A lustrous diamond loses it sparkle under the cruel hands of destiny. Roshni Rehman is a sprightly young happy-go-lucky woman. In the company of her friends, Mala and Preeti, Roshni enjoys life to the hilt. In Shaan, she finds the perfect man of her dreams. All is well, till a dreaded letter shatters her cosy nest. Not to be undone by fate, Roshni picks up the threads of her life and starts afresh. But the untimely death of her loving sister, Muskan, throws everything out of gear again for Roshni. Faced with the charge of murder, circumstances cannot get worse for this ‘crushed diamond’ that has lost all its lustre. But nothing can take away her dignity and alluring silence.
Diamond is the record-setter in many mineralogical properties such as hardness, diffusivity, thermal conductivity, purity, and covalency of bonding. Similarly, diamond, as the premier gemstone of the mantle holds primacy for geological features such as age and depth of origin. Diamond was among the first crystalline structures to be solved by X-ray diffraction and the first materials measured for their Raman spectrum. At more than 80 billion USD in yearly commercial value, diamond sets the record for the most traded, valuable mineral on the planet. Despite its chemical simplicity, diamond has been the object of more research effort, and had more scientific and popular press pages written about it, than any other mineral.
Every year, the world consumes more than 10,000 tons of diamond superabrasives, which are indispensable for fields such as construction, metals, ceramics, automobiles, semiconductors, computers, and cellular phones. In fact, the per capita consumption of superabrasives may be used as an indicator of a country's industrial activities. This volume presents several aspects of superhard materials, especially diamond superabrasives and their manufacture, properties, and applications, and introduces several new designs of ultrahard materials that may be harder than diamond. It discusses diamond’s connection with the origin of life, in particular, the origin of the first RNA. In addition, it throws light on the concept of diamond quantum computers with neutrons of the carbon-13 isotope as quantum bits. This innovation may maintain quantum coherence with minimal interference without using complicated cryogenic cooling. Hence, it can be a robust design for future quantum computers. For those interested in the depth of the quantum mechanical world, a chapter elaborates the history of life and humanity in light of the evolution of quantum universes.
"Thus spoke Pope Paul III on learning that Cellini had murdered a fellow artist, so great was Cellini's reputation in Renaissance Italy. A renowned sculptor and goldsmith, whose works include the famous salt-cellar made for the King of France, and the statue of Perseus with the head of the Medusa, Cellini's life was as vivid and enthralling as his creations.
Sequestered within the heart of a cosmopolitan city is an exotic world—a place where diamonds, astronomically priced, are bought and sold on the strength of a handshake, and business disputes are resolved according to ancient Jewish principles of arbitration. Yet it is also a modern industry facing the same fundamental global changes affecting all businesses today.In Diamond Stories, Renée Rose Shield leads us into the unexamined realm of wholesale diamond traders in New York. Related to several well-respected traders, she had unprecedented access to a society normally closed to outside inquiry. Here she deftly blends her personal relationship and her anthropological training to provide an insightful exploration of this tradition-bound industry, the new challenges it faces, and the ways both industry and individuals adapt to and endure change.Shield begins with a fascinating history of diamond mining, combining the story of the De Beers cartel, the role of Jews in the trade, and the part diamonds have played both in war and liberation. Throughout, she incorporates commentary by current diamond traders. Succeeding chapters explore the evolving nature of both the global trade and the New York diamond district. Shield takes a close look at the increasingly complex ethnic makeup of the district, illuminates the rarely documented work done by women, chronicles the resilient system of arbitration, and reveals the ways in which many traders work well into their eighties and nineties. Their long lives of work, cushioned by the trade's social environment, offer hints for successful aging in general.
