The timely volume describes recent discoveries and method developments that have revolutionized Structural Biology with the advent of X-ray Free Electron Lasers. It provides, for the first time, a comprehensive examination of this cutting-edge technology. It discusses of-the-moment topics such as growth and detection of nanocrystals, Sample Delivery Techniques for serial femtosecond crystallography, data collection methods at XFELs, and more. This book aims to provide the readers with an overview of the new methods that have been recently developed as well as a prospective on new methods under development. It highlights the most important and novel Structural Discoveries made recently with XFELS, contextualized with a big-picture discussion of future developments.

Extensive studies of high-Tc cuprate superconductors have stimualted investigations into various transition-metal oxides. Mott transitions in particular provide fascinating problems and new concepts in condensed matter physics. This book is a collection of overviews by well-known, active researchers in this field. It deals with the latest developments, with particular emphasis on the theoretical, spectroscopic, and transport aspects.

Practical Materials Characterization covers the most common materials analysis techniques in a single volume. It stands as a quick reference for experienced users, as a learning tool for students, and as a guide for the understanding of typical data interpretation for anyone looking at results from a range of analytical techniques. The book includes analytical methods covering microstructural, surface, morphological, and optical characterization of materials with emphasis on microscopic structural, electronic, biological, and mechanical properties. Many examples in this volume cover cutting-edge technologies such as nanomaterials and life sciences.

As a spectroscopic method, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has seen spectacular growth over the past two decades, both as a technique and in its applications. Today the applications of NMR span a wide range of scientific disciplines, from physics to biology to medicine. Each volume of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance comprises a combination of annual and biennial reports which together provide comprehensive of the literature on this topic. This Specialist Periodical Report reflects the growing volume of published work involving NMR techniques and applications, in particular NMR of natural macromolecules which is covered in two reports: "NMR of Proteins and Acids" and "NMR of Carbohydrates, Lipids and Membranes." For those wanting to become rapidly acquainted with specific areas of NMR, this title provides unrivalled scope of coverage. Seasoned practitioners of NMR will find this an in valuable source of current methods and applications. Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage in major areas of chemical research. Compiled by teams of leading authorities in the relevant subject areas, the series creates a unique service for the active research chemist, with regular, in-depth accounts of progress in particular fields of chemistry. Subject coverage within different volumes of a given title is similar and publication is on an annual or biennial basis.

Spectroscopic Properties of Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds provides a unique source of information on an important area of chemistry. Divided into sections mainly according to the particular spectroscopic technique used, coverage in each volume includes: NMR (with reference to stereochemistry, dynamic systems, paramagnetic complexes, solid state NMR and Groups 13-18); nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy; vibrational spectroscopy of main group and transition element compounds and coordinated ligands; and electron diffraction. Reflecting the growing volume of published work in this field, researchers will find this Specialist Periodical Report an invaluable source of information on current methods and applications. Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage in major areas of chemical research. Compiled by teams of leading experts in their specialist fields, this series is designed to help the chemistry community keep current with the latest developments in their field. Each volume in the series is published either annually or biennially and is a superb reference point for researchers. www.rsc.org/spr

Spectroscopic Properties of Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds provides a unique source of information on an important area of chemistry. Divided into sections mainly according to the particular spectroscopic technique used, coverage in each volume includes: NMR (with reference to stereochemistry, dynamic systems, paramagnetic complexes, solid state NMR and Groups 13-18); nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy; vibrational spectroscopy of main group and transition element compounds and coordinated ligands; and electron diffraction. Reflecting the growing volume of published work in this field, researchers will find this Specialist Periodical Report an invaluable source of information on current methods and applications. Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage in major areas of chemical research. Compiled by teams of leading experts in their specialist fields, this series is designed to help the chemistry community keep current with the latest developments in their field. Each volume in the series is published either annually or biennially and is a superb reference point for researchers. www.rsc.org/spr

This book concisely illustrates the techniques of major surface analysis and their applications to a few key examples. Surfaces play crucial roles in various interfacial processes, and their electronic/geometric structures rule the physical/chemical properties. In the last several decades, various techniques for surface analysis have been developed in conjunction with advances in optics, electronics, and quantum beams. This book provides a useful resource for a wide range of scientists and engineers from students to professionals in understanding the main points of each technique, such as principles, capabilities and requirements, at a glance. It is a contemporary encyclopedia for selecting the appropriate method depending on the reader's purpose.

The science and technology related to semiconductors have received significant attention for applications in various fields including microelectronics, nanophotonics, and biotechnologies. Understanding of semiconductors has advanced to such a level that we are now able to design novel system complexes before we go for the proof-of-principle experimental demonstration. This book explains the experimental setups for optical spectral analysis of semiconductors and describes the experimental methods and the basic quantum mechanical principles underlying the fast-developing nanotechnology for semiconductors. Further, it uses numerous case studies with detailed theoretical discussions and calculations to demonstrate the data analysis. Covering structures ranging from bulk to the nanoscale, it examines applications in the semiconductor industry and biomedicine. Starting from the most basic physics of geometric optics, wave optics, quantum mechanics, solid-state physics, it provides a self-contained resource on the subject for university undergraduates. The book can be further used as a toolbox for researching and developing semiconductor nanotechnology based on spectroscopy.

As a spectroscopic method, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has seen spectacular growth, both as a technique and in its applications. Today's applications of NMR span a wide range of scientific disciplines, from physics to biology to medicine. Each volume of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance comprises a combination of annual and biennial reports which together provide comprehensive coverage of the literature on this topic. This Specialist Periodical Report reflects the growing volume of published work involving NMR techniques and applications, in particular NMR of natural macromolecules, which is covered in two reports: NMR of Proteins and Nucleic Acids and NMR of Carbohydrates, Lipids and Membranes. In his foreword to the first volume, the then editor, Professor Robin Harris announced that the series would be a discussion on the phenomena of NMR and that articles will be critical surveys of the literature. This has certainly remained the case throughout the series, and in line with its predecessors, Volume 40 aims to provide a comprehensive coverage of the relevant NMR literature. For the current volume this relates to publications appearing between June 2009 and May 2010 (the nominal period of coverage in volume 1 was July 1970 to June 1971). Compared to the previous volume there are some new members of the reporting team. Theoretical Aspects of Spin-Spin Couplings are covered by J. Jazwinski, while E. Swiezewska and J.W3/4jcik provide an account of NMR of Carbohydrates, Lipids and Membranes.

This thesis demonstrates that layered heterostructures of two-dimensional crystals graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, and transition metal dichalcogenides provide new and interesting interlayer transport phenomena. Low-energy electron microscopy is employed to study the surface of atomically thin WSe2 prepared by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on epitaxial graphene substrates, and a method for unambiguously measuring the number of atomic layers is presented. Using very low-energy electrons to probe the surface of similar heterostructures, a relationship between extracted work function differences from the layers and the nature of the electrical contact between them is revealed. An extension of this analysis is applied to surface studies of MoSe2 prepared by molecular beam epitaxy on epitaxial graphene. A large work function difference is measured between the MoSe2 and graphene, and a model is provided which suggests that this observation results from an exceptional defect density in the MoSe2 film. The thesis expounds a theory for computing tunneling currents between two-dimensional crystals separated by a thin insulating barrier; a few situations resulting in resonant tunneling and negative differential resistance are illustrated by computed examples, as well as observed characteristics, for monolayer and bilayer graphene tunneling junctions and transistors.

Gas sensor products are very often the key to innovations in the fields of comfort, security, health, environment, and energy savings. This compendium focuses on what the research community labels as solid state gas sensors, where a gas directly changes the electrical properties of a solid, serving as the primary signal for the transducer. It starts with a visionary approach to how life in future buildings can benefit from the power of gas sensors. The requirements for various applications, such as for example the automotive industry, are then discussed in several chapters. Further contributions highlight current trends in new sensing principles, such as the use of nanomaterials and how to use new sensing principles for innovative applications in e.g. meteorology. So as to bring together the views of all the different groups needed to produce new gas sensing applications, renowned industrial and academic representatives report on their experiences and expectations in research, applications and industrialisation.

Proceedings of the Thirteenth Latin American Conference on the Applications of the Moessbauer Effect, Medellin, Colombia, November 11-16, 2012. The broad scope of the Applications of the Moessbauer Effect to interdisciplinary subjects makes this volume an outstanding source of information to researchers and graduate students, who will find the unique results of Moessbauer spectroscopy a valuable aid and complement to their research in conjunction with other techniques. In this volume, applications to mineralogy, catalysis, soil science, amorphous materials, nanoparticles, magnetic materials, nanotechnology, metallurgy, corrosion, and magnetism, have been put together in original works produced by invited speakers and different research teams across the continent. Reprinted from Hyperfine Interactions (HYPE) Volume

This book focuses on the characterisation of the chiral and topological nature of magnetic skyrmions in noncentrosymmetric helimagnets. In these materials, the skyrmion lattice phase appears as a long-range-ordered, close-packed grid of nearly millimetre-level correlation length, while the size of a single skyrmion is 3-100 nm. This is a very challenging range of length scales (spanning 5 orders of magnitude from tens of nm to mm) for magnetic characterisation techniques, and, to date, extensive information on this fascinating, magnetically ordered state has remained elusive. In response, this work develops novel resonant elastic x-ray scattering (REXS) techniques, which allow the magnetic structure, including the long-range order and domain formation, as well as microscopic skyrmion parameters, to be measured across the full range of length scales. Most importantly, using circular dichroism in REXS, the internal structure of a given skyrmion, the topological winding number, and the skyrmion helicity angle can all be unambiguously determined. These new techniques are applicable to many materials systems, and allow us to retrieve information on modulated spin structures, multiferroic order, spin-density-waves, and other forms of topological magnetic order.

This book provides an essential overview of existing state-of-the-art quantitative imaging methodologies and protocols (intensity-based ratiometric and FLIM/ PLIM). A variety of applications are covered, including multi-parametric quantitative imaging in intestinal organoid culture, autofluorescence imaging in cancer and stem cell biology, Ca2+ imaging in neural ex vivo tissue models, as well as multi-parametric imaging of pH and viscosity in cancer biology. The current state-of-the-art of 3D tissue models and their compatibility with live cell imaging is also covered. This is an ideal book for specialists working in tissue engineering and designing novel biomaterial.

After decades of dominance of genetics and genomics, the importance of structural biology is growing exponentially in the field of plant biology. The main objectives of this new book series is to "demystify" structural biology for plant researchers and to provide important insights into the basic molecular mechanisms underlying plant development through the diverse approaches utilized by structural biologists. The book series starts with a theme dedicated to hormonal signaling that has benefited from the application of structural biology. "Plant Structural Biology: Hormonal Regulations" provides up-to-date knowledge of the structural aspects of hormonal signal recognition, signal transduction, hormonal control of downstream regulatory pathways and hormonal crosstalk. The most distinctive features of this book as well as future titles is/will be to provide overview of cutting-edge research in the field of plant structural biology, and to serve as a compendium of various approaches that could be applied to problems being solved in modern plant biology. Last but not least, we hope this book will facilitate and broaden the community of (not only) plant scientists who are interested in structural biology approaches and tools. For these reasons, the style of this series is concise and general, in order to avoiding unnecessary details. Explanatory boxes describing the basics of specific approaches (e.g. X-ray crystallography, NMR, SAXS, molecular dynamics simulations, etc.) are included.

Spectroscopic Properties of Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds: Techniques, Materials and Applications provides a unique source of information in an important area of chemistry.

This thesis investigates the transitions from one electronically excited state to another. Such processes - the fastest of events in chemistry - can be studied with femtosecond resolution, and Thomas S. Kuhlman approaches the question both with experimental and theoretical methods. His approach contributes to explain processes of high importance to all scientific fields concerned with the interaction between light and matter: the deactivation of the electronically excited states after excitation. Thomas S. Kuhlman concludes in this thesis that the electronic transition proceeds before the entire set of available degrees of freedom are active - 'It is as simple as that' !

This volume contains the proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Symmetries in Subatomic Physics (SSP2012), that was held in Groningen, The Netherlands from 18 till 22 June 2012. This sequence of symposia is now firmly connected with one of the main branches in fundamental nuclear and particle physics, i.e. in searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, focused on the (violation of) the discrete symmetries of Parity, Charge conjugation and Time reversal invariance. This field comes in various disguises: With large experimental facilities and large collaborations, as in LHC physics or in neutrino experiments, but also as table top experiments by small groups in the field of nuclear, atomic and molecular physics, such as in searches for a permanent electric dipole moments and atomic parity violation.

Bringing the practitioners of these divergent fields together gives a coherent overview and see the complementarities of the various approaches to the same question: why is the Standard Model what it is and what lies beyond it.

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The use of isoconversional kinetic methods for analysis of thermogravimetric and calorimetric data on thermally stimulated processes is quickly growing in popularity. The purpose of this book is to create the first comprehensive resource on the theory and applications of isoconversional methodology. The book introduces the reader to the kinetics of physical and chemical condensed phase processes that occur as a result of changing temperature and discusses how isoconversional analysis can provide important kinetic insights into them. The book will help the readers to develop a better understanding of the methodology, and promote its efficient usage and successful development.

Ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) have a wide range of applications in clinical, environmental, food and pharmaceutical analysis as well as further uses in chemistry and life sciences. Based on his profound experience as a researcher in ISEs and a course instructor, the author summarizes current knowledge for advanced teaching and training purposes with a particular focus on ionophore-based ISEs. Coverage includes the basics of measuring with ISEs, essential membrane potential theory and a comprehensive overview of the various classes of ion-selective electrodes. The principles of constructing ISEs are outlined, and the transfer of methods into routine analysis is considered. Advanced students, researchers, and practitioners will benefit from this expedient introduction.

In the last quarter century, advances in mass spectrometry (MS) have been at the forefront of efforts to map complex biological systems including the human metabolome, proteome, and microbiome. All of these developments have allowed MS to become a well-established molecular level technology for microorganism characterization. MS has demonstrated its considerable advantage as a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective method for microorganism identification, compared to conventional phenotypic techniques. In the last several years, applications of MS for microorganism characterization in research, clinical microbiology, counter-bioterrorism, food safety, and environmental monitoring have been documented in thousands of publications. Regulatory bodies in Europe, the US, and elsewhere have approved MS-based assays for infectious disease diagnostics. As of mid-2015, more than 3300 commercial MS systems for microorganism identification have been deployed worldwide in hospitals and clinical labs. While previous work has covered broader approaches in using MS to characterize microorganisms at the species level or above, this book focuses on strain-level and subtyping applications. In twelve individual chapters, innovators, leaders and practitioners in the field from around the world have contributed to a comprehensive overview of current and next-generation approaches for MS-based microbial characterization at the subspecies and strain levels. Chapters include up-to-date reference lists as well as web-links to databases, recommended software, and other useful tools. The emergence of new, antibiotic-resistant strains of human or animal pathogens is of extraordinary concern not only to the scientific and medical communities, but to the general public as well. Developments of novel MS-based assays for rapid identification of strains of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms are reviewed in the book as well. Microbiologists, bioanalytical scientists, infectious disease specialists, clinical laboratory and public health practitioners as well as researchers in universities, hospitals, government labs, and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries will find this book to be a timely and valuable resource.

Terahertz science and technology is attracting great interest due to its application in a wide array of fields made possible by the development of new and improved terahertz radiation sources and detectors. This book focuses on the development and characterization of one such source - namely the semi-large aperture photoconducting (PC) antenna fabricated on Fe-doped bulk Ga0.69In0.31As substrate. The high ultrafast carrier mobility, high resistivity, and subpicosecond carrier lifetime along with low bandgap make Ga0.69In0.31As an excellent candidate for PC antenna based THz emitter that can be photoexcited by compact Yb-based multiwatt laser systems for high power THz emission. The research is aimed at evaluating the impact of physical properties of a semi-large aperture Ga0.69In0.31As PC antenna upon its THz generation efficiency, and is motivated by the ultimate goal of developing a high-power terahertz radiation source for time-domain terahertz spectroscopy and imaging systems.

Science of Heat and Thermophysical Studies provides a non-traditional bridging of historical, philosophical, societal and scientific aspects of heat with a comprehensive approach to the field of generalized thermodynamics. It involves Greek philosophical views and their impact on the development of contemporary ideas.
Covered topics include:

the concept of heat
thermometry and calorimetry
early concepts of temperature and its gradients
non-equilibrium and quantum thermodynamics
chemical kinetics
entropy, order and information
thermal science applied to economy(econophysics), ecosystems, and process dynamics or mesoscopic scales (quantum diffusion)
importance of energy science and its influence to societal life