Sooner or later, people develop a fairly stable set of ways for thinking, judging and responding; this is called one's habitual domain. Our habitual domains (HDs) grow and go wherever we go and have great impact on our behavior and decision making. When we are vital and growing our HDs are expanding and flexible; and when we find ourselves in ruts, not growing, it is because our HDs have become rigid and inflexible, as in death. This book discusses all aspects of habitual domains: their foundations, expansion, dynamics and applications to various nontrivial decision problems in our lives, including effective decision making, effective goal setting, cooperation, conflict resolution, negotiation and career management. Based on an integration of psychology, system science, management and common sense and wisdom, the book provides a simple but unified set of tools in terms of habitual domains and the behavior mechanism. The tools can be applied to expand and sharpen our capacity for knowing ourselves, our coworkers, our rivals, and our environments, and to form winning strategies for solving our problems. To make the book fun to read and the concepts introduced easy to understand and apply, the book is written in plain language with many lively and interesting examples as illustrations. The first half of the book focuses on general descriptions of the behavior mechanism and habitual domains, the second half on applications.

"Biodegradable Polymer Blends and Composites from Renewable Resources" provides a comprehensive, current overview of biopolymeric blends and composites and their applications in various industries. The book is organized according to the type of blend or composite. For each topic, the relationship between the structure of the blends/composites and their respective properties is explored, with particular focus on interface, compatibility, mechanical, and thermal properties. Real-life applications and potential markets are discussed. This is a premier reference for graduate students and researchers in polymer science, chemical and bio engineering, and materials science.

The scientific basis of the technique of semiconductor chemical sensors is the main focus of this work. The book concentrates on the usage of semiconductor sensors in precision physico-chemical studies.

The physical and chemical principles underlying the semiconductor sensor method are explained in detail. The mechanism of the processes occurring under the interaction of gas with semiconductor adsorbent surfaces are also discussed.

Scientists and engineers specializing in the physics/chemistry of heterogeneous and heterogeneous-homogeneous processes and design of semiconductor chemical sensors will find the book of significant value.