Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful and constructive remarks and recommendations. I am grateful to the companies and institutions that contributed to the figures or other materials used in the book. Also, I thank the editors of the manuscript for their professional work. Special thanks go to my wife for her continuous and the true support she has always given me. Thanks are due also to other individuals in various institutions whose part in many ways has made the completion of this book possible.