Preface--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

This special issue on Magnetic Particulate Systems (MPS) represents a unique forum among people working in this broad, challenging and multifaceted scientific area with applications varying from medicine to environment and from ultra-fine to coarse particulate dispersions, and comprising subjects concerned with ferrofluids, magnetic bio-carriers, magnetically assisted fluidization and hyperthermia, etc. — subjects which have their own respective histories and trends yet lacking collation to provide a global perspective and interaction for mutual progress.

Obviously, the limited format of this special issue does not permit the coverage of all existing areas in MPS, though the articles collected are representative of the current research trends. The idea of such a special issue conformed to Dr. J. Hristov's review series on Magnetic Field Assisted Fluidization which first appeared in 2002, leading to extensive contact with many people working on topics ranging from fluidization to preparation of magnetic beads and particulate systems. The real harvest of this work is the establishment of a network of people and groups working on MPS. Now the journal, China PARTICUOLOGY, is a driving vehicle in particle science and technology not only in China and the Far East but also internationally, and this special issue is its first global performance through the Elsevier network.

Collecting articles for a special issue is not an easy task accompanied by extensive exchange of letters and manuscripts, but the feeling that there are people working and thinking together is extraordinary. As a result of hard work we have now a collection of articles written by people working world wide. Science has no national boundaries and all people involved in this work have united to attack the challenging secrets of nature to provide a huge resource for the future of civilization. To this end, articles in this issue devoted to ferrofluids, for instance, well illustrate this tendency. Ferrofluids, initially invented to immobilize fuel supply in spacecrafts are now widely encountered in medical, biochemical and environmental problems. Magnetic Particulate Systems call for joint efforts concerning particle preparation, disperse system organization, magnetic system design, practical and industrial applications, etc. This special issue serves to build bridges between separately developed trends, to exchange ideas and to create professional relationships.

Other than collecting articles, special issues play more important roles in science and in education. First of all they update current state of the art in given topics. Second, they provide engineers in industry and other practitioners with ideas as to what could be expected in the future, to contravene conservatism and impatience at implementation of innovation. This is well illustrated by the industrial application of magnetically assisted reactors of SINOPEC, some 40 years after the invention of this technique in the early 1960's of the last century.

Last but not least, scientists are at the frontiers of knowledge not only for developing new ideas but for educating future generations. Special issues serve to delineate the scopes of professional (educational) curricula. Magnetism and electricity are now in electrical engineering and to some extent in mechanical engineering but are missing in chemical, biochemical and material science engineering. Applications summarized in this issue would appeal to begin step-by-step implementation of courses on electricity and magnetism from both fundamental and practical standpoints. Education often lags scientific publication in the appearance of new textbooks, but we believe in the bright future of Magnetic Particulate Systems as a promising interdisciplinary trend in both science and education. The present issue is a good manifestation of this future.

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