This volume is a collection of twenty five written contributions by distinguished invited speakers from seven countries to the IUTAM Symposium on Size Effects on Material and Structural Behavior at Micron- and Nano-scales. Size effects on material and structural behaviors are of great interest to physicists, material scientists, and engineers who need to understand and model the mechanical behavior of solids especially at micron- and nano-scales.

By the late 1940s, and since then, the continuous development of dislocation theories have provided the basis for correlating the macroscopic time-dependent deformation of metals and alloys—known as creep—to the time-dependent processes taking place within the metals and alloys. High-temperature deformation and stress relaxation effects have also been explained and modeled on similar bases. The knowledge of high-temperature deformation as well as its modeling in conventional or unconventional situations is becoming clearer year by year, with new contemporary and better performing high-temperature materials being constantly produced and investigated. This book includes recent contributions covering relevant topics and materials in the field in an innovative way. In the first section, contributions are related to the general description of creep deformation, damage, and ductility, while in the second section, innovative testing techniques of creep deformation are presented. The third section deals with creep in the presence of complex loading/temperature changes and environmental effects, while the last section focuses on material microstructure–creep correlations for specific material classes. The quality and potential of specific materials and microstructures, testing conditions, and modeling as addressed by specific contributions will surely inspire scientists and technicians in their own innovative approaches and studies on creep and high-temperature deformation.

CREEP, SHRINKAGE AND DURABILITY MECHANICS OF CONCRETE AND CONCRETE STRUCTURES contains the keynote lectures, technical reports and contributed papers presented at the Eighth International Conference on Creep, Shrinkage and Durability of Concrete and Concrete Structures (CONCREEP8, Ise-shima, Japan, 30 September - 2 October 2008). The topics covered

Small scale mechanical deformations have gained a significant interest over the past few decades, driven by the advances in integrated circuits and microelectromechanical systems. One of the most powerful and versatile characterization methods is the nanoindentation technique. The capabilities of these depth-sensing instruments have been improved considerably. They can perform experiments in vacuum and at high temperatures, such as in-situ SEM and TEM nanoindenters. This allows researchers to visualize mechanical deformations and dislocations motion in real time. Time-dependent behavior of soft materials has also been studied in recent research works. This Special Issue on "Small Scale Deformation using Advanced Nanoindentation Techniques"; will provide a forum for researchers from the academic and industrial communities to present advances in the field of small scale contact mechanics. Materials of interest include metals, glass, and ceramics. Manuscripts related to deformations of biomaterials and biological related specimens are also welcome. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: Small scale facture Nanoscale plasticity and creep Size-dependent deformation phenomena Deformation of biological cells Mechanical properties of cellular and sub-cellular components Novel mechanical properties characterization techniques New modeling methods Environmentally controlled nanoindentation In-situ SEM and TEM indentation