This volume contains papers presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on Photons and Local Probes. The workshop had two predecessors. The first was the NATO ARW on Near Field Optics, held in October 1992 at Arc et Senans and was organized by Daniel Courjon and Dieter Pohl. The other predecessor was a workshop on Photons and Scanning Probe Microscopies held at the University of Konstanz in July 1992. The workshop on Photons and Local Probes was held at the Loechnerhaus on the Reichenau Island at the Lake of Constance, from September 11 to 17, 1994. The Reichenau Island was an important place in Europe in the middle age. Even the tomb of one of the carolingian emperors, Charles the Fat, is located there. At this workshop more than 60 scientists from Europe and the United States met to communicate their latest results in the field of local probes in combination with optical techniques. In eight sessions 31 talks as well as 9 posters were presented. Among those 31 publications were submitted for publication in the NATO proceedings. They were accepted after a strict, but constructive refereeing process.

This volume is based on the proceedings of the NATO-sponsored Advanced Studies Institute (ASn on The New Superconducting Electronics (held 9-20 August 1992 in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire USA). The contents herein are intended to provide an update to an earlier volume on the same subject (based on a NATO ASI held in 1988). Four years seems a relatively short time interval, and our title itself, featuring The New Superconducting Electronics, may appear somewhat pretentious. Nevertheless, we feel strongly that the ASI fostered a timely reexamination of the technical progress and application potential of this rapid-paced field. There are, indeed, many new avenues for technological innovation which were not envisioned or considered possible four years ago. The greatest advances by far have occurred with regard to oxide superconductors, the so-called high transition-temperature superconductors, known in short as HTS. These advances are mainly in the ability to fabricate both (1) high-quality, relatively large-area films for microwave filters and (2) multilayer device structures, principally superconducting-normal-superconducting (SNS) Josephson junctions, for superconducting-quantum-interference-device (SQUID) magnetometers. Additionally, we have seen the invention and development of the flux-flow transistor, a planar three-terminal device. During the earlier ASI only the very first HTS films with adequate critical-current density had just been fabricated, and these were of limited area and had high resistance for microwave current."

In this volume there is set forth the text of the Pro ceedings of the Third International Conference on Sintering and Related Phenomena, which conference was held at the University of Notre Dame on June 5-7, 1972. This conference was the seventh in the series of University Conferences on Ceramic Science organized yearly by a happy "confederation" of four institutions; North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina; the University of California, Berkeley, California; Alfred University, Alfred, New York; and the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. The 1972 Conference at Notre Dame was devoted to prob lems of sintering and allied phenomena. Previous gatherings at Notre Dame took place in 1954 and 1965. The proceedings of the first Notre Dame Conference were not published by reason of the conviction that a free forum similar in spirit to the Gordon Conferences should prevail. However, discus sions of the second Conference were preserved for posterity in a rather substantial volume (894 pp) published by Gordon and Breach in 1967. As the spirit of free exchange of ideas was not diminished by threat of publication of the revela tions of the second Notre Dame Conference, we deemed it just that the 1972 Proceedings be made public. Thus the present volume is a report upon progress realized in our science during the past six years.

This volume entitled "Protective Coatings and Thin Films : Synthesis, Characterization and Applications" contains the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) held in Alvor, Portugal from May 30 to June 5, 1996. This NATO-ARW was an expert meeting on the surface protection and modification of solid materials subjected to interactions with the environment. The meeting attracted 10 key speakers, 40 contributing speakers and 3 observers from various countries. The existing knowledge and current status of the science and technology related to protective coatings and thin films were assessed through a series of oral presentations, key notes (titles underlined in the volume content) and contributed papers distributed over various sessions dealing with: (a) plasma-assisted physical and chemical vapor deposition processes to enhance wear and corrosion protection of materials, (b) low friction coatings operating in hostile environment (vacuum, space, extreme temperatures, . . . ), (c) polymer films for protection against mechanical damage and chemical attack, (d) characterization of the structure of films and correlations with mechanical properties, (e) wear and corrosion resistant thermal spray coatings, (f) functional gradient ceramic/metallic coatings produced by high energy laser beam and energetic deposition processes for high temperature applications, (g) protective coatings for optical systems, and (h) ion beam assisted deposition of coatings for protection of materials against aqueous corrosion.

Significant progress has been made in recent years in developing silicon nitride ceramics. The advances that have been achieved are mainly based on an increasing understanding of processing and microstructure-properties relationships. New analytical methods and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) coupled with extensive phase equilibria studies have provided new insights into the grain boundary region and offer the possibility to tailor the microstructure for specific applications. Because of the anticipated break-through in industrial applications there are still considerablt; research activities at industrial laboratories as well as other research centres. This volume presents the contributions to the international workshop "Tailoring ofHigh- Temperature Properties of Si3N4-Ceramics" with 60 participants from 12 countries held on 6th - 9th October 1993 at SchloB Ringberg in Germany, the conference site of the Max- Planck-Society. Additionally, it contains all invited papers of the International Conference "Silicon Nitride 93" held before the workshop on 4th - 6th October 1993 in Stuttgart/Germany. The book covers all recent research activities on silicon nitride ceramics and gives an overview with respect to recent developments.

FRANCIS W. HOLM 7102 Meadow Lane, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sponsored an Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) in Prague, Czech Republic, on 1-2 July 1996, to collect and study information on mobile alternative and supplemental demilitarization technologies and to report these fmdings. The mobile, or transportable, technologies identified for assessment at the workshop are alternatives to incineration technology for destruction of munitions, chemical warfare agent, and associated materials and debris. Although the discussion focused on the treatment of metal parts and explosive or energetic material, requirements for decontamination of other materials were discussed. The mobile alternative technologies are grouped into three categories based on process bulk operating temperature: low (0-200 C), medium (200-600 C), and high (600- 3,500 C). Reaction types considered include hydrolysis, biodegradation, electrochemical oxidation, gas-phase high-temperature reduction, stearn reforming, gasification, sulfur reactions, solvated electron chemistry, sodium reactions, supercritical water oxidation, wet air oxidation, and plasma torch technology. These categories represent a broad spectrum of processes, some of which have been studied only in the laboratory and some of which are in commercial use for destruction of hazardous and toxic wastes. Some technologies have been developed and used for specific commercial applications; however, in all cases, research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT &E) is necessary to assure that each technology application is effective for destroying chemical warfare materiel.

This book represents a collection of papers presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (NATO/ARW) on "Science and Technology of Rapid Solidification and Processing", held at Hotel Thayer, West Point Military Academy, New York, N. Y. , during June 21-24, 1994. The workshop was attended by over forty scientists representing several NATO member countries as well as representatives from Japan, China (PRC), Taiwan and India. The purpose of this NATO/ARW conference was to review the major advances made in most recent years in both the theoretical and experimental areas of rapid solidification technology and processing. In accordance with the NATO/ARW format, the agenda for the conference was so arranged to offer in depth presentation of the latest developments in the subject area as well as to encourage follow-up discussions by the participants. There was seven sessions each opened with a lecture by an invited guest speaker. Sessions 1-4, covered two days of the conference and focused mainly on Processing Technologies of Rapid Solidification and Thermodynamic Properties (Practical Applications). Sessions 4-6 concentrated on Thermodynamics of Metastable Alloys, Relaxation, Diffusion, Magnetic and Electric Properties (Fundamentals). Session 6 was devoted to the Structural Characterization of Supercooled Melts, Ultra Fine Polycrystalline Materials (New Innovations and Techniques). There were two equally important aspects of this NATO/ARW conference which must be mentioned. Firstly, this is the first NATO/ARW conference on Science and Technology of Rapid Solidification and Processing held in the United States.

Catalysis and catalyst is a key technology to solve the problems in energy and environment issues to sustain our human society. We believe that comprehensive understanding of the catalysis and catalyst provides us a chance to develop a new catalyst and contributes greatly to our society. However, the ?eld of heterogeneous catalyst is dif?cultto study andstill stays behindmoredeveloped?elds ofchemistry such as organic and physical chemistries. This is a dilemma to the chemists who study the catalysis and catalyst. While we can accomplish the progress in the - dustrial application, the scienti?c understandingis not complete yet. A gap between the useful application and incomplete scienti?c understanding, however, becomes smaller and smaller in recent years. Because zeolites are ?ne crystals, and the structure is clearly known, the study on the catalysis using the zeolites is easier than those encountered in other catalysts such as metals and metal oxides. Very fortunately, zeolites provide us the strong acidity with the ?ne distribution which enables various useful catalytic reactions. When some metals and cations are loaded in close to the acid sites, these loadede- ments show extraordinarycharacters, and many catalytic reactions proceed thereon.

Recent advances in our understanding of complex composite media, especially chiral media for microwave applications, suggest the feasibility of creating novel materials with unusual properties and the possibility of constructing new microwave devices using such materials. The emphasis of the book is on bi-anisotropic materials, whose most interesting feature is the magnetoelectric interaction of the fields. The materials are expected to supply useful applications in radar technology, aerospace, microwave engineering, manufacturing technology, etc., such as absorbers for low-reflectivity shields, reciprocal phase shifters, polarization transformers. The first experiments with artificial bi-anisotropic media have been successfully carried out.

A survey of the machinery and science of the nanometer scale. Its twenty-two contributing authors, drawn from many different disciplines including atomic physics, microelectronics, polymer chemistry, and biophysics, delineate the course of current research and articulate a vision for the development of the nanometer frontiers in electronics, mechanics, chemistry, magnetics, materials, and biology. They reveal a world thirty years hence where motors are smaller than the diameter of a human hair; where single-celled organisms are programmed to fabricate materials with nanometer precision; where single atoms are used for computation, and where quantum chaos is the norm. Aimed at the level of at least a junior- or senior- level undergraduate in biology, chemistry, physics, or engineering.

When this publisher offered me the opportunity to \\Tite a book, some six years ago, I did not hesitate to say yes. I had just spent the last four years of graduate school struggling to understand the physics of strained quantum well lasers, and it seemed to me the whole experience was much more difficult that it should have been. For although many of the results I needed were easy to locate, the underlying physical premises and intervening steps were not. If only I had a book providing the derivations, I could have absorbed them and gone on my way. Such a book lies before you. It provides a unified and self-contained descrip tion of the essential physics of strained quantum well lasers, starting from first principles whenever feasible. The presentation I have chosen requires only the standard introductory background in quantum mechanics, solid state physics, and electromagnetics expected of entering graduate students in physics or elec trical engineering. A single undergraduate course in each of these subjects should be more than sufficient to follow the text. :'Iore advanced material on quantum mechanics is developed and collected in the first chapter. \Vhen pos sible, I have presented the results in a general setting and have later applied them to specific cases of interest. I find this the most satisfying way to ap proach the subject, and it has the additional benefit of solving many problems once and for all.

The purpose of Oxide-Based Fiber-Reinforced Ceramic-Matrix Composites is to provide comprehensive information on the most recent successful findings. The book consists of six chapters which characterize the current state of the art concerning oxide-based fiber-reinforced composites. Chapter one provides an introduction, examples of application areas and background information. Chapter two deals with the primary material properties for the areas of application and lists the possible constituent parts of the composites, depending on particular demands. Chapter three explains both the past and present fabrication methods which can affect the performance of the composites. Chapter four defines the interphase-related phenomena and describes the mechanical characteristics of the oxide-based fiber-reinforced composite, produced with different interphases. Chapter five deals with the fabrication route, functionality and mechanical characterization of the porous-matrix composites. The last chapter summarizes the present achievements and identifies requirements for reaching the goal, thereby providing a promising course for future research.

The photorefractive effect is now firmly established as one of the highest-sensitivity nonlinear optical effects, making it an attractive choice for use in many optical holographic processing applications. As with all technologies based on advanced materials, the rate of progress in the development of photorefractive applications has been principally limited by the rate at which breakthroughs in materials science have supplied better photorefractive materials. The last ten years have seen an upsurge of interest in photorefractive applications because of several advances in the synthesis and growth of new and sensitive materials. This book is a collection of many of the most important recent developments in photorefractive effects and materials. The introductory chapter, which provides the necessary tools for understanding a wide variety of photorefractive phenomena, is followed by seven contributed chapters that offer views of the state-of-the-art in several different material systems. The second chapter represents the most detailed study to date on the growth and photorefractive performance of BaTi03, one of the most important photorefractive ferroelectrlcs. The third chapter describes the process of permanently fixing holographic gratings in ferroelectrics, important for volumetric data storage with ultra-high data densities. The fourth chapter describes the discovery and theory of photorefractive spatial solitons. Photorefractive polymers are an exciting new class of photo refractive materials, described in the fifth chapter. Polymers have many advantages, primarily related to fabrication, that could promise a breakthrough to the marketplace because of ease and low-cost of manufacturing.

The discovery by J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Mtllier in 1986 that the superconducting state can exist in oxides at temperatures above 30 K stimulated research in the field of superconductivity and opened up a new field of research. Within a few years a large number of cuprate superconductors with transition temperatures well above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen have been found. The possibility of using liquid nitrogen as coolant re-stimulated interest in power applications of supercon ductivity. In this book an overview of the known high-Te superconductors and their physical properties is presented. Aspects related to conductor fabrication and high-current applications are emphasised. The material should be suitable for use in graduate level courses on superconductivity. Researchers in the field may profit from the large number of tables and references describing its status at the end of 1997. An introduction to high-To superconductivity must be based on the fundamental physical principles of normal-state electrical conductivity and the well-known characteristics of conventional superconductors. In Chapter 2 this background is provided. Crystal structures, anisotropic properties and general trends of the critical temperatures of the cuprate superconductors are described in Chapters 3 and 4. The processing of superconductor powders addressed in Chapter 5 affects considerably the current-carrying capacity of high-T. wires. In Chapter 6 several fabrication techniques for superconducting wires are described. In addition, the factors limiting the transport critical currents ofhigh-Te wires are discussed.

Advances in Materials Science and Implant Orthopedic Surgery brings together experts from major university hospitals, materials scientists specializing in bio-materials, and development engineers working for implant manufacturers to address such issues as: mechanisms of fixation; foreign-body immune response; generation and consequences of ionic and wear debris; materials selection, design and manufacturing schemes; and surgical techniques to maximize the safety and efficacy of the devices.

Blends of natural rubber with speciality synthetic rubbers, such as nitrile rubber and ethylene propylene rubbers, have, in the past, failed to combine the best properties of polymers, resulting in a poor return in terms of added value from the blending process. The idea of blending synthetic rubbers with natural rubbe is certainly not a new one, but it is only now that this can be shown to be possible with consistently positive resluts, but eh use of novel techniques which this book describes, giving valuable information on the technology required and the results which can be achieved. Blends of Natural Rubber is an invaluable source of information for all those working in the area of rubber technology and polymer blend technology.

Based on chaos theory two very important points are clear: (I) random looking aperiodic behavior may be the product of determinism, and (2) nonlinear problems should be treated as nonlinear problems and not as simplified linear problems. The theoretical aspects ofchaos have been presented in great detail in several excellent books published in the last five years or so. However, while the problems associated with applications of the theory-such as dimension and Lyapunov exponentsestimation, chaosand nonlinear pre diction, and noise reduction-have been discussed in workshops and ar ticles, they have not been presented in book form. This book has been prepared to fill this gap between theory and ap plicationsand to assist studentsand scientists wishingto apply ideas from the theory ofnonlinear dynamical systems to problems from their areas of interest. The book is intended to be used as a text for an upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level course, as well as a reference source for researchers. My philosophy behind writing this book was to keep it simple and informative without compromising accuracy. I have made an effort to presentthe conceptsby usingsimplesystemsand step-by-stepderivations. Anyone with an understanding ofbasic differential equations and matrix theory should follow the text without difficulty. The book was designed to be self-contained. When applicable, examples accompany the theory. The reader will notice, however, that in the later chapters specific examples become less frequent. This is purposely done in the hope that individuals will draw on their own ideas and research projects for examples.

This seriesofbooks, which is publishedattherateofaboutoneper year, addresses fundamental problems in materialsscience.Thecontents coverabroadrangeoftopicsfromsmallclustersofatomstoengineering materials and involve chemistry, physics, materials science, and engineering,withlengthscalesrangingfromAngstromsuptomillimeters. Theemphasis is on basic scienceratherthan on applications. Each book focuses on a single areaofcurrent interest and brings together leading experts to give an up-to-date discussion oftheir work and the workof others. Each articlecontainsenough references thattheinterestedreader can access the relevant literature. Thanks are given to the Center for Fundamental Materials Research at Michigan State University for supportingthisseries. M.F.Thorpe,SeriesEditor E-mail:[email protected] EastLansing,Michigan,November2002 v PREFACE ThisvolumerecordsinvitedlecturesgivenattheNewThermoelectric(TE)Materials Workshopheld inTraverseCity,MichiganfromAugust17-21,2002.Thethemeofthe workshop was Chemistry, PhysicsandMaterials ScienceofThermoelectric Materials: Beyond Bismuth Telluride. The objective of this symposium was threefold. First, to examine and assess the ability of solid state chemistry to produce new generation materials for TE applications. Second, to rationalize and predict the charge and heat transportpropertiesofpotentialcandidatesandhypotheticalsystemsthroughsolidstate theoryandexperiment.Third,toidentifyandprioritizeresearchneededtoreachvarious levelsofrequirementsintermsofZTandtemperature.Theseobjectiveswereaddressed by a series of invited talks and discussions by leading experts from academia, governmentlaboratories,andindustry. Thereweretwenty-twoinvitedandeightposterpresentations inthe workshop.Out ofthese,sixteeninvitedpresentationsarerepresentedinthisvolume.Theycoverawide range of subjects, starting from synthesis (based on different strategies) and characterizationofnovel materials to acareful studyoftheir transport properties and electronicstructure.Topicsaddressingtheissueofmakingnew materialsare: synthetic search for new materials (di Salvo et aI.) and synthetic strategies based on phase homologies (Kanatzidis). The different classes of materials covered are: bismuth nanowires (Dresselhausetal.), unconventional high-temperaturethermoelectrics, boron carbides (Aselage et aI.) , layered cobalt oxides (Fujii et aI.), early transition metal antimonides(KleinkeetaI.),skutterudites(Uher),andclathratethermoelectrics(Nolas).

The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Nanomagnetic Devices" was held in Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid, Spain, from 14 to 19 September 1992. This book contains 21 invited articles related to suggestive and relevant aspects of Magnetism. The NATO Advanced Research Workshop was Co-directed by R.C. O'Handley, B. Heinrich and A. Hernando. The organisers as well as the participants are gratefully acknowledged to the NATO Science Committee. I also wish to thank the publishers for their advice and help in organizing the book. xi DESIDERATA OF STORAGE DEVICES C.E. YEACK-SCRANTON IBM Corporation, E02/005 5600 Cottle Road San Jose, CA 95139 USA ABSTRACT. Typical requirements on cost, capacity, and performance of today's magnetic storage devices and industry trends in these attributes are given. Scaling components, devices, and materials is shown to be a key factor in further improvement, Challenges to continued scaling are reviewed, particularly as they relate to magnetic nano-structures, materials, and characterization techniques.

A prestigious form of research grant in Germany is the Sonderforschungsbereich, which provides continuous funding over a period of up to 15 years, but only as long as the work is yielding worthwhile results. We acknowledge financial support of our work at Erlangen by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Sonder- forschungsbereich 222. Thanks to this support, the experimental results from six Dr. -Ing. dissertations have provided the basis for our book: 8 * Schweinzer, J. (1987) Heat transfer in bubbling fluidized beds at Ar;a. 10 * Seiter, M. (1990) Particle motion and solids concentration in circulating fluidized beds * Mattmann, W. (1991) Heat transfer in pressurized circulating fluidized beds * Burschka, A. (1993) Pulsed light method * Dietz, S. (1994) Heat transfer in bubbling fluidized beds * Gruber, U. (1995) Heat transfer in lean phase systems This book is the result of the enthusiastic and trustful cooperation of its authors. Nevertheless, we are separate individuals. Chapters 1 to 12 and 19 are by O. Molerus; Chapters 13 to 18 are by K. -E. Wirth. This book came into existence after many rewrites, patiently endured by Mrs Winter, who typed all versions of the manuscript, and by Mrs Scheffler-Kohler, who drew all the figures. Bob Farmer and David Penfold helped us bridge the language gap to produce a readable book. Weare grateful to Professor Brian Scarlett of Delft University, who on behalf of Chapman & Hall allowed us to write this book.

This book presents a set of basic understandings of the behavior and response of solids to propagating shock waves. The propagation of shock waves in a solid body is accompanied by large compressions, decompression, and shear. Thus, the shear strength of solids and any inelastic response due to shock wave propagation is of the utmost importance. Furthermore, shock compres sion of solids is always accompanied by heating, and the rise of local tempera ture which may be due to both compression and dissipation. For many solids, under a certain range of impact pressures, a two-wave structure arises such that the first wave, called the elastic prescursor, travels with the speed of sound; and the second wave, called a plastic shock wave, travels at a slower speed. Shock-wave loading of solids is normally accomplished by either projectile impact, such as produced by guns or by explosives. The shock heating and compression of solids covers a wide range of temperatures and densities. For example, the temperature may be as high as a few electron volts (1 eV = 11,500 K) for very strong shocks and the densification may be as high as four times the normal density.

This publication presents the proceedings of ICPMSE-3, the third international conference on Protection of Materials and Structures from the Low Earth Orbit Space Environment, held in Toronto April 25-26, 1996. The conference was hosted and organized by Integrity Testing Laboratory Inc, (ITL), and held at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), where ITL is located. Twenty industrial companies, seven wliversities and eight government agencies from Canada, USA, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Russia, Ukraine and the Netherlands were represented by over 55 participants indicating increasing international co-operation in this critical arena of protection of materials in space. Twenty-five speakers, world experts in their fields, delivered talks on a wide variety of topics on various aspects of material protection in space, Representatives from the Canadian, American, European and Israeli space agencies as well as from leading space research laboratories of major aerospace industries gathered at UTIAS to discuss the latest developments in the field of material and structure protection from the harsh space environment, These proceedings are organized into four sections: a) AONOV and Radiation Effects on Materials and Structures in the Leo Space Environment; b) Interaction of Matter with the LEO Environment; c) Large Scale Coating Process Developments for Protection in LEO; d) Synthesis and Modification of Materials and Surfaces for Protection in LEO, This is the third in our on-going series of bi-annual international space materials conferences wllich began in 1992 in Toronto. Jacob Kleiman, Integrity Testing Laboratory Inc.

Most industrial and natural materials exhibit a macroscopic behaviour which results from the existence of microscale inhomogeneities. The influence of such inhomogeneities is commonly modelled using probabilistic methods. Most of the approaches to the evaluation of the safety of structures according to probabilistic criteria are somewhat scattered, however, and it is time to present such material in a coherent and up-to-date form. Probabilities and Materials undertakes this task, and also defines the great tasks that must be tackled in coming years. For engineers and researchers dealing with materials, geotechnics, solid mechanics, soil mechanics, statistics and stochastic processes. The expository nature of the book means that no prior knowledge of statistics or probability is required of the reader. The book can thus serve as an excellent introduction to the nature of applied statistics and stochastic modelling.

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.

Since the publication of the first edition of The Physics of Glassy Polymers there have been substantial developments in both the theory and application of polymer physics, and many new materials have been introduced. Furthermore, in this large and growing field of knowledge, glassy polymers are of particular interest because of their homogeneous structure, which is fundamentally simpler than that of crystalline or reinforced materials. This new edition covers all these developments, including the emergence of the polymer molecule with its multiplicity of structure and conformations as the major factor controlling the properties of glassy polymers, using the combined knowledge of a distinguished team of contributors. With an introductory chapter covering the established science in the subject are and summarising concepts assumed in the later chapters, this fully revised and updated second edition is an essential work of reference for those involved in the field.