Introduction to Soft Matter: Polymers, Colloids, Amphiphiles and Liquid Crystals

Book Description

Provides an introduction to this exciting subject with chapters covering natural and synthetic polymers, colloids, surfactants, and liquid crystals, highlighting the many and varied applications of these materials.

The only introductory book on this subject
Cutting-edge introduction to a new and emerging subject area
An interdisciplinary approach suitable of chemistry, materials science, physics, and biochemistry courses
Copious end-of-chapter problems

Customer Reviews:

A concised and unified overview on soft matter.......2004-01-19

This book contains a concised overview on soft matter physics or what chemists use to call colloid chemistry. As stated by the author in the Preface, it has been written primarily for undergraduate students. However, it should be also useful to researchers that are looking for a unified view of the subject. The book is organized in five chapters: 1) Introduction, 2) Polymers, 3) Colloids, 4) Amphiphiles, and 5) Liquid crystals. Each chapter includes both FURTHER READING and QUESTIONS sections (numerical solutions to the questions are provided at the end of the book). All in all this quasi-pocket book appear to have reached its scope, I think, and hence I rated it with five stars. Readers that want to dig deeper into this subject may consult the book Soft Matter Physics: an Introduction, by Kleman and Lavrentovich (648 pp). Those wishing to take an intermediate step, may consult the recently published book Soft Condensed Matter by Jones (230 pp).

Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments (Liquid Crystals Series)

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Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments (Liquid Crystals Series)
Patrick Oswald , and Pawel Pieranski
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0415321409

Book Description

Liquid crystals allow us to perform experiments that provide insight into fundamental problems of modern physics, such as phase transitions, frustration, elasticity, hydrodynamics, defects, growth phenomena, and optics (linear and non linear). This excellent volume meets the need for an up-to-date text on liquid crystals. Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments is a result of personal research and of the graduate lectures given by the authors at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon and the University of Paris VII, respectively. The first part of the book presents historical background, the modern classification of liquid crystals, and mesogenic anatomy; the second part examines liquid crystals with nematic and cholesteric orientational order. Topics include dielectric and magnetic properties, Frederiks transitions and displays, light scattering, flow and electrohydrodynamic instabilities, surface anchoring transitions, interfaces, equilibrium shapes, and the Mullins-Sekerka instability. Smectic and columnar liquid crystals are covered in more detail by the authors in a separate volume, entitled Smectic and Columnar Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments. The presentation is illustrated throughout by simple experiments, some of which were performed in class. Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments provides a useful reference intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in liquid crystals, condensed matter physics, and materials science.

Structure and Transport Properties in Organized Polymeric Materials (Series in Contemporary Chemical Physics)

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Structure and Transport Properties in Organized Polymeric Materials (Series in Contemporary Chemical Physics)

Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 981021894X

Liquid Crystal Elastomers (The International Series of Monographs on Physics, 120)

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Liquid Crystal Elastomers (The International Series of Monographs on Physics, 120)
M. Warner , and E. M. Terentjev
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0198527675

Book Description

Liquid crystals are fluids with directionality defined. Polymers are long molecules with a shape that can be changed. As a network, polymers form rubber-a soft solid that is locally liquid-like and capable of huge extension. Liquid crystal elastomers area combination of all these curious
aspects, but with additional, revolutionary new phenomena-for example, spontaneous shape changes of several hundred percent induced by temperature change, with equally large opto-mechanical responses, shape change without energy cost (Soft elasticity), color change with strain, lasing and photonics,
sensitivity to molecular handedness and soft solid ferroelectricity. This book is a primer for liquid crystals, polymers, rubber and elasticity. It then describes the theory and experiment of these remarkable materials for the first time as a monograph. Worked examples are solved so that the
reader can become proficient in the field himself. The book is directed at physicists, chemists, material scientists, engineers and applied mathematicians at the graduate level and beyond.

Springer Handbook of Condensed Matter and Materials Data

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Springer Handbook of Condensed Matter and Materials Data

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540443762

Book Description

Springer Handbook of Condensed Matter and Materials Data provides a concise compilation of data and functional relationships from the fields of solid-state physics and materials in this 1200-page volume. The data, encapsulated in over 750 tables and 1025 illustrations, have been selected and extracted primarily from the extensive high-quality data collection Landolt-Börnstein and also from other systematic data sources and recent publications of physical and technical property data. Many chapters are authored by Landolt-Börnstein editors, including the prominent Springer Handbook editors, W. Martienssen and H. Warlimont themselves.

The Handbook is designed to be useful as a desktop reference for fast and easy retrieval of essential and reliable data in the lab or office. References to more extensive data sources are also provided in the book and by interlinking to the relevant sources on the enclosed CD-ROM.

Physicists, chemists and engineers engaged in fields of solid-state sciences and materials technologies in research, development and application will appreciate the ready access to the key information coherently organized within this wide-ranging Handbook.

From the reviews:
"...this is the most complete compilation I have ever seen... When I received the book, I immediately searched for data I never found elsewhere..., and I found them rapidly... No doubt that this book will soon be in every library and on the desk of most solid state scientists and engineers. It will never be at rest." -Physicalia Magazine

Advances in Nonlinear Polymers and Inorganic Crystals, Liquid Crystals and Laser Media

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Advances in Nonlinear Polymers and Inorganic Crystals, Liquid Crystals and Laser Media
Solomon Musikant
Manufacturer: SPIE-International Society for Optical Engine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Applied Liquid Crystals Polymers (Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Supplement Series)

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Applied Liquid Crystals Polymers (Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Supplement Series)

Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Assessing Community Criticality Weights to Marine Corps Readiness Reportable Equipment

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Assessing Community Criticality Weights to Marine Corps Readiness Reportable Equipment

Manufacturer: Storming Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: 1423578457

Product Description

This is a NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A392723. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: The Marine Corps' purpose of reporting equipment readiness ratings is to reflect both the portion of equipment possessed by an organization and the ability to perform its wartime mission. Supply ratings generated by the current methodology do an adequate job of reflecting the portion of equipment available for use, but the readiness ratings fall short of representing the unit's true war-fighting ability. The current method used to compute readiness ratings reflects the percentage, or fraction, of readiness reportable items rated that are on-hand and in an operational condition. Under this method, any reportable item that is declared as being in a deadlined maintenance condition will impact the readiness rating with an equal weight, regardless of the critical nature of the item. This thesis proposes a better way of computing the readiness rating in order to ensure it represents the true war-fighting capability of the unit instead of a mere perce

Behavioral Relationships Between Software Components

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Behavioral Relationships Between Software Components

Manufacturer: Storming Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: 1423571126

Product Description

This is a AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSONAFB OH report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A099133. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: Building software systems from reusable software components has been a goal of software engineers for nearly three decades. Despite progress, the realization of this goal remains surprisingly elusive. Expensive hardware systems such as aircraft, communication networks, and factory assembly lines are designed so that various subsystems (both hardware and software) can be removed and replaced in order to change the performance and functionality of the overall system. In a similar manner, it should be possible to change the behavior of a component-based software system in useful and predictable ways by removing and replacing entire components. In order to perform component-level maintenance, an engineer must understand not only the structural relationships but also the behavioral relationships among the component to be replaced, the system, and the replacement component. These behavioral relationships need to be clearly documented and available to engineers developing and maintaining component-based systems. This dissertation presents a small set of precisely defined relationships that concisely express behavioral relationships between software components. These relationships may be used to provide implementers and maintainers with useful information about how components can and should be composed when integrated into component-based systems. Furthermore, these relationships encourage strict adherence to the well-established software engineering principles of modularity, information hiding, polymorphism, and extendibility.

Classification of Radar Targets Using Invariant Features

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Classification of Radar Targets Using Invariant Features

Manufacturer: Storming Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: 1423503112

Product Description

This is a AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A121514. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: Automatic target recognition (ATR) using radar commonly relies on modeling a target as a collection of point scattering centers, Features extracted from these scattering centers for input to a target classifier may be constructed that are invariant to translation and rotation, i.e., they are independent of the position and aspect angle of the target in the radar scene. Here an iterative approach for building effective scattering center models is developed, and the shape space of these models is investigated. Experimental results are obtained for three-dimensional scattering centers compressed to nineteen-dimensional feature sets, each consisting of the singular values of the matrix of scattering center locations augmented with the singular values of its second and third order monomial expansions. These feature sets are invariant to translation and rotation and permit%it the comparison of targets modeled by different numbers of scattering centers. A metric distance metric is used that effectively identifies targets under "real world" conditions that include noise and obscuration.

Book Description

Complexity science has been a source of new insight in physical and social systems and has demonstrated that unpredictability and surprise are fundamental aspects of the world around us. This book is the outcome of a discussion meeting of leading scholars and critical thinkers with expertise in complex systems sciences and leaders from a variety of organizations, sponsored by the Prigogine Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the Plexus Institute, to explore strategies for understanding uncertainty and surprise. Besides contributions to the conference, it includes a key digest by the editors as well as a commentary by the late nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine, "Surprises in half of a century". The book is intended for researchers and scientists in complexity science, as well as for a broad interdisciplinary audience of both practitioners and scholars. It will well serve those interested in the research issues and in the application of complexity science to physical and social systems.

Book Description

Here, the author takes you back to a time in the forties, fifties and early sixties-that has vanished forever. Through the author's vivid memory and descriptions, you will relive a time you might have forgotten, at least in part. If you never lived in those times in the South, you are in for surprises, some disbelief and lots of laughter. You are also in for some insights you will never forget.

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An interesting look at the big law firm experience

OK - but if you WANT to be a lawyer, see Keith Evans book

Read this book to make an informed decision about the law

WILL CONVINCE YOU NOT TO GO TO LAW SCHOOL!

enough complaining -- find a new job

Proceed With Caution: A Diary of the First Year At One Of America's Largest, Most Prestigious Law Firms
WIlliam R. Keates
Manufacturer: Harcourt Legal & Professional Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Double Billing: A Young Lawyer's Tale Of Greed, Sex, Lies, And The Pursuit Of A Swivel Chair

Anonymous Lawyer: A Novel

Skadden: Power, Money, and the Rise of a Legal Empire

The Business of the Practice of Law: What Every Associate Should Know About Law Firm Life

The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide

ASIN: 0159001811

Book Description

The author takes you behind the scenes to show you what it's really like to be a junior associate at a huge law firm.

Customer Reviews:

An interesting look at the big law firm experience.......2004-09-11

I'm investigating careers in the legal field, and I got this from a friend of mine. The book is honestly written and straightforward. However, it must be approached for what it is: a first-job perspective from a 26-27 year old student, fresh out of a grueling 7 or 8 years of law school and academia in general, with no real-world job experience and some highly idealistic preconceptions of how things should work. He gets a job in a top-flight high paying law firm in NYC (apparently, a Hollywoodesque big-time scenario for a lot of young lawyers) and documents his work experiences, interaction with fellow workers, and life in general in an engaging journal-entry style. This is definitely a one-sitting read.

I think it's a valuable read for anyone interested in a law career, especially if interested in working for a firm. It documents one scenario from a junior associate's perspective who worked for one large firm in NYC. From Keates' standpoint, I have come to understand that while the salary and perks might be initially very appealing, the job experience can be horrifying.

I completely disagree with the reviewer who thinks this is a "be-all, end-all" decision-making reference for law school (if reading this book scares you away from practicing law in entirety, maybe you shouldn't be approaching law school in the first place). Keates helped me to think about one possible work scenario out of hundreds that a law degree might make possible, and I'm grateful for the knowledge. If you're a 3rd year law student and your goal is to become a JA and make $90,000 your first year at a big law firm, maybe you should read this.

Also recommended is Susan Estrich's How To Get Into Law School (ISBN 1594480354), which discusses not only the approaches to get into law school but career paths and law practice in general.

OK - but if you WANT to be a lawyer, see Keith Evans book.......2004-07-10

An excellent book for lawyers who WANT to be lawyers and effective advocates is "Common Sense Rules of Advocacy for Lawyers," by Keith Evans. Great book for new associates and 3Ls.

Mr. Evans practiced as a trial lawyer in California for many years after a decade as a barrister in England. He also taught as an adjunct law professor and gave many presentations to American Inns of Court.

Common Sense Rules of Advocacy for Lawyers is published by TheCapitol.Net, and more information about Evans' book is available on Amazon: search Amazon for ISBN 1587330059

If you want to be an excellent attorney and an effective advocate, you should buy Common Sense Rules of Advocacy for Lawyers. If you're miserable and want company, buy "Proceed With Caution."

Read this book to make an informed decision about the law.......2002-04-02

This book does a great job of informing people in high school, college, and anyone else thinking about going to law school what practicing law in a prestigious law firm is actually like. The book is an easy read because each chapter begins with an entry from the author's journal, and then focuses on a particular aspect of a large-firm legal practice. The journal entries provide startlingly personal and realistic insights into a top lawyer's lifestyle, while the chapters describe what lawyers really do on a daily basis. The book effectively offers the information that people need in order to make an informed decision about whether to go to law school.

WILL CONVINCE YOU NOT TO GO TO LAW SCHOOL!.......2002-03-09

I would never even consider going to law school after reading this book. The excerpts from the author's diary enable readers to see through the veneer of prestige associated with large-firm law practices and understand what life is really like at a top law firm. For years, I've been hearing that lawyers are often highly dissatisfied with their jobs and lives, despite the high salaries and professional prestige. Until I read this book, though, no one could effectively articulate the specific reasons WHY lawyers tend to be so unhappy (other than the long hours they often work). This book finally fills that void by slowly building the case, chapter by chapter, against life in a large law firm. Through his diary entries, Keates does a fantastic job of describing not only why he is professionally and personally dissatisfied, but also HOW his dissatisfaction affects him over time.

enough complaining -- find a new job.......2001-06-24

The appendix in the back of this book, titled "Starting Salaries for New Associates at the 250 Largest Law Firms in America" explains it all -- it's difficult for the top-performing law students, often saddled with thousands of dollars of student loan debt, to pass up the signing bonuses, six-figure salaries, and tremendous prestige of big-city large-firm practice, especially when the salaries are often triple or quadruple what one could earn in the public service or government law. Keates is somewhat aware of the drawbacks of big firm practice, yet like many given the opportunity, he goes for the "brass ring" anyway. It doesn't take long for Keates to discover that he hates his job -- and this diary details the path by which his disillusionment about the glamour of the law is dispelled. He quickly discovers that big firm practice can be a 24/7 commitment, being on the hook to fickle partners, fickle clients, and fickle judges, all of which can be extremely stressful. Keates discusses the incidence of depression in lawyers, how one in ten lawyers thinks of suicide at least monthly. The solution to Keates' situation is apparent early on -- move on, find a different job in the law, change fields completely, but that would take the courage to give up the security of the huge paycheck, the Porsche 944, the prestige.

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