The use of bioresorbable polymers in stents, fixation devices and tissue engineering is revolutionising medicine. Both industry and academic researchers are interested in using computer modelling to replace some experiments which are costly and time consuming. This book provides readers with a comprehensive review of modelling polymers and polymeric medical devices as an alternative to practical experiments. Chapters in part one provide readers with an overview of the fundamentals of biodegradation. Part two looks at a wide range of degradation theories for bioresorbable polymers and devices. The final set of chapters look at advances in modelling biodegradation of bioresorbable polymers. This book is an essential guide to those concerned with replacing tests and experiments with modelling.

Catholic Women's Rhetoric in the United States: Ethos, the Patriarchy, and Feminist Resistance examines the rhetoric of Roman Catholic women. Focusing on women in the United States, the books recognizes that most Catholic women have felt-and been--marginalized by the Church, yet many women still seek membership in the Church because of its professed ideals. Building on various feminist theories of ethos, the authors in this collection explore how North American Catholic women from various periods, races, ethnicities, sexualities, and classes have used elements of the group's positionality to make change. The women considered in the book range from the earliest Catholic sisters who arrived in the United States to women who held the Church hierarchy accountable for the sexual abuse scandal as they redefined what it means to be a "good Catholic mother." The book analyzes women such as those in an African-American order who developed an ethos that would resist racism. Chapters also consider better known Catholic women such as Dolores Huertas, Mary Daly, and Joan Chittister.