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By using both, the weak-value formulation as well as the standard probabilistic approach, we analyze the Hardy's experiment introducing a complex and dimensionless parameter ($\epsilon$) which eliminates the assumption of complete annihilation when both, the electron and the positron departing from a common origin, cross the intersection point $P$. We then find that the paradox does not exist for all the possible values taken by the parameter. The apparent paradox only appears when $\epsilon=1$; however, even in this case we can interpret this result as a natural consequence of the fact that the particles can cross the point $P$, but at different times due to a natural consequence of the energy-time uncertainty principle.

Employees in the hospitality industry, in particular, face difficult conditions such as overwork, job security, understaffing, and work-life imbalance in today's fast-paced society. Because of that, employees in the hospitality industry experience high levels of occupational stress. Severe conditions of occupational stress may not only lead to health issues for the employee but also affect their work performance. In order to get a better grasp of how occupational stress affects the employees in the hospitality industry in Macau, the research questions are: 1) What are the sources of stress in the Macau hospitality industry? 2) How does the COVID-19 pandemic change the perception of occupational stress among employees in the Macau hospitality industry? How do the companies help the employees in the Macau hospitality industry cope with occupational stress? have been formulated. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven participants working in the hospitality industry, with a median age of 39 years and a median range of 13 years. Based on these interviews, participants expressed their perceptions of occupational stress under the categories of distress and eustress, while coding schemes were applied to all semi-structured interviews. The results on distress showed that reactions from employees and their working conditions, in particular, were the two most important determinants of occupational stress, while motivation helped people grow and develop their confidence. For the changes in occupational stress due to the pandemic, mental reactions from employees were the most significant determinant of occupational stress in the Macau hospitality industry during the changes brought about by the pandemic in these years, closely followed by employee job insecurity. In order to cope with occupational stress, employees should take responsibility for coping with their stress, but employers also have a role to play in this process, like providing good communications and proactive assistance to the employees. Finally, employees' responses were described as more negative as a result of their experience. Further research could focus on more methods for employees to cope with occupational stress in both physical and mental ways

"Over time, the large shopping malls in Macao will require some changes to improve space utilization, resulting in renovation projects that affect indoor particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) concentrations. Employees work long hours in an environment where the ambient air quality is poor, directly affecting their work efficiency. Nonetheless, the concentration of PM produced by the interior renovation of shopping malls has yet to receive particular attention. Therefore, this study will investigate IAQ, in particular, PM10 and PM2.5 in large-scale shopping mall renovation projects in three different indoor locations (i.e., public, renovation, and construction areas) to understand the causes of indoor PM10 and PM2.5. This study will collect on-site PM data for analysis, examine whether the current control measures are appropriate and propose some improvements. The data collected will be compared with IAQ standards from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG), specifically PM concentrations. The research results can provide a reference guide for decision-makers, management, construction teams, design consultant teams and renovation teams of large-scale projects. In addition, the monitoring of IAQ can ensure a comfortable environment for employees and customers."

Road transportation is one of the main sources of air pollution in Macao. This study mainly explores four major roadside locations with high traffic flow in Macao from March to May 2022 and measures their pollutant concentrations (PM10 and PM2.5), traffic flow and their fuel type, as well as considering the meteorological parameters and pollutant concentration of SMG Macao to analyze the relationship between traffic flow and pollutants on roadside locations. Under the measuring distance between 3 and 6 meters, showing that the four locations had a good correlation with the roadside station data provided by SMG on both weekdays and weekends/holidays (PM2.5: R2 is 0.59 to 0.81 on weekdays and 0.79 to 0.88 on weekends/holidays, p<0.01; PM10: R2 is 0.33 to 0.82 on weekdays and 0.30 to 0.58 on weekends/holidays, p<0.05), the overall PM2.5 is 41 to 86% higher than that of the same period of Macao roadside station (SMG), and 68 to 186% higher than that of Taipa Ambient (SMG), indicating that it is more harmful to daily pedestrians. The overall relationship between PM concentration and traffic flow is small on the long-term scale (PM2.5: R2 is 0.01 to 0.13; PM10: R2 is 0.00 to 0.02). This study also analyzed air quality on EBL, the overall PM2.5 and PM10 decreased by 12.3% to 24.8% compared with non-EBL during the period, so that is indeed beneficial to the reduction of pollutant concentrations. In addition, narrower roads were overall higher when road widths added for comparison. Lastly, meteorological data added for comparison, except for relative humidity, it can be found that there is a significant correlation with long-term pollutants (p<0.05). While previous studies have found that single-day traffic flow is related to the increase in PM concentration, this paper is more inclined to their two-way effect when exploring their long-term relationship

" Air pollution in Macau has become a serious problem following the Pearl River Delta’s (PRD) rapid industrialization that began in the 1990s. While there has been continual improvement in recent years, harmful air pollutant concentration levels are still common, impacting Macau residents' health and creating long-term medical costs to local society. With this in mind, Macau needs an air quality forecast system that accurately predicts pollutant concentration and an early alert system instead of only daily real-time reminders. Some scholars have previously carried out studies to develop an air quality forecast for Macau by successfully using statistical models. Therefore, pursuant to the outcomes of previous studies, this dissertation aims to build upon research results and explore further possibilities of building a better ML air quality forecast model based on the time series of air pollutants concentration and meteorological data. Four different state-of-the-art ML algorithms were used to create predictive models to forecast PM2.5, PM10, and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations for the next 24 and 48-hour. These were Support Vector Machine (SVM), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Random Forest (RF), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). In addition, Multiple Linear Regression MLR, a standard ML model, was used for this dissertation as a baseline reference for performance comparison. The daily measurements of air quality data in Macau from 2016 to 2021 were collected for this dissertation. The 2020 and 2021 datasets were used for model testing while the four-year data prior to 2020 and 2021 were used to build and train the ML models. The results showed that SVM, ANN, RF, and XGBoost were able to provide a very good performance in building up a 24-hour forecast with higher R2 and lower RMSE, MAE, and BIAS. Meanwhile, all ML models in 48-hour forecasting performance were satisfactory enough to be accepted as a two-day continuous forecast even if the R2 value was lower than the 24-hour forecast. The 48-hour forecasting model could be further improved by proper feature selection based on the 24-hour dataset, using the SHAP value test, and the adjusted R2 value of the 48-hour forecasting model."

"Abstract The core concept of drama education is the integration and int- ernalization of experience. In the empirical content of the improvis- ational drama, it lays a profound foreshadowing for future life prac- tice through different physical behaviors and facial perceptions. Through drama education, children with autism spectrum disorder can be emotionally adjusted. Emotional and social behavior is essent- ial for children with autism spectrum disorders. The use of improvis- ational drama to study children's emotions with autism spectrum diso- rders is not yet found in Macau. Therefore, this study aimed to inve- stigate the intervention strategies for children with autism spectrum disorders through improvisational drama to fill the research gap. A case study of emotional interventions as a ten-day improvisa- tional drama with an autism spectrum disorder in Macau. The following findings were obtained: 1. The study found that improvisational drama was used to address the theoretica deficits of the mind of children with autism spectrum disorders. 2. Improvisational drama supports the understanding of self-emotions in children with autism spectrum disorder with positive behavior. 3. Shared attention cultivated by improvisational drama can develop social interaction behavior. 4. The improvisational drama techniques can deal with children with autism spectrum disorder and peer conflict. Based on these results, the researcher identified three main is sues in the use of improvisational drama to deal with the emotions of VII children with autism spectrum disorders in Macau: 1. The relative lack of knowledge on the use of improvisational drama as a strategy to support children with autism in Macau. 2. The number of hours and sessions of the Macao training course is too small to be satisfied with frontline teachers' use of improvi- sational drama to provide quality teaching to children with an au- tism spectrum disorder. 3. Failing to understand the emotional needs of children with autism frontline teachers must practice improvisational drama teaching, failing to understand it’s core subjects in depth. Therefore, researchers on the emotions of children with an aut- ism spectrum disorder in improvisational drama. The proposal is divi- ded into three main areas, which are proposed to the government, sch- ools, and teachers: I. Suggestions to the government: 1. Improve the special education policy 2. Increase the number of training courses II. Suggestions for schools: 1. Increase the teaching content of the curriculum for children wi- th autism spectrum disorders III. Suggestions for teachers: 1. Children should lead the curriculum with autism spectrum disord- ers. 2. The curriculum should enhance the cooperation between children VIII with autism spectrum disorders and their peers. This study has identified feasible intervention strategies to he- lp further improve the Macau government's special education policy. The study also aims to help schools to adapt their teaching cont- ents better to suit the needs of children with autism spectrum disord ers. Finally, the study aims to provide teachers with a better unders- tanding of the characteristics and social-emotional behaviors of ch- ildren with autism spectrum disorders to help each other practice education effectively. Only one child with autism spectrum disorder were studied in Mac- ao. As a result, this study failed to represent all children in Macao in practicing emotional interventions in improvisational drama. This study aimed to promote -improvisational comedy strategies in Macau to help children with aut-ism spectrum disorders to understand and expre ss their emotions appr-opriately. It is also expected that the Macau SAR government will re-cognize the importance of drama education for children with autism spectrum disorders and develop policies and ada- pt the content of the curriculum framework to enable the effective i- mplementation of drama education in teaching emotions to children wi- th autism spectrum disorders."

"The purpose of the research aimed to explore the challenges and future possiblities of ways of promoting elderly social participation in Macau. As lack of related research has been conduted in Macau, this community services and government policies and to provide suggestions for improving the direction of sustainable development and future possible research topics in this area. The research adopts a qualitative and phenomenological approach to explore the current situations, difficulties and ideas through the industry experience and insights. Nine in-depth interviews with 9 representatives of elderly social service providers subsidised by Macau SAR Government from late April to July 2022 in Macau. The content analysis using open coding to collect inductive data. Throughout themetic analysis identified by four levels: individials, community and social services, governmental policies and infrastructures. Overall, the study found that the autonomy trend of future social participation of the elderly in Macao is enhanced by education and self-health concerns and they are more independent, but the participation of male elders and female elders is unbalanced. Social service providers for the elderly provide a large number of repetitive services and are too passive and dependent on government policies andsupport, resulting in a lack of innovative thinking. The infrastructure design promoted by the government does not consider the continuous health and activity development of the elderly. This study looks at the ability of the elderly in Macau to continue to develop their strengths in the future, and suggests the need to strengthen individual retirement life planning and development for the elderly, personal health monitoring improvement, diversification of social services, elderly-led community programs, private social enterprise capital, and elderly volunteering The urgency of the number of elderly people, more practical and effective elderly inclusive urban planning."

"Macau's rapid economic development in recent decades and relatively low usage of public transportation have put considerable pressure on the city's carrying capacity. Improving the transportation system has been a major policy goal of Macau's urban planners. To deepen the understanding of the perspectives of local road users, this dissertation's main research question is: what factors determine the satisfaction of local road users of Macau? After collecting responses using an online questionnaire, quantitative research methods were adopted to analyze travel patterns, satisfaction toward different road usage dimensions, and sociodemographic characteristics of local residents. 145 responses were collected and quota samples were generated to match the distribution of each sociodemographic feature of the population. Most respondents used private vehicles to travel during peak hours on weekdays for work or for school and to travel during the entire afternoon and evening on weekends for shopping necessities and for leisure. The most traveled districts were Baixa de Taipa, Costa & Ouvidor Arriaga, and Baixa de Macau. It was found that the mean overall satisfaction score inclined to the dissatisfaction side (below 3). Only clarity of traffic lights and number of road signs (measuring infrastructure) and temperature and price of fares (measuring public transportation) had mean satisfaction scores that were significantly higher than 3, indicating higher satisfactions. Meaningful hypotheses regarding the differences of different road user groups were set out, then Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were run. The significant findings were such that the elderly aged 65 or above were less satisfied and the unemployed were more satisfied with road usage. The better educated were more satisfied with the environment, and the unemployed were more satisfied with the public transportation. Drivers were less satisfied with transportation costs, and peakhour road users were less satisfied with the infrastructure. The Spearman correlation analyses found that infrastructure had moderately positive correlation with facilities and with travel safety. Based on the findings and their policy implications, policy suggestions could be made. The policies suggested in this study should have favorable short-term and long-term effects on more than one road usage aspects."

With water being an essential for life on Earth, it is vital to preserve it and regenerate it, in order to be available for a myriad of uses. Though many types of wastewater management and treatment are available, most rely on high energy input and are therefore not ideal for many circumstances. Constructed wetlands (CW) are an alternative nature-based solution to be applied to wastewater treatment. This study undertakes a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a CW as a means of wastewater treatment and aims to understand how these systems can be an environmentally conscious alternative. The CW under study is located in a rural mountain area in the north of Portugal. Receives wastewater from a tourism unit and operates with horizontal subsurface. The LCA analyses the CW through the construction, operation (treatment), and composting phases. This approach allows the entire scope of the life cycle to be included, of which, the composting phase has been absent in similar LCA previously undertaken. Analysis focuses on the impact categories: Ozone Layer Depletion Potential, Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential and Human Toxicity Potential. Of the five categories, none increase during the treatment phase, and indeed, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential, and Human Toxicity potential all decrease. Ozone Layer Depletion Potential and Global Warming Potential increase significantly during the construction and composting phases respectively. Both can be rationalized, with the former being a result of heavy diesel machinery use in construction and the latter a natural byproduct of composting. The results are net positive and display the ability for CW as a low energy wastewater treatment which can limit environmental impact by choice of construction and composting methodology

"Adult neurogenesis, i.e., the production of new neurons in the adult brain, has been studied intensively in the past years, both in humans and in animal models, as the understanding of this process can have major clinical implications. The study of neurogenesis in fish has been receiving more attention as, unlike mammals, they possess remarkably high levels of adult neurogenesis and a high capability for neuronal regeneration and replacement where neuronal death has occurred. Less is known, however, on the importance of adult neurogenesis for behavioural plasticity, i.e., for the capacity to change behaviour according to context. As a product of the brain, behaviour relies on functional neuronal networks and it may be expected that more permanent changes in behavioural states imply structural reorganization of neuronal circuits, with the integration of new neurons. Interestingly, the high level of brain plasticity of fish is paralleled by a high degree of behavioural plasticity, with many examples of species that change, either reversibly or irreversibly, their behavioural phenotype during their lifetime, as illustrated by species with functional sex-change and alternative reproductive phenotypes. Flexibility in behaviour may thus require a reorganization of neuronal networks underlying these behaviours with recruitment of new neurons. In this thesis, the link between brain and behavioural plasticity was studied in a small marine fish that inhabits the Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic coasts, the peacock blenny Salaria pavo. In this species, males adopt nests in rock crevices and attract females into the nest for egg laying, with the male taking care of the eggs until hatching. In some populations, a scarcity of nest sites drives smaller and young males to adopt an alternative reproductive tactic to reproduce. These “sneaker” males mimic the females’ morphology and reproductive behaviour in order to illude the larger nesting males and parasitically fertilize eggs during mating events. Sneaker males later transition into the nesting male phenotype, and this major behavioural transformation in the same animal, first courting males and afterwards courting females, may imply significant reorganization of brain areas associated with reproductive behaviour. During the study, a brain atlas for the species was developed and the main cell proliferation regions, i.e. niches of stem cells birth that may differentiate into cells of the nervous system, characterized. Proliferative areas were observed throughout the whole brain and paralleled the pattern described for other teleosts. Proliferative cells were abundant namely in areas like the olfactory bulbs (granular and glomerular), the anterior subdivision of the dorsomedial telencephalon (DMa), the dorsal and ventral part of the ventral subdivision of the dorsomedial telencephalon (DMvd and DMvv), the dorsal part of the dorsal subdivision of the dorsomedial telencephalon (DMdd), the posterior subdivision of the dorsolateral telencephalon (DLp), the posterior zone of the dorsal telencephalic area (DP), the preoptic area (POA), the dorsal, supracommissural and ventral nucleus of the ventral telencephalic area (Vd, Vs and Vv), the optic tectum and its periventricular grey zone (TeO and PGZ), the ventral zone of the periventricular hypothalamus (Hv), the cerebellum, mainly the molecular layer (CCeM) and the caudal lobe (LCa). A study of the brain nuclei activated during female courtship events using immediate early-genes suggested that some of the areas of the social behaviour network (SBN), a set of brain nuclei underlying the expression of social behaviour across vertebrates, are implicated in female courtship, in particular nuclei in the ventral telencephalic regions. This was followed by an experiment to investigate the possible link between cell proliferation and male tactic switch. Nest availability was manipulated to allow a fraction of sneaker males to adopt a nest and start the transition to nesting males. Ten days after the experiment, some of the smaller males had indeed started switching into nesting males, adopting a nest and starting to develop male secondary sexual characters. The pattern of brain proliferation was studied in these fish to try to confirm that the irreversible behavioural transition would be associated with the reorganization of brain nuclei, assuming that cell proliferation relates to neurogenesis and structural reorganization. Transitional males had elevated cell proliferation levels, as compared to males that remained sneakers, in the dorsolateral anterior and posterior telencephalic regions, thought to be homologous to the hippocampus in mammals. Cell proliferation levels were generally elevated in ventral and ventromedial telencephalic nuclei in both sneakers and transitional males, as compared with nesting males and females, areas considered to be homologous to nuclei of the amygdaloid complex of mammals. There was large variation in proliferation levels within transitional males, and in particular one male more advanced in the transition had higher numbers of BrdU-positive cells than the others. This suggests that a longer time-window for detecting the peak in brain cell proliferation associated with tactic transition in some fish may have been needed. Overall, the study supports the hypothesis that behavioural transition in males of this species is paralleled by an increase in cell proliferation in nuclei potentially relevant for the expression of reproductive behaviours, and establishes the peacock blenny as a new relevant model for the study of neuronal plasticity in vertebrates."

Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | New year; old problem. As the pandemic rolls on, so many calls for economic diversification in Macau as a survival strategy have been heard, loud and long, that, as the law of diminishing returns tells us, their effects recede.

Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Macau should be proud of its protective handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, as it has managed to contain its spread, and many of its citizens have been able to lead a more normal life than in other parts of the world. We should be grateful for this.

Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Macau used to be very appealing to expatriates from across the world. Its low tax rate (and zero tax for low-paid expatriates), blends of cultures, business opportunities, life style, history, unique features and a host of other attractions fuelled an ongoing supply of foreign nationals to this small, unusual city. It is an interestingly idiosyncratic place in which to live. For many expatriates, Macau has been home, in many cases reaching back more than one generation. This is perhaps unsurprising, as people here are typically exquisitely polite, a delight to be with, and very accepting. Its acceptance of differences in values is an example to countries across the world. Macau is a safe place to live.

Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Across the world, a civil service job pays well and is secure. Not bad if you can get it, with competitive entry to it by hordes of applicants.

Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | The world is full of interesting paradoxes that befuddle the mind. Or, as the delightful chapter in Alice in Wonderland put it: ‘‘curiouser and curiouser!’’.

Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Business 101. When companies plan their business models, typically they must consider, amongst other matters: their products and/or services; demand; market(s) and their environments (economic, political, cultural, social); existing, potential, and likely competition; start-up and ongoing costs and expenses; emergency funding; marketing and promotion; income streams, revenue, and delayed profit; sales; distribution; cash flow; profit margins, gross and net; liabilities; risk analysis, evaluation, and handling; constraints and the ‘what if’ factor; flexibility, adaptability, and adjustment.

Macau, MNA, Opinion | The Macau government recently approved its first reading of a new bill to attract Macau locals to return to Macau to work. Simultaneously, Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture was reported as saying that if Macau could create a better environment and conditions, then ‘local talents who are abroad will surely be interested in returning to Macau’.

Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Here we are, at the start of a new academic year in Macau’s higher education (HE). What will students learn? What kind of people are the institutions turning out? For example, look at the thousands of students studying business and technology in Macau, the big recruiters in HE.

Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | The late psychologist, business and management consultant Edward de Bono gained a worldwide reputation for ‘lateral thinking’, which included his ‘six thinking hats’ and ‘tools for thinking’. Though his work is arguably only plausible pseudoscience, his ‘tools for thinking’ remain interesting. Consider some of these from his Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT), in approaching planning, e.g.: CAF (Consider All Factors); EBS (Examine Both Sides); and OPV (consider Other People’s Views). Here I apply them to Macau.