This book offers selected contributions to fundamental research and application in designing and engineering materials. It focuses on mechanical engineering applications such as automobile, railway, marine, aerospace, biomedical, pressure vessel technology, and turbine technology. This includes a wide range of material classes, like lightweight metallic materials, polymers, composites, and ceramics. Advanced applications include manufacturing using the new or newer materials, testing methods, and multi-scale experimental and computational aspects.

This book demonstrates the potential of novel in-situ experiments, performed on microscopic and macroscopic length scales, for investigating localized deformation processes in metallic materials, particularly their kinetics and the associated evolution of local strain fields. It features a broad methodological portfolio, spanning optical and electron microscopy, digital image correlation, infrared theromgraphy and acoustic emission testing, and particularly focuses on identifying the localized microscopic deformation processes in high-strength/high-ductility CrMnNi TRIP/TWIP (TRansformation Induced Plasticity/TWinning Induced Plasticity) steels. Presenting state-of-the art methodology applied to topical and pertinent problems in materials engineering, this book is a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students working in the field of plasticity and deformation of structural materials.

This book presents a theoretical study of the generation and conversion of phonon angular momentum in crystals. Recently, rotational motions of lattice vibrations, i.e., phonons, in crystals attract considerable attentions. As such, the book theoretically demonstrate generations of phonons with rotational motions, based on model calculations and first-principle calculations. In systems without inversion symmetry, the phonon angular momentum is shown to be caused by the temperature gradient, which is demonstrated in crystals such as wurtzite gallium nitride, tellurium, and selenium using the first-principle calculations. In systems with neither time-reversal nor inversion symmetries, the phonon angular momentum is shown to be generated by an electric field. Secondly, the book presents the microscopic mechanisms developed by the author and his collaborator on how these microscopic rotations of nuclei are coupled with electron spins. These predictions serve as building blocks for spintronics with phonons or mechanical motions.

This book presents the latest advances and future trends in electron and phonon spectrometrics, focusing on combined techniques using electron emissions, electron diffraction, and phonon absorption and reflection spectrometrics from a substance under various perturbations to obtain new information on bond-electron-phonon dynamics. Discussing the principles of the bond order-length-strength (BOLS) correlation, nonbonding electron polarization (NEP), local bond average (LBA), and multi-field lattice oscillation dynamics for systems under perturbation, the book covers topics like differential photoelectron/phonon spectrometrics (DPS), which distils transition of the length, energy, stiffness and the fraction of bonds upon chemical or physical conditioning; and the derived performance of electrons in various bands in terms of quantum entrapment and polarization. This book appeals to researchers, scientists and engineers in the fields of chemistry, physics, surface and interface science, and materials science and engineering who are interested in electron and phonon spectrometrics.

This companion volume to "Fundamental Polymer Science" (Gedde and Hedenqvist, 2019) offers detailed insights from leading practitioners into experimental methods, simulation and modelling, mechanical and transport properties, processing, and sustainability issues. Separate chapters are devoted to thermal analysis, microscopy, spectroscopy, scattering methods, and chromatography. Special problems and pitfalls related to the study of polymers are addressed. Careful editing for consistency and cross-referencing among the chapters, high-quality graphics, worked-out examples, and numerous references to the specialist literature make "Applied Polymer Science" an essential reference for advanced students and practicing chemists, physicists, and engineers who want to solve problems with the use of polymeric materials.

This book critically assesses the current state of knowledge on new and important detection technologies, e.g. mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, biosensor detection and tissue imaging, in connection with toxic chemical and biological agents. In general, the main topics discussed concern the risks and consequences of chemical and biological agents for human health in general, with special emphasis on all biochemical and metabolic pathways including the reproductive system. The exposome, genetic risks and the environment, various health hazard agents, risk assessment, environmental assessment and preparedness, and analysis of sub-lethal effects at the molecular level are also discussed. In closing, the book provides comprehensive information on the diagnosis of exposure, and on health concerns related to toxic chemical and biological agents.

This book highlights emerging trends in terahertz engineering and system technologies, mainly, devices, advanced materials, and various applications in THz technology. It includes advanced topics such as terahertz biomedical imaging, pattern recognition and tomographic reconstruction for THz biomedical imaging by use of machine learning and artificial intelligence, THz imaging radars for autonomous vehicle applications, THZ imaging system for security and surveillance. It also discusses theoretical, experimental, established and validated empirical work on these topics and the intended audience is both academic and professional.

This book presents a selection of advanced lectures from leading researchers, providing recent theoretical results on strongly coupled quantum field theories. It also analyzes their use for describing new quantum states, which are physically realizable in condensed matter, cold-atomic systems, as well as artificial materials. It particularly focuses on the engineering of these states in quantum devices and novel materials useful for quantum information processing. The book offers graduate students and young researchers in the field of modern condensed matter theory an updated review of the most relevant theoretical methods used in strongly coupled field theory and string theory. It also provides the tools for understanding their relevance in describing the emergence of new quantum states in a variety of physical settings. Specifically, this proceedings book summarizes new and previously unrelated developments in modern condensed matter physics, in particular: the interface of condensed matter theory and quantum information theory; the interface of condensed matter physics and the mathematics emerging from the classification of the topological phases of matter, such as topological insulators and topological superconductors; and the simulation of condensed matter systems with cold atoms in optical lattices.

This book addresses the basic understanding of food contaminants and their sources, followed by the techniques to measure food safety and quality. It is divided into four parts: Part A - sources of contaminants in foods, their associated health risks, and integrated management and alternative options to minimize contaminants; Part B - Technological assessment of conventional methods and selected advanced methods for the detection, identification and enumeration of microbial contaminates; Part C - Technological assessment of different chemical measurements techniques; and Part D - Technological assessment of different instrumental techniques to assess sensory properties of foods. Food safety is a growing concern due to the increase in food-borne illnesses caused by food adulteration, excessive use of pesticides, use of chemical preservatives and artificial fruit ripening agents, microbial contaminations, and improper food handling. Chemical contaminants in food could be transferred from environmental or agrochemical sources, personal care products, and other by-products of water disinfects. In addition, microbial food safety can be threatened due to the presence of many pathogens, such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Clostridium botulinum, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes in foods. Globally, strict regulations are imposed to limit the potential contaminants in foods. Development of accurate, rapid, and inexpensive approaches to test food contamination and adulteration would be highly valued to ensure global food safety. There are existing processes to ensure safety of food products from chemical and microbial contaminants. Apart from the existing measurement technologies, varieties of new techniques are also being emerged and these could be potential to ensure food safety and quality. In addition to chemical and microbial properties, sensory properties such as texture, mouth feel, flavor, and taste, are among the most important attributes of food products to ensure their acceptability by consumers. Two approaches are available to evaluate sensory properties of food products, namely subjective and objective analyses. The responses are perceived by all five senses: smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. The approach used in sensory evaluation varies depending on the types of foods and the ultimate goal of the testing. Sensory attributes are the most important quality parameters after ensuring the safety of foods.

This book embraces all physiochemical aspects of the structure and molecular dynamics of water, focusing on its role in biological objects, e.g. living cells and tissue, and in the formation of functionally active structures of biological molecules and their ensembles. Water is the single most abundant chemical found in all living things. It offers a detailed look into the latest modern physical methods for studying the molecular structure and dynamics of the water and provides a critical analysis of the existing literature data on the properties of water in biological objects. Water as a chemical reagent and as a medium for the formation of conditions for enzymatic catalysis is a core focus of this book. Although well suited for active researchers, the book as a whole, as well as each chapter on its own, can be used as fundamental reference material for graduate and undergraduate students throughout chemistry, physics, biophysics and biomedicine.

This book provides a comprehensive summary of research to date in the field of stable iron isotope geochemistry. Since research began in this field 20 years ago, the field has grown to become one of the major research fields in "non-traditional" stable isotope geochemistry. This book reviews all aspects of the field, from low-temperature to high-temperature processes, biological processes, and cosmochemical processes. It provides a detailed history and state-of-the art summary about analytical methods to determine Fe-isotope ratios and discusses analytical and sample prospects.

This book discusses fundamentally new biomedical imaging methods, such as holography, holographic and resonant interferometry, and speckle optics. It focuses on the development of holographic interference microscopy and its use in the study of phase objects such as nerve and muscle fibers subjected to the influence of laser radiation, magnetic fields, and hyperbaric conditions. The book shows how the myelin sheath and even the axon itself exhibit waveguide properties, enabling a fresh new look at the mechanisms of information transmission in the human body. The book presents theoretically and experimentally tested holographic and speckle-optical methods and devices used for investigating complex, diffusely scattering surfaces such as skin and muscle tissue. Additionally, it gives broad discussion of the authors' own original fundamental and applied research dedicated to helping physicians introduce new contact-less methods of diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems into medical practice. The book is aimed at a broad spectrum of scientific specialists in the fields of speckle optics, holography, laser physics, morphology and cytochemistry, as well as medical professionals such as physiologists, neuropathologists, neurosurgeons, cardiologists and dentists.

This book provides an introduction to optical anisotropy (linear dichroism, LD) and optical activity (circular dichroism, CD) as techniques for the study of structures and interactions of molecules in solution. The book covers the use of these techniques for both small and large molecular systems with particular emphasis being placed on proteins and nucleic acids. CD is a well-established technique and this book aims to explain how it can be used simply and effectively for new entrants to the field as well as covering more advanced techniques for experts. LD is often seen as a rather exotic method intended only for experienced spectroscopists. This book demonstrates that it is an approach with real utility that may be used by both students and scientists from graduate level onwards to give simple answers, which are not available from any other technique, to structural and kinetic questions. Much of the emphasis is on flow orientation of samples in solution phase. The book first describes the techniques and the information they can provide; it then goes on to give specific details on how to actually implement them, including a wide range of examples showing how LD and CD can help with * protein and nucleic acid secondary structure elucidation; * analysis of the formation and rearrangements of fibrous proteins and membrane proteins; * identification of the absolute configuration of small molecules; * determination of the orientation of small molecules in anisotropic media; * assignment of transition moment polarizations; * investigation of binding strengths and geometries of ligand-macromolecule complexes; * 3-D structure determination from LD, molecular replacement and MD modeling. The advantages of combined LD/CD studies are also outlined with examples of DNA/drug complexes and protein insertion into membranes. Taken together the book represents a comprehensive text on the theory and application of LD and CD in the chemical and biological sciences.

This thesis reports on essential experimental work in the field of novel two-dimensional (2D) atomic crystals beyond graphene. It especially describes three new 2D crystal materials, namely germanene, hafnene, and monolayer PtSe2 fabricated experimentally for the first time, using an ultra-high vacuum molecular beam epitaxy (UHV-MBE) system. Multiple characterization techniques, including scanning tunneling microscope (STM), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), combined with theoretical studies reveal the materials' atomic and electronic structures, which allows the author to further investigate their physical properties and potential applications. In addition, a new epitaxial growth method for transition metal dichalcogenides involving direct selenization of metal supports is developed. These studies represent a significant step forward in expanding the family of 2D crystal materials and exploring their application potentials in future nanotechnology and related areas.

The book reviews photosynthetic water oxidation and proton-coupled electron transfer in photosystem, focusing on the molecular vibrations of amino acid residues and water molecules. Photosynthetic water oxidation performed by plants and cyanobacteria is essential for the sustenance of life on Earth, not only as an electron source for synthesizing sugars from CO2, but also as an O2 source in the atmosphere. Water oxidation takes place at the Mn4CaO5 cluster in photosystem II, where a series of electron transfer reactions coupled with proton transfer occur using light energy. The author addresses the unresolved mechanisms of photosynthetic water oxidation and relevant proton-coupled electron transfer reactions using a combined approach of experimental and computational methods such as Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. The results show that protonation and hydrogen-bond structures of water molecules and amino acid residues in the protein play important roles in regulation of the electron and proton transfer reactions. These findings and the methodology make a significant contribution to our understanding the molecular mechanism of photosynthetic water oxidation.

This thesis reports a rare combination of experiment and theory on the role of geometry in materials science. It is built on two significant findings: that curvature can be used to guide crack paths in a predictive way, and that protected topological order can exist in amorphous materials. In each, the underlying geometry controls the elastic behavior of quasi-2D materials, enabling the control of crack propagation in elastic sheets and the control of unidirectional waves traveling at the boundary of metamaterials. The thesis examines the consequences of this geometric control in a range of materials spanning many orders of magnitude in length scale, from amorphous macroscopic networks and elastic continua to nanoscale lattices.

This book discusses the theoretical foundations of the structural modeling method applied to metamaterials. This method takes into account the parameters of the crystal lattice, the size of the medium particles, as well as their shape and constants of force interactions between them. It provides mathematical models of metamaterials that offer insights into the qualitative influence of the local structure on the effective elastic moduli of the considered medium and into performing theoretical estimations of these quantities. This book is useful for researchers working in the fields of solid mechanics, physical acoustics, and condensed matter physics, as well as for graduate and postgraduate students studying mathematical modeling methods.

The nuclear shell model has had much success when describing nuclear structure. It is able to describe the single-particle states of nuclei, and gives understanding as to how nuclear structure evolves as the number of nucleons changes in a nucleus. This led to the discovery of the so-called magic numbers, which designate particularly stable configurations of protons and neutrons in nuclei. With the advent of radioactive ion beams, it has become possible to probe exotic nuclei to test current theories of nuclear structure. These investigations have led to the discovery of exotic nuclear phenomena, with structures different to those found in stable nuclei. One of these is the N=20 island of inversion, where configurations that appear in stable nuclei become less bound than more exotic particle-hole configurations across a shell gap. Another is the weakening of the magic N=20 shell gap to N=16 as the number of protons is reduced in this isotonic chain. Of particular interest are the magnesium isotopes, which exhibit a swift transition into the island of inversion with 29Mg lying outside and 31Mg lying inside. In addition, 29Mg lies one neutron outside N=16, so is also able to give insight on the weakening of the N=16 shell gap. Mapping this region of the chart of nuclides helps in the understanding of the evolution of this nuclear structure. A useful probe for this task is single-particle transfer reactions. However, these reactions have been hindered by low yields from radioactive ion beams, as well as suffering from kinematic effects that obscure the states that need to be observed. The ISOLDE Solenoidal Spectrometer (ISS), that measures these transfer reactions in a solenoidal magnetic field, was designed to counteract these effects. With the high-yield radioactive ion beams at ISOLDE, CERN, these transfer reactions became viable. Therefore, the nuclear structure of 29Mg was probed using the d(28Mg,p) reaction using this device. This work marks the first measurement using the ISOLDE Solenoidal spectrometer and the first time that a solenoidal spectrometer has been used at an ISOL radioactive beam facility. The measurements highlight the interplay of nucleon-nucleon interactions and the geometry of the nuclear potential in driving observed trends in single-particle structure, in particular the changes in closed shells towards doubly magic 24O

This book focuses on angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies on novel interfacial phenomena in three typical two-dimensional material heterostructures: graphene/h-BN, twisted bilayer graphene, and topological insulator/high-temperature superconductors. Since the discovery of graphene, two-dimensional materials have proven to be quite a large "family". As an alternative to searching for other family members with distinct properties, the combination of two-dimensional (2D) materials to construct heterostructures offers a new platform for achieving new quantum phenomena, exploring new physics, and designing new quantum devices. By stacking different 2D materials together and utilizing interfacial periodical potential and order-parameter coupling, the resulting heterostructure's electronic properties can be tuned to achieve novel properties distinct from those of its constituent materials. This book offers a valuable reference guide for all researchers and students working in the area of condensed matter physics and materials science.

This book focuses on the topological fermion condensation quantum phase transition (FCQPT), a phenomenon that reveals the complex behavior of all strongly correlated Fermi systems, such as heavy fermion metals, quantum spin liquids, quasicrystals, and two-dimensional systems, considering these as a new state of matter. The book combines theoretical evaluations with arguments based on experimental grounds demonstrating that the entirety of very different strongly correlated Fermi systems demonstrates a universal behavior induced by FCQPT. In contrast to the conventional quantum phase transition, whose physics in the quantum critical region are dominated by thermal or quantum fluctuations and characterized by the absence of quasiparticles, the physics of a Fermi system near FCQPT are controlled by a system of quasiparticles resembling the Landau quasiparticles. The book discusses the modification of strongly correlated systems under the action of FCQPT, representing the "missing" instability, which paves the way for developing an entirely new approach to condensed matter theory; and presents this physics as a new method for studying many-body objects. Based on the authors' own theoretical investigations, as well as salient theoretical and experimental studies conducted by others, the book is well suited for both students and researchers in the field of condensed matter physics.

This book introduces the physics and chemistry of plastic scintillators (fluorescent polymers) that are able to emit light when exposed to ionizing radiation, discussing their chemical modification in the early 1950s and 1960s, as well as the renewed upsurge in interest in the 21st century. The book presents contributions from various researchers on broad aspects of plastic scintillators, from physics, chemistry, materials science and applications, covering topics such as the chemical nature of the polymer and/or the fluorophores, modification of the photophysical properties (decay time, emission wavelength) and loading of additives to make the material more sensitive to, e.g., fast neutrons, thermal neutrons or gamma rays. It also describes the benefits of recent technological advances for plastic scintillators, such as nanomaterials and quantum dots, which allow features that were previously not achievable with regular organic molecules or organometallics.

This book presents photoelectron spectroscopy as a valuable method for studying the electronic structures of various solid materials in the bulk state, on surfaces, and at buried interfaces. This second edition introduces the advanced technique of high-resolution and high-efficiency spin- and momentum-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy using a novel momentum microscope, enabling high-precision measurements down to a length scale of some tens of nanometers. The book also deals with fundamental concepts and approaches to applying this and other complementary techniques, such as inverse photoemission, photoelectron diffraction, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, as well as photon spectroscopy based on (soft) x-ray absorption and resonance inelastic (soft) x-ray scattering. This book is the ideal tool to expand readers' understanding of this marvelously versatile experimental method, as well as the electronic structures of metals and insulators.

This book presents a detailed look at experimental and computational techniques for accurate structure determination of free molecules. The most fundamental property of a molecule is its structure - it is a prerequisite for determining and understanding most other important properties of molecules. The determination of accurate structures is hampered by a myriad of factors, subjecting the collected data to non-negligible systematic errors. This book explains the origin of these errors and how to mitigate and even avoid them altogether. It features a detailed comparison of the different experimental and computation methods, explaining their interplay and the advantages of their combined use. Armed with this information, the reader will be able to choose the appropriate methods to determine - to a great degree of accuracy - the relevant molecular structure.

This book is devoted to advanced materials and perspective sensors, which is one of the most important problems in nanotechnology and security. This book is useful for researchers, scientist and graduate students in the fields of solid state physics, nanotechnology and security.