This volume documents the Proceedings of the 5th and 6th Symposia on Particles on Surfaces: Detection, Adhesion and Removal, held under the aegis of the Fine Particle Society in Chicago (May 6--9, 1996) and Dallas (April 1--3, 1998), respectively. The technical programs clearly reflected an interest and need to ameliorate the existing methods and to devise new and more efficient ways to detect, analyze and characterize particles on surfaces. The removal of particles from a host of surfaces was especially highlighted; the need to remove smaller and smaller particles was particularly underscored.

All manuscripts included in this volume were properly peer reviewed and all were revised before inclusion in this volume. Thus, this book is not a mere collection of unreviewed papers, but represents information that has passed peer scrutiny. Furthermore, the authors of the 5th Symposium were asked to update the information. So, the information presented in this book should be as fresh and up-to-date as possible.

This volume is divided into two parts: Part 1. General Papers and Part 2. Particle Adhesion and Removal. The topics covered include: high-sensitivity rapid detection of particles; detection of particles using evanescent wave scattering; particles on the backside of wafers; particle shedding from fluid-handling components; dynamics of particle adhesion; particle dispersion/aggregation; precision cleaning; and particle removal by surfactants, supercritical fluids, hydrodynamic forces, high-speed droplet impinging, megasonic, CO2 blasting, CO2 snow, argon aerosol, lasers, microcluster beams, brush and chemical-mechanical methods.

This volume offers bountiful information and represent a current commentary on the R&D activity taking place in the area of particles on surfaces, particularly particle removal from a variety of surfaces.

Manuel Jiménez Raya is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Granada, Spain. He works in the fields of learner and teacher autonomy and language teacher education.

Borja Manzano Vázquez is Lecturer at the Department of English and German Philology, University of Granada, Spain. He works in the fields of learner and teacher autonomy in language education and language teacher education, and bilingual education.

Flávia Vieira is Professor at the University of Minho, Portugal. She works in the fields of language teacher education, pedagogy for autonomy, and pedagogy in HE.