TY - JOUR TI - Application of ANN, XGBoost, and Other ML Methods to Forecast Air Quality in Macau AU - Lei, Thomas M. T. AU - Ng, Stanley C. W. AU - Siu, Shirley W. I. T2 - Sustainability AB - Air pollution in Macau has become a serious problem following the Pearl River Delta’s (PRD) rapid industrialization that began in the 1990s. With this in mind, Macau needs an air quality forecast system that accurately predicts pollutant concentration during the occurrence of pollution episodes to warn the public ahead of time. Five different state-of-the-art machine learning (ML) algorithms were applied to create predictive models to forecast PM2.5, PM10, and CO concentrations for the next 24 and 48 h, which included artificial neural networks (ANN), random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), support vector machine (SVM), and multiple linear regression (MLR), to determine the best ML algorithms for the respective pollutants and time scale. The diurnal measurements of air quality data in Macau from 2016 to 2021 were obtained for this work. The 2020 and 2021 datasets were used for model testing, while the four-year data before 2020 and 2021 were used to build and train the ML models. Results show that the ANN, RF, XGBoost, SVM, and MLR models were able to provide good performance in building up a 24-h forecast with a higher coefficient of determination (R2) and lower root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and biases (BIAS). Meanwhile, all the ML models in the 48-h forecasting performance were satisfactory enough to be accepted as a two-day continuous forecast even if the R2 value was lower than the 24-h forecast. The 48-h forecasting model could be further improved by proper feature selection based on the 24-h dataset, using the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) value test and the adjusted R2 value of the 48-h forecasting model. In conclusion, the above five ML algorithms were able to successfully forecast the 24 and 48 h of pollutant concentration in Macau, with the RF and SVM models performing the best in the prediction of PM2.5 and PM10, and CO in both 24 and 48-h forecasts. DA - 2023/01// PY - 2023 DO - 10.3390/su15065341 DP - www.mdpi.com VL - 15 IS - 6 SP - 5341 LA - en SN - 2071-1050 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5341 Y2 - 2023/04/11/09:51:09 KW - Macau KW - air pollution KW - air quality KW - air quality forecast KW - machine learning ER - TY - JOUR TI - China’s Approach to Sustainable Development in Free Trade Agreements AU - Wei, Dan AU - Rafael, Ângelo Patrício T2 - Law and Development Review AB - The question of how to adequately integrate environment and labor provisions in free trade agreements is still a difficult one for both States and academicians. This article explores China’s approach to environment and labor issues in free trade agreements. For reference and comparison, it relies on the European Union’s and the United States’ approaches in their respective FTAs. The article identifies China’s preference for a case-by-case approach to the inclusion of environmental chapters in its FTAs. Additionally, in most FTAs it avoids to include provisions on labor standards. These two preferences represent major divergences from the European Union’s and the United States’ approaches, characterized by inclusion of chapters on environment and labor in all their modern FTAs. The article also finds that China’s FTAs rely solely on consultations and cooperation for the implementation of environmental and labor provisions, within the framework of Joint Committees and avoid the inclusion of civil society mechanisms. Moreover, resolution of disputes relies exclusively on consultations, in a diverse procedure than the one applicable to trade disputes. Despite alignment with the European Union model, this is another major point of divergence with the United States’ model, which applies the same enforcement mechanism for both environment and labor issues and trade issues and includes the possibility of applying sanctions. Finally, the article concludes that China’s options with regards to the treatment of environment and labor concerns in its free trade agreements aligns with both its domestic governance approach and its approach to international cooperation. DA - 2023/06/01/ PY - 2023 DO - 10.1515/ldr-2023-0053 DP - www.degruyter.com VL - 16 IS - 2 SP - 367 EP - 384 LA - en SN - 1943-3867 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ldr-2023-0053/html Y2 - 2023/08/10/13:52:36 KW - China KW - environment and trade KW - free trade agreements KW - labor and trade KW - sustainable development ER - TY - THES TI - Designing an Optimized Constructed Wetland System with Circular Sustainability for Wastewater Treatment in Macao AU - Lei, Micaela A3 - Calheiros, Cristina A3 - Vasconcelos, Raquel CY - Macau DA - 2020/// PY - 2020 DP - Library Catalog (Koha) SP - 133 LA - eng PB - University of Saint Joseph UR - http://library-opac.usj.edu.mo/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=175137&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20Environmental%20Sciences%20and%20Management KW - Master of Environmental Sciences and Management (MESM) KW - University of Saint Joseph ER - TY - JOUR TI - Fintech Adoption: A Study of Users in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin (China) AU - Weng, Chi Lei AU - Lampo, Alessandro T2 - INTI JOURNAL AB - Intended as an economic and development hub, the Hengqin Cooperation Zone aims to foster collaboration and integration between mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao, serving as a platform for economic development and innovation among the three regions. The zone's development has increased demand for financial services, often offered through fintech. There is, however, a lack of interoperability between the fintech services currently used in Macao and Hengqin. This may hinder Macao users' adoption of the technology. Thus, our research objective is to identify the factors determining Macao residents' adoption of fintech services in the area and provide insights for service providers, developers, and policymakers. A framework based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used for this purpose. The responses of 103 Macao residents provided evidence that ease of use significantly and positively impacts the usefulness of the technology. This in turn influences attitudes towards fintech usage. Subjective norms and perceived behavioral control positively impact fintech adoption intentions. The fintech industry and the governments of Macao and Hengqin can work on improving technology's ease of use and usefulness. They can also promote them to Macao users, and provide the resources required for better access to fintech in the zone DA - 2024/03/26/ PY - 2024 DP - eprints.intimal.edu.my VL - 2024 IS - 02 SP - 1 EP - 6 LA - en SN - e2600-7320 ST - Fintech Adoption UR - https://intijournal.intimal.edu.my Y2 - 2024/03/28/06:15:11 ER - TY - SLIDE TI - Impacts of Policies and Infrastructure on the Usage of Electric Vehicles in Macao T2 - 2023 Symposium on Environmental Science and Sustainable Technology (ESST2023) A2 - Weng Chi Lei A2 - Tai, On Teng CY - University of Saint Joseph, Macao, China DA - 2023/// PY - 2023 LA - en M3 - Conference UR - https://ise.usj.edu.mo/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/ESST2023-AbstractBooklet_2023-10-19-lres.pdf Y2 - 2024/01/14/15:33:55 ER - TY - THES TI - Light pollution as an environmental problem in Macao SAR: spatial and temporal variation of night sky brightness and survey on public awareness AU - Cheok, Chi Hou A3 - Vasconcelos, Raquel O. CY - Macau DA - 2019/// PY - 2019 DP - Library Catalog (Koha) SP - 78 LA - eng PB - University of Saint Joseph ST - Light pollution as an environmental problem in Macao SAR UR - http://library-opac.usj.edu.mo/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=173799&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20Environmental%20Sciences%20and%20Management KW - Thesis and Dissertations Master of Environmental Sciences and Management (MESM) KW - University of Saint Joseph ER - TY - SLIDE TI - Mangroves as a nature-based solution for a cleaner and safer Macao T2 - Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Marine Sustainable Development Seminar A2 - Tagulao, Karen DA - 2022/04// PY - 2022 M3 - Seminar ER - TY - JOUR TI - Monitoring PM2.5 at a Large Shopping Mall: A Case Study in Macao AU - Lei, Thomas M. T. AU - Chan, Yan W. I. AU - Mohd Nadzir, Mohd Shahrul T2 - Processes AB - Employees work long hours in an environment where the ambient air quality is poor, directly affecting their work efficiency. The concentration of particulate matters (PM) produced by the interior renovation of shopping malls has not received particular attention in Macao. Therefore, this study will investigate the indoor air quality (IAQ), in particular of PM2.5, in large-scale shopping mall renovation projects. This study collected on-site PM data with low-cost portable monitoring equipment placed temporarily at specific locations to examine whether the current control measures are appropriate and propose some improvements. Prior to this study, there were no measures being implemented, and on-site monitoring to assess the levels of PM2.5 concentrations was non-existent. The results show the highest level of PM2.5 recorded in this study was 559.00 μg/m3. Moreover, this study may provide a reference for decision-makers, management, construction teams, design consultant teams, and renovation teams of large-scale projects. In addition, the monitoring of IAQ can ensure a comfortable environment for employees and customers. This study concluded that the levels of PM2.5 concentration have no correlation with the number of on-site workers, but rather were largely influenced by the processes being performed on-site. DA - 2023/03// PY - 2023 DO - 10.3390/pr11030914 DP - www.mdpi.com VL - 11 IS - 3 SP - 914 LA - en SN - 2227-9717 ST - Monitoring PM2.5 at a Large Shopping Mall UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/11/3/914 Y2 - 2023/04/11/09:51:02 KW - air pollution KW - construction dust KW - health exposure KW - indoor air quality KW - particulate matter ER - TY - JOUR TI - Science and Laudato Si’ on the Paradigm Shift towards Sustainable Development AU - Gassner, Franz T2 - The Journal of the Macau Ricci Institute AB - For sustainability researchers and global policy makers it is lucid clear that a radical turnaround of modern societies is needed to approach sustainable development paths. Pope Francis takes his stand on a basic paradigm shift in his Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’: Care for our Common Home (2015). He calls for a radical shift of mindsets and ecological and cultural conversion which are needed for sustainability and a life in dignity for all. The author compares aspects from sustainability research and Laudato Si’ and shows how science and Francis spiritual-theological take converge. Both call for the need of new mindsets and spiritual resources to nourish just life-styles and sustainable societies. DA - 2018/// PY - 2018 IS - 2 LA - en-gb UR - https://mrijournal.riccimac.org/index.php/en/issues/issue-2/24-science-and-laudato-si-on-the-paradigmshifttowards-sustainable-development Y2 - 2021/02/19/09:17:38 ER -