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Dennis Zuev* The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become the largest infrastructure program in history, and has become a symbol of growing significance of China and its power.

Listening to children’s voices is still not considered an essential part of education in some schools, including many in Asian countries. The authority of schools and teachers is still highly valued under the continued influence of Confucian Heritage Culture in many Asian schools, including a significant number in Macao. Teachers in international schools in Asian countries often experience some difficulties when communicating with young children because of their low English proficiency and the traditional views supported by many parents who grew up with the Confucian Heritage Culture, which encourages children to be quiet in the classroom to be good listeners. This Action research took fifteen months between two school years, 2018- 2019 and 2019-2020, with two groups of four and five-year-old students in a kindergarten classroom. Documentation posters were created for young children to use the next morning to reflect on their learning. The pedagogy of listening and pedagogical documentation from the Reggio Emilia approach were implemented to discover and record young children’s ideas and interests, work with daily documentation posters, and help them reflect on documentation posters to improve their learning and develop their higher-order thinking skills. Photos and videos, observation notes with the children’s comments, documentation posters, and reflective discussions were used as interventions to collect the children’s ideas and record their learning activities. The children learned to use documentation posters to remember, think, share, and improve their learning. The children’s comments from Learning Centres, recess, and reflective discussions were used to examine their understanding of learning and higher-order thinking skills. During one Pilot Cycle and three structured data collection cycles, the children demonstrated improvement in learning for each learning project and development of their thinking skills both with and without the teacher’s support. The children demonstrated higher-order thinking skills more often from Learning Centres and recess when they had to solve problems. They also demonstrated higher-order thinking skills more often during the whole group reflective discussions than in small group reflections, when a bigger number of children joined or when they had enough time to think. The thinking skills when children were reflecting were observed to concentrate on remembering and understanding as they focused on remembering and sharing the previous day’s work. The children’s other higher-order thinking skills did not show an increase in frequency during reflective discussions. However, the children demonstrated active engagement and a range of higher-order thinking skills when the teacher asked openended questions and provided support and comments to help them to connect their learning to their past experiences. Findings indicated that the children’s learning from each Learning Centre showed change and improvement during their play over time according to their interests, indicated by their material use and comments. The research was limited by its small number of participants within their age group due to convenience sampling and the children’s relatively limited ability to demonstrate higher-order thinking skills. This study has shown how teachers could help children use daily documentation posters to develop their learning and thinking skills by visualizing their ideas and the teacher’s important role in supporting children’s learning with active listening and support in the classroom

This study is an attempt to understand and describe the compositional principles of Chaoshan traditional houses (CTH) through a computational space syntax. In this approach, the space syntax is used to describe and verify the compositional rules of Chaoshan houses. Chaoshan rural residence is a classical Lingnan style building in Chaoshan area of eastern Guangdong province, associated with Teo-Swa people, a Han Chinese minority. This study takes the example the prototypes existing in the village of Zhupu, Haojiang District, Shantou city as a case study, to analyse the spatial form of the residences. The Zhupu village houses date from the Qing Dynasty - Qianlong period, around 1700 AD. The hypothesis of this study is that CTH buildings are a result of a space compositional rule system that can be described and replicated through a computational design methodology. This study will establish a computational architectural syntax, and is the first stage of an extended research work on the evolution of Chaoshan residential types. The understanding of this evolution may help, as future work, to develop urban strategies for adaptation of the CTH heritage buildings to the contemporary living conditions. As the result of this study is a computational 3D graphics modelling algorithm, the ability of the system to generate the house layouts is not limited to the reconstruction of existing typologies of CTH and its variations. The same algorithm will allow the generation of new housing schemes, with adaptation to design variables extracted from a particular site and region.

This study, focusing on the China's Yao minority community, investigates the feasibility to create a generative computational method to replicate the diversity of the existing Yao traditional wood buildings, addressing the critical issues currently facing computational design methods, in the attempt to adapt genetic-generative algorithms to the study of local ancient architecture. The project develops a computational tool to generate a network of three-dimensional prototypes, or building structures, derived from traditional wood frame village houses. It studies possible housing structures that illustrate some of the key working methods available in digital systems such as ‘generating' and ‘compositing' taking as a starting point computational strategies oriented towards geometry and where a set of local variables play a decisive role: available local technologies, use of raw materials, and the dimensioning of timber components based on data collected from Yao architecture.

Current global shifts in education towards inclusive early childhood education are deeply engineered by the crisis of educational exclusion. In responding to exclusion, teachers have mainly utilized dominant western theories to plan and implement inclusive teaching. In this chapter, we draw on a non-western philosophy, a Nichiren Buddhist (Soka) philosophy, to provide a ‘kaleidoscopic’ lens through which to create inclusive educational learning spaces that engender full participation of all children. The Soka education philosophy is a humanist concept which can guide teachers when preparing to create inclusive education. The aims of this chapter are threefold: The first is an exploration of the Nichiren Buddhist (Soka) philosophy. The second aim is to highlight how this philosophy can enable teachers to unleash the unlimited potential of children in inclusive learning settings. Thirdly, we argue that grounding early childhood teacher education in this philosophy can help improve the effectiveness of inclusive educational experience for all children.

Consumer neuroscience analyzes individuals’ preferences through the assessment of physiological data monitoring, considering brain activity or other bioinformation to assess purchase decisions. Traditional marketing tactics include customer surveys, product evaluations, and comments. For product or brand marketing and mass production, it is important to understand consumer neurological responses when seeing an ad or testing a product. In this work, we use the bi-clustering method to reduce EEG noise and automatic machine learning to classify brain responses. We analyze a neuromarketing EEG dataset that contains EEG data from product evaluations from 25 participants, collected with a 14 channel Emotiv Epoch + device, while examining consumer items. Four components comprised the research methodology. Initially, the Welch Transform was used to filter the EEG raw data. Second, the best converted signal biclusterings are used to train different classification models. Each biclustering is evaluated with a separate classifier, considering F1-Score. After that, the H2O.ai AutoML library is used to select the optimal biclustering and models. Instead of traditional procedures, two thresholds are used. First-threshold values indicate customer satisfaction. Low values of the second threshold reflect consumer dissatisfaction. Values between the first and second criteria are classified as uncertain values. We outperform the state of the art with a 0.95 F1-Score value.

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

The emergence of blockchain technology in 2008 marked a significant milestone in the evolution of digital currencies, paving the way for the emergence of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Since then, blockchain has undergone four generations of development, expanding its applications across various sectors. In particular, the integration of blockchain into accounting and auditing practices has garnered significant attention due to its potential to transform traditional methods. However, there's a lack of clear understanding of how blockchain impacts traditional auditing practices and finance recordkeeping and the implications for audit quality. Significant challenges and uncertainties hinder its widespread adoption, including technical hurdles, regulatory complexities, and practical barriers. This dissertation aims to determine the transformative impact of blockchain technology on auditing practices and finance recordkeeping. In order to fully understand the impact of blockchain on auditing practices and finance recordkeeping, the dissertation utilizes a mixed sequential research approach that is divided into three phases. The first approach involves gathering qualitative data through interviews with blockchain experts. The second approach involves collecting secondary qualitative data through a systematic literature review to determine the changes that blockchain has brought to traditional auditing practices and finance recordkeeping. This is followed by a bibliometric analysis to identify current trends in blockchain research related to auditing practices and finance recordkeeping. The third approach involves gathering data through an online-focused survey distributed to finance and other industry professionals to determine the challenges organizations face in implementing blockchain technology in auditing practices and finance recordkeeping. Additionally, in phase three, case studies will be conducted based on the survey responses to examine the hindrances and challenges faced by organizations in implementing blockchain and its impact on auditing practices in different regions and among different demographic groups. As the findings indicate, Integrating blockchain technology into accounting and auditing practices can bring about significant improvements in transparency, efficiency, and fraud prevention. However, there are several challenges that must be overcome for successful implementation, such as technical difficulties, regulatory uncertainties, and privacy concerns. To overcome these hurdles, it is necessary to establish clear regulatory frameworks and innovative solutions. Although smart contracts offer automation, they also pose security risks that need to be addressed. Despite these challenges, blockchain has the potential to revolutionize auditing by enabling real-time auditing and enhancing integrity verification. To ensure audit quality, auditors must adapt to new responsibilities and stay up-to-date with emerging trends. Collaboration among stakeholders and continuous education and training programs are key to driving the successful adoption of blockchain technology

The potential of blockchain technology extends beyond cryptocurrencies and has the power to transform various sectors, including accounting and auditing. Its integration into auditing practices presents opportunities and challenges, and auditors must navigate new standards and engage with clients effectively. Blockchain technology provides tamper-proof record-keeping and fraud prevention, enhancing efficiency, transparency, and security in domains such as finance, insurance, healthcare, education, e-voting, and supply chain management. This paper conducts a bibliometric analysis of blockchain technology literature to gain insights into the current state and future directions of blockchain technology in auditing. The study identifies significant research themes and trends using keyword and citation analysis. The Vosviewer software was used to analyze the data and visualize the results. Findings reveal significant growth in blockchain research, particularly from 2021 onwards, with China emerging as a leading contributor, followed by the USA, India, and the UK. This study provides valuable insights into current trends, key contributors, and global patterns in blockchain technology research within auditing practices, and future research may explore thematic areas in greater depth.

In the 21st century, complex problem-solving (CPS) serves as a key indicator of educational achievement. However, the elements of successful CPS have not yet been fully explored. This study investigates the role of strategic exploration and different problem-solving and test-taking behaviors in CPS success, using logfile data to visualize and quantify students’ problemsolving behavior on 10 CPS problems with different characteristics and levels of difficulty. Additionally, in the present study, we go beyond the limits of most studies that focus on students’ problem-solving behavior pattern analyses in European cultures and education systems to examine Arabic students’ CPS behavior. The results show that computer-based assessments of CPS are feasible and valid in Jordanian higher education. The findings also confirm the structural validity of CPS, indicating that the processes of knowledge acquisition (KAC) and knowledge application (KAP) can be distinguished and separated in the problem-solving process. Large differences were identified in students’ test-taking behavior in terms of the efficacy of their exploration strategy. We identified four latent classes based on the students’ exploration strategy behavior. The study thus leads to a better understanding of how students solve problems and behave during the problem-solving process in uncertain situations.

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

The present study aimed to analyse the differences in the internalising problems (anxiety, depression, somatic complaints), assessed by different informants (teachers and students), according to the level of academic achievement and school adaptation level in secondary students. Furthermore, we examine the gender difference in the level of internalising symptoms. Finally, we analyzed the differences between teacher-rated and adolescents' self-reported internalising symptoms. The Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) was used for collecting informants’ data. The sample consisted of 882 secondary students (349 males and 473 females), while 50 came from public schools and 772 from private schools. No significant differences are found in internalising problems according to the level of academic achievement from both teachers’ and students’ perspectives. Generally, students who are well-adapted to the school context have the least symptoms of internalising problems compared to average and less-adapted groups from the teachers' perspective. In addition, from students’ perspectives, adolescent females present more internalising problems than males. Finally, teachers rated fewer internalising problems when compared to the students. In conclusion, the low level of awareness of teachers towards the internalising problems of students arouse attention. It is suggested that teachers should attend professional development programs in order to address to students’ internalising problems