This volume of the Bioceramics series includes the papers selected for the 20th International Symposium on Ceramics in Medicine held in Nantes, France, from the 24th  to the 26th of October, 2007. Some of the topics covered deal with advanced materials and technologies that support the exciting technique of the regeneration of osteoarticular tissues using minimal invasive surgery and bioactive prostheses.

The objective of this collection was to gather together  the latest information on the mechanical behavior of materials. The volumes cover the progress made in all aspects of the mechanical behavior of materials, seen from both the macroscopic and microscopic viewpoints.

This volume is dedicated to the ever-expanding fields of application of nitrides in ceramics, metals, glasses, composites and coatings. The papers cover all of those branches of materials science and engineering which concern the role of nitrogen in the improvement and modification of the properties of materials; particularly those destined for novel applications.

Interest in the phenomenon of superplasticity has been increasing steadily over the past thirty-four years, both from the viewpoint of fundamental scientific understanding as well as of industrial application. The scope of superplasticity has also broadened materials-wise, and now includes, in addition to metals: intermetallics, ceramics, bulk metallic glasses, nanostructured materials and composites.

This “Advanced Biomaterials” collection comprises more than 237 peer-reviewed papers. The latter are grouped into handy sections: Tissue Engineering, Drug Delivery System, Metal, Ceramics, Polymer, Cell-Matrix Interactions, Surface Modifications, Micro-/Nano- and Others.

This book, which comprises contributions from researchers in 20 countries, was designed to be a forum within which to promote and exchange the latest experimental and theoretical research work on structural integrity, durability and failure analysis; with the emphasis being placed on fracture and damage mechanics.

Japan is currently the most active country of all of those carrying out research in the rapidly expanding field of Electroceramics; a field that has tremendous implications for a wide range of high-tech applications.

This eighth volume in the series covering the latest results in the field includes abstracts of papers which appeared between the publication of Annual Retrospective VII (Volumes 242-244) and the end of June 2006 (journal availability permitting).

In modern society, the demand for means of suppressing the vibration of machine parts and tools is increasing; due to the need to solve noise problems and to improve the accuracy of mechanical systems.  The most direct way of coping with such vibration problems is to use high damping materials to make the critical parts.

This book consists of a compilation of the papers presented at the Asian International Conference on Advanced Materials (AICAM 2005), which was held in Beijing, China, from November 3rd to 5th, 2005.