Hue University

Plastic waste pollution poses a severe threat to blue tourism destinations; however, the mechanisms underlying the transition from tourist awareness to behavioral action, specifically tourists’ readiness for co-creation, remain underexplored. This study investigates the drivers of tourists’ readiness to co-create plastic waste solutions by applying the PLS-SEM approach to a sample of 426 visitors to Cua Dai Beach, Vietnam. By integrating the C-A-C framework with the TSOL perspective, the research uncovers distinct motivational pathways across four participation contexts. The analysis indicates that Social Awareness and Shared Responsibility generally drive the Perceived Value of Contribution, which in turn fosters action. However, this pathway is disrupted by financial incentives, which weaken the role of shared responsibility (the crowding-out effect). Conversely, voluntary community participation fosters direct engagement driven by intrinsic norms rather than calculated value. The study provides a multidimensional theoretical model of co-creative behavior for reducing plastic waste and suggests that tourism managers design context-sensitive initiatives that emphasize intrinsic motivation over potentially counterproductive financial incentives.

Vietnam's 2018 General Education Curriculum Reform (GECR) aims to enhance teacher autonomy in designing competency-based and student-centred learning. However, how this autonomy is enacted in practice remains underexplored. This qualitative study investigates how Vietnamese primary teachers interpret and exercise autonomy in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment under the 2018 GECR and the challenges they face. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with 21 participants-including teachers, principals and academic group leaders from three public primary schools representing diverse contexts. The study employs team-based thematic analysis to identify patterns of teacher autonomy and constraints. Findings show that while teachers exercised substantial autonomy in adapting curriculum content, selecting pedagogical methods and employing formative assessments, their autonomy remains uneven across domains. In particular, summative assessment requirements and accountability pressures continue to structure key instructional decisions, producing a contextually negotiated form of 'bounded freedom'. The findings further suggest that teacher autonomy is shaped by two mechanisms: asymmetrical reform sequencing that reinforces assessment control, and cultural norms of hierarchy and collective conformity that position autonomy as adaptive alignment with institutional expectations rather than individual professional discretion. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of 'bounded autonomy' and underscores the need for structural, professional and cultural supports to enable meaningful teacher autonomy and agency.

Anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum spp., is a major postharvest disease affecting dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) in Vietnam. In this study, a fungal strain was isolated from infected dragon fruits and identified based on morphological characteristics and multi-locus phylogenetic analysis (ITS region, and ACT, CHS-1, CAL, GAPDH, TUB2 genes) as C. truncatum DH31.1. The antifungal activity of a thermostable mutant chitinase I168L, derived from 42 kDa chitinase of Trichoderma asperellum SH16, was evaluated against C. truncatum. In vitro assays demonstrated that 60 U of I168L inhibited fungal growth, resulting in a colony diameter of 2.4 cm after 7 d, compared to 3.1 cm when treated with the same concentration of the wild-type chitinase. In vivo tests on dragon fruit showed that I168L effectively suppressed fungal growth at both 28 °C and 35 °C. Application of I168L with 100 U prevented C. truncatum DH31.1 infection for up to 4 d, with lesion diameters of only 0.2 cm after 7 d. Furthermore, curative application of I168L on post-infection dragon fruits reduced lesion expansion to 0.48 cm within 3 d. These findings highlight the potential of the thermostable mutant chitinase I168L as a promising biocontrol agent for postharvest disease management in dragon fruit.

In this study, nanostructured molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with flower-like morphology was synthesized using a one-step hydrothermal method. To improve the electrochemical performance of MoS2, a MoS2/activated carbon (AC) composite was created through hydrothermal assembly, with AC sustainably sourced from Macamedia shells, offering a low-cost and eco-friendly carbon source. Structural and morphological characterizations—including powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, and Raman spectroscopy—confirmed the formation of flower-like MoS2 with a mixed 2H/1 T phase and an increased surface area in the composite. The key innovation in this work is the synergistic combination of mixed-phase MoS2 with biomass-derived AC, which effectively enhances electron transfer kinetics and provides active surface sites for electrochemical sensing. Based on this composite, a simple and rapid electroanalytical method was developed for the sensitive detection of salbutamol (SAL) utilizing a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with MoS2/AC. The electrochemical behavior was examined using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) under optimized conditions. The MoS2/AC-GCE sensor showed a linear response to SAL in the concentration range of 0.5–6.3 μM, with a detection limit of 0.32 μM. The sensor also demonstrated good stability, repeatability, and reproducibility. Practical application was validated by accurately determining SAL in swine urine and pharmaceutical formulations, achieving satisfactory recoveries, thereby highlighting the potential of the proposed sensor as a reliable and cost-effective alternative for SAL monitoring in biological samples.

Electrochemical immunosensors offered high sensitivity, specificity, and cost-effectiveness, but their performance largely depended on the electrode–bioreceptor interface. Self-assembled monolayers were widely employed to enhance antibody immobilization and signal transduction. However, systematic comparisons of different thiolated compounds remained limited. In this study, gold electrodes were functionalized with either 11-Mercaptoundecanoic acid or L-Cysteine to form self-assembled monolayers enabling covalent antibody immobilization. The fluorescent model protein, bovine serum albumin–fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugate, specifically interacted with the immobilized antibodies and was detected across the 0.5–8.0 µM concentration range using fluorescence microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, square wave voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Both self-assembled monolayers supported efficient protein capture, but distinct differences in sensing performance were observed. Electrodes modified with 11-Mercaptoundecanoic acid formed densely packed molecular layers with strong blocking ability, yielding a sensitivity of 9.54