Ling Li

With the gradual deepening of environmental problems and the increase in consumer awareness of environmental protection, many enterprises have already begun to pay attention to green supply chain management. However, the price of green products is higher than that of nongreen products, which is an enormous challenge for many small- or medium-sized enterprises. To study the pricing and coordination of green supply chains under capital constraints, a model consisting of a manufacturer and a capital-constrained retailer is established; the manufacturer invests in green products and provides a deferred payment contract. Setting the situation without capital constraints as a benchmark, this study explores the impact of the retailer’s capital constraints on the manufacturer’s product greenness design; an interesting result shows that deferred payment can help encourage the retailer to order more products and improve the profit of the manufacturer and the efficiency of the entire supply chain as well as the product’s greenness level simultaneously. However, the profit of the retailer will be hurt by the deferred payment contract. Therefore, to guarantee the profit of the entire channel and to make the two agents obtain a win-win outcome, a new two-way revenue-sharing contract is designed to coordinate the green supply chain.

The concepts of harmony in ancient Chinese architecture is deeply rooted in the unique appeal and value of Eastern earth culture, which boasts a rich history and profound heritage. Developed by wise and experienced predecessors, this concepts serves as a testament to our historical civilization. Over thousands of years, our architecture has developed distinct characteristics that set it apart in world history. These characteristics can be summarized in three aspects: the awareness of ecological balance that seeks to harmonize humans with nature, the collectivist notion that aims to unite humans with each other, and the national spirit of “practical rationality” that blends the physical and mental realms. The value and significance of the concepts of harmony in ancient Chinese architecture can be seen in three ways. Firstly, through green architecture and sustainable practices, we strive to achieve a balance between the ecological environment and market benefits. Secondly, through the fusion of traditional architecture and modernization, we investigate and explore both preservation and innovation for sustainable development. Lastly, by blending national architecture with globalization, we incorporate and adapt the past to meet current needs and draw inspiration from external influences.

In traditional Chinese culture, there was a flourishing of religious architectural culture, particularly in Taoist temples. Taoism, considered as the national religion of China, has had a profound and enduring impact on ancient Chinese thought. Buddhism, introduced from India, also gained prominence and had a close connection with Chinese culture for a significant period of time. As a result, Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism coexisted in China for a long time, with Confucianism not being viewed as a true religion in the strictest sense. Religion has influenced traditional culture, which in turn has influenced architecture. Throughout history, there have been periods when Buddhism and Taoism were highly regarded, as well as periods when they were not. Nevertheless, these three major religions, with their influential ideas, continue to be prevalent today, leaving behind religious architectural structures that possess distinct religious and temporal characteristics.

Different languages communicate unique ideas and emotions, while different buildings represent diverse cultures and embody various meanings. Throughout human history and civilization, architecture has served as a tangible testament to the progress of society. Like a historical book made of stone and wood, architecture faithfully records the evolution of humanity. It is a physical manifestation that directly expresses the human spirit and emotions by bearing the distinct characteristics of different eras and ethnic groups. As an indispensable and vital component of human culture, architecture deeply reflects metaphysical concepts such as the progress of social civilization, the changes of time, societal ethics, and personal aesthetics.

This book explores the core concept of Chinese ancient architecture from a multidisciplinary perspective. It aims to contribute to the development, inheritance, and protection of Chinese ancient architectural culture, while also benefiting the sustainable development of modern architecture. This book follows a main line of inquiry, exploring the rich and harmonious ideas present in Chinese ancient architecture. It combines the traditional Chinese culture and architectural ideas, and examines the original thought that forms the foundation of the traditional Chinese architectural culture of “harmony” from various aspects. Firstly, the book describes the Taoist theory of the harmony between man and nature, as expressed through different architectural elements. Secondly, it discuses the system of harmony among people influenced by Confucianism. Lastly, it explores the significance of Buddhism in Buddhist architecture. Finally, it also examines the difference in the emodiment of harmonious ideas between Chinese and Western architectures. This book studies and analyzes the type and characteristics of Chinese ancient architecture, the architectural objects, and the simple ecological environment views contained within the architectural concept. It not only analyzes the historical development context, but also provides physical examples of architectural types, and explores the influence of regional environmental factors. The target audience for this book includes scholars in universities and scientific research departments, particularly those studying architectural aesthetics, history and philosophy, it is also suitable for the ordinary readers who have interest in Chinese traditional architectural culture.

Deep learning methods have been applied to randomly generate images, such as in fashion, furniture design. To date, consideration of human aspects which play a vital role in a design process has not been given significant attention in deep learning approaches. In this paper, results are reported from a human- in-the-loop design method where brain EEG signals are used to capture preferable design features. In the framework developed, an encoder extracting EEG features from raw signals recorded from subjects when viewing images from ImageNet are learned. Secondly, a GAN model is trained conditioned on the encoded EEG features to generate design images. Thirdly, the trained model is used to generate design images from a person's EEG measured brain activity in the cognitive process of thinking about a design. To verify the proposed method, a case study is presented following the proposed approach. The results indicate that the method can generate preferred designs styles guided by the preference related brain signals. In addition, this method could also help improve communication between designers and clients where clients might not be able to express design requests clearly.

With the continuous lockdown and staying home strategies of COVID-19, both instructors and learners have met with the presence challenges in language learning. To address the complex and dynamic relationships of different presences in blended learning during COVID-19, based on the Community of Inquiry framework, 215 Chinese English learners were obtained as samples for an empirical test. SPSS 23 and PROCESS for SPSS were utilized to examine the hypotheses. Results indicate that teaching presence has a significant direct positive impact on social presence, sense of community, and cognitive presence. SP has a significant positive impact on CP and partially mediates the relationship between TP and CP. SoC is also found to impact CP and partially mediates the relationship between TP and CP. The findings also validate the chain mediating role of SP and SoC between TP and CP. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Noninvasive brain stimulation provides a promising approach for the treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions. Despite the increasing research on the facilitatory effects of this kind of stimulation on the cognitive processes, the majority of the studies have used the standard stimulation approaches such as the transcranial direct current stimulation and the conventional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation which seem to be limited in robustness and the duration of the transient effects. However, a recent specialized type of rTMS, theta-burst stimulation, patterned to mimic the natural cross-frequency coupling of the human brain, may induce robust and longer-lasting effects on cortical activity. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of the intermittent TBS, a facilitatory form of TBS, over the right DLPFC, a brain area implicated in higher-order cognitive processes, on visuospatial working memory performance. Therefore, iTBS was applied over either the rDLPFC or the vertex of 24 healthy participants, in two separate sessions. We assessed VSWM performance using 2-back and 4-back visuospatial tasks before iTBS, and after the iTBS. Our results indicate that the iTBS over the rDLPFC significantly enhanced VSWM performance in the 2-back task, as measured by the discriminability index and the reaction time. However, the 4-back task performance was not significantly modulated by iTBS. These findings demonstrate that the rDLPFC plays a critical role in VSWM and that iTBS is a safe and effective approach for investigating the causal role of the specific brain areas.