An overview of the latest computational materials science methods on an atomic scale. The authors present the physical and mathematical background in sufficient detail for this highly current and important topic, but without unnecessary complications. They focus on approaches with industrial relevance, covering real-life applications taken from concrete projects that range from tribology modeling to performance optimization of integrated circuits. Following an introduction to the fundamentals, the book describes the most relevant approaches, covering such classical simulation methods as simple and reactive force field methods, as well as highly accurate quantum-mechanical methods ranging from density-functional theory to Hartree-Fock and beyond. A review of the increasingly important multiscale approaches rounds off this section. The last section demonstrates and illustrates the capabilities of the methods previously described using recent real-life examples of industrial applications. As a result, readers gain a heightened user awareness, since the authors clearly state the conditions of applicability for the respective modeling methods so as to avoid fatal mistakes.

This report surveys opportunities for future Army applications in biotechnology, including sensors, electronics and computers, materials, logistics, and medical therapeutics, by matching commercial trends and developments with enduring Army requirements. Several biotechnology areas are identified as important for the Army to exploit, either by direct funding of research or by indirect influence of commercial sources, to achieve significant gains in combat effectiveness before 2025.

This book gives an introduction to the highly interdisciplinary field of biomaterials. It concisely summarizes properties, synthesis and modification of materials such as metals, ceramics, polymers or composites. Characterization, in vitro and in vivo testing as well as a selection of various applications are also part of this inevitable guide.

The inner architecture of a material can have an astonishing effect on its overall properties and is vital to understand when designing new materials. Nature is a master at designing hierarchical structures and so researchers are looking at biological examples for inspiration, specifically to understand how nature arranges the inner architectures for a particular function in order to apply these design principles into man-made materials. Materials Design Inspired by Nature is the first book to address the relationship between the inner architecture of natural materials and their physical properties for materials design. The book explores examples from plants, the marine world, arthropods and bacteria, where the inner architecture is exploited to obtain specific mechanical, optical or magnetic properties along with how these design principles are used in man-made products. Details of the experimental methods used to investigate hierarchical structures are also given. Written by leading experts in bio-inspired materials research, this is essential reading for anyone developing new materials.

In order to achieve the revolutionary new defense capabilities offered by materials science and engineering, innovative management to reduce the risks associated with translating research results will be needed along with the R&D. While payoff is expected to be high from the promising areas of materials research, many of the benefits are likely to be evolutionary. Nevertheless, failure to invest in more speculative areas of research could lead to undesired technological surprises. Basic research in physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science will provide the seeds for potentially revolutionary technologies later in the 21st century.

Bioinspired Materials for Medical Applications examines the inspiration of natural materials and their interpretation as modern biomaterials. With a strong focus on therapeutic and diagnostic applications, the book also examines the development and manipulation of bioinspired materials in regenerative medicine. The first set of chapters is heavily focused on bioinspired solutions for the delivery of drugs and therapeutics that also offer information on the fundamentals of these materials. Chapters in part two concentrate on bioinspired materials for diagnosis applications with a wide coverage of sensor and imaging systems With a broad coverage of the applications of bioinspired biomaterials, this book is a valuable resource for biomaterials researchers, clinicians, and scientists in academia and industry, and all those who wish to broaden their knowledge in the allied field. - Explores how materials designed and produced with inspiration from nature can be used to enhance man-made biomaterials and medical devices - Brings together the two fields of biomaterials and bioinspired materials - Written by a world-class team of research scientists, engineers, and clinicians

As part of a collaboration between two different groups in chemistry and biochemistry, Thom Sharp presents here his thesis work on the development of new methods for cryoelectron microscopy. Throughout his Ph.D., Thom had to master a whole range of techniques including modelling, molecular biology and microscopy. Using these skills to tackle an outstanding problem, the pursuit of high-resolution structures of peptide-based materials, Thom highlights in this thesis his newly developed methods for analysing and processing this particular type of electron microscopy data. This thesis gives the first molecular description of a de-novo designed peptide-based material. In general, this research will have a huge impact on the peptide assembly field, and also in electron microscopy as it introduces new methods and approaches, all of which are Thom's inventions and are described in this thesis.