This book brings together tools that have been developed in a priori distant areas of mathematics, mechanics and physics. It provides coverage of selected contemporary problems in the areas of optimal design, mathematical models in material sciences, hysteresis, superconductivity, phase transition, crystal growth, moving boundary problems, thin shells and some of the associated numerical issues.

The modelling and the study of phase transition phenomena are capital issues as they have essential applications in material sciences and in biological and industrial processes. We can mention, e.g., phase separation in alloys, ageing of materials, microstructure evolution, crystal growth, solidification in complex alloys, surface diffusion in the presence of stress, evolution of the surface of a thin flow in heteroepitaxial growth, motion of voids in interconnects in integrated circuits, treatment of airway closure disease by surfactant injection, fuel injection, fire extinguishers etc., This book consists of 11 contributions from specialists in the mathematical modelling and analysis of phase transitions. The content of these contributions ranges from the modelling to the mathematical and numerical analysis. Furthermore, many numerical simulations are presented. Finally, the contributors have tried to give comprehensive and accurate reference lists. This book should thus serve as a reference book for researchers interested in phase transition phenomena.

The implementation of IPv6 is essential to the continued growth of the Internet and the development of new applications. The Handbook of IPv4 to IPv6 Transition Methodologies provides a wealth of best practices and procedures that will help corporations plan and implement a smooth transition to IPv6.A blueprint for successful transition, the Handbo

Free boundary problems arise in an enormous number of situations in nature and technology. They hold a strategic position in pure and applied sciences and thus have been the focus of considerable research over the last three decades. Free Boundary Problems: Theory and Applications presents the work and results of experts at the forefront of current research in mathematics, material sciences, chemical engineering, biology, and physics. It contains the plenary lectures and contributed papers of the 1997 International Interdisciplinary Congress proceedings held in Crete. The main topics addressed include free boundary problems in fluid and solid mechanics, combustion, the theory of filtration, and glaciology. Contributors also discuss material science modeling, recent mathematical developments, and numerical analysis advances within their presentations of more specific topics, such as singularities of interfaces, cusp cavitation and fracture, capillary fluid dynamics of film coating, dynamics of surface growth, phase transition kinetics, and phase field models. With the implications of free boundary problems so far reaching, it becomes important for researchers from all of these fields to stay abreast of new developments. Free Boundary Problems: Theory and Applications provides the opportunity to do just that, presenting recent advances from more than 50 researchers at the frontiers of science, mathematics, and technology.

It is almost self-evident that surface and interface science, coupled with the electronic structure of bulk materials, playa fundamental role in the understanding of materials properties. If one is to have any hope of understanding such properties as catalysis, microelectronic devices and contacts, wear, lubrication, resistance to corrosion, ductility, creep, intragranular fracture, toughness and strength of steels, adhesion of protective oxide scales, and the mechanical properties of ceramics, one must address a rather complex problem involving a number of fundamental parameters: the atomic and electronic structure, the energy and chemistry of surface and interface regions, diffusion along and across interfaces, and the response of an interface to stress. The intense need to gain an understanding of the properties of surfaces and interfaces is amply attested to by the large number of conferences and workshops held on surface and interface science. Because of this need, the fields of surface and interface science have been established in their own right, although their development presently lags behind that of general materials science associated with bulk, translationally invariant systems. There are good reasons to expect this situation to change rather dramatically in the next few years. Existing techniques for investigating surfaces and interfaces have reached maturity and are increasingly being applied to systems of practical relevance. New techniques are still being created, which drastically widen the scope of applicability of surface and interface studies. On the experimental side, new microscopies are bearing fruit.

This handbook explains the theory of local nonequilibrium thermodynamics that is constructed from microscopic particle statistical mechanics. Each thermodynamic quantity is based on a particle analog.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Albena, Bulgaria, from 9 to 20 September 2002