Relaxation and Diffusion in Complex Systems

Dr. Kia L. Ngai has worked in relaxation and diffusion in disordered and partially ordered systems across many disciplines for 25 years. He has authored or co-authored over 300 publications in archival journals. His works have been cited widely. Dr. Ngai has also written a chapter in the textbook, Physical Properties of Polymers, 3rd edition (Cambridge University Press, 2003); two chapters in Physical Properties of Polymers Handbook, edited by James E. Mark (Springer), and a chapter in Science and Technology of Rubber (Elsevier). He was the originator and organizer of the following large-scale international conference series entitled "International Discussion Meeting on Relaxations in Complex Systems": 1990, Herklion, Crete, Greece; 1993, Alicante, Spain; 1997 Vigo, Spain; 2001, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece; and 2005, Lille, France. I served as the editor of the Proceedings of each of these Meetings. The proceedings are published as refereed papers in the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids (Elsevier) in 1991, 1994, 1998 and 2002.

Introduction.- Universal Relaxation and Diffusion Properties in Complex Systems.- Experimental Evidences.- Computer Simulations.- Theoretical Modeling and Interpretations.- Many-Body Relaxation Dynamic and Relation to Chaos.- Glass Transition and the Glassy State.- Role of Thermodynamics, Volume, Entropy and Temperature.- Polymer Viscoelasticity.- Ionic Conductivity Relaxation in Ionically Conducting Materials.- Relaxation and Diffusion at Nanometer Scales.- Relaxation in Biomolecules.