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Recently a new sphere in materials science* has formed which subject is structure and properties of electret materials used in engineering, medicine, biotechnology and other branches. It is characterized by specific methods of experimental investigations based on recording charge transfer, polarization and depolarization of dielectrics and involves original techniques and physico-mathematical aids where notions that exist at the interface of several natural and technical sciences are concentrated. It embraces a vast area of applications mainly in engineering, instrument- making, electronics, medical technique, biotechnology, and etc., has a specialized technological base for electric polarization of dielectrics composed of uncommon technological methods, equipment and instrumentation. Apparently, future fundamental investigations in the domain of electret materials science are to be developed at the interface of computer of dielectrics. Elaboration of a simulation, physics and physical chemistry model for electric polarization of solid media with uneven charge density distribution, complicated by surface phenomena, outer electromagnetic, heat, chemical and other effects, presents a grave methodological problem. The simulation of structures in which polarization follows diffusion mechanism of chemically active molecules or their fragments, and the development of calculation methods for polarized charge relaxation and regularities of dielectric nonlinear properties, are the most urgent objectives of current research. Success in bioelectret effect studies is anticipated to result in profound widening of natural science knowledge.

The field of "e;intelligent interfaces and systems"e; has seen a fast growth last decade. An impressive number of papers, conference tutorials, and volumes were devoted to the topic. Ten years ago, intelligent systems constituted a rather exotic topic and many were skeptic that such systems amount to more than a nice name. Nowadays, intelligent systems represent a powerful tool in many applications, in all industrial fields. Their development evolved on both the horizontal dimension, with a constantly increasing number of applications, and on the vertical dimension, by including more capabilities going from sensoric to neurofuzzy systems, intelligent agents, speech and image understanding, and decision making in complex environments. The domain constituted by the intelligent systems is now too large to be covered in a single volume. Consequently, the Editors considered a balance between several selected sub-fields, to insure the unity of the volume, yet allowing a large enough horizon and a consistent understanding of the entire field, including real-life applications. The volume represents a comprehensive coverage of the field, including fundamental aspects, software-, sensors-, and hardware-related issues. Moreover, the contributors to this volume offer, beyond a systematic overview of intelligent interfaces and systems, deep, practical knowledge in building and using intelligent systems in various applications. A special emphasis is on specific aspects and requirements in applications. In addition, the second Editor proposes two chapters addressing the management of projects dealing with intelligent systems.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 In the early chapters of the book of Proverbs there is a strong emphasis on three words: knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Perhaps we can apply these words to our philosophy behind the technology of Predictive Process Control. Knowledge is the accumulation of information provided by education as we begin to store the data in our brains that should prepare us for the challenges of the manufacturing environment. It applies to every level and every opportunity of education, formal and informal. This is simply to Know, without any requirement except a good memory, and is the basis for the following two thoughts. Understanding is the assimilation of knowledge, or the thinking process, as we begin to arrange and rearrange the data we Know for quick recall as it may be needed. This also applies to every level and opportunity of education. It is Know-Why based upon what we Know, and it requires some scepticism of oversimplified answers and a hunger for mental consistency. Wisdom is the application of both knowledge and understanding in real life enterprises. As we apply both our knowledge and understanding in those situations, all three are further enhanced by each progressive experience. This is that wonderful Know-How - to apply our education based upon Know-why, which was based upon Knowledge - which provides the confidence we need to advance in all phases of performance.

Logic Synthesis for Control Automata provides techniques for logic design of very complex control units with hardly any constraints on their size, i.e. the number of inputs, outputs and states. These techniques cover all stages of control unit design, including: description of control unit behavior by using operator schemes of algorithms (binary decision trees) and various transformations of these descriptions -- composition, decomposition, minimization, etc.; synthesis of a control automaton (finite-state machine); synthesis of an automaton logic circuit: with matrix structure as a part of LSI or VLSI circuits; as multilevel circuit with logic gates; with standard LSI and VLSI circuits with and without memory. Each chapter contains many examples, illustrating the use of the models and methods described. Moreover, the special last chapter demonstrates in detail the whole design methodology presented in the previous chapters, through the examples of the logic design for a control unit. The models, methods and algorithms described in the book can be applied to a broad class of digital system design problems including design of complex controllers, robots, control units of computers and for designing CAD systems of VLSI circuits using FPGA, PLD and SIC technologies. Logic Synthesis for Control Automata is a valuable reference for graduate students, researchers and engineers involved in the design of very complex controllers, VLSI circuits and CAD systems. The inclusion of many examples and problems makes it most suitable for a course on the subject.

This monograph is intended to provide a systematic presentation of theories concerning the adsorption of metal ions from aqueous solutions onto surfaces of natural and synthetic substances and to outline methods and procedures to estimate the extent and progress ofadsorption. As heavy metals and the problems associated with their transport and distribution are of serious concern to human health and the environment, the materials presented in this volume have both theoretical and practical significance. In writing this monograph, one ofour goals was to prepare a book useful to environmental workers and practicing engineers. For this reason, our presentation relies heavily on concepts commonly used in the environmental engineering literature. In fact, the volume was prepared for readers with a basic understanding of environmental engineering principles and some knowledge of adsorption processes. No prior familiarity with the ionic solute adsorption at solid-solution interfaces is assumed. Instead, introduction of the necessary background information was included. Generally speaking, metal ion adsorption may be studied in terms of three distinct but interrelated phenomena: surface ionization, complex formation, and the formation and presence of an electrostatic double layer adjacent to adsorbent surfaces. Analyses of these phenomena with various degrees of sophistication are xviii ADSORPTION OF METAL IONS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS presented, and their various combinations yield different models that describe metal ion adsorption.

The characteristics of electrical contacts have long attracted the attention of researchers since these contacts are used in every electrical and electronic device. Earlier studies generally considered electrical contacts of large dimensions, having regions of current concentration with diameters substantially larger than the characteristic dimensions of the material: the interatomic distance, the mean free path for electrons, the coherence length in the superconducting state, etc. [110]. The development of microelectronics presented to scientists and engineers the task of studying the characteristics of electrical contacts with ultra-small dimensions. Characteristics of point contacts such as mechanical stability under continuous current loads, the magnitudes of electrical fluctuations, inherent sensitivity in radio devices and nonlinear characteristics in connection with electromagnetic radiation can not be understood and altered in the required way without knowledge of the physical processes occurring in contacts. Until recently it was thought that the electrical conductivity of contacts with direct conductance (without tunneling or semiconducting barriers) obeyed Ohm's law. Nonlinearities of the current-voltage characteristics were explained by joule heating of the metal in the region of the contact. However, studies of the current-voltage characteristics of metallic point contacts at low (liquid helium) temperatures [142] showed that heating effects were negligible in many cases and the nonlinear characteristics under these conditions were observed to take the form of the energy dependent probability of inelastic electron scattering, induced by various mechanisms.

The use of diamond for electronic applications is not a new idea. As early as the 1920's diamonds were considered for their use as photoconductive detectors. However limitations in size and control of properties naturally limited the use of diamond to a few specialty applications. With the development of diamond synthesis from the vapor phase has come a more serious interest in developing diamond-based electronic devices. A unique combination of extreme properties makes diamond partiCularly well suited for high speed, high power, and high temperature applications. Vapor phase deposition of diamond allows large area films to be deposited, whose properties can potentially be controlled. Since the process of diamond synthesis was first realized, great progress have been made in understanding the issues important for growing diamond and fabricating electronic devices. The quality of both intrinsic and doped diamond has improved greatly to the point that viable applications are being developed. Our understanding of the properties and limitations has also improved greatly. While a number of excellent references review the general properties of diamond, this volume summarizes the great deal of literature related only to electronic properties and applications of diamond. We concentrate only on diamond; related materials such as diamond-like carbon (DLC) and other wide bandgap semiconductors are not treated here. In the first chapter Profs. C. Y. Fong and B. M. Klein discuss the band structure of single-crystal diamond and its relation to electronic properties.

Silicon on Insulator is more than a technology, more than a job, and more than a venture in microelectronics; it is something different and refreshing in device physics. This book recalls the activity and enthu- siasm of our SOl groups. Many contributing students have since then disappeared from the SOl horizon. Some of them believed that SOl was the great love of their scientific lives; others just considered SOl as a fantastic LEGO game for adults. We thank them all for kindly letting us imagine that we were guiding them. This book was very necessary to many people. SOl engineers will certainly be happy: indeed, if the performance of their SOl components is not always outstanding, they can now safely incriminate the relations given in the book rather than their process. Martine, Gunter, and Y. S. Chang can contemplate at last the amount of work they did with the figures. Our SOl accomplices already know how much we borrowed from their expertise and would find it indecent to have their detailed contri- butions listed. Jean-Pierre and Dimitris incited the book, while sharing their experience in the reliability of floating bodies. Our families and friends now realize the SOl capability of dielectrically isolating us for about two years in a BOX. Our kids encouraged us to start writing. Our wives definitely gave us the courage to stop writing. They had a hard time fighting the symptoms of a rapidly developing SOl allergy.

PREFACE This book deals with the new developments and applications of the geometric method to the nonlinear stability problem for thin non-elastic shells. There are no other published books on this subject except the basic ones of A. V. Pogorelov (1966,1967,1986), where variational principles defined over isometric surfaces, are postulated, and applied mainly to static and dynamic problems of elastic isotropic thin shells. A. V. Pogorelov (Harkov, Ukraine) was the first to provide in his monographs the geometric construction of the deformed shell surface in a post-critical stage and deriving explicitely the asymptotic formulas for the upper and lower critical loads. In most cases, these formulas were presented in a closed analytical form, and confirmed by experimental data. The geometric method by Pogorelov is one of the most important analytical methods developed during the last century. Its power consists in its ability to provide a clear geometric picture of the postcritical form of a deformed shell surface, successfully applied to a direct variational approach to the nonlinear shell stability problems. Until now most Pogorelov's monographs were written in Russian, which limited the diffusion of his ideas among the international scientific community. The present book is intended to assist and encourage the researches in this field to apply the geometric method and the related results to everyday engineering practice.

Infrared (IR) detectors fall into two main categories, thermal and photon. The earliest detectors of IR were thermal in nature, e.g. thermometers. The subsequent developments of these detectors, such as thermopiles, resistance bolometers, Golay cells and pyroelectric detectors, can operate at ambient temperature but have disadvantages of insensitivity and slowness. A wide variety of semiconductor photon detectors have been developed and these possess very high sensitivity, high frequency response but have the disadvantage of needing cryogenic cooling, particularly at longer wavelengths. In the main, the applications have been in the military sphere, but widespread industrial and scientific applications also exist. The majority of development funding for these semiconducting IR detectors has, however, come from military sources. This book is an attempt to provide an up-to-date view of the various IR detector/emitter materials systems currently in use or being actively researched. The book is aimed at newcomers to the field and at those already working in the IR industry. It is hoped that the former will find the book readable both as an introductory text and as a useful guide to the literature. Workers in one of the various IR areas will, hopefully, find the book useful in bringing them up-to-date with other, sometimes competing, technologies. To both groups of readers we trust that the book will prove interesting, thought-provoking and a spur to further progress in this fascinating and challenging field of endeavour.

The term rapid prototyping (RP) refers to a generic group of emerging technologies that enable very quick fabrication of engineering components primarily targeted for prototyping applications. With RP, very complex three- dimensional parts or prototypes can be fabricated without the need of costly tooling and machining. This inevitably leads to much shorter design cycle time and lower cost of building a prototype. Its manifold benefits include significant productivity gains, cost saving, and shortened development time to introduce concept models. As such, RP technologies have attracted tremendous R&D interests from both academia and industry in the past decade. Many different processes and materials have been commercialized and used in industry primarily for the fabrication of physical prototypes. More recent interests in RP technologies are towards functional applications of the fabricated parts, such as in rapid tooling applications and replacements of damaged components. Many processes and materials have been commercialized but are yet to be able to fulfill the aforementioned functional requirements because of limited mechanical strengths of the fabricated parts.

Non-destructive testing (NDT) systems can generate incomplete, incorrect or conflicting information about a flaw or a defect. Therefore, the use of more than one NDT system is usually required for accurate defect detection and/or quantification. In addition to a reduction in inspection time, important cost savings could be achieved if a data fusion process is developed to combine signals from multisensor systems for manual and remotely operated inspections. This gathering of data from multiple sources and an efficient processing of information help in decision making, reduce signal uncertainty and increase the overall performance of a non-destructive examination. This book gathers, for the first time, essays from leading NDT experts involved in data fusion. It explores the concept of data fusion by providing a comprehensive review and analysis of the applications of NDT data fusion. This publication concentrates on NDT data fusion for industrial applications and highlights progress and applications in the field of data fusion in areas ranging from materials testing in the aerospace industry to medical applications. Each chapter contains a specific case study with a theoretical part but also presents experimental results from a practical point of view. The book should be considered more as a pragmatic introduction to the applications of NDT data fusion rather than a rigorous basis for theoretical studies.

The objectives of this book are twofold: 1. To provide a thorough examination of the materials science of cellulosic fibers with emphasis on the characterization of structure-property relations, and 2. To advance knowledge of how to best analyze cellulosic fibrous networks and composites, and, ultimately, engineer "e;novel"e; cellulose-based systems of superior performance and functionality. The design of new materials through the study of living systems, or bio-imitation, is burgeoning to become an established field, generally referred to as biomimetics. The latter, as with materials science, in general, prominently features multi-disciplinarity where new developments in mathematics, physics, chemistry and engineering continue to inspire novel areas of research and development. The book is structured in five chapters which provide a sequential treatment of the running theme: deformation mechanics and the physical, morphological and mechanical characterization of native cellulose fibers networks and composites. The heart of the book is Chapter 3, Damage Accumulation in Fibers, which treats the experimental methodology for fatigue testing of single fibers and the engendered results. In-depth examinations of the morphology, structure and chemical composition of native cellulose fibers, and the mechanics of deformation in these natural composite fibers are proffered in Chapters 1 and 2, respectively. The fourth chapter, Fractal Simulation of Crack Propagation, presents a fractal-based approach to modeling damage accumulation in materials. Fractals lend themselves well to modeling such randomly-oriented phenomena as crack propagation and fracture. The last chapter, Fibrous Structures: Networks and Composites, comprises analytical approaches for handling networks and composites.

At the heart of the topology of global optimization lies Morse Theory: The study of the behaviour of lower level sets of functions as the level varies. Roughly speaking, the topology of lower level sets only may change when passing a level which corresponds to a stationary point (or Karush-Kuhn- Tucker point). We study elements of Morse Theory, both in the unconstrained and constrained case. Special attention is paid to the degree of differentiabil- ity of the functions under consideration. The reader will become motivated to discuss the possible shapes and forms of functions that may possibly arise within a given problem framework. In a separate chapter we show how certain ideas may be carried over to nonsmooth items, such as problems of Chebyshev approximation type. We made this choice in order to show that a good under- standing of regular smooth problems may lead to a straightforward treatment of "e;just"e; continuous problems by means of suitable perturbation techniques, taking a priori nonsmoothness into account. Moreover, we make a focal point analysis in order to emphasize the difference between inner product norms and, for example, the maximum norm. Then, specific tools from algebraic topol- ogy, in particular homology theory, are treated in some detail. However, this development is carried out only as far as it is needed to understand the relation between critical points of a function on a manifold with structured boundary. Then, we pay attention to three important subjects in nonlinear optimization.