Progress of thermodynamics has been stimulated by the fi ndings of a variety of fi elds of science and technology. In the nineteenth century, studies on engineering problems, effi ciency of thermal machines, lead to the discovery of the second law of thermodynamics. Following development of statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics allowed us to understand thermodynamics on the basis of the properties of constituent molecules. Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics provide a bridge between microscopic systems composed of molecules and quantum particles and their macroscopic properties. Therefore, in the era of the mesoscopic science, it is time that various aspects of state-of-the-art thermodynamics are reviewed in this book
