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Virtual reality (VR) technologies have expanded their application domains towards education with pedagogical benefits including fully immersive learning environment and in-depth user engagement through scenario-based virtual simulations. Motion sickness (MS), however, has become one of the long-standing key challenges of the VR utilisation, even in gaming industries. Thus, this paper aims to present a preliminary study on understanding the VR MS, referred as cybersickness, in the teaching and learning (T&L) context at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.

A VR-based virtual classroom content was developed and tested for 60 undergraduate students having equal access to the same VR equipment. A two-step data collection, comprising qualitative and quantitative measures, was conducted for the participants. The aspects of how gender influences the cybersickness severity and how academic background affects the learning experience were investigated and analysed using analysis of variance F-test statistical approach.

The results demonstrated approximately 47% of the participants had experienced cybersickness, where 64% of them were females. With confidence level of 95% (a = 5%), the obtained p-value and F-statistical value for the respective gender and study discipline categories against the cybersickness symptoms confirmed the significance level between the two compared variables. Moreover, it is worth highlighting that the virtual movement speed, perspective angle and visual properties of the virtual environment were selected as the top three factors that caused the cybersickness.

The study is hoped to provide valuable pointers to current and future VR developers in minimising the cybersickness symptoms that would enable an effective T&L environment in higher education.

Changes and transformations experienced today have created alternative lifestyles in cities. Many life concepts try to find solutions to environmental problems, so much so that this section focuses on smart eco-city concept, which is one of the trending city initiatives of the last century and is expected to become more popular each day. In the chapter, firstly, information about the concepts of eco-city and smart city is given and then what is meant by the concept of smart eco-city is discussed. Next, smart eco-cities have been tried to be explained with application examples. Finally, the chapter emphasizes the importance of ecological cities blended with technology for the sustainability of living spaces and offers implications for future research.

This chapter highlights the characteristics of Asia through the analysis of policy-related documents by five donor countries, namely Japan, South Korea, China, India and Thailand. It will also examine the roles played by regional bodies such as the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and ASPBAE (the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education) as the horizontal channels influencing aid policies in respective countries. Together with the analysis of the national and organizational policies, the regional process of building consensus on the post-2015 agenda is examined, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific Regional Education Conference (APREC) held in August 2014.

The analysis reveals that the region has two faces: one is imaginary and the other is functional. There is a common trend across Asian donors to refer to their historical ties with regions and countries to which they provide assistance and their traditional notions of education and development. They highlight Asian features in contrast to conventional aid principles and approaches based on the Western value system, either apparently or in a muted manner. In this sense, the imagined community of Asia with common cultural roots is perceived by the policymakers across the board.

At the same time, administratively, the importance of the region as a stage between the national and global levels is recognized increasingly in the multilateral global governance structure. With this broadened participatory structure, as discussed in the chapter ‘Post-EFA Global Discourse: The Process of Shaping the Shared View of the ‘Education Community’’, the expected function of the region to transmit the norms and requests from the global level and to collect and summarize national voices has increased.

Southeast Asia (SEA) is a region highly susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, though the region has been underrepresented in disaster mental health research. This chapter addresses risk factors for SEA, including its disaster-prone location, the psychological toll of frequent disasters, and stigma and shame and lack of psychoeducation about psychological help-seeking. Collectivism, strong family ties, and religious faith are among SEA’s resilience factors. Culture should be heavily accounted for in mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), considering the wide array of cultural differences in spirituality, affect and expression, power distance, and gender and masculinity in SEA. Because culture affects treatment satisfaction, treatment engagement, and treatment outcomes, future research should explore how aspects of SEA culture impact accessibility and engagement in MHPSS.

The development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the construction sector is slow, thereby leaving many opportunities for further development. To enable operators in the construction sector to effectively capitalise on the opportunities to promote the development of CSR in the sector, this study employs the practice viewpoint to take the stock of CSR activities in the sector. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the state of CSR practice in the construction sector. The study also draws from the development of CSR in the manufacturing, mining and banking sectors to inform the state of CSR practice in the construction sector.

This study carries out a systematic literature review of 56 journal publications that were published between the year 2000 and 2016. The deductive coding of the publications was done to identify four themes of CSR research that constitute the practice view of the state of CSR in the construction sector.

The implementation of CSR is the major emphasis in the state of CSR practice in the construction sector. The implementation of CSR is wrapped in the perception of operators about CSR potentials, dimensions of CSR implemented, strategies for implementation and the effects of the implemented CSR practices on performance. The sector characteristics and organisational structure are attributes for comparing the CSR practices between the construction sector and the manufacturing, mining and banking sectors.

This study provides a researchers’ view of the state of CSR in the construction sector. Additionally, the study draws from the development of CSR in the manufacturing, mining and banking sectors to inform the state of CSR practice in the construction sector.

The purpose of this paper is to critically assesses the major contributions to the academic literature on China’s increased focus on Africa, from 2001 to 2011. It discusses the key trends concerning China’s presence in Africa and draws conclusions on the significance of the studies by emphasizing and contrasting the prevailing positions.

Based on a qualitative approach using an integrative and comprehensive literature review, the authors performed a content analysis of high-impact, peer-reviewed papers.

The paper questions and repositions some of the existing controversies. The results from existing studies remain questionable, requiring further clarification and more theoretical backing. It, moreover, highlights the notion that behind the explicit neutrality views of China’s presence in Africa, implicit assumptions may exist. These are often the differences in narratives conveyed by Western and Southern stakeholders.

Most of the conclusions drawn from this paper need to be re-explored and supported by additional research. This could be done by widening the scope of the analysis. Studies need to provide more empirical support for their assertions through quantitative data and evidence-based qualitative analyses

all within a framework that considers more cultural, social and historical dimensions. The paper also suggests that an institutionally based view appears most relevant in better explaining China in Africa.

This paper reviews a decade of research on China in Africa and presents a snapshot of the current state of knowledge. It also raises concerns to be analyzed by future research and proposes new avenues for better understanding China’s presence in Africa.

Climate change adaptation (CCA) has emerged as a significant new theme in development and many large development agencies, including bilateral, multilateral or non‐government, are embarking on new programs focusing on CCA. However, the development sector has witnessed the rise and fall of many new development themes over the past 60 years around which funding has coalesced, only to see them fade away. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the new concept of CCA is being conceptualised and utilised by aid workers in order to shed light on challenges and opportunities for effective CCA and development practices.

This paper has emerged from a broader study that involved 35 semi‐structured interviews, focus groups and participant observation with various stakeholders engaged in development and CCA. The research sought to understand how development actors defined CCA, what activities they associated with it, and how they were using the concept in their work.

This paper finds that there is a range of different, and at points contradictory, conceptualisations of CCA within the field of development. CCA discourses are being used in at least two different ways: to enable the re‐legitimisation and repetition of old development practices as well as to open a space for new practices and imagining of alternatives.

This paper offers a unique perspective of how a set of development actors are conceptualising and utilising the concept of climate change adaptation in their work. This timely contribution builds on a long history of critical development theory, which has interrogated development discourses, by investigating original data that explores this increasingly prominent theme in aid and development.

This study aims to understand better how business strategies impact a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR).

In this research, two categories of business strategy are proposed, and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the research model using a sample of 150 valid surveys data from the Chinese manufacturing firms industry in Africa.

This study indicates business strategy in terms of real support and development approach plan in the Chinese manufacturing industry has a crucial influence on CSR effectiveness. Business strategy leads to effective CSR practices by adding value to firm products, services, marketing strategies and technological investment.

Companies can use a support strategy for effective CSR to improve corporate social performance. The study expands upon previous insights into corporate leaders enhancing their CSR strategy because it may successfully contribute to environmental preservation.

This research mobilized and found academic gaps in business strategy regarding real support and development approach; it is necessary to combine the impacts of business strategy at multiple levels of analysis to explain the expansion of CSR to integrate the stakeholder theory.

This study offers a deeper perspective and provides empirical evidence of a better understanding of CSR effectiveness by emphasizing the role of business strategy. Effective CSR implementation requires integrating the influences of company strategy and real support at multiple levels of analysis to explain CSR dispersion.

This study identifies measures to recover economic growth and build sustainable societies and markets in post-COVID-19 scenarios – with a perspective of resilience and adaptability to climate change and massive biodiversity loss. Additionally, this study uncovers the interventions implemented to address economic, environmental and social consequences of past crises based on a systematic literature review. Specifically, this chapter provides answers to the following six questions:

1. What has been done in the past to rebuild social, economic and environmental balance after global crises?

2. Where (geographical region) did the analysis on measures taken concentrate?

3. When have scholars analysed past measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis?

4. How did the past measures to rebuild business and society after the global crisis take place?

5. Who promotes the measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis takes place?

6. Why is it important to study the previous literature on past measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis takes place?

What has been done in the past to rebuild social, economic and environmental balance after global crises?

Where (geographical region) did the analysis on measures taken concentrate?

When have scholars analysed past measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis?

How did the past measures to rebuild business and society after the global crisis take place?

Who promotes the measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis takes place?

Why is it important to study the previous literature on past measures to rebuild business and society after a global crisis takes place?

Finally, this chapter identifies future research opportunities to rebuild business and society after the past global crises.