This monograph presents, for the first time, a unified and comprehensive introduction to some of the basic transport properties of porous media, such as electrical and hydraulic conductivity, air permeability and diffusion. The approach is based on critical path analysis and the scaling of transport properties, which are individually described as functions of saturation. At the same time, the book supplies a tutorial on percolation theory for hydrologists, providing them with the tools for solving actual problems. In turn, a separate chapter serves to introduce physicists to some of the language and complications of groundwater hydrology necessary for successful modeling. The end-of-chapter problems often indicate open questions, which young researchers entering the field can readily start working on. This significantly revised and expanded third edition includes in particular two new chapters: one on advanced fractal-based models, and one devoted to the discussion of various open issues such as the role of diffusion vs. advection, preferential flow vs. critical path, universal vs. non-universal exponents for conduction, and last but not least, the overall influence of the experimental apparatus in data collection and theory validation. "The book is suitable for advanced graduate courses, with selected problems and questions appearing at the end of each chapter. [...] I think the book is an important work that will guide soil scientists, hydrologists, and physicists to gain a better qualitative and quantitative understanding of multitransport properties of soils." (Marcel G. Schaap, Soil Science Society of America Journal, May-June, 2006)

In recent years several improvements have been made in the manufacturing of resistive, superconducting and hybrid mag nets. Condensed matter physicists are nowadays doing ex periments in steady magnetic fields of up to 30 Tesla. But the field homogenity {/B}, required in a volume of the order of a 3 few cm is usually several orders of magnitude less severe than the one which is needed for high resolution NMR. Over the last 30 years, with each generation of new high resolution NMR spectrometers, from 100 MHz up to 600 MHz, taking advan tage of the increase in sensitivity and resolution, new areas of research have been opened in chemistry, physical chemistry and biochemistry. The generation of the 20 Tesla supercon ducting magnets is coming. Thus one may seriously start to consider high resolution NMR at 1 GHz. The purpose of this volume is to examine some of the advantages which can be obtained at such high frequencies and some of the problems we shall be facing. An important aspect of NMR at high field which is not presented in this volume concerns the design of the magnet. The building of a superconducting magnet, producing a field 10 3 higher than 20 T, with a field homogeneity IlB/B 10-, in a cm volume still remains today in 1990 a major challenge. Grenoble, France J. B. Robert Guest-Editor Professor J. B. Robert Service National des Champs Intenses B. P."

Cationic antimicrobial peptides are multifunctional peptides of the innate immune system, which not only act directly against microorganisms, but also signal between early and late immune responses and modulate inflammatory reposnes. The significance of these host defence peptides in combating infection and in host-microbe homeostasis has become increasingly clear, through advances made by microbiologists, biochemists, biophysicists, immunologists, molecular biologists, and a range of medical and pharmaceutical researchers. This book, drawing together contributions from leading scientists, reviews significant recent advances in our knowledge of mammalian antimicrobial peptides. In addition to providing up-to-date overviews of their structure, expression and biology, their multiple activities and interactions with microbial populations as well as their potential application as novel therapeutic agents are summarized. Chapters describing developments using animal models and investigations of the roles of these host defence peptides in microbial infections are complemented by chapters addressing their mechanisms of action and of microbial resistance.