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The collection of topics in this book aims to reflect the diversity of recent advances in nanomaterials, nanochemistry and smart materials with a broad perspective which may be useful for scientists as well as for graduate students and engineers. The book offers scope for academics, researchers, and engineering professionals to present their research and development works that have potential for applications in several disciplines of engineering and science. Contributions range from new methods to novel applications of existing methods to gain understanding of the material and/or structural behavior of new and advanced systems. This book presents leading-edge research from around the world in these dynamic fields.

In this book, the authors discuss the production, properties and applications of degradable polymers. Topics discussed in this compilation include the increasing production and utilization of synthetic polymer materials and the global environmental problem caused by their accumulation in natural systems; biodegradable plastics as an alternative to chemical polymers; polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) polymers of hydroxyalkanoic acids synthesized by bacteria; the biochemical pathways of synthesis of various PHAs; substrates for PHA synthesis; PHA production and the physicochemical properties of PHA; biodegradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates in natural environments; potential areas for PHA application; PHA as a platform for drug delivery; PHA matrices for cell and tissue engineering; and the biomedical potential of PHA.

In the first two volumes of this series, we have shown that submicron-sized and nanofibres can be prepared from a polymer solution by means of electrospinning. The third volume of ‘Advances in Nanofibre Research'describes the many directions in which the science and technology of polymer nanofibres is now evolving and highlights the current understanding of polymer nanofibres and nanocomposites. In this volume, readers can find chapters which compare the occurrence, stability, and functional properties of fibrous nanomaterials of different sizes and shapes. The new and emerging applications of polymer nanofibres are presented alongside the basic underlying science and technology. With discussions exploring such practical applications as filters, fabrics, scaffolds for tissue engineering, the book provides polymer scientists and engineers with a comprehensive, practical ‘how-to'reference work. Among the main aspects covered is the book's presentation of the science and technology of electrospinning, including practical information on how to electrospin different polymer systems.

This book presents the tools of nanotechnology that can build, image, and manipulate nanostructures to build materials and devices. It bridges the gap between detailed technical publications that are beyond the grasp of non-specialists and popular science books, which may be more science fiction than fact. It provides a fascinating, scientifically sound treatment, accessible to engineers and scientists outside the field and even to students at the undergraduate level. This book concludes with a look at some cutting-edge applications and prophecies for the future. It builds a solid background in characterization and fabrication methods while integrating the physics, chemistry, and biology facets. It focuses on applications and examining engineering aspects of nanotube and nanofiber materials.

A polymer is a large molecule (macromolecule) composed of repeating structural units typically connected by covalent chemical bonds. Due to the extraordinary range of properties accessible in polymeric materials, they have come to play an essential and ubiquitous role in everyday life — from plastics and elastomers to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins. This new book examines the role polymers play as natural nanocomposites.

Mankind currently produces polymers in amounts similar to cast iron, steel, and color metals all together if calculating production of polymers not by weight, but by volume. One can say, that mankind currently lives in a Polymer Age. Special emphasis should be given to biopolymers since they can offer properties similar to those of oil-based polymers with the added value of their extraordinary ability to be introduced in biological cycles with production of new raw materials for new polymers. This new book presents current research in the area of bio-based polymers and sustainable composites.

The research and development of nanofibers has gained much prominence in recent years due to the heightened awareness of its potential applications in the medical, engineering and defense fields. Among the most successful methods for producing nanofibers is the electrospinning process. Electrospinning introduces a new level of versatility and broader range of materials into the micro/nanofiber range. This important book reviews its impact in developing a new generation of textile fibers with enhanced functionality and a wide range of applications. The book reviews nanofiber production, discussing how different fiber types can be produced using electrospinning techniques to improve polymer properties and to modify textile surfaces.

This book examines polymer nanocomposites filled by inorganic nanofillers. Polymers are considered as nanocomposite matrix only, possessing, as a rule, an invariable structure. In many respects this situation is explained by the absence of a quantitative structural model of polymers amorphous state. This problem becomes particularly important because all structural elements of polymers have sizes of nanometer scale. The development of notions about polymers amorphous state structure within the frameworks of the cluster model of this structure allows to represent amorphous polymer as a quasitwophase system.

The interest in polymer composites study is due to an even greater degree of their application. The filling by hard disperse particulates or fibers gives to polymers a desirable properties number: increases stiffness, reduces thermal expansion coefficient, rises resistance to yield and fracture toughness and so on. Difficulties in research of structure-properties relationships for polymer composites are due to their structure complexity. So, on the elasticity modulus value besides composition a polymer-filler interaction influences. In other words, it is clear even intuitively that for the complete description of such structurally-complex objects as polymer composites it is necessary to account for three groups of factors, namely, polymeric matrix structure, filler structure and level of interaction between them. Up to now the researches of such kind were carried out within the frameworks of continuous mechanics and thermodynamic conceptions. However, these conceptions application does not allow to describe satisfactorily and all the more to predict such materials properties. As a matter of fact, an experimental data set dictates the choice of either structure physical model for macroscopic properties description.

Solar and other renewable power can play an important role in future electricity system, as shown by numerous energy and electricity system model studies. Many of these studies have in common that they focus on cost as the central issue, either by optimizing it or using it as a key variable in simulation. This book examines the renewable energy policies in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in order to identify the policy motivations and constraints for expanding renewables in these countries. It also discusses safety hazards associated with the use of solar panels; rotating prism array for solar tracking; fabrication, electronic properties and microstructure of TiO2-based dye-sensitized solar cells; solar tower power plants performance and reliability analysis; liquid crystal devices for photovoltaic systems; and mechanisms for solar technologies.

Our knowledge of the composition of phenolic compounds present in olive oil has been profoundly increased in recent years due to sophisticated analytical technologies. These compounds have been clearly shown in vitro to possess strong antioxidant and free-radical scavenging activity. Moreover, recent studies have evidenced that these compounds are absorbed, metabolized and transported in lipoproteins. A great deal of experimental work has evidenced potential roles for these compounds in protecting the cardiovascular system: 1) by direct antioxidant defence, especially against lipid peroxidation and DNA oxidative damage; 2) by preventing endothelial dysfunction, including increased nitric oxide (NO) production and inducible NO synthesis, and quenching vascular endothelium intracellular free radicals; 3) by inhibiting platelet-induced aggregation; 4) by enhancing the mRNA transcription of the enzymes involved in antioxidant defence; 5) by inducing apoptosis and anti-proliferative effects; 6) by presenting antimicrobial and antiviral activity and modulating immune system function. In animal models, emerging beneficial effects on the control of blood pressure have been observed, but conflicting results on the role of olive phenolics in the management of atherosclerosis are also presented. In conclusion, research has robustly shown that these natural chemical compounds may play important roles in vivo but much effort still remains to be done before a definitive recommendation regarding their use in clinical settings.

An Introduction to the Theory of Diffraction presents the fundamentals of diffraction theory. This book discusses other topics, such as absorption in cylindrical or slab-shaped specimens, which do not closely involve the fundamentals of diffraction. Organized into seven chapters, this book begins with an overview of the fundamentals of wave motion and a short account of the interaction of atoms with X-ray, electrons, and neutrons. This text then examines the differences between atomic scattering factors for the various radiations. Other chapters consider a number of problems in which the distribution of scattering sources is either one-dimensional in nature or can be reduced to one dimension. This book discusses as well the principle of superposition, which ensures that Fourier analysis has an application to diffraction theory. The final chapter deals with the importance of reciprocal lattice on the relation it bears to the crystal lattice. This book is a valuable resource for metallurgists.

The Novartis Foundation Series is a popular collection of the proceedings from Novartis Foundation Symposia, in which groups of leading scientists from a range of topics across biology, chemistry and medicine assembled to present papers and discuss results. The Novartis Foundation, originally known as the Ciba Foundation, is well known to scientists and clinicians around the world.