This publication discusses the theoretical aspects of absorbency as well as the structure, properties and performance of materials. The chapters are arranged in an approach for the reader to advance progressively through fundamental theories of absorbency to more practical aspects of the technology. Topics covered include scientific principles of absorbency and structure property relationships; material technology including super absorbents, non-woven, natural and synthetic fibres and surf...

Pele pointed to me and said, ‘This man had prevented me from showing my skills to the audience of India,’ with a broad grin on his face.Football God and Brazilian legend Pele’s words on P.K.Banerjee after the later prevented Pele from beating his Mohan Bagan team in 1977.Beyond 90 Minutes is a candid heart wrenching autobiography of India’s gifted son P.K.Banerjee, in which he bares it all about his illustrious career as a footballer and then as a coach spanning over six de...

Whilst crop models have made significant progress in recent years, different models still diverge and struggle to predict the complex effects of genetic, environmental and management (G x E x M) variables in optimising crop production in the face of climate change.Current crop models: State-of-the-art and future developments provides a comprehensive overview of the major crop models and the ways they address these challenges. The book explores the development of major crop...

Colloidal suspensions are encountered in a multitude of natural, biological and industrially relevant products and processes. Understanding what affects the flow behaviour, or rheology, of colloid particles, and how these suspensions can be manipulated, is important for successful formulation of products such as paint, polymers, foods and pharmaceuticals. This book is the first devoted to the study of colloidal rheology in all its aspects. With material presented in an introductory manner,...

Emphasis is on a broad description of the general methods and processes for the synthesis, modification and characterization of macromolecules. These more fundamental chapters will be supplemented by selected and detailed experiments. In addition to the preparative aspects, the book also gives the reader an impression on the relation of chemical constitution and morphology of Polymers to their properties, as well as on their application areas. Thus, an additional textbook will not be neede...

A lab-on-a-chip device is a microscale laboratory on a credit-card sized glass or plastic chip with a network of microchannels, electrodes, sensors and electronic circuits.These labs on a chip can duplicate the specialized functions as performed by their room-sized counterparts, such as clinical diagnoses, PCR and electrophoretic separation. The advantages of these labs on a chip include significant reduction in the amounts of samples and reagents, very short reaction and analysis time, hi...

Recent years have seen an expansion in speciality uses of activated carbons including medicine, filtration, and the purification of liquids and gaseous media. Much of current research and information surrounding the nature and use of activated carbon is scattered throughout various literature, which has created the need for an up-to-date comprehensive and integrated review reference. In this book, special attention is paid to porosities in all forms of carbon, and to the modern-day materia...

In his thesis, Matthias Junk takes an innovative approach to assess the local structure and dynamics of biological and synthetic amphiphilic macromolecules capable of transporting small molecules. Replacing the latter with stable radicals, he uses state-of-the-art electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to describe the highly relevant transport function from the viewpoint of the guest molecules. Such, he demonstrates that the functional structure of human serum albumin in soluti...

One of the few textbooks in the field, this volume deals with several aspects of the dynamics of colloids. A self-contained treatise, it fills the gap between research literature and existing books for graduate students and researchers. For readers with a background in chemistry, the first chapter contains a section on frequently used mathematical techniques, as well as statistical mechanics.Some of the topics covered include:• diffusion of free particles on the basis of the Langevin equat...

This book of general analytical chemistry – as opposed to instrumental analysis or separation methods – in aqueous solutions is focuses on fundamentals, which is an area too often overlooked in the literature. Explanations abound of the chemical and physical principles of different operations of chemical analysis in aqueous solutions. Once these principle are firmly established, numerous examples of applications are also given.

Colloids are submicron particles that are ubiquitous in nature (milk, clay, blood) and industrial products (paints, drilling fluids, food). In recent decades it has become clear that adding depletants such as polymers or small colloids to colloidal dispersions allows one to tune the interactions between the colloids and in this way control the stability, structure and rheological properties of colloidal dispersions. This book offers a concise introduction to the fundamentals of depletion e...

Thermodynamics is a self-contained analysis of physical and chemical processes, based on classical thermodynamic principles. Emphasis is placed on the fundamental principles, with a conbination of theory and practice, and demonstrating their application to a variety of disciplines. Included in this work are new approaches to irreversible processes, electromagnetic effects, adsorption phenomena, self-assembly, the origin of phase diagrams, critical phenomena, and Carathéodory's treatment of...