Preface. A Selection of Papers: Materials science education in Japan (M. Doyama). New processes as drivers for revolutions in materials research: microwave sintering and multiple pulsed laser forming (R. Roy). The way to the resolution of 0.1nm (K. Ito). Investigation on diffusion bonded titanium-alumina dental implants (G. Petzow, G. Soyez, G. Elssner). Processing science for engineering ceramics (M. Mitomo). Exaggerated anisotropic growth in barium titanate ceramics (D. Kolar, A. Re & ccaron;nik). Growth and characterization of LiTaO3 single crystals by the floating zone method (J. Ryu, C.S. Lim, K.H. Auh). Combustion synthesis of fine ceramics cascade (B.-W. Chen, C.C.-Chen). Nanocomposite synthesis by electrodeposition in a disordered medium (D. Chakravorty, S. Banerjee, S. Roy). Relationship between glass basicity and ols core energy for oxide glasses (H. Segawa et al.). Distinguishing ceramic interfaces through their bonding: a new approach (H. Gu). Interlayer interactions and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic multilayers (Y. Suezawa). Molecular dynamics simulation of fine particles (H. Masuyama, Y. Kogure). Subject index.