The Advanced Study Institute on Breakdown and Discharges in Gases was held in Les Arcs, France, June 28 to July 10, 1981. The object of the Institute was to provide a broad but compre hensive presentation of the various topics in the field of Gaseous electronics. To achieve this goal, a number of lectures, seminars, and panel discussions were scheduled. Each topic was developed by two tutorial and/or review lectures, and brought to the present state of the topic by seminars and panel discussions. The program of topics and speakers was selected with the assistance of the advisory committee composed of: J. A. Rees, European Coordinator, England; M. Goldman, French Coordinator, France; A. H. Guenther, USA; M. Kristiansen, USA; and A. V. Phelps, USA. The most memorable aspect of the Institute was the sustained high interest of the faculty and participants for the two week period. The daily schedule was demanding: five hours of lectures, two hours of seminars and one of discussion. These sessions were often extended because of presentation by the participants of im proptu seminars. The discussions were intense. Majestic }10nt Blanc provided the backdrop for the lecture hall, and these surroundings and the weather contributed to the overall positive mood. It was a wonderful occasion. The lectures and seminars have been collected into two volumes.

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The book describes the main physical processes and phenomena in pulsed electric breakdown. The knowledge and the control of the electric breakdown of liquids is important not only for the insulation inside power systems but it is also used for the creation and information of high voltage and high current pulses. Such high-voltage micro- and nanosecond pulses find wide application in experimental physics, electro discharge technology, physics of dielectrics, radar detection and ranging, high-speed photography.

Processing of Food Products and Wastes with High Voltage Electrical Discharges presents basic knowledge on HVED technology, focusing on the mechanisms, related phenomena and effects, equipment design, methods and examples of application. Divided in three parts, the book covers the advantages and restrictions of HVED technology for the treatment of numerous specific food products, by-products and wastes, such as grape, oilseed, citrus by-products and wastes, lignocellulosic and algal biomass, meat and bacterias. This book act as a comprehensive resource for researchers to be able to use the data for the dimensioning of HVED and processing equipment and finding the optimal treatment parameters. - Presents basic knowledge about the mechanisms of this treatment in direct and indirect modes - Contains equipment specifications, process parameters and types of the products - Brings numerous examples of applications classified by types of food and products treated by HVED - Presents optimal HVED regimes to enhance food and biomass processing

Pulsed power technology, in the simplest of terms, usually concerns the storage of electrical energy over relatively long times and then its rapid release over a comparatively short period. However, if we leave the definition at that, we miss a multitude of aspects that are important in the ultimate application of pulsed power. It is, in fact, the application of pulsed power technology to which this series of texts will be focused. Pulsed power in today's broader sense means "special power" as opposed to the tra ditional situation of high voltage impulse issues related to the utility industry. Since the pulsed power field is primarily application driven, it has principally an engineering flavor. Today' s applications span those from materials processing, such as metal forming by pulsed magnetic fields, to other varied applications, such as psy chedelic strobe lights or radar modulators. Very high peak power applications occur in research for inertial confinement fusion, the Strategic Defense Initiative and other historical defense uses. lri fact it is from this latter direction that pulsed power has real ized explosive growth over the past half century. Early thrusts were in electrically powered systems that simulated the environment or effects of nuclear weapons detonation. More recently it is being utilized as prime power sources for directed energy weapons, such as lasers, microwaves, particle beam weapons, and even mass drivers (kinetic energy weapons).