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

Statistical Forecast of Pollution Episodes in Macao during National Holiday and COVID-19 - Lei, Man Tat; Monjardino, Joana; Mendes, Luisa; Gonçalves, David; Ferreira, Francisco (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020)
Statistical methods such as multiple linear regression (MLR) and classification and regression tree (CART) analysis were used to build prediction models for the levels of pollutant concentrations in Macao using meteorological and air quality historical data to three periods: (i) from 2013 to 2016, (ii) from 2015 to 2018, and (iii) from 2013 to 2018. The variables retained by the models were identical for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter (PM10), PM2.5, but not for ozone (O3) Air pollution data from 2019 was used for validation purposes. The model for the 2013 to 2018 period was the one that performed best in prediction of the next-day concentrations levels in 2019, with high coefficient of determination (R2), between predicted and observed daily average concentrations (between 0.78 and 0.89 for all pollutants), and low root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and biases (BIAS). To understand if the prediction model was robust to extreme variations in pollutants concentration, a test was performed under the circumstances of a high pollution episode for PM2.5 and O3 during 2019, and the low pollution episode during the period of implementation of the preventive measures for COVID-19 pandemic. 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 exceeding 55 μg/m3 and 400 μg/m3, respectively. The 2013 to 2018 model successfully predicted this high pollution episode with high coefficients of determination (of 0.92 for PM2.5 and 0.82 for O3). The low pollution episode for PM2.5 and O3 was identified during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic period, with a low record of daily concentration for PM2.5 levels at 2 μg/m3 and O3 levels at 50 μg/m3, respectively. The 2013 to 2018 model successfully predicted the low pollution episode for PM2.5 and O3 with a high coefficient of determination (0.86 and 0.84, 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.
8 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21] Number: 14 Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Keywords: COVID-19; air pollution; air quality forecast; modelling; national holiday; pollution episodes

Statistical Methods to Forecast Air Quality in Taipa Ambient and Taipa Residential of Macao - Lei, Man Tat; Monjardino, Joana; Mendes, Luisa; Gonçalves, David; Ferreira, Francisco (Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVII, 2021)
Air pollution is a major concern issue on Macao since the concentration levels of several of the most common pollutants are frequently above the internationally recommended values. The low air quality episodes impacts on human health paired with highly populated urban areas are important motivations to develop forecast methodologies in order to anticipate pollution episodes, allowing establishing warnings to the local community to take precautionary measures and avoid outdoor activities during this period. Using statistical methods (multiple linear regression (MLR) and classification and regression tree (CART) analysis) we were able to develop forecasting models for the main pollutants (NO2, PM2.5, and O3) enabling us to know the next day concentrations with a good skill, translated by high coefficients of determination (0.82–0.90) on a 95% confidence level. The model development was based on six years of historical data, 2013 to 2018, consisting of surface and upper-air meteorological observations and surface air quality observations. The year of 2019 was used for model validation. From an initially large group of meteorological and air quality variables only a few were identified as significant dependent variables in the model. The selected meteorological variables included geopotential height, relative humidity and air temperature at different altitude levels and atmospheric stability characterization parameters. The air quality predictors used included recent past hourly levels of mean concentrations for NO2 and PM2.5 and maximum concentrations for O3. The application of the obtained models provides the expected daily mean concentrations for NO2 and PM2.5 and maximum hourly concentrations O3 for the next day in Taipa Ambient air quality monitoring stations. The described methodology is now operational, in Macao, since 2020.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

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

Green Roof, Nature-based Solutions, Biodiversity, Sustainability, Macao SAR, China - Lei, Man Sao (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
According to the United Nations (UN) World Urbanization Prospects 2018, cities are growing in both size and number, posing challenges for sustainable development. With urbanization, the increase of impermeabilization and landscape fragmentation urges for territorial planning and resources management. To promote resilient and resourceful cites, strategic planning where nature-based solutions (NBS) are included into the built environment, counteracting the negative effects of urbanization through the provision of ecosystem services, should be considered. Green roofs (GR) are an example of NBS that provide a panoply of ecosystem services at the level of the building and city, besides contributing for climate change mitigation and adaptation. This NBS can be included in the urban planning agenda in the new building or as a retrofit solution in the existing built environment. Macao SAR (here mentioned as Macao) is the second more densely populated city in the world, according to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division. The present study aims to assess the inclusion of GR in Macao and assess the ecosystem services that they may provide in a holistic approach aligned with the city’s sustainable development. For this purpose, an extensive GR implemented in Taipa Island of Macao was monitored in terms of associated biodiversity and carbon cycle assessment. Further on, it was carried out a comparison between this GR and a conventional roof (CR) in terms of surface thermal buffering. The results of this study have shown to be very promising in terms of the applicability of GR in Macao and on the relevant ecosystem services that they can provide. First, data loggers were installed in the GR and CR to assess the impact on temperature mitigation. The GR had a significant effect in decreasing and buffering temperature at the surface, with temperatures of 35.6 ºC in the GR substrate comparing with temperatures of 57.7 ºC in the CR surface. The results show that GR can be a cost-efficiency strategy to reduce heating of buildings and their associated environmental and economic costs with cooling. Second, the biodiversity of plants and animals was assessed using a combination of methods. It was observed a high level of biodiversity under a low maintenance and low disturbance of GR vegetation, with 23 species of plants and 34 species of animals identified. This shows that GR can contribute to increase biodiversity in cities. Third, an experiment was run with leaf litter bags to investigate the role of macrofauna (e.g., insects) in the decomposition of organic matter. With macrofauna activity, the decomposition rate increased 17 % when compared to decomposition rates without macrofauna, suggesting that the animals harboured in GR, in particular insects, play a key role in organic matter decomposition and thus on the carbon cycle in cities. This work is, to our knowledge, the first empirical GR study in Macao. The results support the application of GR in Macao for temperature mitigation, biodiversity increase and carbon sequestration, promoting the integration of this NBS in the future urban planning and policy of the city. More generally, the work supports the use of GR as an important NBS to mitigate the impact of climate change in urban settings
Keywords: Biodiversity; China; Green Roof; Macao SAR; Nature-based Solutions; Sustainability

Statistical Forecast Applied to Two Macao Air Monitoring Stations - Lei, M.; Monjardino, J.; Mendes, L.; Gonçalves, D.; Ferreira, F. (IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 2020)
The levels of air pollution in Macao often exceeded the levels recommended by WHO. In order for the population to take precautionary measures and avoid further health risks under high pollutant exposure, it is important to develop a reliable air quality forecast. Statistical models based on multiple regression (MR) analysis were developed successfully for Macao to predict the next day concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, and NO2. All the developed models were statistically significantly valid with a 95% confidence level with high coefficients of determination (from 0.89 to 0.92) for all pollutants. The models utilized meteorological and air quality variables based on five years of historical data, from 2013 to 2017. The data from 2013 to 2016 were used to develop the statistical models and data from 2017 were used for validation purposes. A wide range of meteorological and air quality variables were identified, and only some were selected as significant dependent variables. Meteorological variables were selected from an extensive list of 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 PM10, PM2.5, and NO2 for the air quality monitoring stations. The results are expected to be an operational air quality forecast for Macao.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21] Publisher: IOP Publishing

Exploring Teachers' and Students' perceptions in Formative Assessment Through Project-based Learning for Students Included in Mainstream Schools - Lei, Lei Peng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

FEMALE EMPLOYEES’ PERCEPTIONS OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS IN MACAO - Lei, Hon Nei; Silva, Maria Rita (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
"This study explored the relationships of work-life balance and turnover intentions of full-time employees in Macao, and role of gender, parenting, and elderly care. Namely: (1) What is the relationship between work-life balance perceptions and turnover intentions? (2) What is the moderating role of gender in the relationship between work-life balance perceptions and turnover intentions? (3) What is the moderating role of parenting (i.e., having children or not) in the relationship between work-life balance perceptions and turnover intentions? And, (4) what is the moderating role of care for elderly family members (i.e., having to provide care or not) in the relationship between work-life balance perceptions and turnover intentions?"
Keywords: Elderly Care; Gender; Parenting; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); Turnover Intention; University of Saint Joseph; Work-Life Balance

Understanding Stakeholders’ Perspectives Towards Serious Games for Vocational Training for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Macau - Lei, Choi On; Cardoso, Jorge C. S. (Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2022, 2022)
People with intellectual disabilities need vocational training and support in order to be able to get into the work market and maintain their workplace. In Macau SAR, China, the vocational training ecosystem still operates in fully classic, in-person, fashion, which means it is susceptible to pandemic situations such as COVID-19. This causes a big disruption to the training when isolation measures are in place. Our goal is to study the introduction of serious games for vocational training of people with disabilities in Macau. This work presents a study to assess the training benefits of serious games and usability factors, understand the acceptability and adoption factors/benefits of serious games for vocational training for people with intellectual disabilities and associated stakeholders in Macau.
Keywords: People with intellectual disabilities; Serious games; Vocational training

探討教師及家長視角下澳門推行生命教育之現況 =: EXPLORING THE CURRENT SITUATION OF LIFE EDUCATION IN MACAU FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF TEACHERS AND PARENTS - Lei, Choi In (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 教師自我效能; 生命教育; 親社會行為

The Study of the Valuation of ManpowerGroup Inc - Lei, Choi Ieng (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Virtual Meetings: How to Increase Communication Effectiveness - Lei, Chio Lan (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

The Relationship Between Burnout and Work Engagement in the Differentiated Job Demands-Resources Model: A Study of Hospitality Industry - Lei, Chi Hang (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model is one of the most influential models for studying burnout and work engagement. However, the relationship between job demands and work engagement yields inconsistent results in empirical research. This study adopted the JD-R model as the theoretical base, together with the differentiated job demands approach, to examine the inconsistent relationship between job demands (i.e., emotional labor) and work engagement. Additionally, the newly proposed job resource (i.e., transformational leadership) and its relationship between burnout and work engagement were examined. Moreover, the moderating role of personal resources (i.e., emotional intelligence) was tested. Data were collected from employees working in the hospitality industry. The results revealed that (1) surface acting correlated positively with emotional exhaustion and cynicism; (2) deep acting was positively correlated with professional efficacy, cognitive, emotional, and physical work engagement; (3) the transformational leadership style negatively predicted emotional exhaustion and cynicism, while positively predicting professional efficacy, cognitive, emotional, and physical work engagement; (4) emotional intelligence moderated the relationship between deep acting, professional efficacy, and emotional work engagement; and (5) the mediation role of burnout was found in the current study
Keywords: Burnout; Job Demands-Resources Approach; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Psychology (D-PSY); University of Saint Joseph; Work Engagement

探討透過「五感教學」進行幼兒社交情緒教育之行動研究 =: Action Research on Teaching the Social Emotion in Children by Using on Five-Senses Teaching Approach - Lei Weng I (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

The Caluation of Microsoft Coproration - Lee, Ka Lou (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Theses and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

澳門長者對樂齡科技的感知及應用動機研究 =: Elderly's Perception and Motivation for the Application of Gerontechnology in Macau - Lee, Hou Sun (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph

Grammar of Macao Creole Portuguese with Typological and Semiotic Considerations - Lebel, Alexandre (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Macao Creole Portuguese (MacCP) is a critically endangered language spoken in Southeastern China. The formation of MacCP is attributed to the speakers of Portuguese-based creole languages in Asia (Asian CPs), especially Papia Kristang, the Malayo-Portuguese of Malacca (MalCP). Since the 19th century, MacCP has been traditionally classified as Sino-Portuguese, but comparative methods incited some authors to treat MacCP within the Malayo-Portuguese group. In Macao, the Malaccan origin of MacCP, known as Patúa or Maquista, is generally underestimated or misunderstood by the local population, including the Macanese/Maquista community. The main goal of this research is to clarify the origin of MacCP from a typological perspective on grammatical features. Secondly, while considering a possible revitalization of Maquista, the research should assess the significance of the Malayo- and Sino-Portuguese classifications in popular narratives and relate the language to current practices. The grammar of MacCP emerged from the complex linguistic ecology of the Portuguese colonial expansion in Asia. The documentation of Asian CPs allows us to sketch possible scenarios that explain the formation of MacCP according to linguistic, historical and social factors. A digital corpus of MacCP containing archive documents, contemporary literature, and oral transcriptions was assembled in order to produce a systematic review of 130 grammatical features, as defined in the Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online (APiCS Online – Michaelis et al. [eds] 2013). MacCP and MalCP share certain features that are not found in South Asian CPs, such as the in situ position of interrogative words, the reduplication for nominal plural, the form of reciprocal constructions, and the verb serialization of motion constructions, thus pointing to the Malayo-Portuguese origin. At the same time, other features suggest a certain influence from Sinitic languages, mainly Cantonese and Hokkien, such as the convergence between the genitive, adjective and relative clause constructions, the double-object construction, the verb-neg-verb polar question, the copular focus construction, the reduplication inducing a change of word class or semantics, and the use of certain deontic, imperative, and prohibitive verbal markers. The comparative analysis of the grammars of MacCP, MalCP and other Asian CPs can be represented quantitatively by the means of a phylogenetic network (SplitsTree4 – Huson & Bryant 2006). The results clearly indicate that, from a structural perspective, MacCP belongs to the Malayo-Portuguese group and the presence of Sinitic elements did not affect the core of the grammar. In fact, MacCP and MalCP appear to be more similar to each other than to the former Malayo-Portuguese of Batavia. However, the Malayo-Portuguese classification of MacCP does not resonate with the Macanese community. By contrast, the Sino-Portuguese classification translates current linguistic, social and semiotic practices. A socio-semiotic survey among the millennial generation of Macanese and the consideration of themes and motifs in Maquista literature indicates that the revitalization of Maquista simultaneously implies, in their views, the preservation of the Cantonese and Portuguese heritage
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Education (D-SE); 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)

Minimising Maximum Illud: Early Resistance to Missionary Inculturation in China - Law, Cyril Jerome (Orientis Aura: Macau Perspectives in Religious Studies, 2022)
Section: Articles

Translating Two Minds in the Tradition of One Faith: Considerations of Intercultural Dynamics in the parallels of John Henry Newman (1801-1890) and Joseph Ma Xiangbo (1840-1939) - Law, Cyril Jerome (Sacred and the Everyday: Comparative Approaches to Literature, Religious and Secular, 2021)
Interculturality is considered a constant given in the development of most major religious movements during the process of propagation coming into contact with diverse tongues, mores, and sentiments. And one of the chief, if not decisive, instruments contributing to this ever dynamic spread and reception of beliefs and cultures is translation. Christianity purports to be an incarnational religion, where the Word made flesh expresses the di-vine in human terms. Its doctrines are enshrined in a faith tradition that is developed largely through interpretation and translation. This short paper will cut into this sacral literary tradition by paralleling two influential mod-ern Christian thinkers, John Henry Newman from the Anglophone school, and Joseph Ma Xiangbo from the Orient, to see how attempts at translating the ideas and works of people from distinct cultural milieux is both reflec-tive of the necessary developmental nature of Christian teachings in the historical continuum of time and space, and indicative of the intellectual challenges that never cease to accompany the literary effervescence stem-ming from comparative religious studies.

「紐曼樞機：兩心對話，一生皈依」澳門紐曼樞機藝文館開幕活動系列專題講座 （Special Lecture on Cardinal Newman for the Opening of the Centro de Cultura e Artes Performartivas Cardeal Newman de Macau） - Law, Cyril Jerome (2020)

「道」與「導」：與聖紐曼樞機反思生命中皈依與教學之使命 Leading the Way - Reflecting on the Mission of Learning and Conversion of Life with St John Henry Newman (1801-1890) - Law, Cyril Jerome (2021)

Enhancing Learning of Accounting for Non-Accounting students: Through Lens of Theory of Planned Behavior and Experiential Learning Styles - Lau, Meng Chan (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
This thesis aims to explore how learning accounting for non-accounting major students could be enhanced through a comprehensive framework connecting individual attributes and learning approaches. While accounting is considered an important and mandatory discipline for business students, it is also considered a difficult subject which deters students’ engagement in the subject. Although the issue has been widely recognized, there are relatively less discussions on possible remedies. Learning accounting is a dynamic process that go beyond the traditional one-to-many learning and teaching settings, all factors revolving the students’ learning environment and process, altogether determine and affect the learning efficiencies. A meta-analysis was first performed to understand the standings of accounting education and to identify gaps within existing literatures in the field of management, accounting, tourism and general education researches. A documentary review on the curricula of all Macau HEI programs involving compulsory accounting courses was also conducted to understand the role and significance of accounting courses for non-accounting college students in Macau. Based on the literature review, this study borrows constructs from theory of planned behavior (TPB) models in its research framework. It attempts to provide a comprehensive framework to understand how students learn accounting efficiently by delving into individual learning styles of the students and their perceived helpfulness and self-efficacy, in respective to different learning techniques. Due to its exploratory nature, a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative methodology is adopted, where both focus group discussions and in-depth interviews are performed with non-accounting students to elicit understandings on student’s difficulties in learning accounting and their preferences for different learning styles. Then, a full-scale quantitative survey is conducted in a Macau higher education institute to assess the learning efficiencies of accounting in different situations. A triangulation with feedback from faculties and administrators are also elicited to provide alternate dimensions on the issues. With no surprise, there is no one best 3 teaching style or method for all students, this thesis contributes to accounting education research by provide a comprehensive diagnosis on the all-round learning stimulus and hindrance in learning accounting. At the end, recommendations are provided for accounting educators to emphasize on the uniqueness of students and to encourage a more dynamic and open environment for learning. Limitations of the studies are also discussed
Keywords: PhD in Business Administration (D-BA); Thesis and Dissertations; 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

Impact of Noise on Early Development and Hearing in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) - Lara, Rafael Ayala (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Fishes are highly specialized in extracting ecologically relevant information from their diverse acoustic habitats since early developmental stages. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a valuable and well-stablished vertebrate model for investigating hearing functioning and disorders, development of the inner ear in vertebrates including humans, drug discovery, ecotoxicology assessments and behavioral research. Although the acoustic environment is known to shape the structure and sensitivity of auditory systems, there is no information on the natural soundscape of this species. Zebrafish are typically reared in large-scale artificial housing systems, which acoustic properties and potential effects on hearing remain largely unknown. Even though elevated levels of noise are widely present in most aquatic soundscapes and to an even greater extent in artificial environments, very limited information is known on how this important environmental stressor impacts species’ development and physiology, hearing capabilities and inner ear morphology, and behaviour. Considering that noise pollution is rapidly increasing in aquatic ecosystems, causing detrimental effects on survivability and growth and altering physiology and behaviour of organisms, it is of paramount importance to assess how this stressor affects wildlife, especially in early ontogeny, a critical period for development and establishment of phenotypic traits. For this thesis I aimed to 1) characterize the soundscape of both zebrafish natural habitats and laboratory captive conditions, and discuss possible impact on auditory sensitivity. Sound recordings were conducted in five distinct zebrafish habitats (Southwest India), from quieter stagnant environments with diverse biological/abiotic sounds to louder watercourses characterized by current and moving substrate, while artificial environmental characterization was conducted on three typical zebrafish housing systems. 8 In order to assess the impact of noise exposure on early development, my next goal was to 2) perform a split-brood experiment to test the effects of chronic noise exposure to increasing levels (130 and 150 dB re 1 μPa, continuous white noise) and different temporal regimes (mimicking shipping activity) on larval zebrafish in regards to general development, physiological stress, and behavioural patterns. Finally, the last objective consisted on 3) testing the effects of chronic noise exposure on auditory sensitivity measured based on inner ear saccular microphonics and acoustic-evoked startle responses (prepulse inhibition paradigm) in larval zebrafish, as well as evaluating whether sensitivity changes were paralleled by altered inner ear morphology. Based on bioacoustics methods, my first study found that zebrafish natural soundscape varied between 98 and 126 dB re 1 lPa in sound pressure levels. Sound spectra presented most energy below 3000 Hz and quieter noise windows were found in the noisiest habitats matching the species best hearing range. Contrastingly, recordings from zebrafish housing systems revealed higher sound levels (122–143 dB) and most energy below 1000Hz with more spectral peaks, which might cause significant impact such as auditory masking or even hearing loss. In my second research work, the acoustic treatments did not affect general development or hatching but increased noise levels led to a significant increase in mortality of larval zebrafish. The cardiac rate, yolk sac consumption and cortisol levels increased significantly with increasing noise level at both 3 and 5 dpf (days post fertilization). Variations in noise time presentations (different random noise periods similar to shipping activity) suggested that the presence of longer silent intervals is important to down-regulate physiological stress. Moreover, 5 dpf larvae exposed to 150 dB continuous noise regimes displayed increased dark avoidance in an anxiety-related dark/light preference test and displayed a significant 9 impairment in spontaneous alternation behaviour (SAB) a memory and sensorimotor related behaviour. Finally, in the last thesis goal, I found that noise-exposed specimens displayed significantly lower hair cell number and saccular epithelial area. This change in sensory morphology was paralleled by a significant decrease in inner ear saccular sensitivity at lower frequencies (100 to 200 Hz) in 5 dpf larvae. Sensorimotor hearing assessment revealed a hypersensitisation effect in noise-exposed group that displayed higher startle swimming velocity, but also significant decrease in sensitivity at 200 Hz. Altogether, this thesis provides an important ground for future research on the adaptation of zebrafish auditory system to the natural soundscapes, and highlights the importance of controlling noise conditions in captivity systems. Furthermore, results provide first evidence of noise-induced physiological stress, anxiety-driven behaviours and memory impairment in larval zebrafish larvae, showing that both noise amplitude and timing may negatively impact key physiological and behavioural endpoints in early ontogeny. The thesis also reports new findings on how acoustic stress may impact the structure and function of the inner ear in larval fish, which was followed by decreased sensitivity in sensorimotor responses to acoustic stimuli. My research highlights the importance of investigating how altered soundscapes and associated physiological and behavioural stress may affect important sensitive windows in development and impose new evolutionary challenges under a scenario of global change
Publisher: University of Saint Joseph
Keywords: PhD in Education (D-SE); Thesis and Dissertations; University of Saint Joseph

Impact of noise on development, physiological stress and behavioural patterns in larval zebrafish - Lara, Rafael A.; Vasconcelos, Raquel O. (Scientific Reports, 2021)
Noise pollution is increasingly present in aquatic ecosystems, causing detrimental effects on growth, physiology and behaviour of organisms. However, limited information exists on how this stressor affects animals in early ontogeny, a critical period for development and establishment of phenotypic traits. We tested the effects of chronic noise exposure to increasing levels (130 and 150 dB re 1 μPa, continuous white noise) and different temporal regimes on larval zebrafish (Danio rerio), an important vertebrate model in ecotoxicology. The acoustic treatments did not affect general development or hatching but higher noise levels led to increased mortality. The cardiac rate, yolk sac consumption and cortisol levels increased significantly with increasing noise level at both 3 and 5 dpf (days post fertilization). Variation in noise temporal patterns (different random noise periods to simulate shipping activity) suggested that the time regime is more important than the total duration of noise exposure to down-regulate physiological stress. Moreover, 5 dpf larvae exposed to 150 dB continuous noise displayed increased dark avoidance in anxiety-related dark/light preference test and impaired spontaneous alternation behaviour. We provide first evidence of noise-induced physiological stress and behavioural disturbance in larval zebrafish, showing that both noise amplitude and timing negatively impact key developmental endpoints in early ontogeny.
7 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21] Number: 1 Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Keywords: Embryology; Environmental impact; Freshwater ecology

Noise-induced hearing loss correlates with inner ear hair cell decrease in larval zebrafish - Lara, Rafael A.; Breitzler, Lukas; Lau, Ieng Hou; Gordillo-Martinez, Flora; Chen, Fangyi; Fonseca, Paulo J.; Bass, Andrew H.; Vasconcelos, Raquel O. (Journal of Experimental Biology, 2022)
Anthropogenic noise can be hazardous for the auditory system and wellbeing of animals, including humans. However, very limited information is known on how this global environmental pollutant affects auditory function and inner ear sensory receptors in early ontogeny. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a valuable model in hearing research, including investigations of developmental processes of the vertebrate inner ear. We tested the effects of chronic exposure to white noise in larval zebrafish on inner ear saccular sensitivity and morphology at 3 and 5 days post-fertilization (dpf), as well as on auditory-evoked swimming responses using the prepulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm at 5 dpf. Noise-exposed larvae showed a significant increase in microphonic potential thresholds at low frequencies, 100 and 200 Hz, while the PPI revealed a hypersensitization effect and a similar threshold shift at 200 Hz. Auditory sensitivity changes were accompanied by a decrease in saccular hair cell number and epithelium area. In aggregate, the results reveal noise-induced effects on inner ear structure–function in a larval fish paralleled by a decrease in auditory-evoked sensorimotor responses. More broadly, this study highlights the importance of investigating the impact of environmental noise on early development of sensory and behavioural responsiveness to acoustic stimuli.
2 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

The Association Between Early/ Emerging Adult-Parent Attachment and Problematic Internet Use Among College Students in Macao - Lao, Sio Mei (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

澳門融合生家長參與個別化教育計劃之現況分析 - Lao, Sin Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

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

The Collaboration and Challenges Faced by Therapists within Professional Inclusive Education Teams in Macau =: 澳門治療師在融合教育專業團隊中的合作情況及挑戰 - Lao, Pek San (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 合作模式; 團隊合作; 治療服務; 澳門治療師

The Impact of Father-Adolescent Relationship on Child Development in Macao - Lao, Pak Lun (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

THE VALUATION OF MCDONALD’S CORPORATION (NYSE: MCD) - Lao, Hong U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This paper analyses the valuation of McDonald's Corporation (MCD) as of December 31, 2021. An estimate of the Company's intrinsic value will also be provided. In addition, the internal company factors and external market conditions influencing company valuations and share prices will be discussed. The study has two main objectives: Determine the intrinsic value of McDonald's common stock as of December 31, 2021, and compare it to the actual stock market price on the same date. An assessment of the stock’s market price should represent the Company's true value on that day. Research can then verify whether it was overvalued or undervalued on that day. Identify internal company factors and external market environment factors that affect the Company's operations. This information will be used to gain a deeper understanding of the sensitivity analysis results. Possible scenarios will be discussed to reflect how these factors stimulate macroeconomic, industry, and business developments, as well as the strategic responses of industry players or competitors. McDonald's possible strategic responses to these scenarios will also be assessed. In this paper, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods will be employed. Data collection and analyses in Chapters 2 to 5 will use a qualitative approach, which includes data related to McDonald's, industry, and economic analyses. Chapters 5 to 8 will apply qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. Data will be collected from McDonald's annual report for the fiscal year from December 2017 to December 2021
Keywords: Intrinsic Value; McDonald's; Sensitivity Analysis; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; Valuation

Intention Towards Online Counseling among Service Provider in Macau=: 澳門社會服務提供者對應用線上輔導的意向 - Lao, Hoi Keong (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph

EVALUATION OF MANGROVE BLUE CARBON AS A POTENTIAL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION IN MACAU - Lao, Hio Wai (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Climate change is a global issue but its impact can be felt locally. Macau SAR has been rapidly developing since the single shift towards a gaming industry-dominated economy, the overwhelming anthropogenic activities contributing to increasing pollution. Mangroves, which play an essential role as the blue carbon system with a high carbon sequestration rate could be a natural base solution to the pollution. This study aims to determine 1) the total organic Carbon (TOC) in the soil of Macau mangrove sites, 2) comparison with the methodology evaluating the organic Carbon, and 3) organic Carbon comparison between Macau and other regions. Soil sampling were processed under the Blue Carbon Initiative guideline, and the samples were divided into two parts for determining the TOC%, combustion method from Hong Kong, and methodology of ashing in our laboratory. The overall estimated TOC% of Macau mangrove sites was 1.29%. There are still a lot of potentials in Carbon storage and for climate change mitigation in Macau
Keywords: Carbon sequestration; Mangroves; Master of Environmental Sciences and Management (MESM); University of Saint Joseph; blue Carbon

澳門普通教師對融合教育的信念和實踐經驗: 一間融合教育資助計劃之幼稚園的個案研究=Macau Ordinary Kindergarten Teachers’ Belief and Practical Experience in Inclusive Education: A Case Study of a Kindergarten that Has Just Joined the Inclusive Education Funding Scheme - Lao, Cíntia da Rosa (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Multi-view convolutional neural network with leader and long-tail particle swarm optimizer for enhancing heart disease and breast cancer detection - Lan, K.; Liu, L.; Li, T.; Chen, Y.; Fong, S.; Marques, J.A.L.; Wong, R.K.; Tang, R. (Neural Computing and Applications, 2020)
8 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

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.

The Moderating Effect of Food Neophilia on Consumers’ Intention to Use Insects as Food - Lampo, Alessandro; Sun, Hou Tong (PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AGBRP, 2024)
In a world where sustainable food choices are becoming increasingly important, this study explores the connection between food neophilia — the desire to experiment with new foods — and people's willingness to include insects in their diets. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), our research delves into how neophilia (NP) moderates respondents’ attitude (ATT), social norms (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) concerning the adoption of insects as a food source. The analysis draws from 160 self-administered surveys and employs structural equation modeling. Conducted in the context of Macau SAR (China), our study reveals the pivotal role that neophilia plays in shaping consumer attitudes and intentions. Notably, respondents generally expressed a willingness to explore novel culinary experiences. A positive moderating effect of neophilia on attitudes toward insect consumption is observed, suggesting that individuals with higher neophilia scores are more inclined to hold favorable intentions regarding insects as food. However, neophilia's influence on moderating SN and PBC exhibits contrasting effects, implying that a strong inclination for food neophilia may not necessarily leadto increased social pressure or perceived control in adopting insect-based diets. In light of these findings, this study recommends that practitioners and policymakers promote insect consumptionas an innovative and adventurous means of achieving sustainable nutrition. While the primary focus is on the impact of food neophilia on people's intention to consume insects as food, the study underscores the urgent need for diversified and sustainable dietary choices to address escalating environmental concerns and secure a resilient food supply for future generations.

The Influence of Society on the Behavioral Intention to Use a Technology: Evidence from the Battery Electric Vehicles Domain - Lampo, Alessandro; Silva, Susana C.; Duarte, Paulo (International Journal of Business Excellence, 2022)

The role of environmental concern and technology show-off on electric vehicles adoption: the case of Macau - Lampo, Alessandro; Silva, Susana C.; Duarte, Paulo (International Journal of Emerging Markets, 2025)
Purpose Research on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) has typically considered environmental concern a key determinant of behavioral intention that leads individuals to prefer electric vehicles. This paper challenges this assumption and argues that technology frameworks may require new variables to capture consumers' preferences. A UTAUT2-based study has been developed to assess the role of environmental concern in the BEVs context and put forward the technology show-off (TS) concept to explain the technology's acceptance. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative and cross-sectional look at behavioral intention is adopted. The study uses structural equation modeling to analyze a sample of 236 Macau residents to determine the relevance of the factors behind the choice to adopt BEVs. Findings The findings indicate that environmental concern and price may be relevant to explain behavioral intention to adopt the BEVs technology. Furthermore, the UTAUT2 framework seems to benefit from adding new variables, with TS playing a pertinent role in explaining technology acceptance. Social implications The findings show that environmental concern fails to build an argument for the shift to full electric mobility and promote the desired behavioral change toward adopting BEVs. Herein lies the necessity to consider new variables that can better describe the characteristics of modern society. Originality/value This paper proposes the TS construct, combining visibility and trialability as significant determinants of behavioral intention to use technology. The study also stresses the need to reconsider the role of environmental concerns' impact on consumer decision-making.

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

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

How Social Influence and Image Impact on the Intention to Use a Technology: A Study from the Battery Electric Vehicle Domain - Lampo, Alessandro; Silva, Susana C. (2022 13th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2022)
Technology research offers several theories and models to explain how individuals accept and use technology innovations. While these often focus on the technical aspects of the innovation, they tend to downplay the affective component of technology. Recognizing that the adoption of technology is also determined by what it means and represents to the users, this paper aims to fill the gap in the literature by studying the effects of social influence and image on the behavioral intention to adopt a technology. We used structural equation modeling (SmartPLS) to analyze data collected from 238 self-administrated surveys regarding the behavioral intention of Macau residents to use battery electric vehicles. The result showed significant relationships among the variables in the model and depicted the construct of image as a strong factor in the adoption decision. Our findings suggest that social influence may not exhibit substantial impact in the case of innovations in their initial phase and, more importantly, the construct of image could be included as a key predictor of behavioral intention in technology acceptance models, particularly in contexts where the choices that consumers make are public, and therefore subject to judgments from the members of the community.
Best Oral Presentation Award: https://www.usj.edu.mo/en/news/dr-alessandro-lampo-receives-best-oral-presentation-award-at-the-iceme-2022/
Keywords: Battery Electric Vehicles; Image; SmartPLS; Social Influence; Technology Acceptance

The Influence of Society on the Behavioral Intention to Use a Technology: Evidence from the Battery Electric Vehicles Domain - Lampo, Alessandro; Silva, Susana C. (Proceedings of the 50th European Marketing Academy (EMAC), 2021)
Despite the general good intentions towards the environment, individuals tend to adopt traditional internal combustion vehicles. Drawing from technology research, this study focuses on the impact of society - in the form of subjective norm and image – on the behavioral intention to adopt a technology. More precisely, this study seeks to explore to which extent societal influences drive the behavioral intention to adopt battery electric vehicles (BEV) technology. A self-administered survey was used for this purpose. The analysis of the data from a sample of 111 respondents showed significant relationships between the predictors and the target behavioral outcome. The study also revealed that subjective norm and image are particularly significant factors for the segment of BEV owners. The findings suggest that marketers and practitioners incorporate social elements into their product communication strategies in order to encourage the uptake of environmentally-sound technologies.

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.

Understanding Policy Acceptance Through UTAUT-2: The Case of the Northbound Travel Policy for Macau Vehicles - Lampo, Alessandro; Diakite, Ansoumane D.; Ip, Emil C. H. (Journal of Global Business Research and Practice, 2024)

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

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

Consumers' Perception of Electric Aviation in Macao: An Exploratory Study Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior - Lampo, Alessandro (Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Industrial and Business Engineering, 2024)
Battery Electric Aircraft (BEA) technology is gaining attention due to the potential to reduce carbon emissions and noise pollution, contributing to global environmental sustainability. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this paper explores the determinants of attitude, social norm, behavioural control, and perceived risks related to the intention of Macau residents to use electric aeroplanes within the Greater Bay Area (GBA). This research uses a quantitative approach. Data is collected through structured surveys distributed to potential adopters. To assess the relationships between the determinants in our model, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is employed. The findings reveal that a favourable attitude and perceived behavioural control positively influence individuals’ intentions to adopt electric aeroplanes. However, perceived risks strongly impact adoption intentions, suggesting that addressing safety and reliability concerns is essential for promoting the technology within the region. The implications of this research extend beyond academic interests, as Macau’s unique position within the GBA offers the opportunity for electric aeroplanes’ adoption. Further, the reduced carbon emissions and noise pollution align with the city’s objectives and create a harmonious balance between economic prosperity and environmental preservation for future generations. This study offers important insights for integrating advanced computing technologies into BEA systems to enhance electric aeroplanes’ operational efficiency and safety to support their adoption. It also provides a path for policymakers and industry stakeholders toward sustainable economic development and integration of Macau within the GBA.

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

How is Technology Accepted? Fundamental Works in User Technology Acceptance from Diffusion of Innovations to UTAUT-2 - Lampo, Alessandro (Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Industrial and Business Engineering, 2023)
The decision to accept and use technology innovations has long been a source of debate across disciplines due to the complexity involved in predicting behavior. Recognizing that the subject is vast and fragmented, this paper examines the mainstream technology works to assist researchers to understand, conceptualize and select the most appropriate theoretical framework for their study. Starting with the pioneering effort on Diffusion of Innovations (DOI/IDT), the analysis considers the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM/TAM-2/TAM-3), the Value-based Acceptance Model (VAM), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT/UTAUT-2) among the most important. A review of the key literature is vital to assessing and identifying research trends, as well as contributing to the discussion of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Mobile Apps, etc. Suggestions for future research paths are also provided.
Keywords: Acceptance and Use of Technology; Product Innovation; Technology Acceptance; Technology Adoption; Technology Innovation

The Role of Habit in UTAUT-2 Research: A Study of BEV Users - Lampo, Alessandro (Proceedings of the 2023 9th International Conference on Industrial and Business Engineering, 2023)
The UTAUT-2 offers the most comprehensive assessment of individual acceptance and use of technology to date. In particular, the theoretical additions of “hedonic motivation”, “price value”, and “habit”, made the model suitable for studying technology in a consumer context. However, a review of the literature revealed that the construct of habit has been dropped from a large number of studies. There are several reasons for this, including that the technologies examined were relatively new for the respondents to form a routine behavior. Therefore, this study aims to explore whether the construct can be used as a key predictor of future intention to use an innovation rather than an acquired practice among technology users. For this purpose, a conceptual model based on the theoretical additions to the UTAUT-2 is proposed and analyzed with structural equation modeling (SmartPLS). Our results showed significant relationships between the predictors and the behavioral intention to use battery electric vehicles (BEV) technology, and, in particular, depicted the construct of habit as the strongest factor in the decision to adopt the technology. In light of our findings, the construct of habit (HT) should be used in research together with the other UTAUT-2 predictors to assess individuals’ perceptions of possible future habitual behaviors.
Keywords: Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs); Consumer Behavior; Habit; Process Innovation; Technology Acceptance; UTAUT-2.

The Financial Valuation of Facebook, Inc - Lam, Weng I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

NATURAL HAZARDS AND THE ROLE OF MANGROVES AS A NATURE-BASED SOLUTION FOR COASTAL PROTECTION IN MACAO SAR - Lam, Sut Ieng (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
The inundation problem in Macao is getting more attention recently, especially after the destructive impacts of typhoons Hato (2017) and Mangkut (2019). The inundation caused by storm surges is getting more severe with the rapid sea-level rise in Macao. Moreover, the potential threat of a tsunami in Macao, may be enhanced with rising sea-level. This research evaluated the risk of coastal hazards in Macao by analyzing the local meteorological data. The results of the analysis indicate a rising trend in the tropical cyclone intensity and more severe storm surges are expected to occur in the future. Moreover, this research explores the potential of Nature-based Solutions (NbS), particularly mangroves, to address the inundation problem in Macao. The study included a preliminary laboratory-based experiment and the application of local mangroves data in numerical models. The results of the experiment and numerical models demonstrate the ability of mangroves to attenuate waves. These findings, although preliminary, indicate that mangroves could be a promising NbS to address inundation issues in Macao. To effectively implement this NbS, further field investigations are needed to measure attenuation in-situ, as well as determine optimal locations for mangrove restoration projects
Keywords: Inundation; Mangroves; Master of Environmental Sciences and Management (MESM); Nature-based solutions; Sealevel rise; Storm surges; University of Saint Joseph; Wave attenuation

Self-Efficacy, Stress and Job Satisfaction among Pre-Service, Novice and Experienced English Teachers: A Study of their Occupational Health - Lam, Stacy; Kuok, A. C. H.; Sze, Tat Ming (Health Psychology Report, 2022)
Background This study aimed to investigate English teachers’ self-efficacy for student engagement, classroom management, instructional strategies and literacy instruction, as well as to discover teacher stress and job satisfaction can play a role in interfering their occupational health (in terms of self-efficacy). In addition, this is one of the first studies to understand the differences in self-efficacy among pre-service, novice and experienced in-service teachers in a Chinese society, where English is positioned as a foreign language. Participants and procedure 271 English teachers (90 pre-service, 181 in-service) with mean teaching experience of 5.57 months for per-service, and 98.51 months for in-service were participated in this quantitative research study, as the targets were not be able to approach randomly, the English teachers were approaching individually though referral sampling, informing that the purpose of the study and receive their consent. Results It discovered both pre-service and novice in-service teachers posses lowest self-efficacy. Moreover, teachers’ stress from classroom predicted their self-efficacy for student engagement and classroom management negatively. On the other hand, teachers’ job satisfaction predicts their self-efficacy for student engagement, instructional strategies and literacy instruction positively. Conclusions Implications (based on the findings) are discussed in order to provide insights for for schools and education departments to strengthen the teachers’ capability of teaching and their occupational health.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-10-30]

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

澳門普通幼兒家長對融合教育的態度 =: Attitude of parents with regular childern towards inclusive education in Macau - Lam, Ngai Meng (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

澳門融合教育教師專業培訓與融合教育發展路向之研究 - Lam, Kin Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

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

澳門教師專業發展研究 –基於《非高等教育私立學校教學人員制度框架》的政策分析 - Lam, Iek Fei (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Illegal Immigration and Population Police in Macau: A Case Study of Fujianese Immigrants = 澳門非法移民問題及其治理——以澳門的福建移民為例 - Lam Lai Teng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph

Perception on occupational stress in the Hospitality Industry in Macau - Lam Chi Ieng (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Employees in the hospitality industry, in particular, face difficult conditions such as overwork, job security, understaffing, and work-life imbalance in today's fast-paced society. Because of that, employees in the hospitality industry experience high levels of occupational stress. Severe conditions of occupational stress may not only lead to health issues for the employee but also affect their work performance. In order to get a better grasp of how occupational stress affects the employees in the hospitality industry in Macau, the research questions are: 1) What are the sources of stress in the Macau hospitality industry? 2) How does the COVID-19 pandemic change the perception of occupational stress among employees in the Macau hospitality industry? How do the companies help the employees in the Macau hospitality industry cope with occupational stress? have been formulated. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven participants working in the hospitality industry, with a median age of 39 years and a median range of 13 years. Based on these interviews, participants expressed their perceptions of occupational stress under the categories of distress and eustress, while coding schemes were applied to all semi-structured interviews. The results on distress showed that reactions from employees and their working conditions, in particular, were the two most important determinants of occupational stress, while motivation helped people grow and develop their confidence. For the changes in occupational stress due to the pandemic, mental reactions from employees were the most significant determinant of occupational stress in the Macau hospitality industry during the changes brought about by the pandemic in these years, closely followed by employee job insecurity. In order to cope with occupational stress, employees should take responsibility for coping with their stress, but employers also have a role to play in this process, like providing good communications and proactive assistance to the employees. Finally, employees' responses were described as more negative as a result of their experience. Further research could focus on more methods for employees to cope with occupational stress in both physical and mental ways
Keywords: Stress; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; hospitality industry; occupational stress; stress management interventions

Exploring the Problems and Strategy Use by Primary School Teachers in Conducting Classroom Management Under the Policies of Inclusive Education in Macau =: 探討澳門融合教育政策下小學老師面對班級經營的困難及策略 - Lam Cheng (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Why did Uber Fail in Macau? Causes and Consequences of a New Digital Business Model Application - Lai, Weng Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

Mangroves as a Nature-Based Solution for Coastal Water Eutrophication in Macao Sar China - Lai, Wai Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Master of Environmental Sciences and Management (MESM); University of Saint Joseph

Nostalgia in Flux From the Perspective of Chinese Jia and Heidegger’s Heimat - Lai, Tong Chon (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Philosophy (MPH); University of Saint Joseph

Unravelling potentials and limitations of sharing economy in reducing unnecessary consumption: A social science perspective - Lai, Michael K. W.; Ho, Amy P. Y. (Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2020)
Hyper-consumption in capitalist economies has had a severe impact on the environment that no one can escape. In recent year, there has been a high degree of optimism in sharing economy with regard to coping with the environmental problems caused by consumption. However, most of the current literature focuses on business perspectives in which a sharing economy is portrayed as a new business model, but not as a way to curb environmental degradation. This paper, based on a social science perspective, investigates the potentials and limitations of the strategies adopted in sharing economy projects towards social transformation (especially coping with environmental degradation and hyper-consumption), with the adoption of Erik Olin Wright’s concept of real utopia. A case study approach has been adopted in terms of a sharing economy project named ‘Waste-no-mall (Yuen Long)’ in Hong Kong. The project founder embraces ideological-led strategies based on collective responsibility, self-determination and reflexivity, encouraging the participants to reflect on their consumption behaviours, and thus increasing the level of awareness of the need to reduce unnecessary consumption. However, it is a double-edge sword that limits its impact to those who are active participants, without spreading to others the need for change. It is also limited for their interstitial strategies within the project, and is unable to call for a concrete symbiotic transformation when it comes to policy. The significance of this paper is two-fold. First, it adopts a social science perspective that centres on exploring the proclaimed social implications of sharing economy, an aspect which is under-studied given that most of current studies are from a business perspective; second, it extends Wright’s concept to an operational level by showing an important pathway aiming to solve environmental problems through the simultaneous achievement of both horizontal and vertical balancing strategies, based on Wright’s concept of real utopia.
Keywords: Hong Kong; Mindful consumption; Real utopia; Sharing economy; Social transformation

Sharing towards cohesive community: the role of social capital in sharing economy - Lai, Michael (ResearchGate, 2024)
PDF | Purpose Whilst the majority of academic studies have focused on the for-profit business-to-consumer type of sharing economy, the community-based... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

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

Exploring Macau Primary School Teachers’ Understanding and Practices of Educational Innovation - Lai, Hoi In (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Teaching methods are not enough in today's social environment. By studying the understanding and practice of innovative education by primary school teachers in Macao, we can find a direction to promoting educators' demand for educational innovation. This research aims to understand the attitudes of primary school teachers in Macao toward innovative education, as well as the feasibility and necessity of developing a creative curriculum, through in-depth interviews with the experiences and reactions of primary school teachers in Macao. Simultaneously, encourage primary school teachers in Macao to implement effective and innovative educational methods so that Macao society can rethink the importance of educational innovation. The significance of the research lies in improving teachers' awareness of educational innovation and promoting teachers' understanding of education. In education, innovation includes new teaching theories, methods, techniques, and resources. Therefore, the education innovation is to think about things creatively, and innovation is to do creative things. By interviewing eleven local primary school teachers in Macau, we learned their views on innovative education teaching methods. Although, a limitation of the study is that only a few faculty members were selected, which may not represent the entire primary teacher in Macau. The study draws four main conclusions, the first of which is the view of primary teacher in local education, it can know that Macao primary school teachers understanding and cognition of educational innovation. Though of understanding of Macau’s primary teacher’s attitude in innovation teaching, which can find the feasibility of innovation teaching in Macau. At the same time, understanding of the impact factor in Macau innovation education, it clarifies the main challenging of primary teacher practice innovation teaching in Macau. On the other hand, thought of understanding of teacher’s attitude, we can more understanding the real situation in Macau’s educational innovation and encourage the teacher promoted educational innovation in Macau
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

澳門普通班教師與資源教師合作教學現況與改進建議之個案研究 =: A CASE STUDY OF CO-TEACHING PRACTICES AND IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTIONS AMONG GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND RESOURCE TEACHERS IN MACAO - Lai, Chong Weng (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Keywords: Inclusive education; Resource teacher; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 合作教學; 澳門; 融合教育; 資源教師

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

Investigation on citizen trust towards e-government services in GBA – A study on WeChat and Alipay government service mini-programs - Lai, Chimeng; Joao, Alexandre Lobo Marques (2022 13th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2022)
Citizens' trust in eGovernment is crucial for the successful implementation of new electronic services. This relationship in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) plays an essential role since the Government services rely on mobile mini-programs This study investigates the trust towards government service mini-programs in WeChat and Alipay. A user feedback questionnaire was designed, and a total of 609 valid samples were collected from Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau. The findings imply that competence, integrity, and benevolence are the key components of trust in e-government (TIEG). TIEG positively influences perceived value (PV), which positively affects citizens' Intention to adopt service mini-programs. PV significantly mediates the relationship between TIEG and Intention. Although TIEG does not effectively reduce perceived risk (PR), risk issues cannot be ignored in the adoption process. Finally, this article proposes relevant implications and suggestions for the GBA government agents and policy makers.
0 citations (Crossref) [2023-03-15]

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

IDENTIFICATION OF CRITICAL FACTORS TO DETERMINE THE INTENTION OF GOVERNMENT SERVICE MINI-PROGRAM ADOPTION THROUGH MOBILE PAYMENT PLATFORMS IN MACAU AND THE GREATER BAY AREA - Lai Chi Meng; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Government service mini-programs have become an integral component of eGovernment in the Greater Bay Area, and successful eGovernment is necessary for building a smart city. Service quality and citizens' trust play a vital role in urban integration and in-depth cooperation in the Bay Area. The ubiquitous nature of mini-programs based on WeChat and Alipay provides excellent flexibility in accessing government services. Technology advantages, mutual recognition of cross-border data, and online transactions bring value and benefits to citizens. However, the mechanism of mini-program adoption has not been elaborated. Homogenization, conflict of regulations, and policy effectiveness are issues of great concern. This study employed Self-Determination Theory and Motivation Theory, proposed an empirical model based on the extended SOR paradigm, and aimed to identify the critical factors determining the intention of government service mini-program adoption from the user’s perspective. Six hundred and nine valid samples were collected from Macau, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen through online survey platforms. The findings suggested that service quality, trust in eGovernment, ubiquity, and social influence constituted the determinants of intention to adopt. Service quality and ubiquity were salient determinants, and a great extent of service quality and ubiquity could promote perceived value and intention. Citizens' trust in government service mini-programs was reasonable, where benevolence, integrity, and competence were crucial indicators of trust. Social influence amplified and transmitted risk perception while perceived risk significantly reduced intention. Perceived value positively associated with the four determinants and enhanced user intention; it acted as a mediator with high explanatory power in the model. Government support received positive ratings from citizens; it negatively regulated the relationship between intention and the determinants respectively, implying that excessive intervention from the government could lead to inhibition. Finally, we proposed relevant implications and suggestions for the GBA government agents and policymakers
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Government Studies (D-GS); University of Saint Joseph

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

Psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey among secondary-school students in Hong Kong - Kwan, Yee Wan (Learning Environments Research, 2020)
The study examined the factor structure, reliability and validity of a Chinese version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (C-CLES), an instrument for assessing students’ perceptions of the extent of constructivist approaches prevalent in classrooms. A convenience sample of 967 students in Secondary Three (Grade 9) in Hong Kong participated in this study by completing a self-administered questionnaire in their class time. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesised factor structure, indicating five theoretical constructivist environment dimensions that showed goodness-of-fit to 25 items: Personal Relevance, Uncertainty, Critical Voice, Shared Control, and Student Negotiation. Criterion-related validity, involving evidence based on relations to other variables, was assessed by correlations between the constructivist environment dimensions and cognitive strategies and academic ability. Most correlations were statistically significant and in the positive direction. The C-CLES with 25 items provides a useful measure for educational practice and research among school students.
Keywords: Cognitive outcomes; Constructivist learning environment; Secondary schools; Validation

A grounded theory study of Chinese female spouses of problem gamblers in Hong Kong: emergence of a multiple-paradigm coping model - Kwan, Edward Wood Kai; Jackson, Alun C.; Tse, Samson (Asia Pacific Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2025)

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

Using Online Learning to Enhance Motivation in an English as a Second Language Classroom: An Action Research Study - Kuok, Weng Kei (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

Externalizing Behaviour in Macao: Gender and Parental Participation - Kuok, Oi Lou (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
There are gaps in the research on gender differences and parental participation and the interaction between gender and parental participation in non-Western cultural contexts, particularly the Macao context. The current study aims to fill these gaps by examining gender and parental participation (i.e., father only, mother only, or both) differences and interactions in externalizing behaviour (oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder) during late childhood and adolescence (i.e., from age 10 to 18) in Macao. The methodological approach for the current study was a cross-sectional design with a quantitative methodology based on self-rated questionnaires. In certain items, we did discover gender differences. More boys than girls appeared to concur that they occasionally misbehave at school or start fires. And it appeared that girls were more likely than boys to concur that they occasionally exhibit unexpected mood or emotion changes and strong tempers. The children in the groups where only the mother or father participated tended to agree more than they prefer to hang out with older kids than kids their own age. This is in contrast to the group with more parental participation, which is represented by both parents submitting the questionnaire. Although none of the hypotheses proposed were supported, our outcomes implied culture and subculture may play important roles on youths’ externalizing behaviour
Keywords: Externalizing behaviour; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph; gender; parental participation

Two Projective Drawing Tests as a Consolidated Measure to Identify and Understand the Underlying Problems of Primary Children with Emotional-Behavioral Issues of Concern - Kuok, Ka Lai (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Determining the relationships of employee resilience and organizational culture with levels of employee work engagement - Kuok, Angus; Taormina, Robert (2024)
The objective is to assess whether the extent to which employee resilience and organizational culture would be significantly related to and statistically predict the three facets of employee work engagement. Resilience was measured by four facets (Determination, Endurance, Adaptability, and Recuperability); and Organization Culture was measured for three types (Bureaucratic, Innovative, and Supportive). The dependent measures were the three facets of Work Engagement (Cognitive, Emotional, and Physical). This research by questionnaire was conducted in 2023. The questionnaires completed by 316 full-time workers revealed that all four facets of employee resilience had significant positive correlations with all three types of work engagement. Also, all three facets of work engagement were significantly higher in Innovative and Supportive cultures compared to Bureaucratic cultures. The regression analyses performed showed that the resilience factors of Determination and Adaptability were strong positive predictors of all three facets of work engagement. Furthermore, Innovative culture had additional positive effects on all three facets of work engagement; while Supportive culture had an additional positive effect on Emotional Work Engagement. The implications of the results for management are also discussed in this paper.

The Effect of Self-Efficacy and Role Understanding on Teachers’ Emotional Exhaustion and Work Engagement in Inclusive Education in Macao (SAR) - Kuok, A. C. H.; Teixeira, Vitor; Forlin, Chris; Monteiro, Elisa; Correia, Ana (International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 2020)
This study examined responses from 508 full-time teachers working in inclusive schools in Macao (SAR). The intention was to understand the teachers’ perceptions about their roles and how they responded to inclusive practices in their school. Teachers’ perceived levels of emotional exhaustion and cognitive work engagement were assessed in relation to several professional competencies (self-efficacy with using inclusive instruction, collaborating with parents and paraprofessionals, and managing disruptive behaviours), as well as the organisational variable of role understanding. Regression analysis showed that teachers’ self-efficacy with using inclusive instruction was found to be the most powerful negative predictor of emotional exhaustion; while self-efficacy for managing disruptive behaviours was a positive predictor of teachers’ cognitive work engagement. Teachers’ level of understanding of their role and that of their schools was a negative predictor of emotional exhaustion and a positive predictor of cognitive work engagement. Moreover, it further confirmed that the concept of co-existence between work engagement and burnout can be applied to inclusive teachers. Results were interpreted in relation to management in inclusive schools in Macao and were followed by a discussion on the implications of enhancing inclusive education.
1 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

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]

Elite athletes’ mental well-being and life satisfaction: a study of elite athletes’ resilience and social support from an Asian unrecognisedNational Olympic Committee - Kuok, A. C. H; K. I. Chio, David; C. H. Pun, Alan (Health Psychology Report, 2021)
Introduction This study aimed to investigate elite athletes’ mental well-being, and to ascertain whether the personal factor resilience and the social factor social support can play a role in promoting mental well-being and life satisfaction. In addition, this is one of the first studies to investigate well-being among elite athletes who are from a region belonging to an unrecognised National Olympic Committee and are not eligible to join the Olympic Games. Material and methods Eighty-four full-time elite athletes (37 males, 47 females) with mean age of 22.36 years old participated in this quantitative research study. Formal letters describing the purpose and organiser of the study were sent to the sport entities in Macao asking their permission for the researchers to contact the elite athletes to participate in this study. After gaining the permission, the elite athletes belonging to these entities were approached individually, to inform them of the purpose of the study and receive their consent. Results Regression revealed that emotional support and adaptability of resilience were strong positive predictors of mental well-being. Additionally, mental well-being was found to be a strong positive predictor of life satisfaction. The results reflected that in elite athletes possessing high adaptability and receiving more emotional support could help to maintain their mental well-being. Conclusions Implications (based on the findings) are discussed in order to provide insights for policy makers or coaches how to promote elite athletes’ mental well-being.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-10-30]

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

Emotional Intelligence, Work Satisfaction, and Affective Commitment: An Occupational Health Study of Social Workers - Kuok, A. C. H. (Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2022)
Social workers’ work engagement and burnout were tested in relation to (a) personal variable, i.e., emotional intelligence; (b) organizational variables, i.e., work satisfaction and affective commitment. Regressions revealed emotional intelligence - controlling self – negatively predicted depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment and positively predicted three facets of work engagement. Emotional intelligence - understanding others – was a negative predictor of reduced personal accomplishment. In addition, work satisfaction negatively predicted three components of burnout and positively predicted emotional work engagement. Affective commitment was a positive predictor of three facets of work engagement and negatively predicted reduced personal accomplishment. Implications for management are discussed.
Company: Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid (copmadrid) Distributor: Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid (copmadrid) Institution: Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid (copmadrid) Label: Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid (copmadrid) Publisher: Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid Section: research-article

Parental Involvement and Child Development in Macao: Association with Family Income, Parental Education and Working in the Gambling Industry - Kung, Hang I (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

初探澳門初任幼稚園教師對融合教育生問題行為的處理方法及其心理狀態 - Kuan, Wai Leng (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

CONSUMER PROTECTION POLICY IN MACAO'S FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR: ANALYSIS OF THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES IN COMPARISON TO GLOBAL PRACTICES - Kuan, Ho Tong (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This research is to assess the current status quo, strengths, and weaknesses of financial consumer protection mechanisms in Macao. According to the World Bank, financial consumer protection can bring positive impact on the development of financial sector, broadening financial inclusion and fostering economic growth. In 2022, under the backdrop of COVID-19 and downturn in economy, Macao Government announced its ambition to recover and diversify the economy of Macao by leveraging “1+4” Diversified Development Strategy, in which developing modern finance is one of the main priorities. The new Financial System Act took into effect on 1st November 2023 and this Act will enable non-financial institutions to apply for temporary licenses on fin-tech innovations within a controllable risk area. In the local context, does Macao have a strong financial consumer protection mechanism in place to goal for developing modern finance and face challenges brought by fin-tech? In this research, a mixed method consisting of doctrinal legal research method and comparative legal research method is adopted. 10 jurisdictions (Ireland, Singapore, Australia, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, European Union, Canada, and United States) were selected in comparison of rights for financial consumer protection based on the G20/OECD High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection and the results of which were then compared to the rights for financial consumer protection in Macao. The findings of this study show that the main strength of financial consumer protection mechanisms in Macao lies on the supervision of the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) on the banking sector and insurance sector, other financial institutions according to international principles; however, the in-depthness of work done by Macao in financial consumer protection is not as much as those done by other jurisdictions: in Macao, there is no policyholder protection scheme in the event of failure of insurance companies; no mystery shopping and consumer survey done by oversight bodies; narrow range of definition of vulnerable consumers; no financial literacy survey; no in-depth competition law; no in-depth guidelines to monitor advertising materials for financial products; no database for consumers to search for unregulated firms and scammers; no in-depth financial educational materials about the rights of financial consumers. It is recommended that Macao Government can learn from United Kingdom, Canada and European Union to adopt behavioural insights in developing financial consumer protection policy to protect financial consumers from being exploited by the financial service providers based on the consumers’ behavioural biases. Some literature suggested that consumers are vulnerable in digital landscape. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that Macao Government shall take proactive actions to strengthen the current financial consumer protection mechanism by adhering to the G20/OECD High-Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection, in order to develop modern finance and protect consumers from the risks posed by fin-tech
Keywords: Macao; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Lusophone and International Public Law(MLIPL); University of Saint Joseph; financial consumer protection; financial education; financial inclusion; financial literacy

The Effect of Temporal Variation in Noise Exposure on Hearing and Inner Ear in the Zebrafish Model - Kuan, Chi Kin (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Master of Environmental Sciences and Management (MESM); University of Saint Joseph

Fintech Services in Guangdong-Macao in Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin: An investigation of Macao Users' Adoption - Kuan, Chi Hou (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

Use and Perception of Visual Communication on Instagram by Macau Residents - Ku, Kit Mei (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

Culture, History, and Hospitality Public-Private Partnership of the Gaming Industry and the Macau SAR Government in the Cultural Tourism /Natural Kou, Chi In - Kou, Chi In (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph

澳門新任教師職業適應的研究：: 來自在內地與澳門接受師範培養的幼兒教師反饋= Research on the Career Adaptation of New Teachers in Macao Feedback from Kindergarten Teachers who Received Teacher Education in the Mainland and Macau - Kou Mei Kei (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Trust in AI and Top Management Support in Generative-AI Adoption - Korzyński, Paweł; Silva, Susana Costa E; Górska, Anna Maria; Mazurek, Grzegorz (Journal of Computer Information Systems, 2024)

THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF POWER DISTANCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS AND ORGANISATIONAL JUSTICE - Kong, Fion Ming Ying (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
The aim of this research is to investigate how power distance orientation effects the relationship between perceptions of organisational politics and perceptions of organisational justice. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted on 172 full time workers in Macau, where respondents self-responded to questionnaires that were translated back-to-back into Chinese in order to accommodate the populations native language. This study found that power distance was contrary to our initial hypothesis of high-power distance equals to high politics and low justice. It was found that high power distance in facts equates to lower political perceptions and higher justice perceptions. This study contributes to understanding power distance in Macau as it is not noted in the Hofstede cultural dimensions. We also learned that having a longer distance between a position of power can contribute to less political activity and more sense of justice for the employees
Keywords: Organisational Justice; Organisational Politics; Power Distance; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); University of Saint Joseph

澳門普通學校教師任教融合生的教學困擾和支援服務需求之研究=: A Study of the Teaching Distress and Needs of Supportive Service of Students with Special Educational Needs Taught by General School Teachers in Macau - Kong, Chi Fong (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
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

Changing professional identities: a qualitative study of how Singapore allied educators managed their own resistance to change - Kit, Phey Ling; Ow Yeong, Wai Mang Elizabeth; Chen, Mo (Teacher Development, 2024)

Quality of life during the pandemic: a cross sectional study about attitude, individual perspective and behavior change affecting general population in daily life - Khatoon, F.; Kumar, M.; Khalid, A. A.; Alshammari, A. D.; Khan, F.; Alshammari, R. D.; Balouch, Z.; Verma, D.; Mishra, P.; Abotaleb, M.; Makarovskikh, T.; El-kenawy, E. M.; et al. (2022)
Quality of life in general population before and during pandemic is topic need to be address by researcher in terms of mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. The study was carried out among Saudi population. Data were collected from general population using questionnaire during the period from 22 August 2021 to 10th January 2022. As a result, total 214 participants have included in this study. Among them prevalent age group include 40 years (n= 63, 29.4%) shadowed by the age group 25-35 (n= 61, 28.5%) while above 60 years group were least frequent (n= 1, 0.5%). On questioning the applicants whether they were satisfied with their health and how would they rate their quality of life, their answers were as follows: yes, or satisfied (n= 86, 40.2%), very Satisfied (n= 102, 47.7%) Dissatisfied (n= 11, 5.1%) and neither satisfied nor dissatisfied (n= 15, 7%). Due to pandemic, they were rate quality of life very good (n= 94, 43.9%), good (n= 63, 29.4 %) poor (n= 5, 2.3 %) and neither good and nor poor (n= 52, 24.3 %). During pandemic 96 participants feel no change in their weight but 110 participants respond that there is increase in coffee intake during the pandemic. Similarly increased in smoking habits and decrease rate in social activities (n=119,41.4%). The psychosomatic well-being of people has been interrupted by disturbing their social activities during pandemic.
Publisher: IET Digital Library

澳門融合教育下資源老師心路歷程之質性研究 =: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF RESOURCE TEACHERS IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN MACAO - Ke, Li Ping (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 心路歷程; 融合教育; 資源老師; 質性研究

Problematic Internet Use and Subjective Wellbeing Among University Students in Macao - Kam, Chi Fat (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Government Studies (MGS); University of Saint Joseph

ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN MACAO - Kaewmanee, Celina dos Santos (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This study examined the relationships between organizational justice, job satisfaction, and subjective well-being of medical doctors and nurses in Macao. It applied a quantitative methodology through a cross-sectional applying self-response questionnaires to 149 healthcare workers. Consistent with the group-engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2003), findings indicate that organisational justice and job satisfaction improve subjective well-being. Yet, inconsistent with the model and our hypotheses, organizational justice did not affect work satisfaction. Finally, nurses experienced less positive justice perceptions than doctors. The study provides insights into the relationship between organizational justice, job satisfaction, and subjective well-being among healthcare professionals, which might help enhance working conditions. Healthcare organizations should prioritize promoting job satisfaction and justice perceptions to increase healthcare personnel's subjective well-being. The cross-sectional design limits causal inferences about variable relationships, and the self-reported data may have social desirability or response biases. Still, the originality and value of this paper lie in its contribution to the literature on the well-being of healthcare workers, particularly in the unique context of Macao. To our knowledge, this is the first study in Macao to examine the relationship between organizational justice, job satisfaction, and subjective well-being among healthcare workers
Keywords: Healthcare; Job Satisfaction; Organizational Justice; Subjective well-being; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Organisational Psychology (MOP); University of Saint Joseph

The Influence of Strengths-Based Intervention to Students’ Engagement and Self-Efficacy in Macau - Jr. Tabilas, Faustino T. (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

Exploring Features and Behaviors of 'GUNDAM MOBILE SUIT' Enthusiasts in China 's Online Digital Society - Joel, Chao Chou U (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)

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

International collaboration for mutual benefit: a Southwest China and Southeast United States partnership - Jackson, M. Sebrena; Gardell, Debra Nelson; Williams, Javonda; Tang, Ning; Yang, Fan (China Journal of Social Work, 2021)
China’s return to social work education, after a nearly 35-year absence, opened the door for partnerships like the 2012 China Collaborative partnership between the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Katherine A. Kendall Institute, the China Association of Social Work Education (CASWE) and the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). The University of Alabama School of Social Work (UA SSW) was selected to participate in the collaborative and was connected to the Southwest China Region, specifically partnered with Yunnan University. This manuscript will share the strategies used to engage faculty and students from each partnering institution. Data collected by UA SSW over the five-year partnership will be utilised to contribute to the discussion of the extent to which Western knowledge and theory about social work education might usefully be applied to the Chinese context.
Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/17525098.2021.1909237
Keywords: China collaborative; International social work; University of Alabama; Yunnan University; social work education

Sustainable Buildings’ Projects – A Perspective from Consultants and Contractors based in Macau SAR, China - J.P.P. Santos, Eduardo; Lobo Marques, Joao; Phyllips, Jenny O. L. (The 2021 12th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2021)
China growing awareness of sustainability has brought out relevant aspects to move towards a green environment. Since its subscription in 2016, China has been committed to implementing the Paris Agreement, and the Greater Bay Area (GBA) development plan prioritizes ecology and pursuing green development. The primary purpose of this research is to perceive the companies' insights concerning the implementation of sustainable buildings’ projects in Macau. For this multi-case study analysis, primary data was gathered from interviews with two groups involved in the construction projects’ lifecycle: Consultants and Contractors, to analyze different perceptions and concerns. The interviews considered two different themes about the main topic: (1) Perception on Companies’ Experience in Sustainable Projects; (2) Key Drivers towards Sustainable Buildings’ Projects’ Implementation. In conclusion, according to the analyzed data, it is essential to notice that companies’ background and the market particularities affect their corporate performance specially connected to the green construction frameworks. The data also indicate that it is necessary to move towards regulations and policies to change corporate and people's mindset.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]
Keywords: Construction industry; Green building; Sustainable Policies; Sustainable building

How can environmental conditions influence dicofol genotoxicity on the edible Asiatic clam, Meretrix meretrix? - Ivorra, Lucia; Cruzeiro, Catarina; Ramos, Alice; Tagulao, Karen; Cardoso, Patricia G. (Environmental Pollution, 2022)
Genotoxic effects of dicofol on the edible clam Meretrix meretrix were investigated through a mesocosm experiment. Individuals of M. meretrix, were exposed to environmental concentration (D1 = 50 ng/L) and supra-environmental concentration (D2 = 500 ng/L) of dicofol for 15 days, followed by the same depuration period. DNA damage (i.e., strand breaks and alkali-labile sites) was evaluated at day 1, 7 and 15, during uptake and depuration, using Comet assay (alkaline version) and nuclear abnormalities (NAs) as genotoxicity biomarkers. The protective effects of dicofol against DNA damage induced by ex vivo hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) exposure were also assessed. Comet assay results revealed no significant DNA damages under dicofol exposure, indicating 1) apparent lack of genotoxicity of dicofol to the tested conditions and/or 2) resistance of the animals due to optimal adaptation to stress conditions. Moreover, ex vivo H2O2 exposure showed an increase in the DNA damage in all the treatments without significant differences between them. However, considering only the DNA damage induced by H2O2 during uptake phase, D1 animals had significantly lower DNA damage than those from other treatments, revealing higher protection against a second stressor. NAs data showed a decrease in the % of cells with polymorphic, kidney shape, notched or lobbed nucleus, along the experiment. The combination of these results supports the idea that the clams used in the experiment were probably collected from a stressful environment (in this case Pearl River Delta region) which could have triggered some degree of adaptation to those environmental conditions, explaining the lack of DNA damages and highlighting the importance of organisms’ origin and the conditions that they were exposed during their lives.
Keywords: Bivalves; Comet assay; DNA damage; Nuclear abnormalities; Organochlorine pesticides

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

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

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

The Effect of Peers, School Connectedness, Parents on Internet Gaming Addiction in Adolescents - Ip, Tan Long (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

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

Lighting Up A Place with Good Stories: Heritage Interpretation Strategies and the Macau Historic Centre - Ip, Kin Man (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of History & Heritage Studies (MHHS); University of Saint Joseph

初探澳門更生人士在專業工作過程的成功因素=: Explore Successful Factors in Recognition of Professional Work Process for Ex-Offenders - Ip, Ka I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph

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 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

Examining the impact of behavioral factors on the intention of adopting E-government services: An empirical study on the hard-to-reach groups in Macao SAR, China - Iong, Kit Yeng; Phillips, Jenny O. L. (Technology in Society, 2022)
In government studies, electronic government has become a hot topic in recent decades. Many scholars believe that soon, the government might not be able to operate smoothly without the help of ICTs as the Internet has been overwhelming people's daily lives already. In analyzing people's behavioral factors towards adopting e-government services, most studies targeted the adult population, while those in the hard-to-reach groups are minimal. This study was designed especially to understand the behavioral factors of the younger generation aged between 18 and 24 and the senior citizens above 60 on their adoption of e-government services in Macao SAR. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted based on the semi-structured interview questions developed from the prior literature on the Theory of Planned Behavior and e-government studies. Six significant findings are yielded, which could serve as an important reference for policymakers designing e-government policy and promoting its implementation strategy. These behavioral factors also contribute empirical data to support the theoretical framework of TPB in the context of Macao SAR e-government services.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]
Keywords: Electronic government; Hard-to-reach groups; In-depth interviews; The theory of planned behavior

The transformation of government employees’ behavioural intention towards the adoption of E-government services: An empirical study - Iong, Kit Yeng; Phillips, Jenny O. L. (Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 2023)
Electronic government is increasingly dominant in the study of public administration. In analysing people's behavioural factors towards the adoption of e-services, most previous studies targeted the adult population, while those on government employees are minimal. Government employees have an essential function in the process of government operation; they can be regarded as the principal medium of communication between the service provider (government) and the end-users (citizens). This study was designed to understand the government employees' behavioural factors on their intentions towards adopting e-government services. A set of semi-structured interview questions was developed based on the prior literature on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and e-government studies. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted in Macao SAR (Special Administrative Region). In addition to analysing the three primary constructs of TPB, the factor of Trust and some enablers and hindrances were identified. Significant findings were yielded while investigating how the government employees perceived the e-services and how they regarded the general public's perception of this issue. This contextualisation would help policymakers look at this issue from different perspectives and design feasible interventions according to group alignment strategies.
Keywords: Electronic government; Government employees; In-depth interviews; The Theory of Planned Behaviour

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

Design Explorations for 3D-Printed Modular Markers for eXtended-Reality Tangible User Interfaces: - Iok Fong, Chau; Cardoso, Jorge C. S.; Estadieu, Gerald Vincent (International Journal of Creative Interfaces and Computer Graphics, 2022)
Various materials, objects, and sensors have been explored earlier for creating tangible user interfaces (TUIs). However, there is little work on 3D-printed TUIs based on visual markers for smartphone-based extended reality (XR) experiences. The combination of visual markers and smartphones results in cheap, accessible XR systems within reach of many people. Combined with 3D printing, it could foster do-it-yourself (DIY) projects for XR experiences, which may further expand and open-up possibilities for accessible and tangible interaction. This work explores the design space of modular 3D-printed tangibles for smartphone-based XR. The authors report the design exploration process, provide several interactive 3D-printed markers, and reflect on the resulting possibilities.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-10-27]

澳門家校合作中的親師溝通: 以某小學為例 =A STUDY ON PARENT-TEACHER COMMUNICATION IN HOME-SCHOOL COOPERATION IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MACAU - Io, In Chi (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph; 家校合作; 小學; 澳門; 親師溝通

Histórias do Brasil de 1550: Bispo Sardinha assado na brasa | José Manuel Simões - Incomunidade, Revista (InComunidade, 2022)
HISTÓRIAS DO BRASIL DE 1550: BISPO SARDINHA ASSADO NA BRASA Recostado na sua poltrona de madeira maciça, forrada a veludo grená, Mem de Sá decidiu autorizar um combate de vingança contra os índios que tinham esquartejado e comido assado o bispo Sardinha. O objetivo seria apanhá-los para os forçarem a trabalhar nas plantações de cana-de-açúcar, mas os soldados, na ânsia do desforço, dispararam sem descrição. Dos 12 mil catecúmenos das terras do extremo Norte da Paraíba sobraram pouco mais de mil. O fidalgo, nascido em 1500, tinha sido nomeado Governador-Geral do Brasil para pacificar a colónia, meter água […]

Students’ wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic - Ikegami, Kiiko (Riau University, 2021)

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

澳門幼稚園教師對融合教育的態度 - Ieong, Leng San (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); 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

Primary teachers' burnout at the inclusive education schools in Macao - Ieong, Iek Kuan (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
"In 2021/2022 academic year, there are 2,244 SEN students in Macau and its growth rate is 36% in ten years. However, at the present, there are 38 schools providing the related education to them. Admittedly, this is an unbalanced supply and demand. In fact, the teachers who work at inclusive education schools are bearing all responsibility to teach SEN students and their mental health is worth to attention. Moreover, there are 1,224 SEN students in primary (2021/2022 academic year), it accounting for 55% of all. That is, the numbers of their teachers are the most and they are representative. Therefore, exploring primary teachers’ burnout at inclusive education schools becomes the topic of this study, even more important, it is including to compare normal and resource teachers. This topic is rarer currently in Macau. On the one hand, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and (reduced) personal accomplishment are dimensions of burnout (Maslach et al., 1996). These become the dependent variables of this study. According Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and the factors of self-efficacy in inclusive education (Sharma et al., 2012), the following hypotheses are provided to guide this study: (1) normal teachers’ emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment are higher than those in resource teachers; (2) teachers’ attitudes into inclusive education, (3) teachers’ self-efficacy to use inclusive instruction (SEII), (4) teachers’ self-efficacy in collaboration (SEC) and (5) teachers’ self-efficacy in v managing behavior (SEMB) both are negatively related to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment; (6) teachers’ stress of Covid19 is positively related to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. On the other hand, quantitative methodology, and snowball sampling are used in this research. At last, 132 responds are collected, including 100 normal teachers and 32 resource teachers. They are from 48 inclusive education schools in Macau. All data were analyzed by SPSS 25.0. The results of this study are followed: (1) teachers’ emotional exhaustion level is middle, their depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment levels both are low; (2) resource teachers’ emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are higher than normal teachers; (3) teachers’ attitudes into inclusive education negatively related to depersonalization but positively related to reduced personal accomplishment; (4) in the factors of self-efficacy, only SEII is negatively related to reduced personal accomplishment; (5) teachers’ stress of Covid-19 is positively related to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment."
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

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

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

THE IMPACT OF WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION’S OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ON PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES STOCK RETURNS - Iam, Hou In (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
In early 2020, the COVID-19 virus spread rapidly around the world within months. After countries around the world announced the outbreak of COVID-19, many industries suffered a severe recession, but a few industries were able to buck the trend and maintain good performance. The outbreak has driven strong demand for medical products and pharmaceuticals. As the epidemic continues to spread, people are in urgent need of drugs and vaccines to treat COVID-19, which directly promotes the development of the pharmaceutical industry (Alam et al., 2021). This study aims to explore the impact of announcements from the World Health Organization (WHO) or similar official agencies on the development of the epidemic during the COVID-19 epidemic on the stock prices of specific pharmaceutical companies. The study uses event study methodology to analyze the impact of events in the COVID-19 pandemic on these companies. Through an event study on 7 major events during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study found that the stock price changes of different pharmaceutical companies are not uniform. The WHO announcement of a global pandemic and the emergency authorization announcement of drugs have had different significant impacts on different types of pharmaceutical companies. This study provides new information for understanding the stock return change of specific pharmaceutical companies during the COVID-19 epidemic
Keywords: COVID-19; Theses and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph; pharmaceutical; stock returns

New Great Learning Oneness Epistemic Model for the Greater Peace: A Philosophical Analysis on the Concept of Oneness and its Application with Veganism - Hun, Kuong U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Philosophy (MPH); University of Saint Joseph

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

Neurofinance: Exploratory Analysis Stock Trader's Decision-Making Process by Real-Time Monitoring of Emotional Reactions - Hsu, Hsin-Tzu; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo (European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance, 2023)
Human emotions can be associated with decision-making, and emotions can generate behaviors. Due to the fact that it could be biased and exhaustively complex to examine how human beings make choices, it is necessary to consider relevant groups of study, such as stock traders and non-traders in finance. This work aims to analyze the connection between emotions and the decision-making process of investors and non-investors submitted to the same set of stimuli to understand how emotional arousal might dictate the decision process. Neuroscience monitoring tools such as Real-Time Facial Expression Analysis (AFFDEX), Eye-Tracking, and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) were adopted to monitor the related experiments of this paper and its accompanying analysis process. Thirty-seven participants attended the study, 24 were classified as stock traders, and 13 were non-traders; the mean age for the groups was 35 and 25, respectively. The designed experiment initially disclosed a thought-provoking result between the two groups under the certainty and risk-seeking prospect theory; there were more risk-takers among non-investors at 75%, while investors were inclined toward certainty at 79.17%. The implication could be that the non-investing individuals were less complex in thought and therefore pursued higher returns besides a high probability of losing the game. In addition, the automatic emotion classification system indicates that when non-investors confronted a stock trending chart beyond their acquaintance or knowledge, they were psychologically exposed to fear, anger, sadness, and surprise. On the contrary, investors were detected with disgust, joy, contempt, engagement, sadness, and surprise, where sadness and surprise overlapped in both parties. Under time pressure conditions, 54.05% of investors or non-investors tend to make decisions after the peak(s) of emotional arousal. Variations were found in the deciding points of the slopes: 2.70% were decided right after the peak(s), 37.84% waited until the emotions turned stable, and 13.51% were determined as the emotional indicators started to slide downwards. Several combinations of emotional responses were associated with decisions. For example, negative emotions could induce passive decision-making, in this case, to sell the stock; nevertheless, it was also examined that as the slope slipped downwards to a particular horizontal point, the individuals became more optimistic and selected the "BUY" option. Future works may consider expanding the study to larger sample size, different demographic groups, and other biometrics for further analysis and conclusions.
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NEUROFINANCE - ANALYZING AND UNDERSTANDING STOCK TRADER’S DECISION-MAKING PROCESS BASED ON REAL-TIME MONITORING OF EMOTIONAL REACTIONS - Hsu, Hsin-Tzu (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Human emotions can be meticulously associated with decision-making, and emotion can generate behaviours. Due to the fact that it could be bias and exhaustively complex to examine how human beings make choices, important groups of study in finance are stock traders and non-traders. The objective of this work is to analyze the connection between emotions and the decision-making process of investors and non-investors to understand how emotional arousal might dictate the process of deciding policy. As facial expressions are fleeting, neuroscience tools such as AFFDEX (Real-Time Facial Expression Analysis), Eye-Tracking, and GSR (galvanic skin response) were adopted to facilitate the experiment and its accompanying analysis process. Thirty-seven participants attended the study, ranging from 18 to 72 years old; the distribution of investors and non-investors was twenty-four and thirteen, respectively. The experiment initially disclosed a thought-provoking result between the two groups under the certainty and risk-seeking prospect theory; there were more risk-takers among non-investors at 75%, while investors were inclined toward certainty at 79.17%. The implication could be that the non-investing individuals were less complex in thought and therefore pursued higher returns besides a high probability of losing the game. In addition, the automatic emotion classification system indicates that when non-investors confronted a stock trending chart beyond their acquaintance or knowledge, they were psychologically exposed to fear, anger, sadness, and surprise. Investors, on the contrary, were detected with disgust, joy, contempt, engagement, sadness, and surprise, where sadness and surprise overlapped in both parties. Under time pressure conditions, 54.05% of investors or non-investors tend to make decisions after the peak(s) of emotional arousal. Variations were found in the deciding points of the slopes: 2.70% were decided right after the peak(s), 37.84% waited until the emotions turned stable, and 13.51% were determined as the emotional indicators started to slide downwards. Several combinations of emotional responses were associated with decisions. For example, negative emotions could induce passive decision-making, in this case, to sell the stock; nevertheless, it was also examined that as the slope slipped downwards to a particular horizontal point, the individuals became more optimistic and selected the "BUY" option. The support of physiological monitoring tools makes it possible to capture the individuals' responses and discover the science of decision-making. Future works may consider expanding the study to more significant demographic populations for further discoveries
Keywords: Decision-making; Emotions; Investors; Physiological Monitoring; Stock Trading; Theses 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

General Teachers’ Attitude Towards Inclusive Education in Students with Dyslexia in High School Students=: 中學普通班教師對患有讀寫障礙學生的認識與其融合教育的態度 - Hong, Yufang (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

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/

VALUE-BASED ADOPTION OF MOLECULAR CHINESE MEDICINE (MCM): AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION - Hong, Chi Kit (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
The world we live in today is constantly changing, with new technologies and innovations being introduced all the time. Through the continuation and innovation of Chinese medicine theories, scientific research methods, and progress, Traditional Chinese Medicine continues to evolve and develop more innovative Modern Chinese Medicine. In this research, Molecular Chinese Medicine is studied as a new form of Chinese medicine, intended to provide a more pleasant and safe experience for consumers. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify both positive and negative perceptions that contribute to the adoption of innovative technologies and their related products. In order to reach this goal, a robust value-based theoretical model is used. To examine behavioural intentions to adopt Molecular Chinese Medicine (MCM) in Macau, this study combines quantitative and qualitative methods. Thus, a Value-based Acceptance Model (VAM) was used to determine Macau citizens' attitudes towards Molecular Chinese Medicine, including their perceptions of its usefulness, enjoyment, technicality, and perceived fee, in relation to the perceived value of the product, which may ultimately determine adoption intentions. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to process a sample of 194 Macau residents. The data analysis supported our model's explanatory and predictive power and helped describe the characteristics of the local population. Our results provide insight into the acceptance of innovative products that may be useful in designing more accurate strategies and facilitating the introduction of MCM to Macau and similar markets. It was found that low perceived fees demonstrated a relatively strong positive correlation with potential users' perceived value, whereas usefulness and enjoyment showed a medium-strong positive correlation. Also, a strong positive correlation was found between potential consumers' perception of the value of Molecular Chinese Medicine and their intention to adopt it
Keywords: Molecular Traditional Medicine (MCM); SmartPLS; Technology Adoption; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM); University of Saint Joseph; Value-based Adoption Model (VAM)

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

The Mediating Role of Empathy on the Impact of Perceived Parenting Styles on Prosocial Behaviors of Adults - Hoi, Mei Pui (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

The Indirect Effect of Job Insecurity and COVID-19 Induced Stress on Mental Health through the Mediating Effect of Burnouts and the Moderating Effect of Perceived Social Support among Macau Gaming Employees - Hoi, Lok (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

Food Waste Management In Macau: Assessing Public Awareness, Recycling Facilities, And Policy Implementations In Comparative Perspective - Hoi, Hang Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Food waste has become an increasingly pressing issue worldwide, and Macau is no exception. A substantial portion of municipal solid waste in Macau is comprised of organic waste, with household food waste being a significant contributor. This can be attributed to households purchasing excessive food, preparing more than necessary, or not consuming items before they spoil, leading to detrimental resource and environmental impacts, particularly in the form of greenhouse gas emissions. It is crucial for Macau to develop a sustainable food waste management system that fosters prevention and responsible consumption and to develop food waste recycling habits among its residents. This study employed a two-pronged approach: a literature review of food waste source separation policies and practices in four neighboring regions to identify adaptable good practice examples for Macau, and a questionnaire survey completed by 143 local residents. The survey aimed to comprehend residents' behaviors and awareness regarding food waste prevention and treatment, evaluate their satisfaction with Macau's existing food waste recycling program, examine their resistance and motivation toward participating in the recycling program, and assess their attitudes toward implementing a polluter-pays-principle system in Macau. The survey aimed to provide insights into the current state of household food waste in Macau and inform future waste management policies and strategies of stakeholders. The survey findings highlight the need for enhanced public awareness and education on food waste prevention. Additionally, upgrading recycling facilities may encourage residents to participate more actively in food waste recycling. Ultimately, implementing suitable policies can help prevent food loss and waste and regulate food waste generation and elevate recycling rates. This study offers preliminary recommendations for policymakers or government entities as a orientation for future planning
Keywords: Food Loss and Waste (FLW); Food Waste Hierarchy; Food Waste Management; Food Waste Separation; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Thesis and Dissertations Master of Environmental Sciences and Management (MESM); 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

The Influence of Official Digital Infographics in Macao during the COVID-19 Pandemic - Ho, Weng In (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

Effectiveness of Art Therapy for Children with Special Educational Needs - Ho, Weng Chong (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

The Impact of Monetary Rewards and Employees’ Benefits on Frontline Staff Motivation in the Retail Industry - Ho, Un Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Macau's retail industry was familiar to all sectors. Retailers take up massive responsibility for the Macau economy. There are few manufacturers in Macau, so products and goods are imported. As the front-line staff of a retail store, employees would need to face many people daily; it can be tiring and stressful for them. Therefore, this study examined the motivational factors of front-line staff in the retail industry. It is crucial to understand various motivational factors, as one of the challenges that retail entrepreneurs face is employee retention. This study evaluated the characteristics of motivation so that managers can develop some strategies for their employees. The qualitative research method was adopted in this study. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine various motivators and the reasons behind their motivation. This study used purposive sampling, and eight candidates were selected to conduct the interview. The results of the interviews concluded that monetary rewards like salary and sales incentives have the most significant effect on motivation. Relationships with colleagues and superiors also affect their motivation in the working environment. Moreover, employee benefits like public holidays, maternity leave, etc, are also one of the motivators. Different participants mentioned other motivators, such as recognition, teamwork, learning and growth opportunities, teamwork, and fit of interest. Based on the research question, this study concluded that monetary rewards have a larger effect on employees' motivation than job benefits. Managers and leaders can develop strategies based on this research, and future research can also examine some other motivational factors with a larger sample
Keywords: Frontline Staff; Macau Retail; Motivation; Theses and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

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.

HOW DO FOOD INFLUENCERS ON INSTAGRAM AFFECT CONSUMERS’ VISIT INTENTION TO RESTAURANTS IN MACAU? - Ho, Pui I. (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This dissertation examines consumers' perceptions of food influencer content on Instagram and the relationship between exposure to food influencer reviews and consumers' intention to visit restaurants in Macau. A mixed-method research design was employed, combining quantitative survey data from 301 responses with qualitative insights from one focus group session involving six participants. The findings suggest that consumers find food influencer content entertaining and inspiring for dining out and exploring new culinary experiences, but they express concerns over its credibility. While food influencer content has a good exposure to consumers, it has a moderate impact on consumers’ restaurant choices, with various factors affecting the relationship. The results highlight the importance of perceived trustworthiness and enjoyability of food influencer content, the visual appeal of food and restaurant environments in photos, and personal relationships in shaping Macau consumers' visit intention to restaurants. The findings can serve as a basis for future research on credibility perceptions of food influencers, the enjoyability of influencer content, and the visual appeal of food and restaurant environments on Instagram. Practically, food influencers should prioritize transparency, authenticity, appealing photos, engaging captions, and leverage the role of personal relationships to increase their impact on consumers' restaurant choices
Keywords: Instagram; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; food influencers; influencer marketing; social media

EDUCATION AND PATRIOTICISM: CHEN ZIBAO’S EDUCTIONAL PRACTICE IN MACAU FROM THE LATE QING TO THE EARLY REPUBLIC = 教育與愛國 – 晚清至民國初年陳子褒在澳門的教育實踐 - Ho, Kuong Lei (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in History (D-HIS); University of Saint Joseph; 愛國教育; 澳門; 陳子褒

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

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

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

Who has the power? A reflection on teaching drama improvisation with young children - Ho, Ka Lee Carrie (Journal of Early Childhood Research, 2020)
The following study reflects and explores the dynamics of aesthetic experiences within drama improvisations. This arts-based research was carried out in Hong Kong with six Cantonese children who were aged 3?5?years. Data were collected from the video transcripts of five workshops and the researcher?s own research journal. Two significant milieus were observed: switching in-between roles and intuitive creativity is not talkback. I argue that because each of these two milieus provide the foreground for the complex ? and at times contradictory ? nature of children?s aesthetic experiences where Deleuzian power is at play, opportunities arise for both, challenging the traditional adult?child power relations, and in so doing, educators can be able to reconfigure and reconceptualise teaching goals and practices, both generally and specifically, within the context of early childhood education.
Publisher: SAGE Publications

澳門幼兒園教師對推行美感教育的態度=Kindergarten Teachers’ Attitudes Towards the implementation of Aesthetic Education in Macau - Ho, Ka Kio (University of Saint Joseph, 2021)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

Effective Promotion for Old Tea Restaurant Base On Marketing Mix Approach After Covid-19 Pandemic In Macau - Ho, Ka Ian (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This research paper analyses the marketing efforts and important attributes of Macau tea restaurants that have been open for more than 20 years, especially the digital methods that tea restaurants have used to sustain their business and meet customers' needs in the era of digital transition after the onset of the 2019 Covid 19 pandemic year. Using online marketing channels nowadays become an important tool for communicating with customers today. Despite the old Tea Restaurants in Macau did not put much efforts on digital channels for communication yet, to find out how tea restaurants survive in the rival restaurant industry in Macau, qualitative and quantitative methods were used to see how they meet the needs of their customers. For the quantitative method, an online survey questionnaire in bilingual English and Traditional Chinese was conducted with 280 respondents on customer purchase habits, importance of restaurants’ attributes and social media insights on tea restaurants, and the data was analysis by SPSS for the relationship and significance. For the qualitative method, 7 interviews were conducted with the business owners of the old tea restaurants which that have been opened for more than 20 years, including marketing efforts and their attitudes towards digitalization. To find out the marketing strategy of Macau’s old tea restaurants in the digital transformation era, it was found that “place” and “product” are the most important marketing mix for customers. Tea restaurant owners focus on product quality, and generate “word-of-mouth” which is customer-generated marketing, and is an effective way to influence customers for local tea restaurants. Meanwhile business owners will consider digitalize in the near future as well to match the new young customers’ online habits and the need for “place” such as online delivery platform
Keywords: Macau; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph; digitalization; marketing mix; tea restaurant

The Idea of the Exemplary Salesian in the Twelve Recorded Dreams of St. John Bosco: A Spiritual and Psychological Consideration - Ho, Ka Fai (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
This dissertation is an attempt to analyze the twelve selected dreams written or reviewed by St. John Bosco in order to present the notion of an exemplary Salesian. These dreams inspired Don Bosco’s vocation, charism, and dealing with his life’s contingencies and correlate with his pastoral ministry for youth under the social-ecclesiastical context of the nineteenth century. The methodology for this research consists of two approaches: an investigation of their spiritual theology, and Morton T. Kelsey’s approach. In the first part, five dimensions of spiritual theology are explored: (1) the conformity to the truth, (2) the humility and the docility to the Divine will, (3) the discretion and the gravity of seeking the glory of God, (4) the liberty of Spirit with joy, and (5) the guidance of the Spirit. In the latter part, three issues inspired by Kelsey are explored: (1) the personal issue, including the exploration of thought and feeling; (2) the correlation between the dream content and the reality, including images and archetypal symbols associated with experience and memory; (3) the spiritual issue, including one’s openness to God and relation with Him. Through this present research, a model of an exemplary Salesian has been conceptualized, which considers three virtues: health, wisdom, and sanctity. This present study is expected to be beneficial to enhance the faithful’s spirituality. Moreover it is hoped it will provide a healthy stimulus for Salesians to seek to live an excellent Salesian religious life, and to the faithful be devoted Christians in this world as well for the sake of glorifying the Divine mercy
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Religious Studies (D-RS); University of Saint Joseph

澳門已婚人士的婚姻質量與社交媒體參與之研究 =: The Study of Marital Quality and Social Media Engagment Among Married People in Macau - Ho, I. Mei (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Social Work (MSW); University of Saint Joseph

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

Macau 2.0: New Gaming Law and its Implications for Casino Market - Ho, Hong-Wai; Phillips, Jenny (Gaming Law Review, 2023)
This article discusses the new gaming law in Macau with emphasis on the critical aspects concerning the gaming operators, concession regime, and other regulatory obligations.1 Thanks to the gaming liberalization commenced in 2001,2 Macau has experienced tremendous economic growth. The past two decades have seen the rapid development of large-scale integrated resorts, and Macau now ranks among the world's major gaming jurisdictions.3 Policy and regulatory challenges have also emerged along with the growth of the junket-driven VIP business in casinos.4 With the recent amendment of Law No. 16/2001 and the subsequent enactment of Law No. 16/2022, Macau has strengthened the legal underpinnings of its system of gaming regulation to oversee various groups involved in casinos and their industry practices. The present study is among the first to review the scope and impact of the revised gaming law, and associated managerial and operational implications for Macau casinos. Topics covered include policy directions, concession requirements, industry participants, gaming taxes, and fair business practices. This study could provide insights into the “Macau 2.0” project and how casinos are to be operated and managed over the next decade. This article could also provide practical guidance for policy makers charged with formulating gaming policy and regulation in other jurisdictions.
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers
Keywords: Macao; concession; economic diversification; gaming regulation; junket; operation

The Financial Valuation of Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc - Ho, Hon U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

SLEEP PROBLEMS IN MACAU CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: ASSOCIATION WITH BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE - Hio, Sam U. (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
The adverse impact of sleep problems on children and adolescents’ health and development raises concern in the community. Although some studies have examined the association of sleep problems with behavioural problems and academic performance, few have been done in Macau, especially for the children population and regarding academic performance. Hence, the primary purpose of the present study was to identify sleep problems of children and adolescents in Macau and explore its relationship with behavioural problems and academic performance. 948 participants (466 children and 482 adolescents) from Macau were included in the study. Data was collected using the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) forms: CBCL, TRF and YSR. Children sleep problems were assessed by the reports of mother and father, in addition self-report was also included to measure adolescents sleep problems. Behavioural problems were reported by mother, father and teacher for children, as well as self-report for adolescents. Academic performance was the average of teacher’s rating of all academic subjects. The prevalence of sleep problems was 10.1% in children and 17.4% in adolescents. The results showed significant difference between children’s sleep problems and their mother and father-reported total behavioural problems, but not with teacher-reported total behavioural problems. However, whereas the t-test found that adolescent’s sleep problems significantly predicted all informants reported total behavioural problems, the chi-square test found no significant relationship between the two factors in teacher’s ratings, suggesting that while adolescents who had more sleep problems did show a higher frequency of total behavioural problems in the teacher’s perspective, but they may not be severe enough to be considered clinical. In addition, significant association between academic performance and sleep problems were only observed in children but not in adolescents; and no significant relationship was found between sleep problems and grade retention. Findings provided further support for some associations of sleep problems with behavioural problems and academic performance. In general, the findings of Macau were similar to those in other countries. Given that chronic sleep problems create multiple negative consequences to students’ lives, practical implications are provided to help lower it through the collaboration between parties, education about sleep hygiene and the development of healthy sleeping habits. Keywords: sleep problems; behavioural problems; academic performance; children; adolescents
Keywords: Macau; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph; academic performance; adolescents; behavioural problems; sleep problems

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

Instance-based deep transfer learning with attention for stock movement prediction - He, Qi-Qiao; Siu, Shirley Weng In; Si, Yain-Whar (Applied Intelligence, 2022)
Stock movement prediction is one of the most challenging problems in time series analysis due to the stochastic nature of financial markets. In recent years, a plethora of statistical methods and machine learning algorithms were proposed for stock movement prediction. Specifically, deep learning models are increasingly applied for the prediction of stock movement. The success of deep learning models relies on the assumption that massive training data are available. However, this assumption is impractical for stock movement prediction. In stock markets, a large number of stocks do not have enough historical data, especially for the companies which underwent initial public offering in recent years. In these situations, the accuracy of deep learning models to predict the stock movement could be affected. To address this problem, in this paper, we propose novel instance-based deep transfer learning models with attention mechanism. In the experiments, we compare our proposed methods with state-of-the-art prediction models. Experimental results on three public datasets reveal that our proposed methods significantly improve the performance of deep learning models when limited training data are available.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]
Keywords: Attention mechanism; Deep transfer learning; Instance-based; Stock movement prediction

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

Smart Home Interactive Design: How can Interactive Design be Combined with a Smart Home System to help Human Future? - He, Min Yi (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Design (MDG); University of Saint Joseph

Data Augmentation for Deep Neural Networks Model in EEG Classification Task: A Review - He, Chao; Liu, Jialu; Zhu, Yuesheng; Du, Wencai (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2021)
Classification of electroencephalogram (EEG) is a key approach to measure the rhythmic oscillations of neural activity, which is one of the core technologies of brain-computer interface systems (BCIs). However, extraction of the features from non-linear and non-stationary EEG signals is still a challenging task in current algorithms. With the development of artificial intelligence, various advanced algorithms have been proposed for signal classification in recent years. Among them, deep neural networks (DNNs) have become the most attractive type of method due to their end-to-end structure and powerful ability of automatic feature extraction. However, it is difficult to collect large-scale datasets in practical applications of BCIs, which may lead to overfitting or weak generalizability of the classifier. To address these issues, a promising technique has been proposed to improve the performance of the decoding model based on data augmentation (DA). In this article, we investigate recent studies and development of various DA strategies for EEG classification based on DNNs. The review consists of three parts: what kind of paradigms of EEG-based on BCIs are used, what types of DA methods are adopted to improve the DNN models, and what kind of accuracy can be obtained. Our survey summarizes the current practices and performance outcomes that aim to promote or guide the deployment of DA to EEG classification in future research and development.
4 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21]

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

Temporary transnational labour mobility and gendered individualization in Europe - Harsløf, Ivan; Zuev, Dennis (Mobilities, 2022)
In a context of a new transnational division of labour, temporary international labour mobility is on the rise in Europe. In particular, recent decades have seen considerably more women seeking work experience abroad. Observers have been concerned with how such mobility is related to individualization, and in particular how it may challenge collective institutions, communities and families. The aim of this study is to explore such issues among women and men with international work experience. Using data from European Social Survey, the paper investigates previously mobile workers in terms of their current working and living conditions. Across genders, we consider different forms of individualization that may be associated with transnational labour mobility. While both women and men with transnational work experience generally feature strong strategic individualization, this is most pronounced among men. Hence, men's mobility is among other things associated with increased autonomy in working life, while – in contrast to women – it does not seem to hamper their integration in the sphere of social reproduction.
0 citations (Crossref) [2022-11-10] Publisher: Routledge _eprint: https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2022.2092417
Keywords: Europe; Temporary labour mobility; individualization; sphere of production; sphere of social reproduction; transnational division of labour

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

Time, authenticity and photographic storytelling in The Museum of Innocence. - Hannam, Kevin; Ryan, Edward (Authenticity and authentication of heritage, 2021)
GSCC: 0000014

Tourist’s mobilities: Walking, cycling, driving and waiting - Hannam, Kevin; Butler, Gareth; Witte, Alexandra; Zuev, Dennis (Tourist Studies, 2021)
This commentary reviews recent research in terms of tourist’s mobilities in terms practices of walking, cycling and driving. It concludes by reflecting on the contemporary lock down of travel in terms of the global pandemic and its consequences for waiting, stillness and immobility – particularly in terms of flying.
4 citations (Crossref) [2022-09-21] GSCC: 0000003

Research on Quality Control of Intelligent Injection Molding System Based on Process Monitoring - Han, Wang; Shasha, Lv; Shaobin, Li; Wencai, Du; Qinggu, Li; Bo, Wang (2021 8th International Conference on Computational Science/Intelligence and Applied Informatics (CSII), 2021)

Regulating the Use of Artificial Intelligence(AI): Achievements and Challenges - Hamamoto, Mayumi (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
This dissertation is research regarding the achievements and challenges in artificial intelligence (A) regulation at a domestic level and international level. This study is important because there are more legal issues regarding the application of AI, and AI has grown to be part of the public’s daily lives. A mixed method has been adopted in this research: doctrinal legal research and a comparative legal research method. AI was invented in the 1950s and in the 2000s, has been more accessible to the public. The first AI regulation, the EU AI ACT, has recently been enforced, an AI regulation that has been around for nearly seven decades after its invention. It is high time that regulators in different states invest more effort in AI regulations
Keywords: AI; Artificial Intelligence; System Learning; Thesis and Dissertations Master of Lusophone and International Public Law(MLIPL); University of Saint Joseph

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

The Association Between Interpersonal Relationships and Mental Health in College Students in Macao - Guo, Peiling (University of Saint Joseph, 2022)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Couselling and Psychotherapy (MCP); University of Saint Joseph

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

The Impact of E-Commerce in Local Flower Consumers in Macao: Online Stores vs Physical Stores - Guerreiro, Diana Macedo (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Communication and Media (MCM); University of Saint Joseph

The Roles of the Mangroves on the Bioaccumulation and Citogenotoxic Effects of Heavy Metals and Pesticides in the Food Web of a Tropical System - Gonzalez, Lucia Ivorra (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Mangroves are a unique group of plants, which offer a great variety of goods and services to the ecosystem and to the society. Regrettably, they have been globally threatened by urbanization and industrialization, among others, triggering overexploitation of the world’s mangrove forests despite their ecological and economic importance. As a result, mangroves are often under pollution stress as sinks or receivers for numerous man-made pollutants such as pesticides, which are the main focus of this thesis. One of the most widely applied chemicals in the word are the organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) that even after their supposedly worldwide ban between 1950s-1990s, they can still be detected in the environment. Numerous studies have been done in phytoremediation of pollutants by mangroves, but little attention has been given to the role of mangroves in the remediation of OCPs. For this reason, part of this thesis will focus on the occurrence and distribution of OCPs in intertidal tropical and sub-tropical areas around the world with and without mangroves. As a first goal (I), we evaluate —in a theoretical way— if the presence of mangroves affects or modifies the levels of OCPs in the surrounding environment. For this purpose, data from different matrices, such as water, sediment, benthic fauna and plants were included and discussed in this work. Moreover, and considering Macao’s location, we also quantified OCPs from surface waters of this region from areas with and without mangroves and included in this task. Besides this theoretical approach, this thesis also included some laboratoy and field work specifically focused on dicofol and 4,4’-dichlorobenzophenone (4,4’-DCBP, its main metabolite). Dicofol is an OCP strongly related to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), which has been extensively used in China and more specifically, in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), a region under anthropogenic pressure. However, due to dicofol’s instability (i.e., sensitive to low pH, light exposure and high temperature), we expected to quantify 4,4′-DCBP (which is also common to DDT) as the main form present in the environment. As a second goal (II), we conducted a monitoring study in surface waters from Macao and Hong Kong, to evaluate the contamination status and water quality of these regions. Concentrations of 4,4’-DCBP, nutrients and physicochemical parameters were measured during transition and wet season, and at high and low tide. In addition, since the toxicity of this metabolite was totally unknown, we assessed it via two biological models: Daphnia magna and Artemia salina. Since 4,4’-DCBP was detected and quantified in both regions (2.8-30.0 ng/L), this thesis also includes experimental work focused on the assimilation and depuration pattern by a marine organism. For that purpose and as a final goal (III), we selected the common edible bivalve Meretrix as a model to evaluate the dynamics of accumulation and depuration of the pesticide dicofol. The Vietnamese clams were exposed during 15 days under two different concentrations of dicofol, and decontaminated for the same period of time. Quantification of 4,4’-DCBP was done during both phases (uptake and depuration) and at different sampling times. In summary, all these different works helped us to conclude that: I.1) As expected, vegetated areas with mangroves presented lower concentrations of OCPs for all the matrices, and also better quality in terms of pesticide pollution for water and sediments. Results obtained from Macao’s waters also revealed the same pattern, with mangroves areas having lower levels of contamination. Although the gathered data presented methodological variability (i.e. different quantification methods, extraction protocols, equipment used), the same pattern was observed among matrices, showing how robust and solid the results herein obtained are. II.1). Hong Kong presented higher concentrations of 4,4’-DCBP than Macao, which may be due to the use of dicofol as a pesticide and the use of antifouling-paint for ships. Moreover, concentrations of 4,4’-DCBP during wet season were below limits of quantification, demonstrating a seasonal pattern and a dilution effect due to higher river discharges during this period. II.2). Both regions showed possible eutrophication problems due to the high nutrient concentrations. These levels presented also a seasonal variability, with dissolved inorganic nitrogen and total dissolved solids higher during transition; and dissolved inorganic phosphorous, total suspended solids and chlorophyll a higher during wet season. II.3). Toxicity of 4,4’-DCBP was lower than the parent compound dicofol, and the levels quantified indicated a low environmental risk. However, it is important to pay attention to this compound since interaction with other contaminants could enhance their toxicity, or processes such as biomagnification or bioaccumulation could make low concentrations a threat for the environment. III.1). Different concentrations of dicofol presented different uptake and depuration kinetics. Animals exposed to higher concentrations (500 ng/L), had levels above limits of quantification (LOQ) after 24h exposure, unlike the ones exposed to lower concentrations (50 ng/L), which had levels <LOQ after the same period. The first ones also, presented lower uptake rates, and this could indicate that high dicofol concentrations in the system could affect the respiration rates of the organism. In addition, this work also showed that animals exposed to high concentrations of dicofol will need more than 15 days to depurate in order to reach safe levels for human consumption. The compilation of the work done in this thesis allowed us to better understand the role of mangroves ecosystems on the accumulation of OCPs and to provide solid information that could create strategies for mangroves management and conservation. Moreover, and as a first attempt, we were able to quantify this pesticide metabolite in the PRD (one of the most seriously contaminated areas in China), to determine its toxicity and to define its kinetics in an important organism such as the edible bivalve M. meretrix. We intend that this thesis will be helpful for the scientific community providing new insights regarding metabolite interactions (within and with other molecules) and toxicity (LC50 and theoretical risk assessment), which were unknown until now
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Science (D-SC); University of Saint Joseph

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

Neuromarketing and Global Branding Reaction Analysis Based on Real-Time Monitoring of Multiple Consumer's Biosignals and Emotions - Goncalves, Marcus V.; Marques, Joao Alexandre Lobo; Silva, Bruno Riccelli Santos; Luther, Valorie; Hayes, Sydney (2022)
Consumers' selections and decision-making processes are some of the most exciting and challenging topics in neuromarketing, sales, and branding. Multicultural influences and societal conditions are also crucial aspects to consider from a global perspective. Applying neuroscience tools and techniques in international marketing and consumer behavior is an emergent and multidisciplinary field that aims to understand consumers' thoughts, reactions, and selection processes in branding and sales. This study focuses on real-time monitoring of different physiological signals using eye-tracking, facial expressions recognition, and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) acquisition methods to analyze consumers' responses, detect emotional arousal, measure attention or relaxation levels, analyze perception, consciousness, memory, learning, motivation, preference, and decision-making. The primary purpose of this research was to monitor human subjects' reactions to these signals during an experiment designed in three phases consisting of different types of branding advertisements. The non-advertisement exposition was also monitored during the gathering of survey responses at the end of each phase. A feature extraction module was implemented with a data analytics module to calculate statistical metrics and decision-making supporting tools based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Feature Importance (FI) determination based on the Random Forest technique. The results indicate that when compared to image ads, video ads are more effective in attracting consumers' attention and creating more emotional arousal.
Keywords: Branding Reaction; Consumer Biosignal; Galvanic Skin Response; consumer decision-making; eye-tracking; neuromarketing; neurosciences

Entry Into the Mainland China Market: a Case Study of Macau's Portuguese Wine Companies - Gonçalves, Daniela Filipa Atraca dos Santos (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Business Administration (MBA); University of Saint Joseph

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

Intersectoral Linkages in Booming Sector Economies - Gomes, Sérgio Ricardo Santos; Marques, Joao Alexandre Lobo; Reis, Ricardo Ferreira (2022 13th International Conference on E-business, Management and Economics, 2022)

ECONOMIC AND PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN MAJOR INDUSTRIES IN THE ECONOMY OF MACAO - Gomes, Sérgio Ricardo dos Santos (University of Saint Joseph, 2024)
Since early times, the effects of a booming sector in other sectors of a small economy have been of interest to scholars. There is a general perception that the booming Gaming sector has contributed to the overall growth in Macau through the trickle-down effect, passing on the benefits of growth to other sectors. After the liberalization of the gaming industry in 2002, this booming sector experienced several years of exponential growth, becoming the driving industry for Macao’s economy. Several scholars and researchers have dedicated their studies to the effects of the casino gaming industry as a booming sector in such a small economy. However, there is a gap in what concerns measuring the influence of the Gaming sector as a driving industry for several other sectors or following industries of Macau’s economy. The purpose of this research study is to investigate in what measure the Gaming sector in Macao leveraged the other economic sectors and how related or correlated are the different industries of Macao’s Economy. A protocol-driven understanding of the state of the art on the interrelations between economic sectors and different techniques used to study those inter-relations was conducted through a systematic literature review. Given the limited available data on the Gross Value Added (GVA), or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the supply side, as a central measure of economic activity in the different sectors, several possible interpolation models using auxiliary high-frequency data (indicators) were compared, to achieve the optimal model for interpolation of each variable. Several forecasts for the future performance of Macau's four major economic sectors were presented based on different regression techniques. Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models were developed to assess the dependence of the future performance of a sector’s GVA on its past performance. Optimal Vector Autoregressive (VAR) models were created to identify the explanatory power of some sectors of Macau’s economy in others. Based on available auxiliary data in high-frequency (quarterly) it was possible to interpolate the quarterly GVA per economic sector, available only in low-frequency (annually), for the major sectors of Macao’s economy. Some sectors have a considerable explanatory power on the performance of other sectors, however, the proposed regression models did not identify a clear relation between the performance of the Gaming sector and the performance of other major sectors from Macao’s economy
Keywords: Econometrics; Economic Sectors; Gaming Industry; Interlinkages; Macau; Regression; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Business Administration (D-BA); University of Saint Joseph

INTEGRATING VARIATION THEORY WITH MULTILINGUAL INSTRUCTION IN MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS: BRIDGING THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION - Gomes, Nuno Miguel Alves dos Santos Teixeira; Correia, Ana Maria; Thota, Neena Jawaharlal (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
This thesis explores language teaching and language acquisition by multilingual learners using a Variation Theory approach and multilingual teaching in a university setting in Macao, China. It includes three case studies applied to students of the Spanish language in the introductory level which took place from late August to early December of the year 2017. The first study describes Macao’s multilingual language learners in the University of Macao in 2017. Based on the LEAP-Q questionnaire, a questionnaire was created to inquire all Spanish language students about their languages´ background, their motivations to learn new languages, as well as their learning strategies. The second study shows how the usage of Variation Theory techniques and multilingual teaching techniques boosted the teaching and the learning during the semester. This study employs a case study methodology, by analysing in-class multiple interactions gathering information on how multilinguals´ language background affects the pedagogical process. It analyses a total of 28 classes of 1 hour and 15 minutes. The third study presents the analysis of a questionnaire to 82 students of the initial level of Spanish language in the University of Macao, along with the analysis of interviews from 10 selected multilingual students about their linguistic background and how they experienced the semester. These interviews collected more information about the effectiveness of the Variation Theory in the semester in terms of in-class teaching and learning. From the triangulation of these three studies, some conclusions have been drawn about the advantages of using Variation Theory and multilingual teaching techniques for multilingual students, for the language teacher and ultimately also into the curricular design of foreign language teaching. In sum, that the linguistic background of students plays a major role in how they acquire a new language and, that applying Variation Theory techniques can be an immensely effective technique in a language classroom setting; suggesting that multilingual students will gain from being previously identified and placed in a separate class where these variation techniques were applied. Since this thesis focuses solely on an introductory language course, there is ground to explore this same approach on more advanced multilingual language learners
Keywords: Foreign language teaching; Multilingualism; Thesis and Dissertations PhD in Education (D-SE); University of Saint Joseph; Variation Theory

Malaria Blood Smears Object Detection Based on Convolutional DCGAN and CNN Deep Learning Architectures - Gois, Francisco Nauber Bernardo; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo; de Oliveira Dantas, Allberson Bruno; Santos, Márcio Costa; Neto, José Valdir Santiago; de Macêdo, José Antônio Fernandes; Du, Wencai; Li, Ye (Computer and Information Science, 2023)
Fast and efficient malaria diagnostics are essential in efforts to detect and treat the disease in a proper time. The standard approach to diagnose malaria is a microscope exam, which is submitted to a subjective interpretation. Thus, the automating of the diagnosis process with the use of an intelligent system capable of recognizing malaria parasites could aid in the early treatment of the disease. Usually, laboratories capture a minimum set of images in low quality using a system of microscopes based on mobile devices. Due to the poor quality of such data, conventional algorithms do not process those images properly. This paper presents the application of deep learning techniques to improve the accuracy of malaria plasmodium detection in the presented context. In order to increase the number of training sets, deep convolutional generative adversarial networks (DCGAN) were used to generate reliable training data that were introduced in our deep learning model to improve accuracy. A total of 6 experiments were performed and a synthesized dataset of 2.200 images was generated by the DCGAN for the training phase. For a real image database with 600 blood smears with malaria plasmodium, the proposed Deep Learning architecture obtained the accuracy of 100% for the plasmodium detection. The results are promising and the solution could be employed to support a mass medical diagnosis system.

Malaria Blood Smears Object Detection Based on Convolutional DCGAN and CNN Deep Learning Architectures - Gois, Francisco Nauber Bernardo; Marques, João Alexandre Lobo; De Oliveira Dantas, Allberson Bruno; Santos, Márcio Costa; Neto, José Valdir Santiago; De Macêdo, José Antônio Fernandes; Du, Wencai; Li, Ye (Computer and Information Science, 2023)

Walking with John: the go-along as ethnographic tool to explore the lives of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder - Gnanaraj, Steffi (University of Saint Joseph, 2020)
Keywords: Thesis and Dissertations Master of Education (MED); University of Saint Joseph

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

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

(Un)directed Reading: Selected Students' Work Directed Reading 2020/21 University of Saint Joseph, Macao, China - Olga Ng Ka Man, Sandra (University of Saint Joseph, 2023)
Keywords: Literature

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

International Student Diversity Experiences in their Host Cities - Ge, Yun; Ho, Kong Chong (National University of Singapore and Université Paris Cité, 2022)

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