This book is unique in supplying a comprehensive presentation of high pressures, negative pressures, random constraints and strong electric field exogenic (external) impacts on various soft matter systems. The book is an excellent guide in this novel and still puzzling research area. The book comes as a result from the ARW NATO brainstorming discussion in Odessa, Ukraine (8-12 Oct. 2005). It contains 31 papers prepared by key specialists in the field.

"'Soft Matter Under Exogenic Impacts' is fairly unique in supplying a comprehensive presentation of high pressures, negative pressures, random constraints and strong electric field exogenic (external) impacts on various soft matter systems. These are: (i) critical liquids, (ii) glass formers, such as supercooled liquids including water, polymers and resins, (iii) liquid crystals and (iv) bio-liquids. It is, because of this, an excellent guide in this novel and still puzzling research area. Besides new results, the identification of new types of physical behavior, new technological materials, ultimate verification of condensed and soft matter physics models, new applications in geophysics, biophysics, biotechnology, are all discussed in this book. TOC:Part I: General Issues. Asteroid impact in the black sea; a black scenario; R.D.Schuiling et al.- The conductivity of hydrogen in extreme conditions; V. T. Shvets et al.- Dynamic Crossover and liquid- liquid critical point in the TIP5P model of water; P. Kumar et al.- Amorphization of ice by collapse under pressure, vibrational properties and ultraviscous water at 1 GPa.- Coupled ordering in soft matter: competition of mesoscales and dynamics of coupled fluctuations.- All standard theories and models of glass transition appear to be inadequate: missing some essential physics.- Part II: Glass forming liquids. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and atomistic modeling - effective tools for the disordered condensed systems characterization.- Segmental and chain dynamics in Polymers.- Isobaric and Isochoric properties of glass-formers.-Molecular structure and relaxation processes in diisooctyl phthalate and diisooctyl maleate.- Orientationally disordered glassy phases.- Part III: Liquid Crystals. Glassy dynamics ofrod - like liquid crystals: the influence of molecular structure.- Ordering effects on dynamics in glassforming mixture ofliquid crystals.- Nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy near SmA - SmC* transition in ferrolectic liquid crystal DOBAMBC.- Confined liquid crystaline 5CB - combined temperature and high pressures dielectric relaxation studies.- Annihilation of defects in liquid crystals.- Waves at the nematic-isotropic interface: nematic - non-nematic and polymer-nematic mixtures.- Part IV: Critical Liquids. Global phase behaviour of supercritical water - environmentally significant organic chemicals mixtures.- Properties of water near its critical point.- Fluctuational equation of state and slopes of critical curves near the critical point of solvent.- Combined models of thermophysical properties along the coexistence curve.- Intermolecular potential for simple liquids and gases in the high pressure region.- Homogeneous nucleation and growth from highly supersaturated vapor by molecular dynamics simulation.- How to generate and measure negative pressure in liquids?- Indirect methods to study liquid-liquid miscibility in binary liquids under negative pressure.- Part V: Bio-liquids and related problems. Critical properties of soft matter at restricted geometry as emerging problem: fundamentals and biological applications.- Water-biomolecule systems under extreme conditions: From confinement to pressure effects.- Recent progresses in understanding of water interacting with biomolecules, and inside living cells and tissues.- Self-assembly of polypeptides. The effect of thermodynamic confinement.- Coulomb liquids under electric field - application of a new computer simulation method.- Solvation effect in near-critical polar liquids."

General Issues.- Asteroid impact in the black sea; a black scenario.- The conductivity of hydrogen in extreme conditions.- Dynamic crossover and liquid-liquid critical point in the TIP5P model of water.- Amorphization of ice by collapse under pressure, vibrational properties, and ultraviscous water at 1 GPa.- Coupled ordering in soft matter: competition of mesoscales and dynamics of coupled fluctuations.- All standard theories and models of glass transition appear to be inadequate: missing some essential physics.- Glass forming liquids.- Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and atomistic modeling - effective tools for the disordered condensed systems characterization.- Segmental and chain dynamics in polymers.- Isobaric and isochoric properties of glass-formers.- Influence of Differences in Molecular structure on Behavior of and ? Relaxation Processes in Diisooctyl Maleate.- Orientationally disordered glassy phases.- Liquid Crystals.- Glassy dynamics of rod-like liquid crystals: the influence of molecular structure.- Ordering effect on dynamics in glass-forming mixture of liquid crystals.- Nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy near smectic A-smectic C* transition in ferroelectric liquid crystal DOBAMBC.- Confined liquid crystaline 5CB in 2D Thermodynamic Space - Preliminary Dielectric Relaxation Study.- Annihilation of defects in liquid crystals.- Waves at the nematic-isotropic interface: nematic-non-nematic and polymer-nematic mixtures.- Critical Liquids.- Global phase behavior of supercritical water - environmentally significant organic chemicals mixtures.- Properties of water near its critical point.- Fluctuational equation of state and slopes of critical curves near the critical point of solvent.- Combined models of thermophysical properties along thecoexistence curve.- Intermolecular potential for simple liquids and gases in the high pressure region.- Homogeneous nucleation and growth from highly supersaturated vapor by molecular dynamics simulation.- How to generate and measure negative pressure in liquids?.- Indirect methods to study liquid-liquid miscibility in binary liquids under negative pressure.- Bio-liquids and related problems.- Critical properties of soft matter at restricted geometry as emerging problem: fundamentals and biological applications.- Water-biomolecule systems under extreme conditions: from confinement to pressure effects.- Recent progresses in understanding of water interacting with biomolecules, and inside living cells and tissues.- Self-assembly of polypeptides. The effect of thermodynamic confinement.- Coulomb liquids under electric field - application of a new computer simulation method.- Solvation effects in near-critical polar fluids.