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The levels of air pollution in Macao often exceeded the levels recommended by WHO. In order for the population to take precautionary measures and avoid further health risks under high pollutant exposure, it is important to develop a reliable air quality forecast. Statistical models based on linear multiple regression (MR) and classification and regression trees (CART) analysis were developed successfully, for Macao, to predict the next day concentrations of NO2, PM10, PM2.5, and O3. All the developed models were statistically significantly valid with a 95% confidence level with high coefficients of determination (from 0.78 to 0.93) for all pollutants. The models utilized meteorological and air quality variables based on 5 years of historical data, from 2013 to 2017. Data from 2013 to 2016 were used to develop the statistical models and data from 2017 was used for validation purposes. A wide range of meteorological and air quality variables was identified, and only some were selected as significant independent variables. Meteorological variables were selected from an extensive list of variables, including geopotential height, relative humidity, atmospheric stability, and air temperature at different vertical levels. Air quality variables translate the resilience of the recent past concentrations of each pollutant and usually are maximum and/or the average of latest 24-h levels. The models were applied in forecasting the next day average daily concentrations for NO2 and PM and maximum hourly O3 levels for five air quality monitoring stations. The results are expected to be an operational air quality forecast for Macao.

<em>Gale</em> OneFile includes Macao Caught between the &quot;Tropical China&q by Isabel Morais. Click to explore.

This article discusses the new gaming law in Macau with emphasis on the critical aspects concerning the gaming operators, concession regime, and other regulatory obligations.1 Thanks to the gaming liberalization commenced in 2001,2 Macau has experienced tremendous economic growth. The past two decades have seen the rapid development of large-scale integrated resorts, and Macau now ranks among the world's major gaming jurisdictions.3 Policy and regulatory challenges have also emerged along with the growth of the junket-driven VIP business in casinos.4 With the recent amendment of Law No. 16/2001 and the subsequent enactment of Law No. 16/2022, Macau has strengthened the legal underpinnings of its system of gaming regulation to oversee various groups involved in casinos and their industry practices. The present study is among the first to review the scope and impact of the revised gaming law, and associated managerial and operational implications for Macau casinos. Topics covered include policy directions, concession requirements, industry participants, gaming taxes, and fair business practices. This study could provide insights into the “Macau 2.0” project and how casinos are to be operated and managed over the next decade. This article could also provide practical guidance for policy makers charged with formulating gaming policy and regulation in other jurisdictions.

Objective: This study highlights the potential of an Electrocardiogram (ECG) as a powerful tool for early diagnosis of COVID-19 in critically ill patients with limited access to CT–Scan rooms. Methods: In this investigation, 3 categories of patient status were considered: Low, Moderate, and Severe. For each patient, 2 different body positions have been used to collect 2 ECG signals. Then, from each collected signal, 10 non-linear features (Energy, Approximate Entropy, Logarithmic Entropy, Shannon Entropy, Hurst Exponent, Lyapunov Exponent, Higuchi Fractal Dimension, Katz Fractal Dimension, Correlation Dimension and Detrended Fluctuation Analysis) were extracted every 1s ECG time-series length to serve as entries for 19 Machine learning classifiers within a leave-one-out cross-validation procedure. Four different classification scenarios were tested: Low vs. Moderate, Low vs. Severe, Moderate vs. Severe and one Multi-class comparison (All vs. All). Results: The classification report results were: (1) Low vs. Moderate - 100% of Accuracy and 100% of F1–Score; (2) Low vs. Severe - Accuracy of 91.67% and an F1–Score of 94.92%; (3) Moderate vs. Severe - Accuracy of 94.12% and an F1–Score of 96.43%; and (4) All vs All - 78.57% of Accuracy and 84.75% of F1–Score. Conclusion: The results indicate that the applied methodology could be considered a good tool for distinguishing COVID-19’s different severity stages using ECG signals. Significance: The findings highlight the potential of ECG as a fast and effective tool for COVID-19 examination. In comparison to previous studies using the same database, this study shows a 7.57% improvement in diagnostic accuracy for the All vs All comparison.

The widespread W-(Mo)-Sn-Nb-Ta polymetallic mineralization in Southeast (SE) China is genetically associated with Mesozoic highly fractionated granitic rocks. Such rocks have enigmatic mineralogical and geochemical features, making its petrogenesis an intensely debated topic. To better understand the underlying magma evolution processes, petrography, garnet chemistry and whole-rock major and trace element data are reported for Jurassic highly fractionated granitic rocks and associated microgranite and aplitepegmatite dikes from Macao and compared with coeval similar granitic rocks from nearby areas in SE China. Despite the fact that the most evolved rocks in Macao are garnet-bearing aplite-pegmatite dikes, the existence of coeval two-mica and garnet-bearing biotite and muscovite granites displaying more evolved compositions (e.g, lower Zr/Hf ratios) indicates that the differentiation sequence reached higher degrees of fractionation at a regional scale. Although crystal fractionation played an important role, late-stage fluid/melt interactions, involving F-rich fluids, imparted specific geochemical characteristics to Macao and SE China highly fractionated granitic rocks such as the non-CHARAC (CHArge-and-RAdius-Controlled) behavior of trace elements, leading, for example, to non-chondritic Zr/Hf ratios, Rare Earth Elements (REE) tetrad effects and Nb-Ta enrichment and fractionation. Such process contributed to the late-stage crystallization of accessory phases only found in these highly evolved facies. Among the latter, two populations of garnet were identified in MGI (Macao Group I) highly fractionated granitic rocks: small grossular-poor euhedral grains and large grossular-rich skeletal garnet grains with quartz inclusions. The first group was mainly formed through precipitation from highly evolved Mn-rich slightly peraluminous melts under low-pressure and relatively low temperature (∼700 °C) conditions. Assimilation of upper crust metasedimentary materials may have contributed as a source of Mn and Al to the formation of garnet. The second group has a metasomatic origin related to the interaction of magmatic fluids with previously crystallized mineral phases and, possibly, with assimilated metasedimentary enclaves or surrounding metasedimentary strata. The highly fractionated granitic rocks in Macao represent the first stage in the development of granite-related W-(Mo)-Sn-Nb-Ta mineralization associated with coeval more evolved lithotypes in SE China.

Abstract Earlier linguistic research suggested that Malacca Creole Portuguese (MCP) had existed without diglossia with Portuguese ever since the Dutch conquest of Portuguese Malacca in 1642, yet it had experienced some contact with Portuguese in the 19th and 20th centuries. The present study adds significantly to this discussion. It considers a range of information from sociohistorical studies and archival sources (including linguistic data) relating to the Dutch (1642–1795, 1818–1823) and early British (1795–1818, 1823–1884) colonial periods. For the Dutch period, it is seen that contact with other Creole Portuguese communities is likely to have persisted for some time. Most significant, however, is the finding that 19th century texts in Portuguese and creole Portuguese, recently identified in archival sources in London and Graz, show that Portuguese continued to be part of the Malacca sociolinguistic setting until the early British period, and that missionary Indo-Portuguese also had a presence at that time. It is concluded that, rather than presenting a narrow lectal range akin to that of the MCP community in the late 20th century, the creole lectal grid in the 19th century was more complex, and included dimensions of a continuum in a diglossic relationship with Portuguese.

Malacca Portuguese Creole (MPC) (ISO 639-3; code: mcm), popularly known as Malacca Portuguese or locally as (Papiá) Cristang, belongs to the group of Portuguese-lexified creoles of (South)east Asia, which includes the extinct varieties of Batavia/Tugu (Maurer 2013) and Bidau, East Timor (Baxter 1990), and the moribund variety of Macau (Baxter 2009). MPC has its origins in the Portuguese presence in Malacca, and like the other creoles in this subset, it is genetically related to the Portuguese Creoles of South Asia (Holm 1988, Cardoso, Baxter & Nunes 2012).

South Korea management system has been influenced significantly by their traditional social and religious beliefs for hundreds of years. Yet, the 1997 Asian financial crisis has gradually confirmed this shifted, from the Confucius mentality to a close Westernized system. This paper aims to evaluate this management transition in South Korea. The theoretical model of the convergent-divergent, as proposed by Chatterjee and Nankervis [2006], is applied to identify a number of critical factors. The aforementioned factors altogether have influenced the management system in four main vectors: (A) From seniority to meritocracy performance management; (B) From consultative to individualistic decision-making style; (C) From ignoring to embracing corporate governance; (D) From avoiding to improving environmental sustainability.

Mangrove forests are one of the most ecologically valuable ecosystems in the world and provide a wide variety of ecosystem services to coastal communities, including cities. Macao, a highly urbanized coastal city located on the southern coast of China west of the Pearl River, is home to several species of mangroves with many associated flora and fauna. Mangrove forests in Macao are vulnerable to threats due to pressure from rapid and massive urban developments in the area, which led to mangrove loss in the past decades. To address this issue, the local authorities established special Ecological Zones for the management of the local mangroves. To reinforce local conservation efforts, educating the local population about the value of mangroves, especially school students, is of utmost importance. To evaluate the impact of environmental education activities on the environmental orientation, knowledge, and values of students toward mangrove conservation in Macao, a quasi-experimental study was undertaken. The effectiveness of a mangroves exhibition and field visit were evaluated using the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale—Macao version in a group of local school students who participated in the activities. Overall, the results provided consistently positive evaluations of the impact of the environmental education program. The strongest improvements were found in the students’ pro-environmental orientations, knowledge about mangroves, and value for environmental protection.

In the Catholic world, the year 2017 is marked by the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Apparitions of Mary in Fátima, Portugal. Although the field of the devotional and popular …

AbstractC-Inductive arguments are arguments that increase the probability of a hypothesis. In this paper, we offer a C-Inductive argument for the Roman Catholic hypothesis. We specifically argue that one would expect the Miracle of Fátima on Roman Catholicism more so than on alternative hypotheses. Since our argument draws on confirmation theory, we first give a primer for how confirmation theory works. We then, provide the historical facts surrounding the Miracle of Fátima. We offer up two competing naturalistic explanations that attempt to explain the historical facts, but then, argue that a supernatural explanation is superior. Having established that something miraculous likely occurred at Fátima, we move to argue for the overall thesis of the paper. Finally, we engage several objections to our argument.

The geochemistry and mineralogy of sediments provide relevant information for the understanding of the origin and metallogenic mechanism of ferromanganese nodules and crusts. At present, there are still few studies on the sediment origin of the Clarion–Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the east Pacific, particularly on the systematic origin of sediments with a longer history/length. Here, bulk sediment geochemistry and clay mineral compositions were analyzed on a 5.7 m gravity core (GC04) obtained at the CCZ, an area rich in polymetallic nodules. The results indicate that the average total content of rare earth elements (REE), including yttrium (REY), in sediments is 454.7 ppm and the REEs distribution patterns normalized by the North American Shale Composite of samples are highly consistent, with all showing negative Ce anomalies and more obvious enrichment in heavy REE (HREE) than that of light REE (LREE). Montmorillonite/illite ratio, discriminant functions and smear slide identification indicate multiple origins for the material, and are strongly influenced by contributions from marine biomass, while terrestrial materials, seamount basalts and their alteration products and authigenic source also make certain contributions. The REY characteristics of the sediments in the study area are different from those of marginal oceanic and back-arc basins, and more similar to pelagic deep-sea sediments. Based on LREE/HREE-1/δCe and LREE/HREE-Y/Ho diagrams, we conclude that samples from the study area had pelagic sedimentary properties which suffered from a strong “seawater effect”.

This work describes a method to study glass transition on native starch powders, based on dynamical mechanical thermal analysis using compression tests, and was applied to wheat flour (13.5% water content). This method will allow the determination of Tg in native (unprocessed) starchy materials, with minimal disturbance of the natural structures. The influence of the test conditions (heating rate, frequency and strain) on the glass transition measurements was determined using factorial designs. The values of Tg determined as the maxima of the energy dissipation (peaks in E″) of native flour and of freeze-dried pre-gelatinized flour were not statistically different (around 64 °C). The heating rate did not affect the measurements in the range tested (0.25 to 1 °C min−1). An interactive effect of the strain amplitude and the frequency was detected. The significance of this interaction can be caused by differences in mechanical energy dissipation, which would indicate that not only temperature but also the total energy input may affect this transition. Slight effects of phase separation between gluten and starch were found on native flour.

A questionnaire-based methodology for constructing an overall index of school effectiveness is reported, focusing on within-school conditions of schools, which is currently being used in the Free State of South Africa. The article reports the construction and use of a straightforward instrument for measuring the effectiveness of key aspects of the conditions for school effectiveness in the Free State, using a variety of dimensions. It indicates how this instrument can identify where to intervene in improving schools in order to gain the maximum return on investment of time, effort, development activity and support. The instrument provides aggregated and disaggregated data for individual schools, groups of schools and whole districts, both at a single point in time and over time, thereby enabling the most economical and beneficial development to be planned for targeted individual schools and groups of schools. It enables users to identify the key drivers of the internal school conditions for effectiveness, development and change in schools.

To determine whether living according to specific traditional Chinese cultural values was associated with satisfaction of the five needs in Maslow’s motivational hierarchy and overall life satisfaction, a mixed-method approach was employed, with an empirical questionnaire and supplemental interviews. The questionnaire assessed the hypothesized relationships that traditional Chinese values had with personal life outcomes, including health, employment, satisfaction of the five needs from Maslow’s hierarchy, and life satisfaction. The interviews examined the relationships that several demographic variables had with living by traditional Chinese values. The results of the empirical data revealed that most Chinese people today are still living according to the traditional Chinese cultural values, and that living by those traditional values are strongly associated with satisfaction of all five of the human needs in the Maslow hierarchy, as well as with overall life satisfaction. Additionally, the results of the qualitative interviews readily supported the empirical findings, and also revealed that the time during which inter-generational transmission of the Chinese cultural values occurs is when parents teach those values to their children at a very early age, that is, between 3 and 8 years old, before the children start primary school.

Macao ( 30 Km2) is a territory characterized by small granitic intrusions, located along the coastal region of Southeast China (Cathaysia Block). Granitoids occur as different facies, including microgranite dykes, with distinct textural, mineralogical and geochemical features, for which a middle-upper Jurassic age ( 164 Ma) has been proposed. New data suggest that these granitoids are mostly high-K calc-alkaline metaluminous (A/CNK = 0.8 - 1.1) biotite granites, consistent with total absence of primary muscovite. They show variable amounts of SiO2 (67-77%), reflecting different degrees of magmatic evolution. There is also variability in terms of trace elements, particularly Rare Earth Elements (REEs), evidenced by decreasing (La/Sm)N, (Gd/Lu)N, (Ce/Yb)N and (Eu/Eu*)N towards the more evolved samples, which can be partly attributed to fractional crystallization processes. Most of the granitoids are characterized by (La/Yb)N = 3 - 10.8, showing negative Ba, Nb, Sr, Zr, P, Ti and Eu anomalies. On the other hand, microgranite dykes, along with a few more evolved granites, show an opposite tendency, being usually enriched in HREEs relatively to LREEs with (La/Yb)N = 0.4 - 1.1. Our data suggests intermediate genetic affinities between I-type and A-type granites. Although these granitoids are mostly metaluminous (characteristic of I-types), Ga/Al ratios, usually used to identify A-types, are close to the accepted boundary between A-type and other granite types. The affinities with A-type granites are more marked for the more evolved facies, which depict higher values of FeOt/MgO (14 - 60) and K2O/MgO (60 - 250). Their trace element characteristics are also transitional between WPG (Within-plate granites) and Syn-COLG (Collision Granites). We interpret those transitional characteristics (A/I and WPG/Syn-COLG) of Macao granitoids as reflecting an origin by melting of infracrustal sources over a period of high heat transfer from mantle to crust during an extensional tectonic setting probably contemporaneous with the subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate beneath the Eurasia, whose paleo-suture is thought to be located in the east flank of the Central Range, Taiwan.