Acknowledgments
The editors would like to express their thankfulness to all chapters' authors whose valuable contribution had brought the book project to reality. The support from Richard Davies, Anna Smart, Susan Barclay, and Tiina Ruonamaa from Wiley was also extremely important and it is most appreciated. The editors are also grateful to Abhishan Sharma, Neville Hankins and to all typesetters for their careful work.
William Imbriale would like to thank his wife Carol for her patience and understanding during the editing of the book. Steven Gao would like to express his deep appreciation to his wife, Jun, and his daughter, Karen, for their support. Luigi Boccia would like to manifest his gratitude and admiration to his wife, MariAntonietta, his son, Antonio Francesco, and his daughter, Caterina Dilia, for their encouragement and loving care. He also would like to honorably mention his parents for their guidance and strength.
William A. Imbriale, Steven (Shichang) Gao and Luigi BocciaFebruary 2012
