Pedagogical Cases in Physical Education and Youth Sport is a completely new kind of resource for students and practitioners working in physical education or youth sport. The book consists of 20 richly described cases of individual young learners, each written by a team of authors with diverse expertise from across the sport, exercise and movement sciences. These cases bring together knowledge from single sub-disciplines into new interdisciplinary knowledge to inform best practice in physical education, teaching and coaching in youth sport settings. At the heart of each case is an individual young person of a specified age and gender, with a range of physical, social and psychological characteristics. Drawing on current research, theory and empirical data from their own specialist discipline, each chapter author identifies the key factors they feel should be taken into account when attempting to teach or coach the young person described. These strands are then drawn together at the end of each chapter and linked to current research from the sport pedagogy literature, to highlight the implications for planning and evaluating teaching or coaching sessions. No other book offers such a rich, vivid and thought-provoking set of pedagogical tools for understanding and working with children and young people in sport. This is an essential resource for any student on a physical education, coaching, kinesiology or sport science course, and for any teacher, coach or instructor working in physical education or youth sport.

The aim of the Rolduc Polymer Meetings is to stimulate interdisciplinary discussions between academic and industrial polymer scientists and engineers. Experts are invited to review selected topics and to initiate discussions relating to future trends and developments. The general theme of these meetings is 'Integration of Fundamental Polymer Science and Technology'. In order to serve this goal, all participants are accommodated in Rolduc Abbey, a well-preserved medieval monument in Limburg (The Netherlands) to provide an optimum atmosphere for the exchange of ideas. About 350 participants took part in the 4th Rolduc Polymer Meeting, which was held from 23 to 27 April 1989. This volume contains invited and selected contributed papers on topics such as solution properties, chemistry, emulsion polymerization, liquid crystalline polymers, structure/ morphology and blends/composites. We are fully aware of the fact that the reader will not find an integrated presentation of lectures in this volume. Unfortunately, it is impossible to put down in writing the atmosphere of this and previous meetings. However, we hope that the reader will be stimulated to present his own views in forthcoming meetings after reading these proceedings. We wish to thank all contributors to this volume. P.l.L.

Over the years the field of anionic polymerization has attracted numerous outstanding scientists, and today it still is being pursued by many researchers all over the world. The exciting discovery of termination-less polymerization processes and living polymers culminating in the development of narrow molecular weight polymers, star polymers, and tailor-made block and graft copolymers, contributed immensely to the rapid expansion of polymer science. Areas of active research in anionic polymerization presently include the structure of ion pairs and their role in regulating polymer structure, ring opening polymerization of heterocyclic monomers, synthesis of well-defined block and graft copolymers including the application of macromers in such systems, telechelic polymers with functional end groups, and other topics. New developments in the organic chemistry of carbanions such as dipolar carbanions impinge on the field of anionic polymerization. More sophisticated characterization techniques have been instrumental in obtaining better correlations between the structure of polymers and that of intermediates leading to their formation. This book contains the proceedings of the international symposium on "Recent Advances in Anionic Polymerization and Related Processes" which was held at the 1986 spring meeting of the American Chemical Society. It was the first Polymer Division-sponsored meeting exclusively devoted to anionic polymerization since the Houston ACS meeting in the spring of 1980. The proceedings of that meeting were published in the book "Anionic Polymerization," ACS Symposium Series No. 166, edited by Dr. J. E. McGrath.

The Rolduc Polymer Meetings, of which the contents of this volume represent the third, are already on their way to occupying a unique place in the crowded calendar of symposia on every aspect of polymer science and engineering. They combine manageable meeting size with a theme, 'Integration of Fundamental Polymer Science and Technology', which is often discussed but seldom realized in practice. The technological, or applied, areas of polymers have perhaps received more emphasis historically than those of other allied disciplines. Indeed, various plastic and rubber materials were successful items of commerce long before the macromolecular concept itself was firmly established. The more fundamental aspects of the field were also largely developed in industrial laboratories. The early work of Mark and Meyer at IG Farben, and that of Carrothers and Flory at Du Pont, are good examples of this. The present situation, in which polymers are being applied to more and more demanding end uses, from high performance materials on the one hand to the biomedical and electronics fields on the other, caIls for an ever greater understanding of the basic scientific principles governing their behavior. It is evident, therefore, that interactions between those engaged in the 'pure' and 'applied' parts of the field must be promoted effectively. The Rolduc Polymer Meetings contribute significantly to such interactions, not only by interweaving technological and scientific presentations, but also by providing a forum for the participants to discuss problems of mutual interest in all their complexity.

In a unified treatment for the broad subject of materials, this book presents some fascinating phenomena associated with the remarkable performance of polymers and chemical materials. It provides a comprehensive description of the applications and tools for chemical polymeric materials. It also includes the background information necessary for assimilating the current academic literature on complex materials and their applications.

Understanding the dynamics of reactive polymer processes allows scientists to create new, high value, high performance polymers. Chemorheology of Polymers provides an indispensable resource for researchers and practitioners working in this area, describing theoretical and industrial approaches to characterising the flow and gelation of reactive polymers. Beginning with an in-depth treatment of the chemistry and physics of thermoplastics, thermoset and reactive polymers, the core of the book focuses on fundamental characterization of reactive polymers, rheological (flow characterization) techniques and the kinetic and chemorheological models of these systems. Uniquely, the coverage extends to a complete review of the practical industrial processes used for these polymers and an insight into the current chemorheological models and tools used to describe and control each process. This book will appeal to polymer scientists working on reactive polymers within materials science, chemistry and chemical engineering departments as well as polymer process engineers in industry.

Plastics have become increasingly important in the products used in our society, ranging from housing to packaging, transportation, business machines and especially in medicine and health products. Designing plastic parts for this wide range of uses has become a major activity for designers, architects, engineers, and others who are concerned with product development. Because plastics are unique materials with a broad range of proper ties they are adaptable to a variety of uses. The uniqueness of plastics stems from their physical characteristics which are as different from metals, glasses, and ceramics as these materials are different from each other. One major concern is the design of structures to take loads. Metals as well as the other materials are assumed to respond elastically and to recover completely their original shape after the load is removed. Based on this simple fact, extensive litera ture on applied mechanics of materials has been developed to enable designers to predict accurately the performance of structures under load. Many engineers depend on such texts as Timoshenko's Strength of Materials as a guide to the performance of structures. Using this as a guide, generations of engineers have designed economical and safe structural parts. Unfortunately, these design principles must be modified when designing with plastics since they do not respond elastically to stress and undergo permanent deformation with sus tained loading."

Biological and Synthetic Polymer Networks contains 36 papers selected from the papers presented at NETWORKS 86, the 8th Polymer Networks Group Meeting. NETWORKS 86 was held in Elsinore, Denmark, on 31 August 5 September 1986. A total of nine invited main lectures and 68 contributed papers were presented at the meeting. A wide range of important biological and synthetic materials consist of three-dimensional polymer networks. The properties range from very stiff structural materials to extremely flexible rubbery materials and gels. Most polymer networks are permanent networks held together by covalent bonds. Such networks are insoluble but they may swell considerably in good solvents. Polymer networks held together by ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds or so-called entanglements are of a more temporary nature. At long times they exhibit a tendency to flow, and they are soluble in good solvents. The paper by Professor Walther Burchard and his co-workers, 'Covalent, Thermoreversible and Entangled Networks: An Attempt at Comparison', serves as a general introduction to polymer networks. The book contains both theoretical and experimental papers on the formation, characterisation and properties of polymer networks. Two topics were given special sessions at the meeting, namely Biological Networks and Swelling of Polymer Networks.

Block copolymers represent an important class of multi-phase material, which have received very widespread attention, particularly since their successful commercial development in the mid-1960s. Much of the interest in these polymers has arisen because of their rather remarkable micro phase morphology and, hence, they have been the subject of extensive microstructural examination. In many respects, the quest for a comprehensive interpretation of their structure, both theoretically and experimentally, has not been generally matched by a corresponding enthusiasm for developing structure/property relationships in the context of their commercial application. Indeed, it has been left largely to the industrial companies involved in the development and utilization of these materials to fulfil this latter role. While it is generally disappointing that a much greater synergism does not exist between science and technology, it is especially sad in the case of block copolymers. Thus these materials offer an almost unique opportunity for the application of fundamental structural and property data to the interpretation of the properties of generally processed artefacts. Accordingly, in this book, the editor has drawn together an eminent group of research workers, with the specific intention of highlighting some of those aspects of the science and technology of block copolymers that are potentially important if further advances are to be made either in material formulation or utilization. For example, special consideration is given to the relationship between the flow properties of block copo lymers and their microstructure."

The purpose of the present series of publications is two-fold. In the first place it is intended to review progress in the development of practical stabilising systems for a wide range of polymers and applications. A complementary and ultimately more important objec tive is to accommodate these practical developments within the framework of antioxidant theory, since there can be little question that further major advances in the practice of stabilisation technology will only be possible on the basis of a firm mechanistic foundation. Research into the role of 'stable' free radicals as antioxidants and stabilisers for polymers has intensified in recent years. Nitroxyl radicals (nitroxides) were the earliest long-lived radicals to be investi gated in detail and Maslov and Zaikov review the developments that have taken place in understanding their reaction mechanisms from the time when they were first investigated in liquid hydrocarbon systems to the present day when their outstanding performance as light stabilisers has been the object of much scientific research. Although some features of their reactivity remain obscure, the authors approach the problem kinetically and indicate the factors limiting their effectiveness."

During the last two decades, the production of polymers and plastics has been increasing rapidly. In spite of developing new polymers and polymeric materials, only 40-60 are used commercially on a large scale. It has been estimated that half of the annual production of polymers is employed outdoors. Increasing the stability of polymers and plastics towards heat, light, atmospheric oxygen and other environmental agents and weathering conditions has always been a very important problem. The photochemical instability of most of polymers limits them to outdoor application, where they are photo degraded fast over periods ranging from months to a few years. To the despair of technologists and consumers alike, photodegrada tion and environmental ageing of polymers occur much faster than can be expected from knowledge collected in laboratories. In many cases, improved methods of preparation and purification of both monomers and polymers yield products of better quality and higher resistance to heat and light. However, without stabilization of polymers by applica tion of antioxidants (to decrease thermal oxidative degradation) and photostabilizers (to decrease photo-oxidative degradation) it would be impossible to employ polymers and plastics in everyday use.

'Integration of Fundamental Polymer Science and Technology' is a theme that admits of countless variations. It is admirably exemplified by the scientific work of R. Koningsveld and C. G. Vonk, in whose honour this meeting was organized. The interplay between 'pure' and 'applied' is of course not confined to any particular subdiscipline of chemistry or physics (witness the name IUPAC and IUPAP) but is perhaps rarely so intimate and inevitable as in the macromolecular area. The historical sequence may vary: when the first synthetic dye was prepared by Perkin, considerable knowledge of the molecular structure was also at hand; but polymeric materials, both natural and synthetic, had achieved a fair practical technology long before their macromolecular character was appreciated or established. Such historical records have sometimes led to differences of opinion as to whether the pure or the applied arm should deserve the first place of honour. The Harvard physiologist Henderson, as quoted in Walter Moore's Physical Chemistry, averred that 'Science owes more to the steam engine than the steam engine owes to Science'. On the other hand, few would dispute the proposition that nuclear power production could scarcely have preceded the laboratory observations of Hahn and Strassmann on uranium fission. Whatever history may suggest, an effective and continuous working relationship must recognize the essential contributions, if not always the completely smooth meshing, of both extremes.

Any series with a title beginning Developments in. . . is obviously intended to report innovatory and novel ideas. The trouble with innovatory thinking is that it often seems too esoteric for practical people to bother with. Certainly, this book is not meant primarily to be a quick-reference manual for fabricators. Its purpose is rather to signal the kind of developments which almost certainly will impinge on the world of reinforced plastics in, say, four or five years' time. In this particular volume most of the authors have directly or indirectly addressed the practical problems of processing and fabrica tion with reinforced plastics. There has been no attempt to review the current state-of-the-art of producing fabricated articles in reinforced plastics by such techniques as filament winding or pultrusion because these subjects have already been well covered elsewhere. Nor have I even tried to provide a comprehensive survey of all that could be called new in this field. Instead, I have simply taken a number of important and somewhat underestimated topics, generally material orientated rather than machine-centred, and asked leading figures to summarise the scene. At the risk of appearing arbitrary let us consider the first chapter by Cattanach and Cogswell. They tell us how a new material has been produced which not only adds to the range of composites available, it makes possible new fabrication processes (at least, new to FRP). Consequently it should result ultimately in many new markets and products. The opportunities are lucidly and imagina tively set out."

Over two decades ago, !he term characterisation covered just those techniques which measured the properties of polymers in solution in order to determine molecular weight and size. The discoveries of stereoregular polymers and polymer crystals created the need for new and advanced techniques for characterising chain structures and bulk properties. Further demands for new and improved characterisation methods for bulk polymers have resulted from the recent development and exploitation of multi phase polymeric systems, such as polymer blends, block and graft copolymers, and polymer composites. Today, therefore, characterisation is a very important part of polymer science. The polymer chemist must know the chain length, chain microstructure and chain conformation of the polymers he or she has prepared, i. e. the determination of molecular properties. The scientist involved in exploiting polymers in such applications as plastics, elastomers, fibres, surface coatings and adhesives must be informed on the morphology and physical and mechanical behaviour of his or her products, i. e. the determination of bulk and surface properties and their dependence on molecular properties. The techniques required for these determinations now cover an extremely wide field. Our aim has been to review a number of techniques critically and in sufficient depth so that the present state and future potential of each technique may be judged by the reader. Three criteria were used in the selection of techniques. First, we wished to present new methods which have been developed actively in the polymer field during the past five years.

Polymer science has matured into a fully accepted branch of materials science. This means that it can be described as a 'chain of knowledge' (Manfred Gordon), the beads of the chain representing all the topics that have to be studied in depth if the relationship between the structure of the molecules synthesized and the end-use properties of the material they constitute is to be understood. The term chain indicates the connectivity of the beads, i.e. the multidisciplinary approach required to achieve the aim, knowledge, here defined as quantitative understanding of the relationship mentioned above in all its parts. Quite a few conferences are being held at which the disciplinar beads themselves are discussed in detail, and new results within their framework are presented. In this respect, the TUPAC Microsymposia in Prague have made themselves indispensable, to mention one successful example. The bi annual TUPAC Symposia on Macromolecules, on the other hand, supply interdisciplinary meeting places, which have the advantage and the disadvantage of a large attendance. Smaller-size conferences of a similar nature can often be found on a national level. The organizers of the young, but already well-appreciated, Rolduc Meetings on the interplay between fundamental science and technology in the polymer field struck an interesting chord' when they realized that focussing on the basic science behind technological problems would serve the purpose of concentration on insight along the chain of knowledge and avoid the surrender to too large a size for the meeting to really be a meeting."

Because of the sheer size of the plastics industry, the title Developments in Plastics Technology now covers an incredibly wide range of subjects or topics. No single volume can survey the whole field in any depth and so what follows is therefore a series of chapters on selected topics. The topics were selected by us, the editors, because of their immediate relevance to the plastics industry. When one considers the materials produced and used by the modern plastics industry, there is a tendency to think of the commodity thermoplastics (such as poly(vinyl chloride) or polyethylene); the thermosetting materials are largely ignored. Because of this attitude we are very pleased to include in this volume a chapter which deals with the processing of a thermosetting material, i.e. the pultrusion of glass reinforced polyester. The extrusion of plastics is, of course, a very important subject but an aspect which is often overlooked is the need to remove volatile matter during processing: for this reason we have included a chapter on devolatilisation. Current industrial practice is towards materials modification and this attitude is reflected in the chapters on the transformation of ethylene vinyl acetate polymers and the use of wollastonite in two important thermoplastics. When assessing the performance of materials, there is a tendency to concentrate on short-term mechanical tests and ignore such topics as fatigue and longer-term testing. We are therefore very pleased to include a chapter on this subject.

Polymer semiconductor is the only semiconductor that can be processed in solution. Electronics made by these flexible materials have many advantages such as large-area solution process, low cost, and high performance. Researchers and companies are increasingly dedicating time and money in polymer electronics. This book focuses on the fundamental materials and device physics of polymer electronics. It describes polymer light-emitting diodes, polymer field-effect transistors, organic vertical transistors, polymer solar cells, and many applications based on polymer electronics. The book also discusses and analyzes in detail preparation techniques and device properties of polymer electronics.

Because of the sheer size and scope of the plastics industry, the title Developments in Plastics Technology now covers an incredibly wide range of subjects or topics. No single volume can survey the whole field in any depth and what follows is, therefore, a series of chapters on selected topics. The topics were selected by us, the editors, because of their immediate relevance to the plastics industry. When one considers the advancements of the plastics processing machinery (in terms of its speed of operation and conciseness of control), it was felt that several chapters should be included which related to the types of control systems used and the correct usage of hydraulics. The importance of using cellular, rubber-modified and engineering-type plastics has had a major impact on the plastics industry and therefore a chapter on each of these subjects has been included. The two remaining chapters are on the characterisation and behaviour of polymer structures, both subjects again being of current academic or industrial interest. Each of the contributions was written by a specialist in that field and to them all, we, the editors, extend our heartfelt thanks, as writing a contribution for a book such as this, while doing a full-time job, is no easy task.

Biopolymers represent a carbon emission solution: they are green and eco-friendly with a variety of uses in biomedical engineering, the automotive industry, the packaging and paper industries, and for the development of new building materials. This book describes the various raw materials of biopolymers and their chemical and physical properties, the polymerization process, and the chemical structure and properties of biopolymers. Furthermore, this book identifies the drawbacks of biopolymers and how to overcome them through modification methods to enhance the compatibility, flexibility, physicochemical properties, thermal stability, impact response, and rigidity.

From the late-1960's, perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSAs) ionomers have dominated the PEM fuel cell industry as the membrane material of choice. The "gold standard' amongst the many variations that exist today has been, and to a great extent still is, DuPont's Nafion (R) family of materials. However, there is significant concern in the industry that these materials will not meet the cost, performance, and durability requirementsnecessary to drive commercialization in key market segments - es- cially automotive. Indeed, Honda has already put fuel cell vehicles in the hands of real end users that have home-grown fuel cell stack technology incorporating hydrocarbon-based ionomers. "Polymer Membranes in Fuel Cells" takes an in-depth look at the new chem- tries and membrane technologies that have been developed over the years to address the concerns associated with the materials currently in use. Unlike the PFSAs, which were originally developed for the chlor-alkali industry, the more recent hydrocarbon and composite materials have been developed to meet the specific requirements of PEM Fuel Cells. Having said this, most of the work has been based on derivatives of known polymers, such as poly(ether-ether ketones), to ensure that the critical requirement of low cost is met. More aggressive operational requi- ments have also spurred the development on new materials; for example, the need for operation at higher temperature under low relative humidity has spawned the creation of a plethora of new polymers with potential application in PEM Fuel Cells.

Understanding Injection Molds opens up the entire subject of injection mold technology, including numerous special procedures, in a well-grounded and practical way. It is specifically intended for beginners, young professionals, business owners, and engineering students. The chapters are clearly structured and easy to understand. The book is designed so that it provides a complete basic knowledge of injection molds in chronological order as well as day-to-day guidance and advice. The numerous colour figures facilitate a rapid understanding of the content, which is especially helpful to the beginner who wants to learn about injection molds quickly. In the forefront of the description are thermoplastic molds. Divergent processes for thermoset or elastomer molds are explained at the end of each chapter. This book captures the current state of the art, and is written by authors who are specialists in the field. The second edition has been updated and improved throughout.

This book deals with the micromechanical characterization of polymer materials. It emphasizes microhardness as a technique capable of detecting a variety of morphological and textural changes in polymers. The authors provide a comprehensive introduction to the microhardness of polymers, including descriptions of the various testing methods in materials science and engineering. They also discuss the micromechanical study of glassy polymers and the relevant aspects of microhardness of semicrystalline polymers. Numerous application examples of the microhardness technique for the characterization of polymeric materials help readers develop a solid understanding of the material. These real world examples include the influence of polymer processing, the use in weathering tests, the characterization of modified polymer surfaces, and others. This book will be of use to graduate level materials science students, as well as research workers in materials science, mechanical engineering and physics departments interested in the microindentation hardness of polymer materials.

Polymers exhibit a range of physical characteristics, from rubber-like elasticity to the glassy state. These particular properties are controlled at the molecular level by the mobility of the structural constituents. Remarkable changes in mobility can be witnessed with temperature, over narrow, well defined regions, termed relaxation processes. This is an important, unique phenomenon controlling polymer transition behaviour and is described here at an introductory level. The important types of relaxation processes from amorphous to crystalline polymers and polymeric miscible blends are covered, in conjunction with the broad spectrum of experimental methods used to study them. In-depth discussion of molecular level interpretation, including recent advances in atomistic level computer simulations and applications to molecular mechanism elucidation, are discussed. The result is a self-contained, up-to-date approach to polymeric interpretation suitable for researchers in materials science, physics and chemistry interested in the relaxation processes of polymeric systems.