How did life begin on the Earth? The units of life are cells, which can be defined as bounded systems of molecules that capture energy and nutrients from the environment -- systems that expand, reproduce, and evolve over time, often into more complex systems. This book is the proceedings of a unique meeting, sponsored by NATO and held in Maratea, Italy, that brought together for the first time an international group of investigators who share an interest in how molecules self-assemble into supramolecular structures, and how those structures may have contributed to the origin of life. The book is written at a moderately technical level, appropriate for use by researchers and by students in upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in biochemistry and molecular biology. The overall interest of its subject matter provides an excellent introduction for students who wish to understand how the foundational knowledge of chemistry and physics can be applied to one of the most fundamental questions now facing the scientific community. The editors are pioneers in defining what we mean by the living state, particularly the manner in which simple molecular systems can assume complex associations and functions, including the ability to reproduce. Each chapter of the book presents an up-to-date report of highly significant research. Two of the authors received medals from the National Academy of Science USA in 1994, and other research reported in the book has been featured in internationally recognized journals such Scientific American, Time, and Discover.

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."

Most of the untreated surfaces of polymers used in industry are not hydrophilic but hydrophobic. It is, therefore, difficult to bond these nonpolar polymer sur faces directly to other substances like adhesives, printing inks, and paints because they generally consist of polar compounds. On the other hand, polymer surfaces generally adsorb proteins when brought into direct contact with a bio logical system, resulting in cell attachment or platelet aggregation. The protein adsorption and attachment of biological components trigger a subsequent series of mostly adverse biological reactions toward the polymeric materials. Therefore, the technologies for surface modification of polymers or regulation of the polymer surface interaction with other substances have been of prime importance in polymer applications from the advent of polymer industries. Some of the technologies have been directed to introduction of new function alities onto polymer surfaces. The new functionalities introduced include improved surface hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity, bio compatibility, conductivi ty, anti-fogging, anti-fouling, grazing, surface hardness, surface roughness, adhesion, lubrication, and antistatic property. Theoretically, there is a large dif ference in properties between the surface and the bulk of a material and only the outermost surface is enough to be taken into consideration when the sur face properties are concerned. However, this is not the case for polymer surfaces, as the physical structure of the outermost polymer surface is generally not fixed but continuously changing with time due to the microscopic Brownian motion of polymer segments."

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).

After epoxy resins and polyimides, cyanate esters arguably form the most well-developed group of high-temperature, thermosetting polymers. They possess a number of desirable performance characteristics which make them of increasing technological importance, where their somewhat higher costs are acceptable. The principal end uses for cyanate esters are as matrix resins for printed wiring board laminates and structural composites. For the electronics markets, the low dielectric loss characteristics, dimen sional stability at molten solder temperatures and excellent adhesion to conductor metals at temperatures up to 250 DegreesC, are desirable. In their use in aerospace composites, unmodified cyanate esters offer twice the frac ture toughness of multifunctional epoxies, while achieving a service tem perature intermediate between epoxy and bis-maleimide capabilities. Applications in radome construction and aircraft with reduced radar signatures utilize the unusually low capacitance properties of cyanate esters and associated low dissipation factors. While a number of commercial cyanate ester monomers and prepoly mers are now available, to date there has been no comprehensive review of the chemistry and recent technological applications of this versatile family of resins. The aims of the present text are to present these in a com pact, readable form. The work is primarily aimed at materials scientists and polymer technologists involved in research and development in the chemical, electronics, aerospace and adhesives industries. It is hoped that advanced undergraduates and postgraduates in polymer chemistry and technology, and materials science/technology will find it a useful introduc tion and source of reference in the course of their studies.

Improvement of the catalytic properties of biological catalysts is equally important in the optimization of industrial processes as in the fundamental understanding of the catalytic machinery at the molecular level. The approaches taken are diverse and span from purely result-oriented, but nevertheless methodologically subtle, making and screening of combinatorial libraries to highly sophisticated tailoring of the environment of active sites. This volume illustrates four different concepts for modifying a given biocatalyst framework or create novel functions using Nature's basic building blocks. Summing up the state-of-the-art biocatalyst engineering it, serves as an orientational landmark and a platform for the specialist and non-expert alike to keep abreast of developments in this rapidly evolving field.

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".

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.