In this thesis the author contributes to the analysis of neutrino beam data collected between 2010 and 2013 to identify e events at the Super-Kamiokande detector. In particular, the author improves the pion-nucleus interaction uncertainty, which is one of the dominant systematic error sources in T2K neutrino oscillation measurement. In the thesis, the measurement of e oscillation in the T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) experiment is presented and a new constraint on CP is obtained. This measurement and the analysis establish, at greater than 5 significance, the observation of e oscillation for the first time in the world. Combining the T2K e oscillation measurement with the latest findings on oscillation parameters including the world average value of 13 from reactor experiments, the constraint on the value of CP at the 90% confidence level is obtained. This constraint on CP is an important step towards the discovery of CP violation in the lepton sector.

In the last quarter century, delamination has come to mean more than just a failure in adhesion between layers of bonded composite plies that might affect their load-bearing capacity. Ever-increasing computer power has meant that we can now detect and analyze delamination between, for example, cell walls in solid wood. This fast-moving and critically important field of study is covered in a book that provides everyone from manufacturers to research scientists the state of the art in wood delamination studies. Divided into three sections, the book first details the general aspects of the subject, from basic information including terminology, to the theoretical basis for the evaluation of delamination. A settled terminology in this subject area is a first key goal of the book, as the terms which describe delamination in wood and wood-based composites are numerous and often confusing. The second section examines different and highly specialized methods for delamination detection such as confocal laser scanning microscopy, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and ultrasonics. Ways in which NDE (non-destructive evaluation) can be employed to detect and locate defects are also covered. The book's final section focuses on the practical aspects of this defect in a wide range of wood products covering the spectrum from trees, logs, laminated panels and glued laminated timbers to parquet floors. Intended as a primary reference, this book covers everything from the microscopic, anatomical level of delamination within solid wood sections to an examination of the interface of wood and its surface coatings. It provides readers with the perspective of industry as well as laboratory and is thus a highly practical sourcebook for wood engineers working in manufacturing as well as a comprehensively referenced text for materials scientists wrestling with the theory underlying the subject.

On May 18-21, 2004, the Max-Planck-Society's Harnack-Haus in Dahlem, Berlin hosted the international symposium "Exploring the Cosmic Frontier: Astrophysical Instruments for the 21st Century." The symposium was dedicated to exploring the complementarity and synergies between different branches of astrophysical research, by presenting and discussing the fundamental scientific problems that will be addressed in the next few decades.

This book mainly focuses on the experimental research of rf breakdown and field emission with novel methods, including triggering rf breakdown with high intensity laser and pin-shaped cathodes as well as locating field emitters with a high resolution in-situ imaging system. With these methods, this book has analyzed the power flow between cells during rf breakdown, observed the evolution of field emission during rf conditioning and the dependence of field emission on stored energy, and studied the field emitter distribution and origination. The research findings greatly expand the understanding of rf breakdown and field emission, which will in turn benefit future study into electron sources, particle accelerators, and high gradient rf devices in general.

This volume collects a series of protocols describing the kinds of infrastructures, training, and standard operating procedures currently available to actualize the potential of stem cells for regenerative therapies. Stem Cells and Good Manufacturing Practices: Methods, Protocols, and Regulations pulls together key GMP techniques from laboratories around the world. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Inclusive and authoritative, Stem Cells and Good Manufacturing Practices: Methods, Protocols, and Regulations will be an invaluable resource to both basic and clinical practitioners in stem cell biology.

The field of large-scale dimensional metrology (LSM) deals with objects that have linear dimensions ranging from tens to hundreds of meters. It has recently attracted a great deal of interest in many areas of production, including the automotive, railway, and shipbuilding sectors. Distributed Large-Scale Dimensional Metrology introduces a new paradigm in this field that reverses the classical metrological approach: measuring systems that are portable and can be easily moved around the location of the measured object, which is preferable to moving the object itself. Distributed Large-Scale Dimensional Metrology combines the concepts of distributed systems and large scale metrology at the application level. It focuses on the latest insights and challenges of this new generation of systems from the perspective of the designers and developers. The main topics are: coverage of measuring area, sensors calibration, on-line diagnostics, probe management, and analysis of metrological performance. The general descriptions of each topic are further enriched by specific examples concerning the use of commercially available systems or the development of new prototypes. This will be particularly useful for professional practitioners such as quality engineers, manufacturing and development engineers, and procurement specialists, but Distributed Large-Scale Dimensional Metrology also has a wealth of information for interested academics.

This thesis introduces readers to the Standard Model, the top quark and its properties, before explaining the concept of spin correlation measurement. The first measurement of top quark spin correlations at the LHC in the lepton+jets decay channel is presented. As the heaviest elementary particle, the top quark plays an essential role in the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. In the case of top quarks being produced in pairs at hadron colliders, the Standard Model predicts their spins to be correlated. The degree of correlation depends on both the production mechanism and properties of the top quark. Any deviation from the Standard Model prediction can be an indicator for new physics phenomena. The thesis employs an advanced top quark reconstruction algorithm including dedicated identification of the up- and down-type quarks from the W boson decay.

Laser measurement technology has evolved in the last years in a versatile and reflationary way. Today, its methods are indispensable for research and development activities as well as for production technology. Every physicist and engineer should therefore gain a working knowledge of laser measurement technology.

This book closes the gap of existing textbooks. It introduces in a comprehensible presentation laser measurement technology in all its aspects. Numerous figures, graphs and tables allow for a fast access into the matter. In the first part of the book the important physical and optical basics are described being necessary to understand laser measurement technology. In the second part technically significant measuring methods are explained and application examples are presented.

Target groups of this textbook are students of natural and engineering sciences as well as working physicists and engineers, who are interested to make themselves familiar with laser measurement technology and its fascinating potentials.

This book highlights the latest advances and trends in advanced signal processing (such as wavelet theory, time-frequency analysis, empirical mode decomposition, compressive sensing and sparse representation, and stochastic resonance) for structural health monitoring (SHM). Its primary focus is on the utilization of advanced signal processing techniques to help monitor the health status of critical structures and machines encountered in our daily lives: wind turbines, gas turbines, machine tools, etc. As such, it offers a key reference guide for researchers, graduate students, and industry professionals who work in the field of SHM.

Tests of the current understanding of physics at the highest energies achievable in man-made experiments are performed at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. In the theory of the strong force within the Standard Model of particle physics - Quantum ChromoDynamics or QCD - confined quarks and gluons from the proton-proton scattering manifest themselves as groups of collimated particles. These particles are clustered into physically measurable objects called hadronic jets. As jets are widely produced at hadron colliders, they are the key physics objects for an early "rediscovery of QCD". This thesis presents the first jet measurement from the ATLAS Collaboration at the LHC and confronts the experimental challenges of precision measurements. Inclusive jet cross section data are then used to improve the knowledge of the momentum distribution of quarks and gluons within the proton and of the magnitude of the strong force.

This book presents in a concise way the Mie theory and its current applications. It begins with an overview of current theories, computational methods, experimental techniques, and applications of optics of small particles. There is also some biographic information on Gustav Mie, who published his famous paper on the colour of Gold colloids in 1908. The Mie solution for the light scattering of small spherical particles set the basis for more advanced scattering theories and today there are many methods to calculate light scattering and absorption for practically any shape and composition of particles. The optics of small particles is of interest in industrial, atmospheric, astronomic and other research. The book covers the latest developments in divers fields in scattering theory such as plasmon resonance, multiple scattering and optical force.

The continuous evolution and development of experimental techniques is at the basis of any fundamental achievement in modern physics. Strongly correlated systems (SCS), more than any other, need to be investigated through the greatest variety of experimental techniques in order to unveil and crosscheck the numerous and puzzling anomalous behaviors characterizing them. The study of SCS fostered the improvement of many old experimental techniques, but also the advent of many new ones just invented in order to analyze the complex behaviors of these systems. Many novel materials, with functional properties emerging from macroscopic quantum behaviors at the frontier of modern research in physics, chemistry and materials science, belong to this class of systems. The volume presents a representative collection of the modern experimental techniques specifically tailored for the analysis of strongly correlated systems. Any technique is presented in great detail by its own inventor or by one of the world-wide recognized main contributors. The exposition has a clear pedagogical cut and fully reports on the most relevant case study where the specific technique showed to be very successful in describing and enlightening the puzzling physics of a particular strongly correlated system. The book is intended for advanced graduate students and post-docs in the field as textbook and/or main reference, but also for any other researcher in the field who appreciates consulting a single, but comprehensive, source or wishes to get acquainted, in a as painless as possible way, with the working details of a specific technique.

Recent state-of-the-art technologies in fabricating low-loss optical and mechanical components have significantly motivated the study of quantum-limited measurements with optomechanical devices. Such research is the main subject of this thesis. In the first part, the author considers various approaches for surpassing the standard quantum limit for force measurements. In the second part, the author proposes different experimental protocols for using optomechanical interactions to explore quantum behaviors of macroscopic mechanical objects. Even though this thesis mostly focuses on large-scale laser interferometer gravitational-wave detectors and related experiments, the general approaches apply equally well for studying small-scale optomechanical devices.

The author is the winner of the 2010 Thesis prize awarded by the Gravitational Wave International Committee.

Two of the most powerful tools used to study magnetic materials are inelastic neutron scattering and THz spectroscopy. Because the measured spectra provide a dynamical fingerprint of a magnetic material, those tools enable scientists to unravel the structure of complex magnetic states and to determine the microcscopic interactions that produce them. This book discusses the experimental techniques of inleastic neutron scattering and THz spectroscopy and provides the theoretical tools required to analyze their measurements using spin-wave theory. For most materials, this analysis can resolve the microscopic magnetic interactions such as exchange, anisotropy, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. Assuming a background in elementary statistical mechanics and a familiarity with the quantized harmonic oscillator, this book presents a comprehensive review of spin-wave theory and its applications to both inelastic neutron scattering and THz spectroscopy. Spin-wave theory is used to study several model magnetic systems, including non-collinear magnets such as spirals and cycloids that are produced by geometric frustration, competing exchange interactions, or Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. Several case studies utilizing spin-wave theory to analyze inelastic neutron-scattering and THz spectroscopy measurements are presented. These include both single crystals and powders and both oxides and molecule-based magnets. In addition to sketching the numerical techniques used to fit dynamical spectra based on microscopic models, this book also contains over 70 exercises that can be performed by beginning graduate students.

This research monograph presents the latest results related to the characterization of low dimensional systems. Low-angle polarized neutron scattering and X-ray scattering at grazing incidence are used as the two main techniques to explore various physical phenomena of these systems. Special focus is put on systems like thin film transition metal and rare-earth layers, oxide heterostructures, hybrid systems, self-assembled nanostructures and self-diffusion. Readers will gain in-depth knowledge about the usage of specular scattering and off-specular scattering techniques. Investigation of in-plane and out-of-plane structures and magnetism with vector magnetometric information is illustrated comprehensively. The book caters to a wide audience working in the field of nano-dimensional magnetic systems and the neutron and X-ray reflectometry community in particular.

PART I - APPARATUS AND PRINCIPLES USED IN MICRODIFFUSION ANALYSIS - II. A STANDARD MICRO DIFFUSION APPARATUS OR 'UNIT' - III. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ABSORPTION RATE FROM OUTER TO INNER CHAMBER WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AMMONIA - IV. GENERAL PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE ABSORPTION TIME IN MICRO DIFFUSION ANALYSIS - V. PIPETTES (SUITABLE FOR USE WITH THE STANDARD UNITS) AND THEIR DELIVERY ERRORS - VI. MICRO-BURETTES (SUITABLE FOR USE WITH THE STANDARD UNITS) AND ERRORS INVOLVED IN THEIR USE - VII. THE MICRODIFFUSION METHOD WITH END-POINT VOLUMES AROUND 20 CUBIC MILLIMETRES - VII. COLORIMETRY IN THE MICRODIFFUSION METHODS - PART II - DESCRIPTION OF METHODS WITH THE STANDARD UNITS - IX. AMMONIA. GENERAL METHOD USING STANDARD ACID AS ABSORBENT - X. AMMONIA. GENERAL METHOD (USING THE BORIC-HCL PROCEDURE) - XI. SPECIAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THE RATE OF AMMONIA ABSORPTION - XII. OTHER METHODS FOR DETERMINING THE ABSORBED AMMONIA IN THE MICRO DIFFUSION PROCEDURE - XIII. AMMONIA. BIOLOGICAL DETERMINATIONS - XIV. TOTAL NITROGEN XVII. UREA (BLOOD AND URINE) - XIX. ADENOSINETRIPHOSPHORIC ACID, ADENYLIC ACID, ADENOSINE, ETC. - XX. NITRATE, NITRITE AND AMIDE NITROGEN - XXII. MONOAMINE OXIDASE AND HISTAMINASE IN TISSUES - XXIII. DETERMINATION OF VOLATILE AMINES - XXIV. CARBONATES AND BICARBONATE - XXV. BLOOD GLUCOSE AND FERMENTABLE SUGAR IN NORMAL URINE - XXVI. DETERMINATION OF CARBONIC ANHYDRASE - XXVII. OXIDATION RATES OF ORGANIC SUBSTANCES WITH A STANDARD OXIDANT WITH APPLICATION TO DETERMINATION OF MINUTE AMOUNTS OF CALCIUM AS OXALATE - XXVIII. ACETIC ACID AND OTHER LOWER FATTY ACIDS - XXIX. ASSAY OF ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE - XXX. CYANIDE, AZIDE, SULPHIDE, PHENOLS - XXXI. METHANOL AND ISOPROPANOL GROUP - XXXII. ETHANOL - XXXIII. ETHANOL FROM URETHANE - XXXIV. FORMALDEHYDE - XXXV. FORMALDEHYDOGENIC STEROIDS (PERIODIC ACID AS OXIDANT) - XXXVI. FORMALDEHYDOGENIC STEROIDS (SODIUM BISMUTHATE AS OXIDANT) - XXXVII. GLYCINE (FORMALDEHYDE PRODUCED BY NINHYDRIN OXIDATION) - XXXVIII. ACETALDEHYDE (SEMICARBAZIDE ABSORPTION) - XXXIX. ACETALDEHYDE FROM LACTIC ACID AND THREONINE WITH BISULPHITE ABSORPTION - XL. ACETONE (INCLUDING A RAPID CLINICAL METHOD USING THE NESSLER SOLUTION) - XLI. THE HALOGENS (INTRODUCTORY) - XLII. CHLORIDE (BY OXIDATION TO CHLORINE AND ABSORPTION INTO IODIDE) - XLIII. CHLORIDE (BY OXIDATION TO CHLORINE AND ABSORPTION INTO FAST GREEN) - XLIV. BROMIDE - XLV. IODIDES AND HALOGEN MIXTURES - XLVI. SERIAL DETERMINATION OF ORGANICALLY BOUND HALOGEN - XLVII. VOLATILE HALOGENATED HYDROCARBONS (CHLOROFORM, TRICHLORETHYLENE AND CARBON TETRACHLORIDE) - XLVIII. CARBON MONOXIDE - XLIX. A RAPID CLINICAL METHOD FOR CARBON MONOXIDE DETERMINATION - LI. TOTAL MOLECULAR CONCENTRATION IN FLUID SAMPLES OF ABOUT 3-4 MILLIGRAMS - LII. SEPARATION OF CRYSTALS AND' GUMS' BY MICRODIFFUSION - QUALITATIVE MICRO-DIFFUSION ANALYSIS - LIII. SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON QUALITATIVE MICRO-DIFFUSION ANALYSIS - PART III - THE ERROR OF VOLUMETRIC TITRATION - LIV. INTRODUCTORY - LV. THE VARIABLE GLASS ERROR - LVI. THE TOTAL VARIABLE GLASS ERROR AND ITS CONTROL - LVII. THE VARIABLE CHEMICAL ERROR IN TITRATION - LVIII. THE RATIONALE OF MICRO TITRATION - LIX. THE CONSTANT GLASS ERROR - LX. THE CONSTANT CHEMICAL ERROR - LXI. VOLUMETRIC ERROR IN KJELDAHL NITROGEN ANALYSES - LXIII. UREA EXCRETION AS RENAL FUNCTION TEST - Full TOC available on website

Interferometry, the most precise measurement technique known today, exploits the wave-like nature of the atoms or photons in the interferometer. As expected from the laws of quantum mechanics, the granular, particle-like features of the individually independent atoms or photons are responsible for the precision limit, the shot noise limit. However this "classical" bound is not fundamental and it is the aim of quantum metrology to overcome it by employing entanglement among the particles. This work reports on the realization of spin-squeezed states suitable for atom interferometry. Spin squeezing was generated on the basis of motional and spin degrees of freedom, whereby the latter allowed the implementation of a full interferometer with quantum-enhanced precision.

Advances in the synthesis of new materials with often complex, nano-scaled structures require increasingly sophisticated experimental techniques that can probe the electronic states, the atomic magnetic moments and the magnetic microstructures responsible for the properties of these materials.

At the same time, progress in synchrotron radiation techniques has ensured that these light sources remain a key tool of investigation, e.g. synchrotron radiation sources of the third generation are able to support magnetic imaging on a sub-micrometer scale.

With the Sixth Mittelwihr School on Magnetism and Synchrotron Radiation the tradition of teaching the state-of-the-art on modern research developments continues and is expressed through the present set of extensive lectures provided in this volume. While primarily aimed at postgraduate students and newcomers to the field, this volume will also benefit researchers and lecturers actively working in the field.

Accurate fluid level measurement in dynamic environments can be assessed using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach. SVM is a supervised learning model that analyzes and recognizes patterns. It is a signal classification technique which has far greater accuracy than conventional signal averaging methods. Ultrasonic Fluid Quantity Measurement in Dynamic Vehicular Applications: A Support Vector Machine Approach describes the research and development of a fluid level measurement system for dynamic environments. The measurement system is based on a single ultrasonic sensor. A Support Vector Machines (SVM) based signal characterization and processing system has been developed to compensate for the effects of slosh and temperature variation in fluid level measurement systems used in dynamic environments including automotive applications. It has been demonstrated that a simple -SVM model with Radial Basis Function (RBF) Kernel with the inclusion of a Moving Median filter could be used to achieve the high levels of accuracy required for fluid level measurement in dynamic environments. Aimed toward graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, and engineers studying applications of artificial intelligence, readers will learn about a measurement system that is based on a single ultrasonic sensor which can achieve the high levels of accuracy required for fluid level measurement in dynamic environments.

The work presented in this book is a major step towards understanding and eventually suppressing background in the direct search for dark matter particles scattering off germanium detectors. Although the flux of cosmic muons is reduced by many orders of magnitude in underground laboratories, the remaining energetic muons induce neutrons through various processes, neutrons that can potentially mimic a dark matter signal. This thesis describes the measurement of muon-induced neutrons over more than 3 years in the Modane underground laboratory. The data are complemented by a thorough modeling of the neutron signal using the GEANT4 simulation package, demonstrating the appropriateness of this tool to model these rare processes. As a result, a precise neutron production yield can be presented. Thus, future underground experiments will be able to reliably model the expected rate of muon-induced neutrons, making it possible to develop the necessary shielding concept to suppress this background component.

Stars are born and die in clouds of gas and dust, opaque to most types of radiation, but transparent in the infrared. Requiring complex detectors, space missions and cooled telescopes, infrared astronomy is the last branch of this discipline to come of age. After a very successful sky survey performed in the eighties by the IRAS satellite, the Infrared Space Observatory, in the nineties, brought spectacular advances in the understanding of the processes giving rise to powerful infrared emission by a great variety of celestial sources.

Outstanding results have been obtained on the bright comet Hale-Bopp, and in particular of its water spectrum, as well as on the formation, chemistry and dynamics of planetary objects in the solar system. Ideas on the early stages of stellar formation and on the stellar initial mass function have been clarified.

ISO is the first facility in space able to provide a systematic diagnosis of the physical phenomena and the chemistry in the close environment of pre-main sequence stars, in the interstellar medium, and in the final stages of stellar life, using, among other indicators, molecular hydrogen, ubiquitous crystalline silicates, water and ices.

ISO has dramatically increased our ability to investigate the power production, excitation and fuelling mechanism of galaxies of every type, and has discovered a new very cold dust component in galaxies.

ISO has demonstrated that luminous infrared galaxies were brighter and much more numerous in the past, and that they played a dominant role in shaping present day galaxies and in producing the cosmic infrared background.

This book covers the diagnosis and assessment of the various faults which can occur in a three phase induction motor, namely rotor broken-bar faults, rotor-mass unbalance faults, stator winding faults, single phasing faults and crawling. Following a brief introduction, the second chapter describes the construction and operation of an induction motor, then reviews the range of known motor faults, some existing techniques for fault analysis, and some useful signal processing techniques. It includes an extensive literature survey to establish the research trends in induction motor fault analysis. Chapters three to seven describe the assessment of each of the five primary fault types. In the third chapter the rotor broken-bar fault is discussed and then two methods of diagnosis are described; (i) diagnosis of the fault through Radar analysis of stator current Concordia and (ii) diagnosis through envelope analysis of motor startup current using Hilbert and Wavelet Transforms. In chapter four, rotor-mass unbalance faults are assessed, and diagnosis of both transient and steady state stator current has been analyzed using different techniques. If both rotor broken-bar and rotor-mass unbalance faults occur simultaneously then for identification an algorithm is provided in this chapter. Chapter five considers stator winding faults and five different analysis techniques, chapter six covers diagnosis of single phasing faults, and chapter seven describes crawling and its diagnosis. Finally, chapter eight focuses on fault assessment, and presents a summary of the book together with a discussion of prospects for future research on fault diagnosis.

This volume will define the direction of eddy-current technology in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) in the twenty-first century. It describes the natural marriage of the computer to eddy-current NDE, and its publication was encouraged by favorable responses from workers in the nuclear-power and aerospace industries. It will be used by advanced students and practitioners in the fields of computational electromagnetics, electromagnetic inverse-scattering theory, nondestructive evaluation, materials evaluation and biomedical imaging, among others, and will be based on our experience in applying the subject of computational electromagnetics to these areas, as manifested by our recent research and publications. Finally, it will be a reference to future monographs on advanced NDE that are being contemplated by our colleagues and others. Its importance lies in the fact that it will be the first book to show that advanced computational methods can be used to solve practical, but difficult, problems in eddy-current NDE. In fact, in many cases these methods are the only things available for solving the problems. The book will cover the topic of computational electromagnetics in eddy-current nondestructive evaluation (NDE) by emphasizing three distinct topics: (a) fundamental mathematical principles of volume-integral equations as a subset of computational electromagnetics, (b) mathematical algorithms applied to signal-processing and inverse scattering problems, and (c) applications of these two topics to problems in which real and model data are used. This will make the book more than an academic exercise; we expect it to be valuable to users of eddy-current NDE technology in industries as varied as nuclear power, aerospace, materials characterization and biomedical imaging. We know of no other book on the market that covers this material in the manner in which we will present it, nor are there any books, to our knowledge, that apply this material to actual test situations that are of importance to the industries cited. It will be the first book to actually define the modern technology of eddy-current NDE, by showing how mathematics and the computer will solve problems more effectively than current analog practice.

As the focus in materials science shifts towards designing materials at the sub-micron scale - the "nanotechnology" revolution - it becomes increasingly important to characterize the mechanical properties of thin films and small volumes of material. The development of of nanoscale probes and ultrasensitive transducers for force and depth has made such measurements possible. "Nanoindentation" testing is becoming increasingly used in a wide variety of research and manufacturing areas, ranging from the testing of silicon wafers in the electronics industry to the characterization of hard coatings and other surface treatments for cutting tools, dental restoratives and other biomedical implants, and optical components.This book presents a comprehensive and detailed overview of the field of nanoindentation. The underlying theory behind the extraction of elastic modulus, hardness and other properties from the load-displacement data is discussed along with the various systematic and materials-related corrections involved. Also covered are the various methods of testing, details of an international standard for depth-sensing indentation testing, the significance of surface forces and adhesion details of commercially available instruments, and sample applications of the technique. Self-contained, the treatment is aimed at those entering the field, but by bringing together material scattered widely throughout the research literature the book will also be a useful reference for the more experienced researcher.

This book is dedicated to the adoption of broadband microwave reflectometry (BMR)-based methods for diagnostics and monitoring applications. This electromagnetic technique has established as a powerful tool for monitoring purposes; in fact, it can balance several contrasting requirements, such as the versatility of the system, low implementation cost, real-time response, possibility of remote control, reliability, and adequate measurement accuracy. Starting from an extensive survey of the state of the art and from a clear and concise overview of the theoretical background, throughout the book, the different approaches of BMR are considered (i.e., time domain reflectometry - TDR, frequency domain reflectometry - FDR, and the TDR/FDR combined approach) and several applications are thoroughly investigated. The applications considered herein are very diverse from each other and cover different fields. In all the described procedures and methods, the ultimate goal is to endow them with a significant performance enhancement in terms of measurement accuracy, low cost, versatility, and practical implementation possibility, so as to unlock the strong potential of BMR.