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非專長授課是教學現場中實際存在的問題，第二專長班即是為此因應而生的教師專業發展途徑。本研究的目的在於探討修習生活科技第二專長課程的教師在投入科技教育時，其自身之動機、課程意識建構及教學實踐的轉化，以期能作為未來推動科技領域師資培訓與教師專業發展之參考。本研究採問卷調查與半結構深度訪談之個案研究法，針對參與第二專長班的教師進行研究，先以問卷調查全體29位學員對實施生活科技課程意願之觀點，再以個人與小組訪談的形式，邀請其中九位學員進行深度訪談。訪談時間為2018年10月，每次訪談時間約60分鐘。研究者運用質性分析軟體進行資料的編碼與分析後，對應量化問卷的分析結果， 歸納以下研究發現：一、參與第二專長班之動機，主要源於自身對於實作之興趣與學校教學需求；二、參與第二專長班對其課程意識建構之影響，包含有助於提升對生活科技課程之專業覺知、形塑實施科技教育之信念，並對任教生活科技建立正向的自我覺知；三、教學實踐會促使第二專長班教師快速吸收及轉化專業知識，但在過程中容易因外在環境因素的干擾與自覺專業知識不足，而影響教學信心；四、校內外教師社群與學校行政的支持，是協助第二專長班教師克服教學困難的重要關鍵。 Background Technology education plays an increasingly vital role in ensuring students’ technological literacy under the new Curriculum Guidelines of 12-Year Basic Education, which was introduced in 2019. However, because of the low importance assigned to living technology courses, most schools do not have sufficient qualified teachers in this field. This poses a hurdle in the implementation of the technology curriculum of Taiwan’s 12-year basic education. Moreover, because of declining birthrates, many teachers have no students to teach and the number of teachers in junior high schools have consequently shrunk. The Ministry of Education established a second-specialty course to provide teachers with a second professional certificate to meet the teaching needs of schools. Living technology is based on hands-on learning, problem-solving, and design thinking. Therefore, in addition to the conceptual knowledge of technology and engineering, living technology teachers should possess diverse practical skills and engineering design thinking and problem-solving abilities. Unlike other traditional disciplines, the living technology course attaches great importance to practical hands-on skills for solving technical problems, which is a major challenge faced by teachers of the second specialty. On the basis of this background, this research explored different means of helping teachers with second specialty to teach living technology more effectively. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the transformation of teachers, who have taken the second specialty course in living technology. These teachers’ motivation, beliefs, curricular awareness construction, and teaching practices were examined. Understanding the dynamic relationship among multiple factors that can be used as a reference for the future promotion of teacher training and professional development in the field of technology is imperative. Theoretical Framework The theoretical framework of the study is based on teachers’ beliefs, curricular consciousness, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985, 1991), curricular awareness, and teaching practices. This study evaluated (1) teachers’ motivation to participate in professional development learning and (2) teachers’ curricular consciousness. First, this study investigated teachers’ motivation from the perspective of their beliefs and self-efficacy. Teachers’ self-efficacy refers to their belief in their abilities to teach effectively and is assessed according to whether the students have acquired real knowledge and abilities (Thoonen et al., 2011). When teachers regard teaching as a mission but feel that they lack professional competence and face pressure from changes in the educational environment, they are motivated to invest in continuing education. However, most teachers engage in continuing education because of several motivating factors. Second, teachers’ curriculum consciousness is a dynamic process of awareness. It includes internal reflection, beliefs in their teaching, reflection on curriculum implementation, and interpretation and organization of the environment (Fang & Feng, 2017). Specifically, curricular awareness includes awareness of professional knowledge, awareness of self-beliefs, and awareness of the environment (Chen, 2003; Fang & Feng, 2017; Kung & Lin, 2009). Professional knowledge includes content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of the teaching environment, and knowledge of students (Shulman, 1986, 1987). Professional knowledge should have a positive connection with teaching practice, which, in turn, modifies curriculum consciousness. Self-belief awareness refers to the self-evaluation of the results of applying certain teaching activities and teaching strategies. This can be explained in conjunction with the “attitude” aspect of the TPB (Ajzen, 1985, 1991). Environmental factors, such as hardware and software equipment, school culture, parents, and community, may present limitations and challenges to teachers but may also be perceived as opportunities related to the “subjective norm” and “perceived behavior control” factors in the TPB (Ajzen, 1985, 1991). Design/Methods On the basis of a review of the existing literature, this study investigated the factors that affect teachers’ motivation for and effectiveness in participating in a second-specialty course and subsequently constructed the outline of a semi-structured interview. A case study was employed along with semi-structured, in-depth interviews with nine teachers from various junior high schools in southern Taiwan. Both individual and group interviews were conducted. The second-specialty course of living technology started in July 2018. To elucidate the changes in the participants’ curricular consciousness after the second-specialty course, the interviews were conducted after the first stage of the course (following the completion of eleven credits). The interviews, each lasting approximately 60 minutes, were conducted in October 2018. The transcripts of the interviews were imported into NVivo qualitative analysis software, and the data were analyzed through the following steps: First, preliminary coding and classification was conducted on the basis of the aspects of investment motivation, curriculum awareness, teaching practices. Second, two researchers discussed the preliminary inductive findings, identified common or disparate views, and focused on further establishing concepts. Third, the summarized concepts were compared with related literature, and, if necessary, the interviewees were invited to verify the accuracy of the analysis results or provide auxiliary reference materials. Triangulation was used to ensure the validity of the study. Finally, in-depth discussions were held according to the research purpose, and the research findings were summarized. Results The encoding and analysis of the data using NVivo produced the following research findings: (1) The motivation of teachers to participate in the second-specialty course of living technology primarily came from their interest in hands-on implementation and their schools’ teaching needs. All teachers reported that before teaching living technology courses, they believed that this subject involved handicrafts or industrial arts, which they had previously learned. Most knowledge of technology was derived from self-learning and the experience of using technology in daily life. Most of the participants indicated that fully understanding and transforming the subject into teaching activities was difficult. (2) The effect of teachers’ participation in the second-specialty course on the development of their curricular consciousness included the promotion of their professional awareness of living technology courses, the transformation of their beliefs concerning technology education, and the establishment of positive self-awareness regarding teaching living technology. (3) Teaching practice prompted teachers of the second-specialty course to rapidly absorb and transform professional knowledge. However, in the process, their teaching confidence was affected by external environmental factors and a lack of professional knowledge. (4) The support available to teacher communities from inside and outside the school and from the school administration are critical to enabling teachers in the second-specialty course to overcome their teaching difficulties. Conclusion This study explored the transformation of second-specialty teachers involved in technology education, including their motivation, beliefs, curricular awareness construction, and teaching practices. On the basis of a literature review and interview analysis, the researchers proposed a framework to highlight the dynamic relationship between teachers’ curricular consciousness and their teaching practices. The results demonstrated that substantial professional growth occurs between learning in the second-specialty course and teaching living technology in junior high school. Teachers’ learning motivation, knowledge construction, and real-life teaching situations influence each other and affect teachers’ self-awareness, professional awareness, and environmental awareness, respectively. These dynamic interactions help form teachers’ curricular awareness. The interviews revealed that external change factors may motivate teachers to expand their knowledge. However, the most critical factors involve teachers independently generating learning motivation and curricular consciousness and desiring real changes that prompts them to invest in continual learning and teaching practices. Furthermore, teachers must establish their own teaching beliefs and curricular awareness to strengthen their teaching confidence in new fields and face external pressure, which is the core focus of curricular reform.

Highlights • Using the example of mosquitoes that are genetically modified for malaria eradication through gene drive methods, a scientifically complex ‘living technology’, we show how complexity, uncertainty and risk can propel NPD processes towards a linear sequence of stages. • Although the need to control risks associated with gene drive technology imposes linearity to the NPD process, there are possibilities for deviation from a structured sequence of stages. This is due to the effects of feedback loops in the wider system of evidence creation and learning at the population and governance levels, which cumulatively impact on acceptance of the innovation. • The NPD and adoption processes involved in the use of gene drive technology are closely intertwined, and the endpoint for R&D and beginning of ‘mainstream’ adoption and diffusion are unclear., When there is significant uncertainty in an innovation project, research literature suggests that strictly sequencing actions and stages may not be an appropriate mode of project management. We use a longitudinal process approach and qualitative system dynamics modelling to study the development of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes for malaria eradication in an African country. Our data were collected in real time, from early scientific research to deployment of the first prototype mosquitoes in the field. The 'gene drive' technology for modifying the mosquitoes is highly complex and controversial due to risks associated with its characteristics as a living, self-replicating technology. We show that in this case the innovation journey is linear and highly structured, but also embedded within a wider system of adoption that displays emergent behaviour. Although the need to control risks associated with the technology imposes a linearity to the NPD process, there are possibilities for deviation from a more structured sequence of stages. This arises from the effects of feedback loops in the wider system of evidence creation and learning at the population and governance levels, which cumulatively impact on acceptance of the innovation. The NPD and adoption processes are therefore closely intertwined, meaning that the endpoint for R&D and beginning of 'mainstream' adoption and diffusion are unclear. A key challenge for those responsible for NPD and its regulation is to plan for the adoption of the technology while simultaneously conducting its scientific and technical development.

A challenge associated with an ageing population is increased demand on health and social care, creating a greater need to enable persons to live independently in their own homes. Ambient assistant living technology aims to address this by monitoring occupants’ ‘activities of daily living’ using smart home sensors to alert caregivers to abnormalities in routine tasks and deteriorations in a person’s ability to care for themselves. However, there has been less focus on using sensing technology to monitor a broader scope of so-called ‘meaningful activities’, which promote a person’s emotional, creative, intellectual, and spiritual needs. In this paper, we describe the development of a toolkit comprised of off-the-shelf, affordable sensors to allow persons with dementia and Parkinson’s disease to monitor meaningful activities as well as activities of daily living in order to self-manage their life and well-being. We describe two evaluations of the toolkit, firstly a lab-based study to test the installation of the system including the acuity and placement of sensors and secondly, an in-the-wild study where subjects who were not target users of the toolkit, but who identified as technology enthusiasts evaluated the feasibility of the toolkit to monitor activities in and around real homes. Subjects from the in-the-wild study reported minimal obstructions to installation and were able to carry out and enjoy activities without obstruction from the sensors, revealing that meaningful activities may be monitored remotely using affordable, passive sensors. We propose that our toolkit may enhance assistive living systems by monitoring a wider range of activities than activities of daily living.

Regulations constitute the “corpus” of rules defining the protocols emerging from the interactions between people, organizations, environment in all their aspects and implications. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are modifying these rules and call for the improvement and the update of interaction codes in order to manage and organize the emergence of a new reality that was unknown until now. There will be always a delay between the manifestation of a new interaction, encouraged and powered by communication and information technologies, and the setting of appropriate regulations. As a consequence, a situation of constant mismatching between “living technology” and “regulations development” seems a problem of difficult solution. A possibility to face this situation may come out from a choice of civilization.

Pass researches on STEM education emphasized the rational problem solving among applied engineering and technology, while the nurture of the imagination and creativity in the students’ art field was overlooked. Hence, this research aims to develop a STEAM curriculum module, with basic electronic technology and skill as the foundation, combining scientific RGB colour theory and the artistic concept of drawing and modelling design, with application of the Adobe Illustrator and SketchUp softwares, developing into a hands-on module "LED light-adjusting and paper-curved pop up card" STEAM curriculum. This research combined expert teachers from electrical engineering, physics and art fields to collaboratively develop the curriculum module, through reflective dialogues of three instructing teachers and two team teachers, experiencing three years of curriculum module revision. The first year developed the integrated curriculum of the mini DIY LED light-adjusting board that combined technology, engineering and mathematics, the second year combined with science concept and developed the STEM curriculum for LED light-adjusting board experiments, the third year combined with the artistic paper-curved pop up card and developed the STEAM curriculum module. This module can be applied in the living technology curriculum of the grade 8, which based on student-centred learning, with application of 6E Learning by DeSIGN™ Model for teaching, and this STEAM curriculum module can provide and be applied in 24 lessons of the secondary school’s living technology curriculum.

Learning area integrated teaching, teaching unit topics and the contents of various subjects with team teaching and cooperative learning to have students learn better integrated concepts, is emphasized domestically. Nevertheless, it is discovered that subject-specific teaching is still used in living technology teaching area. The integration and application of knowledge content learned in classes could enhance the problem solving opportunity. To effectively achieve research objectives and test research hypotheses, nonequivalent test experimental design is applied to the experimental research in this study. Aiming at 312 business school students of Parahyangan Catholic University (UNPAR), Indonesia, as the experimental objects, the research results are summarized as below. 1. STEM curriculum integration model presents significant effects on learning effect. 2. STEM curriculum integration model shows remarkable effects on learning gain. 3. Living technology teaching reveals notable effects on learning effect. 4. Living technology teaching appears significant effects on learning gain. 5. STEM curriculum integration model integrated living technology teaching presents remarkable effects on learning effect. 6. STEM curriculum integration model integrated living technology teaching shows notable effects on the promotion of learning gain. According to the results to propose suggestions, it is expected to have students analyze problems from more aspects and develop diverse solving strategies to effectively enhance living technology learning effectiveness.

Proceeding of the 10th International Symposium (SSBSE), Montpellier, France, September 8-9, 2018., The EvoEvo project was a 2013–2017 FP7 European project aiming at developing new evolutionary approaches in information science and producing novel algorithms based on the current understanding of molecular and evolutionary biology, with the ultimate goals of addressing open-ended problems in which the specifications are either unknown or too complicated to express, and of producing software able to operate even in unpredictable, varying conditions. Here we present the main rationals of the EvoEvo project and propose a set of design rules to evolve adaptive software systems., This work was supported by the European Commission 7th Framework Program (FP7-ICT-2013.9.6 FET Proactive: Evolving Living Technologies) EvoEvo project (ICT- 610427, http://www.evovo.eu/).

Slime mould Physarum polycephalum develops intricate patterns of protoplasmic networks when foraging on a non-nutrient substrates. The networks are optimised for spanning larger spaces with minimum body mass and for quick transfer of nutrients and metabolites inside the slime mould’s body. We hybridise the slime mould’s networks with conductive polymer polyaniline and thus produce micro-patterns of conductive networks. This unconventional lithographic method opens new perspectives in development of living technology devices, biocompatible non-silicon hardware for applications in integrated circuits, bioelectronics, and biosensing.

In the physics of the natural world, basic tasks of life, such as homeostasis and reproduction, are extremely complex operations, requiring the coordination of billions of atoms even in simple cases. By contrast, artificial living organisms can be implemented in computers using relatively few bits, and copying a data structure is trivial. Of course, the physical overheads of the computers themselves are huge, but since their programmability allows digital “laws of physics” to be tailored like a custom suit, deploying living technology atop an engineered computational substrate might be as or more effective than building directly on the natural laws of physics, for a substantial range of desirable purposes. This article suggests basic criteria and metrics for bespoke physics computing architectures, describes one such architecture, and offers data and illustrations of custom living technology competing to reproduce while collaborating on an externally useful computation.

There were three in five of the elderly living alone in Taiwan considered continue living alone would be an ideal way of living in the future. Products and services not only support elderly living alone have the ability to live independently, but also to influence social network to the elderly living alone. Due to the lack of product and service targeting especially for elderly living alone that related to care and assist them to live independently, this research was designed as a preliminary exploration of technology necessities to provide insight into the issue. The findings suggest that (1) Life of living alone need to be simple for the elderly. (2) Sharing behavior might be the most opportunities to care . No matter how form of the product or service was, only in association with the encourage from stakeholders that elderly living alone would have more courage to try new things or to accept assistance.

本研究從課程綱要轉化為課程文本的教科書政治中，透視官方知識的生成。為釐清政策形塑背後各種利益團體的微觀政治，本研究以多重方法檢視高中生活科技新課程綱要對不同對象的意義，包括訪談四大出版社教科書編寫者與經理八位、分析國立編譯館教科書審查意見55件、電話調查全國高中教科書選用209所，分析教科書編寫、審查與選擇政治。歸納教科書編審選之制度外政治有立委 與企業界，制度內政治有教科書政策、國立編譯館、出版社、學校、學科專家、教師。受制於眾多政治性因素，專家學者與出版社妥協於制度外力量，學校教師終究淪為學科邊緣化的幕後推手。總結此次生活科技的課程變革，仍是由上而下的威權建構形式，並未彰顯解構威權與挑戰菁英的草根改革。臺灣科技教育仍移 植美國模式與知識建構的威權運作，缺少自己的本質與主動性。 This research examined the formation of official knowledge through textbook politics, which transformed curriculum guidelines into curriculum texts. In order to clarify the micro-politics of different interest groups hidden behind policy formation, this research employed multiple methods to examine what the new curriculum guidelines of high school Living Technology meant to different interest groups. The methods included individual interviews with 8 textbook writers and managers from 4 major publishers, document analyses of 55 textbook reviews by the National Institute for Compilation and Translation (NICT), and telephone surveys of textbook feedback from 209 high schools across Taiwan. The goal was to shed light on the politics of textbook writing, reviewing, and selection. The research data indicated that the system of textbook writing, reviewing, and selection was shaped by both extra-institutional forces, such as those from legislators and private industries, and institutional forces, such as those from textbook policies, NICT, publishers, schools, experts, and teachers. Under the influence of several political factors, however, experts, scholars, and publishers bowed to extra-institutional forces, which in the end relegated school teachers to an invisible and marginalized force behind the formation of Living Technology. In conclusion, the current Living Technology curriculum reform still embodied a top-down mode of power construction and did not demonstrate the bottom-up plans to deconstruct authority and challenge those at the top. In Taiwan, technology education remained a reproduced version of its American counterpart, in which knowledge construction was operated in an authoritative way. Subjectivity and spontaneity were still missing from Taiwanese technology education.

At the University of Glasgow, Leroy Cronin is leading a group of scientists that are pioneering the engineering of a fundamentally new approach to building materials, which scales up from the nano scale to the micro. Cronin reflects on the possibilities of this new paradigm that gives inorganic cellular materials the potential to be ‘programmed’ to sense environmental changes, generate power, self-repair, shift properties and even compete with other building materials for resources. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The concept of living technology—that is, technology that is based on the powerful core features of life—is explained and illustrated with examples from artificial life software, reconfigurable and evolvable hardware, autonomously self-reproducing robots, chemical protocells, and hybrid electronic-chemical systems. We define primary (secondary) living technology according as key material components and core systems are not (are) derived from living organisms. Primary living technology is currently emerging, distinctive, and potentially powerful, motivating this review. We trace living technology's connections with artificial life (soft, hard, and wet), synthetic biology (top-down and bottom-up), and the convergence of nano-, bio-, information, and cognitive (NBIC) technologies. We end with a brief look at the social and ethical questions generated by the prospect of living technology.

Health and care providers are increasingly looking to online and peer-to-peer services to supplement existing channels of assistive living technology (ALTs) provision and assessment. We describe the findings from 12 co-design workshops with 28 people from the UK representing a range of older people with and without health conditions, users of ALT and carers for people using such devices. The workshops were conducted to explore issues related to finding reliable information about ALT with the goal of gathering requirements for the design of a peer-to-peer knowledge sharing platform. Our analysis highlights how a current reliance on peers and informal networks relates to a desire to establish the authenticity and relatability of another person's experience to one's own circumstances. This connects to a perceived mistrust in information where provenance and authenticity is not clear. We use these to critique the wisdom of taking an e-marketplace and recommendation service approach to ALT provision and assessment, and offer alternatives based on our findings.

For millennia people have wondered what makes the living different from the non-living. Beginning in the mid-1980s, artificial life has studied living systems using a synthetic approach: build life in order to understand it better, be it by means of software, hardware, or wetware. This review provides a summary of the advances that led to the development of artificial life, its current research topics, and open problems and opportunities. We classify artificial life research into fourteen themes: origins of life, autonomy, self-organization, adaptation (including evolution, development, and learning), ecology, artificial societies, behavior, computational biology, artificial chemistries, information, living technology, art, and philosophy. Being interdisciplinary, artificial life seems to be losing its boundaries and merging with other fields.

http://dx.doi.org/10.14261/postit/5EC83009-6FB0-4094-84F26AF7E413049D Lectorale rede van Niels Faber, lector Business Development, Saxion Kenniscentrum Hospitality. Gehouden op 29 januari 2014

http://dx.doi.org/10.14261/postit/5EC83009-6FB0-4094-84F26AF7E413049D Lectorale rede van Niels Faber, lector Business Development, Saxion Kenniscentrum Hospitality. Gehouden op 29 januari 2014

When the scientific and technological fruits of artificial life are embodied in technology with real practical use, sometimes the result can properly be called living technology [6]. Technology today is becoming increasingly lifelike, and there has recently been increasing foundational discussion of the broader scientific, socioeconomic, cultural, and ethical implications of living technology (e.g., [5, 7]). This special issue of Artificial Life describes recent developments in living technology, and samples current progress and applications in the works. The scientific core of the volume consists of seven articles describing new advances toward living technology. The volume also contains four articles about living technologyʼs broader social, ethical, and political implications. Living technology is most simply defined as technology that is alive, but it is convenient to require that such technology furthermore be useful because of being lifelike [6] and not be a simple variant of existing life. We will call something lifelike if it has one or more of lifeʼs characteristic properties. Although there is controversy about the nature of life [4], there is a rough consensus about the characteristic properties exhibited by all typical living beings. Many also agree that a subset

This article is a comparative analysis between workers in health care with high and low degree of readiness for living technology such as robotics. To explore the differences among workers' readiness, statistical analysis was conducted in a data set obtained from 200 respondents. The results showed important differences between high- and low-readiness types on issues such as staff security, documentation, autonomy, and future challenges.

The plasmodium of the acellular slime mold Physarum polycephalum is a gigantic single cell visible to the unaided eye. The cell shows a rich spectrum of behavioral patterns in response to environmental conditions. In a series of simple experiments we demonstrate how to make computing, sensing, and actuating devices from the slime mold. We show how to program living slime mold machines by configurations of repelling and attracting gradients and demonstrate the workability of the living machines on tasks of computational geometry, logic, and arithmetic.

This paper presents an overview of current and potential applications of living technology to some urban problems. Living technology can be described as technology that exhibits the core features of living systems. These features can be useful to solve dynamic problems. In particular, urban problems concerning mobility, logistics, telecommunications, governance, safety, sustainability, and society and culture are presented, while solutions involving living technology are reviewed. A methodology for developing living technology is mentioned, while supraoptimal public transportation systems are used as a case study to illustrate the benefits of urban living technology. Finally, the usefulness of describing cities as living systems is discussed., 40 pages, 4 figures, overview paper

Dynamical oil-water systems such as droplets display lifelike properties and may lend themselves to chemical programming to perform useful work, specifically with respect to the built environment. We present Bütschli water-in-oil droplets as a model for further investigation into the development of a technology with living properties. Otto Bütschli first described the system in 1898, when he used alkaline water droplets in olive oil to initiate a saponification reaction. This simple recipe produced structures that moved and exhibited characteristics that resembled, at least superficially, the amoeba. We reconstructed the Bütschli system and observed its life span under a light microscope, observing chemical patterns and droplet behaviors in nearly three hundred replicate experiments. Self-organizing patterns were observed, and during this dynamic, embodied phase the droplets provided a means of introducing temporal and spatial order in the system with the potential for chemical programmability. The authors propose that the discrete formation of dynamic droplets, characterized by their lifelike behavior patterns, during a variable window of time (from 30 s to 30 min after the addition of alkaline water to the oil phase), qualify this system as an example of living technology. The analysis of the Bütschli droplets suggests that a set of conditions may precede the emergence of lifelike characteristics and exemplifies the richness of this rudimentary chemical system, not only for artificial life investigations but also for possible real-world applications in architectural practice.

An assistive living system that gives our elderly population the comfort and confidence necessary to remain independently in their own homes is essential for enhanced longevity. Ambient Assistive Living technology that provides intuitive and context-sensitive support presents researchers with additional challenges. This paper details the creation and development of an "Ambient Assistant" application augmenting and extending the open source framework OpenAAL with enhanced reasoning, intelligent monitoring of the person and decision-making capabilities. The aim is a complete framework with fully interoperable components such as multi-parameter sensors. (4 pages)

Von Neumann, the inventor of the modern computer, realized that if life is a physical process, it should be possible to implement life in other media than biochemistry. In the 1950s, he was one of the first to propose the possibility of implementing genuine living processes in computers and robots. This perspective, while still controversial, is rapidly gaining momentum in many science and engineering communities. Below, we summarize our recent activities to create artificial life from scratch in physicochemical systems. We also outline the nature of the grand science and engineering challenges faced as we seek to realize Von Neumann's vision: Integration of information processing and material production from the nano- to the macroscale in technical systems.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the influence of creative-thinking teaching on the learning effectiveness of the students. A quasi-experiment with nonequivalent pretest-posttest group design was used. The subjects were the eighth graders in Dong Hu Junior High School in northern Taiwan. The findings suggest that creative-thinking teaching enhances the learning achievement of Construction Technology in Living Technology Education. In addition, it has a positive influence on the teaching methods, curricular arrangement, and personal experience.

Living Technology is researching novel IT making strong use of programmable chemical systems. These chemical systems shall finally converge to artificial cells resulting in evolvable complex information systems. We focus on procedural manageability and information processing capabilities of such information systems. Here, we present a novel resource-saving formation, processing, and examination procedure to generate and handle single compartments representing preliminary stages of artificial cells. Its potential is exemplified by testing the influence of different glycerophospholipids on the stability of the compartments. We discuss how the procedure could be used both in evolutionary optimization of self-assembling amphiphilic systems and in engineering tailored communication networks enabling life-like information processing in multicompartment aggregates of programmable composition and spatial configuration.

Protocells offers a comprehensive resource on current attempts to create simple forms of life from scratch in the laboratory. These minimal versions of cells, known as protocells, are entities with lifelike properties created from nonliving materials, and the book provides in-depth investigations of processes at the interface between nonliving and living matter. Chapters by experts in the field put this state-of-the-art research in the context of theory, laboratory work, and computer simulations on the components and properties of protocells. The book also provides perspectives on research in related areas and such broader societal issues as commercial applications and ethical considerations. The book covers all major scientific approaches to creating minimal life, both in the laboratory and in simulation. It emphasizes the bottom-up view of physicists, chemists, and material scientists but also includes the molecular biologists' top-down approach and the origin-of-life perspective. The capacity to engineer living technology could have an enormous socioeconomic impact and could bring both good and ill. Protocells promises to be the essential reference for research on bottom-up assembly of life and living technology for years to come. It is written to be both resource and inspiration for scientists working in this exciting and important field and a definitive text for the interested layman.

The final second part of the acknowledgement section for the above said article was: We wish to acknowledge financial support from the Europen Commission FP7 Program in ISTFET (projects ECCell, #222422, and MATCHIT, #249032), and networking support from the COST network in Systems Chemistry (CM0703), from the Interfacial Systems Chemistry Initiative IFSC at the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, from the European Center for Living Technology, Venice, Italy and in the EU Coordination Action COBRA (#270371) on BioChem-IT. The authors regret that the CADMAD project was not acknowledged in the publication. The final second part of the acknowledgement section for the above said article is: We wish to acknowledge financial support from the Europen Commission FP7 Program in ISTFET (projects ECCell, #222422, MATCHIT, #249032 and CADMAD, #265505), and networking support from the COST network in Systems Chemistry (CM0703), from the Interfacial Systems Chemistry Initiative IFSC at the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, from the European Center for Living Technology, Venice, Italy and in the EU Coordination Action COBRA (#270371) on BioChem-IT. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused in making this correction.