Extended defects in natural diamonds: Atomic Force Microscopy investigation

Surfaces of natural diamonds etched in high-pressure experiments in H2O, CO2 and H2O-NaCl fluids were investigated using Atomic Force Microscopy. Partial dissolution of the crystals produced several types of surface features including the well-known trigons and hillocks and revealed several new types of defects. Besides well-known trigons and dissolution hillocks several new types of defects are observed. The most remarkable ones are assigned to anelastic twins of several types. The observation of abundant microtwins, ordering of hillocks and presence of defects presumably related to knots of branched dislocations suggests importance of post-growth deformation events on formation of diamond microstructure. This work confirms previous reports of ordering of extended defects in some deformed diamonds. In addition, the current work shows that natural diamonds deform not only by dislocation mechanism and slip, but also but mechanical twinning. The dominant mechanism should depend on pressure-temperature-stress conditions during diamond transport from the formation domain to the Earth surface.Comment: Submitted to special issue (1st European Mineralogical congress, Frankfurt, Germany, September 2012) of European Journal of Mineralogy. 21 page, 9 figure

Business Monitoring of the Russian-Federation. Autumn 1994: Prepared for Bank Austria

from the Table of Contents: Foreign Trade: Export; Import; Investments and Privatisation; Companies and Markets; Banking System: Central Bank; Russian Banks; Banking Unions; Foreign Banks in Russia; Russian Banks Abroad; International Finance and Currency: International Finance; Currency; Other: Biographies of Oil Kings: Appendix

Inflation in the Russian Federation: Dynamics and Causes: Presented at the Institute: July 1, 1993

from the Table of Contents: Introduction; Inflation in Russia before price liberalization; Inflation dynamics analysis after price liberalization; Causes of inflation; Conclusions

Quarterly Monitoring of the Russian-Federation. Summer 1994: Prepared for Bank Austria

from the Table of Contents: Foreign Trade; Company News, Industries and Markets; Foreign and Domestic Investments, Privatisation; Banking; Currency and Finance; Other

Quarterly Monitoring of the Russian Federation. Winter 1994: Prepared for Bank Austria

from the Table of Contents: Legislation; Investment and Privatization; Banking and Finance; Currency; Other

Quarterly Monitoring of the Russian-Federation. Autumn 1993: Prepared for Bank Austria

from the Table of Contents: Legislation; Investments and Privatization; Overall Monitoring; Currency; Appendix

Prospects for the Formation of a Global Natural Gas Market: Price Analysis of European, Asian, American Gas Markets

Research background: Natural gas markets are facing an ongoing process of diffusion of natural gas liquefaction (LNG) technology. High mobility and relative ease of LNG use predetermine a huge potential for globalization of gas markets and the formation of a single price space similar to the oil world market. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the article is determining the degree of gas markets convergence and offering an assessment of the prospects for gas globalization. Methods: The authors conducted a comparative analysis of statistics on historical prices in the gas markets, reviewed the scientific and practice-oriented literature on this topic. The authors developed a brief forecast model based on statistical methods to develop their own assessment of the prospects for the development of a single global gas market. Findings & Value added: The paper contains the most relevant comparative assessments of the three key gas markets (Europe, Asia, USA) and descripts an authors’ assessment of the potential for the emergence of a global gas market. On the one hand, the authors revealed a fairly high correlation between LNG prices worldwide, on the other hand, LNG supplies are not the only form of gas supplies. In addition, regional pricing features lead to the relative independence of the three markets among themselves. Moreover, the current global crisis may slow down the development of global gas market due to restrictions on the profitability of potentially new LNG projects

Quarterly Monitoring of the Russian Federation. June 1994: Prepared for Bank Austria

from the Table of Contents: Legislation; Privatization and Investments; Banking System; Russian Financial Market Instruments, Public Securities; Currency Markets; Appendix