Editorial: technology in higher education and human performance

Improvement of learning and human development for sustainable development has been recognized as a key strategy for individuals and organizations to strengthen their competitive advantages. It becomes crucial to help adult learners and knowledge workers to improve their self-directed and life-long learning capabilities. Meanwhile, learning in this context has expanded from individual to community and organizational levels with new focuses on externalization of tacit knowledge, creation of new knowledge, retention of knowledge assets for continuous improvement, and cross-cultural communication. To adapt to these changes, technologies have played an increasingly important role in enhancing and transforming learning at individual, community, and organizational levels. Papers in this special issue are representative of ongoing research on integration of technology with learning for innovation and sustainable development in higher education institutions and organizational and community environments.published_or_final_versio

Introduction: Redemptive Societies in Cultural and Historical Context

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Introduction: redemptive societies as Confucian NRMs?

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Low turn-on voltage InGaP/GaAsSb/GaAs double HBTs grown by MOCVD

A novel InGaP/GaAs0.92Sb0.08/GaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) with low turn-on voltage has been fabricated. The turn-on voltage of the DHBT is typically 150 mV lower than that of the conventional InGaP/GaAs HBT, indicating that GaAsSb is a suitable base material for reducing the turn-on voltage of GaAs HBTs. A current gain of 50 has been obtained for the InGaP/GaAs0.92Sb0.08/GaAs DHBT. The results show that InGaP/GaAsSb/GaAs DHBTs have a great potential for reducing operating voltage and power dissipation.published_or_final_versio

Dynamic admittance of atomic wires

We have investigated the low-frequency admittance of quantum wires in which a section consists of several Al atoms. The atomic section is connected to two three-dimensional leads that are modeled by the jellium model. The quantum scattering problem is solved by combining the first-principles ab initio method with a transfer-matrix evaluation of the scattering matrix. The ac admittance is then computed by evaluating various partial densities of states. The nature of the ac responses are predicted for these Al atomic wires.published_or_final_versio

Monitoring lipid accumulation in the green microalga Botryococcus braunii with frequency-modulated stimulated Raman scattering

© 2015 SPIE.The potential of microalgae as a source of renewable energy has received considerable interest because they can produce lipids (fatty acids and isoprenoids) that can be readily converted into biofuels. However, significant research in this area is required to increase yields to make this a viable renewable source of energy. An analytical tool that could provide quantitative in situ spectroscopic analysis of lipids synthesis in individual microalgae would significantly enhance our capability to understand the synthesis process at the cellular level and lead to the development of strategies for increasing yield. Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy has great potential in this area however, the pump-probe signal from two-color two-photon absorption of pigments (chlorophyll and carotenoids) overwhelm the SRS signal and prevent its application. Clearly, the development of a background suppression technique is of significant value for this important research area. To overcome the limitation of SRS in pigmented specimens, we establish a frequency-modulated stimulated Raman scattering (FM-SRS) microscopy that eliminates the non-Raman background by rapidly toggling on-and-off the targeted Raman resonance. Moreover, we perform the background-free imaging and analysis of intracellular lipid droplets and extracellular hydrocarbons in a green microalga with FM-SRS microscopy. We believe that FM-SRS microscopy demonstrates the potential for many applications in pigmented cells and provides the opportunity for improved selective visualization of the chemical composition of algae and plants.We thank Delong Zhang at Purdue University for fruitful discussion. This research was supported by grants (BB/K013602/1) from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Syngenta