Less than twenty years ago photolithography and medicine were total strangers to one another. They had not yet met, and not even looking each other up in the classi?eds. And then, nucleic acid chips, micro?uidics and microarrays entered the scene, and rapidly these strangers became indispensable partners in biomedicine. Asrecentlyastenyearsagothenotionofapplyingnanotechnologytothe?ghtagainstd- ease was dominantly the province of the ?ction writers. Thoughts of nanoparticle-vehicled deliveryoftherapeuticalstodiseasedsiteswereanexerciseinscienti?csolitude,andgrounds for questioning one's ability to think "like an established scientist". And today we have nanoparticulate paclitaxel as the prime option against metastatic breast cancer, proteomic pro?lingdiagnostictoolsbasedontargetsurfacenanotexturing,nanoparticlecontrastagents for all radiological modalities, nanotechnologies embedded in high-distribution laboratory equipment, and no less than 152 novel nanomedical entities in the regulatory pipeline in the US alone.Thisisatransformingimpact,byanymeasure,withclearevidenceoffurtheracceleration, supported by very vigorous investments by the public and private sectors throughout the world. Even joining the dots in a most conservative, linear fashion, it is easy to envision scenarios of personalized medicine such as the following: patient-speci?c prevention supplanting gross, faceless intervention strategies; early detection protocols identifying signs of developing disease at the time when the disease is most easily subdued; personally tailored intervention strategies that are so routinely and inexpensively realized, that access to them can be secured by everyone; technologies allowing for long lives in the company of disease, as good neighbors, without impairment of the quality of life itself.

Updating the Artech House bestseller, "Fundamentals and Applications of Microfluidics", this newly revised second edition provides electrical and mechanical engineers with complete and current coverage of microfluidics - an emerging field involving fluid flow and devices in microscale and nanoscale. The second edition offers a greatly expanded treatment of nanotechnology, electrokinetics and flow theory. The book shows engineers how to take advantage of the performance benefits of microfluidics and serves as an instant reference for state-of-the-art microfluidics technology and applications. The wide range of applications discussed includes fluid control devices, gas and fluid measurement devices, medical testing equipment, and implantable drug pumps. Professionals learn how to choose the best fabrication and enabling technology for a specific microfluidic application.

The development of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), a measurement technique, which allows for capturing velocity information of whole ?ow ?elds in fractions of a second, has begun in the eighties of the last century. In 1998, when this book has been published ?rstly, the PIV technique emerged from laboratories to applications in fundamental and industrial research, in par- lel to the transition from photo-graphicalto video recording techniques. Thus this book, whose objective was and is to serve as a practical guide to the PIV technique, found strong interest within the increasing group of users. The early progress made with the PIV technique might best be char- terized by the experience gained during our aerodynamic research at DLR (Deutsches Zentrum fur ¨ Luft- und Raumfahrt) at that time. The ?rst app- cations of PIV outside the laboratory, in wind tunnels, as performed in the mid-eighties were characterized by the following time scales: time required to set up the system and to obtain well focused photo-graphical PIV recordings was 2 to 3 days, time required to process the ?lm was 0. 5 to 1 day, time - quired to evaluate a single photo-graphicalPIV recording by means of optical evaluation methods was 24 to 48 hours. When the ?rst edition of this book was published in 1998, with electronic cameras and computers, it was pos- ble to focus on-line, to capture several recordings per second, and to evaluate a digital recording within seconds.

Results from several applications of particle image velocimetry (PIV) to unsteady flows at a laboratory scale have been published, and commercial products are now available for more general laboratory use, but for certain industrially important applications, reliable equipment is often available only from in-house research and development teams. This PIV handbookis intended to transfer know-how from PIV development laboratories to end-users in industry and universities. The book discusses the scientific and technical aspects required to set up a PIV system, allows users to assess the problems involved in the application of PIV, and enables them to design, optimize, and use PIV systems to meet their special needs.

Less than twenty years ago photolithography and medicine were total strangers to one another. They had not yet met, and not even looking each other up in the classi?eds. And then, nucleic acid chips, micro?uidics and microarrays entered the scene, and rapidly these strangers became indispensable partners in biomedicine. Asrecentlyastenyearsagothenotionofapplyingnanotechnologytothe?ghtagainstd- ease was dominantly the province of the ?ction writers. Thoughts of nanoparticle-vehicled deliveryoftherapeuticalstodiseasedsiteswereanexerciseinscienti?csolitude,andgrounds for questioning one's ability to think "like an established scientist". And today we have nanoparticulate paclitaxel as the prime option against metastatic breast cancer, proteomic pro?lingdiagnostictoolsbasedontargetsurfacenanotexturing,nanoparticlecontrastagents for all radiological modalities, nanotechnologies embedded in high-distribution laboratory equipment, and no less than 152 novel nanomedical entities in the regulatory pipeline in the US alone.Thisisatransformingimpact,byanymeasure,withclearevidenceoffurtheracceleration, supported by very vigorous investments by the public and private sectors throughout the world. Even joining the dots in a most conservative, linear fashion, it is easy to envision scenarios of personalized medicine such as the following: patient-speci?c prevention supplanting gross, faceless intervention strategies; early detection protocols identifying signs of developing disease at the time when the disease is most easily subdued; personally tailored intervention strategies that are so routinely and inexpensively realized, that access to them can be secured by everyone; technologies allowing for long lives in the company of disease, as good neighbors, without impairment of the quality of life itself.

Updating the Artech House bestseller, "Fundamentals and Applications of Microfluidics", this newly revised second edition provides electrical and mechanical engineers with complete and current coverage of microfluidics - an emerging field involving fluid flow and devices in microscale and nanoscale. The second edition offers a greatly expanded treatment of nanotechnology, electrokinetics and flow theory. The book shows engineers how to take advantage of the performance benefits of microfluidics and serves as an instant reference for state-of-the-art microfluidics technology and applications. The wide range of applications discussed includes fluid control devices, gas and fluid measurement devices, medical testing equipment, and implantable drug pumps. Professionals learn how to choose the best fabrication and enabling technology for a specific microfluidic application.

The development of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), a measurement technique, which allows for capturing velocity information of whole ?ow ?elds in fractions of a second, has begun in the eighties of the last century. In 1998, when this book has been published ?rstly, the PIV technique emerged from laboratories to applications in fundamental and industrial research, in par- lel to the transition from photo-graphicalto video recording techniques. Thus this book, whose objective was and is to serve as a practical guide to the PIV technique, found strong interest within the increasing group of users. The early progress made with the PIV technique might best be char- terized by the experience gained during our aerodynamic research at DLR (Deutsches Zentrum fur ¨ Luft- und Raumfahrt) at that time. The ?rst app- cations of PIV outside the laboratory, in wind tunnels, as performed in the mid-eighties were characterized by the following time scales: time required to set up the system and to obtain well focused photo-graphical PIV recordings was 2 to 3 days, time required to process the ?lm was 0. 5 to 1 day, time - quired to evaluate a single photo-graphicalPIV recording by means of optical evaluation methods was 24 to 48 hours. When the ?rst edition of this book was published in 1998, with electronic cameras and computers, it was pos- ble to focus on-line, to capture several recordings per second, and to evaluate a digital recording within seconds.

Results from several applications of particle image velocimetry (PIV) to unsteady flows at a laboratory scale have been published, and commercial products are now available for more general laboratory use, but for certain industrially important applications, reliable equipment is often available only from in-house research and development teams. This PIV handbookis intended to transfer know-how from PIV development laboratories to end-users in industry and universities. The book discusses the scientific and technical aspects required to set up a PIV system, allows users to assess the problems involved in the application of PIV, and enables them to design, optimize, and use PIV systems to meet their special needs.