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. Rečnik). 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.