In many cases rheological measurements are carried out in the simplest of geometries, but the interpretation involved in obtaining the rheological parameters of the test fluids from these measurements is surprisingly complex. The purpose of this book is to emphasise the points on which most workers in the field agree, and to let the authors deal with the contentious points according to their own beliefs and experience. This work represents a summary of the current thought on rheological meas urement by experts in the various techniques. When making measurements and obtaining from them parameters that describe the flow behaviour of the test fluids, it is essential that the experimentalist understands the underlying theory and shortcomings of the measurement technique, that he is aware of the likely microstructure of the fluid, and that from this he can appreciate how the fluid and the measuring system will interact with each other. It is this interaction that gives both the required rheological parameters of the fluids and the artefacts that confuse the issue. This book covers the main rheological measurement techniques from capillary, slit and stretching flows to rotational and oscillatory rheometry in various geometries including sliding plate measurements. These topics are backed up by chapters on more practical aspects, such as commercial instruments, and on computer control and data acquisition. The chapters deal with the basic methods, how the measurements are taken, and what assumptions and interpretations are made to obtain valid data on the test fluids."

Toyiochi Tanaka, Mitsuhiro Shibayama, "Phase Transitions and related Phenomena of Polymer Gels", Akira Onuki "Theory of Phase Transition in Polymer Gels", Alexei Khokhlov, Sergei Starodybtzev, Valentina Vasilevskaya "Conformational Transitions in Polymer Gels: Theory and Experiment", Michal Ilavsky " Effect on Phase Transition on Swellingand Mechanical Behavior of Synthetic Hydrogels", Shozaburo Saito , M. Konno, H. Inomata "Volume Phase Transition of N-Alkylacrylamide Gels", Ronald Siegel "Hydrophobic Weak Polyelectrolyte Gels: Studies of Swelling Equilibria and Kinetics".

The incessantly interest in aqueous polymer dispersions (APD) since more than 90 years can be related to the almost unlimited possibilities to tailor APD to specific needs.
These proceedings from an international symposium on "Polymer Colloids: Preparation & Properties of Aqueous Polymer Dispersions" held at the Swabian Conference Center (Kloster Irsee, Germany) witness this statement.
The 33 contributions cover important aspects of APD such as control of particle size and stabilization, different polymerization technologies, applications as binders, paints, or as supports for proteins and hence, span the whole range from academic to practical.

The renewed and increasing interest in lipid self-assembly, phase behaviour and interfacial properties can be related to both a much improved insight in biological systems and the applications of lipids in food and pharmaceutical industry; in the latter, the development of drug delivery systems based on lipids has become in focus. Amphiphilic systems comprise lipids, surfactants as well as different types of polymers, including block and graft copolymers. Research on biological amphiphiles has often been conducted separate from research on synthetic ones. However, in recent years a very fruitful convergence between the two fields has evolved. These new perspectives on fundamental research and applications of lipids are discussed in these proceedings from an international symposium on "Lipid and Polymer Lipid-systems," October 2000 in Chia Laguna in Italy - a joint undertaking of Prof. Maura Monduzzi at Cagliari University, Italy and Camurus Lipid Research Foundation, Lund, Sweden.

Viscoelasticandtransportpropertiesofpolymersintheliquid(solution,melt)or liquid-like (rubber) state determine their processing and application to a large extent and are of basic physical interest [1-3]. An understanding of these dynamic properties at a molecular level, therefore, is of great importance. However,thisunderstandingiscomplicatedbythefactsthatdi?erentmotional processes may occur on di?erent length scales and that the dynamics are governed by universal chain properties as well as by the special chemical structure of the monomer units [4,5]. The earliest and simplest approach in this direction starts from Langevin equations with solutions comprising a spectrum of relaxation modes [1-4]. Special features are the incorporation of entropic forces (Rouse model, [6]) which relax uctuations of reduced entropy, and of hydrodynamic interactions (Zimm model, [7]) which couple segmental motions via long-range back ow elds in polymer solutions, and the inclusion of topological constraints or entanglements (reptation or tube model, [8-10]) which are mutually imposed within a dense ensemble of chains. Another approach, neglecting the details of the chemical structure and concentratingontheuniversalelementsofchainrelaxation,isbasedondynamic scalingconsiderations[4,11].Inparticularinpolymersolutions,thisapproach o?ers an elegant tool to specify the general trends of polymer dynamics, although it su?ers from the lack of a molecular interpretation. A real test of these theoretical approaches requires microscopic methods, which simultaneously give direct access to the space and time evolution of the segmental di?usion. Here, quasi-elastic scattering methods play a crucial role sincetheyallowthemeasurementofthecorrespondingcorrelationfunctions.In particular,thehigh-resolutionneutronspinecho(NSE)spectroscopy[12-15]is very suitable for such investigations since this method covers an appropriate range in time (0.005)t/ns)40) and space (r/nm [15). Furthermore, the possibilityoflabellingbyhydrogen-deuteriumexchangeallowstheobservation of single-chain behavior even in the melt.

Leading Nordic-Baltic scientists and their colleagues from other countries present recent research on a broad range of topics in surface and colloid science: adhesion, adsorption processes, characterization of solid/liquid and solid/polymer interfaces, chemical and particle depositions, colloid stability, emulsification and encapsulation, interfacial reactions, new surfactants, polymer-surfactant interactions, self-assembly processes, and functionalized surfaces for bio- and chemosensors. The papers were presented at the 1st Nordic-Baltic Meeting on Surface and Colloid Science, which was held in Vilnius, Lithuania on August 21-25, 1999, as a continuation of the traditional Scandinavian Symposium on Surface Chemistry.

The Fifth Chinese Peptide Symposium, hosted by Lanzhou University, was held at Lanzhou, China July 14-17, 1998, with 156 participants, including 30 scientists from abroad, representing nine countries. The four-day conference was both intense and spiritually rewarding. Our goal for CPS-98 was to provide a forum for the exchange of knowledge, cooperation and friendship between the international and Chinese scientific communities, and we believe this goal was met. The symposium consisted of 8 sessions with 42 oral and 90 poster presentations, including synthetic methods, molecular diversity and peptide libraries, structure and conformation of peptides and proteins, bioactive peptides, peptide immunology, De Novo design and synthesis of proteins and peptides, ligand-receptor interactions, the chemistry-biology-interface and challenging problems in peptides. The enthusiastic cooperation and excellent contributions were gratifying and the active response of the invited speakers contributed to the success of the symposium. The presentations were of excellent caliber and represented the most current and significant aspects of peptide science. Dr. Kit Lam of the University of Arizona and Dr. Yun-Hua Ye of Peking University were the recipients of "The Cathay Award" sponsored by the H. H. Liu Education Foundation, offered for their seminal contribution in peptide science and the Chinese Peptide Symposium. Four outstanding young scientists were selected by the organizing committee to receive awards sponsored by Haikou Nanhai Pharmaceutical Industry Co. Ltd. (Zhong He Group).

Shunsuke Hirotsu "Coexistence of Phases and the Nature of First-Order Transition in Poly-N-isopropylacrylamide Gels," Masayuki Tokita "Friction between Polymer Networks of Gels and Solvent," Masahiro Irie "Stimuli-Responsive Poly(N-isopropyl- acrylamide), Photo- and Chemicals-Induced Phases Transitions Edward Cussler, Karen Wang, John Burban"Hydrogels as Separation Agents," Stevin Gehrke "Synthesis, Equilibrium Swelling, Kinetics Permeability and Applications of Environmentally Responsive Gels," Pedro Verdugo "Polymer Gel Phase Transition in Condensation- Decondensation of Secretory Products," Etsuo Kokufuta "Novel Applications for Stimulus-Sensitive Polymer Gels in the Preparation of Functional Immobilized Biocatalysts," Teruo Okano "Molecular Design of Temperature-Responsive Polymers as Intelligent Materials," Atsushi Suzuki "Phase Transition in Gels of Sub-Millimeter Size Induced by Interaction with Stimuli," Makoto Suzuki, O. Hirasa "An Approach to Artificial Muscle by Polymer Gels due to Micro-Phase Separation."

This volume of the series gives an overview on Rigid Polymer Networks written by two reputed experts in the field. A broad range of densely-branched, highly-crosslinked aromatic networks and gels of increasing rigidity are discussed, with special emphasis on aromatic rigid liquid-crystal polymer networks. The synthetic procedures to create the networks are briefly described and extensively referenced. Features of one-step and two-step rigid networks in their pre-gel and post-gel states are discussed. Some first steps are then taken in the theoretical treatment of LCP networks with long aromatic segments of decreasing stiffness. The current state of theory dealing with the broader class of highly-crosslinked rigid aromatic networks and gels is finally mentioned.

This book summarizes the properties and applications of conventional and commercially available fiber-forming, bioresorbable polymers, as well as those currently under study, for use as biotextiles. Factors affecting the performance of these biomaterials are presented, and precautionary measures to reduce premature, hydrolytic degradation during manufacturing and processing are discussed. Because of the structural requirements of medical devices and the technological advancements in synthetic fibers and textile technology, the new field of "Biotextiles" has evolved to exploit the potential of various woven, knitted, braided and non-woven textile structures for biomedical applications. Textile substrates provide certain unique mechanical properties to the medical device and because of an inherently high level of porosity, they can encourage cell growth and promote migration and proliferation. Bioresorbable devices that assist in the repair and regeneration of damaged tissues have in recent years replaced many of the permanent prosthetic devices. Thus, the topic of "Bioresorbable Biomaterials" generates much interest and research activity in the field of biomaterials science today. For this reason, the use of bioresorbable polymers as fibers is currently dominating the field of resorbable biomaterials for applications from sutures to tissue engineering scaffolds.

Drawing a picture of the current situation of this new field, this volume both summarizes the past achievements and analyzes the present unsolved problems.

This book contains the proceedings of the Symposium on FT-IR Characterization of Polymers, which was held under the auspices of the Division of Polymer Chemistry, American Chemical Society (ACS) during the annual ACS meeting in Philadelphia, August, 1984. The content of each paper has been substantially extended from the papers presented during the conference. Due to the accidental, irrecoverable loss of the entire contents of the book by the computer system used for editorial purposes, the publication of this book has been delayed more than one year over the initial scheduled date. It has been a continuous, frustrating experience for the editor as well as for the authors. An extended Murphy's law, -anything can go wrong goes multiply wrong- has been demonstrated in editor's office. It necessitated, otherwise unnecessary, repeated proof reading during which time the editor had valuable experience ~n familiarizing himself with each paper much more than usual. The papers in this book are state-of-the-art even after such a delay. It is the authors pride and integrity toward the quality of each paper that makes the value of this book long lasting, while responsibility of the loss of any timeliness rests at the editor's hand. For the purpose of official records, submission and acceptance dates must be stated. All papers had been submitted by September, 1984, and had been accepted for publication by November, 1984, after the critical review processes.

This book is concerned with the configuration of polymers at the interfacial zone between two other phases or immiscible components. In recent years, developments in technology combined with increased attention from specialists in a wide range of fields have resulted in a considerable increase in our understanding of the behavior of polymers at interfaces. Inevitably these advances have generated a wealth of literature and although there have been numerous reviews, a critical treatment with adequate descriptions of both theory and experiment, including detailed analysis of the two, has been missing. This text hopes to fill this gap, providing a timely and comprehensive account of the field as it stands today. This long needed work will be invaluable to experts as well as newcomers in the broad field of polymers, interfaces and colloids, both in industry and academia. Whilst industrial laboratories involved in this field will find it indispensable, it will be equally important to anyone with an interest in interfacial polymer or colloidal research.

In recent years, a growing number of engineering applications of light weight and energy efficient plastics can be found in high quality parts vital to the func tioning of entire equipments and structures. Improved mechanical properties, especially balance of stiffness and toughness, are among the most frequently desired features of the new materials. In addition, reduced flammability is con sidered the single most important requirement for further expansion of plastics into large volume and demanding markets such as construction and mass trans port. Production of power cables also requires flame retardant cable jacketing plastics to replace or at least to reduce consumption of environmentally unsound PVC. The two principal ways to achieve the goals mentioned above include the development of completely new thermoplastic polymers and various modifica tions of the existing ones. Development and commercialization of a new ther moplastic require mobilization of large human and financial resources, the lat ter being within the range from $100 million to $10 billion, in comparison to $100 thousand to $10 million needed to develop and commercialize polymeric mate rial with prescribed end use properties using physical or chemical modification of an existing plastic. In addition, the various markets utilizing thermoplastics demand large flexibility in material properties with only moderate volumes, at the best.