Neutron and X-Ray Studies of Advanced Materials VII: Challenges of the Future World: Foreword

The selection of the manuscripts in the special topic "Neutron and X-ray Studies of Advanced Materials VII: Challenges of the Future World" is based on the material presented during the TMS 2014 Annual Meeting February 16 to 20, 2014, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. The United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) declared 2014 the International Year of Crystallography to acknowledge the importance of the first theoretical predictions (M. Laue) and brilliant experimental verification of diffraction phenomena (W. Friedrich and P. Knipping) more than a century ago. During this century the diffraction theory and experimental techniques were immensely developed. Diffraction entered our everyday life including important medical, technological, industrial, and scientific applications. The significance of the diffraction techniques continued to increase in the past 100 years. The aim of the symposium was to provide a forum for discussion of using state-of-the-art neutron and X-ray scattering techniques to probe advanced materials.