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People with intellectual disabilities need vocational training and support in order to be able to get into the work market and maintain their workplace. In Macau SAR, China, the vocational training ecosystem still operates in fully classic, in-person, fashion, which means it is susceptible to pandemic situations such as COVID-19. This causes a big disruption to the training when isolation measures are in place. Our goal is to study the introduction of serious games for vocational training of people with disabilities in Macau. This work presents a study to assess the training benefits of serious games and usability factors, understand the acceptability and adoption factors/benefits of serious games for vocational training for people with intellectual disabilities and associated stakeholders in Macau.

(Un)Directed Reading is an interactive installation (Edmonds, 2010) initially derived from the “Directed Reading” course, which all undergraduate students at the University must take during their final year. In this course, students are assigned different writing exercises and research assignments to open their creative and constructive minds in writing (EdwardsGroves, 2012; McVey, 2008). Every year, at the end of the course and after a selection process, a collection of stories is uploaded to a database of original stories. We then developed an open-source application to print a receipt ticket from a thermal printer with a randomly picked story every time a user pushes a button. An arcade game-style button is installed on a kiosk designed in collaboration with students and set on the university's campus (left photo). The printed receipt presents a short extract of one of the stories and a QR code that links to the full story decorated with illustrations. In a modern society where most of our interactions are audiovisual-based, young generations are less and less encouraged to read and even less to write. By offering a simple kiosk installation with short stories and graphical illustrations, we propose a new interactive interface that can easily engage passers-by to eventually stimulate their reading and creativity. By reading these stories, students, professors, staff, and visitors can be surprised by the talent of our students, as it stimulates students to write new pieces to be selected. The interactive kiosk was accessible to all for a period of 3 months with 23 stories during which we automatically collected some data to use in quantitative analysis. In this first run, we focused on data from the user's interactions such as story printed, story read, date and time. It allowed us to see the ratio between the printed receipt and the actual online reading of a story and more.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant public health challenge on a global scale. It is imperative that we continue to undertake research in order to identify early markers of disease progression, enhance patient care through prompt diagnosis, identification of high-risk patients, early prevention, and efficient allocation of medical resources. In this particular study, we obtained 100 5-min electrocardiograms (ECGs) from 50 COVID-19 volunteers in two different positions, namely upright and supine, who were categorized as either moderately or critically ill. We used classification algorithms to analyze heart rate variability (HRV) metrics derived from the ECGs of the volunteers with the goal of predicting the severity of illness. Our study choose a configuration pro SVC that achieved 76% of accuracy, and 0.84 on F1 Score in predicting the severity of Covid-19 based on HRV metrics.

Contemporary urban environment is facing big changes caused by a series of synthetic factors on politics, economy, technology, society and culture. Its goals and design concepts have shifted from the fulfillment of the basic function of life into the improvement of whole qualities of cities. Forming the key part of city fabric, urban historical centre helps link scattered individual historical buildings, and retrieve urban fabric. It also takes important roles in preserving history and tradition, keeping social meanings of a place and city's sustainability. This paper briefly analyzed the historic background and current issues in Macao Historic Centre. Meanwhile, strategies and principles are proposed to improve and revitalize public spaces located in dilapidated or misused historical centre so as to provide new scientific and holistic ideas for the creation of a new sustainable environment in China.

As environmental awareness grows, sustainable modes of transportation have garnered increasing importance. With the rising popularity of electric vehicles (EVs), a broader community now acknowledges their numerous advantages, such as lower noise levels, enhanced efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in comparison to traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. Furthermore, EVs significantly contribute to a more sustainable future by emitting fewer pollutants and reducing overall environmental impact. However, consumers' perceptions and expectations about the vehicle's country of origin - the nation where the vehicle is manufactured - remain unclear, particularly in the case of Chinese-manufactured EVs due to China's reputation for pollution and product safety concerns. This study employsa qualitative framework based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2(UTAUT-2) to assess the acceptance of Chinese electric vehicles, and the influence of the Country-of-Origin Effect (COE) on a sample of Portuguese residents. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using qualitative methods. The study's results shed light on the significance of the country of origin in shaping consumers' behavioral intentions to purchase Chinese electric vehicles, indicating a positive influence. This suggests that country of origin is a crucial factor when considering an individual's intention to adopt electric vehicles. Additionally, the research highlights the importance of various other factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, price value, hedonic motivation, and habit in shaping consumers' attitudes and intentions. Our results underscore the complexity of consumer behavior toward electric vehicles, suggesting the need for a multifaceted approach to understanding andpromoting EV adoption. Research is needed to examine the COE in different cultural and geographic contexts to develop effective strategies to enhance the global adoption of electric vehicles, particularly from countries with varying environmental reputations

The UTAUT-2 offers the most comprehensive assessment of individual acceptance and use of technology to date. In particular, the theoretical additions of “hedonic motivation”, “price value”, and “habit”, made the model suitable for studying technology in a consumer context. However, a review of the literature revealed that the construct of habit has been dropped from a large number of studies. There are several reasons for this, including that the technologies examined were relatively new for the respondents to form a routine behavior. Therefore, this study aims to explore whether the construct can be used as a key predictor of future intention to use an innovation rather than an acquired practice among technology users. For this purpose, a conceptual model based on the theoretical additions to the UTAUT-2 is proposed and analyzed with structural equation modeling (SmartPLS). Our results showed significant relationships between the predictors and the behavioral intention to use battery electric vehicles (BEV) technology, and, in particular, depicted the construct of habit as the strongest factor in the decision to adopt the technology. In light of our findings, the construct of habit (HT) should be used in research together with the other UTAUT-2 predictors to assess individuals’ perceptions of possible future habitual behaviors.

In a world where sustainable food choices are becoming increasingly important, this study explores the connection between food neophilia — the desire to experiment with new foods — and people's willingness to include insects in their diets. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), our research delves into how neophilia (NP) moderates respondents’ attitude (ATT), social norms (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) concerning the adoption of insects as a food source. The analysis draws from 160 self-administered surveys and employs structural equation modeling. Conducted in the context of Macau SAR (China), our study reveals the pivotal role that neophilia plays in shaping consumer attitudes and intentions. Notably, respondents generally expressed a willingness to explore novel culinary experiences. A positive moderating effect of neophilia on attitudes toward insect consumption is observed, suggesting that individuals with higher neophilia scores are more inclined to hold favorable intentions regarding insects as food. However, neophilia's influence on moderating SN and PBC exhibits contrasting effects, implying that a strong inclination for food neophilia may not necessarily leadto increased social pressure or perceived control in adopting insect-based diets. In light of these findings, this study recommends that practitioners and policymakers promote insect consumptionas an innovative and adventurous means of achieving sustainable nutrition. While the primary focus is on the impact of food neophilia on people's intention to consume insects as food, the study underscores the urgent need for diversified and sustainable dietary choices to address escalating environmental concerns and secure a resilient food supply for future generations.

Despite the general good intentions towards the environment, individuals tend to adopt traditional internal combustion vehicles. Drawing from technology research, this study focuses on the impact of society - in the form of subjective norm and image – on the behavioral intention to adopt a technology. More precisely, this study seeks to explore to which extent societal influences drive the behavioral intention to adopt battery electric vehicles (BEV) technology. A self-administered survey was used for this purpose. The analysis of the data from a sample of 111 respondents showed significant relationships between the predictors and the target behavioral outcome. The study also revealed that subjective norm and image are particularly significant factors for the segment of BEV owners. The findings suggest that marketers and practitioners incorporate social elements into their product communication strategies in order to encourage the uptake of environmentally-sound technologies.

Neuromarketing lies at the intersection of three main disciplines: psychology, neuroscience, and marketing, and it has been a successful neuroscientific approach for the study of real-life choices such as consumer behavior [1]. A current gap in the cosmetics field is the lack of published research studies, considering the marketing investment done yearly in this category. With the rapid economic expansion and the rise of social media in China, consumers' interest in beauty is growing. Even though the Chinese cosmetics sector is rapidly expanding, no studies have been done with Chinese consumers. This study aims to employ the same approach as previously done in consumer neuroscience studies to evaluate cosmetic brands' marketing strategy to understand better if immediate emotional responses can be measured using Electrodermal Activity (EDA). Here, we focus on cosmetics products advertisement as a model to understand consumer preference formation and choice. Eighteen Chinese female consumers were recruited between 19 and 37 years old. From the results obtained, it was understood that none of the participants have voted for the product advertisement for which they showed higher emotional arousal. However, it appears that the participants' preference is for the products for which the brand awareness is stronger since the product advertisements with more votes are the ones for the Korean brand used. The product advertisements with Asian faces were the ones with more votes, suggesting that Asian faces have engaged consumer preference. However, the product advertisements for the Brazilian brands, unknown to the Chinese public, were the ones with fewer votes, although, those product advertisements were the ones with more emotional arousal per minute. Those advertisements were also those with non-Asian faces, suggesting that this feature influenced voting decisions. From this study, it has been observed that Electrodermal Activity is a measure of emotional arousal that by itself cannot be translated into consumer engagement. Therefore, it is also proposed to evaluate brand awareness in future studies related to product advertisements. The physical features of the people included in the advertisements is also suggested to be further evaluated in future studies since a different cultural background seems to influence the consumers' engagement. Furthermore, using EDA to complement other neurophysiological tools like facial expression analysis is also suggested for future studies to have evidence about the nature of the emotions raised.

As the rate of change increases exponentially, organizations must adapt quickly to the business landscape's volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). As a result, organizations must implement agile strategies and practices to ensure their responsiveness and readiness to any changes brought about by internal or external factors. With a greater number of changes, change agents are tasked with implementing various change management methodologies to ensure that change recipients accept change initiatives. This research will look at one of the methodologies used by change agents, the use of nudges from Thaler and Sunstein's Nudge Theory, which is a subtle intervention to influence an individual's decision-making with the goal of steering them towards a specific desired outcome; and analyze their effectiveness towards the change recipients when implemented. Change agents were interviewed on the application of Nudge Theory to change recipients when managing to change initiatives within their respective organizations. The results indicate that the use of nudges created by the change agents can significantly impact the level of resistance from the change recipients. If used correctly, the Nudge Theory can mitigate change resistance, and the success of a change initiative is higher. But, if change recipients are forced to comply, their resistance will be greater, affecting the organization overall.

During the past two years, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have created wide interest in the academic world raising both enthusiasm for new opportunities for universities and many concerns for the future of university education. The discussion has mainly appeared in non-scientific forums, such as magazine articles, columns and blogs, making it difficult to judge wider opinions within academia. To collect more rigorous data we surveyed teachers, researchers, and academic managers on their opinions and experiences of MOOCs. In this paper, we present our analysis of responses from the computer science academic community (n=137). Their feelings about MOOCs are highly mixed. Content analysis of open-ended questions revealed that the most often mentioned positive aspects included affordances of MOOCs, freedom of time and location for studying, and the possibility to experience teaching from top-level international teachers/experts. The most common negative aspects included concerns about pedagogical designs of MOOCs, assessment practices, and lack of interaction with the teacher. About half the respondents claimed they had not changed their teaching as a result of MOOCs, a small number used MOOCs as learning resources and very few were engaging with MOOCs in any significant way.

In the last few years, the tourism industry has experienced rapid expansion and diversification, making it one of the fastest-growing financial industries in the world. Consequently, the hotel industry has significantly affected the environment's long-term viability. Many hotels have begun voluntarily implementing environmentally sustainable practices as they become more aware of their ecological footprint. There has been a great deal of discussion about the effects of hotel operations on the environment and tourism sustainability in Macau. It is because of these negative impacts that hoteliers have adopted green practices in an attempt to minimize them. By developing sustainability reports, hotels can set goals, measure performance, and manage change, resulting in better sustainability. It could also be viewed as a strategy to enhance the company’s sustainability reporting to ensure stakeholders know what the company does. The objective of this study is twofold based on the analysis of the official sustainability reports of four major hotel chains. Firstly, seven categories of sustainable practices effectively adopted by these chain hotels are identified and clusterized. Second, it is presented in which areas some hotels performed more efficiently than others, considering the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a reference. The results allow a comprehensive clusterized analysis of the industry in a highly developed gaming and entertainment area of South China and create a clear comparison between relevant players and their concerns about sustainability practices.

China growing awareness of sustainability has brought out relevant aspects to move towards a green environment. Since its subscription in 2016, China has been committed to implementing the Paris Agreement, and the Greater Bay Area (GBA) development plan prioritizes ecology and pursuing green development. The primary purpose of this research is to perceive the companies' insights concerning the implementation of sustainable buildings’ projects in Macau. For this multi-case study analysis, primary data was gathered from interviews with two groups involved in the construction projects’ lifecycle: Consultants and Contractors, to analyze different perceptions and concerns. The interviews considered two different themes about the main topic: (1) Perception on Companies’ Experience in Sustainable Projects; (2) Key Drivers towards Sustainable Buildings’ Projects’ Implementation. In conclusion, according to the analyzed data, it is essential to notice that companies’ background and the market particularities affect their corporate performance specially connected to the green construction frameworks. The data also indicate that it is necessary to move towards regulations and policies to change corporate and people's mindset.