Complex Materials in Physics and Biology

The conceptual frame for the course was scaling and universality, the two pillars underlining statistical physics and its treatment of complex materials--particularly biological materials--and complex processes once thought to be unrelated to physics. Among the topics are the dynamics of biopolymers and their hydration water studied by neutron scattering, the dynamic crossover phenomenon in confined water and its relation to the liquid-liquid critical point, a critical overview of agent-based models for economics, long-term memory in climate records and the detection problem, light scattering enhancement in porphyrin nanocomposites, effects of medium-chain alcohols on the structure of phospholipid bilayers, and a dynamical model for operational risk in banks. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)