental and technical concerns related to production methods. The study concludes that enhancing pottery value steams through technological innovations, collaborative marketing strategies, heritage tourism partnerships, and targeted support from local government can promote sustainable community development outcomes aligned with Uganda’s national development goals and the increasing recognition of crafts within Uganda’s creative economy.

From Magnesium Feedstocks to Reactive MgO: A Critical Review of Production Routes, Reactivity Control, Industrial Scalability, and Environmental Trade-Offs

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Reactive magnesium oxide (r-MgO) is often treated as a single material class, yet its performance is governed by a chain of coupled decisions extending from magnesium source and precursor chemistry to heat and mass transfer, calcination severity, atmosphere, particle size, purification, and post-calcination aging. This structured critical narrative review reframes reactive MgO production as a process–structure–reactivity engineering problem rather than a catalog of synthesis methods. A fixed core evidence corpus of 103 publications from 2020 through August 2026 was coded by production route, evidence scale, reactivity endpoint, and environmental/economic dimension; three pre-2020 foundational sources were used only for terminology and mechanistic context and were excluded from corpus counts. The review compares mineral-derived, brucite-derived, dolomitic, seawater/brine, waste-derived, sulfate-derived, and specialty precursors; conventional, flash, fluidized-bed, steam-assisted, solar/electrified, precipitation, carbonation, electrochemical, and hybrid routes; and the analytical methods used to describe reactivity. No single metric—calcination temperature, BET surface area, hydration rate, or CO₂ uptake—defines reactive MgO across applications. Instead, reactivity emerges from the preservation or destruction of accessible mesoporosity, surface defects, dissolution sites, crystallite-scale disorder, and pore connectivity, provided that sufficient precursor conversion and chemical purity are achieved. Fast thermal routes can reduce sintering exposure, whereas brine and residue routes can decouple purity from the original mineralogy but introduce reagent demand, washing, mother-liquor management, and scale-up penalties. Environmental advantage is likewise route-specific: avoiding magnesite decarbonation can reduce process CO₂, but upstream alkalis, electricity, solids handling, and unrealized carbonation can reverse apparent benefits. The industrially optimum product is therefore not the MgO with the highest nominal reactivity, but the product whose application-specific reactivity window is achieved at acceptable purity, energy demand, carbon footprint, cost, throughput, and consistency. The review concludes with a research agenda centered on standardized reporting, direct route-to-route experiments, impurity-tolerance maps, continuous pilot validation, and integrated mass–energy–carbon–cost assessment.

European Classification and Labelling of Hazardous Products

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By adopting the CLP Regulation, the European Union has aligned its classification and labelling system for hazardous substances with a globally accepted standard based on the United Nations’ Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). This article summarizes the key aspects of the current status of the CLP Regulation. It introduces the available labelling elements, such as hazard pictograms, signal words, hazard statements, and precautionary statements. This is followed by an overview of physical hazard classes, health hazards, environmental hazards, and an additional hazard class. The communication elements for each hazard class are presented in a tabular overview. Subsequently, general and specific criteria for the classification of mixtures are listed. The discussion section examines current legislative trends.

IoT-Based 100 WP Solar Power Plant for Ultraviolet Lighting in Dragon Fruit Cultivation: Design and Performance Comparison of Tracking and Non-Tracking Systems

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The use of solar energy for agricultural applications can reduce dependence on conventional electricity while enabling operation in locations where grid access is limited. This study aimed to design and evaluate a 100 Wp photovoltaic system integrated with an Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring and control system for lighting in a dragon fruit plantation. The system employed a 100 Wp monocrystalline solar panel, a solar charge controller, a battery storage unit, an inverter, an ESP32 microcontroller, voltage and current sensing, and Telegram as the remote monitoring interface. Electrical parameters were observed hourly from 09:00 to 17:00 WIB under two panel configurations: solar tracking and fixed non-tracking. Panel voltage, panel current, battery voltage, and calculated panel power were analyzed. For the tracking configuration, the average panel voltage and current were 19.64 V and 4.12 A, respectively, corresponding to an average calculated power of 81.47 W. The maximum calculated power was 100.94 W at 12:00. Under the non-tracking configuration, the average voltage and current were 18.69 V and 3.61 A, with an average calculated power of 68.08 W and a maximum of 91.65 W at 12:00. Thus, the tracking configuration produced approximately 19.7% higher average calculated panel power than the non-tracking configuration. The ESP32–Telegram system successfully transmitted operating information in real time when a stable Internet connection was available. The results demonstrate that combining solar tracking with IoT monitoring can improve the observed electrical performance and facilitate remote management of a small off-grid photovoltaic lighting system.

Experimental Study of Cyclotron-Related Electromagnetic Waves and Their Interaction with Electronic Circuits

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Electromagnetic fields generated by systems involving charged-particle motion are important in accelerator physics, microwave engineering, and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). A cyclotron accelerates charged particles by the coordinated action of a magnetic field and a radio-frequency (RF) electric field, while accelerated charges and time-varying fields provide a general physical basis for electromagnetic radiation (Lawrence & Livingston, 1932; Wiedemann, 2015). The present study investigates, experimentally, how microwave electromagnetic fields interact with electronic circuits and uses a magnetron-based laboratory source as an accessible experimental model for phenomena related to charged-particle electromagnetics. The apparatus consisted of a high-voltage power-supply/transformer unit, high-voltage capacitor, microwave magnetron, electrical connecting leads, and a metallic enclosure lined internally with aluminium. The electromagnetic response of a mobile phone, digital camera, calculator, radio, and lamp was observed. At an initial source-to-device separation of approximately 30 cm, temporary functional disturbances were observed, and the disturbances generally became more pronounced when the devices were moved closer to the source. Inside the aluminium-lined enclosure, the response was spatially non-uniform: some positions produced stronger disturbances than others. This behaviour is physically consistent with reflection from the conducting enclosure and interference between incident and reflected microwave fields, producing spatial maxima and minima. The mobile phone showed screen instability and temporary touch-response disturbance at some positions, while the radio, calculator, digital camera, and lamp also exhibited abnormal responses. The study interprets these observations through electromagnetic coupling, induced voltage/current, frequency-dependent susceptibility, and spatial field redistribution. Because calibrated measurements of field strength, power density, and exact operating frequency were not performed, the results are reported as qualitative evidence of electromagnetic susceptibility rather than as calibrated failure thresholds. The work provides an experimentally accessible bridge between accelerator-physics concepts, microwave generation, and EMC and offers a basis for future quantitative measurements.

Effects of Varied Nitrogen Fertilization Rates on Yield and Growth parameters of Hybrid Maize under agro-climatic conditions of Nangarhar, Afghanistan

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Nitrogen is one of the most essential nutrients influencing the growth, development, and productivity of maize (Zea mays L.). This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different nitrogen fertilization rates on the growth and yield performance of hybrid maize under the agro-climatic conditions of Nangarhar, Afghanistan. The experimental treatments consisted of four nitrogen fertilization rates; 0, 130, 160 kg and 190 kg N ha⁻¹, Nitrogen fertilizer was applied in form of Urea (46%N) in three split application ¼ dose at sowing, ½ at knee high stage and ¼ at tasseling stage. The experiment was conducted as randomized complete block design (RCBD). The results showed that the application of 190 kg N ha⁻¹, produced significantly higher values than the other treatments for plant height (244 cm), stem diameter (3.58 cm), number of leaves per plant (15.83), cob length (22 cm), number of grain per cob (455), grain weight per cob (133.17 g), 1000-grain weight (300 g), biological yield (808 g), fresh cob yield (8.33 kg), fresh net grain yield per cob (153.17 g). The lowest values were recorded under the control treatment (0 kg N ha⁻¹) across all plant growth and yield parameters.
Therefore, this article recommends 190 kg N ha⁻¹ for farmers in the region and in similar climatic regions to achieve good maize growth and high yields.

ESP Students’ Perceptions of the Use of Technological Devices in Assessing English Listening Skills

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Nowadays, technology plays an increasingly vital role in language education. Recently, more and more educators and researchers have explored how technological devices can support the assessment of English listening skills. This study, therefore, aims to explore students’ perceptions of the use of technological devices in the assessment of listening skills in an ESP course, namely ‘English for Logistics’. More specifically, the research was conducted at Ho Chi Minh City College of Transport with the participation of 80 second-year ESP students majoring in Logistics. A mixed-methods research design was employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data through the employment of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and content analysis were used. The findings revealed that the main purposes of using technological devices in assessing English listening skills include enhancing students’ listening skills and giving feedback to students via formative assessment. Besides, most students had positive perceptions of the use of technological devices in assessing listening skills in the course of English for Logistics, such as having convenience, increasing interest, saving time, and giving immediate feedback. In addition, the findings showed that distraction, anxiety, security, and technical problems were several major challenges of using technological devices in English listening.

Developing EFL Students’ Communicative Performance Through Experiential Cross-Cultural Interaction with International Tourists: A Mixed-Methods Study at TSES English Club

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The disconnect between formal language instruction and real-world communicative competence remains a core challenge in global EFL education. This convergent mixed-methods study examines an innovative experiential learning model at the TSES English Club in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where university students practise their English skills via structured, authentic interactions with international tourists in public spaces. The quantitative data, collected over an 18-week intervention period, comprised pre/post-test scores of 11 students assessed using a 100-point rubric, alongside student post-intervention perception surveys from 71 students and 7 expert facilitators. The qualitative data, gathered via semi-structured interviews with 3 facilitators and 5 students, underwent reflexive thematic analysis and were supplemented by ethnographic observation. Findings reveal significant practical communication score gains (t(10)=24.06, p<.001, d=7.25), indicating an extremely large effect. Post-intervention surveys indicated over 77% of students improved across all criteria. Thematic analysis revealed three primary catalysts: authentic communicative pressure, intrinsic motivation from meaningful cross-cultural exchange, and peer scaffolding with emotional support. Three principal barriers emerged: accent-triggered anxiety, cultural and pragmatic misunderstandings, and environmental noise. The study theoretically operationalises experiential learning and intercultural competence frameworks within this non-institutional, tourism-driven context. Practically, it offers ten evidence-based, actionable recommendations to maximise pedagogical impact for language clubs.

Factors Influencing the Quality of Cultural Tourism Experiences: Integrating Don Ca Tai Tu and Cai Luong Performing Arts in the Mekong Delta

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This article presents a conceptual framework and research protocol for investigating the factors that influence the quality of cultural tourism experiences associated with Đờn ca tài tử (Southern Vietnamese folk music) and Cải lương (Vietnamese traditional opera) in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Recognised by UNESCO as a Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013, Đờn ca tài tử embodies the cultural soul of Southern Vietnam. Despite its heritage significance and the growing global shift toward experience-based tourism, the integration of these traditional performing arts into tourism offerings remains underdeveloped and empirically understudied. This article addresses three critical research gaps: the absence of an integrated theoretical framework combining Experience Economy Theory, Authenticity Theory, Co-creation Theory, Memorable Tourism Experience (MTE), and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model; the lack of quantitative studies employing structural equation modelling in this context; and the scarcity of comprehensive research on cultural tourism experiences tied to these art forms in the Mekong Delta. The proposed research employs an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, combining qualitative interviews with artisans, managers, and tourists, followed by a quantitative survey of 400-500 respondents analysed using PLS-SEM. This article contributes to the theoretical advancement of cultural heritage tourism research and offers practical implications for sustainable tourism development in the Mekong Delta.

Pharmacogenomics of Adverse Drug Reactions: Integrating Genetic Biomarkers into Precision Pharmacotherapy

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Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) remain a major global healthcare challenge, accounting for significant morbidity, mortality, treatment failure, and increased healthcare expenditure. Although clinical factors such as age, comorbidities, organ function, and polypharmacy contribute to ADR susceptibility, they inadequately explain the marked interindividual variability in drug response. Pharmacogenomics has emerged as a transformative approach to precision medicine by identifying inherited genetic variants that influence drug metabolism, transport, efficacy, and toxicity. This review critically examines the role of pharmacogenomic testing in predicting, preventing, and managing ADRs, with emphasis on clinically actionable pharmacogenes including CYP2D6, CYP2C19, TPMT, NUDT15, HLA-B15:02, HLA-B57:01, and HLA-B 58:01. Evidence from international pharmacogenomic guidelines demonstrates that genotype-guided prescribing significantly reduces severe hypersensitivity reactions, drug toxicity, and treatment failure while improving therapeutic efficacy and patient safety. The review further discusses current clinical applications, implementation challenges, ethical considerations, and emerging advances in genomic technologies, artificial intelligence, and clinical decision-support systems. The integration of pharmacogenomics into routine healthcare has the potential to optimize individualized drug therapy, minimize preventable ADRs, and accelerate the transition toward precision medicine, ultimately improving clinical outcomes and healthcare quality.