Because we are living in an era of Green Science and Technology, developments in the field of bio- and nano- polymer composite materials for advanced structural and medical applications is a rapidly emerging area and the subject of scientific attention. In light of the continuously deteriorating environmental conditions, researchers all over the world have focused an enormous amount of scientific research towards bio-based materials because of their cost effectiveness, eco-friendliness and renewability. This handbook deals with cellulose fibers and nano-fibers and covers the latest advances in bio- and nano- polymer composite materials. This rapidly expanding field is generating many exciting new materials with novel properties and promises to yield advanced applications in diverse fields. This book reviews vital issues and topics and will be of interest to academicians, research scholars, polymer engineers and researchers in industries working in the subject area. It will also be a valuable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students at institutes of plastic engineering and other technical institutes.

Understanding cooperative phenomena far from equilibrium is one of the fascinating challenges of present-day many-body physics. Glassy behaviour and the physical ageing process of such materials are paradigmatic examples. The present volume, primarily intended as introduction and reference, collects six extensive lectures addressing selected experimental and theoretical issues in the field of glassy systems.

New Antisense Strategies: Chemical Synthesis of RNA Oligomers, by Junichi Yano und Gerald E. Smyth Development and Modification of Decoy Oligodeoxynucleotides for Clinical Application, by Mariana Kiomy Osako, Hironori Nakagami und Ryuichi Morishita Modulation of Endosomal Toll-Like Receptor-Mediated Immune Responses by Synthetic Oligonucleotides, by Ekambar R. Kandimalla und Sudhir Agrawal Delivery of Nucleic Acid Drugs, by Yan Lee und Kazunori Kataoka Aptamer: Biology to Applications, by Yoshikazu Nakamura Development and Clinical Applications of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, by Veenu Aishwarya, Anna Kalota und Alan M. Gewirtz

This is truly an exciting time to be in the ?eld of polymer science. Advances in polymerization methods are providing polymer scientists with the ability to specify and control polymer composition, structure, architecture, and molecular weight to a degree that was not possible just a decade ago. This, in turn, is resulting in many novel application possibilities of polymers ranging from drug delivery systems and nanolithographyto stimuli-responsivematerials and many others. In addition,many of the application areas of polymers - such as coatings, adhesives, thermoplastics, composites, and personal care - are also taking advantage of the ability to design polymersduringtheir developmentefforts. Not to forget,manyof these applications of polymers involve mixing polymers with solvents, catalysts, colorants, and many other ingredients to prepare a formulated product. However, the tuning of polymer composition and structure as well as polymer formulations to optimize the ?nal performance properties can be challenging, - pecially since in many cases several interacting variables need to be optimized simultaneously. This is where the methodologies and techniques of combinatorial and high-throughput experimentation to synthesize and characterize polymer - braries can be an invaluable approach. Simply put, a polymer library is a collection of multiple polymer samples having a systematic variation in one or more variables related to composition, structure, or process. Various methods and strategies have been explored to ef?ciently prepare a large number of polymer samples and also to screen these samples for key properties of interest.

This book presents the research involving in situ gelling polymers and can be used as a guidebook for academics, industrialists and postgraduates interested in this area. This work summaries the academic contributions from the top authorities in the field and explore the fundamental principles of in situ gelling polymeric networks, along with examples of their major applications. This book aims to provide an up-to-date resource of in situ gelling polymer research.

Today, young cosmetics researchers who have completed their graduate studies and have entered a cosmetics company are put through several years of training before they become qualified to design cosmetics formulations themselves. They are trained so that they can design formulas not by a process of logic but by heart, like craftsmen, chefs, or carpenters. This kind of training seems a terrible waste of labor and time. To address this issue and allow young scientists to design novel cosmetics formulations, effectively bringing greater diversity of innovation to the industry, this book provides a key set of skills and the knowledge necessary for such pursuits. The volume provides the comprehensive knowledge and instruction necessary for researchers to design and create cosmetics products. The book's chapters cover a comprehensive list of topics, which include, among others, the basics of cosmetics, such as the raw materials of cosmetics and their application; practical techniques and technologies for designing and manufacturing cosmetics, as well as theoretical knowledge; emulsification; sensory evaluations of cosmetic ingredients; and how to create products such as soap-based cleansers, shampoos, conditioners, creams, and others. The potential for innovation is great in Japan's cosmetics industry. This book expresses the hope that the high level of dedicated research continues and proliferates, especially among those who are innovators at heart.

During the last two decades silicon-containing dendritic polymers have become one of the fastest growing areas of development in polymer science. The eruption of interest in these new polymers stems from their unprecedented molecular architecture, unique resulting properties and the realization that they represent ideal building blocks for chemical nanotechnology.

This is the first book to solely focus on silicon-containing dendritic polymers. The contributions of those experts who originally introduced each field or played a major role in its progress are reported. The developments in all major areas of this field are presented from their origins to the present. It is anticipated that this text will become an invaluable guide and vanguard of reference for experienced scientists interested in the fields of polymer and material science, synthetic chemistry, and nanotechnology. It will also serve advanced graduate students either as a source of creative inspiration or as a textbook for appropriate courses.

In the past ?ve decades considerable attention has been devoted to comp- ite materials. A number of expressions have been suggested by which mac- scopic properties can be predicted when the properties, geometry, and volume concentrations of the constituent components are known. Many expressions are purely empirical or semi-theoretical. Others, however, are theoretically well founded such as the exact results from the following classical boundary studies: Bounds for the elastic moduli of composites made of perfectly coherent homogeneous, isotropic linear elastic phases have been developed by Paul [1] and Hansen [2] for unrestricted phase geometry and by Hashin and Shtrikman [3] for phase geometries, which cause macroscopic homogeneity and isotropy. The composites dealt with in this book are of the latter type. For two speci?c situations (later referred to), Hashin [4] and Hill [5] derived exact - lutionsforthebulkmodulusofsuchmaterials.Hashinconsideredtheso-called Composite Spheres Assemblage (CSA) consisting of tightly packed congruent composite elements made of spherical particles embedded in concentric - trix shells. Hill considered materials in which both phases have identical shear moduli. In the ?eld of predicting the elastic moduli of homogeneous isotropic c- posite materials in general the exact Hashin and Hill solutions are of th- retical interest mainly. Only a few real composites have the geometry de?ned by Hashin or the sti?ness distribution assumed by Hill. The enormous sign- icance, however, of the Hashin/Hill solutions is that they represent bounds which must not be violated by sti?ness predicted by any new theory claiming to consider geometries in general.

Tian Lu's dissertation describes major advances in ultrathin-layer chromatography (UTLC), liquid chromatography and surface-assisted laser desorption ionization (SALDI), and matrix-enhanced SALDI (ME-SALDI) mass spectrometry. Lu describes the fabrication of electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) UTLC plates using an in-situ crosslinking electrospinning technique. The author improved the efficiency of PVA plates greatly compared to the efficiency of silica HPTLC plates. Also highlighted in this thesis is an edge-plane based ordered-carbon surface that provides unique selectivity in liquid chromatography. Further developments include polar analytes, such as amino acids, nucleotides and nucleosides which can be well-retained and separated in the edge-plane ordered-carbon stationary phase. Also, the author studied and detected mass spectra of organic polymers as high as 900,000 Da, the highest molecular weight that has been studied by SALDI to date using the carbon nanofibrous substrate. This thesis has led to a number of publications in high-impact journals.

This book presents an introduction to viscoelasticity; in particular, to the theories of dilute polymer solutions and dilute suspensions of rigid particles in viscous and incompressible fluids. These theories are important, not just because they apply to practical problems of industrial interest, but because they form a solid theoretical base upon which mathematical techniques can be built, from which more complex theories can be constructed, to better mimic material behaviour. The emphasis is not on the voluminous current topical research, but on the necessary tools to understand viscoelasticity at a first year graduate level. The main aim is to provide a still compact book, sufficient at the level of first year graduate course for those who wish to understand viscoelasticity and to embark in modeling of viscoelastic multiphase fluids. To this end, a new chapter on Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) was introduced which is relevant to model complex-structured fluids. All the basic ideas in DPD are reviewed, with some sample problems to illustrate the methodology.

With the present issue of Topics in Current Chemistry, the fourth and final volume concluding the mini-series on dendrimer chemistry has appeared. With a focus on the interdisciplinary bridges to neighboring fields, the contributions to this volume focus on coordination, catalysis and self-assembly, nicely balanced by a synthesis-based article on dendritic oligoethers.

This book covers fundamental principles and numerical methods relevant to the modeling of the injection molding process. As injection molding processing is related to rheology, mechanical and chemical engineering, polymer science and computational methods, and is a rapidly growing field, the book provides a multidisciplinary and comprehensive introduction to the subjects required for an understanding of the complex process. It addresses the up-to-date status of fundamental understanding and simulation technologies, without losing sight of still useful classical approaches. The main chapters of the book are devoted to the currently active fields of flow-induced crystallization and orientation evolution of fiber suspensions, respectively, followed by detailed discussion of their effects on mechanical property, shrinkage and warpage of injection-molded products. The level of the proposed book will be suitable for interested scientists, R&D engineers, application engineers, and graduate students in engineering.

Exemplifying and illustrating recent exciting advances in PNA chemistry, the second edition of Peptide Nucleic Acids: Methods and Protocols serves as a vital complement to the first edition of the book. Since the discovery of peptide nucleic acids, many interesting new derivatives and analogues in terms of nucleic acid recognition specificity and affinity have emerged. Also, as this detailed volume presents, great ingenuity in exploiting the unique properties of PNAs for a wide variety of applications within drug discovery, medical diagnostics, chemical biology and nanotechnology has unfolded. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Peptide Nucleic Acids: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition serves as a source of useful specific methods and protocols as well as a source of inspiration for future developments.

HighPerformance Polymers: Preparation and Polymerization of Macrocyclic Oligomers (D.J. Brunelle, T.L. Evans). Poly(Enaminonitriles) (J.A. Moore). Polymers for Electronic Applications: Cure Kinetics of Epoxy Cresol Novolac Encapsulant for Microelectronics Packaging (R.W. Biernath, D.S. Soane). Polypyrroles from Isoporous Alumina Membranes (R.P. Burford et al.). Nonlinear Optics: Nonlinear Optical Properties of New Dye Doped Photocrosslinkable Polymers (S. Tripathy et al.). NLO Device Structures from Polydiacetylenes (G.L. Baker). Polymers from Biological Sources: Genetic Engineering of Molecular and Supramolecular Structure in Polymers (D.A. Tirrell et al.). New Polymer Synthesis: Functionalized Polyolefins via Copolymerization of Borane Monomers in ZieglerNatta Process (T.C. Chung). 24 additional articles. Index.

1 N. Hadjichristidis, M. Pitsikalis, H. Iatrou: Synthesis of Block Copolymers.- 2 V. Abetz: Phase Behaviour and Morphologies of Block Copolymers.-

This volume explores the latest developments in the area of polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) used for high-temperature fuel cells. Featuring contributions from an international array of researchers, it presents a unified viewpoint on the operating principles of fuel cells, various methodologies used for the fabrication of PEMs, and issues related to the chemical and mechanical stabilities of the membranes. Special attention is given to the fabrication of electrospun nanocomposite membranes. The editors have consciously placed an emphasis on developments in the area of fast-growing and promising PEM materials obtained via hygroscopic inorganic fillers, solid proton conductors, heterocyclic solvents, ionic liquids, anhydrous H3PO4 blends, and heteropolyacids. This book is intended for fuel cell researchers and students who are interested in a deeper understanding of the organic-inorganic membranes used in fuel cells, membrane fabrication methodologies, properties and clean energy applications.

The development of new high-tech applications and devices has created a seemingly insatiable demand for novel functional materials with enhanced and tailored properties. Such materials can be achieved by three-dimensional structuring on the nanoscale, giving rise to a significant enhancement of particular functional characteristics which stems from the ability to access both surface/interface and bulk properties. The highly ordered, bicontinuous double-gyroid morphology is a fascinating and particularly suitable 3D nanostructure for this purpose due to its highly accessible surface area, connectivity, narrow pore diameter distribution and superb structural stability. The presented study encompasses a wide range of modern nanotechnology techniques in a highly versatile bottom-up nanopatterning strategy that splits the fabrication process into two successive steps: the preparation of mesoporous double-gyroid templates utilizing diblock copolymer self-assembly, and their replication with a functional material employing electrochemical deposition and atomic layer deposition. The double-gyroid structured materials discussed include metals, metal oxides, and conjugated polymers, which are applied and characterized in high-performance devices, such as electrochromic displays, supercapacitors, chemical sensors and photovoltaics. This publication addresses a wide range of readers, from researchers and specialists who are professionally active in the field, to more general readers interested in chemistry, nanoscience and physics.

Ring polymers are one of the last big mysteries in polymer physics, and this thesis tackles the problem of describing their behaviour when interacting in dense solutions and with complex environments and reports key findings that help shed light on these complex issues. The systems investigated are not restricted to artificial polymer systems, but also cover biologically inspired ensembles, contributing to the broad applicability and interest of the conclusions reached. One of the most remarkable findings is the unambiguous evidence that rings inter-penetrate when in dense solutions; here this behaviour is shown to lead to the emergence of a glassy state solely driven by the topology of the constituents. This novel glassy state is unconventional in its nature and, thanks to its universal properties inherited from polymer physics, will attract the attention of a wide range of physicists in the years to come.

Agricultural biomass is abundant worldwide and it can be considered as alternative source of renewable and sustainable materials which can be used as potential materials for different applications. Despite this enormous production of agricultural biomass, only a small fraction of the total biomass is utilized for different applications. Industry must be prepared to take advantage of the situation and utilize the available biomass in the best possible manner. Agricultural biomass such as natural fibres has been successfully investigated as a great potential to be used as a renewable and sustainable materials for the production of composite materials. Natural fibres offer excellent specific properties and have potential as outstanding reinforcing fillers in the matrix and can be used as an alternative material for biocomposites, hybrid composites, pulp, and paper industries. Natural fibre based polymer composites made of jute, oil palm, flex, hemp, kenaf have a low market cost, attractive with respect to global sustainability and find increasing commercial use in different applications. Agricultural biomass based composites find applications in a number of fields viz., automotive industry and construction industry. Future research on agricultural biomass-natural fibre based composites should not only be limited to its automotive applications but can be explored for its application in aircraft components, construction industry, rural housing and biomedical applications. In this book we will cover the chemical, physical, thermal, electrical, and biodegradability properties of agricultural biomass based composite materials and its different potential applications. The main goal of this volume is to familiarize researchers, scientists and engineers with the unique research opportunities and potentials of agricultural biomass based materials. Up-to-date information on alternative biomass utilization Academic and industry leaders discuss unique properties of biomass based composite materials Direct application of agricultural biomass materials as sustainable and renewable alternatives

Magnetic resonance techniques are especially interesting in the study of colloids and interfaces due to their unique ability to elucidate structure, dynamics and function at the atomic and molecular level. This book illustrates the most up to date applications of innovative NMR and EPR techniques, including magnetic resonance imaging and microscopy, to gas-solid and liquid-solid interfaces, organic and biological surfaces, microemulsions, liquid crystals, membranes, structure and dynamics of polymers and micellar systems, and diffusion in heterogeneous systems.

A compendium of advanced NMR and EPR techniques and a state of the art description of the power of advanced new methodologies for the study of molecular dynamics and interfaces.

The book provides practical recommendations for creation of fire retardant materials with an increased service life. The enhanced fire resistance seen in these materials is based on the regularities of the chemical and physicochemical interaction of the components of intumescent composition in the process of thermolytic synthesis of heat-insulating char-foamed layers. The aim of fire protection of various objects with intumescent materials is to create a heat-insulating charred layer on the surface of structural elements; this layer can withstand high temperatures and mechanical damage which are typical during fires. The authors describe the contribution of basic components (melamine, pentaerythritol, ammonium polyphosphate), additional components (chlorinated paraffin, urea, cellulose, carbon nano additives, etc.) and polymer binders of intumescent compositions on the process of charring. The technological aspects of manufacturing, application and operation of fire retardant intumescent compositions, which can be useful for organizations that produce and use fire retardant materials, are also described.

This series presents critical reviews of the present and future trends in polymer and biopolymer science including chemistry, physical chemistry, physics and materials science. It is addressed to all scientists at universities and in industry who wish to keep abreast of advances in the topics covered. Impact Factor Ranking: Always number one in Polymer Science.

The series Advances in Polymer Science presents critical reviews of the present and future trends in polymer and biopolymer science. It covers all areas of research in polymer and biopolymer science including chemistry, physical chemistry, physics, material science.The thematic volumes are addressed to scientists, whether at universities or in industry, who wish to keep abreast of the important advances in the covered topics.Advances in Polymer Science enjoys a longstanding tradition and good reputation in its community. Each volume is dedicated to a current topic, and each review critically surveys one aspect of that topic, to place it within the context of the volume. The volumes typically summarize the significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years and discuss them critically, presenting selected examples, explaining and illustrating the important principles, and bringing together many important references of primary literature. On that basis, future research directions in the area can be discussed. Advances in Polymer Science volumes thus are important references for every polymer scientist, as well as for other scientists interested in polymer science - as an introduction to a neighboring field, or as a compilation of detailed information for the specialist.Review articles for the individual volumes are invited by the volume editors. Single contributions can be specially commissioned.Readership: Polymer scientists, or scientists in related fields interested in polymer and biopolymer science, at universities or in industry, graduate students

The book summarizes recent international research and experimental developments regarding fatigue crack growth investigations of rubber materials. It shows the progress in fundamental as well as advanced research of fracture investigation of rubber material under fatigue loading conditions, especially from the experimental point of view. However, some chapters will describe the progress in numerical modeling and physical description of fracture mechanics and cavitation phenomena in rubbers. Initiation and propagation of cracks in rubber materials are dominant phenomena which determine the lifetime of these soft rubber materials and, as a consequence, the lifetime of the corresponding final rubber parts in various fields of application. Recently, these phenomena became of great scientific interest due to the development of new experimental methods, concepts and models. Furthermore, crack phenomena have an extraordinary impact on rubber wear and abrasion of automotive tires; and understanding of crack initiation and growth in rubbers will help to support the growthing number of activities and worldwide efforts of reduction of tire wear losses and abrasion based emissions.