The 2012 International Conference on Applied Biotechnology (ICAB 2012) was held in Tianjin, China on October 18-19, 2012. It provides not only a platform for domestic and foreign researchers to exchange their ideas and experiences with the application-oriented research of biotechnology, but also an opportunity to promote the development and prosperity of the biotechnology industry. The proceedings of ICAB 2012 mainly focus on the world's latest scientific research and techniques in applied biotechnology, including Industrial Microbial Technology, Food Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Environmental Biotechnology, Marine Biotechnology, Agricultural Biotechnology, Biological Materials and Bio-energy Technology, Advances in Biotechnology, and Future Trends in Biotechnology. These proceedings are intended for scientists and researchers engaging in applied biotechnology. Professor Pingkai Ouyang is the President of the Nanjing University of Technology, China. Professor Tongcun Zhang is the Director of the Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology of the Ministry of Education at the College of Bioengineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, China. Dr. Samuel Kaplan is a Professor at the Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas at Houston Medical School, Houston, Texas, USA. Dr. Bill Skarnes is a Professor at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, United Kingdom.

Selected, peer reviewed papers from the International Conference on Chemical, Material and Metallurgical Engineering (ICCMME 2011), December 23-25, 2011, Beihai, China

The objective of these proceedings is to encourage engineering professionals, academics and researchers to exchange views, results, ideas and experiences concerning chemical, materials and metallurgical engineering. The work is divided into the chapters: Chemical Engineering Measurement and Instrumentation, Transport Processes of Chemical Engineering, Chemical Separation Engineering, Industrial Catalysis, Chemical Systems Engineering, Inorganic and Organic Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Industry, Electrochemical Engineering, Green Chemical Processing Technology and Chemistry Science and Applied Chemistry. It constitutes a comprehensive guide to these subjects. Review from Book News Inc.: The first volume in the three-volume set from the December 2011 conference presents the findings of recent research on measurements and instruments for chemical engineering, industrial catalysis, transport processes, and chemical separation engineering. Volume two explores chemical system engineering, inorganic and organic chemical engineering, and the biochemical industry. The third volume switches to green chemical process technology, electrochemical engineering, chemistry science, and applied chemistry. Three papers from Kunming University of Science and Technology study the numerical integral in the ideal adsorbed solution theory and microwave desorption for regenerating ethanol from a light wine liquid. Two papers from a Pakistani analyze the sulfur and water content of diesel fuel burned for industrial power generation. Other topics of the 490 papers include pretreating seawater to reduce turbidity and boron, extracting flavonoids from honeysuckle leaves, synthesizing single-phase zeolite from polysilicon byproduct, and comparing the aroma of mango juice extracted by different methods.

Advanced surfaces enriches the high-throughput engineering of physical and chemical phenomenon in relatin to electrical, magnetic, electronics, thermal and optical controls, as well as large surface areas, protective coatings against water loss and excessive gas exchange. A more sophisticated example could be a highly selective surface permeability allowing passive diffusion and selective transport of molecules in the water or gases. The smart surface technology provides an interlayer model which prevents the entry of substances without affecting the properties of neighboring layers. A number of methods have been developed for coatings, which are essential building blocks for the top-down and/or bottom-up design of numerous functional materials. Advanced Surface Engineering Materials offers a detailed up-to-date review chapters on the functional coatings and adhesives, engineering of nanosurfaces, high-tech surface, characterization and new applications. The 13 chapters in this book are divided into 3 parts (Functional coatings and adhesives; Engineering of nanosurfaces; High-tech surface, characterization and new applications) and are all written by worldwide subject matter specialists. The book is written for readers from diverse backgrounds across chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering, medical science, environmental, bio- and nano- technologies and biomedical engineering. It offers a comprehensive view of cutting-edge research on surface engineering materials and their technological importance.

The objective of these proceedings is to encourage engineering professionals, academics and researchers to exchange views, results, ideas and experiences concerning chemical, materials and metallurgical engineering. The work is divided into the chapters: Chemical Engineering Measurement and Instrumentation, Transport Processes of Chemical Engineering, Chemical Separation Engineering, Industrial Catalysis, Chemical Systems Engineering, Inorganic and Organic Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Industry, Electrochemical Engineering, Green Chemical Processing Technology and Chemistry Science and Applied Chemistry. It constitutes a comprehensive guide to these subjects.

This book is a collection of papers devoted to the emergence and development in Bulgarian Academy of Sciences of some of the areas of informatics, including artificial intelligence. The papers are prepared by specialists from the Academy, some of whom are among the founders of these scientific and application areas in Bulgaria and in some cases – in the world. The book is interesting for specialists in informatics and computer science and researchers in history of sciences.

This series of books, which is published at the rate of about one per year, addresses fundamental problems in materials science. The contents cover a broad range of topics from small clusters of atoms to engineering materials and involve chemistry, physics, materials science, and engineering, with length scales ranging from Ångstroms up to millimeters. The emphasis is on basic science rather than on applications. Each book focuses on a single area of current interest and brings together leading experts to give an up-to-date discussion of their work and the work of others. Each article contains enough references that the interested reader can access the relevant literature. Thanks are given to the Center for Fundamental Materials Research at Michigan State University for supporting this series. M. F. Thorpe, Series Editor E-mail: thorpe@pa. msu. edu East Lansing, Michigan V PREFACE It is hard to believe that not quite ten years ago, namely in 1991, nanotubes of carbon were discovered by Sumio Iijima in deposits on the electrodes of the same carbon arc apparatus that was used to produce fullerenes such as the “buckyball”. Nanotubes of carbon or other materials, consisting ofhollow cylinders that are only a few nanometers in diameter, yet up to millimeters long, are amazing structures that self-assemble under extreme conditions. Their quasi-one-dimensional character and virtual absence of atomic defects give rise to a plethora of unusual phenomena.