This book presents selected topics on processing and properties of ferroelectric materials that are currently the focus of attention in scientific and technical research. Ferro-piezoelectric ceramics are key materials in devices for many applications, such as automotive, healthcare and non-destructive testing. As they are polycrystalline, non-centrosymmetric materials, their piezoelectricity is induced by the so-called poling process. This is based on the principle of polarization reversal by the action of an electric field that characterizes the ferroelectric materials. This book was born with the aim of increasing the awareness of the multifunctionality of ferroelectric materials among different communities, such as researchers, electronic engineers, end-users and manufacturers, working on and with ferro-piezoelectric ceramic materials and devices which are based on them. The initiative to write this book comes from a well-established group of researchers at the Laboratories of Ferroelectric Materials, Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC). This group has been working in different areas concerning thin films and bulk ceramic materials since the mid-1980s. It is a partner of the Network of Excellence on Multifunctional and Integrated Piezoelectric Devices (MIND) of the EC, in which the European Institute of Piezoelectric Materials and Devices has its origin.

This book presents selected topics on processing and properties of ferroelectric materials that are currently the focus of attention in scientific and technical research.

Ferro-piezoelectric ceramics are key materials in devices for many applications, such as automotive, healthcare and non-destructive testing. As they are polycrystalline, non-centrosymmetric materials, their piezoelectricity is induced by the so-called poling process. This is based on the principle of polarization reversal by the action of an electric field that characterizes the ferroelectric materials.

This book was born with the aim of increasing the awareness of the multifunctionality of ferroelectric materials among different communities, such as researchers, electronic engineers, end-users and manufacturers, working on and with ferro-piezoelectric ceramic materials and devices which are based on them.

The initiative to write this book comes from a well-established group of researchers at the Laboratories of Ferroelectric Materials, Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC). This group has been working in different areas concerning thin films and bulk ceramic materials since the mid-1980s. It is a partner of the Network of Excellence on Multifunctional and Integrated Piezoelectric Devices (MIND) of the EC, in which the European Institute of Piezoelectric Materials and Devices has its origin.

El fenomeno que representa "La parapolitica" en Colombia hace entrever una paradoja, que a priori, resulta inexplicable. No solo por las condiciones sociales, politicas, judiciales y economicas que le dan origen, sino tambien, por las consecuencias que tienen el uso de los medios de comunicacion y el comportamiento de la opinion publica en la sociedad y en la historia colombiana. El escandalo se ha desarrollado en medio de revelaciones y acusaciones dentro de la esfera mediatica, investigaciones judiciales que han terminado con la detencion de varios parlamentarios en ejercicio, desvelando una serie de actividades encubiertas y formas ocultas de poder que se apartaron de las normas, distorsionando no solo los procedimientos que regulan la competencia por la obtencion del poder politico, sino tambien, el ejercicio practico del mismo. Finalmente, abrio una brecha de gran consideracion que dio pie a poderosas especulaciones sobre la posible relacion del presidente Uribe (a traves de toda su carrera politica) con grupos paramilitares, todo lo cual, no pudo afectar la imagen politica del entonces presidente Alvaro Uribe Velez."