News

From 11 March 2017, the Mobile Library of the Macao Public Library, under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, will stop parking in Rua de Coimbra in Taipa due to the current road adjustment. The public is welcome to use the library services of Taipa Library. The three parking points of the Mobile Library located at Rua Nova da Areia Preta, Avenida de Artur Tamagnini Barbosa and Avenida do Vale das Borboletas in Coloane, will remain unchanged. For enquiries, please contact the Taipa Library at 2884 3105 or 2884 3172 during office hours.
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A paper by UM scholars was recently published in Lab on a Chip, a publication under the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom. The paper proposes a new technique that can quickly identify the DNA of multiple potential pathogens causing septicemia from a single droplet (1uL). This new technique will allow medical workers to promptly identify pathogens and administer treatment in remote mountainous regions. This is yet another breakthrough in UM’s microchip research. The related system is expected to be put into production within the next two years.Titled ‘3D Microblade Structure for Precise and Parallel Droplet Splitting on Digital Microfluidic Chips’, the paper was co-written by PhD student Dong Cheng, Prof Jia Yanwei, Dr Gao Jie, Dr Chen Tianlan, Prof Mak Pui-In, Prof Vai Mang-I, and Vice Rector (Research) Prof Rui Martins.In the study, 3D microblades were innovatively fabricated on the pathway of droplet transportation on DMF chips, providing precise, reversible, volume controllable and parallel droplet splitting. With multiple blades implemented, only two electrodes were needed to simultaneously generate up to four daughter droplets in one step splitting. Using this technique, the DNA of multiple potential pathogens causing septicemia were successfully identified from a single droplet (1uL).According to Prof Jia Yanwei, analysis of parallel DNA is not difficult; the real challenge lies in the volume of the sample. Traditional PCR machines normally require samples of 25uL, and the analysis can only be done in a laboratory. The new technique developed by UM using digital microfluidics only requires a sample of 1uL to achieve the same results. Moreover, this new technique can be applied to make portable outdoor DNA testing devices.The main advantage of this system is that it can realise portable DNA testing and diagnose hidden or contagious diseases, which will allow medical workers to promptly identify pathogens and administer treatment in remote mountainous regions.
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Opinions of members of the Legislative Assembly are an important reference point regarding an update to guidelines for election campaigning that the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election might seek to issue.The Chairman of the Commission, Mr Tong Hio Fong, said some Assembly members had experience of running a campaign; their opinions would help enhance the fairness and probity of the 2017 Legislative Assembly Election.Mr Tong made the remarks on Tuesday (28 February) during a meeting with current members of the Legislative Assembly, including its President, Mr Ho Iat Seng.The Commission was pressing ahead with all the preparatory work for the forthcoming election, including formulation of binding guidelines for campaigning. Mr Tong said the Commission would analyse thoroughly the opinions of Assembly members.During the meeting, Assembly members expressed views regarding their understanding of the campaigning process; electoral spending; use of online media for campaigning; and the issue of defamation in an electoral campaign context.
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Consumer Council met with representatives of Zhuhai Hengqin New Area Consumers’ Association and Consumers Association of Singapore earlier respectively. The Council and the two consumers organizations discussed on topics like case transfer, and information exchange, etc. Details of the meetings are featured in the latest issue no. 281 Consumer Report.The Council shared experiences and suggestions regarding its ‘Certified Shops’ mechanism, and the development of Certified Shops in Henqin with Zhuhai Hengqin New Area Consumers’ Association. It also exchanged ideas and experiences with Consumers Association of Singapore regarding ‘Case Trust’ mechanism.The latest Consumer Report includes a comparison report on the monthly plans of fiber broadband service, and a detailed report on the number of cases received by the Council in 2016. The Council gave an analysis on the complaint cases received last year, and issued a ‘Consumer alert’ to enhance consumers’ self-protection and self-awareness.Consumer Report is now available free of charge at the Council (Av. Horta e Costa, N.º 26, Edf. Clementina Ho), and the service counter of the Council at Macao SAR Government Service Centre (Rua Nova da Areia Preta, Nº52), Public Information Centre at Vicky Plaza, libraries, and bookstores. Consumers may also access the magazine online on the Council’s official website (http://www.consumer.gov.mo) and WeChat official account.For enquiry, please call 8988-9315.
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Anim’Arte NAM VAN is jointly managed by the Macao Government Tourism Office, the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Sports Bureau, and the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), under the governance of the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao S.A.R. Government. Currently six commercial spaces at Anim’Arte NAM VAN will be leased by open tenders. These six commercial spaces are designated for four cultural and creative shops and two catering outlets. The lease period is 48 months and tenders can be submitted from today until 5 p.m. on 13 April 2017 (Thursday).Anim’Arte NAM VAN, located at the Nam Van Lake Square, Avenida Panorâmica do Lago Nam Van, has been officially open to the public since June, 2016. It features a café, pedal boats, cultural and creative shops, weekend craft market, as well as exhibitions and performances; which provides the public a leisure area with multicultural, tourist and recreational facilities, while enriching the culture of the community. Since its opening, a number of cultural and creative entities have already set up stores there and it has served as a platform of exhibition and sales for more than 180 cultural and creative entities and individuals; as a result, it has attracted a lot of overseas and local visitors.For parties interested in submitting bids for operating cultural and creative shops at Anim’Arte NAM VAN, copies of the tender invitation documents are available for perusal or obtainment at the Cultural Affairs Bureau Building (located at Tap Siac Square) during office hours. For those interested in submitting bids for operating catering outlets at Anim’Arte NAM VAN, copies of the tender invitation documents are available for perusal or obtainment at the IFT (located at Mong-Há Hill) during office hours, or can be downloaded from the IFT website (www.ift.edu.mo) for free. For enquiries about the content of the tender invitation for cultural and creative shops or catering outlets, please submit a written enquiry to the Cultural Affairs Bureau or IFT respectively before 20 March, 2017.An introduction session regarding the call for public tenders will be held at 3 p.m. on 9 March (Thursday) at the Confucius Conference Hall, Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (Address: Avenida de D. João IV, No. 7-9, 1/F, Macao). A site visit to the commercial spaces will be scheduled after the meeting. Interested parties can contact the Cultural Affairs Bureau at Tel: 8399 6699 or IFT at Tel: 8598 3047 for registration during office hours before 5 p.m. on 8 March (Wednesday).
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The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, will attend the opening of the 5th Session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) on 5 March in Beijing.During his visit to the capital, from 3 to 6 March, Mr Chui will also meet with officials of the Ministry of Education and of the General Administration of Sport of China, to exchange views on further cooperation between the Macao Special Administrative Region and the ministries.Officials travelling with Mr Chui on the visit will include: the Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive’s Office, Ms O Lam; the Director of the Government Information Bureau, Mr Chan Chi Ping; and the Director of the Protocol, Public Relations and External Affairs Office, Mr Fung Sio Weng.During Mr Chui’s absence, the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Chan Hoi Fan, will be the Acting Chief Executive.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for January 2017 amounted to MOP971 million, down slightly by 0.4% year-on-year; value of re-exports (MOP802 million) dropped by 3.9%, with that of Watches (MOP96 million) falling by 18.0%; meanwhile, value of domestic exports (MOP169 million) increased by 19.7%, with that of Tobacco (MOP43 million) rising by 61.7%. Total merchandise import dropped by 2.9% year-on-year to MOP6.56 billion, of which imports of Garments & footwear and Construction materials declined by 7.1% and 39.6% respectively. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP5.59 billion.Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Mainland China decreased by 19.8% year-on-year to MOP111 million in January 2017, of which exports to the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP100 million) fell by 24.1%, while exports to Hong Kong (MOP643 million) rose by 1.4%. Meanwhile, exports to the USA (MOP22 million) and the EU (MOP21 million) grew by 110.2% and 21.6% respectively. Exports of Non-textiles increased by 2.7% year-on-year to MOP927 million, of which value of Diamond & diamond jewellery (MOP146 million) soared by 74.6%, but that of Watches (MOP96 million) dropped by 18.0%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP44 million, down by 39.3%.By place of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP2.33 billion) decreased by 13.0% year-on-year in January 2017, whereas import from the EU (MOP1.68 billion) increased by 6.4%. Meanwhile, imports from the Portuguese-speaking Countries (MOP62 million) expanded by 22.8%. Analysed by place of consignment, merchandise import from Mainland China declined by 11.1% to MOP855 million, of which imports from the nine provinces of the Pan Pearl River Delta (MOP822 million) fell by 7.9%. Imports of Consumer goods grew by 6.8% to MOP4.45 billion, with imports of Gold jewellery (MOP721 million) and Watches (MOP457 million) rising by 33.4% and 27.2% respectively. Moreover, value of imports of Construction materials(MOP127 million) and Motor cars & motorcycles (MOP85 million) declined by 39.6% and 20.8% respectively.External merchandise trade totalled MOP7.53 billion in January 2017, down by 2.6% compared with MOP7.73 billion a year earlier.
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For the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June, Consumer Council on 28 February collects prices of fresh pork from wet markets and supermarkets for consumers’ reference. The mentioned data collected during 22 February to 28 February are used for comparing the average selling price of the same products from Zhuhai. The relevant data has been uploaded to the Council’s website for consumers’ reference.The specific price surveys on fresh pork and vegetables are now available on the Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), iPhone & Android ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ app, and the Council’s WeChat Account page. The relevant surveys include the average selling prices of local fresh pork and vegetables, and comparison on the respective the average selling prices rom Zhuhai and Macao.For enquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 371MICE events were held in the fourth quarter of 2016, consisting of 352 meetings & conferences, 16 exhibitions and 3 incentive events. Total number of participants and attendees was 490,000. For the whole year of 2016, a total of 1,276 MICE events were held, comprising 1,195 meetings & conferences, 55 exhibitions and 26 incentive events. Total number of participants and attendees was 1,722,000.Number of meetings & conferences held in the fourth quarter increased by 16year-on-year, with number of participants rising by 70.6% to 70,000. Those meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more increased by 14 to 73, and number of participants surged by 103.9% to 54,000 (76.9% of total). Meanwhile, meetings & conferences of 4 hours or more increased by 39 year-on-year to 252 (71.6% of total), and number of participants soared by 121.2% to 55,000; the average duration of these meetings & conferences was 2.0 days, up by 0.1 day year-on-year. The overall average duration of the meetings & conferences was 1.6 days, up by 0.2 day.There were 16 exhibitions held in the fourth quarter, down by 7 year-on-year; number of attendees decreased by 48.4% to 405,000, with the 15 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations attracting 351,000 attendees. The average duration of the exhibitions was 3.2 days, down by 0.2 day year-on-year, and total floor area used dropped by 16.0% to 155,000 m². Furthermore, 3 incentive events were held, drawing 14,000 participants; the average duration of the events was 2.3 days and total floor area used was 172,000 m².In accordance with information collected from the organisers of 15 exhibitions in the fourth quarter, receipts of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 74.53 million; expenditure totalled MOP 102 million, which was mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration (28.7%), publicity & public relations (14.4%) and rental paid for venue (12.9%). Meanwhile, receipts of the 14 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations amounted to MOP 72.09 million, of which financial support from government or other organisations totalled MOP 56.64 million, a decrease of more than 30.0% year-on-year. Expenditure of these exhibitions totalled MOP 74.44 million, of which production, construction & decoration accounted for 29.4%. The 15 exhibitions together attracted 1,615 exhibitors, with 23.9% coming from Mainland China and 39.5% from Macao; professional visitors totalled 34,000, with those from Macao predominating at 41.6%, followed by Mainland China at 26.1%. As for the exhibitions organised by non-government organisations, number of exhibitors (869) and professional visitors (31,000) mainly came from Macao, constituting 42.0% and 41.1% of the respective total.Information from 396 interviewed exhibitors in the fourth quarter indicated that 98.9% of their receipts were generated from sales of products, while rental paid for exhibition booth accounted for 49.2% of their expenditure. Regarding comments about the MICE venue and services, over 80.0% of the interviewed exhibitors were satisfied with the work efficiency & attitude (81.0%), professionalism (80.5%) and language skills (80.3%) of the venue staff. A relatively low proportion of exhibitors were satisfied with the promotion of the exhibition (56.7%), yet showing an increase of 5.9 percentage points over the previous quarter, while 12.2% considered that improvement was needed, down by 12.0 percentage points. Among the interviewed exhibitors that had used services rendered by local companies, the proportions of those who were satisfied with the services (73.9%) and arrangements (68.5%) of the companies dropped by 10.8 and 15.7 percentage points respectively quarter-to-quarter.For the whole year of 2016, number of meetings & conferences increasedby 32 year-on-year, and total number of participants rose by 49.2% to 176,000. Those meetings & conferences with 200 participants or more went up by 43 to 197, with number of participants surging by 93.5% to 123,000. Meetings & conferences of 4 hours or more decreased by 23 to 788, yet number of participants increased by 57.9% to 132,000. The overall average duration of the meetings & conferences was 1.5 days, down by 0.1 day year-on-year. On the other hand, number of exhibitions decreased by 23 year-on-year, bringing the number of attendees (1,500,000) and total floor area used (309,000 m²) down by 37.3% and 21.8% respectively. There were 49 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations, down by 25 year-on-year, with number of attendees falling by 40.0% to 1,289,000; among them, number of exhibitions with 20,000 attendees or more (23) decreased by 15 and number of attendees (1,141,000) dropped by 37.7%. Moreover, number of incentive events totalled 26, drawing 45,000 participants.In accordance with information collected from the organisers of 54 exhibitions for the whole year of 2016, receipts of these exhibitions amounted to MOP 159 million, with rental of exhibition booths accounting for 55.4% of the total. Expenditure of the exhibitions totalled MOP 220 million, which was mainly incurred on production, construction & decoration (27.7% of total) and publicity & public relations (19.0%). The net amount generated from the 48 exhibitions organised by non-government organisations by deducting the expenditure (MOP 135 million, excluding operating expenses of the organisations) from the receipts (MOP 153 million) was MOP 17.58 million, an improvement from the MOP 1.85 million deficit in 2015.The 54 exhibitions together attracted 4,787 exhibitors in 2016, with 25.8% coming from Mainland China and 36.7% from Macao. Professional visitors totalled 99,000, coming primarily from Mainland China (21.0% of total) and Macao (54.6%). Exhibitors (2,868) attending exhibitions organised by non-government organisations mainly came from Macao (39.3% of total) and Hong Kong (25.0%); professional visitors totalled 90,000 and 55.4% were from Macao. Information from 1,400 interviewed exhibitors in 2016 indicated that 97.5% of their receipts were generated from sales of products, while rental paid for exhibition booth accounted for 56.2% of their expenditure.
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The applications for the “Academic Research Grants”, launched by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), will be open from 1 March to 31 May, 2017.The “Academic Research Grants” aim at encouraging original academic research on the culture of Macao and on the cultural exchange between Macao, Mainland China and other countries. Local or overseas doctorate degree holders with proven academic research experience, and local or overseas individuals with sufficient research experience and recognized academic production are eligible to apply and submit the duly filled out application form and research project plan to IC by double registered mail or in person. Applicants must also submit their curriculum vitae and certified copies of educational qualification certificates; incomplete applications or applications that fail to comply with the above will not be accepted. The grants, in the amount of MOP280,000.00 and MOP250,000.00, will be awarded according to the applicant’s academic background and to the content of the project and are subject to IC’s decision under proposal of the Selection Panel.The “Academic Research Grant Regulations”, application forms and research project plan are available for reference and download on IC’s webpage www.icm.gov.mo. Applications must be submitted before the deadline otherwise they will not be accepted. For more information, please contact Ms. Silvia Kuan, staff member of the Division of Research and Publications of IC, through tel. no. 2836 6866 during office hours, or by email to silviak@icm.gov.mo.
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