Contribution for the Public Consultation on the Macao SAR Masterplan 2020-2024 (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)

Continuing Education in Macau: The Meanings and Experiences of Students Pursuing a Master’s Degree - Gil, Sofia do Carmo (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Contemporary art as a factor for knowledge generation from video: A arte contemporânea como fator de geração de conhecimento a partir do vídeo - Urrutia, Hernando; Pérez, Pilar; Fernandes-Marcos, Adérito (10th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts, 2021)
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

Contemplation and Leadership: In the Footsteps of Fr. Yves Raguin, S.J. - Duraj, Jarosław (2021)

Consumers' Adoption of Molecular Chinese Medicine (MCM) in Macau: A Value-based approach - Hong, Chi Kit; Lampo, Alessandro (Proceedings of the 17th International Conference of the Academy of Global Business Research and Practice (AGBRP 2022), 2022)
Molecular Chinese Medicine (MCM) is a recent method of manufacturing and dosing prescriptions that brings several advantages when compared with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). For instance, MCM is highly dissoluble, tastes better than the usual decoction, and the active principles are easily absorbed. Also, the manufacturing process is subject to better quality control. In spite of these benefits, consumers' intentions remain unclear due to the novelty of this technique. Therefore, an assessment of individuals' perceptions is relevant since molecular medicine is redefining how scientists understand and treat diseases, and it can be considered a medical innovation. To fill the research gap, the Value-based Acceptance Model (VAM) (Kim et al., 2007) is used to assess the individuals' perceptions of value and intention to accept MCM. Data from a sample of Macau residents are analyzed by means of structural equation modeling (SmartPLS). The results support the use of the model in our context, thus extending the applicability of the VAM to other settings. Except for 'technicality', the constructs of 'usefulness', 'enjoyment', and 'perceived fee' had a significant impact on the overall 'perceived value' of MCM, and in turn on the behavioral intention to use the innovation. To facilitate the diffusion of this dosage method in the marketplace, it is suggested that communications strategies consider the proposed sources of value when promoting MCM. To further explain the adoption process, it is recommended to include additional factors that may affect consumers' intention to adopt the innovation and extend the analysis to the actual usage.
Best Research Paper Award: https://www.usj.edu.mo/en/news/fbl-student-hong-chi-kit-and-prof-alessandro-lampo-received-the-best-research-paper-award-at-the-17th-international-conference-of-agbrp/

Consumer purchase intention towards floral products: a study based on the five consumption values - Lei, Si Nga (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This dissertation focused on the consumers’ consumption behavior in Macau flower retailers. It revealed what factors affect consumers’ choice of flower shops during purchase. Also, what contributes to the customers’ loyalty towards a flower retailer by having interviews with the female target groups aged between 20 to 50 who work in the office. This study is important to the flower business owner because the result can allow them to understand the thoughts and feelings of their consumer. By interviewing 11 heavy users of floral products with 16 questions based on the five consumption values, we can communicate with the consumers directly and learn the reasons behind their purchasing behavior. Questions have been divided into 5 consumption values according to the previous research by (Sheth, Newman, & Gros, 1991), including functional, conditional, social, emotional, and epistemic values. The research has collected data on how and at what level these values may affect consumer consumption choices individually. The finding part analyzed the reason why those values affect consumers’ choices. Most of the interviewees stated that service is the most important compared to quality because the owner should be enthusiastic to provide product information and understand the consumer very well to impress and retain them with good personal service
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; consumption behavior; floral product; purchase intention

Constructing an aesthetic discourse: Aesthetic education where Daoism meets postmodernism - Ho, Ka Lee Carrie (Education Inquiry, 2022)
Despite the prevalence of aesthetic education as one of the main developmental objectives in curricular worldwide, the mainstream philosophical discourse on its definition is predominately framed by western philosophy due to a paucity of cross-cultural studies on the subject. The article aims to achieve a contemporary understanding of aesthetic education from both the Chinese and Western aesthetic perspectives. Through the lens of postmodernism, the relationship between Daoist aesthetics and the western postmodern aesthetic perspectives, particularly the Deleuzian concept of rhizome, is identified. Both aesthetic perspectives concern de-authorship and promote self-consciousness/self-awareness. The study reconceptualises the functions of aesthetic education with the Chinese aesthetic philosophy that promotes the nurture of better people through benevolence.
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2020.1831286
Keywords: Aesthetic experiences; Daoism; Deleuze; aesthetic environments; rhizome

Constraints of Fe-S-C stable isotopes on hydrothermal and microbial activities during formation of sediment-hosted stratiform sulfide deposits - Qiu, Wenhong Johnson; Zhou, Mei-Fu; Li, Xiaochun; Huang, Fang; Malpas, John (Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2021)
Microbial and hydrothermal venting activities on the seafloor are important for the formation of sediment-hosted stratiform sulfide (SHSS) deposits. Fe isotopic compositions are sensitive to both microbial and hydrothermal activities and may be used to investigate the formation of these deposits. However, to the best of our knowledge, no Fe isotopic studies have been conducted on SHSS deposits. In the Devonian Dajiangping SHSS-type pyrite deposit (389 Ma), South China, laminated pyrite ores were precipitated from exhalative hydrothermal fluids, whereas black shales were deposited during intervals with no exhalation. Pyrite grains from black shales mostly display positive δ56Fe-py (0.01–0.73‰), higher than marine sediments (ca. 0‰), due to pyrite deriving Fe from basinal shuttled Fe(III) (hydr-)oxides and slowly crystallizing in pores of sediments with equilibrium fractionation, except for negative δ56Fe-py (−0.17‰ to −0.24‰) of two samples caused by mixing of Fe from underlain laminated ores. The positive δ34S-py (3.50–24.5‰) of black shales reflect that sulfur of pyrite originated from quantitative reduction of sulfate in closed pores of sediments. In contrast, pyrite grains of laminated ores have negative δ56Fe-py (−0.60‰ to −0.21‰), which were not only inherited from the negative δ56Fe of hydrothermal fluids but also caused by kinetic fractionation during rapid precipitation of a pyrite precursor (FeS) in hydrothermal plumes. These ores have negative δ34S-py (−28.7‰ to −1.82‰), because H2S for pyrite mineralization was produced by bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) in a sulfate-rich seawater column or shallow sediments. The δ56Fe-py values of laminated ores co-vary positively with δ34S-py and δ13C-carbonate along the ore stratigraphy, with δ13C-carbonate values ranging from −12.0‰ to −2.50‰. However, they correlate negatively with aluminum-normalized total organic carbon (TOC/Al2O3). Organic carbon is thus considered to enhance the production of H2S by BSR activities, increase pyrite precipitation rates and promote the expression of kinetic fractionation of Fe isotopes. Intriguingly, in the ore units with vigorous hydrothermal venting activities, δ56Fe-py, δ34S-py and δ13C-carbonate values display a consistently increasing trend. Such results suggest that venting hydrothermal fluids significantly inhibited the H2S production of BSR, which then reduced the pyrite crystallization rate and decreased the kinetic fractionation of Fe isotopes. Our study reveals that the formation of SHSS deposits relies on H2S from microbial activities and metals from hydrothermal exhalation on the seafloor, but that vigorous exhalation can inhibit microbial activities and thus sulfide precipitation rates. The integrated use of Fe, S, and C isotopes can effectively elucidate these dynamic interactions between hydrothermal venting and microbial activities during the formation of SHSS deposits.
Keywords: Iron isotope; Isotope fractionation; Sediment-hosted stratiform sulfide deposit; Sulfur isotope

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

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

Conceptual replications, research, and the “what works” agenda in education - Morrison, Keith (Educational Research and Evaluation, 2022)
2 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

Computerized Systems for Diagnosis and Treatment of COVID-19 - Lobo Marques, Joao Alexandre; Fong, Simon James (Springer International Publishing, 2023)
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Biofeedback; Computerized Diagnostic Support; Covid-19; Signal and Image Processing

Comparative study: The Human rights situation in China, the USA and Europe - Chu, Pok Tou; Lao-Phillips, Jenny Oliveros (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This thesis mainly discusses and compares the human rights situation and the problems in China, the USA and the UK. Also, the thesis will give the solution of how to make the world's human rights situation more fairly. Because we sometimes listen to these countries use cruel ways to suppress the opponents from the news. So I think this will be very suitable for understanding the current human rights situation, problems and movements in these countries. This thesis mainly uses the secondary data analysis method to collect and analyse the data. After analysing the data, three main issues affecting human rights were identified. These issues are race, religion, and network privacy. Other important factors still influence human rights, but this dissertation focused on the three issues identified. Finally, I will give two to three recommendations to practice human rights more fairly. Although the step will be very small, we can greatly improve the fair human rights in the future
Keywords: China; Europe; Human rights; Human rights situation; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Government Studies (MGS); USA; United Kingdom; 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

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

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

Community Participation of Cultural Heritage Management in a Rapid Growing Economy: A Case Study of Macao, China - Lam, San (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph

COMMUNICARE - an Interactive Multisensory Application to Care for Trees in Macao - CHEONG, WENG IAN (University of Saint Joseph, 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

Cognitive Science of Religion and Classical Theism: A Synthesis - McNabb, Tyler Dalton; DeVito, Michael (Religions, 2022)
Launonen and Mullins argue that if Classical Theism is true, human cognition is likely not theism-tracking, at least, given what we know from cognitive science of religion. In this essay, we develop a model for how classical theists can make sense of the findings from cognitive science, without abandoning their Classical Theist commitments. We also provide an argument for how our model aligns well with the Christian doctrine of general revelation.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

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

Clothing and School Uniforms in Macau: Maria João Nunes Das - Das, Maria João Nunes (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Climate Alarmism or Lukewarming? How So-Called American Conservatives Should Think About Climate Change - McNabb, T. D; Devito, M (Ethics & the Environment, 2022)
In this essay we argue that, based on current scientific data, the most prudential course of future actions that an American conservative can take, is one that assumes what we call climate change alarmism. In order to establish this thesis, we first provide a basic overview of the relevant climate change science, as well as give an analysis of the alarmist and lukewarming dialectic (the two primary interpretations of the data). We then move to develop our environmental wager. Finally, following Roger Scruton, we end this work by proposing what sort of policies conservatives should endorse going further.

Classroom Supports For Primary 5 to Form 3 Students with Emotional and Behavioural Challenges: A Case Study Approach - Lao, Pek Weng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Classroom Interior Design and Creativity: The Contribution of Multifunctional Furniture for Higher Education Institutions in Macau - Kuok, Wai (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); University of Saint Joseph

Classification of Severity of COVID-19 Patients Based on the Heart Rate Variability - Pordeus, Daniel; Ribeiro, Pedro; Zacarias, Laíla; Paulo Madeiro, João; Lobo Marques, Joao Alexandre; Miguel Rodrigues, Pedro; Leite, Camila; Alves Neto, Manoel; Aires Peixoto Jr, Arnaldo; de Oliveira, Adriel (Computerized Systems for Diagnosis and Treatment of COVID-19, 2023)
The continuous development of robust machine learning algorithms in recent years has helped to improve the solutions of many studies in many fields of medicine, rapid diagnosis and detection of high-risk patients with poor prognosis as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads globally, and also early prevention of patients and optimization of medical resources. Here, we propose a fully automated machine learning system to classify the severity of COVID-19 from electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. We retrospectively collected 100 5-minute ECGs from 50 patients in two different positions, upright and supine. We processed the surface ECG to obtain QRS complexes and HRV indices for RR series, including a total of 43 features. We compared 19 machine learning classification algorithms that yielded different approaches explained in a methodology session.
Keywords: COVID-19; Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal; Heart Rate Variability (HRV) indices; Severity; Signal processing

Classification of COVID-19 CT Scans Using Convolutional Neural Networks and Transformers - Bernardo Gois, Francisco Nauber; Lobo Marques, Joao Alexandre; Fong, Simon James (Computerized Systems for Diagnosis and Treatment of COVID-19, 2023)
COVID-19 is a respiratory disorder caused by CoronaVirus and SARS (SARS-CoV2). WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020 and several nations’ healthcare systems were on the verge of collapsing. With that, became crucial to screen COVID-19-positive patients to maximize limited resources. NAATs and antigen tests are utilized to diagnose COVID-19 infections. NAATs reliably detect SARS-CoV-2 and seldom produce false-negative results. Because of its specificity and sensitivity, RT-PCR can be considered the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis. This test’s complex gear is pricey and time-consuming, using skilled specialists to collect throat or nasal mucus samples. These tests require laboratory facilities and a machine for detection and analysis. Deep learning networks have been used for feature extraction and classification of Chest CT-Scan images and as an innovative detection approach in clinical practice. Because of COVID-19 CT scans’ medical characteristics, the lesions are widely spread and display a range of local aspects. Using deep learning to diagnose directly is difficult. In COVID-19, a Transformer and Convolutional Neural Network module are presented to extract local and global information from CT images. This chapter explains transfer learning, considering VGG-16 network, in CT examinations and compares convolutional networks with Vision Transformers (ViT). Vit usage increased VGG-16 network F1-score to 0.94.

Classical theism and Buddhism: connecting metaphysical and ethical systems - McNabb, Tyler Dalton; Baldwin, Erik Daniel (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022)
"As an atheistic religious tradition, Buddhism conventionally stands in opposition to Christianity, and any bridge between them is considered to be riddled with contradictory beliefs on God the creator, salvific power and the afterlife. But what if a Buddhist could also be a Classical Theist? Showing how the various contradictions are not as fundamental as commonly thought, Tyler Dalton McNabb and Erik Baldwin challenge existing assumptions and argue that Classical Theism is, in fact, compatible with Buddhism. They draw parallels between the metaphysical doctrines of both traditions, synthesize their ethical and soteriological commitments and demonstrate that the Theist can interpret the Buddhist's religious experiences, specifically those of emptiness, as veridical, without denying any core doctrine of Classical Theism. By establishing that a synthesis of the two traditions is plausible, this book provides a bold, fresh perspective on the philosophy of religion and reinvigorates philosophical debates between Buddhism and Christianity"–
Keywords: Buddhism; Comparative studies; Relations Theism; Theism

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

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

Children's with SEN Views About Their Experience in Inclusive Education - Lai, Hoi Lam (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

Children's Learning Interest and Social Interaction Through Play: An Action Research Case Study in A Pre-School in Macau= 運用遊戲活動增進幼兒學習興趣與社交互動之行動研究 - 以澳門一幼兒班為例 - Tang Pui I (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Chemical toxicity prediction based on semi-supervised learning and graph convolutional neural network - Chen, Jiarui; Si, Yain-Whar; Un, Chon-Wai; Siu, Shirley W. I. (Journal of Cheminformatics, 2021)
As safety is one of the most important properties of drugs, chemical toxicology prediction has received increasing attentions in the drug discovery research. Traditionally, researchers rely on in vitro and in vivo experiments to test the toxicity of chemical compounds. However, not only are these experiments time consuming and costly, but experiments that involve animal testing are increasingly subject to ethical concerns. While traditional machine learning (ML) methods have been used in the field with some success, the limited availability of annotated toxicity data is the major hurdle for further improving model performance. Inspired by the success of semi-supervised learning (SSL) algorithms, we propose a Graph Convolution Neural Network (GCN) to predict chemical toxicity and trained the network by the Mean Teacher (MT) SSL algorithm. Using the Tox21 data, our optimal SSL-GCN models for predicting the twelve toxicological endpoints achieve an average ROC-AUC score of 0.757 in the test set, which is a 6% improvement over GCN models trained by supervised learning and conventional ML methods. Our SSL-GCN models also exhibit superior performance when compared to models constructed using the built-in DeepChem ML methods. This study demonstrates that SSL can increase the prediction power of models by learning from unannotated data. The optimal unannotated to annotated data ratio ranges between 1:1 and 4:1. This study demonstrates the success of SSL in chemical toxicity prediction; the same technique is expected to be beneficial to other chemical property prediction tasks by utilizing existing large chemical databases. Our optimal model SSL-GCN is hosted on an online server accessible through: https://app.cbbio.online/ssl-gcn/home.
1 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]
Keywords: ADMET; Chemical toxicity; Deep learning; Graph convolutional neural network; Mean teacher; Semi-supervised learning; Tox21

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

CHARACTERIZARION OF ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE IN MACAO S.A.R. OVER THE PAST DECADE: IMPLICATIONS FOR NOISE POLLUTION MANAGEMENT - Deng, Ziyang (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
With the rapid urban development, Macao SAR has become one of regions with the with highest population density in the world, characterized by high traffic flow and dense building aggregations. Noise has become one of the major environmental problems in Macao. Besides having an impact on human health and wellbeing, noise pollution is known to impact ecological systems and the image of a place. Before proposing a plan to reduce noise pollution, it is necessary to have a general understanding of the current noise levels in Macao, how they have changed over time and the main noise pollution sources and environmental concerns. This dissertation relies on the publicly available data from DSPA (Macao Environmental Protection Bureau) monitoring stations concerning noise levels over the past decade. The main research goals were: 1) Characterize changes in noise levels from 2010 to 2021 during daytime, nighttime, and full-day from multiple noise stations located in Macao, Taipa, and Coloane Peninsula; and 2) associate changes in noise levels with potential factors such as location, number of residents/tourists, number of vehicles, among others. This work provides an important framework for future studies concerning noise monitoring and mitigation strategies
Keywords: Environmental policies; Legislation; Master of Environmental Sciences and Management (MESM); Noise management; Noise pollution; University of Saint Joseph; mitigation

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

Challenges and Possibilities of Cultural Heritage: The Case of Portuguese Tiles (Azulejos) in Macau - Chu, Hou Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Macao is a city of culture, and history and culture are the wealth of Macao. Over the centuries, the exchange and transmutation of Chinese and Western cultures have given Macao a unique cultural charm, and have also formed and preserved a considerable amount of cultural heritage. Cultural heritage has received increasing attention from all sectors of the community in the tourism industry in Macao, the promotion of the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage through tourism development has become a new issue in the tourism sector. As an independent art form in the urban public space, tile painting has both practical and aesthetic functions, and is a special vehicle for the convergence of multiple cultures in the urban cultural ecology. It is also a medium through which the city's cultural message can be fully disseminated. The paper presents a detailed analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of the development of Macao's cultural heritage tile murals, based on an introduction to the existing status of Macao's cultural heritage tile murals, using the SWOT analysis method, which provides a reference for Macao's cultural heritage tourism
Keywords: Azulejo; Cultural heritage; Macao; SWOT analysis; Strategy; Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph

Challenges and Learning Strategy for young children with special needs during the pandemic in Indonesia - Fridani, L.; Ikegami, Kiiko (Anthology Challenges in Management of Early Childhood Education during Pandemic, 2021)

Ceremonies of the Sarum Missal: A Careful Conjecture by R. J. Urquhart (review) - Morgan, Stephen (Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal, 2021)
0 citations (Crossref) [2023-01-27] Publisher: The Catholic University of America Press

CCAAT/Enhancer-Binding Protein Alpha Is a Novel Regulator of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Osteochondrogenic Transition and Vascular Calcification - Chen, Pengyuan; Hong, Wanzi; Chen, Ziying; Gordillo-Martinez, Flora; Wang, Siying; Fan, Hualin; Liu, Yuanhui; Dai, Yining; Wang, Bo; Jiang, Lei; Yu, Hongjiao; He, PengCheng (Frontiers in Physiology, 2022)
AimsVascular calcification is a common clinical complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD), atherosclerosis (AS), and diabetes, which is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients. The transdifferentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to an osteochondrogenic phenotype is a crucial step during vascular calcification. The transcription factor CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (C/EBPα) plays an important role in regulating cell proliferation and differentiation, but whether it regulates the calcification of arteries and VSMCs remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to understand the role of C/EBPα in the regulation of vascular calcification.Methods and ResultsBoth mRNA and protein expression levels of C/EBPα were significantly increased in calcified arteries from mice treated with a high dose of vitamin D3 (vD3). Upregulation of C/EBPα was also observed in the high phosphate- and calcium-induced VSMC calcification process. The siRNA-mediated knockdown of C/EBPα significantly attenuated VSMC calcification in vitro. Moreover, C/EBPα depletion in VSMCs significantly reduced the mRNA expression of the osteochondrogenic genes, e.g., sex-determining region Y-box 9 (Sox9). C/EBPα overexpression can induce SOX9 overexpression. Similar changes in the protein expression of SOX9 were also observed in VSMCs after C/EBPα depletion or overexpression. In addition, silencing of Sox9 expression significantly inhibited the phosphate- and calcium-induced VSMC calcification in vitro.ConclusionFindings in this study indicate that C/EBPα is a key regulator of the osteochondrogenic transdifferentiation of VSMCs and vascular calcification, which may represent a novel therapeutic target for vascular calcification.

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

CASE STUDY ON ART INTERVENTION WITH CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER - Wu, Hoi Pio (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

Caregivers of Persons with Neurodevelopmental Conditions: Understanding Their Perspectives of the Need of Clinical Counselling Intervention - Pagdanganan, Paula Ramos (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); 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

Career Planning of Doctoral Students in Macau: Linking Individual Experience to Macro Picture - Ge, Yun (2022)

Career Development of People with Physical or Sensory Impairments in Macau - Ma I Mei (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph

Can The Organisation Help? Exploring The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence, Resilience And Burnout Among Counselling Professionals With Organisational Socialisation As Moderator - Mak, Sin Kei (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
The phenomenon of burnout has been recognised as a worldwide occupational health issue after being vastly studied for decades. Trait Emotional Intelligence (trait EI) and resilience have been identified as personal protective factors (Gutierrez & Mullen, 2016; Listopad et al., 2021), while organisational socialisation is suggested to be an organisational factor in helping people in preventing burnout (Taormina & Law, 2000). With the purpose of 1) investigating the phenomenon in the counselling profession, as well as 2) exploring how trait EI and resilience are related to burnout and whether organisational socialisation might impose moderating effects in between, the present study examined 115 counselling professionals currently employed and working in organisational settings in Macau by snowball sampling, using a quantitative and cross-sectional approach through self-reported online questionnaires. From the data obtained, different burnout patterns were observed according to job titles and work settings, indicating that counselling professionals with different specialties and work in different settings have unique sources of stress, which resulting in differences in their burnout patterns. No between-group differences were observed in age and work experience, while male participants have a higher burnout perception than female participants in the current study. On the other hand, current results suggested trait EI and four components of resilience (determination, endurance, adaptability and recuperability) are negatively correlated to counselling professionals’ burnout perception, providing supportive evidence that trait EI and resilience are protective factors against burnout. Moderation analysis results revealed that organisational socialisation has some moderating effects on the relationship between trait EI, resilience and burnout. However, differences in direction and intensity indicated that the moderating effects of organisational socialisation might be influenced by individual differences. Further studies are needed to better the understanding of the moderating effect of organisational socialisation. Limitations of the current research and implications for counselling professionals and organisations were also discussed in the study
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); University of Saint Joseph; burnout; counselling professionals; organisational socialisation

Can mangroves work as an effective phytoremediation tool for pesticide contamination? An interlinked analysis between surface water, sediments and biota - Ivorra, Lucia; Cardoso, Patricia G.; Chan, Shek Kiu; Cruzeiro, Catarina; Tagulao, Karen Arano (Journal of Cleaner Production, 2021)
Mangroves are a unique group of plants growing along tropical and sub-tropical coastlines, with the ability to remove several types of contaminants such as heavy metals and other persistent organic compounds in coastal waters. However, little attention has been given to the possible role of mangroves in the removal of organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs) from the environment. Used worldwide, these pesticides were banned in the late 80s, withal they can still be quantified in aquatic environments due to their high stability. Moreover, as persistent and lipophilic compounds, OCPs are known for their tendency to bioaccumulate and biomagnify through the food chain, affecting local ecosystems, and potentially human health. This work aimed to investigate the potential benefits of mangrove ecosystems as OCP phytoremediators. For this purpose, a total of seventy-three articles from non-mangrove and mangrove areas around the world were gathered, integrated and re-analysed as a whole. These data include information from four different matrices (water, sediment, benthic fauna and mangrove plants). A common trend of less pesticide contamination in mangrove areas was observed for all the selected matrices. As a complement, average concentrations were discussed considering International Directives, such as the European legislation 2013/39/EU for water policy and the Dutch List together with the International Sediment Quality Guideline, for sediments. Additionally, theoretical risk assessments were also included. Since information regarding OCPs in mangroves ecosystem is very scarce compared to non-mangrove areas, this review provides valuable insights regarding these environments, and the importance of preserving them as a relevant remediation unit.
Keywords: Benthic fauna; Intertidal environments; Organochlorinated pesticides; Persistent organic compounds; Toxicological assessment

Breve Abordagem ao Percurso Vivencial e Poético de Um ‘Autor Maldito’: Carlos Augusto Montalto de Jesus (1863-1932) na China e pelo Mundo Fora - Morais, Isabel (Mapas Esquivos” no Centenário de Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (1919-2019): Navegação a Oriente, 2022)

Brasil: pela mansidão da Paraíba, de Ponta do Seixas a São Francisco | José Manuel Simões - Simoes, José Manuel (InComunidade, 2022)
Nessa noite decidiram hospedar-se num motel pois queriam acordar às 3.45 para ver o primeiro sol das Américas na Ponta de Seixas, João Pessoa, Paraíba. Subiram à torre do Nazareno às 4.45 e, quando já pensavam que as nuvens não iam deixar assistir ao nascer de mais um dia aprazível, eis que ele, o senhor rei dos dias, surge do mar. Enquanto os olhos brilhavam ao sol, lembrou-se que Chico César era dali perto, do interior da Paraíba, para as bandas de Campina Grande. Recordou que a primeira vez que tentou olhá-lo nos olhos percebeu que ele estava envolvido numa […]

Book of Proceedings of ARTeFACTo2022MACAO, Third International Conference on Digital Creation in Arts, Media and Technology - Emerging Extended Realities. 24-25 Nov. 2022, Macao. IEEE ISBN 979-8-3503-1004-7 - Estadieu, Gerald (2022 Third International Conference on Digital Creation in Arts, Media and Technology (ARTeFACTo), 2022)

Book of Proceedings of ARTeFACTo 2022 Macao, Third International Conference on Digital Creation in Arts, Media and Technology - Emerging Extended Realities - Estadieu, G; Martins de Abreu, F.; Caires, Carlos; Fernandes Marco, A. (IEEE, 2023)

Book of Proceedings of ARTECH 2021 - 10th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts (Hybrid Praxis – Art, Sustainability & Technology) - Lopes, Maria Manuela; Lopes, Paulo Bernardino; Araújo, António; Olivero, Lucas Fabian; Marcos, Adérito Fernandes (2021)

Bodhidharma i początki szkoły buddyzmu chan (Bodhidharma and the Origin of Chan School of Buddhism) - Duraj, Jaroslaw (Chiny Dzisiaj, 2022)

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

Bioethics : ethics of life - Gomez, Fausto B. (University of Saint Tomas Publishing House, 2021)

Biculturalism and Parenting Styles among Filipino Mothers and Young Adult Offspring in Macao - Doctor, Ana Catarina Alvarez (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

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)

Belt and Road Initiatives: implications for China’s internationalisation of tertiary-level education - Ge, Yun; Ho, Kong Chong (Educational Research and Evaluation, 2022)
Since the launch of the One Belt and One Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, the internationalisation of China’s tertiary education has entered a new stage. Central to the BRI is investment and strategic planning for talent cultivation, knowledge production, and transmission. This paper explains how the BRI redirects, reinforces, and intensifies China’s strategic planning and actions for internationalising its education. It adopts a policy analysis approach and reviews three key aspects of development and shifting emphasis of internationalisation under the impact of the BRI: international education networks along the Six BRI Economic Corridors, vocational colleges as new players in international education, and promotion of the Chinese language as a new global language. The analysis captures an important moment in which international education processes are being visibly altered through China’s strategies to take the lead in economic globalisation and to compete for a central place in the world via the BRI.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21] Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2022.2041858
Keywords: Belt and Road Initiatives; Chinese language; Internationalisation of higher education; vocational education

'Being at Leisure' as a Primary Element of Pilgrimage: A phenomenological study of the Distinction between Christian and Secular Pilgrimage - Yuan, Haojun (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Philosophy; University of Saint Joseph

Behavioural and endocrine responses to non-interactive live and video conspecifics in males of the Siamese fighting fish - Alex, Deepa; Cardoso, Sara D; Ramos, Andreia; Gonçalves, David (Current Zoology, 2022)
The physiological mechanisms underlying variation in aggression in fish remain poorly understood. One possibly confounding variable is the lack of standardization in the type of stimuli used to elicit aggression. The presentation of controlled stimuli in videos, a.k.a. video playback, can provide better control of the fight components. However, this technique has produced conflicting results in animal behaviour studies and needs to be carefully validated. For this, a similar response to the video and an equivalent live stimulus needs to be demonstrated. Further, different physiological responses may be triggered by live and video stimuli and it is important to demonstrate that video images elicit appropriate physiological reactions. Here, the behavioural and endocrine response of male Siamese fighting fish Betta splendens to a matched for size conspecific fighting behind a one-way mirror, presented live or through video playback, was compared. The video playback and live stimulus elicited a strong and similar aggressive response by the focal fish, with a fight structure that started with stereotypical threat displays and progressed to overt attacks. Post-fight plasma levels of the androgen 11-ketotestosterone were elevated as compared to controls, regardless of the type of stimuli. Cortisol also increased in response to the video images, as previously described for live fights in this species. These results show that the interactive component of a fight, and its resolution, are not needed to trigger an endocrine response to aggression in this species. The study also demonstrates for the first time in a fish a robust endocrine response to video stimuli and supports the use of this technique for researching aggressive behaviour in B. splendens.

Behavioural and endocrine impact of artificial selection for winning in the siamese fighting fish - Ramos, Andreia Maria Cerejo; Gonçalves, David (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Aggression clearly has an adaptive value as it is necessary to secure resources for survival, growth, and reproduction. The Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens, have endured a prolonged process of artificial selection for winning paired-fight contests across Southeast Asia, resulting in strains of short-fin aggressive “fighters”. Across centuries, Thai breeders have been selecting these strains by discarding loser batches and allowing winner batches to breed, claiming that they are significantly more aggressive than wild-types. This natural experiment provides a powerful context to investigate the biological basis of aggressive behaviour in fish, the topic of this thesis. To study aggression, it is important to validate and standardize behavioural assays appropriate for the species under study. Further, different aggression-eliciting stimuli, such as live opponents, 3D models, video playback, or mirror images, may elicit non-equivalent behavioural and physiological responses. For B. splendens, in particular, quantifying aggression from live fights is not ethically acceptable as the high levels of aggression of this species usually result in injuries or even death of the opponent. In Chapter II, it was shown that mirror images elicit very similar aggressive displays and endocrine responses to an interacting opponent behind a transparent partition, validating the use of this test to measure aggression in this model species. Further, it was shown that circulating levels of both androgens (11-ketotestosterone and testosterone) and corticosteroids (cortisol) increased in response to the aggression challenge, even in the absence of conflict resolution, questioning the role of these hormones during present and future aggressive contests. Using the previously validated mirror assay and also tests with live conspecifics, we assessed the impact of selection for winning by comparing, in Chapter III, male and female aggressive behaviour of lab-raised fighter and wild-type strains. The hypothesis that selection for male winners enhanced aggressive displays was confirmed, suggesting that the duration and frequency of threat and attack behaviour correlates with winning probability. However, females of the fighter strain, which are not selected for fights, were also more aggressive than wild-type females. This suggests that male and female aggression share common genetic pathways and physiological mechanisms and raises the possibility that selection for alleles that favour male aggression may have promoted intersexual genetic conflict in this species. After confirming the expected differences in aggressive behaviour between fighter and wild-type fish, the following question was whether endocrine systems, in particular those previously shown to respond to aggression, could have been targeted by the selection process. From previous studies in fish and other vertebrates, it was hypothesised that selection for winners could have increased constitutive levels of androgens or led to an enhanced androgen response to a social challenge. However, in chapter IV, it was shown that levels of 11-ketotestosterone and its response to aggression was similar in males of both strains, questioning the role of androgens in the modulation of aggression in B. splendens. On the contrary, constitutive levels of cortisol and the response of this hormone to an aggression challenge were higher in wild-type compared with fighter fish, supporting previous findings that associated high aggression with a blunted cortisol response. Overall, results from Chapter IV suggest that selection for winning had a stronger impact on the hypothalamus-pituitary-interrenal axis than in the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis. My results support the assumption of the “Challenge Hypothesis” proposed by John Wingfield and collaborators in 1990 to explain the relationship between androgens and aggression, according to which androgen levels above a reproductive baseline are a consequence of the frequency and intensity of social interactions, in particular of male-male agonistic encounters. It is becoming clear that androgens increase rapidly after an aggressive contest, independently of fight outcome. However, the function of this increase remains unclear as the frequency of aggressive displays was unrelated with post-fight androgen levels and constitutive levels of androgens, and androgen responsiveness, were similar between fighter and wild-type males. Results obtained for cortisol agree with a “corticosteroid-mediated dominance hypothesis” whereby low baseline levels and a blunted response of corticosteroids would be associated with a dominant status and high aggression. The work advances our knowledge about the endocrine regulation of aggressive behaviour in B. splendens and opens several testable hypotheses about the role of androgens and corticosteroids in the regulation of fish aggressive behaviour
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Science (D-SC); University of Saint Joseph

Basic Beliefs, the Embryo Rescue Case, and Single-Issue Voting: A Response to Dustin Crummett - McNabb, Tyler; DeVito, Michael (The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, 2021)
In this essay, we respond to Dustin Crummett’s argument that one cannot consistently appeal to body count reasoning to justify being a single-issue pro-life voter if one is also committed to the usual response to the embryo rescue case. Specifically, we argue that a modified version of BCR we call BCR* is consistent with the usual response. We then move to address concerns about the relevance of BCR* to Crummett’s original thesis.
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Automatic Classification System for Subjects Exposed to Short-Term Stress Based on Facial Expression Analysis and ElectroDermal Activity - Motta, P.; Silva, B.; Furtado, F.; Lobo Marques, J. A. (2022)

Attitudes, Acceptance, and Registration toward Organ Donation in Macao - Lou, Kin Heng (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Government Studies (MGS); 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

Attentive recurrent adversarial domain adaptation with Top-k pseudo-labeling for time series classification - He, Qi-Qiao; Siu, Shirley Weng In; Si, Yain-Whar (Applied Intelligence, 2022)
The key challenge of Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (UDA) for analyzing time series data is to learn domain-invariant representations by capturing complex temporal dependencies. In addition, existing unsupervised domain adaptation methods for time series data are designed to align marginal distribution between source and target domains. However, existing UDA methods (e.g. R-DANN Purushotham et al. (2017), VRADA Purushotham et al. (2017), CoDATS Wilson et al. (2020)) neglect the conditional distribution discrepancy between two domains, leading to misclassification of the target domain. Therefore, to learn domain-invariant representations by capturing the temporal dependencies and to reduce the conditional distribution discrepancy between two domains, a novel Attentive Recurrent Adversarial Domain Adaptation with Top-k time series pseudo-labeling method called ARADA-TK is proposed in this paper. In the experiments, our proposed method was compared with the state-of-the-art UDA methods (R-DANN, VRADA and CoDATS). Experimental results on four benchmark datasets revealed that ARADA-TK achieves superior classification accuracy when it is compared to the competing methods.
Keywords: Adversarial training; Attentive; Domain adaptation; Pseudo-labeling; Time series classification

Assisting the Creative Processes in Visual Merchandising for Luxury Fashion Retail - Soares, Patricia Alexandra Ferreira (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This dissertation aims to research the need and viability of creating a digital platform that assists the creative processes naturally linked to Visual Merchandising. Through the proposal of a digital platform that works as a co-creative tool for display archives and a co-creative tool for display set-ups through mood boards, we will aim at improving the teamwork in retail and provide a unique, fast-forward platform for information sharing and input under the direction of Visual Departments. Building on rich source materials such as bibliography, scientific papers, news, and articles, and interviewing Visual Merchandisers actively working in the field, we will show the importance of creativity in Luxury Retail and what are the most common challenges in the field that we will propose a solution to. We will focus on the study of concepts, reviewing digital application tools being used by professionals and their best features and improvement opportunities. By gathering this information, we hope to provide accurate insights and information that proves the viability of this proposal and understand what features could serve best the target audience. Finally, we will present a conceptual idea in the form of sketches with functions of this digital application tool to be fully developed in the future and hopefully build a consistent well, designed commercial web-based application
Keywords: Luxury Retail; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); University of Saint Joseph; VM Digital Platform; VM Display Archives; VM Moodboard; Visual Merchandising

Assessment of Methodologies Employed by Change Agents in Managing Organizational Change: A Case Study in the Hospitality-Gaming Industry - Tagulao, Thea Clarice Saavedra (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

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

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

Artificial neural network-based approaches for computer-aided disease diagnosis and treatment - Marques, João Alexandre Lôbo; Gois, Francisco Nauber Bernardo; Madeiro, João Paulo do Vale; Li, Tengyue; Fong, Simon James (Cognitive and Soft Computing Techniques for the Analysis of Healthcare Data, 2022)
The adoption of computer-aided diagnosis and treatment systems based on different types of artificial neural networks (ANNs) is already a reality in several hospital and ambulatory premises. This chapter aims to present a discussion focused on the challenges and trends of adopting these computerized systems, highlighting solutions based on different types and approaches of ANN, more specifically, feed-forward, recurrent, and deep convolutional architectures. One section is focused on the application of AI/ANN solutions to support cardiology in different applications, such as the classification of the heart structure and functional behavior based on echocardiography images; the automatic analysis of the heart electric activity based on ECG signals; and the diagnosis support of angiogram images during surgical interventions. Finally, a case study is presented based on the application of a deep learning convolutional network together with a recent technique called transfer learning to detect brain tumors using an MRI images data set. According to the findings, the model has a high degree of specificity (precision of 0.93 and recall of 0.94 for images with no brain tumor) and can be used as a screening tool for images that do not contain a brain tumor. The f1-score for images with brain tumor was 0.93. The results achieved are very promising and the proposed solution may be considered to be used as a computer-aided diagnosis tool based on deep learning convolutional neural networks. Future works will consider other techniques and compare them with the one presented here. With the comprehensive approach and overview of multiple applications, it is valid to conclude that computer-aided diagnosis and treatment systems are important tools to be considered today and will be an essential part of the trend of personalized medicine over the coming years.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Computer-aided diagnosis and treatment; Deep learning; Medical imaging; Neural networks

Artificial Intelligence Prediction for the COVID-19 Data Based on LSTM Neural Networks and H2O AutoML - Marques, Joao Alexandre Lobo; Gois, Francisco Nauber Bernardo; Xavier-Neto, José; Fong, Simon James (Predictive Models for Decision Support in the COVID-19 Crisis, 2020)

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

Art-Based Intervention For Children with ADHD: Catina Fong Chi Cheng - Fong Chi Cheng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

Aristotle, Lubich And Ratzinger On A New Economic Paradigm - Eh, Edmond (The Journal of the Macau Ricci Institute, 2021)
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Are Work Engaged Employees Perceive Career Success? A Study of Hospitality at Macau - Kuok, A. C. H (Journal of Hospitality, 2020)
This study examined 206 casino dealers in hospitality at Macau to investigate the extent of their subjective career success and work engagement. Casino dealers were work engaged, but their subjective career success was fairly low, with significant difference between them, which indicates they have cognitive dissonance about their jobs. Several personality variables (emotional suppression and work ethic), organizational variables, i.e., organizational socialization (training, understanding, coworker support, future prospects), and distributive justice, were assessed in relation to subjective career success and work engagement. Organizational socialization, work ethic, and distributive justice were positively correlated with and predictors of subjective career success and work engagement; while emotion suppression was negatively correlated with and predictor of work engagement. This study provides evidence of extending the theories of subjective career success and work engagement in Chinese society and hospitality. Also, it identifies factors that could resolve the employees’ cognitive dissonance, and implementations for management were discussed.
Number: 1-2
Keywords: Subjective career success; emotion suppression; hospitality; human resources; socialization; work engagement

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

Approaches to Customer due Diligence of Anti-Money Laundering Compliance of Banks in Macao - Couto, Miguel Angelo (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Applying Social Skills Improvement System Intervention Guide to Primary Students with ADHD and Problem Behaviors in Macau: A Case Study - Ung, Hou Cheang (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

Applied Interactive Mindfulness: a virtual reality grave mourning user experience in the Chapel of St. Michael in Macao - Olga Ng Ka Man, Sandra; Caires, Carlos (The creative process: reflections on contemporary creativity, 2022)
It has been proven in numerous research that mindfulness can be helpful to reduce stress and chronic pain (Hall, 2014; Lindström, n.d.; Tong et al., 2015). While interactive mindfulness has been one of the focuses in the recent mobile applications market, usually tackling three essential human senses: audio, visual, and touch, each mobile application has quite some different approaches in terms of interactivity. Some focus on the touch and visual, and some on audio (environmental sounds or instructing meditation). Immersing oneself in virtual reality (VR) creates a constant stream of interactivity. Nonetheless, what are the conditions for an (in)tangible virtual reality to be more effective? Under the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown since the end of 2019, Macao has been facing a social concern that we cannot travel easily to visit our decedents’ graves abroad, let alone the existing concerns of expensive burial services, lack of space, and alternative burial options. Also, taking into consideration that standard funeral service in Macao is often too brief, and getting briefer, thus lacking the opportunity to properly farewell the decedent, this research is proposing a virtual reality 3D model construction of the Chapel of St. Michael, located in St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery in Macao, to be streamed on a 360 virtual tour platform, Kuula. co. By immersing in this virtual reality, the participant is to have a single user experience for mindfulness with the decedent. To ensure valid and reliable results that address the research aims and objectives, a single-user experiment is going to be set up with multiple electronic devices, namely, the smartphone iPhone X with cardboard VR, the tablet iPad Pro, and the Oculus Quest 2. The methodology to collect the data will be using observation and simulation. The experiment will be started with an introduction to the project and conducted with no instruction, allowing users to explore and examine all features in this immersive experience. Along with a post-experience survey (interview + questionnaire), we seek its conditions and impacts on Macao residents in terms of interactive mindfulness and participants’ expectation of testing, for the first time in Macao, a virtual reality grave mourning experience.

Application of ANN, XGBoost, and Other ML Methods to Forecast Air Quality in Macau - Lei, Thomas M. T.; Ng, Stanley C. W.; Siu, Shirley W. I. (Sustainability, 2023)
Air pollution in Macau has become a serious problem following the Pearl River Delta’s (PRD) rapid industrialization that began in the 1990s. With this in mind, Macau needs an air quality forecast system that accurately predicts pollutant concentration during the occurrence of pollution episodes to warn the public ahead of time. Five different state-of-the-art machine learning (ML) algorithms were applied to create predictive models to forecast PM2.5, PM10, and CO concentrations for the next 24 and 48 h, which included artificial neural networks (ANN), random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), support vector machine (SVM), and multiple linear regression (MLR), to determine the best ML algorithms for the respective pollutants and time scale. The diurnal measurements of air quality data in Macau from 2016 to 2021 were obtained for this work. The 2020 and 2021 datasets were used for model testing, while the four-year data before 2020 and 2021 were used to build and train the ML models. Results show that the ANN, RF, XGBoost, SVM, and MLR models were able to provide good performance in building up a 24-h forecast with a higher coefficient of determination (R2) and lower root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and biases (BIAS). Meanwhile, all the ML models in the 48-h forecasting performance were satisfactory enough to be accepted as a two-day continuous forecast even if the R2 value was lower than the 24-h forecast. The 48-h forecasting model could be further improved by proper feature selection based on the 24-h dataset, using the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) value test and the adjusted R2 value of the 48-h forecasting model. In conclusion, the above five ML algorithms were able to successfully forecast the 24 and 48 h of pollutant concentration in Macau, with the RF and SVM models performing the best in the prediction of PM2.5 and PM10, and CO in both 24 and 48-h forecasts.
Number: 6 Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Keywords: Macau; air pollution; air quality; air quality forecast; machine learning

Anxious immobilities: an ethnography of coping with contagion (Covid-19) in Macau - Zuev, Dennis; Hannam, Kevin (Mobilities, 2020)
In February 2020, Macau became one of the first regions where the pandemic of coronavirus or Covid-19 affected the totality of social and economic life leading to increased anxieties over movement and distance. Although Macau has had very few actual cases of the virus – 46 in total –and no deaths from it, the Macau government rapidly instituted a lock down. The aim of this article is to reflect on how the social experience of being in lockdown can provide insights into understanding the type of experience or condition that we provisionally term ‘anxious immobility.’ Such a condition is characterized by a total disruption of everyday rhythms and specifically anxious waiting for the normalization of activity while being the subject of biosocial narratives of quarantine and socially responsible. The paper is based upon 3 months of ethnographic research conducted by two researchers based in Macau. We also reflect upon some aspects of the politics of mobilities in the light of disruptions and friction points between Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, and the rest of the world.
13 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21] GSCC: 0000008

Anticipare il Futuro della Cina. L’eredità del vescovo gesuita Jin Luxian SJ (“Anticipating the Future of China. The Heritage of the Jesuit Bishop Jin Luxian SJ”) - Rothlin, Stephan (La Civiltà Cattolica, 2020)

Anti-epileptic Kunitz-like peptides discovered in the branching coral Acropora digitifera through transcriptomic analysis - Chen, Hanbin; Siu, Shirley Weng In; Wong, Clarence Tsun Ting; Qiu, Jianwen; Cheung, Alex Kwok-Kuen; Lee, Simon Ming Yuen (Archives of Toxicology, 2022)
Approximately 50 million people are suffering from epilepsy worldwide. Corals have been used for treating epilepsy in traditional Chinese medicine, but the mechanism of this treatment is unknown. In this study, we analyzed the transcriptome of the branching coral Acropora digitifera and obtained its Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), EuKaryotic Orthologous Groups (KOG) and Gene Ontology (GO) annotation. Combined with multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis, we discovered three polypeptides, we named them AdKuz1, AdKuz2 and AdKuz3, from A. digitifera that showed a close relationship to Kunitz-type peptides. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation indicated that AdKuz1 to 3 could interact with GABAA receptor but AdKuz2–GABAA remained more stable than others. The biological experiments showed that AdKuz1 and AdKuz2 exhibited an anti-inflammatory effect by decreasing the aberrant level of nitric oxide (NO), IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1β induced by LPS in BV-2 cells. In addition, the pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced epileptic effect on zebrafish was remarkably suppressed by AdKuz1 and AdKuz2. AdKuz2 particularly showed superior anti-epileptic effects compared to the other two peptides. Furthermore, AdKuz2 significantly decreased the expression of c-fos and npas4a, which were up-regulated by PTZ treatment. In addition, AdKuz2 reduced the synthesis of glutamate and enhanced the biosynthesis of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). In conclusion, the results indicated that AdKuz2 may affect the synthesis of glutamate and GABA and enhance the activity of the GABAA receptor to inhibit the symptoms of epilepsy. We believe, AdKuz2 could be a promising anti-epileptic agent and its mechanism of action should be further investigated.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]
Keywords: Anti-epileptic; GABAA; Kunitz peptide; Transcriptome

Androgens and corticosteroids increase in response to mirror images and interacting conspecifics in males of the Siamese fighting fish Betta splendens - Ramos, Andreia; Alex, Deepa; Cardoso, Sara D.; Gonçalves, David (Hormones and Behavior, 2021)
The role of hormones as modulators of aggressive behavior in fish remains poorly understood. Androgens and corticosteroids, in particular, have been associated with aggressive behavior in fish but it is still not clear if animals adjust the secretion of these hormones to regulate behavior during ongoing fights, in response to fight outcomes in order to adjust aggressive behavior in subsequent fights, or both. With its stereotyped displays and high aggression levels, the Siamese fighting fish Betta splendens is an excellent model to investigate this question. Here, we compared the behavioral and endocrine response of male B. splendens to fights where there is no winner or loser by presenting them with a size-matched live interacting conspecific behind a transparent partition or with a mirror image. The aggressive response started with threat displays that were overall similar in frequency and duration towards both types of stimuli. Fights transitioned to overt attacks and interacting with a live conspecific elicited a higher frequency of attempted bites and head hits, as compared with the mirror image. There was a pronounced increase in plasma androgens (11-ketotestosterone and testosterone) and corticosteroids (cortisol) levels in response to the aggression challenge, independent of stimulus type. Post-fight intra-group levels of these hormones did not correlate with measures of physical activity or aggressive behavior. A linear discriminant analysis including all behavioral and endocrine data was a poor classifier of fish from the conspecific and mirror trials, showing that overall the behavioral and endocrine response to mirror images and conspecifics was similar. The results show that fight resolution is not necessary to induce an evident increase in peripheral levels of androgens and corticosteroids in B. splendens. However, the function of these hormones during present and future aggressive contests remains to be clarified.
Keywords: Aggression; Androgens; Corticosteroids; Live conspecific test; Mirror test

And the award goes to... - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2022)
Macau, MNA, Opinion | The Macau government recently approved its first reading of a new bill to attract Macau locals to return to Macau to work. Simultaneously, Macau’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture was reported as saying that if Macau could create a better environment and conditions, then ‘local talents who are abroad will surely be interested in returning to Macau’.
Section: MNA

Analyzing Intercultural Romantic Relationships of Filipinos in Macao: Informing Counseling Strategies - Li, Anne Michelle Sia (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

Analysis of the Impact of Environmentally Sustainable Practices on Macau Hotels Guest Engagement - Santos, Ana Sofia Kong (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Analysis of the COVID19 Pandemic Behaviour Based on the Compartmental SEAIRD and Adaptive SVEAIRD Epidemiologic Models - Fong, Simon James; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo; Li, G.; Dey, N.; Crespo, Rubén G.; Herrera-Viedma, E.; Gois, F. Nauber Bernardo; Neto, José Xavier (Epidemic Analytics for Decision Supports in COVID19 Crisis, 2022)
A significant number of people infected by COVID19 do not get sick immediately but become carriers of the disease. These patients might have a certain incubation period. However, the classical compartmental model, SEIR, was not originally designed for COVID19. We used the simple, commonly used SEIR model to retrospectively analyse the initial pandemic data from Singapore. Here, the SEIR model was combined with the actual published Singapore pandemic data, and the key parameters were determined by maximizing the nonlinear goodness of fit R2 and minimizing the root mean square error. These parameters served for the fast and directional convergence of the parameters of an improved model. To cover the quarantine and asymptomatic variables, the existing SEIR model was extended to an infectious disease model with a greater number of population compartments, and with parameter values that were tuned adaptively by solving the nonlinear dynamics equations over the available pandemic data, as well as referring to previous experience with SARS. The contribution presented in this paper is a new model called the adaptive SEAIRD model; it considers the new characteristics of COVID19 and is therefore applicable to a population including asymptomatic carriers. The predictive value is enhanced by tuning of the optimal parameters, whose values better reflect the current pandemic.
Keywords: Adaptive SEAIRD model; Adaptive SVEAIRD model; Asymptomatic cases; Prediction models

Analysis of reading errors in Portuguese : digraphs and complex syllabic structures - Simões, Edlia; Martins, Margarida Alves (Análise Psicológica, 2020)
Abstract: The Portuguese language poses several challenges for children in the initial phase of learning how to read, particularly in the case of letters that may correspond to more than one phoneme, two letters that correspond to a single phoneme and in the case of words containing complex syllabic structures. The objective of this study was to perform a psycholinguistic analysis of the reading errors of children, attending the 1st (n=175) and 2nd year (n=137) of schooling, specifically in the case of words containing digraphs or complex syllabic structures and to analyse the differences between children’s reading errors in these two years. An oral reading test was used for data collection. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the type of reading errors was conducted using words with consonant digraphs (ch, nh, lh, gu, rr, ss), and words with complex syllables <CVC and CCV>. This analysis showed that children presented greater difficulties in some specific digraphs and tended to simplify complex syllables, either by adding or deleting phonemes. The quantity and quality of the reading errors of children attending both grades were discussed in light of reading acquisition theories and children’s phonological development.
0 citations (Crossref) [2023-03-15] Accepted: 2021-01-20T11:46:39Z Publisher: Edições ISPA

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

An Investigation on the Effectiveness of Enhancing Public Relations Through the Use of Facebook by the Public Sector of Macau - Chong, Chan U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

An Investigation on Macao Children with ASD and their Families needs on Social Support - Chau, Chin Fong (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph

An Investigation into Play-Based Educational Support For The Developing Social-Communication Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Kindergarten - Cheong, Tânia Guilherme (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); 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

An Integrated Learning Platform Focusing on STEAM and Collaborative Modules for Macau - Cheng, Un Man; Martins de Abreu, F. (International Journal of Creative Interfaces and Computer Graphics (IJCICG), 2022)
In Macau, the effectiveness of traditional classroom learning is questioned as the problem is discovered by the changes in technology advances, social media, and the varieties of learning methods. Learning experiences, interests, discoveries, and creativity development are considered essential to ac...
Publisher: IGI Global

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

An Improved Double Channel Long Short-Term Memory Model for Medical Text Classification - Liang, Shengbin; Chen, Xinan; Ma, Jixin; Du, Wencai; Ma, Huawei (Journal of Healthcare Engineering, 2021)
There are a large number of symptom consultation texts in medical and healthcare Internet communities, and Chinese health segmentation is more complex, which leads to the low accuracy of the existing algorithms for medical text classification. The deep learning model has advantages in extracting abstract features of text effectively. However, for a large number of samples of complex text data, especially for words with ambiguous meanings in the field of Chinese medical diagnosis, the word-level neural network model is insufficient. Therefore, in order to solve the triage and precise treatment of patients, we present an improved Double Channel (DC) mechanism as a significant enhancement to Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM). In this DC mechanism, two channels are used to receive word-level and char-level embedding, respectively, at the same time. Hybrid attention is proposed to combine the current time output with the current time unit state and then using attention to calculate the weight. By calculating the probability distribution of each timestep input data weight, the weight score is obtained, and then weighted summation is performed. At last, the data input by each timestep is subjected to trade-off learning to improve the generalization ability of the model learning. Moreover, we conduct an extensive performance evaluation on two different datasets: cMedQA and Sentiment140. The experimental results show that the DC-LSTM model proposed in this paper has significantly superior accuracy and ROC compared with the basic CNN-LSTM model.
1 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

An improved ant colony optimization algorithm based on context for tourism route planning - Liang, Shengbin; Jiao, Tongtong; Du, Wencai; Qu, Shenming (PLOS ONE, 2021)
To solve the problem of one-sided pursuit of the shortest distance but ignoring the tourist experience in the process of tourism route planning, an improved ant colony optimization algorithm is proposed for tourism route planning. Contextual information of scenic spots significantly effect people’s choice of tourism destination, so the pheromone update strategy is combined with the contextual information such as weather and comfort degree of the scenic spot in the process of searching the global optimal route, so that the pheromone update tends to the path suitable for tourists. At the same time, in order to avoid falling into local optimization, the sub-path support degree is introduced. The experimental results show that the optimized tourism route has greatly improved the tourist experience, the route distance is shortened by 20.5% and the convergence speed is increased by 21.2% compared with the basic algorithm, which proves that the improved algorithm is notably effective.
3 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

An Exploratory Study on the Possibility of Harmonizing Investment Protection Regimes within the OHADA Zone - Diakité, A. D.; Thiam, A. B. (Transnational Dispute Management (TDM), 2022)
Abstract With its large population and natural resources, Africa needs investors who can sustain its development. At the same time, foreign investors expect returns on their investments. In ...
Publisher: Maris BV

An exploratory study of Macao's role as arbitration seat for commercial disputes between China and portuguese-speaking countries - Leung, Cheok Si (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Lusophone and International Public Law(MLIPL); University of Saint Joseph

An Exploratory Study of Macao's Role as an Arbitration Seat and Venue for Sino-Luso Commercial Disputes - Si, Leung Cheok; Diakite, Ansoumane Douty (Revista Opinião Jurídica (Fortaleza), 2023)
Objective: Over the past decade, arbitration has grown in popularity as a method of resolving commercial disputes worldwide. However, this practice is relatively new in Macao SAR. Recently, official plans were announced to make Macao as a seat of arbitration for commercial disputes between China and Portuguese-speaking countries (Hereinafter PSCs). This article is dedicated to explores the possibility of Macao undertaking and implementing such a role. Accordingly, this article addresses the following issues: What are the strengths and weaknesses of Macao as a seat and eventually as venue for hosting international commercial arbitration between Chinese and PSCs entrepreneurs?Methodology: A mixed-method approach of legal doctrinal and empirical research was used in this article. We first included a thorough study of the concept of arbitration followed by analysis of various legal journals and legislations, including Macao, China, and PSCs’ arbitration laws. An empirical research was then used to collect data by surveying and interviewing with both lawyers and arbitration practitioners from Macao, China and PSCs.Results: This article argues that the strength of Macao resides in the similarities between its legal system and that of the China and PSCs and the languages advantage (Chinese and Portuguese both official languages). In spite of this, arbitration is still relatively underutilized in the region, and there is a limited number of arbitrators and legal professionals with bilingual proficiency.Contributions: This article contributes to the identification of the opportunities and challenges that Macao faces in its potential future development as a seat/venue of arbitration between China and the PSCs.
0 citations (Crossref) [2023-02-08] Number: 36
Keywords: China; Macao; arbitraje internacional comercial; international commercial arbitration; participante y anfitrión de arbitraje; países de habla portuguesa; portuguese-speaking countries; seat and venue of arbitration

An Exploratory Study of Factors Influencing the Consumer Behaviour of Macau Chinese Millennial Women in their Purchasing on Taobao - Tong, Ka Wai (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

An Exploratory Study into How the Application of Neurosciences can Assist in Understanding the Decision-Making Process Under Stress - Furtado, Filipa Magalhães de Moura e Mota (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

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

An Exploration of Building Up the Quality Parent-Child Relationship in Childcare Service in Macao - Leong, On Na (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph

An exploration of building up the quality of parent-child relationship in residential childcare in Macao - Leong, On Na Ribeiro; Liu, Shu-Wen (Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 2022)
_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/aswp.12252

An Evangelical Adrift: The Making of John Henry Newman's Theology by Geertjan Zuijdwegt (review) - Morgan, Stephen (Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal, 2023)
Publisher: The Catholic University of America Press

An Evaluation of the Treasure of Sacred Art of St. Joseph’s Seminary - Kwak, Maria Sheli (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph

An Attempt to Examine Digital Native and Digital Immigrant Macau Graphic Designers' Perceptions of Adopting Generative Design - Lau, Ching Man; Caires, Carlos Sena (International Journal of Creative Interfaces and Computer Graphics (IJCICG), 2022)
The manifestation of generating digital visuals through an algorithm is gaining worldwide attention in the graphic design industry. It is a new form of computing that visualizes data input by the designer or collected in the physical environment and turns them into artwork. The generative design of...
Publisher: IGI Global

An Analysis of Teachers' Perceptions of Professional Development Activities in Macao: A Mixed Methods Study - Ma, Babolal Choi I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education(MED); University of Saint Joseph

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

An Analysis of Celebrities and KOLs Influence Consumer Decisions on the Luxury Fashion Market in Macau - Ip, San U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

An Action Study of Using Game-Based Learning into English Learning to Improve the Lerning Outcomes of Primary Level Students in Macau =: 遊戲式教學融入澳門小學低年級英語課程以提升學生學習成效之行動研究 - Hsu, Hsiao Chien (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

An Action Research on the Influence of Flipped Classroom on Learning Achievement and Learning Motivation of Primary School Students in Programming Courses=: 翻轉教學對於小學程式設計學習成效與學習動機影響之行動研究 - Choi, Wan Chong (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

An Action Research on Supporting Children's Chinese Literacy Learning by Using Visualization Method - Tong, M. K.; Sun, C. R. (2022)

An Action Research on Drawing Guidance as an Intervention to Improve Chinese Writing of Primary Students with Dyslexia =: 繪畫活動介入引導讀寫障礙學生提升寫作能力之行動研究 - 黃郁羚 (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

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

Alcatraz revisited - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2022)

Air Quality Management in Macao: Assessment, Development of an Operational Forecast, and Future Perspectives - Lei, Man Tat (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
A combination of assessment, operational forecast, and future perspective was thoroughly explored to provide an overview of the existing air quality problems in Macao. The levels of air pollution in Macao often exceed those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). In order for the population to take precautionary measures and avoid further health risks during high pollution episodes, it is important to develop a reliable air quality forecast. Statistical models based on linear multiple regression (MLR) and classification and regression trees (CART) analysis were successfully developed for Macao, to predict the next day concentrations of NO2, PM10, PM2.5, and O3. Meteorological variables were selected from an extensive list of possible variables, including geopotential height, relative humidity, atmospheric stability, and air temperature at different vertical levels. Air quality variables translate the resilience of the recent past concentrations of each pollutant and usually are maximum and/or the average of latest 24-hour levels. The models were applied in forecasting the next day average daily concentrations for NO2 and PM and maximum hourly O3 levels for five air quality monitoring stations. The results are expected to support an operational air iv quality forecast for Macao. The work involved two phases. On a first phase, the models utilized meteorological and air quality variables based on five years of historical data, from 2013 to 2017. Data from 2013 to 2016 were used to develop the statistical models and data from 2017 was used for validation purposes. All the developed models were statistically significantly valid with a 95% confidence level with high coefficients of determination (from 0.78 to 0.93) for all pollutants. On a second phase, these models were used with 2019 validation data, while a new set of models based on a more extended historical data series, from 2013 to 2018, were also validated with 2019 data. There were no significant differences in the coefficients of determination (R2) and minor improvements in root mean square errors (RMSE), mean absolute errors (MAE) and biases (BIAS) between the 2013 to 2016 and the 2013 to 2018 data models. In addition, for one air quality monitoring station (Taipa Ambient), the 2013 to 2018 model was applied for two days ahead (D2) forecast and the coefficient of determination (R2) was considerably less accurate to the one day ahead (D1) forecast, but still able to provide a reliable air quality forecast for Macao. To understand if the prediction model was robust to extreme variations in v pollutants concentration, a test was performed under the circumstances of a high pollution episode for PM2.5 and O3 during 2019, and a low pollution episode during 2020. Regarding the high pollution episode, the period of the Chinese National Holiday of 2019 was selected, in which high concentration levels were identified for PM2.5 and O3, with peaks of daily concentration for PM2.5 levels exceeding 55 μg/m3 and the maximum hourly concentration for O3 levels exceeding 400 μg/m3. For the low pollution episode, the 2020 period of implementation of the preventive measures for COVID-19 pandemic was selected, with a low record of daily concentration for PM2.5 levels at 2 μg/m3 and maximum hourly concentration for O3 levels at 50 μg/m3. The 2013 to 2018 model successfully predicted the high pollution episode with high coefficients of determination (0.92 for PM2.5 and 0.82 for O3). Likewise, the low pollution episode was also correctly predicted with high coefficients of determination (0.86 and 0.84 for PM2.5 and O3, respectively). Overall, the results demonstrate that the statistical forecast model is robust and able to correctly reproduce extreme air pollution events of both high and low concentration levels. Machine learning methods maybe adopted to provide significant improvements in combination of multiple linear regression (MLR) and classification and regression vi tree (CART) to further improve the accuracy of the statistical forecast. The developed air pollution forecasting model may be combined with other measures to mitigate the impact of air pollution in Macao. These may include the establishment of low emission zones (LEZ), as enforced in some European cities, license plate restrictions and lottery policy, as used in some Asian, tax exemptions on electric vehicles (EVs) and exclusive corridors for public transportations. Keywords: Air pollution; Particulate Matter; Ozone; Macao; Statistical air quality forecast; Pollution episodes; Chinese national holiday; COVID-19
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Science (D-SC); University of Saint Joseph

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

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

AI and deep learning for processing the huge amount of patient-centric data that assist in clinical decisions - Lôbo Marques, João Alexandre; Bernardo Gois, Francisco Nauber; Nunes da Silveira, Jarbas Aryel; Li, Tengyue; Fong, Simon James (Cognitive and Soft Computing Techniques for the Analysis of Healthcare Data, 2022)
The area of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) is facing a boost in research and development with the increasing amount of data in clinical analysis together with new tools to support patient care. This creates a vibrant and challenging environment for the medical and technical staff. This chapter presents a discussion about the challenges and trends of CDSS considering big data and patient-centered constraints. Two case studies are presented in detail. The first presents the development of a big data and AI classification system for maternal and fetal ambulatory monitoring, composed by different solutions such as the implementation of an Internet of Things sensors and devices network, a fuzzy inference system for emergency alarms, a feature extraction model based on signal processing of the fetal and maternal data, and finally a deep learning classifier with six convolutional layers achieving an F1-score of 0.89 for the case of both maternal and fetal as harmful. The system was designed to support maternal–fetal ambulatory premises in developing countries, where the demand is extremely high and the number of medical specialists is very low. The second case study considered two artificial intelligence approaches to providing efficient prediction of infections for clinical decision support during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. First, LSTM recurrent neural networks were considered with the model achieving R2=0.93 and MAE=40,604.4 in average, while the best, R2=0.9939, was achieved for the time series 3. Second, an open-source framework called H2O AutoML was considered with the “stacked ensemble” approach and presented the best performance followed by XGBoost. Brazil has been one of the most challenging environments during the pandemic and where efficient predictions may be the difference in saving lives. The presentation of such different approaches (ambulatory monitoring and epidemiology data) is important to illustrate the large spectrum of AI tools to support clinical decision-making.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Clinical decisions; Computer-aided diagnostic systems; Deep learning; Patient-centric data

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.

Adapting the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (Utaut 2) to Explain Acceptance of Battery Electric Vehicles: Evidence From Macau - Lampo, Alessandro (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Vehicles solely powered by electricity are a major technological innovation that combines individual transportation needs and environmental sustainability, yet their market penetration is low. Research has traditionally indicated factors such as the vehicle’s purchasing price, driving range, and charging time as the main barriers to adoption. However, the decision to adopt a technology also depends on what the technology represents to the user; therefore, other factors may be important to explain individuals’ behavior. This study is a quantitative and cross-sectional look at the behavioral intention to adopt battery electric vehicles (BEVs) technology in the context of Macau. The research builds on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT 2) (Venkatesh et. al., 2012) to explain the characteristics of the local consumers. Besides the addition of image and environmental concern to the theoretical model, the study also put forward and evaluate the construct of technology show-off, an original measure of the visible and experiential characteristics of a technology. A sample of 236 Macau residents was analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM). The analysis of the data supported the explanatory and predictive power of our model and helped to describe the idiosyncrasies of local residents. The results provide insights related to individual technology acceptance that could be useful in designing more accurate strategies and fostering the uptake of BEVs in Macau or markets that share similarities
Keywords: PhD in Business Administration (D-BA); Thesis and Dissertations; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Business Administration (D-BA); University of Saint Joseph

Actio Ecclesiae: The Participation of the Lay Christian Faithful in the Liturgy of the Hours (c. 1174 Sec. 2) - Law, Cyril Jerome (The Jurist: Studies in Church Law and Ministry, 2023)

Act as Animal in Virtual Reality - Leong, Chi Hoi (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); 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

Acculturative stress and coping among migrant workers: A global mixed-methods systematic review - Liem, Andrian; Renzaho, Andre M. N.; Hannam, Kevin; Lam, Agnes I. F.; Hall, Brian J. (Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 2021)
No existing review has synthesized key questions about acculturation experiences among international migrant workers. This review aimed to explore (1) What are global migrant workers’ experiences with acculturation and acculturative stress? (2) What are acculturative stress coping strategies used by migrant workers? And (3) how effective are these strategies for migrant workers in assisting their acculturation in the host countries? Peer-reviewed and gray literature, without time limitation, were searched in six databases and included if the study: focused on acculturative stress and coping strategies; was conducted with international migrant workers; was published in English; and was empirical. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Three-layered themes of acculturation process and acculturative stress were identified as: individual layer; work-related layer; and social layer. Three key coping strategies were identified: emotion-focused; problem-focused; and appraisal-focused. These coping strategies were used flexibly to increase coping effectiveness and evidence emerged that a particular type of acculturative stress might be solved more effectively by a specific coping strategy. Migrant workers faced numerous challenges in their acculturative process. Understanding this process and their coping strategies could be used in developing research and interventions to improve the well-being of migrant workers.
6 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21] GSCC: 0000004
Keywords: acculturation; cultural adaptation; global mental health; health disparities; healthcare access; migrant health

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.

A touristic habitation: automobilities of Chinese driving tourists - Yang, Peng; Xu, Honggang; Hannam, Kevin (Tourism Geographies, 2022)
As an emergent tourism sector, driving tourism connects car use and touristic activities intimately. Following the notion of the ‘inhabited car’, this article explores how and why Chinese tourists inhabit a travelling car for drivers/passengers in the leisure automobility and driving tourism context. Through three different road trips and ‘mobile methods’, it was found that Chinese tourists inhabit the car in four ways: driving, gazing, listening, and communicating. Through this embodied habitation, the car is turned into a ‘touristic inhabitation’ space for protecting the tourists generating touristic emotions、social interactions, and tourism meanings. The study contributes to automobility and tourism literature and provides implications for driving tourism development in China.
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2022.2046148
Keywords: Automobilities; China; cars; driving tourism; habitation

A Study on the Relationship Between Positive Emotions and Work Stress in Private Kindergarten Teachers in Macau=: 澳門幼稚園教師正向情緒與工作壓力關係之研究 - Chan, Hio Tong (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Study on the Peer Relationship of Students Aged 9-12 with Special Educational Needs in Macao=: 澳門九至十二歲融合生與同儕關係之研究 - Hong Mei Na (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Study on the Educational Policy Reform Implementation of ''The Requirements of Basic Academic Attainments'' in Early Childhood Theme Teaching Curriculum in Macau =: 澳門幼兒教育在主題教學課程實行教育政策改革「基本學力要求」之研究 - Lin, Hou U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Study on Spiritual Well-Being of Secondary School Teachers in Macau - Wong, Kuan Cheng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

A Study on inclusive Class Management by Nursery Teachers in Macau =: 澳門托兒所融合班教師班級經營之研究 - Fong, Ka Lei (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A study on Children's Learning Evaluation in Macao Kindergarten——Taking a Kindergarten in Macao as an example =: 澳門幼師對幼兒學習評量之研究——以澳門某幼稚園為例 - Chan Ka Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Study of the Professional Development of Mid-High Level Management Personnel of Non-Tertiary Education in Macau=: 澳門非高等教育中高層管理人員專業發展之研究 - Leong, Ka Na (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Study of the Perspectives and Experiences of Macau Secondary School Students with Special Education Needs in Inclusive Education - Sio, Man Cheng (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Study of the Management Style in Macau - Kong, Angela Maria (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Study of the Macau personal data protection legal regime - Cabanos, Leilani Oliver (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Lusophone and International Public Law(MLIPL); University of Saint Joseph

A Study of the Macau Personal Data Protection Legal Regime - Sun, Wai Lon (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Government Studies (MGS); University of Saint Joseph

A Study of Social Enterprises in Macau: The Contributing Factors to The Development of Hybrid Social Enterprises - Hau, Pak Kei (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A STUDY OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' TEACHING PROBLEMS AND THEIR COPING STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING INCLUSIVE STUDENTS IN MACAO =: 澳門小學教師面對融合學生的教學困擾及其因應策略之研究 - Hoi Ka Cheng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Study of Primary School Students’ Motivation to Learn English as a Foreign Language in the Context of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) – A Case Study - Pau Ka Kei (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A STUDY OF GREEN FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE IN TONGZHOU DISTRICT OF BEIJING - An, Bo Yang (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
China’s economy has entered a critical period of structural adjustment. The developing green industries and the transforming traditional industries have increasing demand for finance, making ""green finance"" increasingly essential. While China's green finance is in the development stage, some newly developed zones serve as pilots for the launch of green financial products. An example is Tongzhou District of Beijing, which aims to expand Beijing’s space, promote the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and explore the optimal development mode of the densely populated economic areas. This thesis aims to study consumer acceptance of green financial technology (fintech) in the case of Tongzhou District. This thesis extended the commonly applied theoretical model for the problem of study, the Energy Augmented Technology Acceptance Model (EA-TAM), to analyze the impacts of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward use, intention, usage intention, environmental awareness, and green knowledge on the acceptance of green fintech in Tongzhou District. The survey collected 403 valid responses from people that had been active in Tongzhou District. The quantitative analysis is based on structural equation modeling techniques, including reliability analysis, validity analysis, standard method deviation test, and hypothesis testing. The analytical results show that all the hypothesized factors are significant. In addition, the sample is divided into different gender groups and education groups, so that the impacts of the socio-demographic characteristics can be explored. Males’ environmental awareness and green knowledge are insignificant in determining their acceptance of green fintech. The low-educated group’s acceptance of green fintech does not significantly depend on environmental awareness and perceived usefulness
Keywords: Fintech; Green Gintech; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Small Action Research of Using Flipped Classroom Approach to Supporting Diversity Students’ Learning in University. - Sun, C. R. (2021)

A risky new year - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2023)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | Despite the welcome optimism expressed at the government’s plans to resurrect Macau’s economy, its economic recovery will continue to suffer from having had the rug pulled from under its feet by the zero-Covid policy, however well intentioned.
Section: Macau Business

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

A review on multimodal machine learning in medical diagnostics - Yan, Keyue; Li, Tengyue; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo; Gao, Juntao; Fong, Simon James; Yan, Keyue; Li, Tengyue; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo; Gao, Juntao; Fong, Simon James (Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2023)
Nowadays, the increasing number of medical diagnostic data and clinical data provide more complementary references for doctors to make diagnosis to patients. For example, with medical data, such as electrocardiography (ECG), machine learning algorithms can be used to identify and diagnose heart disease to reduce the workload of doctors. However, ECG data is always exposed to various kinds of noise and interference in reality, and medical diagnostics only based on one-dimensional ECG data is not trustable enough. By extracting new features from other types of medical data, we can implement enhanced recognition methods, called multimodal learning. Multimodal learning helps models to process data from a range of different sources, eliminate the requirement for training each single learning modality, and improve the robustness of models with the diversity of data. Growing number of articles in recent years have been devoted to investigating how to extract data from different sources and build accurate multimodal machine learning models, or deep learning models for medical diagnostics. This paper reviews and summarizes several recent papers that dealing with multimodal machine learning in disease detection, and identify topics for future research.
Cc_license_type: cc_by Number: mbe-20-05-382 Primary_atype: Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering Subject_term: Review Subject_term_id: Review

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

A Research study on the relationship between work stress and well-being of primary school teacher in Macau =: 澳門小學教師的工作壓力與幸福感之相關研究 - U, Ka Wai (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Quantum Field Formulation for a Pandemic Propagation - Arraut, Ivan; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo; Fong, Simon James; Li, Gloria; Gois, Francisco Nauber Bernardo; Neto, José Xavier (Epidemic Analytics for Decision Supports in COVID19 Crisis, 2022)
In this chapter, a mathematical model explaining generically the propagation of a pandemic is proposed, helping in this way to identify the fundamental parameters related to the outbreak in general. Three free parameters for the pandemic are identified, which can be finally reduced to only two independent parameters. The model is inspired in the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking, used normally in quantum field theory, and it provides the possibility of analyzing the complex data of the pandemic in a compact way. Data from 12 different countries are considered and the results presented. The application of nonlinear quantum physics equations to model epidemiologic time series is an innovative and promising approach.
Keywords: COVID-19; Mathematical modeling; Nonlinear analysis; Quantum field theory

A Qualitative Research on Tutors' Attitudes Towards the Implementation of the Emotional Eduation in Macau Nurseries =: 澳門托兒所導師對幼兒情緒教育態度的質性研究 - Chan, Man Leng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Qualitative Research on The Career Choice, Current Situation and Prospects of Preschool Tutors Working in Nursery Schools and Kindergartens in Mainland China, Taiwan and Macau=: 中國內地、台灣、澳門幼兒導師從事托兒所和幼兒園工作的職業選擇、現況和前景之質性研究 - Lai Ka Wai (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Qualitative Exploration of the Learning and Teaching Experiences of Teachers Who Completed A Post-Graduate Early Childhood Diploma in Macau =: 探討澳門學位後幼兒教育文憑教師的學習體驗及其教學實踐之質性研究 - Ieong, Weng Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

A Psychological and Phenomenological Analysis of Chinese People Who Are Not-Capable-Of-Saying-No - Song, Sok Fong (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Philosophy (MPH); University of Saint Joseph

A Prospective analysis about employee retention strategies for Macao Hotel Industry - Chong, Ka Yee; Lobo Marques, Joao A. (The 2021 12th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2021)
Human resources are essential to the survival, success, and long-term growth of a company. Hotel is an industry requiring a high level of human resources for delivering high-quality personal service to the hotel guests to maintain its competitiveness in the business environment. With the rapid economic growth in Macao started in 2002, all the industries have been growing fast and competing fiercely for the limited manpower in Macao. However, the Macao hotel industry has been losing its attractiveness in the Macao labor market and needs to rely on non-local workers with a limited stay in Macao. The management team of the Macao hotel industry is looking for a solution to maintain a stable workforce. Therefore, a study has been conducted on the effectiveness of its employee retention strategies. A questionnaire was designed to collect the preferences of the employees and interviews were conducted to understand the perspective of the management team toward the employee retention strategies. The study shows the employee strategies are focused on key employees’ interests such as career development and prospect. However, the communication between the management team and employees failed and led to employee turnover.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]
Keywords: Employee retention; Employee turnover reasons; Macao hotel industry; Macao shortage of manpower

A Preliminary Psychometric Investigation of a Chinese Version of the Engaged Teachers Scale (C-ETS) - Ho, Sammy K.; Chan, Hang; Chan, Edmund Sze-Shing; Fung, Kwok-Kin; Hung, Shirley Suet-Lin (Frontiers in Education, 2021)
This study examines the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Engaged Teacher Scale (C-ETS). A translated questionnaire with 16 items was administered to a sample of 341 primary and secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. A series of confirmatory factor analyses were performed to assess the construct, convergent, and discriminant validity of the scale in alternative models. Results provide support for a second-order model with teacher engagement as an overarching construct with four hypothesized dimensions: emotional engagement, cognitive engagement, social engagement (students), and social engagement (colleagues). The C-ETS provides a useful measure for teacher engagement in Chinese societies. Contributions and limitations of the study are discussed.

A positivist approach to work engagement: moderating effects of perceived organizational support - Kuok, A. C. H; Taormina, Robert J. (Dynamic Relationships Management Journal, 2022)
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-10-30]

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 performance académica como ritual de criação e ativismo na era pós-digital - Pérez, P; Pereira, S; Fernandes-Marcos, A (AVANCA CINEMA, 2021)

A Neuropeptide Y/F-like Polypeptide Derived from the Transcriptome of Turbinaria peltata Suppresses LPS-Induced Astrocytic Inflammation - Chen, Qian; Liang, Zirong; Yue, Qian; Wang, Xiufen; Siu, Shirley Weng In; Pui-Man Hoi, Maggie; Lee, Simon Ming-Yuen (Journal of Natural Products, 2022)
Neuropeptides are a group of neuronal signaling molecules that regulate physiological and behavioral processes in animals. Here, we used in silico mining to predict the polypeptide composition of available transcriptomic data of Turbinaria peltata. In total, 118 transcripts encoding putative peptide precursors were discovered. One neuropeptide Y/F-like peptide, named TpNPY, was identified and selected for in silico structural, in silico binding, and pharmacological studies. In our study, the anti-inflammation effect of TpNPY was evaluated using an LPS-stimulated C8-D1A astrocyte cell model. Our results demonstrated that TpNPY, at 0.75–3 μM, inhibited LPS-induced NO production and reduced the expression of iNOS in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, TpNPY reduced the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Additionally, treatment with TpNPY reduced LPS-mediated elevation of ROS production and the intracellular calcium concentration. Further investigation revealed that TpNPY downregulated the IKK/IκB/NF-κB signaling pathway and inhibited expression of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Through molecular docking and using an NPY receptor antagonist, TpNPY was shown to have the ability to interact with the NPY Y1 receptor. On the basis of these findings, we concluded that TpNPY might prevent LPS-induced injury in astrocytes through activation of the NPY-Y1R.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21] Publisher: American Chemical Society

A network analysis investigation of the comorbidity between sleep dysfunction and PTSD symptomatology among Filipino domestic workers in Macao (SAR) China- ClinicalKey - Wang, Siyuan; Sit, Hao Fong; Garabiles, Melissa R.; Blum, Daniel; Hannam, Kevin; Armour, Chérie; Hall, Brian J. (Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2021)

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

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

A Model of Integrating Bert and BiGRU+ Attention Dual-channel Mechanism for Investor Sentiment Analysis of Stock Price Forecast - Ma, Huawei; Ma, Jixin; Liang, Shengbin; Du, Wencai (2022 IEEE/ACIS 23rd International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD), 2022)
Investor sentiment and emotions have a strong impact on financial markets. In recent years there has been increasing interest in analyzing the sentiment of investors for stock price prediction using machine learning. Existing prediction models mostly depend on the analysis of trading data and company profit. few prediction theories have been built based on individual investors' sentiments. The fundamental reason is the difficulty to measure individual investors' sentiment.
ISSN: 2693-8421

A Model of Integrating Bert and BiGRU+ Attention Dual-channel Mechanism for Investor Sentiment Analysis of Stock Price Forecast - Ma, Huawei; Ma, Jixin; Liang, Shengbin; Du, Wencai (2022 IEEE/ACIS 23rd International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD), 2022)

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

A metamorphic devolatilization model for the genesis of the Baiyun gold deposit in the North China Craton: A novel Fe-S isotopes perspective - Liu, Shuaijie; Chen, Bin; Zheng, Jiahao; Wu, Yafei; Bao, Chuang; Zhao, Guochun (Gondwana Research, 2022)
The Mesozoic gold deposits in the North China Craton (NCC) were hosted by the Precambrian basement and Mesozoic intrusions. Thus, most researchers consider that these gold deposits were genetically linked to the Mesozoic intrusions. However, we suggest that a metamorphic devolatilization model provides an alternative based on a combined Fe and in-situ S isotopes study on auriferous pyrites from the Baiyun gold deposit in the NCC. The Triassic Baiyun gold deposit contains the quartz vein and altered rock ores that were developed in the Paleoproterozoic metavolcanic-sedimentary rocks (the Liaohe Group). Our in-situ S isotopic analyses show that pyrites from the quartz vein ores are characterized by negative δ34S values (-10.7 ∼ -5.5‰), while those from the altered rock ores have two distinct groups of δ34S values, one being positive (+13.5 ∼ +16.2‰) and the other negative (-10.6 ∼ -3.0‰). We suggest that pyrite grains with positive δ34S values should be relicts from the host rocks, because they show comparable δ34S values with those from the host rocks schists (+3.3 ∼ +16.1‰). Thus, only the negative δ34S values of pyrites in ores (-10.7 ∼ -3.0‰) and the Fe isotopes of the quartz vein ores (δ56Fe = +0.30 ∼ +0.48‰) can represent the isotopic characteristics of ore-forming fluids at Baiyun. Our study shows that the sulfur were probably from the pyritic volcanic-sedimentary sequences of the Liaohe Group, rather than from magmas. The calculated δ56Fe values of the ore-forming fluids (-0.78 ∼ -0.37‰; pyrite-fluid isotope fractionation) could be modelled in a metamorphic devolatilization model with Fe-species (pyrite&magnetite) of the Liaohe Group as sources. Therefore, our combined S- and Fe- isotope data indicate that the metamorphic devolatilization of the Liaohe Group could account for the genesis of the Baiyun gold deposit.
Keywords: Baiyun gold deposit; Fe isotope; Metamorphic devolatilization model; Orogenic gold deposits; S isotope

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

A Machine Learning Approach to Predict the Trend of Obesity Prevalence at a Global Level - Barzinji, Ala Othman; Ma, Chaoying; Du, Wencai; Ma, Jixin (2021 IEEE/ACIS 6th International Conference on Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Data Science (BCD), 2021)

A Historical Invertigation into the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement in Macau's Protestant Churches: From Thomas J. Mcintosh to the Present Day - Ho, Kei Tsui (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
This dissertation is a comprehensive academic examination of the characteristics and complex historical progress within the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement in Macau Protestant Churches. Since Macau hosted the first Pentecostal and Charismatic missionary, Thomas J. McIntosh, who entered China in 1907, the history of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement in Macau lacks a consistent and synthesized research until now. Thus, primary and secondary resources have been analyzed and reconstructed and historically interpreted to gain a better and deeper understanding of the emergence and development of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement within Macau’s Protestant Churches from the beginning up to the present day. This academic review makes an important contribution to Macau with respect to its historical development and will fill the gap in knowledge within the Global church history of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement. Key Words: Charismatic, Christianity in China, History of Missionaries in China, Macao, Macau, Pentecostalism, Protestant, T. J. McIntosh
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Religious Studies (D-RS); University of Saint Joseph

A financial Valuation Study for Moody’s Corporation - Sio, Lai Teng (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This study presents the intrinsic value of Moody’s Corporation, a leading credit rating agency in the U.S. The results of the valuation were compared to the market value of Moody’s Corporation of the same date. The aim of the research is to provide a perspective to the investors on whether the actual value of the Company was overvalued or undervalued in the market, and how much the volatility of the stock price by the change of some factors. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were applied in the research. The historical data, economic outlook, and the Company’s strategies were collected to be the metrics to determine the intrinsic value and provide an analysis of the prospects of Moody’s Corporation. Three valuation models were applied in the research to estimate the intrinsic value of the Company’s common stock. The cost of debt, cost of equity, the weighted average cost of capital, and the market risk premium were introduced and calculated in the research as they were the critical components in the valuation process. Since the valuation was based on assumptions and historical data to determine future growth, which indicates that the results could be changed due to uncertain factors. This study demonstrates that there was some discrepancy between the stock’s market price and the intrinsic value per share of Moody’s Corporation as of December 31, 2021
Keywords: Intrinsic Value; Moody's; Theses and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; Valuation

A Financial Valuation of Vitasoy International Holding's Limited - Iong, Sio Ieng (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Financial Valuation of Under Armour - Leong, Ka Wa (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Financial Valuation of Starbucks (SBUX) - Lok, Ka Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Starbucks Corporation (hereinafter “Starbucks” or “the Company”) is a worldwide coffee retailer, which operates over 33,000 stores located in over 83 countries nowadays. The purpose of the study is to estimate Starbucks’ intrinsic value as of December 31, 2021 and identify whether the Company was overvalued or undervalued. Several analyses give investors and shareholders an insight into how the Company may develop or identify the ability to generate positive returns from investing in Starbucks. This study is mainly separated into two aspects. The first part specifically discusses the Company overview, industry analysis, and economic outlook, which includes SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, Porter's five forces analysis, and value chain analysis to identify external and internal factors that may influence the Company. The second part focuses on financial analyzes, including both historical and forecasted financial statement. Three valuation models and a sensitive analysis are applied to understand the Company’s financial conditions and performance. Starbucks’ intrinsic value is derived from the three discounted cash flow models, indicating the market overvalued the Company’s stock price as of December 31, 2021. Finally, investors and shareholders can understand more about Starbucks’ capital structure, financial highlights, and intrinsic value, because this set of information is critical for existing investors and potential investors to make investment decisions
Keywords: Starbucks; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; financial valuation; value valuation

A Financial Valuation of Realty Income Corporation - Rodrigues, Ricardo David Almeida Fernandes (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A FINANCIAL VALUATION OF ORACLE CORPORATION - Maung, Ye Thu Anug (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Oracle Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Oracle, ORCL, or ‘the Company’) is an American multinational company that provides solutions of products and services that serve the enterprises’ information technology (IT) environment. This thesis is to conduct a business analysis of the Company from a financial perspective, determining the Company’s intrinsic value as of May 31, 2021, and comparing it with the respective market value. Thus, this thesis will study, evaluate, and present an overview of the Company, an analysis of the Company’s market, industry, strategy, financial performance, including external and internal factors, a ten-year pro forma financial statement forecast, and the techniques of using the three discounted cash flow models to estimate the intrinsic value of Oracle. The obtained results from the three valuation models, including the Enterprise Discounted Cash Flow (EDCF) model, the Adjusted Present Value (APV) model, and the Discounted Economic Profit (DEP) model, show that the Company’s intrinsic values were estimated at $74.57, $75.21, and $74.82, respectively. When the results were used to compare with the market price of Oracle’s shares as of May 31, 2021, at $78.74, it reflects that the Company was overvalued
Keywords: Analysis; Financial Valuation; Oracle Corporation; Theses and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Financial Valuation of Netflix, Inc - Tong, Si Weng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Financial Valuation of Marriott International, Inc - Ian, Kin Wai (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Financial Valuation of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc - Encarnação, Bruno Miguel Arantes da (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Financial Valuation of Alibaba Group Holding Limited - Chan, Man Hong (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

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

A Financial Valuation of 3M Company - Poon, Hung Kong (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A Financial Evaluation of Walmart Inc - Wong, Sut Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

A figura feminina na ficção de Senna Fernandes: identidade, subalternidade e agência - Correia, Ana (O Macaense. Identidade e cultura e quotidiano, 2020)

A Fast Lightweight Based Deep Fusion Learning for Detecting Macula Fovea Using Ultra-Widefield Fundus Images - Wang, Han; Yang, Jie; Wu, Yaoyang; Du, Wencai; Fong, Simon; Duan, Yutong; Yao, Xiaoping; Zhou, Xiaoshu; Li, Qingqian; Lin, Chen; Liu, Jiang; Huang, Lina; et al. (MATHEMATICS & COMPUTER SCIENCE, 2021)
Macula fovea detection is a crucial prerequisite towards screening and diagnosing macular diseases. Without early detection and proper treatment, any abnormality involving the macula may lead to blindness. However, with the ophthalmologist shortage and time-consuming artificial evaluation, neither accuracy nor effectiveness of the diagnose process could be guaranteed. In this project, we proposed a deep learning approach on ultra-widefield fundus (UWF) images for macula fovea detection. This study collected 2300 ultra-widefield fundus images from Shenzhen Aier Eye Hospital in China. Methods based on U-shape network (Unet) and Fully Convolutional Networks (FCN) are implemented on 1800 (before amplifying process) training fundus images, 400 (before amplifying process) validation images and 100 test images. Three professional ophthalmologists were invited to mark the fovea. A method from the anatomy perspective is investigated. This approach is derived from the spatial relationship between macula fovea and optic disc center in UWF. A set of parameters of this method is set based on the experience of ophthalmologists and verified to be effective. Results are measured by calculating the Euclidean distance between proposed approaches and the accurate grounded standard, which is detected by Ultra-widefield swept-source optical coherence tomograph (UWF-OCT) approach. Through a comparation of proposed methods, we conclude that, deep learning approach of Unet outperformed other methods on macula fovea detection tasks, by which outcomes obtained are comparable to grounded standard method.

A dose of lateral thinking - Morrison, Keith (Macau Business, 2022)
Macau, Macau Business, MAG, MB, MB Featured, Opinion | The late psychologist, business and management consultant Edward de Bono gained a worldwide reputation for ‘lateral thinking’, which included his ‘six thinking hats’ and ‘tools for thinking’. Though his work is arguably only plausible pseudoscience, his ‘tools for thinking’ remain interesting. Consider some of these from his Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT), in approaching planning, e.g.: CAF (Consider All Factors); EBS (Examine Both Sides); and OPV (consider Other People’s Views). Here I apply them to Macau.
Section: Macau Business

A Deep Neural Network Based on Circular Representation for Target Detection - Lin, Cong; Chen, Zhoujian; Huang, Yiquan; Jiang, Haoyu; Du, Wencai; Chen, Qiong (Journal of Sensors, 2022)
Convolutional neural network (CNN) model based on deep learning has excellent performance for target detection. However, the detection effect is poor when the object is circular or tubular because most of the existing object detection methods are based on the traditional rectangular box to detect and recognize objects. To solve the problem, we propose the circular representation structure and RepVGG module on the basis of CenterNet and expand the network prediction structure, thus proposing a high-precision and high-efficiency lightweight circular object detection method RebarDet. Specifically, circular tubular type objects will be optimized by replacing the traditional rectangular box with a circular box. Second, we improve the resolution of the network feature map and the upper limit of the number of objects detected in a single detect to achieve the expansion of the network prediction structure, optimized for the dense phenomenon that often occurs in circular tubular objects. Finally, the multibranch topology of RepVGG is introduced to sum the feature information extracted by different convolution modules, which improves the ability of the convolution module to extract information. We conducted extensive experiments on rebar datasets and used AB-Score as a new evaluation method to evaluate RebarDet. The experimental results show that RebarDet can achieve a detection accuracy of up to 0.8114 and a model inference speed of 6.9 fps while maintaining a moderate amount of parameters, which is superior to other mainstream object detection models and verifies the effectiveness of our proposed method. At the same time, RebarDet’s high precision detection of round tubular objects facilitates enterprise intelligent manufacturing processes.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

A DCRC Model for Text Classification - Hao, Zhaoquan; Jin, Jiangyong; Liang, Shengbin; Cheng, Suying; Shen, Yanqing (Computer and Information Science, 2023)
Traditional text classification models have some drawbacks, such as the inability of the model to focus on important parts of the text contextual information in text processing. To solve this problem, we fuse the long and short-term memory network BiGRU with a convolutional neural network to receive text sequence input to reduce the dimensionality of the input sequence and to reduce the loss of text features based on the length and context dependency of the input text sequence. Considering the extraction of important features of the text, we choose the long and short-term memory network BiLSTM to capture the main features of the text and thus reduce the loss of features. Finally, we propose a BiGRU-CNN-BiLSTM model (DCRC model) based on CNN, GRU and LSTM, which is trained and validated on the THUCNews and Toutiao News datasets. The model outperformed the traditional model in terms of accuracy, recall and F1 score after experimental comparison.
Keywords: BiGRU; BiLSTM; CNN; Text classification

A Critical Look at Blockchain-Interactive Generative Art - Farinha, Daniel Filipe (International Journal of Creative Interfaces and Computer Graphics, 2022)
Artists are increasingly using blockchain as a tool for trading digital artwork as non-fungible tokens (NFTs); however, some are also beginning to experiment with the blockchain as a medium for generative art, using it as a seed for a generative process or to continuously modify an evolving piece. This paper surveys, reviews, and classifies the state-of-the-art in blockchain-interactive NFTs and presents a liberal-arts critique of the opportunities and threats posed by this technology, whilst addressing existing criticism on the broader topic of art-related NFTs. The paper examines some of the most experimental pieces minted on the Hic et Nunc (HEN) and Teia NFT marketplaces, for which a purpose-built research tool was developed. The survey reveals some reliance on centralised infrastructure, namely blockchain indexers, placing undesired trust on third parties which undermines the potential longevity of the artwork. The paper concludes with recommendations for artists and NFT platform designers for developing more resilient and economically sustainable architectures.
Keywords: Art Preservation; Blockchain; Crypto Art; Dynamic NFT; Generative Art; Non-Fungible Token; Provenance

A contribution to Paulo Freire’s theory and practice: The ‘Cultural Extension Service/University of Recife’ (1962–64) - Gerhardt, Heinz Peter (Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2022)
This contribution to the special issue is an historical account of Paulo Freire’s pedagogical and administrative praxis before his forced exile in 1964. It relies on interviews collected during a field trip in 1976, a conversation with Paulo Freire in Geneva one year later and on the secondary literature up to date. Being the head of the first Extension Service of a major Brazilian university in the early 1960s gave Freire and his collaborators the space and time to experiment with the today world famous literacy method bearing his name. The concept of ‘Field of Cultural Production’ (Bourdieu) is used to elucidate better Freire and his team’s avant-gardist production within the spaces opened up by Brazil’s popular movements in the early sixties. The contribution shows how the ‘Paulo Freire System’ developed in the praxis of a cultural movement and received its academic consecration in an incremental and eclectic style.
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2022.2129007
Keywords: Bourdieu; Brazil; Paulo Freire; University of Recife; extension service; literacy

A Content Analysis of School Bullying: A Review of Macau Newspaper Reports - Vong, Fan Nei (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); 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

A Conceptual Model of Behavioral Factors Affecting the Adoption of E-government Services in Macao SAR - Iong, Kit Yeng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are highly associated with the study of e-government, and many scholars believe that within the coming decades, government operation and policy decision-making cannot persist without the use of ICTs (Van Dijk, 2018). This thesis aims to generate a conceptual framework of the behavioral factors that could contribute to the acceleration of the implementation of e-government services in Macao SAR. Rather than regarding e-government services as a goal to be realized in traditional practice through evaluating the outcome, a process-oriented study was conducted. The e-government services are regarded as advanced tools in the 21st century to transform Macao into a smart city. The design of the process-oriented approach and the comparative study of four groups of Macao citizens' behavioral intentions are solidly supported by the research gaps identified in the literature review of e-government studies in an international perspective and the actual context of local Macao studies. Under the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1991), the behavioral factors of the general public and civil servants are investigated through a qualitative approach, and the findings are triangulated from various aspects. Firstly, a systematic literature review of TPB was conducted thoroughly to better understand the current study of e-government around the world. Secondly, a content and thematic analysis of the official documents and articles from local press media and research institutes related to the topic of e-government services was carried out to demonstrate a more comprehensive picture of the current problems of implementing iv and adopting e-services in Macao SAR. Observations in some government premises that provided e-services and 40 in-depth interviews were conducted to generate detailed and first-hand data. Key issues were extracted from the interviewees’ narratives and daily actual usages. Different conceptual models for different age groups and civil servant group were formed. Special attention was paid to analyzing the "hard-to-reach" groups' behavioral intentions. Research limitations identified from the previous literature were overcome partially in this study too. After comparing the similarities and differences, a new conceptual model of significant behavioral factors that affect the behavioral intentions in adopting e-government services was built. Results and findings from the analysis could be used to develop effective interventions by the government policymakers in responding to the behavioral change of the general public in the aspect of e-government services acceptance and adoption
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Government Studies (D-GS); University of Saint Joseph

A Comprehensive Review of Investor Sentiment Analysis in Stock Price Forecasting - Ma, Huawen; Ma, Jixin; Wang, Han; Li, Pengsheng; Du, Wencai (2021 IEEE/ACIS 20th International Fall Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS Fall), 2021)
Sentiment analysis technologies have a strong impact on financial markets. In recent years there has been increasing interest in analyzing the sentiment of investors. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the current state of the art and synthesize the published literature related to the financial sentiment analysis, especially in investor sentiment for prediction of stock price. Starting from this overview the paper provides answers to the questions about how and to what extent research on investor sentiment analysis and stock price trend forecasting in the financial markets has developed and which tools are used for these purposes remains largely unexplored. This paper represents the comprehensive literature-based study on the fields of the investors sentiment analytics and machine learning applied to analyzing the sentiment of investors and its influencing stock market and predicting stock price.
Keywords: Analytical models; Information science; Investor sentiment analysis; Machine learning; Market research; Predictive models; Reliability; Sentiment analysis; Social media; Stock price trend forecasting; Tools

A Comparative Study of Sympathy in David Hume, Karuna in Buddhism, and Ren in Confucianism - Chon, Iao Pang (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Philosophy (MPH); University of Saint Joseph

A cognitive semantic study of biblical Hebrew: the root šlm for completeness-balance - Leong, Andrew Chin Hei (Brill, 2021)
"Semantic studies of the Biblical Hebrew verb "whole" have been influenced by those of its most invoked nominal form "whole". In this volume Andrew Chin Hei Leong shows that the concepts of balance, alliance, and completeness form the basic semantic structure of "whole". Previous studies on "whole" employed either historical or textual methodology, which has been dominant in biblical lexical studies. In addition to these methods, in Leong develops a systematic semantic methodology from Cognitive Semantics and Frame Semantics, to demonstrate that it is balance, rather than completeness, that is the most central concept in holding the semantic network together"–
Keywords: Bible; Hebrew language; Language; style; Semantics; Shlm (The Hebrew root)