The inspiration for this book can be traced back many years to two major works that in?uenced the authors outlook on applied physics: FerromagnetismusbyR. Becker,W. D oring (Springer, Berlin 1939), and Ferromagnetism by R. M. Bozorth (IEEE Press, New York 1951). The former work is a collection of lectures held in the 1930s for technicians attending a technical college. The German language in which the work was originally written was extremely convenient for the author of this present book, as it was for a long time the only comfortable technical language in an English speaking environment. Later on, upon encountering the work by Bozorth, it was a relief to see the clarity and eloquence of the subjects presented in English, despite the impressive thickness of the book. Bozorths work still constitutes a practical review for anyone in a multidisciplinary industry who comes across the various manifestations of magnetism. The popularity of both works is so enduring that they are regarded as highly academic, and yet extremely readable, a reference in their own right, still attracting many readers these days in industry and academia. The ?eld of magnetism progressed immensely in the twentieth century, and shows no signs of slowing down in the present one. It has become so vast that it is quite often viewed only in its parts, rather than as a whole. In todaysmyriadofapplications,especiallyonananoscale,andtheirchangeable implications mostly on a macroscale, it often seems that di?erent aspects of reported work on magnetism are scattered and unrelated.

Dr. Stefanita is a physicist/materials scientist who received her Ph. D. degree in Physics (Magnetic Nondestructive Testing and Materials Characterization) from Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 1999. Her Ph.D. thesis is entitled "Surface Magnetic Barkhausen Noise Response To Plastic Yield of Steel". Previously, she received her Diploma of Engineer in Physics (Technological Physics) from the University of Bucharest, Romania in 1989 with the thesis entitled "Apparatus for Measuring Solar Radiation Using a Thin Film Transducer". Dr. Stefanita also has a 1984 Baccalaureate in Mathematics and Physics from the German School of Bucharest in Romania.

Dr. Stefanita has over 15 years collective experience in academia and industry with international exposure on 3 continents, and 5 countries. Her most recent research experience is in nanotechnology, in self-assembled metallic and semiconductor nanowires or nanodots, spintronics, magnetotransport, Hall effect, and infrared absorption and transmission, acquired during her work at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, USA.

Her previous work in magnetism in the 1990s at Queens University involves magnetic behavior of plastically deformed steel, microyielding phenomena, cold rolling effects on magnetic properties; magnetic nondestructive testing techniques for detecting defects in steel components. She has also developed a prototype for a medical diagnostics apparatus based on a thin film interference filter, at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Stefanitas previous work as a materials scientist in South Africa, and in Germany and Romania is in the areas of failure analysis, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X- ray analysis, atomic emission spectroscopy and import of chemicals and raw materials.

Dr. Stefanita is a co-founder and Senior Partner with NanoDotTek based in the Bostonarea, Massachusetts, USA. This company is dedicated to promoting nanotechnology, and allied areas such as non-destructive testing (the "NDT" in NanoDotTek) for engineering systems. With respect to the latter Dr. Stefanita is presently engaged in developing a lossy dielectric with a prescribed fractional impedance. This is in furtherance of improving fractional order control systems and pulse shaping for wireless broadband communications. This work is in collaboration with engineers in California and Mexico.

Dr. Stefanita also has experience in teaching. Her lectures have covered solid state devices, electromagnetics, and mechanics of deformables.

Dr. Stefanita is a regular referee for nanotechnology papers, as well as a published author of journal papers, conference publications, and internal reports. The latter reports are in many cases in relation to contract-based research. Dr. Stefanitas most recent journal paper in spintronics appeared in Nature Nanotechnology earlier this year.

Finally, note that Dr. Stefanita is a licensed Professional Engineer in the Province of Alberta, Canada.

Barkhausen Noise as a Magnetic Nondestructive Testing Technique.- Combined Phenomena in Novel Materials.- Magnetoresistance and Spin Valves.- Some Basic Spintronics Concepts.- Trends in Magnetic Recording Media.- Concluding Remarks.