A Collaborative Curriculum Review: Applicability to Higher Education Institutions

Curriculum review is mandatory for all higher education institutions (HEIs). The process brings together different stakeholders’ expertise to evaluate and revise an existing curriculum, positioning the field of study within the current market and industry trends. Although this process is repetitive, it still remains complex, majorly due to divergent stakeholders’ interests, varying levels of expertise, uncertain activity paths and multiple desired outcomes. The paper thus presents a Collaborative Curriculum Review Process (ColCuRP) to support the review of varying curricula in HEIs. We followed a mixed research approach (design science and action research) to design and evaluate the ColCuRP. It underwent four iterations during its evaluation and proved to be successful regards reduction in time for the review process, and supporting the different teams of departmental faculty to review Bachelors, Post Graduate Diploma, Masters and PhD curricula, at four HEIs in Uganda. Moreover, the ColCuRP can be used by inexperienced facilitators

Aquatic Global Passive Sampling (AQUA-GAPS) Revisited – First Steps towards a Network of Networks for Organic Contaminants in the Aquatic Environment

Organic contaminants, in particular persistent organic pollutants (POPs), adversely affect water quality and aquatic food webs across the globe. As of now, there is no globally consistent information available on concentrations of dissolved POPs in water bodies. The advance of passive sampling techniques has made it possible to establish a global monitoring program for these compounds in the waters of the world, which we call the Aquatic Global Passive Sampling (AQUA-GAPS) network. A recent expert meeting discussed the background, motivations, and strategic approaches of AQUA-GAPS, and its implementation as a network of networks for monitoring organic contaminants (e.g., POPs and others contaminants of concern). Initially, AQUA-GAPS will demonstrate its operating principle via two proof-of-concept studies focused on the detection of legacy and emerging POPs in freshwater and coastal marine sites using both polyethylene and silicone passive samplers. AQUA-GAPS is set-up as a decentralized network, which is open to other participants from around the world to participate in deployments and to initiate new studies. In particular, participants are sought to initiate deployments and studies investigating the presence of legacy and emerging POPs in Africa, Central and South America

'NABIO808' (Syn. 'NAROBAN5'): A tasty cooking banana cultivar with resistance to pests and diseases

Abstract 'NABIO808' is a newly released, conventionally-bred triploid cooking banana cultivar in Uganda. It produces an average bunch yield of 54.5 t ha-1 yr-1 and is resistant to weevils, nematodes, and black Sigatoka. Additionally, its food is yellow, soft, and tasty, like that of most preferred landrace cultivars, making it more acceptable to end-users

Trace-element behaviour in sediments of Ugandan part of Lake Victoria: results from sequential extraction and chemometrical evaluation

Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake and the largest tropical lake in the world. The transboundary lake has the fastest growing population in its catchment, which can impact the water and sediment quality. To determine the extent of anthropogenic effects on sediment quality in the Ugandan part of Lake Victoria, the contents and binding behaviour of trace elements were analysed, as well as organic matter and phosphorus in different sediment layers of both deep and coastal sediments near the coastal cities of Entebbe, Kampala and Jinja. The data were assessed using the German LAWA criteria for trace-element pollution, the Geo-Index, Cluster- and Factor analyses. Mostly, no critical trace-element contamination in the sediments of the investigated area was observed. However, changes in element distributions caused by anthropogenic influences from around the lake were detected, like higher contents of Cu, Ti and V in near shore sediments with urban surrounding. Near Jinja, industrial wastewaters caused particularly elevated contents of Cu in the sediments (70–121 mg/kg, 3.5–6 times the geogenic background), exceeding the LAWA criteria and potentially harming the aquatic habitat. In addition, temporally growing organic matter contents in the lake sediments near the estuary of River Nzoia (from 4.2 to 17.6% in around 60 years) due to increased soil erosion in the river’s catchment area and blooms of the water hyacinth became visible. This study demonstrates that the whole catchment area is responsible to ensure a healthy aquatic ecosystem in Lake Victoria.International Foundation for Science (IFS)Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004766Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH - UFZ (4215

Trace-element behaviour in sediments of Ugandan part of Lake Victoria: results from sequential extraction and chemometrical evaluation

Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake and the largest tropical lake in the world. The transboundary lake has the fastest growing population in its catchment, which can impact the water and sediment quality. To determine the extent of anthropogenic effects on sediment quality in the Ugandan part of Lake Victoria, the contents and binding behaviour of trace elements were analysed, as well as organic matter and phosphorus in different sediment layers of both deep and coastal sediments near the coastal cities of Entebbe, Kampala and Jinja. The data were assessed using the German LAWA criteria for trace-element pollution, the Geo-Index, Cluster- and Factor analyses. Mostly, no critical trace-element contamination in the sediments of the investigated area was observed. However, changes in element distributions caused by anthropogenic influences from around the lake were detected, like higher contents of Cu, Ti and V in near shore sediments with urban surrounding. Near Jinja, industrial wastewaters caused particularly elevated contents of Cu in the sediments (70–121 mg/kg, 3.5–6 times the geogenic background), exceeding the LAWA criteria and potentially harming the aquatic habitat. In addition, temporally growing organic matter contents in the lake sediments near the estuary of River Nzoia (from 4.2 to 17.6% in around 60 years) due to increased soil erosion in the river’s catchment area and blooms of the water hyacinth became visible. This study demonstrates that the whole catchment area is responsible to ensure a healthy aquatic ecosystem in Lake Victoria

Comparative Phenotypic and Agronomic Assessment of Transgenic Potato with 3R-Gene Stack with Complete Resistance to Late Blight Disease

Transgenic potato event Vic.172, expressing three naturally occurring resistance genes (R genes) conferring complete protection against late blight disease, was evaluated for resistance to late blight, phenotypic characterization, and agronomic performance in field conditions at three locations during three seasons in Uganda. These trials were conducted by comparison to the variety Victoria from which Vic.172 derives, using identical fungicide treatment, except when evaluating disease resistance. During all seasons, the transgenic event Vic.172 was confirmed to have complete resistance to late blight disease, whereas Victoria plants were completely dead by 60–80 days after planting. Tubers from Vic.172 were completely resistant to LB after artificial inoculation. The phenotypic characterization included observations of the characteristics and development of the stems, leaves, flowers, and tubers. Differences in phenotypic parameters between Vic.172 and Victoria were not statistically significant across locations and seasons. The agronomic performance observations covered sprouting, emergence, vigor, foliage growth, and yield. Differences in agronomic performance were not statistically significant except for marketable yield in one location under high productivity conditions. However, yield variation across locations and seasons was not statistically significant, but was influenced by the environment. Hence, the results of the comparative assessment of the phenotype and agronomic performance revealed that transgenic event Vic.172 did not present biologically significant differences in comparison to the variety Victoria it derives from

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Alternative Flame Retardants in Air and Precipitation Samples from the Northern Lake Victoria Region, East Africa

High volume air and precipitation samples were collected close to the shore of Lake Victoria at Entebbe, Uganda, between October 2008 and July 2010 inclusive. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and alternative flame retardants (AFRs) were analyzed by GC–MS. BDEs 47, 99, and 209 were the predominant PBDEs with mean concentrations (in air) of 9.84, 4.38, 8.27 pg m^–3 and mean fluxes in precipitation of 3.40, 6.23, and 7.82 ng m^–2 sample^–1, respectively. 1,2-bis­(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)­ethane (BTBPE), and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), <i>anti-</i> and <i>syn-</i>Dechlorane plus were detected at levels comparable with those of PBDEs. Both PBDEs and AFRs in air generally increased from 2008 to 2010. Elevated PBDE concentrations in air were associated with slow moving low altitude air masses from the region immediately adjacent to the lake, while low concentrations were mostly associated with fast moving westerly and southwesterly air masses. Analysis of the octa- and nona-BDE profiles suggested photolysis and pyrolytic debromination of BDE-209 in the air samples. The highly halogenated and most abundant PBDEs and AFRs in air also predominated in precipitation samples. This is the first study to report flame retardants in high volume air samples and precipitation in Equatorial Africa

Aquatic global passive sampling (AQUA-GAPS) revisited: first steps toward a network of networks for monitoring organic contaminants in the aquatic environment

Organic contaminants, in particular persistent organic pollutants (POPs), adversely affect water quality and aquatic food webs across the globe. As of now, there is no globally consistent information available on concentrations of dissolved POPs in water bodies. The advance of passive sampling techniques has made it possible to establish a global monitoring program for these compounds in the waters of the world, which we call the Aquatic Global Passive Sampling (AQUA-GAPS) network. A recent expert meeting discussed the background, motivations, and strategic approaches of AQUA-GAPS, and its implementation as a network of networks for monitoring organic contaminants (e.g., POPs and others contaminants of concern). Initially, AQUA-GAPS will demonstrate its operating principle via two proof-of-concept studies focused on the detection of legacy and emerging POPs in freshwater and coastal marine sites using both polyethylene and silicone passive samplers. AQUA-GAPS is set up as a decentralized network, which is open to other participants from around the world to participate in deployments and to initiate new studies. In particular, participants are sought to initiate deployments and studies investigating the presence of legacy and emerging POPs in Africa, Central, and South America