Mobile particulate systems involve the mechanics, flow and transport properties of mixtures of fluids and solids. These systems are intrinsic to the rheology of emulsions and suspensions, flocculation and aggregation, sedimentation and fluidization, flow of granular media, nucleation and growth of small particles, segregation, attrition and solidification processes. Its diversity means that the area has been studied by a number of different disciplines (e.g. chemical or civil engineering, mechanics, hydrodynamics, geophysics, condensed matter and statistical physics, etc.).
Mobile...

Nanoscale Probes of the Solid--Liquid Interface deals with the use of the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) and related instrumentation to examine the phenomena occurring at the interface between solid and liquid.
Scanning probe microscopy (the collective term for such instruments as the STM, the atomic force microscope and related instrumentation) allows detailed, real space atomic or lattice scale insight into surface structures, information which is ideally correlated with surface reactivity. The use of SPM methods is not restricted to ultrahigh vacuum: the STM and AFM...

Nonlinear Optical Materials and Devices for Applications in Information Technology takes the reader from fundamental interactions of laser light in materials to the latest developments of digital optical information processing. The book emphasises nonlinear optical interactions in bulk and low-dimensional semiconductors, liquid crystals and optical fibres. After establishing the basic laser--material interactions in these materials, it goes on to assess applications in soliton propagation, integrated optics, smart pixel arrays and digital optical computing.

From July 10th through July 13th, 1994, an informal workshop co-organized by RILEM committees 116-PCD and 123-MME was held at Saint-Remy-Ies Chevreuse, France, and attended by 38 delegates from 16 countries. Twenty-nine papers were presented, converging the general subjects of modelling micro structures and predicting durability of concrete and other cement-based materials. A short summary follows: G. M. Idom's paper entitled "Modelling Research for Concrete Engineering" serves as an introduction to the workshop, presenting an overview of modelling research with the conelusion that the broad...

The study of sliding friction is one of the oldest problems in physics, and certainly one of the most important from a practical point of view. Low-friction surfaces are in increasingly high demand for high-tech components such as computer storage systems, miniature motors, and aerospace devices. It has been estimated that about 5% of the gross national product in the developed countries is "wasted" on friction and the related wear. In spite of this, remarkable little is understood about the fundamental, microscopic processes responsible for friction and wear. The topic of interfacial sliding...

Irrigated agriculture and the use of water resources in agriculture face the challenges of sustainable development. Research has advanced our knowledge of water use by crops, soil-water-solutes interactions, and the engineering and managerial tools needed to mobilize, convey, distribute, control and apply water for agricultural production. However, the achievements booked in user practice have revealed the need for new developments in the areas of resource conservation, control of environmental and health impacts, modernisation of technologies and management, economic viability and the social...

This volume contains the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "The Chemical Physics of Fullerenes 10 (and 5) Years Later", which was included in the program of the Enrico Fermi School and held in Varenna, Italy, on June 12-16, 1995. The occasion of the workshop was the lOth birthday of Coo, discovered in molecular beams in the summer of 1985, and the quasi simultaneous 5th anniversary of the synthesis of solid Coo. The motivation, however, was not the celebration of such events, rather the need for a realistic diagnosis of the current situation of fullerene research. The best...

Rapid thermal and integrated processing is an emerging single-wafer technology in ULSI semiconductor manufacturing, electrical engineering, applied physics and materials science. Here, the physics and engineering of this technology are discussed at the graduate level. Three interrelated areas are covered. First, the thermophysics of photon-induced annealing of semiconductor and related materials, including fundamental pyrometry and emissivity issues, the modelling of reactor designs and processes, and their relation to temperature uniformity. Second, process integration, treating the ...

Molecular Magnetism: From Molecular Assemblies to the Devices reviews the state of the art in the area. It is organized in two parts, the first of which introduces the basic concepts, theories and physical techniques required for the investigation of the magnetic molecular materials, comparing them with those used in the study of classical magnetic materials. Here the reader will find: (i) a detailed discussion of the electronic processes involved in the magnetic interaction mechanisms of molecular systems, including electron delocalization and spin polarization effects; (ii) a...

A general and introductory survey of foams, emulsions and cellular materials. Foams and emulsions are illustrations of some fundamental concepts in statistical thermodynamics, rheology, elasticity and the physics and chemistry of divided media and interfaces. They also give rise to some of the most beautiful geometrical shapes and tilings, ordered or disordered.
The chapters are grouped into sections having fairly loose boundaries. Each chapter is intelligible alone, but cross referencing means that the few concepts that may not be familiar to the reader can be found in other chapters...