Diffusion and growth phenomena abound in the real world surrounding us. Someexamples: growth of the world's population, growth rates of humans, public interest in news events, growth and decline of central city populations, pollution of rivers, adoption of agricultural innovations, and spreading of epidemics and migration of insects. These and numerous other phenomena are illustrations of typical growth and diffusion problems confronted in many branches of the physical, biological and social sciences as well as in various areas of agriculture, business, education, engineering medicine and public health. The book presents a large number of mathematical models to provide frameworks forthe analysis and display of many of these. The models developed and utilizedcommence with relatively simple exponential, logistic and normal distribution functions. Considerable attention is given to time dependent growth coefficients and carrying capacities. The topics of discrete and distributed time delays, spatial-temporal diffusion and diffusion with reaction are examined. Throughout the book there are a great many numerical examples. In addition and most importantly, there are more than 50 in-depth "illustrations" of the application of a particular framework ormodel based on real world problems. These examples provide the reader with an appreciation of the intrinsic nature of the phenomena involved. They address mainly readers from the physical, biological, and social sciences, as the only mathematical background assumed is elementary calculus. Methods are developed as required, and the reader can thus acquire useful tools for planning, analyzing, designing,and evaluating studies of growth transfer and diffusion phenomena. The book draws on the author's own hands-on experience in problems of environmental diffusion and dispersion, as well as in technology transfer and innovation diffusion.

This authoritative test introduces the basic aspects of diffusion phenomena and their methods of solution through physical examples. It emphasizes modeling and methodology, bridging the gap between physico chemical statements of certain kinetic processes and their reduction to diffusion problems. Author Richard Ghez draws upon his experience in the areas of metallurgy and semiconductor technology to present physically significant examples that will prove of interest to a wide range of scientists — physicists, chemists, biologists, and applied mathematicians. Prerequisites include a rigorous year of calculus and a semester of thermodynamics. The opening chapter on the diffusion equation is succeeded by chapters on steady-state examples, diffusion under external forces, and simple time-dependent examples. An introduction to similarity is followed by explorations of surface rate limitations and segregation, a user's guide to the Laplace transform, and further time-dependent examples.

The investigation of phenomena involving fractals has gone through a spectacular development in the last decade. Many physical, technological and biological processes have been shown to be related to and described by objects with non-integer dimensions. The physics of far-from-equilibrium growth phenomena represents one of the most important fields in which fractal geometry is widely applied. During the last couple of years considerable experimental, numerical and theoretical information has accumulated concerning such processes. This book, written by a well-known expert in the field, summarizes the basic concepts born in the studies of fractal growth and also presents some of the most important new results for more specialized readers. It also contains 15 beautiful color plates demonstrating the richness of the geometry of fractal patterns. Accordingly, it may serve as a textbook on the geometrical aspects of fractal growth and it treats this area in sufficient depth to make it useful as a reference book. No specific mathematical knowledge is required for reading this book which is intended to give a balanced account of the field.

This book is a second edition of the one that was published by John Wiley & Sons in 1988. It carries a new title because the former one, A Primer of Diffusion Problems, gave the impression of consisting merely of a set of problems relating to diffusion. Nonetheless, my intention was clearly spelled out and it remains the same, namely, to teach basic aspects and methods of solution for diffusion phenomena through physical examples. Again, I emphasize that the coverage is not encyclopedic. There exist already several outstanding works of that nature, for example, J. Philibert's Atom Movements, Diffusion and Mass Transport in Solids. My emphasis is on modeling and methodology. This book should thus constitute a consistent introduction to diffusion phenomena, whatever their origin or further application. This edition has been largely revised. It contains a completely new chapter and three new appendices. I have added several new exercises stemming from my experience in teaching this material over the last 15 years. I hope that they will be instructive to the reader for they were not chosen perfunctorily. Although they are the bane of authors and of readers, I have retained footnotes if they might help the reader's comprehension. Additional, but nonessential material is collected at the end of chapters, and is indicated in the text by superscripts.

Present issue is devoted to problems classical mass diffusion such as phase transformations, corrosion behavior, coatings and microstructures and extensions to new research in the field of nanotechnology. Were investigated classical carbon and alloy steels, titanium and aluminum alloys as well as polymer materials. Technical applications relate to oil recovery, surface quality, and improved material properties for machining and processing. Many of these topics are related to experimental measurements and methods as well as numerical simulation and approaches to predict properties and processes.

The investigation of phenomena involving fractals has gone through a spectacular development in the last decade. Many physical, technological and biological processes have been shown to be related to and described by objects with non-integer dimensions. The physics of far-from-equilibrium growth phenomena represents one of the most important fields in which fractal geometry is widely applied. During the last couple of years considerable experimental, numerical and theoretical information has accumulated concerning such processes.This book, written by a well-known expert in the field, summarizes the basic concepts born in the studies of fractal growth and also presents some of the most important new results for more specialized readers. It also contains 15 beautiful color plates demonstrating the richness of the geometry of fractal patterns. Accordingly, it may serve as a textbook on the geometrical aspects of fractal growth and it treats this area in sufficient depth to make it useful as a reference book. No specific mathematical knowledge is required for reading this book which is intended to give a balanced account of the field.