Titanium dioxide photocatalysis is based on the semiconducting nature of its anatase crystal type. Construction materials with titanium photocatalyst show performances of air purification, self-cleaning, water purification, antibacterial action. This book describes principles of titanium dioxide photocatalysis, its applications to cementitious and noncementitious materials, as well as an overview of standardization of testing methods.

Nature is characterized by a number of physical laws and fundamental dimensionless couplings. These determine the properties of our physical universe, from the size of atoms, cells and mountains to the ultimate fate of the universe as a whole. Yet it is rather remarkable how little we know about them. The constancy of physical laws is one of the cornerstones of the scientific research method, but for fundamental couplings this is an assumption with no other justification than a historical assumption. There is no 'theory of constants' describing their role in the underlying theories and how they relate to one another or how many of them are truly fundamental. Studying the behaviour of these quantities throughout the history of the universe is an effective way to probe fundamental physics. This explains why the ESA and ESO include varying fundamental constants among their key science drivers for the next generation of facilities. This symposium discussed the state-of-the-art in the field, as well as the key developments anticipated for the coming years.

EPR of Free Radicals in Solids: Trends in Methods and Applications, 2nd ed. presents a critical two volume review of the methods and applications of EPR (ESR) for the study of free radical processes in solids. Emphasis is on the progress made in the developments in EPR technology, in the application of sophisticated matrix isolation techniques and in the advancement in quantitative EPR that have occurred since the 1st edition was published. Improvements have been made also at theoretical level, with the development of methods based on first principles and their application to the calculation of magnetic properties as well as in spectral simulations. EPR of Free Radicals in Solids II focuses on the trends in applications of experimental and theoretical methods to extract structural and dynamical properties of radicals and spin probes in solid matrices by continuous wave (CW) and pulsed techniques in nine chapters written by experts in the field. It examines the studies involving radiation- and photo-induced inorganic and organic radicals in inert matrices, the high-spin molecules and metal-based molecular clusters as well as the radical pro-cesses in photosynthesis. Recent advancements in environmental applications in-cluding measurements by myon resonance of radicals on surfaces and by quantitative EPR in dosimetry are outlined and the applications of optical detection in material research with much increased sensitivity reviewed. The potential use of EPR in quantum computing is considered in a newly written chapter. This new edition is aimed to experimentalists and theoreticians in research involving free radicals, as well as for students of advanced courses in physical chemis-try, chemical physics, materials science, biophysics, biochemistry and related fields.

This book provides an introduction to design of biomedical optical imaging technologies and their applications. The main topics include: fluorescence imaging, confocal imaging, micro-endoscope, polarization imaging, hyperspectral imaging, OCT imaging, multimodal imaging and spectroscopic systems.

Each chapter is written by the world leaders of the respective fields, and will cover:

principles and limitations of optical imaging technology, system design and practical implementation for one or two specific applications, including design guidelines, system configuration, optical design, component requirements and selection, system optimization and design examples, recent advances and applications in biomedical researches and clinical imaging.

This book serves as a reference for students and researchers in optics and biomedical engineering.

This volume presents the state-of-the-art in selected topics across modern nuclear physics, covering fields of central importance to research and illustrating their connection to many different areas of physics. It describes recent progress in the study of superheavy and exotic nuclei, which is pushing our knowledge to ever heavier elements and neutron-richer isotopes. Extending nuclear physics to systems that are many times denser than even the core of an atomic nucleus, one enters the realm of the physics of neutron stars and possibly quark stars, a topic that is intensively investigated with many ground-based and outer-space research missions as well as numerous theoretical works. By colliding two nuclei at very high ultra-relativistic energies one can create a fireball of extremely hot matter, reminiscent of the universe very shortly after the big bang, leading to a phase of melted hadrons and free quarks and gluons, the so-called quark-gluon plasma. These studies tie up with effects of crucial importance in other fields. During the collision of heavy ions, electric fields of extreme strength are produced, potentially destabilizing the vacuum of the atomic physics system, subsequently leading to the decay of the vacuum state and the emission of positrons. In neutron stars the ultra-dense matter might support extremely high magnetic fields, far beyond anything that can be produced in the laboratory, significantly affecting the stellar properties. At very high densities general relativity predicts the stellar collapse to a black hole. However, a number of current theoretical activities, modifying Einstein's theory, point to possible alternative scenarios, where this collapse might be avoided. These and related topics are addressed in this book in a series of highly readable chapters. In addition, the book includes fundamental analyses of the practicalities involved in transiting to an electricity supply mainly based on renewable energies, investigating this scenario less from an engineering and more from a physics point of view. While the topics comprise a large scope of activities, the contributions also show an extensive overlap in the methodology and in the analytical and numerical tools involved in tackling these diverse research fields that are the forefront of modern science.

Volume 37 is concerned with the use and role of modelling in chemical kinetics and seeks to show the interplay of theory or simulation with experiment in a diversity of physico-chemical areas in which kinetics measurements provide significant physical insight. Areas of application covered within the volume include electro- and interfacial chemistry, physiology, biochemistry, solid state chemistry and chemical engineering.
A leading contributor to this general area has been Professor W. John Albery, FRS, to whom the contributors and editors dedicate this book.

After an insightful introductory part on recent developments in the thermodynamics of small systems, the author presents his contribution to a long-standing problem, namely the connection between irreversibility and dissipation. He develops a method based on recent results on fluctuation theorems that is able to estimate dissipation using only information acquired in a single, sufficiently long, trajectory of a stationary nonequilibrium process. This part ends with a remarkable application of the method to the analysis of biological data, in this case, the fluctuations of a hair bundle.

The third part studies the energetics of systems that undergo symmetry breaking transitions. These theoretical ideas lead to, among other things, an experimental realization of a Szilard engine using manipulated colloids.

This work has the potential for important applications ranging from the analysis of biological media to the design of novel artificial nano-machines.

This book contains contributions to the 32nd Polish-Czech-Slovak Symposium on Mining and Environmental Geophysics held in May 2009 in Piechowice (Poland). The papers are related to various aspects of geophysical science such as induced seismicity, engineering seismology, environmental geophysics and geophysics in geology

Since the publication of the best-selling, highly acclaimed first edition, the technology and clinical applications of medical imaging have changed significantly. Gathering these developments into one volume, Webb s Physics of Medical Imaging, Second Edition presents a thorough update of the basic physics, modern technology and many examples of clinical application across all the modalities of medical imaging.

New to the Second Edition

• Extensive updates to all original chapters
• Coverage of state-of-the-art detector technology and computer processing used in medical imaging
• 11 new contributors in addition to the original team of authors
• Two new chapters on medical image processing and multimodality imaging
• More than 50 percent new examples and over 80 percent new figures
• Glossary of abbreviations, color insert and contents lists at the beginning of each chapter

Keeping the material accessible to graduate students, this well-illustrated book reviews the basic physics underpinning imaging in medicine. It covers the major techniques of x-radiology, computerised tomography, nuclear medicine, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, in addition to infrared, electrical impedance and optical imaging. The text also describes the mathematics of medical imaging, image processing, image perception, computational requirements and multimodality imaging. "

"Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics "merges two long-running serials--"Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics" and "Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy."

This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
Key features:

* Contributions from leading authorities * Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field

This monograph is the last volume in the series 'Acoustic and Elastic
Wave Fields in Geophysics'. The previous two volumes published by Elsevier (2000, 2002) dealt mostly with wave propagation in liquid media.

The third volume is dedicated to propagation of plane, spherical and cylindrical elastic waves in different media including isotropic and transversely isotropic solids, liquid-solid models, and media with cylindrical inclusions (boreholes).
* Prevalence of physical reasoning on formal mathematical derivations
* Readers do not need to have a strong background in mathematics and mathematical physics
* Detailed analysis of wave phenomena in various types of elastic and liquid-elastic media

This thesis develops and establishes several methods to determine the detailed geometric architecture of transiting exoplanetary systems (planets orbiting around, and periodically passing in front of, stars other than the sun) using high-precision photometric data collected by the Kepler space telescope. It highlights the measurement of stellar obliquity - the tilt of the stellar equator with respect to the planetary orbital plane(s) - and presents methods for more precise obliquity measurements in individual systems of particular interest, as well as for measurements in systems that have been out of reach of previous methods. Such information is useful for investigating the dynamical evolution of the planetary orbit, which is the key to understanding the diverse architecture of exoplanetary systems. The thesis also demonstrates a wide range of unique applications of high-precision photometric data, which expand the capability of future space-based photometry.

This thesis addresses fundamental scientific questions such as: How are complex natural products synthesized in vivo? Can we replicate these conditions in a laboratory environment? What is the biological function of such secondary metabolites? What are the biological origins of chirality? These issues are explored in an accessible manner using a multidisciplinary approach spanning chemistry, biology and physics to investigate an interesting family of complex natural products isolated from marine molluscs - the tridachiahydropyrones. The work has achieved: Elegant biomimetic syntheses of a number of the tridachiahydropyrone compounds in vitro using organic synthesis techniques The characterization of the interactions between these compounds and a range of model membrane systems using a series of fluorescence spectroscopic studies The investigation of the antioxidant and photoprotective properties of the compounds by means of biophysical assay techniques The synthesis of tridachiahydropyrone utilizing the model membrane systems as biomimetic reaction media.

The author argues that, after five decades of debate about the interactive of solar wind with the magnetosphere, it is time to get back to basics. Starting with Newton's law, this book also examines Maxwell's equations and subsidiary equations such as continuity, constitutive relations and the Lorentz transformation; Helmholtz' theorem, and Poynting's theorem, among other methods for understanding this interaction.

This book presents high-performance data transmission over plastic optical fibers (POF) using integrated optical receivers having good properties with multilevel modulation, i.e. a higher sensitivity and higher data rate transmission over a longer plastic optical fiber length. Integrated optical receivers and transmitters with high linearity are introduced for multilevel communication. For binary high-data rate transmission over plastic optical fibers, an innovative receiver containing an equalizer is described leading also to a high performance of a plastic optical fiber link. The cheap standard PMMA SI-POF (step-index plastic optical fiber) has the lowest bandwidth and the highest attenuation among multimode fibers. This small bandwidth limits the maximum data rate which can be transmitted through plastic optical fibers. To overcome the problem of the plastic optical fibers high transmission loss, very sensitive receivers must be used to increase the transmitted length over POF. The plastic optical fiber limited bandwidth problem can be decreased by using multilevel signaling like multilevel pulse amplitude modulation or by using an equalizer for binary data transmission.

"Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics "merges two long-running serials--"Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics" and "Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy."
This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
* Contributions from leading international scholars and industry experts
* Discusses hot topic areas and presents current and future research trends
* Invaluable reference and guide for physicists, engineers and mathematicians

This book presents the fundamental physics of optical interferometry as applied to biophysical, biological and medical research. Interference is at the core of many types of optical detection and is a powerful probe of cellular and tissue structure in interfererence microscopy and in optical coherence tomography. It is also the root cause of speckle and other imaging artefacts that limit range and resolution. For biosensor applications, the inherent sensitivity of interferometry enables ultrasensitive detection of molecules in biological samples for medical diagnostics. In this book, emphasis is placed on the physics of light scattering, beginning with the molecular origins of refraction as light propagates through matter, and then treating the stochastic nature of random fields that ultimately dominate optical imaging in cells and tissue. The physics of partial coherence plays a central role in the text, with a focus on coherence detection techniques that allow information to be selectively detected out of incoherent and heterogeneous backgrounds. Optical Interferometry for Biology and Medicine is divided into four sections. The first covers fundamental principles, and the next three move up successive scales, beginning with molecular interferometry (biosensors), moving to cellular interferometry (microscopy), and ending with tissue interferometry (biomedical). An outstanding feature of the book is the clear presentation of the physics, with easy derivations of the appropriate equations, while emphasizing "rules of thumb" that can be applied by experimental researchers to give semi-quantitative predictions.

The versatile and available GNSS signals can detect the Earth's surface environments as a new, highly precise, continuous, all-weather and near-real-time remote sensing tool. This book presents the theory and methods of GNSS remote sensing as well as its applications in the atmosphere, oceans, land and hydrology. Ground-based atmospheric sensing, space-borne atmospheric sensing, reflectometry, ocean remote sensing, hydrology sensing as well as cryosphere sensing with the GNSS will be discussed per chapter in the book.

Modern Earth System Monitoring represents a fundamental change in the way scientists study the Earth System. In Oceanography, for the past two centuries, ships have provided the platforms for observing. Expeditions on the continents and Earth's poles are land-based analogues. Fundamental understanding of current systems, climate, natural hazards, and ecosystems has been greatly advanced. While these approaches have been remarkably successful, the need to establish measurements over time can only be made using Earth observations and observatories with exacting standards and continuous data. The 19 peer-reviewed contributions in this volume provide early insights into this emerging view of Earth in both space and time in which change is a critical component of our growing understanding.

In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus fomented a revolution when he debunked the geocentric view of the universe, proving instead that our planet wasn't central to the universe. Almost five hundred years later, the revolution he set in motion is nearly complete. Just as earth is not the center of things, the life on it, it appears, is not unique to the planet. Or is it? "The Life of Super-Earths" is a breathtaking tour of current efforts to answer the age-old question: Are we alone in the universe? Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov, the founding director of Harvard University's Origins of Life Initiative, takes us on a fast-paced hunt for habitable planets and alien life forms. He shows how the search for "super-Earths"--rocky planets like our own that orbit other stars--may provide the key to answering essential questions about the origins of life here and elsewhere. That is, if we don't find the answers to those questions here first. As Sasselov and other astronomers have uncovered planets with mixes of elements different from our own, chemists have begun working out the heretofore unseen biochemistries that those planets could support. That knowledge is feeding directly into synthetic biology--the effort to build wholly novel forms of life--making it likely that we will first discover truly "alien" life forms in an earthly lab, rather than on a remote planet thousands of light years away. Sasselov tells the gripping story of a moment of unprecedented potential--a convergence of pioneering efforts in astronomy and biology to peer into the unknown. "The Life of Super-Earths" offers nothing short of a transformation in our understanding of life and its place in the cosmos.

Synchrotron radiation sources are now used routinely by thousands of research scientists and engineers throughout the world to perform experiments in biology, physics, materials science, chemistry and so on. The very best of these sources are based upon the use of undulator and wiggler insertion devices that can enhance the intensity of the radiation by many orders of magnitude. This book, which is part of the Oxford Series on Synchrotron Radiation, brings together both a detailed step by step description of the radiation properties from these devices as well as an explanation of the practical realization of actual devices using available magnet technologies. The book is aimed at not just the users but also the providers of synchrotron radiation. It takes the reader through the fundamental issues, and provides sufficient depth so as to be an indispensable reference to light source designers, accelerator physicists and insertion device specialists. The approach taken is to provide the reader with all of the essential information and to back this up with practical examples and illustrations wherever possible.

This book presents recent developments in our systematic studies of hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer in laminar free convection, accelerating film boiling and condensation of Newtonian fluids, as well as accelerating film flow of non-Newtonian power-law fluids (FFNF). These new developments provided in this book are (i) novel system of analysis models based on the developed New Similarity Analysis Method; (ii) a system of advanced methods for treatment of gas temperature- dependent physical properties, and liquid temperature- dependent physical properties; (iii) the organically combined models of the governing mathematical models with those on treatment model of variable physical properties; (iv) rigorous approach of overcoming a challenge on accurate solution of three-point boundary value problem related to two-phase film boiling and condensation; and (v) A pseudo-similarity method of dealing with thermal boundary layer of FFNF for greatly simplifies the heat-transfer analysis and numerical calculation. A system of practical application equations on heat and mass transfer are provided in each chapter, which are formulated based on the rigorous numerical solutions with consideration of variable physical properties. In addition, in the second edition, other new research developments are further included on resolving an even big challenge associated with investigations of laminar free film condensation of vapour-gas mixture. They involve the novel methods for treatment of concentration- and temperature- dependent physical properties of vapour-gas mixture, and for rigorous solution of interfacial vapour saturation temperature, which have lead to rigorous analysis and calculation results on two-phase film flow velocity, temperature, and concentration fields, as well as condensate heat and mass transfer.

This monograph presents the latest results related to bio-mechanical systems and materials. The bio-mechanical systems with which his book is concerned are prostheses, implants, medical operation robots and muscular re-training systems. To characterize and design such systems, a multi-disciplinary approach is required which involves the classical disciplines of mechanical/materials engineering and biology and medicine. The challenge in such an approach is that views, concepts or even language are sometimes different from discipline to discipline and the interaction and communication of the scientists must be first developed and adjusted. Within the context of materials' science, the book covers the interaction of materials with mechanical systems, their description as a mechanical system or their mechanical properties.

In this thesis, real-time evolution of the nanopore channel growth and self-ordering process in anodic nanoporous alumina are simulated on the basis of an established kinetics model. The simulation results were in accordance with the experiments on the (i) growth sustainability of pore channels guided by pre-patterns; and (ii) substrate grain orientation dependence on self-ordering. In addition, a new fabrication method for the rapid synthesis of highly self-ordered nanoporous alumina is established, based on a systematic search for the self-ordering conditions in experiments. Lastly, it reports on a novel surface-charge induced strain in nanoporous alumina-aluminium foils, which indicates that nanoporous alumina can be used as a new type of actuating material in micro-actuator applications.