Rapid evolution of trade, cultural and human relations provides the qualitative and quantitative enhancement of international collaborations, linking the countries with different economical and technological level. Delocalization of High-Tech industry inevitably leads to development of the material science and engineering researches in emergent countries, requiring transfer of know-how, restructuration of basic research and educational networks. This book presents the contributions of participants of the Advanced Research Workshop ¿Smart Materials for Energy, Communications and Security¿ (ARW SMECS; www.smecs.ferroix.net), organized in December 2007 in Marrakech in frame of the ¿NATO - Science for Peace¿ program. The objective of this event was the attempt to overview several hot topics of material physics related with problems of modern society: transformation and storage of energy, treatment and transmission of information, environmental security issues etc., with the focus of their implementation in Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) countries: Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. The workshop is an important stage in developing of the research network ¿Mediterranean Electronic Materials¿ ¿ MEM (www.reseau-MEM.org), that has an objective to encourage the inter-Maghreb and Europe-Maghreb collaborative studies in the area of electroactive materials. Participants of the Advanced Research Workshop ¿Smart Materials for Energy, Communications and Security¿ , Marrakech, Morocco, December 2007 v vi PREFACE

Materials, Transmission, Treatment and Storage of Information.- Multiferroic and Magnetoelectric Materials for Spintronics.- Large Area Nb Nanolayers with Advanced Superconducting Properties as a Base for Superconducting Spintronics.- Amorphous Chalcogenide Materials with Smart Memory.- Magnetic Refrigeration: Application to the Electron Doped Manganites.- Towards Electrochromic Devices Active in the IR Region.- Nitride Semiconductors Investigated at a Nanoscale.- Prospective Terahertz Applications of Carbon Nanotubes.- Energy Related Materials.- Smart Materials and Concepts for Photovoltaics: Dye Sensitized Solar Cells.- Magnetotransport Properties of Copper Ternaries: New Solar Cells Materials.- Structural and Electrical Properties of Nano-Crystalline LiCoO2 Cathode Material Synthesized by a Simplified Combustion Method.- Ionic Transport Behavior in Na2SO4-Li2O-MoO3-P2O5 Glassy System.- Piezo- and Electro-Active Materials.- Electrical Conduction and Dielectric Properties in Piezoelectric Fibre Composites.- New Method for Preparation of Polycrystalline Langasite for Gas Sensors: Structural Studies.- Dielectric Anomalies and Relaxation Behavior in Hydrothermally Processed PLZT Ferroelectric Ceramics.- 180° Ferroelectric Domains in Thin Films and Superlattices.- Other Functional Materials.- Clays and Clay Minerals in Western High Atlas: Characterization, Geological Significance and Industrial Uses.- TEM Analysis Of Advanced Devices For Electronics Or Spintronics: From Structure To Properties.- Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of Copper Processed by Equal Channel Angular Extrusion.