Concrete repair continues to be a subject of major interest to engineers and technologists worldwide. The concrete repair budget for the UK alone currently runs at some UKP 220 per annum. Some estimates have indicated that, worldwide, in 2010 the expenditure for maintenance and repair work will represent about 85% of the total expenditure in the construction field. It has been forecast that, in the same year in the USA, 50 billion dollars will be spent just for the restoration of deteriorated bridges and viaducts.

An understanding of the latest techniques in repair and testing and inspection is thus crucial to the international construction industry. This book, with contributions from 34 countries, brings together the best in research, practical application, strategy and theory relating to concrete repair, testing and inspection, fire damage, composites and electro-chemical repair.

Concrete repair continues to be a subject of major interest to engineers and technologists worldwide. The concrete repair budget for the UK alone currently runs at some UKP 220 per annum. Some estimates have indicated that, worldwide, in 2010 the expenditure for maintenance and repair work will represent about 85% of the total expenditure in the construction field. It has been forecast that, in the same year in the USA, 50 billion dollars will be spent just for the restoration of deteriorated bridges and viaducts. An understanding of the latest techniques in repair and testing and inspection is thus crucial to the international construction industry. This book, with contributions from 34 countries, brings together the best in research, practical application, strategy and theory relating to concrete repair, testing and inspection, fire damage, composites and electro-chemical repair.

Concrete Solutions contains the contributions from some 30 countries to Concrete Solutions, the 6th International Conference on Concrete Repair (Thessaloniki, Greece, 20-23 June 2016). Strengthening and retrofitting are major themes in this volume, with NDT and electrochemical repair following closely, discussing the latest advances and technologies in concrete repair. The book brings together some interesting and challenging theoretical approaches and questions if we really understand and approach such topics as corrosion monitoring correctly. Concrete Solutions is an essential reference work for those working in the concrete repair field, from engineers to architects and from students to clients. The Concrete Solutions Series of international conferences on concrete repair began in 2003 with a conference held in St. Malo, France in association with INSA Rennes. Subsequent conferences have seen the Series partnering with the University of Padua (Italy) in 2009, with TU Dresden (Germany) in 2011 and with Queen's University Belfast (Northern Ireland) in 2014. In 2016 Thessaloniki (Greece) hosted the conference, partnering with both Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) and Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH). The next conference in the series will be held in 2019 in Istanbul.

This volume presents a wide-ranging review of the latest developments in concrete technology that have been largely missing from the global conference circuit. It the first major international event under the auspices of the Institute of Concrete Technology (ICT) and is appropriately located in the Middle East at the heart of a construction boom. Themes covered include admixture technology, durability, mix design, special cements and supplementary materials, reinforced concrete and sustainability. The 39 papers provide interesting theory and applicable practice blended with research findings - from the application of 3D printing to performance-based specifications and the role of concrete in the development of Oman - to produce a volume of value to many engineers and technologists. Founded in 1972, The Institute of Concrete Technology (ICT)'s mission is to preserve and promote concrete technology as a recognised engineering discipline and consolidate the professional status of practising concrete technologists worldwide.

The Concrete Solutions series of International Conferences on Concrete Repair began in 2003 with a conference held in St. Malo, France in association with INSA Rennes. Subsequent conferences have seen us partnering with the University of Padua in 2009 and with TU Dresden in 2011. This conference is being held for the first time in the UK, in association with Queen's University Belfast and brings together delegates from 36 countries to discuss the latest advances and technologies in concrete repair. Earlier conferences were dominated by electrochemical repair, but there has been an interesting shift to more unusual methods, such as bacterial repair of concrete plus an increased focus on service life design aspects and modelling, with debate and discussion on the best techniques and the validity of existing methods. Repair of heritage structures is also growing in importance and a number of the papers have focused on the importance of getting this right, so that we may preserve our rich cultural heritage of historic structures. This book is an essential reference work for those working in the concrete repair field, from Engineers to Architects and from Students to Clients.

Advances in science and technology no longer change how we live, they determine it. In the not-too-distant future, techno-scientific developments may make individuals stronger, smarter, healthier and more productive-but to what end? Addressing this question, speculative fiction has created an abundance of transhuman characters, protagonists with extraordinary strength, intelligence or abilities. Often they are antiheroes, openly rejecting-or rejected by-society and acting on immoral or extreme principles that challenge readers to approve, condemn, excuse or explain. This study explores the antihero of speculative fiction as a paradoxical blend of human and transhuman. These protagonists illustrate the dynamics among the individual, techno-scientific development and societal norms, and blur distinctions between human and machine, biology and technology, right and wrong. Fictional works covered include Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), Olaf Stapledon's Odd John (1935), Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination (1956), William Gibson's Neuromancer (1986), Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen (1986-1987), Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs trilogy (Altered Carbon [2002], Broken Angels [2003] and Woken Furies [2005]) and Black Man (2008).