Introduction to Contact Mechanics, Second Edition is a gentle introduction to the mechanics of solid bodies in contact for graduate students, post doctoral individuals, and the beginning researcher.
This second edition maintains the introductory character of the first with a focus on materials science as distinct from straight solid mechanics theory. Every chapter has been updated to make the book easier to read and more informative. A new chapter on depth sensing indentation has been added, and the contents of the other chapters have been completely overhauled with added figures, formulae and explanations.

Modelling, Monitoring and Diagnostic Techniques for Fluid Power Systems covers the background theory of fluid power and indicates the range of concepts needed for a modern approach to condition monitoring and fault diagnosis. The theory is leavened by 15-years-worth of practical measurements by the author, working with major fluid power companies, and real industrial case studies.

The idea to use air for transmitting power is very old. Ctesibius in - cient Greece described a catapult using pneumatic cylinders to first store energy and then rapidly accelerate an arrow. Heron of Alexandria dev- oped automatic temple doors which opened and closed by means of hot air. And from the Greek word for breath he coined the term that was used as title for his book and today describes a whole industry: - pneumatics. Pneumatic components and systems have become an important topic for textbooks. Most have their focus on the description of the steady-state - haviour, practical problems like troubleshooting or Boolean algebra to help designing control algorithms. Only a few textbooks covering the theore- cal analysis and design of pneumatic systems have been published (Z- manzon et al. 1965; Andersen 1967; Andersson et al. 1975). But they were written at a time when digital computers were not easily available to en- neers and therefore contain few material about modelling and simulation. This book tries to bridge the gap between scientific disciplines (fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, mathematics, control, etc.), the conventional approach to describe pneumatic components and systems by their stea- state behaviour, the wish of a design engineer to test his design before - tually building hardware and the resulting need for mathematical models in order to use today’s powerful digital computers.

Microfluidics-based biochips, also known as lab-on-a-chip or bio-MEMS, are becoming increasingly popular for DNA analysis, clinical diagnostics, and the detection/manipulation of bio-molecules. As the use of microfluidics-based biochips increases, their complexity is expected to become significant due to the need for multiple and concurrent assays on the chip, as well as more sophisticated control mechanisms for resource management. Time-to-market and fault tolerance are also expected to emerge as design considerations. As a result, current full-custom design techniques will not scale well for larger designs. There is a need to deliver the same level of CAD support to the biochip designer that the semiconductor industry now takes for granted.

In this monograph, the density ?uctuation theory of transport coe?cients of simple and complex liquids is described together with the kinetic theory of liquids, the generic van der Waals equation of state, and the modi?ed free volume theory. The latter two theories are integral parts of the density ?- tuation theory, which enables us to calculate the density and temperature dependence of transport coe?cients of liquids from intermolecular forces. The terms nanoscience and bioscience are the catch phrases currently in fashion in science. It seems that much of the fundamentals remaining unsolved or poorly understood in the science of condensed matter has been overshadowed by the frenzy over the more glamorous disciplines of the former, shunned by novices, and are on the verge of being forgotten. The transport coe?cients of liquids and gases and related thermophysical properties of matter appear to be one such area in the science of macroscopic properties of molecular systems and statisticalmechanicsofcondensedmatter. Evennano-andbiomaterials,h- ever, cannot be fully and appropriately understood without ?rm grounding and foundations in the macroscopic and molecular theories of transport prertiesandrelatedthermophysicalpropertiesofmatterinthecondensedphase. Oneisstilldealingwithsystemsmadeupofnotafewparticlesbutamultitude of them, often too many to count, to call them few-body problems that can be understoodwithoutthehelpofstatisticalmechanicsandmacroscopicphysics. In the density ?uctuation theory of transport coe?cients, the basic approach taken is quite di?erent from the approaches taken in the conventional kinetic theories of gases and liquids.

Un nuovo paziente viene ricoverato all’Istituto psichiatrico di Manhattan. Dice di chiamarsi prot (rigorosamente con la minuscola) e di venire da K-PAX (rigorosamente tutto maiuscolo), un pianeta i cui abitanti vivono oltre mille anni, sanno viaggiare alla velocità della luce, seguono un’alimentazione vegetale e non hanno carceri né chiese. Non solo: prot sembra conoscere orbite misteriose, sa parlare con gli animali, riesce persino a curare altri pazienti della clinica. E sostiene che nel giro di poche settimane tornerà a casa sul suo pianeta. È davvero un alieno o un paziente psichiatrico dalla fantasia sproporzionata? Cosa accadrà quando il tempo che prot si è dato sulla Terra sarà finito?