This book provides a detailed overview and comprehensive analysis of the main theoretical and experimental advances on free surface thin film and jet flows of soft matter. The book outlines the basic equations and boundary conditions and the derivation of low-dimensional models for the evolution of the free surface. At the experimental front, a variety of recent experimental developments is outlined and the link between theory and experiments is illustrated.

-Polyelectrolyte Stars and Cylindrical Brushes By Y. Xu, F. Plamper, M. Ballauff, and A. H. E. Müller -Various Aspects of the Interfacial Self-Assembly of Nanoparticles By N. Popp, S. Kutuzov, A. Böker -Holographic Gratings and Data Storage in Azobenzene-Containing Block Copolymers and Molecular Glasses By H. Audorff, K. Kreger, R. Walker, D. Haarer, L. Kador, and H.-W. Schmidt -Donor–Acceptor Block Copolymers with Nanoscale Morphology for Photovoltaic Applications By M. Sommer, S. Huettner, and M. Thelakkat -Recent Advances in the Improvement of Polymer Electret Films By D. P. Erhard, D. Lovera, C. von Salis-Soglio, R. Giesa, V. Altstädt, and H.-W. Schmidt

Emulsions occur either as end products or during the processing of products in a huge range of areas including the food, agrochemical, pharmaceuticals, paints and oil industries. As end products, emulsions allow to avoid organic solvent in processing hydrophobic coatings. Emulsion technology is a suitable approach to vehicle viscous phases. It is also a remarkable mean of targeting actives or capturing specific species. The range of applications of emulsions progresses and their manufacturing becomes more and more sophisticated. Besides this broad domain of technological interest, emulsions are raising a variety of fundamental questions at the frontier between physic and chem istry. Indeed, as a class of soft colloidal materials, emulsions science is linked to various aspects of these disciplines: phase transitions, surface forces and wetting, metastability and hydrodynamic instabilities, mechanical properties and flow. The aim of this book is to review the main important concepts governing emulsion science. In Chapter 2, repulsive interactions between liquid films are discussed as well as adhesive interaction related to wetting. In Chap ter 3, consequences of weak and strong attractions are presented, related to the well accepted liquid solid transition analogy. In Chapter 4, the basics of both bulk compressibility and shear elasticity are presented, the role of disorder being the most important aspect of the elastic behavior of these soft systems. In Chapter 5 the central question of the emulsion lifetime related to metastability is discussed.

Colloidal systems and dispersions are of great importance in oil recovery, waist water treatment, coating, food and beverage industry, pharmaceutical industry, medicine, environmental protection etc. Colloidal systems and dispersions are always multi-component and multiphase systems. In these systems at least one dimension is in a range of colloidal forces action: colloidal dispersions/emulsions are examples of three dimensional colloidal systems, while thin liquid films are examples of one dimensional colloidal systems. The contribution presented in this issue deals with flow, distribution and redistribution, coating and deposition of surfactant and polymer molecules in colloidal systems. The book presents reviews of recent advances and trends by well-know scientists and engineers in this area.

This thesis presents an in-depth study on the effect of colloidal particle shape and formation mechanism on self-organization and the final crystal symmetries that can be achieved. It demonstrates how state-of-the-art X-ray diffraction techniques can be used to produce detailed characterizations of colloidal crystal structures prepared using different self-assembly techniques, and how smart systems can be used to investigate defect formation and diffusion in-situ. One of the most remarkable phenomena exhibited by concentrated suspensions of colloidal particles is the spontaneous self-organization into structures with long-range spatial and/or orientational orders. The study also reveals the subtle structural variations that arise by changing the particle shape from spherical to that of a rounded cube. In particular, the roundness of the cube corners, when combined with the self-organization pathway, convective assembly or sedimentation, was shown to influence the final crystal symmetries.

The theory of simple and complex fluids has made considerable recent progress, due to the emergence of new concepts and theoretical tools, and also to the availability of a large body of new experimental data on increas ingly complex systems, as well as far-reaching methodological developments in numerical simulations. This AS! aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the most significant theoretical developments, supplemented by a few presentations of cutting-edge simulation and experimental work. The impact of the Institute in the overall landscape of Statistical Mechanics received an important recognition with its inclusion in the list of satellite events of STATPHYS20, the triennal international conference on Statistical Physics held in Paris in July 1998. These Proceedings contain the texts of the 13 Lecture Courses and 9 Invited Seminars delivered at Patti. Two clear trends emerge from these Proceedings: first, the diversity of new and unexpected theoretical results relating to classic models of liq uids, which have recently been subjected to fresh scrutiny; and secondly the parallel emergence of new concepts, models and methods, aimed at investigating complex fluids and phenomena, like the phase behaviour of fluids in pores, macromolecular assemblies, and the glass transition. Many of the new tools have their roots in traditional liquid state theory, and, in conjunction with fresh input from related fields, allow it wider applicability.

This book gives an overview of the most recent advances in emulsion science, from the preparation to the destruction of these materials. This book is intended for a large audience, from undergraduate students to senior scientists. A progressive and didactic approach is proposed for that purpose. The concepts presented should provide a useful guidance for formulating and controlling the lifetime of emulsion at laboratory and industrial scales. For easy comprehension, the text is illustrated by more than 70 figures. This book is a new edition of the one published in the series "Springer Tracts in Modern Physics (vol. 181)". The main difference is a more didactic approach which will allow the non-specialist reader to capture the essential concepts. We shall also incorporate the very last research results (solid-stabilized emulsions, metastability) and novel applications (Biotechnology).