The cosmological constant emerging from a symmetry invariant - Arraut, Ivan (Modern Physics Letters A, 2024)
The cosmological constant is normally introduced as an additional term entering the Einstein–Hilbert (EH) action. In this letter, we demonstrate that, instead, it appears naturally from the standard EH action as an invariant term emerging from spacetime symmetries. We then demonstrate that the same constraint emerging from this invariant suppresses the short wavelength modes and it favors the long wavelength ones. In this way, inside the proposed formulation, the observed value for the vacuum energy density is obtained naturally from the zero-point quantum fluctuations.
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Co.
Keywords: Dark energy; cosmological constant; zero point quantum fluctuations

Order parameter conditions from mutual information and symmetry conditions - Arraut, Ivan; Yu, Wing Chi (International Journal of Modern Physics B, 2024)
The mutual information method has demonstrated to be very useful for deriving the potential order parameter of a system. Although the method suggests some constraints which help to define this quantity, there is still some freedom in the definition. The method then results inefficient for cases where we have order parameters with a large number of constants in the expansion, which happens when we have many degenerate vacuums. Here, we introduce some additional constraints based on the existence of broken symmetries, which help us to reduce the arbitrariness in the definitions of the order parameter in the proposed mutual information method.
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Co.
Keywords: Mutual information; order parameter; quantum phase transitions; spontaneous symmetry breaking

Examining How "Technology Show-off" Affects the Acceptance of Innovations in the Battery Electric Vehicle Sector. - Lampo, Alessandro (Proceedings of the 2024 6th International Conference on Management Science and Industrial Engineering, 2024)
Theories and models try to describe the complexity of how people embrace and make use of innovations. The determinants of behavior concerning battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have traditionally revolved around factors such as vehicles’ price and range. Surprisingly, despite being small and one of the wealthiest territories in the world, Macau SAR faces challenges in BEV market penetration, underscoring the need to explore alternative causes of behavioral intention. To explain the adoption of technologies, this paper focuses on technology show-off (TS), which combines Rogers’ (2003) concepts of visibility and trialability of technology in a single construct as a determinant of behavioral intention. Therefore, when individuals perceive technology as more visible and available for trial, their behavioral intention to adopt it strengthens. Using structural equation modeling for quantitative analysis, this study examines the significance of TS in terms of the intention to adopt battery electric vehicles. The findings highlight the salience of the technology show-off construct in explaining behavioral intention, underscoring its significance in the context of modern society’s characteristics. This study contributes to advances in understanding technology acceptance and highlights the importance of incorporating experiential aspects (such as TS) into the traditional technology acceptance models.

Teaching and learning with older adults: Research ethics, risk analysis, and covert research - Ní Bhroin, Áine; Morrison, Keith (Educational Gerontology, 2024)
This article reports a case study of older adults learning English in China. It indicates how, founded on consequentialist ethics, risk analysis, and safeguarding, it was decided to use covert research, drawing on the confluence of risk analysis, risk evaluation, risk management, safeguarding, research ethics, and important contextual and cultural features. Ethical principles of nonmaleficence, beneficence, safeguarding, and protection were addressed, and account was taken of the strength, likelihood, and consequences of risks, safeguards, and benefits, informed by Chinese cultural contexts, values, behaviors, and features of teaching and learning based on andragogy and geragogy. Implications are drawn for teaching and learning with older adults, advocating significant account to be taken of contextual factors.
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2024.2377872

Once More with Feeling: The Debate Over Yalta Resurrected [Concluding Remarks] - Roberts, Priscilla (H-Diplo State of the Field Roundtable on the Eastern European Settlements during the Second World War: Making the Peace Amidst the War, 2024)

Remote Learning's Impact on Students' Cognitive Development: Evidence from Time Series Assessment [Conference presentation] - Wu, Hao; Molnár, Gyöngyvér (2024)
Remote Learning's Impact on Students' Cognitive Development: Evidence from Time Series Assessment [Conference presentation]

Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation in Western Balkans Countries - Toshevska-Trpchevska, Katerina; Lei, Weng Chi (Florence); Stojkoski, Viktor (European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 2024)
After the Covid-19 Pandemic crisis in international economic relations it became evident that climate-smart aspects should be considered when re-establishing a new international trade order. International organizations have proclaimed that this momentum should be used to include climate-smart trade and investment provisions to enable sustainable development. It has been acknowledged that trade has an important role to play in the global response to climate change, providing economies with tools to draw on in their efforts to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its consequences. In this paper we focus the analysis on investigating the digital and sustainable component of trade facilitation measures applied in Western Balkans countries. To evaluate the importance of trade facilitation measures and their digital and sustainable components we apply standard gravity model with the data from UN Global Survey on digital and sustainable trade facilitation. The results show that trade facilitation measures are important for improving and increasing trade among the Western Balkans countries. Especially, measures connected to improving transparency procedures in trade and measures for alleviating trade formalities are most significant for increasing bilateral trade among Western Balkans countries. With a lower level of importance are the measures for improving cross-border paperless trade between these countries.
Keywords: Digital and sustainable trade facilitation; UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation; Western Balkans countries; gravity model

Hawking Radiation as a Manifestation of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking - Arraut, Ivan (Symmetry, 2024)
We demonstrate that black hole evaporation can be modeled as a process where one symmetry of the system is spontaneously broken continuously. We then identify three free parameters of the system. The sign of one of the free parameters governs whether the particles emitted by the black hole are fermions or bosons. The present model explains why the black hole evaporation process is so universal. Interestingly, this universality emerges naturally inside certain modifications of gravity.
Number: 5 Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Keywords: Hawking radiation; black holes; spontaneous symmetry breaking

Alignment, fitness for purpose, and fidelity in planning, conducting, and reporting research - Morrison, Keith (2024)

Fintech Adoption: A Study of Users in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin (China) - Weng, Chi Lei; Lampo, Alessandro (INTI JOURNAL, 2024)
Intended as an economic and development hub, the Hengqin Cooperation Zone aims to foster collaboration and integration between mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao, serving as a platform for economic development and innovation among the three regions. The zone's development has increased demand for financial services, often offered through fintech. There is, however, a lack of interoperability between the fintech services currently used in Macao and Hengqin. This may hinder Macao users' adoption of the technology. Thus, our research objective is to identify the factors determining Macao residents' adoption of fintech services in the area and provide insights for service providers, developers, and policymakers. A framework based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used for this purpose. The responses of 103 Macao residents provided evidence that ease of use significantly and positively impacts the usefulness of the technology. This in turn influences attitudes towards fintech usage. Subjective norms and perceived behavioral control positively impact fintech adoption intentions. The fintech industry and the governments of Macao and Hengqin can work on improving technology's ease of use and usefulness. They can also promote them to Macao users, and provide the resources required for better access to fintech in the zone
Number: 02 Publisher: INTI International University

Life Is not a Walk across a Field - Morrison, Keith (2024)

Enforcement of arbitral awards in Macau - Diakite, Ansoumane Douty (LexisNexis, 2024)
Under Macau Arbitration Law (MAL, art 64.1), an award shall be made in writing and shall be signed by the arbitrator or arbitrators. Furthermore, the law provides that in case of arbitral proceedings with more than one arbitrator, the signatures of the majority of all members of the arbitral tribunal shall suffice, provided that the reason for any omitted signature is stated (MAL, art 64.2).
Publisher: LexisNexis

Impact of Education on Green Fintech Adoption in a Smart City: Evidence from the Newly Developed Sub-city Center of Beijing. - Lei, Weng Chi; An, Boyang (2024)
Integrating financial technologies with green initiatives is critical to the sustainable development agenda. This is particularly true for newly developed smart cities like Tongzhou, the sub-city center of Beijing. To assess the adoption of green fintech in Tongzhou, this paper extends the EnergyAugmented Technology Acceptance Model (EA-TAM) to incorporate two green factors – environmental awareness and green knowledge. This paper applies structural equation modeling techniques to analyze data from 403 respondents who live, work, or study in Tongzhou and finds allhypothesized constructs significant. Since green knowledge is significant to the adoption of green fintech, this paper further divides the sample into a high-education group (162 respondents with university-or-above degrees) and a low-education group (251 respondents with post-secondary-orlower degrees) to evaluate the impact of education. All the hypothesized factors are significant to the high-education group,but environmental awareness and perceived usefulness are insignificant to the low- education group. Hence, the results provide evidence that people in the newly developed smart city adopt green fintech due to their environmental sensitivity. The adoption of green fintech is more environmentally sensitive for people with high education levels.

Diffusion of Technologies: Delivering on the Promises of Battery Electric Vehicles - Lampo, Alessandro; Silva, Susana C. (Walking the Talk? MNEs Transitioning Towards a Sustainable World, 2024)
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are living up to their claims as consumers choose them more frequently. The increasing demand for sustainable vehicles translates into the global need for specific components, materials, and infrastructures and drives the regulatory frameworks in each country. While BEVs offer environmental benefits and global business opportunities, the technology has not yet gained mainstream acceptance. Thus, this work aims to investigate the characteristics of BEV users and their role in the diffusion of products to larger segments, as this may vary from country to country. For this purpose, a survey based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT-2) (Venkatesh et al., 2012) framework and structural equation modeling (SmartPLS) was adopted. The results indicated that, except for the constructs of effort expectancy (EE) and social influence (SI), the predictors in the model performed well in this context. Current users are satisfied with their vehicles and are supportive of BEVs in the future. The analysis also revealed that in addition to the availability of financial resources, early adopters are attracted by new technologies in a way that leads them to make decisions outside of the traditional influence of the other members of society. It is suggested to leverage the perceived benefits of status, differentiation, or uniqueness motives, to appeal to those seeking to appear trendy and tech-savvy in society. Companies and policymakers should acknowledge the peculiarities of early customers in their communication strategies to reach a wider audience around the globe and encourage the adoption of BEV technology.
Keywords: Air quality; Battery electric vehicles; Clean energy technology; Consumer behavior; Diffusion of innovations; Early adopters; International marketing

Machine learning-based cardiac activity non-linear analysis for discriminating COVID-19 patients with different degrees of severity - Ribeiro, Pedro; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo; Pordeus, Daniel; Zacarias, Laíla; Leite, Camila Ferreira; Sobreira-Neto, Manoel Alves; Peixoto, Arnaldo Aires; de Oliveira, Adriel; Madeiro, João Paulo do Vale; Rodrigues, Pedro Miguel (Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 2024)
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.
Keywords: Accuracy; COVID-19; ECG signals; Machine learning classifiers; Non-linear analysis; –

Relationships among critical thinking disposition components of Chinese undergraduates: A moderated mediating effect analysis - Zhao, Yangyintao; Liu, Yong; Wu, Hao (International Journal of Educational Research, 2024)
Critical thinking (CT), as a form of higher-order thinking, is intended to help individuals form reasonable reflection and judgment to deal with increasingly severe employment situations. As the primary workforce in the labor market, undergraduates must possess a strong critical thinking disposition (CTD) to make better use of CT. Despite extensive research on components of CTD from the perspective of educational practices, there is limited emphasis on investigating the components and their relationships of CTD in the labor market and the impact of gender differences. Therefore, this study presented an analysis of 1535 Chinese undergraduates (Mage = 20.89; SD = 1.43) using the Employer-Employee-Supported Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (2ES-CTDI), aiming to explore the CTD that undergraduates should possess before entering the labor market. The relationships among the components were examined using SmartPLS4.0 in conjunction with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Additionally, a multigroup analysis (PLS-MGA) with a measurement invariance (MI) test was conducted to validate the moderating effects of gender. The findings indicate that (a) self-efficacy has a significant negative effect on habitual truth-digging, and boys are more affected than girls, instant judgment plays a competitive partial mediating role in this relationship; (b) self-efficacy has a significant positive effect on instant judgment, and boys are more likely to make instant judgments than girls; (c) instant judgment significantly positively affects habitual truth-digging. These findings highlight the dynamic equilibrium among the internal components of CTD in the labor market and call for increased attention from educators to the importance of gender differences in the cultivation process.
Keywords: Critical thinking disposition; Labor Market; Moderated mediation; Undergraduates

Revenue Management in Airlines and External Factors Affecting Decisions: The Harmonic Oscillator Model - Arraut, Ivan; Rosado, Wilson; Leong, Victor (Mathematics, 2024)
The Revenue Management (RM) problem in airlines for a fixed capacity, single resource and two classes has been solved before by using a standard formalism. In this paper we propose a model for RM by using the semi-classical approach of the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator. We then extend the model to include external factors affecting the people’s decisions, particularly those where collective decisions emerge.
Number: 6 Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Keywords: collective decisions; harmonic oscillator; revenue management; spontaneous symmetry breaking

The Integration of Blockchain Technology in Accounting and Auditing - Almeida, Ermelinda Nazaré António de (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The emergence of blockchain technology in 2008 marked a significant milestone in the evolution of digital currencies, paving the way for the emergence of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Since then, blockchain has undergone four generations of development, expanding its applications across various sectors. In particular, the integration of blockchain into accounting and auditing practices has garnered significant attention due to its potential to transform traditional methods. However, there's a lack of clear understanding of how blockchain impacts traditional auditing practices and finance recordkeeping and the implications for audit quality. Significant challenges and uncertainties hinder its widespread adoption, including technical hurdles, regulatory complexities, and practical barriers. This dissertation aims to determine the transformative impact of blockchain technology on auditing practices and finance recordkeeping. In order to fully understand the impact of blockchain on auditing practices and finance recordkeeping, the dissertation utilizes a mixed sequential research approach that is divided into three phases. The first approach involves gathering qualitative data through interviews with blockchain experts. The second approach involves collecting secondary qualitative data through a systematic literature review to determine the changes that blockchain has brought to traditional auditing practices and finance recordkeeping. This is followed by a bibliometric analysis to identify current trends in blockchain research related to auditing practices and finance recordkeeping. The third approach involves gathering data through an online-focused survey distributed to finance and other industry professionals to determine the challenges organizations face in implementing blockchain technology in auditing practices and finance recordkeeping. Additionally, in phase three, case studies will be conducted based on the survey responses to examine the hindrances and challenges faced by organizations in implementing blockchain and its impact on auditing practices in different regions and among different demographic groups. As the findings indicate, Integrating blockchain technology into accounting and auditing practices can bring about significant improvements in transparency, efficiency, and fraud prevention. However, there are several challenges that must be overcome for successful implementation, such as technical difficulties, regulatory uncertainties, and privacy concerns. To overcome these hurdles, it is necessary to establish clear regulatory frameworks and innovative solutions. Although smart contracts offer automation, they also pose security risks that need to be addressed. Despite these challenges, blockchain has the potential to revolutionize auditing by enabling real-time auditing and enhancing integrity verification. To ensure audit quality, auditors must adapt to new responsibilities and stay up-to-date with emerging trends. Collaboration among stakeholders and continuous education and training programs are key to driving the successful adoption of blockchain technology
Keywords: Accounting; Audit Quality; Auditing Practices; Blockchain Technology; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Pilot Study for Measuring Complex Problem-Solving in Jordan: Feasibility, Construct Validity, and Behavior Pattern Analyses - Alrababah, Saleh Ahmad; Wu, Hao; Molnár, Gyöngyvér (Sage Open, 2024)
In the 21st century, complex problem-solving (CPS) serves as a key indicator of educational achievement. However, the elements of successful CPS have not yet been fully explored. This study investigates the role of strategic exploration and different problem-solving and test-taking behaviors in CPS success, using logfile data to visualize and quantify students’ problemsolving behavior on 10 CPS problems with different characteristics and levels of difficulty. Additionally, in the present study, we go beyond the limits of most studies that focus on students’ problem-solving behavior pattern analyses in European cultures and education systems to examine Arabic students’ CPS behavior. The results show that computer-based assessments of CPS are feasible and valid in Jordanian higher education. The findings also confirm the structural validity of CPS, indicating that the processes of knowledge acquisition (KAC) and knowledge application (KAP) can be distinguished and separated in the problem-solving process. Large differences were identified in students’ test-taking behavior in terms of the efficacy of their exploration strategy. We identified four latent classes based on the students’ exploration strategy behavior. The study thus leads to a better understanding of how students solve problems and behave during the problem-solving process in uncertain situations.

A Financial Valuation of 3M Company (MMM) - Ao, Man Leng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
To evaluate 3M's intrinsic value and compare the calculated results with the stock market price as of 31 December 2022. To study 3M's future operating strategies and the internal and external factors that may impact the Company's operations
Keywords: Financial Valuation; Theses and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Reply to the "Comment on The Tully-Fisher law and dark matter effects derived via modified symmetries" by I. Arraut. - Arraut Guerrero, Ivan (Europhysics Letters, 2024)
It has been claimed in \cite1, that the idea proposed in \cite2 has certain mistakes based on arguments of energy conditions and others. Additionally, some of the key arguments of the paper are criticized. Here we demonstrate that the results obtained in \cite2 are correct and that there is no violation of any energy condition. The statements claimed in \cite1 are based on three things: 1). Misinterpretation of the metric solution. 2). Language issues related to the physical quantities obtained in \cite1, where the authors make wrong interpretations about certain results over the geometry proposed in \cite2. 3). Non-rigorous evaluations of the vacuum condition defined via the result over the Ricci tensor R_\mu\nu=0.

TURNING THE SDGS INTO LEGAL COMMITMENTS: Catarine Isabel Pereira Batista - Batista, Catarine Isabel Pereira (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This dissertation examines the current implementation of specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the Macau legal system, despite the non-mandatory nature of these goals and how they were implemented. The SDGs, established by the United Nations, provide a comprehensive framework for addressing global social, economic, and environmental challenges. While Macau is not obliged to adopt the SDGs, this study aims to explore the extent to which the principles and objectives of specific SDGs have been integrated into the legal system of Macau. Through an analysis of relevant laws, and policies, this research seeks to identify alignment and visible gaps between the SDGs and the Macau legal framework. The findings of this study may contribute to a deeper understanding of the voluntary implementation of the SDGs in Macau and provide insights for other jurisdictions facing similar circumstances
Keywords: Hard Law; International Law; Legal system; Macau SAR; Soft Law; Sustainable development goals; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Lusophone and International Public Law(MLIPL); University of Saint Joseph

THE IMPACT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN MACAU'S LAND TRANSPORT SECTOR: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF EMPLOYEE WORK ENGAGEMENT - Cai, Shi Xin (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Public transportation is an important component of urban infrastructure and has a significant impact on the convenience and well-being of citizens. In Macau, with rapid economic development and urbanization, an efficient land transport system is essential to support sustainable development. Previous research has primarily focused on the sustainable development of the transportation sector in Macau, with little attention given to studies concerning employees. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of transformational leadership on employee work performance in the land transportation sector in Macau, with a particular focus on the mediating role of employee work engagement. Through a quantitative research methodology, this study utilized an online questionnaire to collect data from 194 employees from the bus and LRT sectors in order to achieve the research objectives. Convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods were used in this study to analyze the data through SPSS software to assess the relationship between transformational leadership, employee work engagement and employee performance. The findings reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance, as well as a significant positive relationship between transformational leadership and employee work engagement. In addition, employee work engagement played a partial mediating role between transformational leadership and employee performance. The findings suggest that transformational leadership not only directly enhances employee performance, but also indirectly enhances employee performance by increasing employee work engagement. These insights have important practical implications, indicating that adopting transformational leadership behaviors can effectively enhance employee engagement and performance, thereby improving organizational effectiveness. Specifically, managers in Macau's transportation sector should pay attention to and cultivate transformational leadership behaviors in order to enhance employee work engagement and performance, and thus achieve higher organizational effectiveness and building a strong team
Keywords: Employee Work Engagement; Employee Work Performance; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); Transformational Leadership; University of Saint Joseph

Matteo Ricci's teaching on the goodness of human nature: its Thomistic and neo‐Confucian sources - Cai, Yilun (The Heythrop Journal, 2024)
Abstract The Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci's teaching on the goodness of human nature in The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven represents the fruit of the first encounter between Catholicism and Confucianism. This article will consider the Thomistic and neo‐Confucian sources in Ricci's enunciation of the Catholic doctrine on the goodness of human nature in this Chinese catechism. It will illustrate that Ricci developed his teaching, which is fundamentally Thomistic, with the help of terminology borrowed from the Chinese philosophical tradition. His distinction between the good of nature and the good of virtue leads to prioritising the cultivation of human nature. Ricci's teaching reflects the early modern Jesuits’ appreciation of human freedom. It also displays a Catholic reaction to the sixteenth‐century neo‐Confucian intellectual trend that ignored the importance of moral cultivation.

Design Thinking Methodology and Text-To-Image Artificial Intelligence: A Case Study in the Context of Furniture Design Education - Caires, Carlos Sena; Estadieu, Gerald; Olga Ng Ka Man, Sandra (Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication IV: Research, Innovations and Best Practices, 2024)
The design thinking methodology is a problem-solving approach that involves empathising with end-users, (re)defining problems, brainstorming solutions creatively, and experimenting with prototypes and testing. It has been widely adopted in education to help students develop critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills in design. On the other hand, text-to-image artificial intelligence is a method used to generate images from natural language descriptors (usually referred to as prompts). Design thinking methodology can teach students to think creatively and critically about real-world problems when applied in the classroom. In the context of design teaching at the University of Saint Joseph, Macao, students use the design thinking methodology to develop innovative proposals for furniture design solutions. Combining design thinking methodologies with text-to-image artificial intelligence can further enhance the learning experience by allowing students to generate visual representations of their ideas during the ideation phase. The authors developed a systematic approach to generate images for ideation on furniture design based on prompting text-to-image (PTI). The analysis related students’ results who applied the design thinking methodology without using AI tools and the results generated using a standard text-to-image programme. By combining both methods, teachers can help students develop critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills, while also allowing them to generate visual representations in a different paradigm and, by so, being able to communicate their ideas with the most appropriate support for them.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Design thinking; Education quality; Furniture design education; Text-to-image prompt

EDUCATORS' PERSPECTIVE OF STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN) AND THEIR SENSE OF BELONGING, SELF-COMPETENCE, AND AGENCY - Carvalho, Edna Line Henriques de (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
What strategies did educators use to cultivate a sense of belonging, self-competence, and agency among students with Special Educational Needs (SEN)? Did educators face any challenges in implementing these strategies? Were the findings of this study specific to the inclusive school in Macau, or can they be generalised to other educational settings? This study brings to light educators' inner perspective of students' sense of belonging, self-competence, and agency. Specifically, it aims to uncover the academic and emotional needs of students with SEN and the importance that these may have in promoting a positive educational experience. By gathering the perspectives of educators in an inclusive school in Macau who work side-by-side with these students daily, we can understand how essential these elements are in contributing to their overall development. The purposive sampling approach was used in this study to further investigate various experiences and perspectives of educators within an inclusive classroom setting. The educators interviewed provided insight into an inclusive classroom with students with SEN in full-time attendance. The educators sampled in this study facilitated the search for strategies, challenges and support systems to cultivate a sense of belonging, self-competence and agency, among students with SEN. Findings showed educators' understanding of the importance of students with SEN's sense of belonging, self-competence and agency. The educators' awareness of their students' interactions with peers, and the educators themselves, was prominent, revealing how the sense of belonging for students with SEN affected these relationships. Regarding students' sense of self-competence, according to educators, students with SEN had opportunities to showcase their confidence in specific classroom areas and to exercise independence in the classroom, within the set curriculum and lesson plans. In the findings, educators illuminated the importance of agency in students with SEN. However, they were apprehensive about changes in lesson plans, cultivating a fully independent classroom setting and providing choices to students with and without SEN. The study's implications highlight the educational practices and policies that effectively supplement students with SEN's academic and social environments. The findings of this study aim to guide curriculum developers, educators and parental figures in fostering positive learning experiences for students with diverse learning needs
Keywords: Heutagogy; SEN; Self-competence; Students' agency; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON HOW CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA CHANGE THE WAY ENTERPRISES CONVEY MESSAGES TO AUDIENCES DURING THE PANDEMIC PERIOD AND THE POST-PANDEMIC ERA. CASE STUDY: SJM RESORTS MACAU - Chan, Hoi Man; Simões, José Manuel; Monereo, Zita Carmen (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This research study explores the corporate communication strategies and media shifts adopted by large enterprises in Macau during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic era. Taking SJM Resorts, a large enterprise roots in Macau for over 60 years, as an example to analyze the shift and changes in its corporate communication practices and media usage during the pandemic and post-pandemic era. Moreover, recent literatures on related topic were reviewed to support this research. The researcher invited eight leaders from the case study to conduct semi-structured interviews for qualitative analysis, whilst to distribute 500 e-questionnaire surveys to public for collecting empirical data for quantitative analysis. Issues such as the proportion of offline and online media usage and corporate communication and media strategies and impacts were raised. The study result provides theory and practice reviews for related academic fields. Since there are relatively few research reviews on enterprises’ corporate communication and media landscape during the pandemic and the post-pandemic era at recent stage, this study can fill this gap, provide new research results to the related field as well as enrich the current literature database in related fields
Keywords: Brand marketing; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; corporate communication; digital marketing; offline media; online media

Exploring the Impact of the Metaverse on Macau's Fashion Industry Development - Chan, Ka I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The emergence of the virtual world through social media, technical advancements, digital fashion, and the concept of the Metaverse begs the question of whether Macau's fashion sector can transfer to the virtual sphere. Macau fashion designers have different needs for virtual fashion vs traditional fashion manifestations. The designer's experience, Macau residents' interest in the virtual world and metaverse, and communication inside the metaverse all play an important role in this study. This research study shows our design work, analysis, and conclusions, which explain the concepts and research incorporating the Metaverse virtual platform, virtual characters, user interaction for various target groups, and survey feedback. This detailed research provides a deeper understanding and insights into the Metaverse concept's usefulness in marketing Macau fashion businesses and providing essential information to local Macau fashion designers, fashion industry experts, and Macau people. According to preliminary investigation, utilising avatars and virtual fashion in the virtual world is a novel and promising way for fashion brand operations and expansion. This technique provides cost savings, endless creative options, and effective brand messaging, with the opportunity to predict future virtual fashion trends while keeping a real retail presence
Keywords: Communication; Digital Fashion; Macau's Fashion Industry; Metaverse; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; Virtual World

PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF BASIC FAMILY RELATIONS INVENTORY (BFRI) IN MACAO - Chan, Kuai Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
By discussing various aspects of family functioning, including the intricate nature of family functioning, family dynamics’ impact on adolescent growth and lifelong development, and the COVID-19’s effects on family relationships, it reveals the importance and necessity of assessment instruments in the field of family counselling. And concerning the gap between family research and clinical practice as well as the absence of a singular tool capable of evaluating various family functions comprehensively in the Macao context, the study introduced the Basic Family Relations Inventory (BFRI; or ‘Cuestionario de Evaluación de las Relaciones Familiares Básicas’, CERFB), a self-reported questionnaire based on Linares’ Basic Family Relations Theory. This valuable tool consists of 25 items, assessing simultaneously the quality of family relationships in two basic dimensions—marital and parental functioning. This study aimed to develop the Chinese version of the BFRI and investigate its psychometric properties in the context of Macao. By employing a quantitative research approach, it evaluated the normal distribution, exploratory factor analysis and reliability of the BFRI in a non-clinical snowball and convenience sample of 165 participants with at least one biological child from 12 to 18 years old. In the exploratory factor analysis, the initial factor extraction resulted in four components, reflecting both marital and parental items. This suggested potential overlap and interconnectedness between the marital and parental subsystems. Subsequent analysis identified a three-factor solution, separating marital, negative parental, and positive parental components. This aligned with the factor structure of the original Spanish version of the BFRI. A two-factor solution was also explored, replicating findings from the previous Italian and Portuguese validation of the BFRI despite some inconsistencies in item alignment. The EFA results revealed that the three-factor structure of the Chinese version of the BFRI was the best fitting model for the Macao population. Reliability analysis, assessed through Cronbach’s alpha, indicated satisfactory internal consistency of the scales. The results of the analyses demonstrate promising psychometric properties, supporting the tool’s effectiveness in assessing marital and parental relationships in a Macao population. The study contributed to the development of the valuable family assessment instrument. It suggested that the Chinese version of the BFRI could serve as a useful instrument to concurrently assess the quality of marital and parental relationships and systematically collect the data of family functioning in both dimensions. It’s also believed that this instrument could benefit the evaluation of family dynamics and comprehension of family relations not only in family research studies, but also in counselling intervention and clinical therapy, preventing risks to the health of children as well as promoting healthy family contexts in Macao
Keywords: Basic Family Relations Inventory (BFRI); Marital relationship; Parental relationship; Psychometric properties; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

THE USE OF AI TECHNOLOGY IN MACAO JOURNALISM: A CASE STUDY - Chan, Weng Fai (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most advanced technology nowadays and has already been adopted by the media industry globally. Some research has stated that journalists use these technologies to improve their work. Studies found that the extent to which journalists use these technologies depends on the size of their organization and regional circumstances. This study explores how interviewed Macao journalists integrate AI tools into their work, focusing on text processing, translation, and idea generation to improve efficiency and creativity. In addition, respondents expressed that there is not enough information about AI for a small place like Macao. And the problem of application in a “three primary written languages and four spoken languages” environment. At the same time, respondents’ concerns about AI’s accuracy, reliability, and impact on journalistic professionalism are discussed, emphasizing the need for credible and trustworthy AI outputs. This study reveals a significant difference in AI tool adoption between Chinese and Portuguese respondents, with the former group showing a higher inclination towards using these technologies. Therefore, further research is suggested. In the absence of media competition in Macao, the use of AI and its knowledge is spread by journalists sharing it among different organizations, and there seems to be no official decision on the use of AI by media organizations in Macao
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; generative AI; journalism; journalists; media; multicultural; multilingual; newsroom

EMERGENCY REACTION AND FEARS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS FROM MACAU: PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE ERQ-CA AND FSSC-R-SF - Cheang, Kuan Leng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Macau is often affected by typhoons and rainstorms, especially during summer and autumn, there are also an increasing number of natural disasters due to the current climate change. On top of that, in 2017, tremendous devastation was caused by Typhoon Hato. However, there is only limited research on the psychological impact of natural disasters on Macau residents. This study aims to develop culturally appropriate psychometric instruments to assess fears and emergency reaction in children and adolescents from Macau. By applying this instruments to Macau children and adolescents, the study aims to assess the level of preparedness of children and adolescents in emergencies, fill the research gap, and contribute to future development of courses and training programmes to prepare them for future natural disasters. Specifically, this study aims to adopt the Emergency Reaction Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA) and the Short Form of the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (FSSC-R-SF) and to examine their psychometric properties with a sample of children and adolescents in Macau. Firstly, the ERQ-CA and FSSC-R-SF were translated into Chinese, and 6 children aged 8-9 were invited to take the Think-Aloud-Protocols (TAP). The content of the questionnaires was suitable for children and adolescents. Secondly, the ERQ-CA and FSSC-R-SF were administered to 262 children and adolescents aged 9-15 who were studying in non-higher education institutions in Macau. The questionnaires were analysed for their reliability and validity. With some adjustments, the two Macau versions of the instruments showed satisfactory psychometric properties regarding construct validity, reliability, and convergent validity. Recommendations for the practical use of the ERQ-CA and the FSSC-R-SF in Macau and future directions are presented
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph; children and adolescents; emergency reaction; fears; natural disasters; psychometric properties

Feasibility Study on the R&D and Production of VOCs Environmental Protection Equipment - Chen Le Qi (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This study focuses on China's volatile organic compound treatment industry and deeply analyzes the current situation, challenges, and development trends of the volatile organic compound environmental protection industry. This study discusses technological advancements in reducing VOC emissions, environmental regulations' impact, and market demand changes. The market size, growth potential, and primary driving factors were analyzed by studying the business scope and competitive advantages of VOC management companies. Predict the company's operational status, investment return rate, and other related financial data through financial analysis. Finally, emphasis was placed on technological innovation, market positioning, and risk management while pointing out the industry's principal risks and response strategies. The research findings indicate that, in the context of increasing environmental awareness and policy support, China's VOC ecological protection industry has enormous growth potential. The company is expected to achieve significant success in both business and finance through technological innovation and market adaptation. The research and production of VOC environmental protection equipment is feasible
Keywords: China; Equipment; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; VOCs

IMPACTS OF CHINA’S ENTRY ON THE PRODUCT LINE RIVALRY IN THE GLOBAL CIVIL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY - Chen, Yawen (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
As international tourism continues to flourish and airlines are eager to expand their fleets, the demand for civil aircraft has continues to grow in the global market. The market has been a duopolistic one, shared by Boeing and Airbus. However, the recent entry of the Chinese company, Comac, had the potential to turn it into a triopoly within certain segment of the product line. This observation motivates the research objective to analyze the impact of Comac's entry on the production strategies of the incumbents. Specifically, this dissertation studies the impact on each firm’s allocation of production capacity toward different civil aircraft in the product line in response to how Comac’s entry, which can also impact the effects of capacity increase and market expansion on the product line rivalry. This dissertation is based on a multi-product, oligopolistic model of Boeing and Airbus. To provide insights on the strategy and behavior of each firm in the evolving competitive environment, this dissertation solves and extends the mathematical model to incorporate Comac as the entrant and compares model results with data of orders and deliveries of the three companies in the past 15 years. This model finds that when Comac's C919, a relatively small plane, enters the global civil aircraft market, Boeing and Airbus will increase the production of their small planes and decrease the production of the relatively large planes under the production capacity constraints. If the production capacity increases, both Boeing and Airbus will produce more planes, but will allocate more additional capacity to large planes than to small planes compared to the duopolistic competitive environment. When the market demand increases, despite the entry of the C919, Boeing and Airbus iv will continue to increase the production of both large and small planes, but the response is greater to an increase of demand for large planes than that for small planes. The orders and deliveries data provide some but insufficient support for the model predictions. As the market participation of Comac continues to grow, future researchers can re-assess the models’ propositions with more available data
Keywords: Capacity allocation; Civil aircraft; Comac; Duopoly; Oligopoly; Product line rivalry; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); Triopoly; University of Saint Joseph

The Financial Valuation of Chevron Corporation - Chenda, Elisa Francisco; Lao-Phillips, Jenny Oliveros (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Chevron Corporation (CVX) is one of the world’s largest energy companies, which operates across the entire Oil and Gas industry, including exploration and production as an Upstream operation and refining and marketing as a Downstream operation. Chevron has a strong presence worldwide, with operations in North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe, which includes more than 180 countries, where the US, in terms of production, represents 39.4% of the net oil-equivalent production in 2022. Its global presence, sustained by its competitive advantages, is challenged by its worldwide competitors, industry factors, and the economic environment. It is essential to understand the impact of such changes on the industry and the Company to accurately assess the intrinsic value of Chevron and its future positioning. To provide investors with helpful information, comparing the intrinsic value resulting from three valuation models with the Company's market share price as of December 31st, 2022, is essential
Keywords: Intrinsic value; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; forecast; stock market price

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE MACAO EMPLOYEES’ DECISION TO PARTICIPATE IN CORPORATE VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITIES: FROM THE SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY PERSPECTIVE - Cheong, Ieng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This dissertation aims to shed light on the factors derived from employee identity that contribute to corporate volunteering participation. The study explores the influence of perceived organizational support (POS), group cohesion, perceived volunteering meaningfulness, and transformational leadership on engagement in corporate volunteering activities. The study employed a correlational quantitative design, collecting data through a questionnaire survey. The findings reveal that POS and group cohesion positively impact corporate volunteering, with volunteering meaningfulness mediating these relationships. Transformational leadership moderates the effect of volunteering meaningfulness on the relationship between POS and corporate volunteering. This research adds to the literature on identity and corporate volunteering by establishing a connection between employee identity and engagement in corporate volunteering activities. It emphasizes the importance of volunteering meaningfulness as a key factor in this relationship, highlighting the positive influence of POS and group cohesion. By considering both POS and group cohesion as antecedents, this study offers new insights into the understanding of identity and corporate volunteering. Practically, organizations can enhance employee participation in corporate volunteering by cultivating a supportive work environment, showing care for employees' well-being, and recognizing their contributions. Promoting group cohesion through effective communication of organizational goals can increase employee identification and motivation for volunteering. Emphasizing the personal significance of corporate volunteering and highlighting its impact can boost employees' intrinsic motivation and sense of purpose. To implement successful corporate volunteer programs, organizations should provide support and appreciation for employees' efforts, utilize transformational leadership to inspire commitment, and consistently reinforce the value of corporate volunteering. The practical implications of this research provide guidance for organizations seeking effective implementation of corporate volunteer programs as part of their corporate social responsibility strategies. It also holds relevance for researchers interested in exploring the intersection of employee identity and corporate volunteering
Keywords: Corporate Volunteering; Group Cohesion; Mediator; Moderator; POS; Perceived Organizational Support; SIT; Social Identity Theory; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); Transformational Leadership; University of Saint Joseph; Volunteering Meaningfulness

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) GENERATED ART & VISUAL COMMUNICATION: ITS EFFECTS ON HUMANS' IMAGINATION, CREATIVITY, COMMUNICATION, AND CULTURE - Cheong, Weng Chim (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Technological advancements have enabled machines to offer more efficient assistance to people across several domains. Art and creativity are what distinguish people or societies the most. The arrival of AI has caused a fresh wave of concern among many of us; it is crucial that we evaluate the weight of the positives and the drawbacks of how people employing these technologies will influence societies. Legislation is frequently delayed because of the various revolutions througout history. Along with the difficulties raised in the continuing debate, it is critical to identify a route or alternative to assist existing challenges for artists. This dissertation includes our case studies, analysis, and conclusions, which explain the effects on imagination, creativity, communication, and culture when individuals use AI technologies to create art or/and images. According to our findings, AI technology should be considered as one way to solve problems. The vast majority of created outputs are unable to accomplish the desired reach. Furthermore, even if the ethical issues cannot be resolved, individuals should not ignore it and keep their moral compass. Importantly, we must realise that individuals should always be involved in and influence the intricacies and components of the creative process. However, it is commonly understood that the deployment of artificial intelligence has an influence on people’s communication and societies. There are still no standards, frameworks, or norms on this front of Ai-generated images. This might contribute to an increase in industrial imbalance and discrimination. As a result, to safeguard our individuality, we must take the initiative to uncover any answers or directions that would aid in this scenario. As with any experience, whether internal or external, we should use it to our advantage to apply our creative process, something the computer cannot accomplish. Still, it gives many benefits and is effective in assisting people in completing challenging tasks, so it is smart not to avoid teamwork. Furthermore, because social media and the internet provide powerful expression and communication tools, their advantages should help build universal rules to safeguard artistic work
Keywords: AI-generated art; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; communication; creativity; culture; imagination

澳門融合教育小學資源教師的工作困難與需求 =: INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN MACAO’S PRIMARY SCHOOL：THE WORK DIFFICULTIES AND NEEDS OF PRIMARY RESOURCE TEACHER - Chong, Hei Tong; Yim, Pui Yu (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 小學資源教師; 工作困難; 融合教育

Post-pandemic Human Resources Challenges in Macau’s Hospitality Industry: Christy, Chu Ian I - Chu, Ian I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In today's rapidly changing and fiercely competitive environment, talents are the key factor for a company's success and success, and a good strategy for retaining talents is how to use effective management measures to grasp employees' focus, vitality and service on work enthusiasm can generate dedication and loyalty to the enterprise, making the enterprise more consolidated and sustainable. Previous studies have shown that human resource management measures can increase employee contribution. Therefore, this study takes the important role of human resource management as an intermediary to explore how the human resource management of Macau's hospitality industry is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes in post-pandemic human resource management. At the same time, the company's commitment to its employees after the outbreak is further analyzed for the success of the solutions made by the human resource management of the hospitality industry in Macau. The research results are expected to be used as a reference for leaders or managers in the hospitality industry when an unexpected pandemic occurs, by enhancing and improving human resource management. The qualitative research method was adopted, and in-depth interviews were conducted with hotel employees. The key findings of this research were that there are five factors affecting human resource management post-pandemic in the hospitality industry. More importantly, we found that Macau’s hospitality industry needs to transform in the future, which will also have a key impact on human resources management
Keywords: Dilemmas 2; Diversified 1; Theses and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; Vulnerabilities 3

COPING WITH WAR TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES: CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM PERSPECTIVES IN EAST TIMOR - Costa, Julieta da (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The researcher aims to understand how Christian and Muslim communities in East Timor cope with and recover from trauma arising from war, violence, and conflict. The research seeks to identify critical spiritual and religious coping mechanisms as present in East Timor (Timor Leste) that could help victims heal and reconstruct their lives after a war trauma experience. The study uses a mixed method, first deploying a quantitative investigation of Christian and Muslim communities in East Timor. The questionnaire aimsto understand how religion and spirituality feature in individuals' coping with trauma and the healing practices prescribed or encouraged by religious institutions and practices. In addition, a qualitative research and thematic analyses have been conducted and added with the facilitation of 6 Interviewees, 3 Muslims, and 3 Christians. This study aimed to investigate trauma levels and religious coping strategies among participants from East Timor. The quantitative findings indicated that the participants experienced a moderate level of trauma, with trouble sleeping being the most significant symptom. The qualitative findings revealed in some participants a high level of traumatic experiences. Recurrent thoughts of traumatic events and feeling jumpy were also prevalent. However, feeling strange around people or objects and feeling personally damaged by the trauma were less common. Regarding coping strategies, participants tended to rely on positive religious coping, seeking a stronger viii connection with God, finding comfort in religious communities and beliefs, and using spiritual interventions to manage emotions and worries, finding healing and a path toward the future. Both Catholics and Muslims employed positive religious coping strategies, with Catholics showing a slightly higher level in their utilization. However, the difference between the two groups was minimal. Positive coping strategies were more frequently used by participants from both religious backgrounds, highlighting their importance in dealing with trauma. Positive religious coping did not significantly impact trauma symptoms, showing no decrease or increase. However, a notable positive correlation existed between negative religious coping and more severe trauma symptoms. Individuals relying on negative coping strategies were more likely to experience heightened trauma symptoms. These findings align with previous research, emphasizing the positive association between Islamic appraisals and religious coping with better post-traumatic adjustment, while trauma-related appraisals are linked to worse adjustment. The study underscores the need to respect individual coping variations and recognizes the impact of negative religious coping on trauma experiences
Keywords: COPING STRATEGIES; COUNSELING; EAST-TIMOR; RELIGION; SPIRITUALITY; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph; WAR

STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A SMART TOURISM CITY: A CASE STUDY OF MACAO SAR AND THE PERCEPTION OF EXPERTS - Da Rosa Ho, Hoi Lam (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This dissertation explores the strategies for developing a smart tourism city in the background of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the perceptions of different experts in Macao. Awared that the Macao government aims to expedite the development of a livable, smart, and green Macao and requires smart technology to be applied to upgrade the people’s livelihood. This is a long-term ambition to achieve and whether success remains uncertain. Through literature review, understood that the traditional tourism industry must be transformed and innovated to enhance competition since the 90s. And smart tourism cities provide enhanced tourists’ experience and residents’ better quality of life. Although prior research have studied the tourist behavior of smart tourism contents or evalutated strategic plans for the construction of a smart tourism city, there is no previous research explored on the topic. Therefore, this dissertation through qualitative research methods including on-site observations, analyzing government-released documents and interviewing relevant experts. The findings present the seven components of the conceptual framework, including physical infrastructures, technology applications, experience sharing, big data, business co-creation, technical professionals, and cyber security, are strongly support the smart tourism city development in Macao. Provide a clear understanding for the relevant stakeholders to practice in a smart tourism city context. In addition, from the perspective of experts, the key for successfully develop Macao as a smart tourism city is that should apply ‘government-led, multi-party participation, and marketing operation’ in every component of the framework. The key for success depends on all stakeholders actively participae the activities. Four recommondations also present at the end of this disseartation. Prospects the development of smart tourism city in Macao can enhance both the quality of tourists’ experience and residents’ life as well as driven the long-term economic growth sustainably
Keywords: Smart Tourism City; Technology and tourism development; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Government Studies (MGS); University of Saint Joseph

THE THEOLOGY OF THE EUCHARIST IN THE WRITINGS OF POPE BENEDICT XVI AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE RELIGIOUS FORMATION OF ADOLESCENTS IN MACAO CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS - De Carvalho Ribeiro, Daniel Antonio (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This thesis aims to demonstrate how Pope Benedict XVI's Eucharistic theology can be used to fill the gap it identifies in the content within the Religious Education curriculum of Macao Catholic secondary schools and also extend support to the evangelization mission carried out in these schools. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the ideal religious formation of teachers and students in a Catholic school should be according to the teaching and discipline of the Catholic Church and how this is presently performed in three local Catholic secondary schools. This identifies a gap between theory and practice. The gap lies in the absence of formation in the sacramental and, therefore, Eucharistic teaching of the Church. The second part elaborates on the Catholic understanding of the human person and the basic needs for the development of adolescents. It does this to ensure that when the thesis proposes a solution to fill the gap in the curriculum, that solution is appropriate to the needs of the subjects of religious education, that is the adolescents in Macao Catholic secondary schools. In the third part, the Eucharistic theology of Pope Benedict XVI is explored, along with its relevance to the curriculum of the schools under investigation. It examines how it could enhance the experience of the educational mission of these schools and responds to the needs for adolescent development. Finally, suggestions are provided as how to incorporate the Eucharistic theme in the curriculum and create a Eucharistic education program for an enhanced evangelization outcome. This research has significant implications for all those who are involved in Catholic education, particularly in secondary schools
Keywords: Adolescents; Benedict; Catholic Education; Eucharist; Macao; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Religious Studies (D-RS); University of Saint Joseph

Perceptions of Sports Agents in a Small Territory: The Case of Macao - Deng, Hao You (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This study aims to investigate the difficulties and challenges faced by sports agents in the development of Macao, as well as the feasibility of the emergence of this industry in Macao. Since there is a lack of research on sports agents and related sectors in Macao, this study analyses the current environment of Macao's sports industry and tries to explore the development of sports tourism projects in Macao as an industrial upgrading and transformation and to promote the emergence of sports agents as a breakthrough, which will help Macao find a better way of development to become a world center of tourism and leisure, in the context of the diversification of the ""1+4"" industries. This study also aims to contribute to developing sports tourism in Macao. This study also provides modest suggestions for the professionalization of sports and the commercialization of the sports market in Macao, as well as for the future personal development of Macao's athletes and the sustainable development of the sports industry. This study adopts a qualitative research approach, starting with a basic introduction to sports agents, the origin and development of sports agents, and the definition of the concepts, and then further insights into the current development status, constraints, and future outlook of sports agents in Macao through industry experiences. The study sought out ten local sports industry practitioners in Macao for in-depth interviews. By analyzing and summarising the data, the study proposes meaningful recommendations for the sustainable development of the sports agent industry in Macao. Overall, the study found that the development of sports agents in Macao is still early. With the improvement of the talent admission system in Macao, society will pay more attention to the development of the sports industry, and the profession of sports agent will be nurtured in the context of a developed sports environment. However, the lack of professional athletes and large-scale sports events in Macao and the lack of innovative thinking of the General Sports Association in cultivating sports talents will limit the emergence of sports agents to a certain extent
Keywords: Macao; Sport Agent; Sport Industry; Talent Introduction; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Attitude of middle school students toward persons with mental illness in Macau - Fan, In Kuan (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph; 污名化; 現象學; 精神疾患; 青少年

SINGERS' ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES IN GUANGDONG PROVINCE: HOW TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN A STRONG ONLINE PRESENCE FOR EFFECTIVE MUSIC PROMOTION AND FAN ENGAGEMENT - Feng, Qiuyuan (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Previous research has explored the development of online music and singers in Guangdong Province; however, there is a gap in understanding how singers establish and maintain a strong online presence through effective online marketing strategies. To fill this gap, this study employs a mixed-methods approach to deeply investigate how Guangdong singers leverage digital platforms for effective music promotion and fan engagement. Online questionnaires were distributed via Xiaohongshu and WeChat, collecting 153 valid responses from fans, which were analyzed to understand interaction methods and their impact on singers. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three Guangdong singers and one music company employee, and the interview data were thoroughly analyzed.The findings indicate that Guangdong singers utilize specific social media platforms (such as TikTok) to create and share personalized content and establish direct interactions with fans. These strategies are crucial for successful music promotion and fan engagement. In the highly competitive online music market, adopting such targeted digital marketing strategies allows singers to significantly enhance their visibility and fan engagement. This approach not only holds significant importance for the personal development of singers in Guangdong but also has far-reaching implications for the prosperity of the music industry and the creative economy as a whole
Keywords: Guangdong singer; Internet influence; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; audience engagement; music promotion; online marketing; singer fans

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) PRACTICES IN THE MACAU SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES (SMES): A STUDY OF THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY - Fong Wai Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This research used a qualitative approach to explore the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices implemented by SME restaurants in Macau. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight (8) SME restaurant owners and managers to understand their ESG initiatives and their challenges. Key findings include: Environmental Initiatives: Many restaurants have adopted practices such as limiting plastic use, better food management, and organic waste recycling, often driven by government regulations rather than broader ESG considerations. Community Engagement and Social Responsibility: Social practices are less adopted, with some restaurants collaborating with charities, hiring individuals with disabilities, and donating food. However, most do not make monetary donations or engage in sponsorship activities due to financial concerns rather than a lack of consumer trust. Governance Initiatives: Restaurants have adopted electronic workflows, risk management practices, and stakeholder management approaches, including a flexible approach to employee management focused on operational efficiency rather than investor attraction. The findings indicate that for SME restaurants, the key drivers for ESG implementation are more focused on factors such as cost-savings and operational efficiency rather than broader considerations around investor interest or consumer trust. This study provides insights into how SME restaurants integrate ESG elements into their operations
Keywords: Environmental; Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs); Social; and Governance (ESG); Sustainable Practices; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Innovation Analysis and Research on the Mode of KOL Live Commerce - Fong, Hou Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
With the rapid development of digital media, internet celebrity live streaming has become a key factor in influencing the consumer decision-making of adolescents, presenting unique regional characteristics in different socio-cultural and economic contexts. This study investigates the differences in consumption habits among adolescents in Macau and Mainland China and their impact on the innovation and reform of the commercial model of internet celebrity live streaming. The methodology employs a questionnaire survey and data analysis to systematically compare the consumption behavior of adolescents in Macao and mainland China, collecting live streaming consumption habits of adolescents in both regions. Statistical methods are used to compare and analyze the consumption patterns within the regions. The analysis indicates that influencers, as internet celebrities with a large number of fans on social media, have a significant impact on adolescents' consumption decisions through their recommendations and evaluations. Firstly, the convenience and diversity of e-commerce platforms provide adolescents with a wealth of consumption choices, such as characteristics and usage effects of products. Secondly, the recommendations and evaluations of influencers have become an important reference for adolescents' consumption. Results show that adolescents in Macau tend to seek entertainment and interaction in their consumption of internet celebrity live streaming, whereas those in Mainland China place greater emphasis on the practicality of the live streaming content and the cost-effectiveness of the products. Moreover, the study reveals the roles of socio-cultural and economic levels in the differences in consumption between the two regions. Based on these insights, it is recommended that live streaming platforms should advance the innovation and reform of their business models to cater to different market characteristics—such as optimizing content recommendation algorithms, enhancing interactive elements, and improving the integration of e-commerce features, thereby promoting business sustainability and economic benefits
Keywords: Adolescent Consumption Habits; Internet Celebrity; Live Streaming; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Career trajectory and cross-system mobility: Career planning of doctoral students in Macao - Ge, Yun (Higher Education Quarterly, 2024)
This study investigates career trajectory and work locations of doctoral students trained in Macao and analyses how their career paths are shaped by perceived macro-level factors. Respondents from four applied disciplinary areas were selected for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Research results show that doctoral students who graduated from Macao higher education institutions enjoy good career prospects in Mainland China. Their competitiveness in the research-related job market benefits from having a multi-level support system and a training mode that promotes government–university–industry collaboration. Policies and demand from industrial sectors are involved in students' learning experience through channels such as financial support, project collaboration and networks. Doctoral students in Macao are strategic planners and actors in leveraging their human capital. As Macao becomes an emerging destination for cultivating high-level research labour, findings from this study capture a model of human capital formation in China's cross-system context.
_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/hequ.12474
Keywords: career trajectory; cross-system mobility; doctoral education; employability; human capital formation

FINANCIAL VALUATION OF WALT DISNEY - Guo, Ying (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Disney is a leading global cross-media entertainment giant. With its diversified business model, Disney has achieved significant success in film production, television programs, theme park and resort operations, product sales, and media networks. Disney not only has strong capabilities in content creation but also excels in distribution channels and platform construction. By continuously expanding its direct streaming services to consumers, such as Disney+, Disney is adapting to the changes in the digital age and further consolidating its leadership position in the global entertainment market. Nevertheless, Disney still faces many challenges, including rising copyright costs, threats from emerging competitors, the impact of global political and economic uncertainty, and addressing the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, an analysis of Disney's financial position considering these internal and external factors will help assess the company's intrinsic value and its future position. Based on the above background, this thesis aims to provide in-depth insights into the current financial situation and future development prospects of Disney Company through detailed financial analysis
Keywords: Disney 2; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; financial valuation 1; pandemic 3

SenSwave: DRAW YOUR MUSIC BY EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC, IMAGES, AND EMOTIONS - He, Minghao (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
According to research, it is found that images, music, and emotions are closely related, and integrating visual and tactile elements into the music creation process, combined with auditory experience, can enhance emotional expression and understandability. The results highlight the potential of tangible interfaces in autonomous music creation and promoting emotional well-being. This work aims to explore the intersection of music creation, emotional expression, and technological innovation by creating a unique tangible interface for music. It does this by combining the challenges presented by the complexity of modern music production, the emotional issues faced by today's youth, and bringing a new way of expression to the phonograph technology. It hopes to draw inspiration from the historical significance of the phonograph through visual expression, user experience, and algorithmic music generation technology, and seek to provide a new way of music creation for young people who are creative and curious but not musicians, and provide a new way to express emotions. All things considered, the project demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of combining historical inspiration with modern technology to create innovative solutions for music technology. Furthermore, it is focusing on enhancing the interface design even more and carrying out longitudinal research to assess the long-term effects on emotional expressiveness and user experience. It is also being explored as an artistic installation, hoping to bring more changes and presentation methods and provide users with a more comprehensive and immersive music creation and emotional expression experience
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Interaction design; Interdisciplinary; Music generation; Tangible interface; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); University of Saint Joseph; Well-being Emotional expression

EXPLORING MUSLIM STUDENTS LIVED EXPERIENCES IN MACAU: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH - Ho, Kit Ieng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Muslim community is one of the minority groups in Macau SAR China. Muslims are an interesting group in terms of research because of its diversity in respect to language, nationality, social status, and education level. Groups of people migrate for various reasons such as religion, politics, economy, and education. Individuals experience the age in between nineteen and twenty-four, which fall in the category of youth. Studies of Muslim youths have gained more attention in scholarship, statistical data, and research. The study seeks to understand Muslim students’ life and the needs of this minority group and explores how Muslim students perceive Islam and their own ability to cope with school related cultural pressures through qualitative, phenomenological approach, and focuses on exploring the common experiences of Muslim students in this city. This study used a conceptual framework based on critical race theory (CRT). We use in-depth interviews of five Muslim youth, ages between 19 and 24, to investigate their school life experiences and Islamic practices. We also administered questionnaires and field note to understand their social mobility, social capital and to gain a deeper understanding of their daily lives. A thematic analysis of the interview data produced the following themes: 1) Social mobility; 2) Social capital Relationship with friends; 3) Discrimination and micro-aggressions; and 4) Religion Identity. The study found that the Muslim status of the participants did not have a significant impact on their school experience, as they were able to find accommodation in their practice of religion and school life. However, the multiple identities of the participants as Macau citizens and their ethnic backgrounds did affect their social capital and sense of belonging. The study also examined the experiences of the participants within Macau society, including social factors such as racism. The results indicated that language and ethnicity were factors that hindered their integration into the community. In addition to the original themes, the analysis of the participants' stories in this research revealed two counter-narratives that challenge prevailing narratives. These counter-narratives include the deconstruction of oppressed Muslim women's narratives and the influence of local mainstream religious schooling on Muslim students' religious loyalty. These alternative narratives provide new insights into the lives of Muslim youths and challenge conventional stories. The findings of this study have important implications for educators, academics, and members of both Muslim and non-Muslim communities. By allowing youth to establish broader connections with society and increasing their motivation to participate in and contribute to the community, this study highlights the need for inclusive educational environments that support the diverse identities of students. Furthermore, the study provides young Muslims with a voice in society, empowering them to challenge dominant narratives and promote counter narratives that reflect their experiences and perspectives to meet critical race theory ethos of ongoing active struggle
Keywords: Critical Race Theory; Muslim youth; School experience; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Integrating digital technologies during the COVID-19 kindergarten suspension period in Hong Kong. - Hu, X.; Yelland, N.; Leung, W. M. V.; Liang, Y.; Sun, C. R.; Graham, C. R. (Digital Technologies and Early Childhood in China: Policy and Practice, 2024)

THE LIFE DILEMMA AND ADJUSTMENT OF PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER IN MACAO =: 澳門自閉症類群障礙幼童的家長生活困境與調適 - Ieong, I. Teng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 困境; 特殊教育; 自閉症兒童家長; 調適

AI in Counselling: Perceptions on Human vs AI Generated Chat Counselling - Ieong, Ka U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The rapid development of counselling began after World War II. Meanwhile, texting services became available in the 1980s. Texting has been widely applied in both health area and mental health areas. A chatbot is a specific type of artificial intelligence (AI) that can have conversations with humans through texting. The combination of counselling and texting is known as chat counselling. The effectiveness of chatbots in alleviating psychological symptoms was supported by scientific research. Nonetheless, people hold different perceptions towards chatbots. Some common factors in counselling, including empathy and warmth, were also important in evaluating AI chatbots. Other important factors included acceptability, satisfaction and trust. The current study is the first to use AI as a counsellor. This study investigates people’s perceptions of human and AI counsellors (ChatGPT) and whether people can differentiate between human and AI. Participants needed to rate the counsellors in three scenarios: the original scenario taken from a training book, the human counsellor scenario generated from a text conversation with a human counsellor and the AI counsellor scenario produced by texting with ChatGPT, which acts as the counsellor. Prompts used to generate conversation with ChatGPT are included. The dialogues were parts of the conversations containing similar client responses and were presented using the WhatsApp interface. Questionnaires were delivered both online and in paper form. Results demonstrated that people’s ratings of human counsellors and AI counsellors did not differ in perceived empathy, acceptability, and satisfaction. While the warmth and trustworthiness of AI counsellors were perceived to be higher than those of human counsellors. On the other hand, people were unable to differentiate between human and AI counsellors in uncertain conditions. Younger people and the general population are more accurate in identifying between humans and AI, while people above 40 and psychologists or counsellors are less capable of doing so. The current study supports the potential of utilising ChatGPT in counselling. Having people experience and evaluate real chat counselling with human and AI counsellors can potentially eliminate some limitations of the current studies. Future studies can investigate how prior knowledge contributes to AI detection and examine AI counsellors' efficiency in longitudinal studies
Keywords: AI (Artificial Intelligence); Chat counselling; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph; human perceptions

EXPLORE THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: THE MODERATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR AND GAMING SECTOR IN MACAU - Iu, Pek Wa (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The current study examined responses from 342 full-time and part-time employees in Macau’s gaming and public sector. The intention was to examine the relationship and explore the effect of organizational culture (innovative, supportive, and bureaucratic) and organizational leadership (transformational and transactional) on employee work engagement (cognitive, emotional, and physical) with the moderating role of organizational commitment (affective and continuance). The objectives of this study are mainly: 1) to explore the relationship between organizational culture and leadership with employee engagement respectively; 2) to further investigate employee engagement and the difference between the gaming sector and the public sector, and 3) to explore the moderating role of organizational commitment between the organizational culture and leadership to employee engagement respectively. Understanding the relationship between these essential elements is crucial for the individual and organization which ultimately leads to a sustainable and utmost performance for the benefit of Macau's constant economic development. While regression analysis represented transformational leadership as the powerful predictor of the three facets of work engagement to employees in both sectors. Though there was no relationship between the variables and the moderators, there was a positive interaction between transformational leadership, affective commitment (TFL x AC), and emotional and physical work engagement of the employees from the gaming sector, there was a positive interaction between innovative culture, affective commitment (IC x AC) and cognitive work engagement and a negative interaction between transactional leadership, continuance commitment (TL x CC) and emotional work engagement in the public sector subgroup. Results were interpreted concerning the organizations, leaders, and employees in both sectors in Macau, followed by a discussion on the implications of enhancing work engagement
Keywords: Macau; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); University of Saint Joseph; gaming sector; organizational commitment; organizational culture; organizational leadership; public sector; work engagement

Financial valuation of coca-cola company (NYSE: KO) - Jiang, Ye (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; financial statement; intrinsic value; valuation models

澳門小學教師對融合教育態度之研究 =: A Study on Macao Primary School Teachers ’Attitudes towards Inclusive Education - Kwok, Siu Kam (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 小學教師; 澳門; 融合教育

Aspects that constitute citizens’ trust in e-government - A review and framework development - Lai, Chimeng; Marques, Alexandre Joao Lobo (Multidisciplinary Reviews, 2024)
The extent of citizens' trust in government determines the success or failure of e-government initiatives. Nevertheless, the idiosyncrasies of the concept and the broad spectrum of its approach still present relevant challenges. This work presents a systematic literature review on e-government trust while elaborating and summarizing a conceptual analysis of trust, introducing evaluation methods for government trust, and compiling relevant research on e-government trust and intentional behavior. A total of 26 key factors that constitute trust have been identified and classified into six categories: Government trust, Trust in Internet and technology (TiIT), Trust in e-government (TiEG), Personal Beliefs, Trustworthiness, and Trust of intermediary (ToI). The value added of this work consists of developing a conceptual framework of TiEG to provide a significant reference for future in-depth studies and research on e-government trust.
Keywords: Systematic Literature Review (SLR); framework; trust; trust in e-government

小學資源教師教學成效及影響因素之研究 =: A STUDY ON THE TEACHING EFFECTS AND INFLUENCING FACTORS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL RESOURCE TEACHERS - Lam, Iok Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Inclusive Education; Resource Teachers; Teaching Effects; Teaching and Learning Situation; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education(MED); University of Saint Joseph

Adapting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT-2) to the Acceptance of Public Policies - Lampo, Alessandro; Diakite, Ansoumane Douty; Ip, Emil Chi Hang (PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AGBRP, 2024)
The understanding of how people accept and embrace new policies is vital in today's world. This paper introduces an original way of looking at this by adapting the widely recognized Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT-2). The goal is to provide a foundational model for assessing policy acceptance. More specifically, we adapted the UTAUT-2 framework to study how Macau residents perceive the "Northbound Travel for Macau Vehicles" policy, which allows cars with Macau registration plates to enter China. Using structural equation modeling software (SmartPLS), we analyze data collected from 136 respondents who experienced the policy.Our findings reveal that Performance Expectancy (PE) and Habit (HB) significantly influence individuals' intention to take advantage of the policy. In other words, people are more likely to embrace policies they perceive as beneficial and that align with their existing habits. Effort Expectancy (EE) and Facilitating Conditions (FC) do not significantly impact acceptance, perhaps as a result of participants' familiarity with the policy and their resource availability. Surprisingly, while not directly tied to usage, Social Influence (SI) shows a high mean value, suggesting its potential role in policy acceptance when influential individuals adopt the policy. This pioneering research contributes to the field by bridging the gap between technology acceptance models and policy studies. Most importantly, it validates the use of the UTAUT-2 as a technology framework that is adapted for assessing policy acceptance.

The Moderating Effect of Food Neophilia on Consumers’ Intention to Use Insects as Food - Lampo, Alessandro; Sun, Hou Tong (PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AGBRP, 2024)
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.

澳門教師自我效能感、集體效能感與融合教育態度之相關研究 =: A STUDY ON THE CORRELATION BETWEEN TEACHERS’ SELF-EFFICACY, COLLECTIVE EFFICACY AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN MACAO - Lei, Man Teng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 教師自我效能感; 教師集體效能感; 融合教育態度

Impact of Education on Green Fintech Adoption in a Smart City: Evidence from the Newly Developed Sub-city Center of Beijing. - Lei, Weng Chi; An, Boyang (PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AGBRP, 2024)
Integrating financial technologies with green initiatives is critical to the sustainable development agenda. This is particularly true for newly developed smart cities like Tongzhou, the sub-city center of Beijing. To assess the adoption of green fintech in Tongzhou, this paper extends the EnergyAugmented Technology Acceptance Model (EA-TAM) to incorporate two green factors – environmental awareness and green knowledge. This paper applies structural equation modeling techniques to analyze data from 403 respondents who live, work, or study in Tongzhou and finds allhypothesized constructs significant. Since green knowledge is significant to the adoption of green fintech, this paper further divides the sample into a high-education group (162 respondents with university-or-above degrees) and a low-education group (251 respondents with post-secondary-orlower degrees) to evaluate the impact of education. All the hypothesized factors are significant to the high-education group,but environmental awareness and perceived usefulness are insignificant to the low- education group. Hence, the results provide evidence that people in the newly developed smart city adopt green fintech due to their environmental sensitivity. The adoption of green fintech is more environmentally sensitive for people with high education levels.

Impacts of Central Bank Digital Currency on Regional Economic Integration: Evidence from the Greater Bay Area of China - Lei, Weng Chi; Wang, Xinru (The Chinese Economy, 2024)
An increasing number of countries have launched their central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in recent years, but the economic impacts of CBDC adoption are underexplored. To empirically assess how CBDC adoption influences regional economic integration, this paper investigates the Greater Bay Area, where China carried out one of its first digital renminbi pilot programs. The Greater Bay Area provides a good example because the growing acceptance of digital renminbi in the area can potentially mitigate transaction costs and risks due to the exchange rate volatility of the Chinese renminbi, Hong Kong dollar, and Macao pataca. CBDC adoption can lead to greater real and financial integrations by facilitating cross-border trade in goods and services. This paper evaluates deviations from uncovered interest rate parity, purchasing power parity, and real interest rate parity across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao based on monthly interest rate and price data from January 2016 to December 2022. The time series have mean values near zero, which validate the parity conditions and indicate high degrees of financial, real, and economic integrations. The Markov regime-switching regression model identifies three regimes: (1) pre-Covid, (2) post-Covid, and (3) post-CBDC. The Covid-19 outbreak brought lower integration and stability, but the launch of the CBDC restored some of the pre-Covid integration and stability. Regimes 1 and 2 are persistent, and transitions from Regime 3 back to Regime 1 are probable. Hence, this study finds evidence that CBDC adoption improves regional economic integration in the short and long run.
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/10971475.2024.2333124
Keywords: Central bank digital currency; Greater Bay Area; digital renminbi; economic integration; financial integration

「融合教育下澳門小學普通班教師班級經營面對的困難及可行策略之研究」 =: "A Study on the Difficulties Faced by Macau Primary School General Education Classroom Teachers in Class Management and Possible Strategies" - LEI, WENG KIT (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Class Management; Inclusive Education; Macau Primary Schools; Qualitative Research; Teacher Attitudes; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 教師態度; 澳門小學; 班級經營; 融合教育; 質性研究

Variational Approaches and Mathematical Models for Food Waste Management - Leong, Mei Kei (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The global food industry generates substantial waste, posing significant environmental, economic, and social challenges. This dissertation explores circular business strategies for food waste management, aiming to develop an efficient model that integrates circular economy principles and innovative technologies. Key research questions include: What are current food waste management practices? How can circular economy principles reduce food waste effectively? What role can technology play in improving these systems? The study also examines barriers to implementation and identifies gaps in existing literature. The methodology involves a comprehensive literature review, case studies, and the development of a detailed mathematical model. The literature review covers circular economy concepts, current food waste treatment technologies, machine learning and Al applications in waste management. Case studies from various countries provide insights into regulatory frameworks and innovative solutions. Central to this research is the mathematical modelling of food waste management systems. The model employs Hamiltonian and/or Lagrangian formulations to optimise waste transportation and processing. This approach allows for the simulation of various scenarios, helping to identify the most efficient pathways for food waste reduction and resource recovery. The model also incorporates phase transitions better to understand the dynamics of waste generation and treatment processes. Phase transitions mark changes on tendencies and in this case they help us to evaluate the viability of the construction of a fast track for the transportation of food waste in any city. Results indicate that adopting circular economy principles in food waste management is feasible and beneficial. Effective strategies include bioplastics, insectutilisation, and machine learning models for waste prediction and management. The developed mathematical model suggests efficient waste transportation through a coupled network approach, ensuring rapid and effective waste evacuation. The research highlights the importance of technological integration and cross-sector collaboration for sustainable food waste management. It also stresses the need for robust regulatory frameworks and consumer education to drive behavioural changes and support circular practices
Keywords: Circular Economy; Consumer behaviour; Environmental; Food Waste Management; Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence; Quantum Mechanics; Social and Governance (ESG) principles; Sustainable Business Strategies; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); Transportation Mathematical Modeling; University of Saint Joseph

A Mixed-methods Study on Teachers' Perceptions of the Use of Drama-in-education In Secondary English Classrooms in Macau - Leong, Si Kei (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Drama-in-Education (DiE) has been recognised as a valuable teaching pedagogy in the western world for decades, and yet it has not been fully or systematically adopted in the secondary English classes in Asian contexts, including Macau, despite the numerous reported advantages for English language teaching (ELT) in the past studies. This study explores Macau’s secondary school English teachers’ perceptions of utilising DiE in their classes. A mixed-methods research (MMR) approach was adopted in this study, consisting of three phases. First, pre-survey interviews were conducted to understand the potential major concerns about the choices of teaching approaches and the application of DiE of Macau’s secondary school English teachers. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey targeting local secondary school English teachers was administered, the results of which were cross-examined by, and integrated with, the results of two post-survey group interviews. While the results affirm the local secondary school English teachers’ positive view on DiE as an ELT pedagogy and identify their perceived advantages of DiE, the study indicates the over-determination of multi-faceted challenges to its implementation in Macau’s secondary education context. The study identifies and recommends necessary substantial changes to further the application of DiE in Macau’s secondary education milieu
Keywords: Drama; Drama-in-Education (DiE); English language teaching (ELT); English teachers; Macau; Secondary schools; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Education (D-SE); University of Saint Joseph

An Investigation In The Theory And Boundaries Of The Firm And Their Possible Application To Public Institutions - Leong, Victor (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Industrial organization, theory of the firm and boundaries of the firm are well established fields of study involved in the size, structure and scope of a corporate entity (i.e. firm) to the market. However, a key characteristic of corporate entities is that economic concerns (costs and profit) is the overriding or dominant factor. This paper attempts to apply the above mentioned concepts to organizations such as public institutions where economic concerns are secondary considerations, to seek a more objective analysis on what the structure and scope of such organizations should be
Keywords: Hamiltonian Formulation; Theory of the Firm; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Government Studies (MGS); University of Saint Joseph

A CONTEMPORARY VENUE FOR TRADITIONAL CANTONESE OPERA IN MACAO - Li, Zebin (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Cantonese opera has a long and profound history and has evolved over 700 years, making it unique and distinctive. In a diversified media and entertainment, Cantonese opera culture in Macao, like many other aspects of traditional Chinese cultures, is facing a general decline. Specific challenges include loss of audience, the decline and disintegration of professional groups, and reduced scope of the active repertoire. How can a new venue for traditional Cantonese opera promote a positive response to the contemporary challenges that threaten its cultural vitality? How can a new design approach respond to local issues and contemporary architectural production? Can programmatic diversification of a performance venue (cultural exchange, art display, education) be a useful strategy? This thesis consists of five parts. Part 1 of this thesis outlines the background of research, describes the purpose and significance of the research, and deal with issues of research method. Part 2 considers the artistic characteristics of Cantonese opera, including the spatial characteristics of traditional Cantonese opera theatres, the characteristics of Cantonese opera costumes, and the changing characteristics forms of performance. Part 3 is focused on the uses of parametric models in architectural design. Part 4 offers three case studies of opera houses in China, the Guangzhou Opera House, the Harbin Grand Theatre, and the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong. Part 5, the core of this thesis, proposes a design of a new performance venue for Cantonese Opera House in Macao. Overall, this thesis offers an account of main considerations in the transformation process from traditional Cantonese opera venues to modern Cantonese opera houses and situates these considerations in the context of contemporary discussions of parametric architecture
Keywords: Architectural Parametric; Cultural Characteristics of Cantonese Opera; Design of Cantonese Opera House in Macao; Modern Opera House Design; Theses and Dissertations Master of Architecture (MARCH); University of Saint Joseph

ANALYSIS AND MODEL PROPOSITION OF USER WILLINGNESS TO ADOPT MOBILE BANKING FINANCE+ SCENARIO SERVICES UNDER THE BACKGROUND OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION - Lin, Jingying (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In the wave of digital transformation, Chinese banks have taken digital and scenario-based finance as primary strategic goals. The goal is to revolutionize the mobile banking experience and encourage frequent use of mobile banking services. However, assessing customer satisfaction with the various financial and contextual services mobile banking provides is crucial. The main objective of this study is to propose a model based on users' perception of financial usage in mobile banking scenarios and how the development of mobile banking finance and scenarios affects users' choice motivations. The study examined the interview records of 12 mobile banking users through qualitative in-depth interviews and utilized Nvivo qualitative analysis software to analyze the interview content. Through repeated thinking, sorting, and differentiating the data, nine core coding categories were formed. The coding was further refined and deepened to include Financial professionalism, Security, Marketing Stimulation, Innovative Products, Use Experience, Strong Relationship, Trust, Perceived usefulness, and Willingness to use. Based on these categories, a theoretical model of user willingness in the financial scenario of mobile banking has been proposed by referring to the optimized TAM model. The results may provide support to the banking industry in Macau in understanding customers' needs and fostering the positive development of mobile finance and the scene field in Macau
Keywords: Banking in Macau; Finance+ scenarios; Grounded Theory; TAM model; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; Willingness to use

Transitional Spaces of a Community Center in Macau - Lin, Yanzi (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In a fast-paced and densely populated city, community activity centers can provide a social place for residents. This thesis is a study of this promise of social life for a new urban development in Macau. Community centers play an important role in promoting community cohesion and resident participation. Yet, public space for Macau residents is increasingly unable to meet growing and diversified needs. In what ways can the development of activity centers improve the quality of life of residents? Can transitional spaces between different functional areas in community centers play a more effective role in promoting social interaction within the community? The principal tasks of this thesis are as follows: (1) an in-depth examination of the impact of shared transitional spaces on the overall design of community activity centers, (2) a discussion of transitional spaces in community centers in terms of the functional efficiency of these centers and the interactive experience of users, and (3) articulation of principles and recommendations for the design of transitional spaces in community centers. Overall, this thesis argues that, by designing efficient and user-friendly shared transitional spaces, architects can better serve the community and its users, and foster a closer connection between architecture, people, and communities
Keywords: Community Centers; Social Interaction; Social Space; Theses and Dissertations Master of Architecture (MARCH); Transitional Spaces; University of Saint Joseph

小學聽覺障礙學生的融合教育現狀： 以澳門C學校為例 =: CURRENT STATUS OF INTEGRATED EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: TAKE MACAU SCHOOL C AS AN EXAMPLE - LIO, I TENG (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 支援服務; 澳門; 聽障學生; 融合教育

ASSESSING ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE (ACEs) IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENT: TRANSLATION AND ADAPTATION OF ITEM-CA FOR CHINESE POPULATION IN MACAO - Lo, Antonio Man Ho (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are common in life trajectories, and continued exposure to childhood adversities has long-term consequences that can lead to lifelong physical, mental, and emotional deficiencies. This study aims to address the research gap in the ACEs context in Macao by enhancing our understanding of the cultural sensitivity, applicability, and acceptability associated with assessing ACEs among Chinese childhood and adolescents in Macao. The study utilized the Chinese version of The International Trauma Exposure Measure – Children and Adolescents (ITEM-CA) to facilitate the exploration of cultural adaptation needs related to ACEs measurement tools in Macao. Employing a qualitative methodology with an explanatory and descriptive design, the study collected opinions and suggestions through an online questionnaire from professionals working with children aged 7-17 years old, as well as parents or caregivers of children within the same age group. Several key findings emerged from the study. Firstly, it underscored the adequacy and pertinence of the Chinese ITEM-CA in covering the topics of traumatic events and deeming it more suitable for children aged 12 or above. Secondly, it emphasized the importance of maintaining anonymity and the involvement of dedicated and trained personnel throughout the ACEs assessment process. Lastly, it highlighted the need to increase public awareness regarding traumatic events and ACEs in Macao society. These findings have significant implications for researchers studying the prevalence of ACEs in Macao and for policymakers in Macao implementing ACEs surveillance. Additionally, there is a recommendation for organization, especially schools, to respond to ACEs using trauma-informed approaches, supporting the well-being of children, fostering resilience, and minimizing the risk of re-traumatization
Keywords: ACEs; Adolescent; Adverse Childhood Experiences; Chinese; ITEM-CA; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

EXPLORING COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN PROMOTING EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND COLLABORATION IN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS: A CASE STUDY - Loi, Man Hong (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This study presents a case study that explores teachers’ perspectives on the role of cooperative learning as a pedagogical approach in promoting equity, inclusion, and collaboration within inclusive classrooms. Additionally, it identifies both the perceived benefits and challenges associated with its application. The researcher sought data from primary school teachers in one inclusive school in Macau and employed in-depth semi-structured interviews. Twelve participants were involved in this qualitative study. The findings underscore the significant impact of cooperative learning in creating inclusive, engaging, and equitable educational environments, particularly for students with special educational needs. Overall, the participants viewed cooperative learning as a valuable pedagogical approach that fosters equity, interaction, student engagement, and collaboration in inclusive classroom settings. While cooperative learning presents several benefits in promoting an inclusive and equitable learning environment, the findings also reveal unique challenges that require careful management and adaptation by teachers. Some of these challenges include certain students dominating group work, difficulties in integrating students with different disabilities, and time management issues for effective cooperative learning implementation. Overall, the case study contributes valuable insights into to the complex dynamics of cooperative learning in mixed ability classes
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; cooperative learning; inclusion; inclusive education; inclusive practice

THE IMPORTANCE OF VISUAL ELEMENTS IN BRAND COMMUNICATION IN MACAU CASE STUDY: DESIGN OF CULTURAL AND CREATIVE PRODUCTS - Long, On Nei (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The research highlights the significance of souvenirs in contributing to the preservation of cultural heritage and communicating cultural messages to tourists. However, a need for more study exists on the visual elements and brand communication employed in designing cultural and creative products that represent local culture. This research aims to investigate the cultural and creative products industry's status and identify the essential visual elements for designing Macau's cultural and creative products. The study also seeks to understand the visual elements and communication strategies that significantly influence product design and brand communication while capturing the image and style of Macau. The research collected 265 valid questionnaires from online participants and interviewed four designers from small local artist brands. The analysis revealed that local consumers prefer products from small local artist brands, but there needs to be a higher brand awareness. Respondents suggested that utilising social media platforms would effectively increase brand awareness and engage with consumers. Furthermore, it was found that Macau's cultural and creative products can integrate various local elements and design styles to represent its unique style. These visual elements are deemed adequate for cultural and creative product design. This research contributes to the creative and tourism industries by providing designers and scholars with insights and references to better comprehend visual and brand communication for local small artist brands
Keywords: Brand Communication; Cultural and Creative Products; Images of Macau; Souvenirs; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

粵繡工藝及修復研究: 以私人收藏的一組四件樣品為例 = THE CRAFT AND CONSERVATION OF CANTONESE EMBROIDERY: A CASE STUDY OF A SERIES OF FOUR SAMPLES FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION - Lou, Fong I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Bainiaochaofeng; Cantonese embroidery; Cantonese embroidery in Macau; Embroidery’s preservation; Guangzhou embroidery; Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph; 刺繡修復; 廣繡; 澳門粵繡; 百鳥朝鳳; 粵繡

Resale value of used electric vehicles-based on consumer perception in Zhuhai area - Lu, Yueying (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
China leads in global automobile production and sales, but fuel vehicle usage causes energy crisis and pollution. Electric vehicles, as energy-saving and environmentally friendly transportation, can alleviate urban ecological pressure and reduce dependence on non-renewable energy. Development of electric vehicles is thus prioritized. However, the current electric vehicle market is immature and faces slow growth due to various constraints. Despite state policies, market performance lags, and consumer acceptance is low, leading to a mismatch between praise and sales. Therefore, exploring factors influencing consumer demand and purchase intention for electric vehicles is crucial. This paper focuses on consumer perceived value to study factors affecting second-hand electric vehicle resale value, offering practical relevance and value. Consumer behavior theory suggests that consumers' purchase decisions hinge on their perception of a product. Consumer perception involves a subjective, overall evaluation of a product or service based on usage purposes and needs, and an analysis of relevant information from various channels. For used electric vehicles, perception includes understanding of appearance, function, cost, and performance.This study aims to analyze factors affecting the resale value of used EVs and explore consumers' perception of this value. Guided by consumer perception, the study conducted a literature review-based comprehensive analysis and qualitative exploration of used EV resale value. The findings reveal that price, battery performance, endurance, environmental protection, and safety significantly impact the resale value of used EVs. Finally, combined with the research conclusions of this paper, management suggestions are put forward, and countermeasures are summarized from the two levels of government and second-hand electric vehicle marketing enterprises
Keywords: Resale value of used electric vehicles; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; Zhuhai area; consumer perception

DEVISING THE IMPACT OF THE FEMALE PERSPECTIVE IN THE GAME DESIGN - Luo, Min (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Within the realm of video games, female characters often become ensnared in stereotypes, thus becoming objects of the male gaze. Moreover, the neglect of female characters' subjectivity in game design reflects a failure to acknowledge their agency. Additionally, the female perspective is frequently disregarded in game design. These issues have had adverse effects, leading to designs that are less hospitable to women, perpetuating misogyny, sexual harassment, and discrimination in online gaming, and further marginalizing women within the gaming industry. Integrating feminist principles into video game design has the potential to dismantle the cultural center of inequality within gaming culture and foster a more diverse and inclusive video game world, brimming with possibilities. This research investigates such phenomena through a blend of questionnaires and online interviews. Following data refinement and summarization, it explores the potential fusion of feminism and game design. While findings from these studies aid in establishing a framework for this synthesis, feminist game research presents complexity. The study offers pertinent references aimed at advancing the field
Keywords: Female Characters; Feminism; Game Design; Stereotypes; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); University of Saint Joseph; Video Games; Women

A Financial Valuation of Hewlett-Packard Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) - Ma, Heng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
As one of the world's leading technology companies, HP occupies an essential position in the printer and personal system markets. In order to analyze HP's current market value and predict its future financial performance, this thesis values HP by applying three models: EDCF, DEP, and APV. Based on the financial statement from 2019 to 2023, this thesis conducts a common size analysis of the financial data to facilitate the comparison between various indicators. HP's asset structure and profitability are analyzed and the company's beta is also tested. To analyze HP's position and environment in the technology industry, Dell Inc. will be analyzed as its main competitor. At the same time, the intrinsic value of HP is estimated based on the financial statements for the next ten years which is predicted. The valuation results are compared with HP's stock price at the end of 2023 to determine whether HP's stock price is overvalued or undervalued. In order to improve the accuracy of the valuation, sensitivity analysis is also used to evaluate the impact of variables such as internal factors and external market factors on the company's value. Studies have shown that HP's intrinsic value is greatly affected by the market risk premium. This thesis also uses SWOT and PESTEL to analyze the company's strengths, weaknesses and operating environment which will help to identify the company's competitiveness. It also helps to identify HP's potential opportunities and risks in technological innovation and market expansion. The impact of the macro-economy on HP's development is also analyzed. The results of this thesis provide a reference for investors and management, which helps to understand the market positioning and future development potential of HP and other technology companies. The limitations of the study are the subjectivity of data forecasts and the uncertainty of the market environment
Keywords: Case Study; Customer Satisfaction; Fitness Club; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

THE MARKET AS SOCIAL LANDSCAPE IN MACAU - Ma, Jianjun (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Markets in Macau are not merely places for commercial retail, they are also social spaces. As a centre of communal life, markets are of great significance to the lives of Macau residents. However, with the rise of supermarkets and online shopping, the role of traditional markets has been reduced. At the same time, the messy and unkempt nature of traditional markets has become a negative factor of their social viability. The result has been a downward spiral of poor operation, decline in rental yield and loss of customers. Can the markets be revitalized for Macau residents? Can the social attributes of markets be reactivated? How can the experience of markets be re-imagined for different user groups? The present thesis is organized into 5 parts. The first part deals with the background of research. It also describes the purpose and significance of the research and discusses research methodology. The second part details market pressures in Macau, including insufficient land and space resources, poor sanitary environment, and tourism promotion needs. The third part examines the idea of “walkable cities” in terms of four concerns—usefulness, safety, comfort, and spatial interest—and in terms of specific case studies. The fourth part concerns a design project for a market at ZONE A in Macau. The thesis details the needs of a market in this zone and considers them in the light of the idea of walkable cities. Overall, this thesis attempts to contribute to public discussion of the future of markets in Macau in terms of service, socialisation and promotion
Keywords: Markets in Macau; Social Spaces; Theses and Dissertations Master of Architecture (MARCH); University of Saint Joseph; Walkable Cities

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF MACAO ‘s PANDEMIC MANAGEMENT DURING THE COVID-19 - Ng Pui Weng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The aim of this study is to analyze the crisis management of Macao SAR and the extent to which the community were engaged in the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control. There are some issues found that when the pandemic breaks out and after outbreaks, such as poor information communication, low efficiency of prevention and control work, unsatisfactory compliance of the public, lack of pandemic prevention materials which affect the government's control of the pandemic in the past study. In Macao SAR, densely residential areas and dense population are the main considerations for pandemic prevention and control. Communities, as the main first line of defense for pandemic prevention and control, are also the bridge for communication between the government and the residents. The community have the advantages of timely and accurate information collection and accurate implementation of prevention and control measures. In this study found that the involvement of the Macao community may not be the key to the success of epidemic prevention in Macao. Community participation also faces many challenges, such as uneven distribution of facilities and services, lack of medical expertise of community workers, shortage of manpower and other shortcomings of community participation. It is possible that the Macao community is not playing a key role in the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control. Given this scenario, the government needs to give full play to social forces and the role of the community in pandemic prevention and control. Currently, there are few studies on community involvement in COVID-19 prevention and control. Through COVID-19, this study puts forward some ideas that the government needs to pay attention to community development and improve citizens' community awareness to promote the Macao community. Improving the Macao community is conducive to Macao in the future crisis and community cooperation
Keywords: Digital Finance; Digital Financial Infrastructure; Greater Bay Area; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Community Development (MCD); University of Saint Joseph

The Conditions of Achieving Interactive Mindfulness Through Virtual Reality Single User: A Case Study Experience in Macao - Ng, Ka Man; Caires, Carlos (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Virtual reality (VR), a computer-generated 3D environment, allows one to navigate and possibly interact, resulting in real-time simulation of one or more of the user’s five senses (M. Gutierrez et al., 2008; Vince, 2004). Despite its history through past decades, this technology has quickly developed recently. Virtual tours and spaces have been widely used in the education, arts, and rehabilitation industries. According to research, it has significant effects on mindfulness (improving mood), cognitive development (better learning ability), and embodiment (relieving pain and medical conditions). This thesis aims to identify the conditions for Macao's single-user experience to achieve mindfulness in virtual reality through immersion and interactivity. With their various definitions, this research uses the two spectrums on the levels of immersion and interactivity, conducts four experiment settings with Macao residents, and collects qualitative questionnaires and quantitative survey data. The four settings differ as they tackle different aspects: spiritual memory, historical memory, aesthetic appreciation, and meditation through concept. The analysed results were then evaluated to seek better conditions for the local community to achieve mindfulness by immersing themselves in virtual reality
Keywords: Single user experience; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Global Studies (D-GLS); University of Saint Joseph; immersion; interactivity; mindfulness; virtual reality; well-being

澳門小學普通班教師實施融合教育的教學困擾與因應策略之研究 =: A STUDY ON TEACHING DIFFICULTIES AND RESPONSE STRATEGIES OF TEACHERS IMPLEMENTING INTEGRATED EDUCATION IN ORDINARY CLASSES OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN MACAO - Ng, Wa Seng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 因應策略; 小學普通班教師; 教學策略; 澳門

GOVERNMENT PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGIES IN MACAU: A STUDY ABOUT THE TOURISM PROMOTION - Nip, Si Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
I have met many friendly and patient professors and classmates during my two years of university. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for the support and encouragement when I encountered difficulties, also professors detailed sharing and explanations in my learning and growing. Taking classes with my job at the same time is a very challenging task, especially in the thesis writing stage, it is difficult to manage the time allocation as well as concentration on thesis writing, and I even had the thoughts of giving up for a few times, but I am very thankful to my supervisor for his continuous support and encouragement during the thesis writing period, and for his attentive guidance whenever I have confusion during the time, he has provided me with a lot of practical and valuable advice, which inspired me a lot. In addition, I would like to thank those who helped me to complete the questionnaire survey. Without their help, I believe it would have been difficult for me to collect enough questionnaires. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the two interviewees who agreed to be interviewed, as it is a difficult task to conduct interviews as a student in Macau. I would like to thank both for their support of the academic research, and the experience that they shared with us is very important to this study. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family, friends, and colleagues for always providing me with positive support, listening to my concerns, and helping me to overcome difficulties one after another. Once again, I would like to thank all those people who have helped me to complete my thesis
Keywords: Government public relations; Public relation in Macau; Public relation strategies; Public relations; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

NEUROCINEMATIC: WALTER MURCH’S VIDEO EDITING PROCESS AND FILM SOUND DESIGN CASE STUDY - Nyögéri, José (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This dissertation examines the enduring influence of Walter Murch's seminal editing principles and techniques on contemporary film editors, highlighting how his ideas continue to shape the craft even among those who may not be directly aware of his work. Central to this study is an exploration of Murch's ""Rule of Six,"" which prioritizes emotion, story, rhythm, eye-trace, two-dimensional plane of the screen, and three-dimensional space of action in editing decisions. Additionally, the research delves into Murch's concepts of rhythm and pacing, as well as his emphasis on preserving the emotional impact of a scene. Through a series of in-depth interviews with working editors, this dissertation investigates the extent to which Murch's theoretical framework is manifested in modern editing practices. The study seeks to identify how contemporary editors incorporate these principles into their workflows, consciously or subconsciously, and how these techniques contribute to the narrative and emotional effectiveness of their films. By analyzing the practical decision-making processes of today's editors, this research aims to uncover the degree to which Murch's legacy endures in the film industry. The findings underscore the significant, yet often implicit, role that Murch's editing philosophy plays in shaping the aesthetic and emotional resonance of contemporary cinema. This dissertation thus provides a comprehensive understanding of the lasting impact of Walter Murch's contributions to the art and science of film editing
Keywords: Neurocinematic; Sound Design; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; Video Editing; Walter Murch

IMPLEMENTATION OF SDG 1 IN CAPE VERDE: AN ANALYSIS OF POLICIES AND ACTORS - Pasquinha, Patrick Delgado (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In the 21st century, poverty still remains a serious issue for the world, halting development and growth of nations. SDG 1 refers to the first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) established by United nations. It has as goal to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”. Cape Verde as an UN member also adopted it and aligned national policies to achieve it. This thesis aimed to analyze the different policies adopted by the government of Cape Verde to implement SDG 1. Moreover, this dissertation will also point out the different actors behind the implementation of SGD 1 in Cabo Verde (both national and international actors), as well as find out their role in alleviating poverty in Cabo Verde, in other words, how they contribute to poverty alleviation in Cabo Verde. Based on a qualitative methodology, using document analysis as method to collect the data and further using thematic analysis to analyze, code and categorize the collected data, the study was able to answer the two research questions: Research question 1: What are the different policies adopted by the government of Cape Verde to implement SDG 1. Research question 2: Who and what are the roles of the actors involved in the implementation of SDG 1 in Cape Verde? The findings of the study revealed that: As to research question 1, the study found out that the government of Cape Verde has adopted several policies geared towards poverty reduction. Such policies included social protection policies, investment in infrastructure policies, investment in education policies, investment in health policies, investment in rural development policies, economic diversification policies, gender equality and women empowerment policies, job creation policies and climate change adaptation policies. As for research question 2, the study 4 revealed there are two main Actors are responsible for the implementation of SDG 1, government institutions and National and International Partners. On one hand, the government of Cape Verde is focused on creating and adopting polices that target the poor, as result this make sure that they can lift from poverty or at least avoid they sinking into deeper poverty. On the other hand, the partners (here known as Actors) helping on the implementation of SDG 1 in Cape Verde work as a backup for the government, helping it on other issues related to SDG 1 implementation such as knowledge and capital provision and so on. The Cape Verde government is dedicated to reducing poverty, focusing on the unemployment and migration phenomenon. These factors contribute to poverty and exacerbate it. Despite these challenges, the overall outlook on poverty reduction in Cape Verde is optimistic, indicating a significant commitment to address the root causes of poverty
Keywords: Actors; Cape Verde; Multidimensional poverty; Poverty reduction policies; SDG 1 implementation; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Government Studies (MGS); University of Saint Joseph

COGNITIVE PROCESSES IN ENGLISH SOURCE-BASED WRITING OF MACAO ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) UNIVERSITY STUDENTS - Peralta, Rachel Luna (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Source-based summary writing is an important aspect of academic writing at the undergraduate level; it includes summarizing and paraphrasing when producing texts in essay, report, or thesis formats. For university students whose second language or foreign language is English, source-based writing can be a challenging task as it involves and requires complex cognitive processes as well as reading-and-writing demands. Organized into three phases, this mixed method, small-scale exploratory feasibility case study investigated: (i) challenges and difficulties in online and offline English source-based summary writing of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university students in Macao, identifying the cognitive and writing processes they experienced in a timed reading-writing task; and (ii) how to design and conduct interventions that could be used to diagnose, assess, and address essay challenges in source-based summary essay writing in everyday classroom sessions. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a summary online writing essay using Inputlog, a keystroke logging software, and retrospective think-aloud protocol in Phase One, a source-based summary essay writing task in a quasi-experiment in Phase Two, and a survey questionnaire and error analysis of pre-test and post-test essays of the control and experimental groups in Phase Three. The processes of reading and writing in English were found to be challenging and complex for EFL university students to perform in a limited time. As an initial exploratory feasibility, efficacy trial, deliberately small scale to address issues of risk, this study found that the diagnostic assessment tools and interventions had the potential to improve the summary writing processes and proficiency of EFL students, focusing on their cognitive writing skills in everyday class sessions. The thesis recommends scaling up the research in future studies, in terms of sampling and the duration of interventions designed to improve source-based summary essay writing and the cognitive writing processes that are part of this
Keywords: EFL university students; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Education (D-SE); University of Saint Joseph; cognitive processes; source-based writing

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS IN TELEVISION JOURNALISM “TDM (TELEDIFUSÃO DE MACAU, S.A) AND TVS (TELEVISÃO SANTOMENSE)” NEWSCAST CASE STUDIES - Pinho, Silvino Vaz Sacramento (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This study delves into the television news practices of TDM (Teledifusão de Macau, S.A.) and TVS (Televisão Santomense) over the past five years (2018-2023), using a systematic approach, this research begins with an introduction outlining the broadcasters' contexts and influences. A content analysis of a representative sample of news programs from both channels forms the core of the study. To gain deeper insights, the research employs a mixed methodological approach. Qualitative data is gathered through interviews with the chief journalist of TVS and 150 residents from Água Grande and Cauê Districts (Angolares ). Additionally, a quantitative analysis is conducted through an online survey targeting the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries in Macao, garnering 150 responses. The findings highlight the need for improvements to increase viewership. While both broadcasters cover similar news topics (politics, economics, social issues), their presentation styles differ. TDM and TVS adopt a formal and structured approach, but their visual storytelling techniques reflect cultural and regional preferences. The study then interprets the results, examining historical context, cultural influences, and audience preferences to understand the divergent approaches to television journalism. This comprehensive analysis provides valuable insights to enhance news viewership and offers a deeper understanding of the factors shaping television journalism in these two distinct contexts
Keywords: Macao; Media; Sao Tome and Principe; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; newscasts; television journalism

Modelos de Incorporação do Desenvolvimento Sustentável nos Acordos de Comércio - Rafael, Ângelo Patrício; Wei, Dan (Uma viagem Jurídica Entre o Rio das Pérolas e a Pérola do Índico: Publicação Comemorativa dos 25 Anos da Cooperação entre a Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (FDUEM) e a Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Macau (FDUM), 2024)

EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WRITTEN COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE (CQ): A CASE STUDY OF EFL LEARNERS IN MACAO - Sin, Man Teng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Although Macau students received years of English lectures as compulsory, the outcome could be more favorable when applied to English written performance. In that written communication requires the individual to consider audience perception of the message, a challenge for ESL writers, this study explores whether different forms of feedback can enhance one’s cultural intelligence.The current study looked into the effect of incorporating peer involvement and instructor feedback in written communication, gaining insight into cultural nuances. In order to attain the objective, data were gathered through the utilization of an action research methodology employing a mixed-method design. Grade twelve local students attended a six-week six-week intervention consisting of two cycles. The focus of the intervention nurtured essay writing; the topics of which were inspired by popular musical lyrics, and involved a drafting process that incorporated feedback both from peer editing and the instructor.. The data collected throughout the study involved analysis of written samples (scores of draft and final version) using a paired samples t-test. In addition, students completed a pre-test and post-test survey of the cultural intelligence instrument (CQ), which measured their performance across four domains. There were statistically significant differences between cognitive CQ and motivational CQ between the scores attained before and directly after the intervention.. This study's findings suggest that the written communication of ESL students may be enhanced by adjusting . These findings enriched our understanding of how peer editing and teacher feedback with songs affected the outcomes of second language learners
Keywords: Music; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; cultural intelligence; foreign language anxiety; writing competence

EXPLORING MACAU SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING, PROFESSIONAL SKILLS, AND CHALLENGES TO INCLUSIVE EDUCATION OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES/SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS - Sin, Sam I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Quality inclusive education creates educational opportunities for all students to achieve enhanced educational outcomes, and the quality of inclusive teaching depends on teachers’ knowledge, skills, resources and school support. However, not all schools are implementing inclusive education well enough to cater to the learning needs of students with special educational needs. This phenomenological case study explored the perspectives and experiences of five teachers in one inclusive secondary school in Macau. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of the in-depth semi- structured interview data revealed four themes: varied conceptualisations of inclusive education, professional training in inclusive practice, professional knowledge and practice experiences, and challenges to implementing inclusive education. Generally, while the teachers demonstrated awareness and some understanding of inclusive education, they also expressed the need for more knowledge and skills to implement inclusive education effectively in their schools. Additionally, they referred to time pressure, workload and insufficient professional development as impeding their personal processes of evolving inclusive teaching in their school. Recommendations were made considering Booth and Ainscow's (2002) Index of Inclusion to enable effective development and practice of inclusive education in the Macau secondary school and extend this to other schools
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; students with special education needs; teachers' professional skills; teachers' understanding

EXPLORING THE IMPACTS ON MENTAL WELL-BEING OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNDER COVID-19 PANDEMIC. A QUALITATIVE STUDY - Sit Chin Pok (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a public health emergency happening worldwide. It brought tremendous impacts to the global economy and people’s mental health (Jiaqi Xiong et al., 2020). Many people suffered physically and psychologically with the sudden arrival of COVID-19. Among the different age groups, studies identified that undergraduate students as a vulnerable group with a higher risk of mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety (Silva et al., 2022; King et al., 2022; Mansor & Ahmad, 2022). This qualitative study collected data from six focus group interviews with undergraduate students studying in Macao. Thematic analysis was used to understand the COVID-19 impact on students' mental well-being and coping strategies, as well as to explore the protective and risk factors that contribute to students’ mental well-being in the local context of Macao. Results showed four themes with 15 contributory sub-themes: COVID-19’s impact on students’ mental well-being, key impacting sources, coping strategies, and risk and protective factors. This study provides a picture of the mental health condition of undergraduate students during the zero-COVID period in Macao and raises an urgent call for extra attention to university students’ mental health during crises, showing the social and mental needs of undergraduates. This research also uniquely contributes insight into how the dysfunctionality of families could be a significant risk factor for students’ mental health during the crisis, which is rarely found in other COVID-19 studies. This research suggests a promotion of future programs or workshops that would strengthen and benefits students’ relationship with their family. Future research could explore the family function in Macao and its relationship with students’ mental well-being
Keywords: Mental Well-being; Qualitative; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); Undergraduate Student; University of Saint Joseph

ACQUISITION OF HIGHER-ORDER THINKING SKILLS IN SECONDARY EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY IN A MACAU SECONDARY ESL CONTEXT - Siu, Ka U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This study examined the acquisition of higher-order thinking skills in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom at a secondary school in Macau. It included an investigation of the way teaching might affect the development of higher-order thinking skills and language proficiency. This study also included an examination of the degree to which existing societal practices or values might have influenced the acquisition of higher-order thinking skills. Research instruments such as a questionnaire, a twelve-week experiment, pre-and post-tests and interview sessions were used for the data collection. The findings suggested that after twelve weeks the experimental groups developed higher synthetical and evaluative skills than the control groups which instead demonstrated better language skills. The results also identified incongruences between the curriculum and the expectations of the parents and employers
Keywords: ESL Learning; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Education (D-SE); University of Saint Joseph; critical thinking; higher-order thinking skills

SOCIAL MEDIA AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVE OF RELIGION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EVERY NATION IN THE PHILIPPINES AND MACAU - Tabilas, Analeah Marie R. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This research analyzed and compared the Instagram content of Victory Philippines and Every Nation Manila to evaluate its impact on the faith perception of university students associated with these churches. In this digital age, institutions have embraced the shift towards online interactions, including adapting religious practices such as worship services to online platforms. Religious organizations are navigating the dynamics between online and offline communication methods as they adapt to engaging with their audience through social media channels. While previous research has delved into online religious content and virtual church services, no prior studies have specifically compared the social media communication strategies of Every Nation churches in Manila, Philippines, and Macau. The research employed a mixed-method approach, compromising interviews, focus groups, and quantitative content analysis. As per the interviews, these took place with four pastors and four media content creators within the Metro Manila region of Every Nation Philippines, commonly recognized as Victory Philippines, and one pastor and one content creator of Every Nation Macau. These interviews helped gather insights into their thought processes and analyze their social media strategies and plans. Three distinct focus group discussions were carried out, involving 15 undergraduate students from Manila and Macau affiliated with Victory Philippines and Every Nation Macau. The participants were equally divided into three groups. These students also actively engage with the Victory Philippines and Every Nation Macau Instagram posts. These focus group discussions were employed to analyze patterns to understand their thought processes. Furthermore, a quantitative content analysis was carried out on Victory Philippines and Every Nation’s Instagram account as part of the study. Despite the active engagement on social media platforms by Victory Philippines and Every Nation Macau, both organizations maintained a strong offline church community. Interviews conducted indicated that the online activities of these churches significantly influenced the faith of students, while their spiritual growth was further supported by an inclusive offline community. This approach exemplified a multi-generational ethos, fostering collaboration between younger and older members towards the shared objective of evangelism. This research validates the Figuring and Disfiguring theoretical framework of Taylor (2007, apud Åhman and Thorén, 2021). The results of the empirical data may provide strong practical guidance to churches of any size as they build and develop their online presence while strengthening their offline presence
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

FLIIP: AN INTERACTIVE MULTIFUNCTIONAL TABLE DESIGN FOR PRESCHOOLERS - Tang, Qinghua (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
With the rapid development of China's social economy, attention to children's education is also increasing. Among them, the preschool stage, the starting point of children's education, is the primary stage of children's cognitive, emotional, social, and motor skills development. At this critical time, providing children with an age-appropriate educational environment can significantly affect their personal growth, intellectual development, and emotional cultivation. Therefore, a multifunctional table that can meet the learning needs of preschool children and promote early cognitive development is essential. This work takes preschool children as the user object of our study to deeply explore the needs and obstacles of the target users. It summarizes the requirements and principles of children's furniture design based on children's physiological and psychological characteristics. A design scheme of an intelligent multifunctional preschool children's table is proposed based on ergonomics and digital technology. The objective through this work, is to create a preschool children's table that not only meets the learning needs of preschool children but also promote fun and can encourage the development of children's early cognitive ability
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); University of Saint Joseph; children's furniture; interactive; multifunctional; preschool children; preschool children's table

PERCEPTIONS OF, AND ATTITUDES TO CATHOLIC SCHOOLS’ IDENTITY AND ETHOS IN MACAO: TOWARDS A COMMON FRAMEWORK OF CATHOLIC SCHOOLS’ IDENTITY - The Reh, Lawrence (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The thesis identifies concerns preserving, maintaining, and developing the Catholic identity of Catholic schools in Macao, the largest providers of schooling whilst being a minority religion, and with its teachers, parents, and students coming from Catholic and non-Catholic backgrounds, cultures, and values. To understand the present situation of Catholic identity in Macao’s Catholic schools, manifesting itself in part through the Catholic ethos of schools, and to identify key features, mission, vision, values, and areas for the development of Catholic identity, together with its presence and practices, this thesis reports a study of the perceptions of, and attitudes to, Catholic identity held by three key stakeholder parties in a carefully chosen representative selection of Catholic schools: teachers, parents, and students. The thesis reports their views on what the Catholic schools are currently doing in the areas of Catholic identity, and what they consider that they should be doing in these areas. The areas of focus draw on scholarship and teachings on Catholic identity, with particular emphasis placed on documents on Catholic identity and ethos from the Vatican, Archbishop Miller, and Monsignor Stock. A large-scale empirical survey here found that there was considerable support for Catholic schools in Macao, their identity, ethos, and values from the three parties. Two emergent patterns of findings are reported concerning the steps that Catholic schools were taking to promote their identity: (a) what Catholic schools should be doing concerning Catholic identity received consistently higher scores than what they were currently doing; and (b) consistently higher support for Catholic identity came from the teachers, slightly less so from the parents, and slightly less than that from the students. The study conducted a follow-up, small-scale study to investigate why these might be the case, and it suggested that the combination of Catholic values and Chinese cultural features might explain the findings on Catholic identity in the schools. The study identifies areas for possible development of, and improvements to, the identity of Catholic schools, that take account of the local cultural contexts and the teachings of the Catholic church on identity, and how these might be addressed in practice
Keywords: Catholic Schools' Ethos; Catholic Schools' Identidy; Catholic schools; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Education (D-SE); University of Saint Joseph

Teaching Portuguese and Patuá Languages at the University of Saint Joseph and its contribution to the Portuguese and Patuá languages in Macau - U, Elvino Agostinho (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This study analyses how to contribute to the Portuguese cultural language in Macau. Macau has a long Portuguese governing history, which has lasted for around 450 years and formed the Portuguese cultural heritage. One of the elements is Portuguese and Patuá languages, the languages the Macau residents used to speak. Since the Portuguese and Patuá cultural heritage influence happened, the Macau government has tried to preserve the Portuguese cultural language as much as possible. In Macau, the University of Saint Joseph is a part of the Portuguese and Patuá language contribution in conducting Portuguese programmes for students. This study aims to find out how to effectively promote the Portuguese and Patuá cultural language via the Macau education system and how to benefit the development of the Portuguese cultural language in Macau. To find out the efficient way of the Portuguese and Patuá cultural language contribution at the University of Saint Joseph, we applied snowball analysis to find the key interviewees to conduct face-to-face semi-structured interviews with six interviewees. The results show that the Portuguese and Patuá cultural languages are vital to the Macau education system, especially for students learning Portuguese. For students, learning Portuguese should be compulsory in Macau
Keywords: Audio-lingual method; Patuá drama; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; cultural difference; cultural identity; learning Portuguese; reading-lingual method; translation theory

TURNOVER INTENTIONS IN MACAO: THE ROLE OF PERCEIVED SUPPORTS AND JOB ALTERNATIVE PERCEPTIONS - U, Lai Heng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The aim of the current study was to explore the relationship between perceived organisational support and co-worker support, with turnover intentions, and the role of perceived job alternatives. Turnover intentions have been a global issue for employers. In this study, we would like to investigate whether the previous global findings could also be applied in Macao. Although some similar researches were conducted in Macau, it’s not exactly the same as ours. We would like to further focus on the front-line and non-frontline group. A quantitative methodology was applied using a cross-sectional design through an online questionnaire disseminated via social media and completed by 339 full-time workers in Macao. We found that only perceived organisational support, not co-worker support, showed a negative relationship on turnover intentions. the effect seems weak for the general sample but stronger for non-frontline workers. Concerning the moderating effect of perceived job alternatives, the analysis confirmed a significant interaction to predict turnover intentions. We discussed that employees may feel trapped in their current positions due to limited job prospects elsewhere. However, employees who perceive high levels of organisational support are more likely to remain loyal and engaged even when external alternatives are scarce. Practical implications include that it might be beneficial for both employees and organisations if organisations in Macao could develop effective human resources policies and retention strategies to enhance employee retention and mitigate the negative consequences of turnover. In this study, we confirmed a negative relationship between POS and turnover intentions, but still, the effect seems weak. The effect of POS on turnover intentions seems much stronger for non-frontline employees. We confirmed co-worker support had a negative correlation with turnover intentions, which was not enough to predict turnover simply based on co-worker support. Moreover, Perceived job alternatives are confirmed to have significant interaction with POS but non-significant interaction with co-worker support on turnover intentions
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); University of Saint Joseph; co-worker support; perceived job alternatives; perceived organisational support; turnover intentions

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT FULFILLMENT, WORK ENGAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR, AND ABUSIVE SUPERVISION OF EMPLOYEES IN MACAU SIX GAMING AND INTEGRATED RESORTS - U, Weng Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In Macau, gaming is a pillar industry. The job performance of the employees is a determining factor for gaming and integrated resorts’ ability to improve their competitiveness in an evolving environment. Therefore, organizational behavior is an important topic for gaming and integrated resorts. In view of social exchange theory, this study takes the employees of the six gaming and integrated resorts in Macau as sampling. The study would be overviewing how psychological contract fulfillment affects their organizational citizenship behavior in the organization, and relationship between work engagement and their abusive supervision in the six gaming and integrated resorts employees in the Macau gaming and related industry. This study takes psychological contract fulfillment as the independent variable, organizational citizenship behavior as the dependent variable, work engagement as the mediating variable, abusive supervision as the moderating variable. Data was collected through random online questionnaire research method and 257 valid questionnaires were obtained. SPSS statistical software applied for reliability and validity analysis, Pearson correlation and regression analysis. The conclusions are listed in following: (1) Psychological contract fulfillment has a partial positive impact on organizational citizenship behavior ; (2) Psychological contract fulfillment has a partial positive impact on work engagement; (3) Work engagement has a positive impact on organizational citizenship behavior; (4) Work engagement has a positive mediating effect between psychological contract fulfillment and organizational citizenship behavior; (5) Abusive supervision has no moderating effect between psychological contract fulfillment and work engagement; (6) Abusive supervision has no moderating effect between work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior
Keywords: Abusive Supervision; Organizational Citizenship Behavior; Psychological Contract Fulfillment; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); University of Saint Joseph; Work Engagement

THE ANALYSIS OF MACAO TRADITIONAL PUBLICATION INDUSTRY BETWEEN 2000 TO 2023: TRANSFORMATION BEFORE AND AFTER PANDEMIC AND SUGGESTED STRATEGY - Ung, Cheng Nam (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In this dissertation, the Macau traditional printing industry between 2000 and 2023 is studied. This period is critical for the publication industry due to several key events that have transformed the landscapes of both local and global publishing. These events include the rise of the internet, electronic devices, and the Chinese economy, the establishment of the Macao ISBN Agency, the emergence of online digital platforms, and the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This dissertation will mainly focus on written Chinese publications and consider publications in other languages as references. Governmental official data, academic literature, questionnaires, interviews, and participant observation analysis will be used as the major approaches when collecting data and analyzing the Macao publication industry. Several development and transformation strategies will be suggested. In the future, the Macau publishing industry will need to make significant adjustments to stay competitive in the market. It will need to incorporate current technologies, such as electronic platforms and Print-on-demand (POD), into the publication process. Books will exist in electronic and physical formats at different stages. Vanity in publications will also be another new trend in the future. The role of the publisher has evolved in the modern publishing industry. Participants in publishing industry will need to acquire new skill sets to adapt to the industrial transformation. Allocating resources to structural training courses will help develop talent in the publication industry during the transition. We hope to provide insights into solutions for the transformation of the publishing industry in Macao
Keywords: Linguistic industry; Print on Demand; Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph; digital publication; publication; vanity publication

BLOCKCHAIN AND INTERNET OF THINGS BASED COMPUTERISED MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR ENHANCED MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS - Vodenicarski, Dalibor (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This doctoral research delves into the transformative potential of Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) within business management, specifically in the development and implementation of a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS). It suggests that merging these advanced technologies could revolutionise maintenance management and overall system performance. The study assesses the impact on fundamental business processes within the IoT paradigm, highlighting the role of the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain network in ensuring data integrity and enhancing transparency. The integration of Blockchain protocol with IoT offers efficient data transactions, thereby improving business data management and decision-making. The research further validates the robustness of Fabric release V2.4 for CMMS development. The study concludes by emphasising the need for additional research to understand long-term implications and challenges in different business environments
Keywords: Blockchain; Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS); Hyperledger Fabric; Internet of Things (IoT); Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Information System (D-IS); University of Saint Joseph

The Valuation of Nvidia Corporation (NYSE: NVDA.) - Wang, Hai (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This dissertation provides an in-depth valuation assessment on NVIDIA Corporation which is a leading technology company known for its GPUs, study its financial results, strategic initiatives by SWOT Analysis, and access its market positioning in semiconductor industry by using PESTEL Analysis and Poter’s Five Forces Analysis. In order to ascertain the intrinsic value and assess the future prospects of NVIDIA, the study then utilizes several financial models, Enterprise Discounted Cash Flow (EDCF), Adjusted Present Value (APV) and Discounted Economic Profit (DEP). The study presents NVIDIA is potentially overvalued
Keywords: Adjusted Present Value (APV); Discounted Economic Profit (DEP); Enterprise Discounted Cash Flow (EDCF); NVIDIA; SWOT Analysis; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A STUDY OF PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION OF THE NEW GENERATION of Macao - Wang, JiaBao (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The increasing contribution of Generation Z (Gen Z) to Macao’s economy may be the driving force behind the recent changes in Macao’s consumption patterns. This dissertation analyzes how consumption patterns of Macao’s Gen Z differ from other generations. To investigate the types of goods and services consumed, the shopping modes, and the factors that influence the consumption decisions of different generations of Macao, this study conducts a survey to collect primary quantitative data from 296 Macao residents. This study found that the most Macao residents consumed 21%-60% of their income, showing a balance between consumption and saving. They spent most on food and non-alcoholic beverages, healthcare, and education. In terms of receiving information about new products, many Macao consumers learned from family and friends and social media, such as the Red Book and TikTok. Electronic payments have become increasingly popular, such as the local payment system, MPay. The t tests for statistically significant differences show that Gen Z was more likely to make online purchases when buying beauty products and electronic devices than other generations. Compared to other generations, Gen Z was more concerned with the level of fun of the brand, impacts on the environment, society, and local community of the product, personal preference and research, and the recommendations of online reviewers, influencers, and salesperson. Based on the findings of this study, businesses can develop up-to-date marketing strategies to introduce their products to different generations in Macao
Keywords: Consumption pattern; Generation Z; Macao; Millennial; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

The international law against tax avoidance: “status quo” and perspectives for development of the regime - Wong, Chang Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This dissertation examines the critical need to continuously update the international tax law against tax avoidance: “status quo” and perspectives for development of the current regime. Employing a doctrinal methodological approach, the research first seeks to uncover the most common forms of international tax avoidance through an extensive literature review. This crucial step provides invaluable insights into the diverse strategies and mechanisms utilized by individuals and businesses to circumvent taxation on a global scale. The dissertation then proceeds to examine how current international tax law addresses the identified forms of tax avoidance. This implies a multi-faceted analysis, including an identification of the relevant international norms and treaties, and an exploration of the main sources of international tax law and their practical application. Recognizing the dynamic nature of the global tax landscape, the dissertation also provides perspectives for the future development of international tax law to better address the challenge of tax avoidance. By thoroughly examining the strengths and limitations of the current international tax law regime, the dissertation offers recommendations for potential improvements to the application of international tax avoidance conventions. The findings of this comprehensive study contribute to the broader understanding of international tax avoidance and its regulation within the framework of international law. The research questions and objectives serve as a guiding framework, enabling a thorough analysis that can inform practitioners, and scholars engaged in the ongoing discourse surrounding global taxation and its implications for economic fairness and transparency
Keywords: Global taxation; International norms and treaties for tax; International tax avoidance; International tax law against tax avoidance; Limitation and development of current international tax law regime; Status quo; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Lusophone and International Public Law(MLIPL); University of Saint Joseph

Study of the Cross-Border Family Mediation Mechanisms and Practices in the Greater Bay Area (China, Hong Kong SAR, and Macau SAR”) - Wong, Hang Si (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The dissertation is about the study on the usage of mediation as the dispute mechanism on the cross-border family dispute issue in the Guangdong -Hong Kong- Macau Greater Bay Area through a comparative law aspects. Under the background of the Country’s Policy in integrating the citizens of the two SARs into China. The citizens of different provinces in PRC and the two SARs have frequent contact such as in business, in personal affairs and so on, the more the contact the more the possibility disputes will arise. With three different jurisdictions and the backlogs from the Courts, to find out the possibility of using another dispute resolution is essential. The study found out the perspectives of the disputed / litigated parties, courts and legal practitioners in usage of mediation, the nature of mediation in use in GBA and the strengths and limitations on the usage of mediation. This research used a mixed methods including doctrinal legal research, comparative legal research method and empirical legal research method. It result from the finding that though there is no specialized legislation in usage of mediation in Macau SAR, there is practice in usage of family mediation. Besides that the judicial mediation in PRC is not the mediation we defined in the literature review, thus it is the conciliation. Whether the recent development in Hong Kong SAR on the procedures M-FDR and M-CDR are in conflict with the facilitative mediation which has all along been practiced in Hong Kong SAR. In conclusion, the perspectives in usage of mediation in PRC and Hong Kong SAR are higher than Macau SAR and the nature of mediation in usage are different in the three jurisdictions. Lastly, in the dissertation provided some reflections on the development of family mediation mechanism in Macau SAR and how to merge the different natures of mediation in GBA
Keywords: ADR; Alternative Dispute Resolution; GBA; Greater Bay Area; Mediation; Mediation Mechanism; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Lusophone and International Public Law(MLIPL); University of Saint Joseph

INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON WORK ENGAGEMENT: A MEDIATING ROLE OF JOB SATISFACTION IN MACAU SIX GAMING CONCESSIONAIRES - Wong, Ka Son (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The Macau six gaming concessionaires are encouraged to diversify their business activities beyond the gaming sector to promote a more balanced economy in Macau. It is worth noting that a substantial portion of the workforce within these organizations is employed in non-gaming sectors. Unlike previous studies that primarily concentrated on the gaming sector, this study aims to assess the extent of work engagement among all employees, encompassing both gaming and non-gaming employees, within the six gaming concessionaires of Macau. It also aims to explore the correlation between organizational culture and work engagement, as well as the mediating role of job satisfaction in this relationship. The survey design utilized convenience and referral sampling methods to select the sample. A quantitative approach was employed, and data was collected through an online self-response questionnaire with a total of 396 participants. The study findings reveal a positive correlation among all variables, with a particularly strong relationship observed between supportive organizational culture and various aspects of work engagement. Notably, the mediating variable of job satisfaction, specifically the nature of work, had a more significant impact than the direct effect of organizational culture on emotional and physical work engagement. These findings suggest that organizations should prioritize the development of a supportive organizational culture to enhance work engagement. Furthermore, it is crucial to provide employees with motivating and meaningful work that gives them a sense of accomplishment upon completion. Future studies could explore the relationship between organizational culture and work engagement by examining two distinct employee groups, such as local employees and expatriates
Keywords: Job Satisfaction; Macau Gaming Concessionaires; Nature of Work; Organizational Culture; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); University of Saint Joseph; Work Engagement

初任教師在融合教育中教學困擾及因應策略: 以澳門某三所私立學校的初任教師為例 = TEACHING CHALLENGES OF NOVICE TEACHERS AND COPING STRATEGIES IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: A STUDY OF NOVICE TEACHERS IN THREE PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN MACAO - Wong, Man U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 初任教師; 因應策略; 教學困擾; 融合教育

THE VALUATION OF WALMART INC - Wong, Nga Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
A world-class retailer, Walmart Inc. (WMT) operates in multiple formats, including physical and online stores. Walmart began operations in 1962 and currently owns 10,616 merchandise units around the world. Most of Walmart's revenue comes from the United States segment, 17% from the Walmart International segment, and 14% from the Sam's Club segment. Walmart offers many products, such as groceries, consumables, general merchandise, and health products. With its marketing strategy of low-cost products, Walmart has successfully navigated through economic prosperity and recessions in different periods. However, there is still intense competition in the retail industry, so we will analyze the company's internal factors across the economic climate and external factors and see how the company positioned itself to adapt to the trends in the industry to achieve the current intrinsic value. Three valuation models have been completed to determine Walmart’s intrinsic value. We will then compare that figure with WMT's stock price at the end of fiscal year 2022, which will benefit investors by providing valuable reference information
Keywords: Master of Business Administration; THE VALUATION OF WALMART INC; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; VALUATION; Walmart

澳門教師的情緒智力、幸福感與教學效能之相關研究 =: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF MACAU TEACHERS’ EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, SENSE OF WELL-BEING AND TEACHER SELF-EFFICACY - Wong, Pou I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 幸褔感; 情緒智力; 教學效能

兩晉之際中原統治集團和江南豪族合作之探討 =: A Discussion on the Cooperation Between The Ruling Group in Middle China and the Jiangnan Indigenous Families Between Western and Eastern Jin Dynasties - Wong, Seong I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph; 僑姓士族; 合作; 晉室; 江南豪族

The Study of Social Support and Stress Among Gambling Industry Workers in Macau - Wong, Sut Ieng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This research explores the dynamics of stress and social support among professionals in Macao's gambling industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic impact of the pandemic, coupled with the border restrictions, has severely affected Macao's gaming industry, leading to a 70% decrease in gaming revenue and a significant increase in unemployment rates among residents. As a result, many employees have faced downsizing or unpaid leave, posing significant challenges to their daily lives and raising concerns about mental health within the community. To gain a deeper understanding of these changes and the experiences of residents, this research utilized phenomenology as the methodology, employing qualitative interviews. During the recruitment of interviewees, three scales (PSS, MSPSS, and DASS21) were used as screening tools to assess the mental status of participants, allowing for the identification of various combinations of mental states. Through in-depth interviews, significant findings emerged. It was observed that interventions aimed at enhancing social support had a remarkable impact on reducing daily life stress among the interviewees. This included interventions focused on marital relationships, digital communication support, and positive personal beliefs with encouragement. In conclusion, by recognizing and proactively responding to these insights, the industry can create an ecosystem where professionals not only achieve professional excellence but also maintain robust mental and emotional well-being. Future studies should focus on developing holistic support systems within the gaming industry
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph

Comparative study of the implementation of the National Security Law in the SARs: A Case study of Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR - Wu, Ka Seng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The aim of this study is comparing the jurisdiction of the National Security Law in Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR, also reviewing the practical implementation of the law in the two SARs, analyzing the Chinese government's participation in the governance of national security in two SARs, and exploring the future sustainability of National Security Law in two SARs
Keywords: Hong Kong; Macao; National Security; National Security Law; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Lusophone and International Public Law(MLIPL); University of Saint Joseph

A Study of Tesla's Marketing Strategy in the Chinese Market - Xian Wenhao (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This study assesses Tesla's marketing strategies and their effectiveness in the Chinese market. Given Tesla's leading position in the global electric vehicle sector and the importance of the Chinese market, this study aims to analyze in-depth how Tesla has succeeded in China with its unique marketing tactics, and to suggest improvements to enhance its competitiveness. By utilizing analytical tools such as PEST, Porter's Five Forces Model, SWOT, and STP, this study comprehensively evaluates Tesla's marketing environment and thoroughly analyzes its marketing mix of products, prices, channels, promotions, etc., combined with consumer feedback and market research data. The study reveals that the key factors for Tesla's success include innovative design, unique branding, effective marketing strategies and digital marketing applications. Nevertheless, Tesla still needs to face the challenges of localization, pricing strategy, channel adjustment and promotion innovation. In order to maintain its leading position, Tesla should continue to innovate, strengthen its localization strategy, improve service quality, and adapt to policy changes. The optimization suggestions proposed in this study will help Tesla overcome challenges and achieve sustained growth, and they will also provide valuable references for other new energy vehicle companies
Keywords: China; Marketing evaluation; Marketing strategy; Tesla; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

The Role of the Country-of-Origin Effect in Driving Chinese EV Adoption: The Case of Portugal - Xian, Sitong; Lampo, Alessandro (PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AGBRP, 2024)
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

FLOWING PATH: SPORTS CENTER AS SOCIAL CONNECTOR - Xin, Ziyan (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In the age of the information society, the prominence of internet communication and social media has meant that the role of face-to-face encounters in public life has been diminished. This trend has been exacerbated by public health concerns in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. The social role of architecture and its contribution to the sustainability of interpersonal relationships has become a significant issue for architects. As a place to accommodate sporting activities and social space in the community, sports centers play an important role in promoting social cohesion and interaction. This is the focal topic of the present thesis. The principal tasks of this thesis are as follows: (1) This thesis collects and studies relevant literature on sports centers as social spaces. A special emphasis is placed on discussions of social spaces. The intention is to articulate design characteristics of community sports centers that merit further exploration. (2) This thesis selects three representative sports facilities as case studies and considers how they promote the formation of social bonds and interactions. The thesis offers a review of design ideas, planning strategies and specific methods of implementation. (3) This thesis takes the design project for a sports center in New District A in Macau as an example, and puts forward a design strategy of ""vertical intensification + shared application"". This strategy aims to promote the integration of the sports center with the urban environment, while creating a flexible public space that can adapt to the needs of spontaneous and social activities. The intention is to make the sports center a place that promotes community interaction and connectivity. Overall, this thesis argues that community sports centers can become important places to promote social interaction through well-designed architectural space. Specific design factors and strategies explored in this thesis provide useful points of reference for architects. Through on-going processes of optimization and innovation, sports centers can better serve the community of Macau
Keywords: Circulation strategies in architecture; Theses and Dissertations Master of Architecture (MARCH); University of Saint Joseph; integrated sports facilities; social connectors; sports centers

FACTORS INFLUENCING BRAND IMAGE AND BEHAVIOR OF CONSUMERS OF THE XIAMEN MARATHON - Xu Teng (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Many sports events have been reopened since the recovery from the global Covid19 epidemic. As countries work toward the third sustainable development goal of good health and well-being, sports events have received increasing support and investments. This study focuses on the Xiamen Marathon, which had reached the platinum level of sustainable development and is a benchmark marathon race in China. To assess the factors that influence the brand image and behavior of consumers of the Xiamen Marathon, this dissertation references the conceptual models in previous studies and hypothesizes that experience, brand image, loyalty, satisfaction, motivation, organization, quality, and trust are the direct influencing factors of brand image and indirect determinants of word of mouth, sport, and behavioral intention. This study surveyed participants of the Xiamen Marathon in 2024 and collected data from a sample of 285 participants. All the respondents were local residents and over 90% were contestants. The largest proportions were 36-to-55-year-old, married, highly educated, and employed, earning monthly income between ¥5000 to ¥15000 and spending over ¥1000 on marathon equipment. IBM SPSS and Amos were used for the quantitative analysis based on structural equation modeling techniques, including reliability test, validity test, and hypothesis testing. The questionnaire quality was good, the scale data were suitable for factor analysis, and the questionnaire data fitted well. However, quality and trust were excluded due to low significance. The results show that experience, loyalty, satisfaction, motivation, and organization have significant and positive impacts on brand image, which in turn has significant and positive impacts word of mouth, sport, and behavioral intention. The results support the eight hypotheses of direct effects and the 15 hypotheses of intermediate effects
Keywords: Brand experience; Brand image; Brand loyalty; China; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

IMPACTS OF CARBON TRADING SYSTEM ON GREEN FINANCE: Ziyan Yin - Yin, Ziyan (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Against the backdrop of escalating global climate change and China being the world’s largest carbon emitter, this study explores the impact of the carbon trading system on green finance in Chinese power sector. This study uses a quantitative research method, namely a difference-in-differences (DID) model, to investigate power companies that participated or had the potential to participate in carbon trading in 2019 and 2022. The key finding is that companies that participated in carbon trading had significantly higher green finance than those that did not participate, indicating that the carbon trading system has a positive impact on promoting green finance. However, the impact does not significantly intensify after the national carbon trading scheme was implemented in mid-2021. The green finance of listed companies and state-owned enterprises were less affected by carbon trading, possibly because these companies rely on alternative financing options and government financial support. Due to the findings, this study recommends that policy makers should strengthen the promotion of the carbon trading scheme and provide more support for non-listed companies and non-state-owned enterprises. At the same time, the companies should actively participate in the carbon market to take advantage of the industrial policies to enhance green finance, and ultimately promote environmental protection and their own sustainable development
Keywords: Carbon trading scheme; Carbon trading system; China; DiD; Difference-in-difference; Green finance; Power companies; Power plants; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Study on Influencing Factors of University Students' entrepreneurial Intention: Greater Bay Area as an example - Yu, Yuan Bao (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Macro level; Micro level; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; college student; entrepreneurial Intention; entrepreneurship

Exploring Interactive Wearable: Enhancing Emotional Release and Expression in Modern Fashion Design - Zhai, Jingwen (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
As technology evolves swiftly and consumers call for more customization, the study of interactive fashion design is increasingly emerging as a key topic within the fashion industry. The goal of this research is to investigate merging intelligent technology with apparel design, realizing functional enlargements and enriching the user experience by employing interactive design. Initially, this document examines key theories and ongoing studies in interaction design, intelligent textiles, and wearable tech, pinpointing the current research voids and difficulties. This section then presents a range of methodologies used in the study, encompassing literature review, case analysis, and interviews with experts, to thoroughly analyze and assess all facets of interactive apparel design. This document suggests a methodical design of interactive clothing, outlining the entire process from initial design to the creation of prototypes. The practicality and efficiency of the design methodology are proven by creating prototypes and conducting trials. Findings from the experiments indicate that interactive attire offers substantial benefits in terms of functionality, comfort, and user experience. The research offers both theoretical backing and pragmatic advice for designing interactive attire, while also highlighting paths for upcoming advancements in fashion technology. In conclusion, the document examines the shortcomings of the existing research and potential research paths, aiming to offer valuable guidance for advancing the development of clothing styling and wearable tech
Keywords: Fashion design; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); University of Saint Joseph; clothing interactive devices; emotion and perception; emotional user experience; interactive design

EXPERIENCING THE PRESENT AND EXPLORING THE FUTURE WITH IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES CASE STUDY: " ST. LAZARUS CHURCH PEDESTRIAN STREET", MACAU - Zhou RenWei (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In the present world, many cities have historical and culturally rich districts, but protectionism or economic reasons have slowed their development. Therefore, how to generate more value for these areas is crucial for a city with a deep and complex history. Using immersive virtual reality technology can help solve this problem, and this paper takes Macau's famous historical district as an entry point and starts from the perspective of the general public to explore and design some of the existing buildings and public areas in the district. The focus of this study is to explore the future development possibilities of historical and cultural districts in cities and experience the current situation of the district. Specifically, by studying the historical background and human investigation of ST. LAZARUS CHURCH PEDESTRIAN STREET (Chinese official name: 疯堂斜巷), the study uses immersive virtual reality technology to first create a scene of the existing building group in the district as a stage of protection for historical buildings. Then, it creates and presents a future building group scene in the district, which includes completed buildings and public area facilities after renovation and sustainable design. This renovation does not destroy the protected historical buildings at all, but is a protective exploration. The researchers used 3D computer graphics software (Blender) and virtual tour software (Kuula) to create the design, and users can freely explore the scene by ""walking"" virtually. The design includes two groups of architectural scenes of the ST. LAZARUS CHURCH PEDESTRIAN STREET in the present and the future. After entering the scene, users can freely switch between the present and the future time points to experience the different architectural scene atmospheres. Users can enter some buildings and public areas, and interact with objects in the scene to generate visual or auditory introductions to the target. Users can see the rough outline of the future historical and cultural district after the protective development in the free exploration of the virtual reality environment, which can inspire further public thinking about the development of historical and cultural street areas in the city. Users can explore and experience the project using professional virtual reality equipment or directly on the web. By using immersive virtual reality technology, the public can have a more intuitive and comprehensive understanding of the future development of historical and cultural street areas, and urban planners, professional architects, and clients of architectural design can all benefit from this technology, especially in the initial conceptual design and prototype design of buildings
Keywords: Conservation of historical building; Exploratory design; Reconstruction of historic district; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); University of Saint Joseph; Virtual reality technology

基模教學對百分比問題之程序流暢程度的有效性研究 =: EFFECTIVENESS OF SCHEMA-BASED INSTRUCTION (SBI) ON PROCEDURAL FLUENCY WITH PERCENTAGES PROBLEMS - Zhou, Mingyan (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Research suggested that students struggle because of lacking understanding of basic concepts, formulas, and procedures in algebra, leading to inefficiency in logical thinking and problem-solving skills. (Julius et al., 2018; Jupri et al., 2021). Schemabased instruction (SBI) aims to enhance learning and problem-solving by activating and building upon students' prior knowledge structures, known as schemas (Powell et al., 2008). The common schemas include the total, difference, change, equal groups, comparison, ratios/proportions (Hughes & Cuevas, 2020). SBI has been found to be effective, particularly for students who struggle with mathematics word problems (Marshall, 2012; Hughes & Cuevas, 2020). Research related to SBI has not yet been conducted in Macau region. An early pre-test was administered by the researcher, thirty-one students were asked to solve 10 questions about percentages. The results showed that some students lacked the fundamental knowledge needed to investigate and explore the abstract ideas, patterns, and relationships in percentages problems. A daily schema-based instruction (SBI) as a part of an experimental intervention study was implemented, pre-test and post-tests were administered to investigate the effect of SBI on students' mathematical procedural fluency skills. Thirty-one students from the researcher’s class were invited to engaged in 40 minutes of daily SBI lessons for two weeks, 12 lessons in total. During each of the twelve 40-minute session, students practiced schemas to develop procedural fluency competencies, such as solid number sense and arithmetic operations, to solve percentages problems. Within-group descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted. The results indicated that after SBI, students can solve mathematical problems with greater procedural fluency. This research shares implications and provides suggestions regarding SBI and procedural fluency
Keywords: SBI; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; mathematics; percentages problems; procedural fluency; schema-based instruction; secondary education

Factors Affecting Customer Satisfaction for Fitness Club: A Case Study of Noble Fitness Club in Zhongshan - Zhu, Junwen (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This paper selects Noble Fitness Club in Zhongshan as a research object, adopting a qualitative method and conducting in-depth interviews with its members to determine what factors affect customers’ choice of a fitness club. This study is important because it enriches the theoretical guidance framework of the fitness market. Moreover, it helps partitioners from the fitness industry realize what factors directly impact customer satisfaction, providing recommendations for them to foster sustainable development. In-depth interviewing is the primary method for data collection. And, the thematic content analysis (TCA) approach is used to analyze the data derived from interview transcripts. Existing research identified eight factors affecting customers’ choice of a fitness club. However, the author discovered three additional factors that also significantly influenced their selection of a fitness club: geographical location, group courses, and fitness atmosphere. The fitness industry has an issue of product homogenization. Attracting more customers while retaining existing members is a challenge many fitness clubs face nowadays. Therefore, operators should avoid engaging in a price war, reducing the profit margin to attract more customers at the expense of sacrificing service quality. Instead, they should prioritize customers’ practical needs and make the best effort to meet their expectations
Keywords: Case Study; Customer Satisfaction; Fitness Club; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Exploring the learning effectiveness under the "formative assessment" reform of non-tertiary education in Macao: A Case Study =探討澳門非高等教育改革「形成性評核」下的學習成效－個案研究 - 何愛琴 (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 個案研究; 學習成效; 形成性評核; 教育改革

Teacher's Teaching Style and the Learning Attitude of Elementary School Students: A Macau Case Study = 小學生學習態度與教師教學風格現況之研究—以澳門某小學為例 - 洪麗 (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Learning Attitude; Macau; Primary School; Teacher's Teaching Style; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

探討澳門普通小學教師在融合教育背景下的工作相關壓力及有效應對策略 =: Exploring Work-Related Stress and Effective Coping Strategies in the Context of Inclusive Education Among Mainstream Primary Teachers in Macau - 黃家敏 (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Since 2006, the Government of Macau has been promoting inclusive education. This has now been ongoing for seventeen years. As education policies gradually improve, the focus has shifted from students in inclusive settings to the realm of teachers. With an increasing number of inclusive students, the corresponding work pressures faced by teachers has also increased. The aims of this study are to better understand the work-related stress, sources of stress, and subsequent coping strategies used by mainstreamteachers within the inclusive education sector of Macau. This study used qualitative research methods, interviewing twelve frontline teachers from eight different private primary educational institutions. Eight of these teachers work in schools practicing inclusive education, while four were employed in regular schools. However, all twelve participating teachers had experience in teaching inclusive students but also lacked any specialized background in special education. Following and obtaining and meticulously analyzing interview data, supported by relevant literature, the study findings are presented as follows: 1. Views and Attitudes of Regular Teachers in Inclusive Schools towards Inclusive Education The interviewed teachers support the concept of inclusive education but were concerned about student behaviors and their learning challenges. These concerns included inappropriate behaviors, learning disabilities, and the teachers’ own pedagogical demands. In managing student behaviors, teachers found it difficult to handle the emotional control of inclusive students, leading to disruptions in class. Regarding learning, teachers had to use additional and extra time on after-class tutoring, increasing their workload. Teaching inclusive students also complicated the instruction, requiring teachers to undergo additional training and preparation. 2. Work-Related Stress and its Sources among Regular Teachers within Inclusive Schools The participating teachers rated their stress-resilience as not low, but rather they experienced medium to high levels of work-related stress, mainly due to long working hours and extensive workloads. The study identifies four main sources of stress: （i） The nature of work, including extensive teaching and non-teaching tasks, including heavy class management, or multiple roles. （ii） Social relationships, where regular teachers lacked an understanding of resource teachers’ roles, leading to ineffective communication and an underutilization of resource teachers in schools. （iii） Organizational structure, where schools involved in inclusive education required improvements in facilities and teaching environments, particularly in the safety of sports areas. Additionally, not all mainstream teachers had access to inclusive education resources, and the instructional adjustments for inclusive students did not fully meet their needs. （iv） Social aspects, where the public did not fully understand the concepts of inclusive education, and expectations on teachers were excessively high. Furthermore, teachers were dissatisfied with their salaries and benefits, which they felt were not commensurate with their heavy workload. The study also found that female teachers faced additional stress from both work and family responsibilities, as they also bear the burden of caring for and educating their own children at home. 3. Responses and Coping Methods of Regular Teachers in Inclusive Schools to Work-Related Stress The study analyzed the negative impacts of work-related stress on teachers’ physical health, psychological state, and behavior. The impacts included poor sleep quality or insomnia and emotional states of worry and anxiety. In response to stress, teachers engaged in communication and social activities, exercise and rest, and dietary adjustments. However, these stress-relief methods did not effectively address the root causes of the stress, making long-term stress management a crucial issue for teachers. Based on the findings regarding stress perceptions, sources, and coping methods, the researcher proposes recommendations for teachers, educational institutions, and relevant government departments, with an aim to support and aid future policymaking in the area of inclusive education in Macau
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 小學; 工作壓力; 應對策略; 普通教師; 融合教育

澳門普通小學教師職業幸福感：: 現況、影響因素及提升策略 = THE OCCUPATIONAL WELL-BEING OF MACAU PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS：CURRENT STATUS, INFLUENCING FACTORS, AND ENHANCEMENT STRATEGIES - 黎嘉穎 (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 教師; 澳門小學; 職業幸福感

The Role of Habit in UTAUT-2 Research: A Study of BEV Users - Lampo, Alessandro (Proceedings of the 2023 9th International Conference on Industrial and Business Engineering, 2023)
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.
Keywords: Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs); Consumer Behavior; Habit; Process Innovation; Technology Acceptance; UTAUT-2.

Santa Claus is not coming to everyone in Macau - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Macau Business | December 2023 Keith Morrison – Author and educationist
Section: Macau Business

Factors influencing disability inclusion practice on social media - Chan, Joye Wai Peng; Phillips, Jenny O.L. (Proceedings of the 2023 14th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2023)
Digital inclusion in Macao is in the very beginning stage, and disability inclusion practice on social media in producing and promoting accessible social media content and needs is hard to find. This study aims to analyse the factors that influence communication staff's practice of disability inclusion on social media by using the combined employee behaviour and communication process model to provide suggestions to management who wants to promote disability inclusion practice on social media.The Service Centre for the Deaf of the Macau Deaf Association (MDA) was selected as the object for this case study. The online social media used for MDA's communication was analysed, and semi-structured in-depth interviews with members of the Association were conducted. The research findings showed that, except for the reward structure, factors examined from the work environment in terms of organisation, supervision and co-workers; communication staff themselves; outcomes of accessible social media communication; audience and feedbacks show relations with disability inclusion practices on social media. The delivery of inclusive culture, the influential power of disability stakeholders and the positioning of social media platforms are the key influencing factors.The interesting part of this study is that people without disabilities seem to be excluded from the disability inclusion practice carried out on MDA's Facebook. Their social media content is highly accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences yet seems not to involve the general public. The study object is a good model for producing accessible content, yet the optimisation of promoting social media accessibility needs further exploration.
Keywords: Accessible Social Media (ASM); Disability Employment; Disability Inclusion; Macau Deaf Association

A Review on Open Innovation and Absorptive Capacity in Small and Medium Enterprises during the last decade - Analyzing Bibliometrics to Understand the Development of the Field - Ip, Chi Hang; Lobo Marques, Joao Alexandre; Dos Santos Silva, Bruno Riccelli; Cortez, Paulo Cesar; Barbosa, Alvaro (Proceedings of the 2023 14th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2023)
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can benefit significantly from open innovation by gaining access to a broader range of resources and expertise using absorptive capacitive, and increasing their visibility and reputation. Nevertheless, multiple barriers impact their capacity to absorb new technologies or adapt to develop them. This paper aims to perform an analysis of relevant topics and trends in Open Innovation (OI) and Absorptive Capacity (AC) in SMEs based on a bibliometric review identifying relevant authors and countries, and highlighting significant research themes and trends. The defined string query is submitted to the Web of Science database, and the bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer software. The results indicate that the number of scientific publications has consistently increased during the past decade, indicating a growing interest of the scientific community, reflecting the industry interest and possibly adoption of OI, considering Absorptive. This bibliometric analysis can provide insights on the most relevant regions the research areas are under intensive development.
Keywords: Absorptive Capacity; Bibliometric analysis; Open innovation; SMEs; VOSviewer

Environmental Concern and the Intention to Use Eco-friendly Technologies: An Analysis of Battery Electric Vehicles in Macau. - Lampo, Alessandro; Silva, Susana C. (Proceedings of the 2023 14th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2023)
A growing number of people are becoming aware of the environmental footprint that our actions have on the environment. Research indicates that a key factor leading to the adoption of an electric vehicle is consumers’ high environmental concern. Indeed, the environmental concern (EC) construct is commonly associated with the purchase of sustainable and eco-friendly products in literature. Our study challenges this assumption. We examined how the environmental factor influenced the behavioral intention of Macau residents to adopt battery-electric vehicle (BEV) technology. For this purpose, we conducted a study based on the UTAUT-2 framework and used structural equation modeling (SmartPLS) to analyze the data. As a result, the choice of vehicles did not depend on the consumers’ level of concern. It appeared that consumers strongly perceived the benefits of a cleaner environment, however, when it comes to technology, environmental benefits are nice to have, rather than the primary incentive to purchase BEVs. Researchers should consider the role of environmental concern as a background factor in technology acceptance models, rather than a direct predictor of behavior. It is also recommended that marketers correctly consider this element when developing their product communications strategies, to appeal to the desired segment of customers.
Keywords: BEV; Clean Energy Technology; Environmental Footprint; Macau.; Sustainable Transportation; Technology Acceptance

An Exploratory Comparison of Stock Prices Prediction using Multiple Machine Learning Approaches based on Hong Kong Share Market - Lin, Chinyang; Lobo Marques, João Alexandre (Proceedings of the 2023 14th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2023)
Stock price prediction has always been challenging due to its volatility and unpredictability. This paper performs a preliminary exploratory comparison that utilizes Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms to forecast the stock market in Hong Kong. It considers a public dataset publicly available and uses feature engineering to extract relevant features. Then, LSTM and SVM algorithms are applied to predict stock prices. Our results show that the proposed machine learning techniques can predict stock prices in Hong Kong's share market with the error metrics presented, and, for this purpose, LSTM achieved better results than SVM, with MSE = 0.0026, RMSE = 0.0508, MAE = 0.0406, and MAPE = 1.325.
Keywords: Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM); Machine Learning; Stock price prediction; Support Vector Machine (SVM); Time-series analysis

Facial expression for marketing and consumer behavior: A Bibliometric analysis from 2013-2023 using Data Visualization Tools - Qian, Cheng; Lobo Marques, Joao Alexandre (Proceedings of the 2023 14th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2023)
The classification of emotions based on facial expressions have been a new topic of research in recent years, especially in marketing and consumer behavior areas. However, there is lack of studies to understand how the research topic is developed in terms of bibliometric data. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to provide a bibliometric analysis of the research on the analysis of facial expressions for marketing and consumer behavior, identifying the state of the art, the latest research direction, and other indicators. We extracted data from Web of Science (WOS) platform, considering its core database, resulting in a total of 117 articles. The software Vosviewer was used to analyze the data and graphically visualize the results. This study indicates some of the most influential authors citations and coupling analysis in this specific field, identifies journals with the most published articles, and provide trends of the research area based on the analysis of keywords and corresponding number of articles per year. The results shows that 11 articles (9.4%) were cited more than 100 times, and the two most prolific authors published 5 articles, and the two most influential authors are Bouaziz Sofien and Pauly mark(270 citations) in this field. Of the 117 articles retrieved by WOS, more than 70% were published in high impact journals. The bibliometric analysis of the existing work in this study provides a valuable and reliable reference for researchers in this field and makes a reasonable prediction of the research direction trends.
Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Consumer; Facial expression; Marketing; Research; VOSviewer

Neuromarketing As A Tool To Measure And Evaluate The Consumer Behaviour Of Guanding Teahouse's Social Media Advertisement - Zeng, Ian Mei; Lobo Marques, Joao Alexandre (Proceedings of the 2023 14th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2023)
This research aims to evaluate a Macau tea brand's social media advertising effectiveness with neuromarketing tools, including physiological monitoring that can measure emotional arousal. This research bridges the gap of social media marketing on Instagram for brands through the neuromarketing method. Data from 40 respondents were collected with iMotions software using neuroscientific tools. This research uses the stimuli of Guanding Teahouse, a newly established Macau tea brand, to evaluate social media advertising effectiveness. The neuroscientific tools – Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) sensors, Eye-tracking, Facial Expression Analysis (FEA) and emotion analysis are used to do the experiment. The data analysis was drawn from one representative respondent to measure the emotions and attention on the Instagram advertisements. Video 1 recorded 9 GSR peaks and Video 2 recorded 12 GSR peaks, both videos attention is ranging between 96-98 indexes. Results show that advertising videos should focus more on the products than the model. Moreover, the participant is more interested in Video 2, but the effectiveness of advertising is showing a lower focus on the brand and the tea. Future studies should consider comparing the video advertising effectiveness of Instagram stories and Instagram reels to prevent disruption of video on the stories ad.

Categorization of Foreign Aid Donors: A Critical Review of the Criteria in Light of China's Reemergence as a Donor - Diakite, Ansoumane Douty; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo (Journal of Global South Studies, 2023)
Over the past several decades, the dichotomy between traditional and emerging donors has been based upon the notion that emerging donors (such as China) support authoritarian regimes and use foreign aid to pursue their economic interests at the expense of the poor in the recipient countries. Accordingly, Western donors, media, and scholars portray Chinese aid as non-poverty-focused. This study aims to review and analyze whether the dichotomy between traditional and emerging donors is still relevant in the current aid system and to propose a new and rigorous criterion for recategorizing donors. In terms of methodology, this study relies on secondary data, including scholarly works on traditional and emerging donors and foreign aid policy documents. Conclusions based on the research indicate that the divide between traditional donors and (re)emerging donors is becoming more ambiguous. The literature review indicates that the two donors’ aids had a mixed impact and that their approaches were similar. This paper highlights the importance of developing different recategorization criteria depending on the impact of aid.
Number: 2
Keywords: China and development assistance committee donors; aid policies; categorization of donors; sustainable development goal; traditional and emerging donors

Fr. Yves Raguin, S.J. and Interreligious Dialogue - Duraj, Jaroslaw (2023)

Tracing Modern Macau’s Evolving Global Role Views from Transnational Archives - Roberts, Priscilla (2023)

Comment on ''Generalized James' effective Hamiltonian method'' - Rosado, W.; Arraut, Ivan (Physical Review A, 2023)
In the paper carried out by Wenjun et al. [Phys. Rev. A 95, 032124 (2017)], a generalization of the James effective dynamics theory based on a first version of the James method was presented. However, we contend that this is not a very rigorous way of deriving the effective third-order expansion for an interaction Hamiltonian with harmonic time-dependence. In fact, here we show that the third-order Hamiltonian obtained by Wenjun et al. is not Hermitian for general situations when we consider time dependence. Its non-Hermitian nature arises from the foundation of the theory itself. In this comment paper, the most general expression of the effective Hamiltonian expanded up to third order is obtained. Our derived effective Hamiltonian is Hermitian even in situations where we have time dependence.
Publisher: American Physical Society

The Role of the Volatility in the Option Market - Arraut, Ivan; Lei, Ka-I. (AppliedMath, 2023)
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.
Number: 4 Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Keywords: Black–Scholes equation; Merton–Garman equation; decision theory; option price; stock market; volatility

Connecting Neuromarketing and AI - a path to new insights and analysis - Marques, J. A. L. (2023)

Unsettling Exiles: Chinese Migrants in Hong Kong and the Southern Periphery During the Cold War Angelina Y. Chin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2023. 320 pp., $35.00; £30.00, ISBN 9780231209991. - Roberts, Priscilla (The China Quarterly, 2023)
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Perspectives of Local Communities on the Impact of Chinese Aid: A Case Study of China's Aid Projects in the Education Sector in Guinea - Diakite, Ansoumane Douty (Journal of Globalization Studies, 2023)
China's re-emergence as an aid donor has attracted the attention and criticism from Western donors, academia, and the media. In contrast to traditional donors, China's aid has been portrayed as anti-poverty aid, mainly due to its combination with other instruments, such as investment, and the absence of any political or economic conditions. This paper examines the impact of Chinese aid projects in Guinea's education sector from the perspective of the beneficiaries. The author collected data from both primary (interviews) and secondary (document analysis) sources. The present study concludes that China's aid projects in the education sector have received both positive and negative feedback, mainly because the recipients' needs have not been appropriately targeted. This study contributes to the literature on China's role in Africa. More specifically, it discusses the conditions for aid effectiveness in the field of education. Moreover, in the context of the globalization of aid practices, the study proposes best practices for China to adopt in order to improve the practices of its aid delivery. The novelty of this study lies in the methodology (qualitative method) used to understand China's aid from the perspective of the beneficiaries of its aid.

Static recording apparatus for soundscape analysis in Macau - Estadieu, Gerald; Cheung, Yin Yan; Pestana, Pedro Duarte; Barbosa, Alvaro (INTER-NOISE and NOISE-CON Congress and Conference Proceedings, 2023)
The concept of Soundscape was initially proposed to study the relationship between humans and their sonic environment. It has gathered momentum from academia to environmentalists and policymakers throughout the years. The study and characterisation of Soundscapes can be complex as it tries to take a holistic and qualitative approach rather than simply quantifying sound pressure levels. This paper introduces a comprehensive Soundscape study process in an ongoing research project in Macao (China), a small territory (32.9 km2) and one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The paper seeks to show a first version of a technical solution to systematically capture the local soundscape, analyse it, classify it, and ultimately deliver a dataset library and the intangible qualities of the environmental sound. This implementation, including technical documentation, code, and sound library with strong labelling, is presented under an open-source license to encourage future collaborative research. Finally, the paper offers suggestions on further developing the apparatus to reach a systematic and near real-time soundscape analysis with the development of a machine learning system.

Macau's First Modern University: Exploring the Early History of the University of East Asia - Roberts, Priscilla (2023)

Higher Education students' perceptions towards Information Literacy: a study in Macau - Sanches, Tatiana; Chan, Emily (Ibersid: revista de sistemas de información y documentación, 2023)
Integrating information literacy into learning improves student performance and, for that reason, academic librarians can play a significant role by collaborating in the design and training programs in these areas. In Macao, there is no known study on the information literacy performance of higher education students, so we seek to diagnose this area. For that purpose, a survey was applied to higher education students to assess students' perception of information literacy and their self-characterization regarding the use of resources and the type of skills needed for academic work. A semi-structured interview was also carried out with teachers about the same reality. Students perceive themselves to have a low level of confidence in the performance of their academic tasks, which affects their fulfilment. Faculty are aligned with this diagnosis, revealing the students’ weaknesses in the information search and presentation. Overall, information needs are evident among students as also is the use of preferred information resources in pursuit of their studies. The training aimed at students in search, retrieval, analysis, and use of information seems to be essential, which is why the construction of a tailormade training program in Information Literacy is anticipated.
Number: 2
Keywords: Macao

Beyond Physical Boundaries—Organising a Virtual Exhibiton with NFTs for an International Conference - Estadieu, Gerald; Ng, S.O.K.M.; Martins de Abreu, F.; Farinha, D.F. (11th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts (ARTECH 2023), 2023)

Re-experiencing Street Signage with Augmented Reality around the City of Macau - Lio, Si Weng; Martins de Abreu, F. (Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts (ARTECH2023), 2023)

Exploring EEG Signal Features for Predicting Post Cardiac Arrest Prognosis - Guilherme Cunha Santos, Antonio; Alexandre Lobo Marques, Joao; Rigo Jr., Luis; Paulo Madeiro, João (2023)

Linguistic and economic capital in Macau - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Macau wisely looks to mainland China, South-East Asia, and Portuguese-speaking countries, as part of its economic diversification. However, to be a player on the international stage and world-wide market, it must look wider, and, hence, the standard of English in Macau must improve dramatically and urgently.
Section: MAG

Neurofinance: Exploratory Analysis Stock Trader's Decision-Making Process by Real-Time Monitoring of Emotional Reactions - Hsu, Hsin-Tzu; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo (European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance, 2023)
Human emotions can be associated with decision-making, and emotions can generate behaviors. Due to the fact that it could be biased and exhaustively complex to examine how human beings make choices, it is necessary to consider relevant groups of study, such as stock traders and non-traders in finance. This work aims to analyze the connection between emotions and the decision-making process of investors and non-investors submitted to the same set of stimuli to understand how emotional arousal might dictate the decision process. Neuroscience monitoring tools such as Real-Time Facial Expression Analysis (AFFDEX), Eye-Tracking, and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) were adopted to monitor the related experiments of this paper and its accompanying analysis process. Thirty-seven participants attended the study, 24 were classified as stock traders, and 13 were non-traders; the mean age for the groups was 35 and 25, respectively. The designed experiment initially disclosed a thought-provoking result between the two groups under the certainty and risk-seeking prospect theory; there were more risk-takers among non-investors at 75%, while investors were inclined toward certainty at 79.17%. The implication could be that the non-investing individuals were less complex in thought and therefore pursued higher returns besides a high probability of losing the game. In addition, the automatic emotion classification system indicates that when non-investors confronted a stock trending chart beyond their acquaintance or knowledge, they were psychologically exposed to fear, anger, sadness, and surprise. On the contrary, investors were detected with disgust, joy, contempt, engagement, sadness, and surprise, where sadness and surprise overlapped in both parties. Under time pressure conditions, 54.05% of investors or non-investors tend to make decisions after the peak(s) of emotional arousal. Variations were found in the deciding points of the slopes: 2.70% were decided right after the peak(s), 37.84% waited until the emotions turned stable, and 13.51% were determined as the emotional indicators started to slide downwards. Several combinations of emotional responses were associated with decisions. For example, negative emotions could induce passive decision-making, in this case, to sell the stock; nevertheless, it was also examined that as the slope slipped downwards to a particular horizontal point, the individuals became more optimistic and selected the "BUY" option. Future works may consider expanding the study to larger sample size, different demographic groups, and other biometrics for further analysis and conclusions.
Number: 1

Leadership and Neurosciences - The analysis of emotional arousal during decision-making processes with decision-makers exposed to acute stress - Marques, Joao Alexandre Lobo (European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance, 2023)
Corporate leaders are constantly dealing with stress in parallel with continuous decision-making processes. The impact of acute stress on decision-making activities is a relevant area of study to evaluate the impact of the decisions made, and create tools and mechanisms to cope with the inevitable exposure to stress and better manage its impact. The intersection of leadership and neurosciences techniques is called Neuroleadership. In this work, an experiment is proposed to detect and measure the emotional arousal of two groups of business professionals, divided into two groups. The first one is the intervention/stress group, n=30, exposed to stressful conditions, and the control group, n=14, not exposed to stress. The participants are submitted to a sequence of computerized stimuli, such as watching videos, answering survey questions, and making decisions in a realistic office environment. The Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) biosensor monitors emotional arousal in real-time. The experiment design implemented stressors such as visual effects, defacement, unfairness, and time-constraint for the intervention group, followed by decision-making tasks. The results indicate that emotional arousal was statistically significantly higher for the intervention/stress group, considering Shapiro and Mann-Whitney tests. The work indicates that GSR is a reliable stress detector and may be useful to predict negative impacts on executive professionals during decision-making activities.
Number: 1

Neuromarketing: Evaluating Consumer Emotions and Preferences to Improve Business Marketing Management - Zeng, Ian Mei; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo (European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance, 2023)
The invention of neuroscience has benefited medical practitioners and businesses in improving their management and leadership. Neuromarketing, a field that combines neuroscience and marketing, helps businesses understand consumer behaviour and how they respond to advertising stimuli. This study aims to investigate the consumer purchase intention and preferences to improve the marketing management of the brand, based on neuroscientific tools such as emotional arousal using Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) sensors, eye-tracking, and emotion analysis through facial expressions classification. The stimuli for the experiment are two advertisement videos from the Macau tea brand “Guanding Teahouse” followed by a survey. The experiment was conducted on 40 participants. 76.2% of participants that chose the same product in the first survey responded with the same choice of products in the second survey. The GSR peaks in video ad 1 measured a total of 60. On the other hand, video ad 2 counted a total of 55 GSR peaks. The emotions in ad1 and ad2 have similar responses, with an attention percentage of 76%. The results showed that ad1 has a higher engagement time of 11.1% and ad2 has 9.6%, but only 19 of the respondent’s conducted engagement in video ad1, and 31 showed engagement in video ad2. The results demonstrated that although ad 1 has higher engagement rates, the respondents are more attracted to video ad 2. Therefore, ad2 has better marketing power than ad 1. Overall, this study bridges the gap of no previous research on measuring tea brand advertisements with the neuroscientific method. The results provide valuable insights for marketers to develop better advertisements and marketing campaigns and understand consumer preferences by personalising and targeting advertisements based on consumers' emotional responses and behaviour of consumers' purchase intentions. Future research could explore advertisements targeting different demographics.
Number: 1

Challenging arbitral tribunal jurisdiction in Macau [Practice Notes] - Diakite, Ansoumane Douty (LexisNexis, 2023)
This Practice Note considers challenges to the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals under the Macau Arbitration Law, the scope of challenge before national courts and tribunals.
Publisher: LexisNexis

Interim remedies in Macau arbitration proceedings [Practice Note] - Diakite, Ansoumane Douty (LexisNexis, 2023)
This Practice Note provides an overview of the powers of tribunals and courts to issue interim remedies including an anti-suit injunction pursuant to the Arbitration Law and the Civil Procedure Code of Macau and provisions dealing with emergency arbitrator appointments pursuant to the Macau Arbitration Law.
Publisher: LexisNexis

Radial String Chimes: A Behavioural Driven Tangible Instrument Derived from Networked Music Performance Practices - Barbosa, Alvaro; Olga Ng Ka Man, Sandra; Estadieu, G (Proceedings of UbiMus2023, II- Ubiquitous Music Symposium, 2023)
Research in ubiquitous networked music systems has unveiled the potential of behavioural-driven interaction interfaces as an effective model to cope with network communication delays in remote musical performances. Most of the techniques developed under these premises are based on digital music interfaces implemented on laptop computers or tablet devices, where a certain degree of gestural control comes as an added dimension. The purpose of this paper is to present an implementation of such type of interfaces in the form of a physical tangible musical instrument, contemplating multiple expressive possibilities. This is viable at the current stage of technological development thanks to leveraging 3D printing and laser cutting technologies for effective prototyping and testing of such a device. The paper seeks to demonstrate that this approach opens a wide range of possibilities for creating musical instruments with versatility and expressiveness beyond what is usually accomplished in traditional instruments. This implementation, entitled “Radial String Chimes,” is presented with its advantages, the challenges it faces, and the methods used to create it. Finally, the paper will offer suggestions for further developing such an instrument to unlock its potential.

The Tully-Fisher law and dark matter effects derived via modified symmetries - Arraut, Ivan (Europhysics Letters, 2023)
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.
Publisher: EDP Sciences, IOP Publishing and Società Italiana di Fisica

Reciprocity in a school-university partnership project: Towards a Macau-based Give-Get Model - Chu, K. W.; Mak, M. C. K.; Ng, M. H.; Wong, U. W. K.; Cheng, P. W.; Tse, T. P. M.; Ho, G. W. S (2023)

澳門特殊與融合教育的發展及教師培訓 - Ge, Rochelle Yun (2023)

Dreaming of diversification - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Once upon a time there was a cockerel who succumbed to flattery when a wily fox told him that he had the most magnificent singing voice, especially when he sang with his eyes closed tightly.
Section: MAG

SOUNDSCAPE.AI - A Sonic Perspectives on Macau - Estadieu, G (2023)

Death of a salesman? the new junket regulation and practice in macau - Ho, Hong-Wai; Phillips, Jenny (Gaming Law Review, 2023)
This review article is among the first to examine the new junket regulations in the Macau gaming industry. Particular emphasis is on the legal and regulatory framework governing the junket activity of gaming promoters and their associates. The recent changes to Macau gaming laws have resulted in stronger licensing requirements for local junket participants and precipitated the collapse of the VIP room system in casinos. Furthermore, this article highlights the policy and managerial implications of the current junket environment for the gaming industry in Macau and possibly other regional gaming jurisdictions. The effects of the new legal environment for Macau junkets could also provide insights into the implementation of similar legislation in other jurisdictions.
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers
Keywords: Macao; VIP room; gambling; gaming regulation; international gaming; junket operation

From ‘Mixed Methods’ to ‘Integration’ in Social Science Research - Morrison, Keith (2023)

Java面向对象程序设计 - 梁胜彬 (清华大学出版社, 2023)
结合实用案例讲解Java语法、面向对象程序设计技术和核心API。 全书共10章，内容涵盖Java概述、Java语法基础、面向对象基础、面向对象高级技术、 Java API、异常处理机制、Java I/O流、多线程、Java GUI编程和Java网络编程等知识要点。案例丰富，以JDK 17和IntelliJ IDEA等流行的开发环境为依托，力求让读者通过案例 掌握Java编程技术。另一个特色是在阐释专业内容的同时自然融入思政元素， 具有鲜明的时代性和引领性。 可作为普通高等院校计算机、软件工程、人工智能等专业“面向对象程序设计”“Java程序设计”课程的教材，也适 合编程爱好者自学和培训使用。

Conditional internationalism in Macau - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Just when diversification is the name of the game in Macau, and with the manifold benefits of diversity that internationals can bring, how sensible is it to treat its international non-resident workers so poorly, and with lamentable transparency and accountability?
Section: MAG

A medical text classification approach with ZEN and capsule network - Liang, Shengbin; Sun, Fuqi; Sun, Haoran; Chen, Tingting; Du, Wencai (The Journal of Supercomputing, 2023)
Text classification is an important topic in natural language processing, with the development of social network, many question-and-answer pairs regarding health-care and medicine flood social platforms. It is of great social value to mine and classify medical text and provide targeted medical services for patients. The existing algorithms of text classification can deal with simple semantic text, especially in the field of Chinese medical text, the text structure is complex and includes a large number of medical nomenclature and professional terms, which are difficult for patients to understand. We propose a Chinese medical text classification model using a BERT-based Chinese text encoder by N-gram representations (ZEN) and capsule network, which represent feature uses the ZEN model and extract the features by capsule network, we also design a N-gram medical dictionary to enhance medical text representation and feature extraction. The experimental results show that the precision, recall and F1-score of our model are improved by 10.25%, 11.13% and 12.29%, respectively, compared with the baseline models in average, which proves that our model has better performance.
Keywords: Capsule network; Medical text classification; Text mining; ZEN model

Games of chance - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Here we are, back in full-throttle summer tourism in tiny Macau, with visitors galore, lines of tourist coaches everywhere, and the casinos back on course to welcome gamblers. However, gambling reaches much wider than Macau’s casinos.
Section: Macau Business

Acceptance of Insects as Food: An Exploratory Study of Young Consumers in Macau - Lampo, Alessandro; Sun, Hou Tong (Indian Journal of Entomology, 2023)
Substitute foods are increasingly popular to reduce our environmental footprint and promote food security. As the world population is expected to grow and food resources become scarce, insects as food have recently gained attention as a viable alternative. In the present study, a model grounded on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is proposed and analyzed through structural equation modeling software (SmartPLS) to assess consumers intentions toward insects as food. Except for subjective norm, both attitude and perceived behavioral control were key determinants of intention and, in turn, of actual use behaviour. Despite insects being consumed in nearly 1/4 of the sample (for instance in Chinese medicine), the study found that respondents were on average relatively unwilling to use them as a dietary habit. Also, it appeared that men were more likely to consume insects as food than women. The insights of our study have important implications for practitioners and policymakers seeking to promote sustainable nutritional practices among consumers. This study is particularly relevant for Macau, as the city positions itself as a "UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy" with the aim to develop internationally a unique and sustainable food image.

Influencing Companies’ Green Governance Through the System of Legal Liability for Environmental Infractions in China and Brazil: Lighting the Way Toward BRICS Cooperation - Wei, D.; Rafael, Ângelo Patrício (BRICS Law Journal, 2023)
Peer-rewieved journal
Number: 2

Gauge symmetries and the Higgs mechanism in Quantum Finance - Arraut, Ivan (Europhysics Letters, 2023)
By using the Hamiltonian formulation, we demonstrate that the Merton-Garman equation emerges naturally from the Black-Scholes equation after imposing invariance (symmetry) under local (gauge) transformations over changes in the stock price. This is the case because imposing gauge symmetry implies the appearance of an additional field, which corresponds to the stochastic volatility. The gauge symmetry then imposes some constraints over the free parameters of the Merton-Garman Hamiltonian. Finally, we analyze how the stochastic volatility gets massive dynamically via Higgs mechanism.
Publisher: EDP Sciences, IOP Publishing and Società Italiana di Fisica

Do students in different courses of study think the same way in complex problem solving? [Poster presentation] - Wu, H.; Molnár, G. (2023)

LatinX in AI research - Banda, Juan M.; Ruiz-Garcia, Ariel; Montoya, Laura N.; Arraut, Ivan (Neural Computing and Applications, 2023)
We are delighted to present this special issue editorial for Neural Computing and Applications special issue on LatinX in AI research. This special issue brings together a collection of articles that explore machine learning and artificial intelligence research from various perspectives, aiming to provide a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of what LatinX researchers are working on in the field. In this editorial, we will introduce the overarching theme of the special issue, highlight the significance of the selected papers, and offer insights into the contributions made by the authors. The LatinX in AI organization was launched in 2018, with leaders from organizations in Artificial Intelligence, Education, Research, Engineering, and Social Impact with a purpose to together create a group that would be focused on “Creating Opportunity for LatinX in AI.” The main goal is to increase the representation of LatinX professionals in the AI industry. LatinX in AI Org and programs are volunteer-run and fiscally sponsored by the Accel AI Institute, 501(c)3 Non-Profit.

Sunshine and shadows - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | The recent euphoria over Macau’s economic resurrection should not mask the long-standing challenges facing its society and values. Sunshine creates shadows in which can lurk a range of pathologies.
Section: Macau Business

A Multi-Channel Text Sentiment Analysis Model Integrating Pre-training Mechanism - Liang, Shengbin; Jin, Jiangyong; Du, Wencai; Qu, Shenming (Information Technology and Control, 2023)
The number of tourist attractions reviews, travel notes and other texts has grown exponentially in the Internet age. Effectively mining users’ potential opinions and emotions on tourist attractions, and helping to provide users with better recommendation services, which is of great practical significance. This paper proposes a multi-channel neural network model called Pre-BiLSTM combined with a pre-training mechanism. The model uses a combination of coarse and fine- granularity strategies to extract the features of text information such as reviews and travel notes to improve the performance of text sentiment analysis. First, we construct three channels and use the improved BERT and skip-gram methods with negative sampling to vectorize the word-level and vocabulary-level text, respectively, so as to obtain more abundant textual information. Second, we use the pre-training mechanism of BERT to generate deep bidirectional language representation relationships. Third, the vectors of the three channels are input into the BiLSTM network in parallel to extract global and local features. Finally, the model fuses the text features of the three channels and classifies them using SoftMax classifier. Furthermore, numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate that Pre-BiLSTM outperforms the baselines by 6.27%, 12.83% and 18.12% in average in terms of accuracy, precision and F1-score.
Number: 2
Keywords: Pre-training mechanism

Chatting about chatting - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Many employers in Macau expect their employees to have received higher education (HE). This returns to the endless question of what HE is for; is it for job knowledge and skills acquisition, attitude development, thinking abilities, creativity, problem solving, how to learn, or what? What and whose knowledge?
Section: Macau Business

Machine learning over the free-parameters of the Black-Scholes equation: Stock market and Option market - Arraut, Jorge Mario; Arraut, Ivan; Lei, Ka I. (2023)
The Black-Scholes equation is famous for predicting values for the prices of Options inside the stock market scenario. However, it has the limitation of depending on the estimated value for the volatility. On the other hand, several Machine learning techniques have been employed for predicting the values of the same quantity. In this paper we analyze some fundamental properties of the Black-Scholes equation and we then propose a way to train its free-parameters, the volatility in particular. This with the purpose of using this parameter as the fundamental one to be learned by a Machine Learning system and then improve the predictions in the stock market.

Exploring the Current Landscape and Future Directions of Information Technology in Dance Education - Du, Wencai; Chen, Jiao; Xu, Simon (2023 26th ACIS International Winter Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD-Winter), 2023)
Dance education has undergone significant changes with the integration of information technology. Traditional dance pedagogy is now complemented by innovative digital software tools and applications. This work surveys the diverse applications of information technology in dance education at college or university level and the impact it has on teaching and learning processes. We discuss the integration of technology in various aspects of dance education, including skill development, choreography, performance analysis, VR/AR, online virtual learning, and collaborative learning. Additionally, the benefits and challenges associated with the use of information technology are also examined and the future research directions for research and practice in this field are proposed.
Keywords: College and University Education; Dance Education; Education; Federated learning; Humanities; Information Technology; Interactive; Surveys; Technical requirements; Training; Visualization; applications

課程變革的趨勢和具澳門特色的課程發展 - Ge, Rochelle Yun (2023)

Enhancing Health and Public Health through Machine Learning: Decision Support for Smarter Choices - Rodrigues, Pedro Miguel; Madeiro, João Paulo; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo (Bioengineering, 2023)
In recent years, the integration of Machine Learning (ML) techniques in the field of healthcare and public health has emerged as a powerful tool for improving decision-making processes [...]
Number: 7 Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Keywords: n/a

China’s Approach to Sustainable Development in Free Trade Agreements - Wei, Dan; Rafael, Ângelo Patrício (Law and Development Review, 2023)
The question of how to adequately integrate environment and labor provisions in free trade agreements is still a difficult one for both States and academicians. This article explores China’s approach to environment and labor issues in free trade agreements. For reference and comparison, it relies on the European Union’s and the United States’ approaches in their respective FTAs. The article identifies China’s preference for a case-by-case approach to the inclusion of environmental chapters in its FTAs. Additionally, in most FTAs it avoids to include provisions on labor standards. These two preferences represent major divergences from the European Union’s and the United States’ approaches, characterized by inclusion of chapters on environment and labor in all their modern FTAs. The article also finds that China’s FTAs rely solely on consultations and cooperation for the implementation of environmental and labor provisions, within the framework of Joint Committees and avoid the inclusion of civil society mechanisms. Moreover, resolution of disputes relies exclusively on consultations, in a diverse procedure than the one applicable to trade disputes. Despite alignment with the European Union model, this is another major point of divergence with the United States’ model, which applies the same enforcement mechanism for both environment and labor issues and trade issues and includes the possibility of applying sanctions. Finally, the article concludes that China’s options with regards to the treatment of environment and labor concerns in its free trade agreements aligns with both its domestic governance approach and its approach to international cooperation.
Publisher: De Gruyter
Keywords: China; environment and trade; free trade agreements; labor and trade; sustainable development

Intelligent Data Fusion System for Assessing and Classifying the Long-Term Effects of Exposure to COVID-19 in Pregnancy (Long Covid): Associated Neurophysiological and Epigenetic Mechanisms and Consequences for Infant Development - Lobo Marques, J. A. (2023)

Arbitration as a dispute resolution method in Macau [Practice Notes] - Diakite, Ansoumane Douty; Cheok, Si Leung (LexisNexis, 2023)
The following Arbitration practice note provides comprehensive and up to date legal information on Arbitration as a dispute resolution method in Macau

Gauge symmetries and the Higgs mechanism in Quantum Finance - Arraut, Ivan (arXiv, 2023)
By using the Hamiltonian formulation, we demonstrate that the Merton-Garman equation emerges naturally from the Black-Scholes equation after imposing invariance (symmetry) under local (gauge) transformations over changes in the stock price. This is the case because imposing gauge symmetry implies the appearance of an additional field, which corresponds to the stochastic volatility. The gauge symmetry then imposes some constraints over the free-parameters of the Merton-Garman Hamiltonian. Finally, we analyze how the stochastic volatility gets massive dynamically via Higgs mechanism.
arXiv:2306.03237 [q-fin]
Keywords: Quantitative Finance - General Finance

The role of environmental concern and technology show-off on electric vehicles adoption: the case of Macau - Lampo, Alessandro; Silva, Susana C.; Duarte, Paulo (International Journal of Emerging Markets, 2023)
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.

Diagnóstico à literacia da informação de estudantes de ensino superior: um estudo de caso em Macau - Chan, Emily; Sanches, Tatiana (Actas do Congresso Nacional de Bibliotecários, Arquivistas e Documentalistas, 2023)
O presente estudo faz parte de uma investigação mais alargada que pretende i) estudar, numa população estudantil de ensino superior, as suas necessidades e comportamento perante a informação e ii) desenvolver um programa de formação em literacia da informação, integrando este conhecimento e os contributos dos diversos intervenientes (estudantes, docentes, bibliotecários). Sabemos hoje que a integração da literacia da informação nas aprendizagens melhora o desempenho dos estudantes e que, por esse motivo, os bibliotecários académicos podem desempenhar um papel importante ao colaborarem no desenho e formação de programas nestas áreas. Esta comunicação apresenta a primeira fase deste estudo. Trata-se da aplicação de um inquérito por questionário a uma população de estudantes de graduação, no ensino superior, em Macau. Os resultados demonstram as perceções dos estudantes relativamente às suas necessidades de informação, bem como o uso dos recursos informativos preferidos na prossecução dos seus estudos. A formação destes estudantes na pesquisa, recuperação, análise e uso da informação parece ser essencial. A construção de programas de formação em literacia da informação deve ser concebida à medida, recorrendo-se a um diagnóstico próximo e efetivo. A par, é importante continuar a desenvolver ambientes físicos e virtuais que disponibilizem informação credível e que deem resposta às necessidades informacionais dos que os utilizam, apoiando a aprendizagem.
Number: 14
Keywords: Estudantes

Perceções das competências requeridas a futuros bibliotecários: um estudo internacional - Sanches, Tatiana; Chan, Emily (14: Comunidades e Profissionais para o Futuro, 2023)
Resumo Os bibliotecários são profissionais que se devem manter constantemente atualizados, procurando ativamente o desenvolvimento das suas competências profissionais, pelas próprias características das funções que desempenham. Porém, é importante perceber o que pensam estes atores acerca da sua atual formação de base, concretamente se esta tem vindo a acompanhar as tendências de atualização. Assim, partindo de uma análise prévia ao conteúdo de diversos documentos orientadores, emanados de associações internacionais, no sentido de encontrar as competências preconizadas para a área de atuação, é realizado um questionário ao nível nacional e internacional a futuros profissionais, estudantes na área das ciências documentais. O principal objetivo é o de procurar entender, comparativamente, que habilidades e competências são valorizadas para o futuro desempenho profissional. O questionário foi aplicado a grupos de estudantes de ciências da documentação e informação em Portugal, Macau e República Checa, evidenciando-se as perspetivas comuns entre os inquiridos sobre as competências necessárias e aquelas que são recebidas na formação inicial, concluindo-se que existem ainda algumas assimetrias entre as necessidades da profissão e a formação recebida, na perspetiva dos futuros profissionais, independentemente do território a que pertencem.

The Hawking Radiation in Massive Gravity: Path Integral and the Bogoliubov Method - Arraut, Ivan; Segovia, Carlos; Rosado, Wilson (Universe, 2023)
We prove the consistency of the different approaches for deriving the black hole radiation for the spherically symmetric case inside the theory of Massive Gravity. By comparing the results obtained by using the Bogoliubov transformations with those obtained by using the Path Integral formulation, we find that in both cases, the presence of the extra-degrees of freedom creates the effect of extra-particles creation due to the distortions on the definitions of time defined by the different observers at large scales. This, however, does not mean extra-particle creation at the horizon level. Instead, the apparent additional particles perceived at large scales emerge from how distant observers define their time coordinate, which is distorted due to the existence of extra-degrees of freedom.
Number: 5 Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Keywords: Bogoliubov transformation method; Hawking radiation; Massive Gravity; Path Integral method; extra-degrees of freedom

在教育中促進無偏見和可靠的人工智能:賦能學生認知能力 [Presentation] - Wu, H. (2023)

Neuromarketing and Global Branding Reaction Analysis Based on Real-Time Monitoring of Multiple Consumer's Biosignals and Emotions - Goncalves, Marcus; Lobo Marques, Joao Alexandre; Silva, Bruno Riccelli Santos; Luther, Valorie; Hayes, Sydney (Journal of International Business and Management, 2023)
Consumers' selections and decision-making processes are some of the most exciting and challenging topics in neuromarketing, sales, and branding. From a global perspective, multicultural influences and societal conditions are crucial to consider. Neuroscience applications in international marketing and consumer behavior is an emergent and multidisciplinary field aiming to understand consumers' thoughts, reactions, and selection processes in branding and sales. This study focuses on real-time monitoring of different physiological signals using eye-tracking, facial expressions recognition, and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) acquisition methods to analyze consumers' responses, detect emotional arousal, measure attention or relaxation levels, analyze perception, consciousness, memory, learning, motivation, preference, and decision-making. This research aimed to monitor human subjects' reactions to these signals during an experiment designed in three phases consisting of different branding advertisements. The nonadvertisement exposition was also monitored while gathering survey responses at the end of each phase. A feature extraction module with a data analytics module was implemented to calculate statistical metrics and decision-making supporting tools based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Feature Importance (FI) determination based on the Random Forest technique. The results indicate that when compared to image ads, video ads are more effective in attracting consumers' attention and creating more emotional arousal.

AI-based Multimodal Qualitative Mapping of Macao Soundscape - Estadieu, G; Cheung, Y.Y. (2023)

The business of social justice in Macau - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | As Macau rebuilds its post-pandemic economy, one could be forgiven for believing that the good life for all has arrived, as evidenced in the manifest opulence on display in its up-market shopping malls. However, this is not the case; social justice needs attention in Macau.
Section: Macau Business

China’s Aid policy approach to Poverty Alleviation in the recipient country: A Case study of the Republic of Guinea - Diakite, Ansoumane Douty (Journal of Social Studies (JSS), 2023)
This paper examines the extent to which China’s aid policies integrate poverty alleviation as a goal of their aid in general, particularly in Guinea. More specifically, the paper analyzed how aid donors focus on poverty alleviation and which policies and mechanisms are in place to address poverty in the countries receiving aid. Regarding the methodology, the author collected data from secondary sources, including government declarations of donors, policy documents at both the donor and recipient levels, as well as from scholarly publications. The following findings resulted from study: China’s aid policies have progressively incorporated poverty alleviationobjectives and identified sectors for intervention against poverty. However, the limitations of China approach to poverty is that China adopts a top-down approach to poverty reduction and lacks of an impact evaluation mechanism based on poverty alleviation.
Number: 1
Keywords: Aid policy; China; Guinea; Poverty alleviation; Strategy

Relationship between Student Teachers' Beliefs and Practices on Early Chinese Literacy Instruction - Sun, Chunrong; Ho, Ka Lee Carrie (Universal Journal of Educational Research, 2023)
This study explores the relationship between student teachers' beliefs and practices in early Chinese literacy instruction. Semi-structured interviews, classroom observation, and document analysis were conducted with six student teachers during their teaching practices. Findings indicated that the student teachers believed explicitly teaching literacy skills and imperceptible acquisition of literacy abilities through communication and meaning-making processes are essential in Chinese early literacy learning. However, they mainly taught Chinese literacy skills in their practices, which means the student teachers still needed to practice what they preached fully. The study suggests that possible reasons for the discrepancies include 'direct teaching' and 'rote learning' might be much easier for student teachers to design and conduct a lesson. Student teachers have limited abilities and experiences in conducting an ideal lesson, and the kindergarten curriculum and onsite supervisors highly influenced their teaching practices. The findings from this study suggested that more operational activities (such as designing lesson plans and conducting micro-teaching) should be used during pre-service training. Furthermore, the communication of educational beliefs between the university supervisor and the onsite supervisor should be strengthened.
Publisher: Horizon Research Publishing

A reserva territorial dos aborígenes potiguaras do Brasil: um locus simbólico - Simões, José Manuel (Revista Internacional em Língua Portuguesa, 2023)
The various volumes coordinated by Pierre Nora to pursue a history of the places of memory in France have become a multidisciplinary theoretical reference for those who, like us, seek to reconstruct the memories with which the land of the Potiguara aborigines of Brazil is organized today. In the introduction to the voluminous work that he directed for eight years, Nora explained his epistemic understanding of the notion of “places of memory”, stressing that a “lieu de mémoire” is any significant entity that, material or immaterial in nature, through a human will or the wear and tear of time, has become a symbolic element of a community's memorial heritage. The French historian also added that, since memory is the fundamental structure of this generally lengthy process, it was convenient to understand it as a phenomenon of emotions and magic that only accommodates the facts that feed it. Strictly speaking, memory is always vague, and reminiscent, stirring both general impressions and fine symbolic details. Furthermore, memory is always vulnerable to transference, repressed and imagined memories, censorship, and all kinds of projections. (Nora, 1984). In this article, we try to understand that the places of memory are also almost always what comes to us, stays, and selects the past. The reserve where they live appears as a symbolic locus to which the Potiguara aborigines cling with all their strength to preserve what remains of their past.
Keywords: aborígenes Potiguara; censuras; locus simbólico; lugares de memória; preservar o passado; reconstrução das memórias

An Improved Dual-Channel Deep Q-Network Model for Tourism Recommendation - Liang, Shengbin; Jin, Jiangyong; Ren, Jia; Du, Wencai; Qu, Shenming (Big Data, 2023)
Keywords: context-aware; deep reinforcement learning; dual-channel; tourism recommendation

A model of integrating convolution and BiGRU dual-channel mechanism for Chinese medical text classifications - Li, Xiaoli; Zhang, Yuying; Jin, Jiangyong; Sun, Fuqi; Li, Na; Liang, Shengbin (PLOS ONE, 2023)
Recently, a lot of Chinese patients consult treatment plans through social networking platforms, but the Chinese medical text contains rich information, including a large number of medical nomenclatures and symptom descriptions. How to build an intelligence model to automatically classify the text information consulted by patients and recommend the correct department for patients is very important. In order to address the problem of insufficient feature extraction from Chinese medical text and low accuracy, this paper proposes a dual channel Chinese medical text classification model. The model extracts feature of Chinese medical text at different granularity, comprehensively and accurately obtains effective feature information, and finally recommends departments for patients according to text classification. One channel of the model focuses on medical nomenclatures, symptoms and other words related to hospital departments, gives different weights, calculates corresponding feature vectors with convolution kernels of different sizes, and then obtains local text representation. The other channel uses the BiGRU network and attention mechanism to obtain text representation, highlighting the important information of the whole sentence, that is, global text representation. Finally, the model uses full connection layer to combine the representation vectors of the two channels, and uses Softmax classifier for classification. The experimental results show that the accuracy, recall and F1-score of the model are improved by 10.65%, 8.94% and 11.62% respectively compared with the baseline models in average, which proves that our model has better performance and robustness.
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Keywords: Convolution; Deep learning; Machine learning; Memory recall; Neural networks; Recurrent neural networks; Semantics; Syntax

Macau 2.0: New Gaming Law and its Implications for Casino Market - Ho, Hong-Wai; Phillips, Jenny (Gaming Law Review, 2023)
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.
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers
Keywords: Macao; concession; economic diversification; gaming regulation; junket; operation

Quantification of insecticides in commercial seafood sold in East Asian markets: risk assessment for consumers - Ivorra, Lucia; Cardoso, Patricia G.; Chan, Shek Kiu; Cruzeiro, Catarina; Tagulao, Karen (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2023)
The extraction of 21 insecticides and 5 metabolites was performed using an optimized and validated QuEChERS protocol that was further used for the quantification (GC–MS/MS) in several seafood matrices (crustaceans, bivalves, and fish-mudskippers). Seven species, acquired from Hong Kong and Macao wet markets (a region so far poorly monitored), were selected based on their commercial importance in the Indo-Pacific region, market abundance, and affordable price. Among them, mussels from Hong Kong, together with mudskippers from Macao, presented the highest insecticide concentrations (median values of 30.33 and 23.90 ng/g WW, respectively). Residual levels of fenobucarb, DDTs, HCHs, and heptachlors were above the established threshold (10 ng/g WW) for human consumption according to the European and Chinese legislations: for example, in fish-mudskippers, DDTs, fenobucarb, and heptachlors (5-, 20- and tenfold, respectively), and in bivalves, HCHs (fourfold) had higher levels than the threshold. Risk assessment revealed potential human health effects (e.g., neurotoxicity), especially through fish and bivalve consumption (non-carcinogenic risk; ΣHQLT > 1), and a potential concern of lifetime cancer risk development through the consumption of fish, bivalves, and crustaceans collected from these markets (carcinogenic risk; ΣTCR > 10–4). Since these results indicate polluted regions, where the seafood is collected/produced, a strict monitoring framework should be implemented in those areas to improve food quality and safety of seafood products.
Keywords: Bivalves; Crustaceans; Health risk assessment; Mudskippers; Organochlorine pesticides

Understanding Chinese Model of Government-University-Industry Collaborations in Research and Education: The Case of Macau SAR. - Ge, Yun (2023)
Higher Education in Macau has been benefiting from a multi-layered institutional environment under China’s One-Country-Two-Systems. This presentation introduces research and education policies and practices of Macau universities under China’s national plan of the Greater Bay Area development. It aims to demonstrate and analyze how higher education actors collaborate with local and regional governments and industrial sectors in human capital formation and research innovations.

Monitoring PM2.5 at a Large Shopping Mall: A Case Study in Macao - Lei, Thomas M. T.; Chan, Yan W. I.; Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul (Processes, 2023)
Employees work long hours in an environment where the ambient air quality is poor, directly affecting their work efficiency. The concentration of particulate matters (PM) produced by the interior renovation of shopping malls has not received particular attention in Macao. Therefore, this study will investigate the indoor air quality (IAQ), in particular of PM2.5, in large-scale shopping mall renovation projects. This study collected on-site PM data with low-cost portable monitoring equipment placed temporarily at specific locations to examine whether the current control measures are appropriate and propose some improvements. Prior to this study, there were no measures being implemented, and on-site monitoring to assess the levels of PM2.5 concentrations was non-existent. The results show the highest level of PM2.5 recorded in this study was 559.00 μg/m3. Moreover, this study may provide a reference 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. This study concluded that the levels of PM2.5 concentration have no correlation with the number of on-site workers, but rather were largely influenced by the processes being performed on-site.
Number: 3 Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Keywords: air pollution; construction dust; health exposure; indoor air quality; particulate matter

AN ANALYSIS OF CRITICAL MANAGERIAL CHALLENGES IN MACAU - Lampo, Alessandro (Revista Gestão em Análise, 2023)
Macau has long been considered to be an example of remarkable economic growth. With the opening of the gaming sector in 2002, the casino and hospitality sector flourished, creating employment opportunities but also imposing several challenges on managers. Since Macau endeavors to be positioned as the center for international business with Portuguese-speaking countries and a platform for trading with China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA), it becomes essential for international enterprises to understand the local dynamics. In light of the limited research available, this study aims to identify management challenges from the perspectives of senior executives in different industries based in Macau. Our findings point out that managers must contend with several issues, such as the lack of a skilled local talent pool, high turnover rates, employees' work attitudes, and a tightly controlled immigration policy. It is also imperative for international managers to nurture relationships and pay attention to the local culture. Our results suggest that Macau has to develop a highly skilled local workforce to attract international companies, while local organizations also have to create an attractive working environment to compete in the marketplace.
Number: 1
Keywords: Macau; casinos; greater bay area; management; managerial challenges

EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS OF WATERFALL AND AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES – A CASE STUDY FROM MACAU'S CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY - Marques, Joao Alexandre Lobo; Morais, João José Bragança dos Reis; Alves, José; Gonçalves, Marcus (Revista Gestão em Análise, 2023)
The adoption of project management techniques is a crucial decision for corporate governance in construction companies since the management of areas such as risk, cost, and communications is essential for the success or failure of an endeavor. Nevertheless, different frameworks based on traditional or agile methodologies are available with several approaches, which may create several ways to manage projects. The primary purpose of this work is to investigate the adequate project management methodology for the construction industry from a general perspective and consider a case study from Macau. The methodology considered semi-structured interviews and a survey comparing international and local project managers from the construction industry. The interviews indicate that most construction project managers still follow empirical methods with no specific methodology but consider the adoption of traditional waterfall approaches. In contrast, according to the survey, most project managers and construction managers agree that the project's efficacy needs to increase, namely in planning, waste minimization, communication increase, and focus on the Client's feedback. In addition, there seems to be a clear indication that agile methodology could be implemented in several types of projects, including hospitality development projects. A hybrid development approach based on the Waterfall and Agile methodologies as a tool for the project management area may provide a more suitable methodology for project managers to follow.
Number: 1
Keywords: PMBOK; agile; construction industry; project management methodologies