The Diamond In The Cage

What would you do if a deadly storm ripped through your world? Experience poignant spiritual insights as families triumph over life's inevitable tragedies. Celebrate the legacy of freedom in Christ.

We are pleased to present the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop “Syntheses, Properties and Applications of Ultrananocrystalline Diamond” which was held June 7-10, 2004 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The main goal of the Workshop was to provide a forum for the intensive exchange of opinions between scientists from Russia and NATO countries in order to give additional impetus to the development of the science and applications of a new carbon nanostructure, called ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) composed of 2-5 nm crystallites. There are two forms of UNCD, dispersed particles and films. The two communities of researchers working on these two forms of UNCD have hitherto lacked a common forum in which to explore areas of scientific and technological overlap. As a consequence, the two fields have up to now developed independently of each other. The time had clearly come to remedy this situation in order to be able to take full advantage of the enormous potential for societal benefits to be derived from exploiting the synergistic relationships between UNCD dispersed particulates and UNCD films. The NATO sponsored ARW therefore occurred in a very timely manner and was successful in beginning the desired dialogue, a precondition for making progress toward the above stated goal. The discovery of UNCD completes a triadof nanostructured carbonswhich includes fullerenes and nanotubes.

A "riveting and illuminating" Bill Gates Summer Reading pick about how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't (Yuval Noah Harari), by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the landmark bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel. In his international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in his third book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crises while adopting selective changes -- a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises. Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals -- ranging from the forced opening of Japan by U.S. Commodore Perry's fleet, to the Soviet Union's attack on Finland, to a murderous coup or countercoup in Chile and Indonesia, to the transformations of Germany and Austria after World War Two. Because Diamond has lived and spoken the language in five of these six countries, he can present gut-wrenching histories experienced firsthand. These nations coped, to varying degrees, through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Looking to the future, Diamond examines whether the United States, Japan, and the whole world are successfully coping with the grave crises they currently face. Can we learn from lessons of the past? Adding a psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology, and anthropology that mark all of Diamond's books, Upheaval reveals factors influencing how both whole nations and individual people can respond to big challenges. The result is a book epic in scope, but also his most personal yet.