Retrospective Collection

The presented book under the edition of Prof. Umapada Pal (Institute of Physics, Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico) collected articles that reflected the last trend and achievements in the synthesis and application of various nanomaterials actualized in the research studies of Mexican scientists.

This collection constitutes an essential sourcebook for researchers, producers and users seeking technical information on materials with foam-like structures.
The collection is unique, in that it brings together people from the fields of metals and polymers. Both material types derive their advantageous properties from a cellular structure. These properties include: low weight, high specific stiffness and strength, excellent energy absorption capacity, as well as damping and insulation properties. On the other hand, the processing of metals is far more difficult due to the higher temperatures involved. Another important factor is the faster decay of metal foam structures, at the end of the foaming process, because of their combination of high surface tension and low viscosity. The differences in foamability, between metals and polymers, explain why cellular plastics have been widely used for some time whereas cellular metals have only recently found their first applications.

The Second Workshop on Metastable and Nanostructured Materials was held in Iguaçu Falls, Paraná State, Brazil, from August 28th to 29th, 2003. Following the successful First Workshop organized in 2001, II NANOMAT was organized in order to provide another Forum for discussions on Metastable and Nanostructured Materials. This main purpose of the Workshop was fully achieved, with the participation of researchers from countries both near and far: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and the USA

Numerous commercial processes operate at temperatures exceeding 500 degrees Celsius. The materials used in high-temperature structures have design constraints which are in addition to those on materials used at, or near to, room temperature. These important additional constraints include time-dependent inelastic strain (creep), thermal stability of the microstructure and high-temperature corrosion. The addition of these constraints to those of low cost, strength, toughness, machinability, formability, weldability, and combinations of these, has led to the intensive development, over the past 50 years, of an extensive group of metallic materials: generally referred to as "high-temperature alloys".

This book presents the proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on the Jurassic System. Special emphasis is given to Timescales and Correlation; Sequence Stratigraphy; Paleontology and Biogeography; and Terrestrial Ecosystems.

Biomonitoring of water pollution grew out of various disciplines, such as aquatic ecology and (eco)toxicology. It has now become a scientific tool for monitoring the degree of pollution of aquatic systems. The present book is a comprehensive review of the field. The most promising techniques used in the biomonitoring of polluted water are discussed in the light of their advantages and limitations.

Sediment accumulation rates are an essential tool for the understanding of processes related to the deposition of organic and inorganic materials in marine and lacustrine environments. Sediment accumulation rates are not only a measure of the speed of deposition, but also represent a very useful tool for further paleoenvironmental reconstructions of climate history or biotic evolution as seen in the fossil record.

Although the last Ice Age ended about ten thousand years ago, its effects are still influencing human activities today - for example: coastal engineering, siting of nuclear waste depositories, intraplate earthquake mitigation, inaccuracy of a global positioning due to changes in the Geodetic Reference Frame, etc.
The recognition of Ice Ages and glacial isostasy led to the first scientific revolution in earth science. During the last few decades, studies of the Dynamics of the Ice Age Earth have brought together various disciplines - including geomorphology, geodynamics, rock and ice rheology, geodesy, glaciology, oceanography, climatology, astronomy, engineering and archeology.Recent interest in the subject has surged forward due to new advances in space-age geodetic techniques and new developments in modeling methods.

This fifth conference on Molten Salt Chemistry and Technology focused mainly on applied science and questions of technological concern, but also included aspects of fundamental research. The organizers moreover were careful to organize four special sessions on less conventional issues, namely: molten carbonate fuel cells, hot corrosion, slags and glass forming melts and low temperature melts.

This authoritative handbook presents an extensive compilation of data covering all important fatigue situations - fatigue strength of steels and other materials, notch- , size-, and mean stress effects, influence of temperature and corrosion, influence of special surface treatments, fatigue of structural elements and welds, aircraft fatigue, multilevel loading test programs, fatigue performance prediction etc.As is well known, fatigue investigations are often extremely time-consuming. The results of the tests depend upon numerous factors, and therefore handbook data must include all of the parameters which affect reported test results. The calculation of fatigue life and strength cannot be performed without having appropriate information concerning the specific fatigue situation. Nor can test programs be properly prepared without knowing the service conditions and the results of previous tests as, otherwise, the results obtained cannot be generalized. Information on component fatigue behaviour is of importance not only to machine designers but also to production engineers in charge of component manufacture, since processing strongly affects fatigue strength, and to maintenance engineers in charge of the operation and repair of cyclically loaded machine elements.