University of Saint Joseph (Macao)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been shaping Chinese social workers to contribute to public health. To study the details, this article aims to explore the roles of social workers during the pandemic in China’s mainland and how social workers fulfilled their roles. The study used a cross-sectional design with a convergent parallel-mixed methodology. Its findings provide another piece of evidence demonstrating the functions of social work practitioners during a health crisis worldwide. However, the ambiguities of the social work profession in addressing public health emergencies were also unveiled in the case of China.

As an essential member of the tangible cultural heritage, historic architectural heritage contains unique historical and social values. This paper describes the current state of conservation of historic buildings and the ways of conservation, revitalization and renewal by the Macao authorities, and draws on the Cathedral of the Merciful Jesus in Goa, India, and Coventry Cathedral in England, to provide suggestions for the conservation and restoration of the site of St. Pauls College in Macao. St. Pauls College is divided into three main parts: St. Pauls Church, the Seminary, and the Fortress, for conservation, revitalization, and renewal. The current conservation and renewal measures of the site are still inadequate. By analyzing the conservation strategies and the current situation, St. Pauls College needs the cooperation of the government and the public to value and improve the reuse value of the site and increase its visibility. At the same time, the use of rich restoration and renewal methods, combined with the current situation of society in the restoration and renewal of the site, can present valuable ideas.

The three otolithic endorgans of the inner ear are known to be involved in sound detection in different teleost fishes, yet their relative roles for auditory-vestibular functions within the same species remain unclear. In zebrafish (Danio rerio), saccule and utricle are thought to play key functions in encoding auditory and vestibular information, respectively, but the biological function of the lagena is not clear. We hypothesized that the zebrafish saccule serves as a primary auditory endorgan, making it more vulnerable to noise exposure, and that lagena might have an auditory function given its connectivity to the saccule and dominant vestibular function of the utricle. In this study, we compared the impact of acoustic trauma (continuous white noise at 168 dB for 24 h) between the sensory epithelia of the three otolithic endorgans. Noise treatment caused hair cell loss in both the saccule and lagena but not in the utricle. This effect was identified immediately after acoustic treatment and did not increase 24 h post trauma. Furthermore, hair cell loss was accompanied by a reduction in presynaptic activity measured based on Ribeye b presence but mainly in the saccule, supporting its main contribution for noise-induced hearing loss. Our findings support the hypothesis that the saccule plays a major role in sound detection and that lagena is also acoustically affected extending the species hearing dynamic range.

Realization of electrically pumped laser diodes based on solution‐processed semiconductors is a long‐standing challenge. Metal halide perovskites have shown great potential toward this goal due to the excellent optoelectronic properties. Continuous‐wave (CW) optically pumped lasing in a real electroluminescent device represents a key step to the current injection laser diode, but it has not been realized yet. This is mainly due to the challenge of incorporating a resonant cavity into an efficient light‐emitting diode (LED) which can sustain intensive carrier injection. Here we report CW lasing in an efficient perovskite LED with an integrated distributed feedback resonator, which shows a low lasing threshold of 220 W·cm ⁻² at 110 K. Importantly, the LED works well at a current density of 330 A·cm ⁻² , indicating the carrier injection rate already exceeds the threshold of optically‐pumping. Our results suggest that electrically pumped perovskite laser diodes can be achieved once the Joule heating issue is overcome. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

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

Simple Summary As animals age, exposure to additional environmental stressors such as noise pollution might be more detrimental at the physiological and behavioural levels, but such an effect is not yet clear. In this study, we tested the effects of noise exposure for 24 h on young adults and old zebrafish. Based on different behavioural tests, we found that both noise and ageing caused anxiety responses when the animals were introduced to a novel environment as well as a tendency for social proximity. Such anxiety responses decreased when the animals were tested in groups. Since the old zebrafish already showed anxiety-like behaviour with a preference for bottom dwelling, noise treatment induced the opposite effect in these individuals, increasing their vertical exploration. This work is a first attempt to investigate the effects of noise and ageing on zebrafish, a reference model in hearing and ecotoxicology research. Overall, we suggest that old individuals may have distinct physiological and behavioural mechanisms for dealing with noisy environments. Abstract Noise pollution is creating a wide range of health problems related to physiological stress and anxiety that impact the social life of vertebrates, including humans. Ageing is known to be associated with changes in susceptibility to acoustic stimuli; however, the interaction between noise effects and senescence is not well understood. We tested the effects of 24 h continuous white noise (150 dB re 1 Pa) on both young adults and old zebrafish in terms of anxiety (novel tank diving test), social interactions (with mirror/conspecific attraction), and shoaling behaviour. Both noise and ageing induced higher anxiety responses in a novel environment. Since the old zebrafish showed longer bottom dwelling, acoustic treatment induced the opposite pattern with an initial increase in vertical exploration in the aged individuals. Both noise- and age-related anxiety responses were lowered when individuals were tested within a group. Regarding social interactions, both noise and ageing seemed to cause an increase in their proximity to a mirror. Although the results were not statistically significant, noise exposure seemed to further enhance conspecific attraction. Moreover, the interindividual distance within a shoal decreased with noise treatment in the aged individuals. This study is a first attempt to investigate the effects of both noise and ageing on zebrafish behaviour, suggesting the age-dependent physiological coping mechanisms associated with environmental stress.

The current availability of multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) materials with excellent color purity and high device efficiency in the deep-blue region is appealing. To address this issue in the emerged nitrogen/carbonyl MR-TADF system, we propose a spiro-lock strategy. By incorporating spiro functionalization into a concise molecular skeleton, a series of emitters (SFQ, SOQ, SSQ, and SSeQ) can enhance molecular rigidity, blue-shift the emission peak, narrow the emission band, increase the photoluminescence quantum yield by over 92%, and suppress intermolecular interactions in the film state. The referent CZQ without spiro structure has a more planar skeleton, and its bluer emission in the solution state redshifts over 40 nm with serious spectrum broadening and a low PLQY in the film state. As a result, SSQ achieves an external quantum efficiency of 25.5% with a peak at 456 nm and a small full width at half maximum of 31 nm in a simple unsensitized device, significantly outperforming CZQ. This work discloses the importance of spiro-junction in modulating deep-blue MR-TADF emitters.

The current availability of multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) materials with excellent color purity and high device efficiency in the deep‐blue region is appealing. To address this issue in the emerged nitrogen/carbonyl MR‐TADF system, we propose a spiro‐lock strategy. By incorporating spiro functionalization into a concise molecular skeleton, a series of emitters (SFQ, SOQ, SSQ, and SSeQ) can enhance molecular rigidity, blue‐shift the emission peak, narrow the emission band, increase the photoluminescence quantum yield by over 92%, and suppress intermolecular interactions in the film state. The referent CZQ without spiro structure has a more planar skeleton, and its bluer emission in the solution state redshifts over 40 nm with serious spectrum broadening and a low PLQY in the film state. As a result, SSQ achieves an external quantum efficiency of 25.5% with a peak at 456 nm and a small full width at half maximum of 31 nm in a simple unsensitized device, significantly outperforming CZQ. This work discloses the importance of spiro‐junction in modulating deep‐blue MR‐TADF emitters.

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.

In recent years, the integration of Machine Learning (ML) techniques in the field of healthcare and public health has emerged as a powerful tool for improving decision-making processes [...]

Surface ozone (O3) is influenced by regional background and local photochemical formation under favorable meteorological conditions. Understanding the contribution of these factors to changes in O3 is crucial to address the issue of O3 pollution. In this study, we propose a novel integrated method that combines random forest, principal component analysis, and Shapley additive explanations to distinguish observed O3 into meteorologically affected ozone (O3_MET), chemically formed from local emissions (O3_LC), and regional background ozone (O3_RBG). Applied to three typical stations in Shanghai during the warm season from 2013 to 2021, the results indicate that O3_RBG in Shanghai was 48.8 ± 0.3 ppb, accounting for 79.6%–89.4% at different sites, with an overall declining trend of 0.018 ppb/yr. O3_LC at urban and regional sites ranged from 5.9–9.0 ppb and 8.9–14.6 ppb, respectively, which were significantly higher than the contributions of 2.5–7.4 ppb at an upwind background site. O3_MET can be categorized into those affecting O3 photochemical generation and those changing O3 dispersion conditions, with absolute contributions to O3 ranging from 13.4–19.0 ppb and 13.1–13.7 ppb, respectively. We found that the O3 rebound in 2017, compared to 2013, was primarily influenced by unfavorable O3 dispersion conditions and unbalanced emission reductions; while the O3 decline in 2021, compared to 2017, was primarily influenced by overall favorable meteorological conditions and further emissions reduction. These findings highlight the challenge of understanding O3 change due to meteorology and regional background, emphasizing the need for systematic interpretation of the different components of O3.

Delayed treatment of testicular torsion (TT) can lead to permanent loss of reproductive capacity. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) and ultrasound imaging (USI) was tested for detecting TT at early stage in mice based on PAI-obtained oxygen saturation (sO2), and USI-collected color pixel density (CPD), peak systolic velocity (PSV) and resistance index (RI). For complete TT, both CPD (9.08 % ± 3.084 to almost zero) and sO2 data (70.09 % ± 1.656–59.84 % ± 1.427) showed an significant change 2 h post-torsion. For incomplete TT, sO2 data exhibited a strong time relationship (Mean values: 6 h, 64.83 % ± 1.898; 12 h, 60.67 % ± 3.555; 24 h, 57.85 % ± 3.575; P

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) plays an important role in China’s development strategy. With recent GDP growth and high population density, solid waste generation has emerged as a significant challenge for the region. This study sought to clarify GBA’s solid waste management policies by constructing a two-dimensional policy analysis framework covering nearly 99 available policy texts. This quantitative method provides an explanatory framework for solid waste management policy in GBA, identifying the main policy objectives and instruments as well as making comparisons. Additionally, given the variations in policy format resulting from regime differences, this paper utilizes a novel approach to encode the documents. The results of the study indicate that both Macao and Hong Kong have made greater progress than Shenzhen in waste management development. While Shenzhen is primarily focused on source control, Macao and Hong Kong have transitioned to the recycling stage, with Hong Kong having a more advanced system. It is recommended that Shenzhen increase its engagement in information sharing, learning, and collaboration with Macao and Hong Kong. Moreover, it is observed that Shenzhen’s waste management approach relies heavily on administrative measures, whereas Macao and Hong Kong have implemented social participation-oriented and economic incentives-oriented policies, respectively. There is also an adaptation deviation between Waste Collection and Treatment Development (WCTD) and the policy instruments used to achieve it in the three cities. It is imperative that the three governments utilize their policy tools in an effective manner and have a rational use of power and the performance of functions. These findings can provide recommendations for promoting inter-city learning and collaboration in the GBA.

The impact of social media on the homosexual community is a topical issue of social concern. Some researchers have found that Twitter has an important impact on the gay community, however, there is a lack of uniform explanation on how it compares with the impact of social media on the gay community in other countries and how to improve its social environment and functional settings. Therefore, this paper lists the basic characteristics of the gay community on Twitter, analyzes the dilemmas faced by the gay community on Twitter and compares it with Weibo in China. After analyzing the functional settings currently adopted by Twitter, the paper explores how to improve the survival of the gay community on Twitter. The study finds that there are still some problems with the survival and use of the gay community on Twitter, and that some of the functional settings of Twitter have both positive and negative influence, and that Twitter needs to take measures to alleviate these problems.

Recently, a lot of Chinese patients consult treatment plans through social networking platforms, but the Chinese medical text contains rich information, including a large number of medical nomenclatures and symptom descriptions. How to build an intelligence model to automatically classify the text information consulted by patients and recommend the correct department for patients is very important. In order to address the problem of insufficient feature extraction from Chinese medical text and low accuracy, this paper proposes a dual channel Chinese medical text classification model. The model extracts feature of Chinese medical text at different granularity, comprehensively and accurately obtains effective feature information, and finally recommends departments for patients according to text classification. One channel of the model focuses on medical nomenclatures, symptoms and other words related to hospital departments, gives different weights, calculates corresponding feature vectors with convolution kernels of different sizes, and then obtains local text representation. The other channel uses the BiGRU network and attention mechanism to obtain text representation, highlighting the important information of the whole sentence, that is, global text representation. Finally, the model uses full connection layer to combine the representation vectors of the two channels, and uses Softmax classifier for classification. The experimental results show that the accuracy, recall and F1-score of the model are improved by 10.65%, 8.94% and 11.62% respectively compared with the baseline models in average, which proves that our model has better performance and robustness.

In this article, a fundamental method based on mutual conductance elimination is proposed for the ultimate decoupling of closely spaced antenna pairs. Firstly, the mutual coupling between radiators is characterized by lossy J/K inverters, and the analysis with circuit models shows that the traditional lumped loading method can only suppress the mutual susceptance. Particularly, the decoupling will not be ultimate unless the mutual conductance is further eliminated, and this requires equal modal conductance of the odd and even modes of the antenna pair. After that, a method based on antenna shape modification is proposed and three types of antennas are designed with characteristic mode analysis. As for the single-band and wideband patch antenna pairs, by changing the patch shape into a parallelogram and adjusting the patch angle, the modal conductance of the odd and even modes are regulated to be equal, and the isolation is thus significantly improved as compared with the traditional ones to be loaded with lumped elements. As for the inverted-F antenna pair, the enhanced isolation is achieved by changing the bending configuration, coupling gap, and ground length of the antenna. Good agreement between simulated and measured results shows that all these antennas have achieved isolation over 20 dB.