The 6th course of the futernational School of Solid State Physics was held in Erice, Sicily, at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture, 19-29 June, 1995. The course was organized as a NATO Advanced Study Institute and received generous support from NATO's Nanoscale Science Program. This volume is based on the lectures presented during the course. fudispensable for the planning of the summer school was the support of the Director of the Ettore Majorana Centre, Professor A. Zichichi. We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the center staff, Dr. Maria Zaini, Dr. Alberto...

Solvents and Self-Organization of Polymers brings together scientists who are experts in macromolecular synthesis, the physical chemistry and the physics of polymer self-organization. The book also contains experimental results and methods, analytical theory and computer simulations. While the work concentrates on problems of basic science, such practical applications as pharmacology are not excluded. The broad cross-fertilization between these areas makes the book a fascinating and masterly survey of the area.

This book contains selected papers prepared for the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Unsteady Combustion," which was held in Praia da Granja, Portugal, 6-17 September 1993. Approximately 100 delegates from 14 countries attended. The Institute was the most recent in a series beginning with "Instrumentation for Combustion and Flow in Engines," held in Vimeiro, Portugal 1987 and followed by "Combusting Flow Diagnostics" conducted in Montechoro, Portugal in 1990. Together, these three Institutes have covered a wide range of experimental and theoretical topics arising in the research and...

This volume collects the contributions to the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI); "Computer Simulation in Materials Science -NanolMesolMacroscopic Space and Time Scales," held on lIe d'OIeron (France) June 6-16, 1995.1his event was intended to present the state of the art in simulation techniques in Materials Science. For decades to come the limits of computing power will not allow for atomistic simulations of macroscopic specimens. Simulations can only be performed on various scales (nano, meso, micro, macro) with the constitutive input provided by simulations (or data) on the next smaller...

In the last few years it was seen the emergence of various new quantum phenomena specifically related with electronic or optical confinement on a sub-wavelength-size. Fast developments simultaneously occurred in the field of Atomic Physics, notably through various regimes of Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics, and in Solid State Physics, with advances in Quantum Well technology and Nanooptoelectronics. Simultaneously, breakthroughs in Near-Field Optics provided new tools which should be widely applicable to these domains. However, the key concepts used to describe these new and partly related...

This book attempts to (i) systematically review the state of the art pertaining to the knowledge on the various levels of structure and catalytic function of Iipases, and (ii) discuss in a simultaneously pragmatic and integrated manner the design and modification of Iipases and the technological aspects of the utilization of Iipases for desired practical purposes. In preliminary assessments of whether the current knowledge of Jipases (and users thereof) would deserve (and benefit from) comprehensive academic and scholastic efforts eventually leading to the production of a formal book, four...

Recent years have seen a growing interest in and activity at the interface between physics and biology, with the realization that both subjects have a great deal to learn from and to teach to one another. A particularly promising aspect of this interface concerns the area of cooperative phenomena and phase transitions. The present book addresses both the structure and motion of biological materials and the increasingly complex behaviour that arises out of interactions in large systems, giving rise to self organization, adaptation, selection and evolution: concepts of interest not only to...

Silicon technology has developed along virtually one single line: reducing the minimal size of lithographic features. But has this taken us to the point of diminishing returns? Are we now at a turning point in the logical evolution of microelectronics? Some believe that the semiconductor microelectronics industry has matured: the research game is over (comparisons with the steel industry are being made). Others believe that qualitative progress in hardware technology will come roaring back, based on innovative research.
This debate, spirited as it is, is reflected in the pages of...

The NATO Advanced Study Institute "Biomedical Optical Instrumentation and Laser- Assisted Biotechnology" was held November 10-22, 1995 in Erice, Sicily. This was the 19 th conference organized by the International School of Quantum Electronics, under the auspices of the "Ettore Majorana" Center for Scientific Culture. The contributions presented at the Institute are written as extended, review-like papers to provide a broad and representative coverage of the fields of laser techniques, optoelectronics systems for medical diagnosis, and light and laser applications to Biology and Medicine. The...

Nanoscale Science, whose birth and further growth and development has been driven by the needs of the microelectronics industry on one hand, and by the sheer human curiosity on the other hand, has given researchers an unprecedented capability to design and construct devices whose function ality is based on quantum and mesoscopic effects. A necessary step in this process has been the development of reliable fabrication techniques in the nanometer scale: two-dimensional systems, quantum wires and dots, and Coulomb blockade structures with almost ideal properties can nowadays be fabricated, and...