This sixth Volume of the International Workshop on Instabilities and Nonequilibrium Structures is dedicated to the memory of my friend Walter Zeller, Professor of the Universidad C'at6lica df' Valparaiso and Vice-Director of the Workshop. Walter Zeller was much more than an organizer of this meeting: his enthusiasm, dedication and critical views were many times the essential ingredients to continue with a task which in occasions faced difficulties and incomprehensiolls. It is in great part due to him that the workshop has adquired to-day tradition. maturity and international recognition. This Volume should have been coedited by Walter and it is with df'ep emotion that I learned that his disciples Javier Martinez and Rolando Tiemann wanted as a last hommage to their Professor and friend to coedit tfus book. No me seria posible terminal' estas lineas sin pensar en la senora Adriana Gamonal de Zelln. qUf' ella encuentre en este libro la admiraci6n y reconocimiento hacia su marido de quiPIlf's [l\Prall sus discipulos, colegas y amigos.

Ram accelerators are among the most advanced tools for generating fluid dynamcis data in supersonic reacting systems. They require the combined action of combustion, wave systems and turbulence and are still a serious challenge for physicists and engineers. This book will serve as an introductionary textbook on ram accelerators and gives a thorough overview on research activities, performance modeling and high-pressure detonation dynamics.

This book is designed to give a short introduction to the field of materials pro cesses for students in the different engineering and physical sciences. It gives an overall treatment of processing and outlines principles and techniques related to the different categories of materials currently employed in technology. It should be used as a first year text and a selection made of the contents to provide a one or two term course. It is not intended to be fully comprehensive but treats major processing topics. In this way, the book has been kept within proportions suitable as an introductory course. The text has been directed to fundamental aspects of processes applied to metals, ceramics, polymers, glassy materials and composites. An effort has been made to cover as broad a range of processes as possible while keeping the treatment differentiated into clearly defined types. For broader treatments, a comprehensive bibliography directs the student to more specialised texts. In presenting this overall view of the field of processes, the text has been brought into line with current teaching in the field of materials. The student of engineering, in this way, may see the challenge and the advances made in applying scientific principles to modem processing techniques. This type of presentation may also be the more exciting one."

Microcontinuum field theories extend classical field theories to microscopic spaces and short time scales. This volume is concerned with the kinematics of microcontinua. It begins with a discussion of strain, stress tensors, balance laws, and constitutive equations, and then discusses applications of the fundamental ideas to the theory of elasticity. The ideas developed here are important in modeling the fluid or elastic properties of porous media, polymers, liquid crystals, slurries, and composite materials.

Advances in the Theory of Atomic and Molecular Systems, is a collection of contributions presenting recent theoretical and computational developments that provide new insights into the structure, properties, and behavior of a variety of atomic and molecular systems. This volume (subtitled Dynamics, Spectroscopy, Clusters, and Nanostructures ) deals with the topics of Quantum Dynamics and Spectroscopy, Complexes and Clusters, and Nanostructures and Complex Systems .

This volume is an invaluable resource for faculty, graduate students, and researchers interested in theoretical and computational chemistry and physics, physical chemistry and chemical physics, molecular spectroscopy, and related areas of science and engineering."

This publication presents the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on Computer Modelling of Electronic and Atomic Processes in Solids. This ARW was held at Szklarska Poreba, Wroclaw, Poland from May 20 -23, 1996, and brought together scientists from Canada, England, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, United States, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The NATO Advanced Research Workshops program is designed to increase collaboration and exchange of knowledge between the Eastern and Western scientific communities. This particular NATO ARW has already succeeded in that effort, and has spawned collaboration agreements and programs. One joint project in space materials has led to the launch of an experiment to the Russian MIR space station. This NATO ARW was also fortunate to be held concurrently with a workshop of the Wroclaw Technical University, in the same location, which focused on glass materials, thus providing for a larger scientific audience for a number of presentations of both groups. The primary emphasis of this ARW was on computer models, ranging from fundamental atomic, molecular and electronic structures and processes, through to macroscopic descriptions of materials in terms of their structure and properties. Various elements discussed in these proceedings include environmental effects, predictions of properties, correlations with experiments and material performance parameters. Applications to space and electronics were emphasized.

Optoelectronic devices operating in the mid-infrared wavelength range offer applications in a variety of areas from environmental gas monitoring around oil rigs to the detection of narcotics. They could also be used for free-space optical communications, thermal imaging applications and the development of "homeland security" measures.

Mid-infrared Semiconductor Optoelectronics is an overview of the current status and technological development in this rapidly emerging area; the basic physics, some of the problems facing the design engineer and a comparison of possible solutions are laid out; the different lasers used as sources for mid-infrared technology are considered; recent work in detectors is reviewed; the last part of the book is concerned with applications.

With a world-wide authorship of experts working in many mid-infrared-related fields this book will be an invaluable reference for researchers and graduate students drawn from physics, electronic and electrical engineering and materials science.

The second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty ?rst have been characterized by the most impressive industrial revolution ever seen. In - proximately 40years, the complexity of integrated circuits (ICs) has increased by a 9 factor of 10 , with a corresponding reduction of the cost per bit by eight orders of magnitude. Not only has this evolution allowed dramatic progress in allscienti?c ?elds (large computers, space probes, etc.), but also has fueled the economic development with the raise of new markets (personal computers, cellular phones, etc.) and even social revolutions (world wide web, global village, etc.). In last years, however, the situation has signi?cantly changed: the continuous scaling down of device size has eventually brought the IC major technique, p- tolithography, to its limits. Overcoming its original limits has been proved to be possible, but the price to pay for that has changed the playing rules - while at the beginning of the IC history the evolution was driven by technology, now it is driven by economy, the cost of a medium size production plant being in the range of a few billion dollars.

ItisagreatpleasureforustopresentacollectionofpapersreadattheToyoichiTanaka MemorialSymposiumonGelsheldon10-12September2008inTokyo. ProfessorToyoichi TanakaofMIThasdevelopedgelscienceafterthediscoveryofvolumephasetransition,but unfortunately he passed away so early in 2000. His friends and co-workers decided to organizeasymposiumcommemoratingthe30thanniversaryforthediscoveryofthevolume phasetransitionin1978. ThesymposiumwasheldinastyleofFaradayDiscussions. FullpaperswritteninJapanese weresentbeforehandtoalltheparticipants,anddiscussionswereactiveafterashort(5min) presentationofeachpaper. SinceJapaneselanguageisverydifferentfromEuropeanl- guages,weJapanesecouldspeakfreelywithoutanyhesitation. Althoughalltheparticipants are good at English as proved by their publication of many papers in English, yet the discussionofdelicatenuancescouldbedonebetterinJapanesethaninEnglish. Afterthesuccessfulsymposium,paperswritteninEnglishtakingintoaccountthedisc- sionsduringthesymposiumwerereviewedbyexpertscientists,andthepaperswererevised accordingly. We hope that this collection of papers is interesting and useful for all the scientistsandengineersworkingintheareaofgelsbothinacademiaandindustry. Finally, wethankallthecontributorsandreviewersfortheirenthusiasticefforts. Summer2009 MasayukiTokita KatsuyoshiNishinari v Contents StructureandFunctionalPropertiesofGels CompetitiveHydrogenBondsandCononsolvencyofPoly(N-isopropylacrylamide)s inMixedSolventsofWater/Methanol...1 FumihikoTanaka,TsuyoshiKoga,andFranc,ItisagreatpleasureforustopresentacollectionofpapersreadattheToyoichiTanaka MemorialSymposiumonGelsheldon10-12September2008inTokyo. ProfessorToyoichi TanakaofMIThasdevelopedgelscienceafterthediscoveryofvolumephasetransition,but unfortunately he passed away so early in 2000. His friends and co-workers decided to organizeasymposiumcommemoratingthe30thanniversaryforthediscoveryofthevolume phasetransitionin1978. ThesymposiumwasheldinastyleofFaradayDiscussions. FullpaperswritteninJapanese weresentbeforehandtoalltheparticipants,anddiscussionswereactiveafterashort(5min) presentationofeachpaper. SinceJapaneselanguageisverydifferentfromEuropeanl- guages,weJapanesecouldspeakfreelywithoutanyhesitation. Althoughalltheparticipants are good at English as proved by their publication of many papers in English, yet the discussionofdelicatenuancescouldbedonebetterinJapanesethaninEnglish. Afterthesuccessfulsymposium,paperswritteninEnglishtakingintoaccountthedisc- sionsduringthesymposiumwerereviewedbyexpertscientists,andthepaperswererevised accordingly. We hope that this collection of papers is interesting and useful for all the scientistsandengineersworkingintheareaofgelsbothinacademiaandindustry. Finally, wethankallthecontributorsandreviewersfortheirenthusiasticefforts. Summer2009 MasayukiTokita KatsuyoshiNishinari v Contents StructureandFunctionalPropertiesofGels CompetitiveHydrogenBondsandCononsolvencyofPoly(N-isopropylacrylamide)s inMixedSolventsofWater/Methanol...1 FumihikoTanaka,TsuyoshiKoga,andFranccoiseM. Winnik RheologicalPropertiesofSolutionsofaPolyampholyticBlockCopolymer...9 TomomitsuSekitani,KenjiUrayama,ManabuTsuruta,Masahiko Mitsuzuka,andToshikazuTakigawa Helix-CoilTransitionandAssociationBehaviorofWater-SolublePolypeptides HavingHydrophobicAlkylSideChains...15 KatsuhiroInomata,TomokazuTakai,NoriyoshiOhno,YoshiakiYamaji, ErinaYamada,HidekiSugimoto,andEijiNakanishi EffectsofSurfactantsontheLinearRheologyofTelechelic AssociatingPolymers...23 TsutomuIndei Time-DependentFlowPropertiesofTransientHydrogelswith TemporalNetworkJunctions...3 1 IsamuKaneda,TsuyoshiKoga,andFumihikoTanaka StressGrowthinTransientPolymerNetworksunderStartup ShearFlow...39 TsuyoshiKoga,FumihikoTanaka,andIsamuKaneda Self-assemblingStructuresandSol-GelTransitionofOptically ActiveandRacemic12-HydroxystearicAcidsinOrganicSolvents...47 HiroyukiTakeno,TomomitsuMochizuki,KazutoYoshiba,ShingoKondo, andToshiakiDobashi TheGelPointandNetworkFormationinthePolymerisation ofanEpoxy-AmineSystemIncludingRingFormation...55 YutakaTanaka,JohnL. Stanford,andRobert. F. T. Stepto TheEffectiveSurfaceRoughnessScalingoftheGelationSurface PatternFormation...63 T. Mizoue,M. Tokita,H. Honjo,H. J. Barraza,andH. Katsuragi DiscontinuousGrowthofOnionStructureUnderShear...69 ShujiFujii vii viii Contents StudyonSelf-AssemblyofTelechelicHydrophobicallyModi?ed Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)inWater...77 TaisukeFujimoto,EmiYoshimoto,andMasahikoAnnaka SomeThoughtsontheDe?nitionofaGel...87 KatsuyoshiNishinari SwellingofGels StructuralTransitionofNon-ionicPoly(acrylamide)Gel...95 Sada-atsuMukai,HirohisaMiki,VasylGaramus,Regine Willmeit,andMasayukiTokita SwellingEquilibriumofaGelinBinaryMixedSolvents...1 01 HirohisaMiki,ShinYagihara,Sada-atsuMukai,andMasyukiTokita RevisittoSwellingKineticsofGels...107 KenjiUrayama,NaokiMurata,ShojiNosaka,MasahiroKojima, andToshikazuTakigawa EffectofResidualSwellingSolventonNanoporeFormationinReplication ofSwollenHydrogelNetwork...113 Ken-ichiKurumada,AtsushiSuzuki,EmikoOtsuka,SusumuBaba,Youhei Seto,KeisukeMorita,andTakanoriNakamura SwellingPropertiesofPhysicallyCross-linkedPVAGelsPrepared byaCast-dryingMethod...121 EmikoOtsukaandAtsushiSuzuki In?uenceofHeatingTemperatureonCookingCurveofRice...127 KunioNakamura,AtsukoAkutsu,AyumiOtake,andHatsueMoritaka IndustrialandbiomedicalApplication EffectsofThicknessandCurvatureontheAdhesionProperties ofCylindricalSoftMaterialsbyaPointContactMethod...135 D. Sakasegawa,M. Goto,andA. Suzuki ElectrophoresisofDyesandProteinsinPoly(Acrylamide)GelContaining ImmobilizedBilayerMembranes...143 HirokiIshihara,GohMatsuo,TakanoriSasaki,YukoSaito,MakotoDemura, andKaoruTsujii AnApplicationofMicrocapsulesHavingEnzyme-degradableGel MembraneToCellCulture...149 ToshiakiDobashi,MichiruKoike,KentaroKobayashi,YasuyukiMaki, TakaoYamamoto,andSusumuTanaka DevelopmentofaNovelHydrogeltoPreventBacterial InfectiousDiseases...1 55 NorihiroKato,AzumiKobayashi,HiroshiMotohashi,YuOzonoe,Tomohiro Morohoshi,andTsukasaIkeda EffectofParticlesAlignmentonGiantReductioninDynamic ModulusofHydrogelsContainingNeedle-ShapedMagneticParticles...163 TetsuMitsumata,YuheiKosugi,andShunsukeOuchi Contents ix MolecularDiffusioninPolysaccharideGelSystemsasObservedbyNMR...171 ShingoMatsukawa,DaisukeSagae,andAkikoMogi ChainReleaseBehaviorofGellanGels...177 KhandkerS. HossainandKatsuyoshiNishinari GelFormationofRecombinantFibrinogenLackingaCTermini...187 KenjiKuboa,YukaMasuda,YoshiharuToyama,NobukazuNameki, NobuoOkumura,andMasanoriOchiai DynamicLightScatteringStudyofPigVitreousBody...195 ToyoakiMatsuura,NaokazuIdota,YoshiakiHara,andMasahikoAnnaka TheRelationshipBetweentheChangesinLocalStiffnessofChicken Myo?brilandtheTendernessofMuscleDuringPostmortemAging...205 T. Iwasaki,Y. Hasegawa,K. Yamamoto,andK. Nakamura Index...211 ProgrColloidPolymSci(2009)136:1-8 DOI:10. 1007/2882_2009_1 CompetitiveHydrogenBondsandCononsolvency ofPoly(N-isopropylacrylamide)sinMixedSolvents ofWater/Methanol 1 1 2 FumihikoTanaka ,TsuyoshiKoga ,andFranc,oiseM.

Nanophase Materials is the first and, as yet, the only comprehensive book published in this new and exciting area of materials science. It gives a broad overview of the revolutionary new field of nanophase materials; a view which spans the materials, physics, and chemistry research communities at a tutorial level that is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and experts or would-be experts in the science of nanostructured materials. The articles are authored by many of the world's most prominent scientists in this field. The book covers the diverse methods for synthesizing nanophase materials, a variety of subsequent processing methodologies, what is known about the structures of these materials on various length scales from atomic to macroscopic, and the properties of these unique and novel materials. The materials properties covered are mechanical, electronic, optical, and magnetic and hence span a wide range of important new opportunities for technological applications.

This book aims at providing graduate students and researchers with funda mental knowledge indispensable for entering the new field of "microclus 3 ters." Microclusters consisting of 10 to 10 atoms exhibit neither the pro perties of the corresponding bulk nor those of the corresponding molecule of a few atoms. The microclusters may be considered to form a new phase of materials lying between macroscopic solids and microscopic particles such as atoms and molecules, showing both macroscopic and microscopic features. However, research into such"a riew phase has been left untouched until recent years by the development of the quantum theory of matter. The microscopic features of microclusters were first revealed by ob serving anomalies of the mass spectrum of a Na cluster beam at specific sizes, called magic numbers. Then it was experimentally confirmed that the magic numbers come from the shell structure of valence electrons. Being stimulated by these epoch-making findings in metal microclusters and aided by progress of the experimental techniques producing relatively dense, non interacting micro clusters of various sizes in the form of micro cluster beams, the research field of microclusters has developed rapidly in these 5 to 7 years. The progress is also due to the improvement of computers and com putational techniques, which have made it possible to perform ab initio cal culations of the atomic and electronic structure of smaller microclusters, as well as to carry out computer simulations of their dynamics."

A fundamental step towards gaining a deeper understanding of our world is to increase the resolution of the investigative instruments we use; i.e. to increase the energy, and hence to decrease the wavelength, of the particles which constitute our probes. Almost any substantial progress in our understanding of the fundamental laws of Nature has been obtained when a new generation of accelerators has allowed us to achieve a new energy range. The new results have generated new questions, thus encouraging us to construct new machines to reach even higher energy levels. The relative energy gain from one generation of accelerators to the next is progressively increasing. The energy ga in suggested by the theoretical predictions at the time has usually been much greater than the value allowed by our technical capabilities. But this smaller energy gain permitted by accelerator technology improvement has generally been sufficient up until now to bring about a substantial increase in our knowledge. Hence a large increase in accelerator energy is very important, and we know that this result can essentially be obtained by developing some new device or some new approach.

The state-of-the-art in the theoretical statistical physics treatment of the Janus fluid is reported with a bridge between new research results published in journal articles and a contextual literature review. Recent Monte Carlo simulations on the Kern and Frenkel model of the Janus fluid have revealed that in the vapor phase, below the critical point, there is the formation of preferred inert clusters made up of a well-defined number of particles: the micelles and the vesicles. This is responsible for a re-entrant gas branch of the gas-liquid binodal. Detailed account of this findings are given in the first chapter where the Janus fluid is introduced as a product of new sophisticated synthesis laboratory techniques. In the second chapter a cluster theory is developed to approximate the exact clustering properties stemming from the simulations. It is shown that the theory is able to reproduce semi-quantitatively the micellization phenomenon.

An exciton is an electronic excitation wave consisting of an electron-hole pair which propagates in a nonmetallic solid. Since the pioneering research of Fren kel, Wannier and the Pohl group in the 1930s, a large number of experimental and theoretical studies have been made. Due to these investigations the exciton is now a well-established concept and the electronic structure has been clarified in great detail. The next subjects for investigation are, naturally, dynamical processes of excitons such as excitation, relaxation, annihilation and molecule formation and, in fact, many interesting phenomena have been disclosed by recent works. These excitonic processes have been recognized to be quite important in solid-state physics because they involve a number of basic interactions between excitons and other elementary excitations. It is the aim of this quasi monograph to describe these excitonic processes from both theoretical and experimental points of view. we take a few To discuss and illustrate the excitonic processes in solids, important and well-investigated insulating crystals as playgrounds for excitons on which they play in a manner characteristic of each material. The selection of the materials is made in such a way that they possess some unique properties of excitonic processes and are adequate to cover important interactions in which excitons are involved. In each material, excitonic processes are described in detail from the experimental side in order to show the whole story of excitons in a particular material."

Trends in Computational Nanomechanics reviews recent advances in analytical and computational modeling frameworks to describe the mechanics of materials on scales ranging from the atomistic, through the microstructure or transitional, and up to the continuum. The book presents new approaches in the theory of nanosystems, recent developments in theoretical and computational methods for studying problems in which multiple length and/or time scales must be simultaneously resolved, as well as example applications in nanomechanics.

This title will be a useful tool of reference for professionals, graduates and undergraduates interested in Computational Chemistry and Physics, Materials Science, Nanotechnology.

Computer Simulation Studies in Condensed-Matter Physics VIII covers recent developments in this field presented at the 1995 workshop, such as new algorithms, methods of analysis, and conceptual developments. This volume is composed of three parts. The first part contains invited papers that deal with simulational studies of classical systems. The second part is devoted to invited papers on quantum systems, including new results for strongly correlated electron and quantum spin models. The final part comprises contributed presentations.

We are pleased to present the ?fth volume of Progress in Ultrafast Intense LaserScience.Asthefrontiersofultrafastintenselasersciencerapidlyexpand ever outward, there continues to be a growing demand for an introduction to this interdisciplinary research ?eld that is at once widely accessible and ca- ble of delivering cutting-edge developments. Our series aims to respond to this call by providing a compilation of concise review-style articles written by researchers at the forefront of this research ?eld, so that researchers with d- ferent backgrounds as well as graduate students can easily grasp the essential aspects. As in the previous volumes of PUILS, each chapter of this book begins with an introductory part, in which a clear and concise overview of the topic and its signi?cance is given, and moves onto a description of the authors' most recent research results. All the chapters are peer-reviewed. The articles ofthis?fth volumecovera diverserangeofthe interdisciplinaryresearch?eld, and the topics may be grouped into three categories: coherent responses of gaseousand condensed matter to ultrashortintense laser pulses (Chaps. 1-4), propagationof intense laser pulses (Chaps. 5, 6), and laser-plasma interaction and its applications (Chaps. 7-10). From the third volume, the PUILS series has been edited in liaison with the activities of Center for Ultrafast Intense Laser Science in The University of Tokyo, and JILS (Japan Intense Light Field Science Society), the latter of which has also been responsible for sponsoring the series and making the regularpublicationofitsvolumespossible.Fromthe presentvolume,the C- sortiumonEducationandResearchonAdvancedLaserScience,theUniversity of Tokyo, joins this publication activity as one of the sponsoring programs.

The Fourth USA-USSR Symposium. on The Physics of Optical Phenomena and Their Use as Probes of Matter, was held in Irvine, California, January 23-27, 1990. Participating in the Symposium were 22 scientists from the USSR and 29 from the USA. In addition, to provide an international dimension to this Symposium without, however, compromising significantly its essentially binational character, 7 non-US and non-USSR scientists were invited to take part in it. The present volume is the proceedings of that Symposium, and contains all manuscripts received prior to August 1, 1990, representing. scientific contributions presented. A few manuscripts were not received, but for completeness the corresponding abstract is printed.. Three previous USA/USSR Binational Symposia on related topics have been held, viz. "Theory of Light Scattering in Condensed Matter" (Moscow, 1975), "Light Scattering in Solids" (New York, 1979), and "Laser Optics of Condensed Matter" (Leningrad, 1987). These meetings were evaluated by the participants as highly successful and provided invaluable oppor tunities for researchers to exchange information and to initiate colla borative work which led to research visits by US physicist to Soviet laboratories, and vice versa, and which continue to the present day.

This is the first volume of a series of books that will describe current advances and past accompli shments of mathemat i ca 1 aspects of nonlinear sCience taken in the broadest contexts. This subject has been studied for hundreds of years, yet it is the topic in whi ch a number of outstandi ng di scoveri es have been made in the past two decades. Clearly, this trend will continue. In fact, we believe some of the great scientific problems in this area will be clarified and perhaps resolved. One of the reasons for this development is the emerging new mathematical ideas of nonlinear science. It is clear that by looking at the mathematical structures themselves that underlie experiment and observation that new vistas of conceptual thinking lie at the foundation of the unexplored area in this field. To speak of specific examples, one notes that the whole area of bifurcation was rarely talked about in the early parts of this century, even though it was discussed mathematically by Poi ncare at the end of the ni neteenth century. I n another di rect ion, turbulence has been a key observation in fluid dynamics, yet it was only recently, in the past decade, that simple computer studies brought to light simple dynamical models in which chaotic dynamics, hopefully closely related to turbulence, can be observed.

Strutural Analysis of Point Defects in Solids introduces the principles and techniques of modern electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy essentialfor applications to the determination of microscopic defect structures. Investigations of the microscopic and electronic structure, and also correlations with the magnetic propertiesof solids, require various multiple magnetic resonance methods, such as ENDOR and optically detected EPR or ENDOR. This book discusses experimental, technological and theoretical aspects of these techniques comprehensively, from a practical viewpoint, with many illustrative examples taken from semiconductors and other solids. The nonspecialist is informed about the potential of the different methods, while the researcher faced with the task of determining defect structures isprovided with the necessary tools, together with much information on computer-aided methods of data analysis and the principles of modern spectrometer design.

Interacting many-body systems are the main subjects of research in theoretical condensed matter physics, and they are the source of both the interest and the difficulty in this field. In order to understand the macroscopic properties of matter in terms of macroscopic knowledge, many analytic and approximate methods have been introduced. The contributions to this proceedings volume focus on the most recent developments of computational approaches in condensed matter physics. Monte Carlo methods and molecular dynamics simulations applied to strongly correlated classical and quantum systems such as electron systems, quantum spin systems, spin glassss, coupled map systems, polymers and other random and comlex systems are reviewed. Comprising easy to follow introductions to each field covered and also more specialized contributions, this proceedings volume explains why computational approaches are necessary and how different fields are related to each other.

Both an introductory course to broadband dielectric spectroscopy and a monograph describing recent dielectric contributions to current topics, this book is the first to cover the topic and has been hotly awaited by the scientific community.

In view of its extreme complexity the mathematical description of the mechanical behaviour of granular materials is an extremely difficult task. Today many different models compete with each other. However, the complexity of the models hinders their comparison, and the potential users are confused and, often, disencouraged. This book is expected to serve as a milestone in the present situation, to evaluate the present methodes, to clear up the situation, to focus and encourage for further research activities.

Over the past ten years liquid crystals have attracted much interest and considerable progress has been made with respect to our knowledge in this field. The recent development was initiated mainly by the work of J. L. Fergason and G. H. Heilmeier, who pointed out the importance of liquid crystals for thermographic and electro optic applications. The first part of this book is a brief introduction to the physics of liquid crystals. The structures and properties of the three basic types of liquid crystals are discussed. A special paragraph is devoted to electric-field effects, which are important in display applications. The chapter on Scientific Applications gives an insight into the potential applications of liquid crystals in fundamental research, with special emphasis on explaining the principles involved. Two groups of potential applications are discussed in detail: 1. the use of liquid crystals as anisotropic solvent for the determination of molecular properties by means of spectroscopy, and 2. their use in analytical chemistry, particularly in gas chromatography. The reverse process involves the use of the dissolved molecules as microscopic probes in the investigation of the dynamical molecular structure of anisotropic fluid systems (e.g. biological membranes). This extremely important technique is also described."

At the present moment, after the success of the renormalization group in providing a conceptual framework for studying second-order phase tran sitions, we have a nearly satisfactory understanding of the statistical me chanics of classical systems with a non-random Hamiltonian. The situation is completely different if we consider the theory of systems with a random Hamiltonian or of chaotic dynamical systems. The two fields are connected; in fact, in the latter the effects of deterministic chaos can be modelled by an appropriate stochastic process. Although many interesting results have been obtained in recent years and much progress has been made, we still lack a satisfactory understanding of the extremely wide variety of phenomena which are present in these fields. The study of disordered or chaotic systems is the new frontier where new ideas and techniques are being developed. More interesting and deep results are expected to come in future years. The properties of random matrices and their products form a basic tool, whose importance cannot be underestimated. They playa role as important as Fourier transforms for differential equations. This book is extremely interesting as far as it presents a unified approach for the main results which have been obtained in the study of random ma trices. It will become a reference book for people working in the subject. The book is written by physicists, uses the language of physics and I am sure that many physicists will read it with great pleasure."