These proceedings contain new and exciting results on topics such as Dynamics of Pattern Formation, Phase Transitions and Textures of Langmuir Monolayers, Avalanches and Excitations in Granular Materials and Thermodynamic Instabilities in Random Superconductors, Thermodynamics, Equations of State and the Concept of Entropy in States Far from Equilibrium. Continuing with the interest in the behavior of Complex Fluids the reader will find a discussion on Micellar Growth, Interfacial Properties of Amphiphilic Systems, Electrolytes and Phase Transitions of Interfaces.

This volume of proceedings of the XXII Winter Meeting on Statistical Physics provides an overview of the subjects of current interest in statistical physics. Topics discussed include analytical as well as computer studies of the equilibrium properties of fluids, electrolytes, dense polymer systems and colloidal mixtures, proton transfer dynamics, chaos in cellular automata, sandpile physics and avalanches, ballistic aggregation and the electric microfield in a plasma.

This volume deals with topics of contemporary interest covering both experimental results and theoretical considerations. Different aspects of the physics and chemistry of the vitreous state are discussed in a series of three lectures by internationally respected researchers on the statistical physics of glasses.A wide range of topics in statistical physics such as critical behaviour, computer simulations of colloid aggregation, kinetic theory of tunneling diffusion, normal mode analysis of liquids and neutron scattering in C60 are also covered. This book provides a useful survey and will be of interest to researchers.

This volume of proceedings contains an updated glance at recent developments in statistical physics. Topics discussed include structural and transport properties of colloidal suspensions and polymeric systems, Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics simulations of fluids, topological aspects of wetting and other critical phenomena, reaction-diffusion equations and the statistical mechanics of solids under stress.

This proceedings provides an updated glance on recent developments in statistical physics. Contributions include thermal behavior in complex liquids, dynamical instabilities in colloidal and lattice gas models, transport and relaxation phenomena near the glass transition, as well as studies in fluctuations and kinetic theories of fluids far from equilibrium.

The development of a proper description of the living world today stands as one of the most significant challenges to physics. A variety of new experimental techniques in molecular biology, microbiol ogy, physiology and other fields of biological research constantly expand our knowledge and enable us to make increasingly more detailed functional and structural descriptions. Over the past decades, the amount and complexity of available information have multiplied dramatically, while at the same time our basic understanding of the nature of regulation, behavior, morphogenesis and evolution in the living world has made only modest progress. A key obstacle is clearly the proper handling of the available data. This requires a stronger emphasis on mathematical modeling through which the consistency of the adopted explanations can be checked, and general princi ples may be extracted. As an even more serious problem, however, it appears that the proper physical concepts for the development of a theoretically oriented biology have not hitherto been available. Classical mechanics and equilibrium thermody namics, for instance, are inappropriate and useless in some of the most essen tial biological contexts. Fortunately, there is now convincing evidence that the concepts and methods of the newly developed fields of nonlinear dynam ics and complex systems theory, combined with irreversible thermodynamics and far-from-equilibrium statistical mechanics will enable us to move ahead with many of these problems.