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Would the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life (ETI) conflict in any way with Christian belief? We identify six areas of potential conflict. If there be no conflict in any of these areas—and we argue ultimately there is not—we are confident in declaring that there is no conflict, period. This conclusion underwrites the integrity of theological explorations into the existence of ETI, which has become a topic of increasing interest among theologians in recent years.

The aim of this study was to explore home–school collaboration in the areas of assessment, placement, and Individual Education Plan (IEP) development for children identified with disabilities or special educational needs (SEN) in Macao. Despite the noted benefits of parent–school partnerships from prior research, minimal research has been conducted from the perspective of parents of children with SEN to examine whether these partnerships materialize in the context of Macao. Participants included 115 parents of school-aged children diagnosed with SEN. They provided demographic information and completed a 36-item questionnaire derived from two validated instruments. The research identified a range of factors which hinder parental involvement in decision-making and in the inclusion of children with SEN in optimal ways in Macao schools. Parents indicated they were not receiving relevant information and assessment feedback from the teachers; they were minimally involved in the IEP process, and their children were not receiving one-to-one support, regardless of the type of placement. Parents also underlined issues related to the timing of assessment procedures. Parents of children attending special classes in regular schools voiced more satisfaction with support provision than parents of children following the full inclusion model. Recommendations about how services could be improved for greater parental involvement are discussed. Key Words: parental involvement, school–family collaboration, inclusion, special educational needs, Macao, Individual Education Plans, IEP

Macao Creole Portuguese (MacCP) is a critically endangered language spoken in Southeastern China. The formation of MacCP is attributed to the speakers of Portuguese-based creole languages in Asia (Asian CPs), especially Papia Kristang, the Malayo-Portuguese of Malacca (MalCP). Since the 19th century, MacCP has been traditionally classified as Sino-Portuguese, but comparative methods incited some authors to treat MacCP within the Malayo-Portuguese group. In Macao, the Malaccan origin of MacCP, known as Patúa or Maquista, is generally underestimated or misunderstood by the local population, including the Macanese/Maquista community. The main goal of this research is to clarify the origin of MacCP from a typological perspective on grammatical features. Secondly, while considering a possible revitalization of Maquista, the research should assess the significance of the Malayo- and Sino-Portuguese classifications in popular narratives and relate the language to current practices. The grammar of MacCP emerged from the complex linguistic ecology of the Portuguese colonial expansion in Asia. The documentation of Asian CPs allows us to sketch possible scenarios that explain the formation of MacCP according to linguistic, historical and social factors. A digital corpus of MacCP containing archive documents, contemporary literature, and oral transcriptions was assembled in order to produce a systematic review of 130 grammatical features, as defined in the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online (APiCS Online – Michaelis et al. [eds] 2013). MacCP and MalCP share certain features that are not found in South Asian CPs, such as the in situ position of interrogative words, the reduplication for nominal plural, the form of reciprocal constructions, and the verb serialization of motion constructions, thus pointing to the Malayo-Portuguese origin. At the same time, other features suggest a certain influence from Sinitic languages, mainly Cantonese and Hokkien, such as the convergence between the genitive, adjective and relative clause constructions, the double-object construction, the verb-neg-verb polar question, the copular focus construction, the reduplication inducing a change of word class or semantics, and the use of certain deontic, imperative, and prohibitive verbal markers. The comparative analysis of the grammars of MacCP, MalCP and other Asian CPs can be represented quantitatively by the means of a phylogenetic network (SplitsTree4 – Huson & Bryant 2006). The results clearly indicate that, from a structural perspective, MacCP belongs to the Malayo-Portuguese group and the presence of Sinitic elements did not affect the core of the grammar. In fact, MacCP and MalCP appear to be more similar to each other than to the former Malayo-Portuguese of Batavia. However, the Malayo-Portuguese classification of MacCP does not resonate with the Macanese community. By contrast, the Sino-Portuguese classification translates current linguistic, social and semiotic practices. A socio-semiotic survey among the millennial generation of Macanese and the consideration of themes and motifs in Maquista literature indicates that the revitalization of Maquista simultaneously implies, in their views, the preservation of the Cantonese and Portuguese heritage

A 1:12,000 geological map of the Macao Special Administrative Region has been produced through detailed field work supported by petrographic, mineralogical, geochronological and geochemical data obtained in previous studies. This map aims to represent a reliable tool to understand the geological evolution of the region and for management of the territory. The geology of Macao is dominated by two groups of Jurassic granitic rocks belonging to an intrusive suite located along the coast of Southeast China: Macao Group I (MGI: 164.5 ± 0.6 to 162.9 ± 0.7 Ma) and Macao Group II (MGII: 156.6 ± 0.2 to 155.5 ± 0.8 Ma), including the associated microgranite, aplite and pegmatite dikes and quartz veins. Remnants of the metasedimentary wall-rock are present as Devonian xenoliths enclosed within the granites. Younger Jurassic to Cretaceous andesite to dacite dikes (150.6 ± 0.6 to <120 Ma) intrude the granitic rocks. Additionally, Quaternary sedimentary deposits cover the older lithologies.

Abstract Much controversy has occurred in the past few decades regarding the nature of the sources, the petrogenetic processes, and the tectonic regime(s) of the Jurassic magmatism within the Southeast China magmatic belt. This study aims to contribute to the discussion with mineral chemistry, and whole-rock element and Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotopic geochemical data from granitic rocks and microgranular mafic enclaves from Macao, where two discrete groups of I-type biotite granites have been identified (referred to as Macao Group I [MGI] and Macao Group II [MGII]). It is proposed that the granitic magmas were generated by partial melting of infracrustal medium- to high-K, basaltic Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic protoliths (Nd depleted mantle model age [TDM2] = 1.7–1.6 Ga and Hf TDM2 = 1.8–1.6 Ga), triggered by underplating of hot mantle-derived magmas in an extensional setting related to the foundering of a previously flat slab (paleo–Pacific plate) beneath the SE China continent. The main differences between the two groups of Macao granites are attributed to assimilation and fractional crystallization processes, during which upper-crustal Paleozoic metasediments were variably assimilated by MGI magmas. This is evidenced by an increase in initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios with degree of evolution, presence of metasedimentary enclaves, and high percentage of zircon xenocrysts with Paleozoic ages. In addition, other processes like late-stage fluid/melt interaction and magma mixing also left some imprints on granite compositions (rare earth element tetrad effect plus non–charge-and-radius-controlled behavior of trace elements and decoupling between different isotope systems, respectively). The distribution of isotopically distinct granites in SE China reflects the nature of the two Cathaysia crustal blocks juxtaposed along the Zhenghe-Dapu fault.