Practically every display technology in use today relies on the flat, energy-efficient construction made possible by liquid crystals. These displays provide visually-crisp, vibrantly-colored images that a short time ago were thought only possible in science fiction. Liquid crystals are known mainly for their use in display technologies, but they also provide many diverse and useful applications: adaptive optics, electro-optical devices, films, lasers, photovoltaics, privacy windows, skin cleansers and soaps, and thermometers. The striking images of liquid crystals changing color under polarized lighting conditions are even on display in many museums and art galleries - true examples of 'science meeting art'. Although liquid crystals provide us with visually stunning displays, fascinating applications, and are a rich and fruitful source of interdisciplinary research, their full potential may yet remain untapped.

Electron storage rings play a crucial role in many areas of modern scientific research. In light sources, they provide intense beams of x-rays that can be used to understand the structure and behavior of materials at the atomic scale, with applications to medicine, the life sciences, condensed matter physics, engineering, and technology. In particle colliders, electron storage rings allow experiments that probe the laws of nature at the most fundamental level. Understanding and controlling the behavior of the beams of particles in storage rings is essential for the design, construction, and operation of light sources and colliders aimed at reaching increasingly demanding performance specifications. Introduction to Beam Dynamics in High-Energy Electron Storage Rings describes the physics of particle behavior in these machines. Starting with an outline of the history, uses, and structure of electron storage rings, the book develops the foundations of beam dynamics, covering particle motion in the components used to guide and focus the beams, the effects of synchrotron radiation, and the impact of interactions between the particles in the beams. The aim is to emphasize the physics behind key phenomena, keeping mathematical derivations to a minimum: numerous references are provided for those interested in learning more. The text includes discussion of issues relevant to machine design and operation and concludes with a brief discussion of some more advanced topics, relevant in some special situations, and a glimpse of current research aiming to develop the "ultimate" storage rings.

The Holy Web offers entree to the world revealed by contemporary science and the difference the new models of our life on earth make to understanding Christianity. The author shows how the church's mission is to become and to nurture a dynamic "web of relationships" in which all humanity can find itself part of a wondrous whole. Wessels offers a profound reading of biblical categories. He shows convincingly that the new universe story made popular by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme is not only open to religious interpretation but that the biblical symbols of creation, redemption, sin, grace, life and death, God-Christ-Spirit, faith, hope and love reveal the meaning of the universe to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.