Your search
Results 411 resources
-
This commentary reviews recent research in terms of tourist’s mobilities in terms practices of walking, cycling and driving. It concludes by reflecting on the contemporary lock down of travel in terms of the global pandemic and its consequences for waiting, stillness and immobility – particularly in terms of flying.
-
The article sets off from a speech given by Benedict XVI in the German Bundestag in 2011, where he requested an ecological learning process to aim at sustainable human development. Appreciating the Ecological Movement, he asked to learn to listen to Nature’s language and act accordingly, which he applies analogically to “human ecology”. The article bridges elements of “Listening to Nature” and the Natural Moral Law Tradition in Benedict’s speech and in Francis’ Encyclical Letter Laudatu Si’ inview of serving human flourishing in an ecological civilization. Keywords: Natural Moral Law; Nature, Laudatu Si’, Benedict XVI, Francis; Ecological Civilization/生態文明, Sustainable Development, Ecology of Man.
-
The doctrine of original sin gives people the impression that the goodness of human nature is under-evaluated in the Christian theological tradition. The Chinese philosopher Mencius is famous for his teaching on the goodness of human nature. Reading Mencius and Thomas Aquinas side by side, this article argues that the Mencian teaching on human nature brings us to affirm the goodness of human nature by recovering the significance of the image of God for the Christian doctrine of human nature. If we seek the goodness of human nature in the possibilities to become good, it is natural to see that even in the fallen state the possibilities of becoming like God remain in human nature imprinted with the image of God. It is open to the culmination of a gradual progression to its perfection.
-
Robotics are being used in the intervention with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in many places and already for many years. Many robots were developed and different studies are being made in order to evaluate its effectiveness. “Socially Assistive Robotics” is shown to be effective in different areas mainly in social and emotional development. Milo, a robot developed by a team led by Richard Margolin for the Robots4Autism program (RoboKind, 2020), is one of the robots whose use is reported to be successful. In Macao there is no report of studies or experiences on the use of robots in the intervention with children with ASD. In a collaboration between the Macao Science Centre, the Macao Autism Association (MAA) and the University of Saint Joseph, an exploratory study was developed to understand the applicability of Milo to the work with children with ASD in Macao. The study showed that the robot is able to facilitate social and emotional competences of children with ASD. However, several limitations including language, cultural differences, the inexperienced facilitators and the level of sessions are too simple for the participants to be aware of that may affect the effectiveness of the intervention. It is important to show that the adoption of Milo in Macao for intervening children with ASD can be further implemented, with better practical solutions.
-
In any physical system, when we move from short to large scales, new spacetime symmetries emerge which help us to simplify the dynamics of the system. In this letter we demonstrate that certain variations on the symmetries of general relativity at large scales generate the effects equivalent to dark matter ones. In particular, we reproduce the Tully-Fisher law, consistent with the predictions proposed by MOND. Additionally, we demonstrate that the dark matter effects derived in this way are consistent with the predictions suggested by MOND, without modifying gravity.
-
Electronic government is increasingly dominant in the study of public administration. In analysing people's behavioural factors towards the adoption of e-services, most previous studies targeted the adult population, while those on government employees are minimal. Government employees have an essential function in the process of government operation; they can be regarded as the principal medium of communication between the service provider (government) and the end-users (citizens). This study was designed to understand the government employees' behavioural factors on their intentions towards adopting e-government services. A set of semi-structured interview questions was developed based on the prior literature on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and e-government studies. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted in Macao SAR (Special Administrative Region). In addition to analysing the three primary constructs of TPB, the factor of Trust and some enablers and hindrances were identified. Significant findings were yielded while investigating how the government employees perceived the e-services and how they regarded the general public's perception of this issue. This contextualisation would help policymakers look at this issue from different perspectives and design feasible interventions according to group alignment strategies.
-
This article reviews the role that the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) plays in China’s cultural and public diplomacy through training programmes organised by the Macao Forum and tailored for the elite of the world’s Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs). It begins with a review of China’s approach to key instruments of its soft-power offensive and strategy towards the developing world, followed by an overview of Beijing’s linkages with each PSC. Formulated as an expression of China’s cultural diplomacy towards the PSCs, the seminars of the Macao Forum serve as a kind of cooperation in which the provider party—rather than delivering tangible goods and services such as food, money, loans or infrastructure—actually offers grey matter in the form of ideas for initiatives in public policies and reforms, in order to foster further economic development and administrative rationalisation. Adding to an intense debate and substantial literature that discuss quantitatively and qualitatively China’s role in and aid provision to Africa, the authors argue that China, through the Macao Forum’s training programmes, courts the developing PSCs by building the capacity of their human capital, targeting in particular those in the public and private sectors who are in a position to implement their ideas.
-
We review some general aspects about the Black–Scholes equation, which is used for predicting the fair price of an option inside the stock market. Our analysis includes the symmetry properties of the equation and its solutions. We use the Hamiltonian formulation for this purpose. Taking into account that the volatility inside the Black–Scholes equation is a parameter, we then introduce the Merton–Garman equation, where the volatility is stochastic, and then it can be perceived as a field. We then show how the Black–Scholes equation and the Merton–Garman one are locally equivalent by imposing a gauge symmetry under changes in the prices over the Black–Scholes equation. This demonstrates that the stochastic volatility emerges naturally from symmetry arguments. Finally, we analyze the role of the volatility on the decisions taken by the holders of the options when they use the solution of the Black–Scholes equation as a tool for making investment decisions.
-
Purpose Research on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) has typically considered environmental concern a key determinant of behavioral intention that leads individuals to prefer electric vehicles. This paper challenges this assumption and argues that technology frameworks may require new variables to capture consumers' preferences. A UTAUT2-based study has been developed to assess the role of environmental concern in the BEVs context and put forward the technology show-off (TS) concept to explain the technology's acceptance. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative and cross-sectional look at behavioral intention is adopted. The study uses structural equation modeling to analyze a sample of 236 Macau residents to determine the relevance of the factors behind the choice to adopt BEVs. Findings The findings indicate that environmental concern and price may be relevant to explain behavioral intention to adopt the BEVs technology. Furthermore, the UTAUT2 framework seems to benefit from adding new variables, with TS playing a pertinent role in explaining technology acceptance. Social implications The findings show that environmental concern fails to build an argument for the shift to full electric mobility and promote the desired behavioral change toward adopting BEVs. Herein lies the necessity to consider new variables that can better describe the characteristics of modern society. Originality/value This paper proposes the TS construct, combining visibility and trialability as significant determinants of behavioral intention to use technology. The study also stresses the need to reconsider the role of environmental concerns' impact on consumer decision-making.
-
The spontaneous symmetry breaking phenomena applied to Quantum Finance considers that the martingale state in the stock market corresponds to a ground (vacuum) state if we express the financial equations in the Hamiltonian form. The original analysis for this phenomena completely ignores the kinetic terms in the neighborhood of the minimal of the potential terms. This is correct in most of the cases. However, when we deal with the martingale condition, it comes out that the kinetic terms can also behave as potential terms and then reproduce a shift on the effective location of the vacuum (martingale). In this paper, we analyze the effective symmetry breaking patterns and the connected vacuum degeneracy for these special circumstances. Within the same scenario, we analyze the connection between the flow of information and the multiplicity of martingale states, providing in this way powerful tools for analyzing the dynamic of the stock markets.
-
The article analyses the media system in Macao, a special administrative region of China that transitioned from Portuguese to Chinese sovereignty in 1999, becoming one of cities in the world with the largest number of published newspapers per capita. Combining historical research with the analysis of contemporary empirical data collected through interviews with journalists working on the ground, the research demonstrates how there is a long tradition of state control that goes back to the colonial era and that has assumed different forms, ranging from outright censorship to physical intimidation of journalists and economic dependence on the government. Limitations and control strategies imposed on news reporting during the Portuguese administration continue to be practiced today by the Chinese authorities. Even so, journalists operating on the Macao media market tend to overstate the level of freedom they are given, which can be attributed to media outlets being economically dependent on the state. Nevertheless, the level of freedom attributed to the press is today higher than it had been during the colonial period with some critical voices being allowed to reach the media. This needs to be understood in the context of what has been defined as the Chinese safety valve strategy.
Explore
Academic Units
- Faculty of Arts and Humanities (79)
- Faculty of Business and Law (85)
- Faculty of Health Sciences (34)
- Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy (47)
- Institute for Data Engineering and Sciences (14)
- Institute of Science and Environment (77)
- Library (2)
- Macau Ricci Institute (7)
- School of Education (73)
Resource type
United Nations SDGs
- 01 - No Poverty (1)
- 02 - Zero Hunger (1)
- 03 - Good Health and Well-being (10)
- 04 - Quality Education (5)
- 05 - Gender Equality (1)
- 07 - Affordable and Clean Energy (1)
- 08 - Decent Work and Economic Growth (3)
- 09 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (11)
- 10 - Reduced Inequalities (1)
- 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities (5)
- 12 - Responsable Consumption and Production (2)
- 13 - Climate Action (2)
- 14 - Life Below Water (12)
- 15 - Life on Land (4)
- 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (1)