Multiparticle dynamics is tightly connected with the fundamental properties of the QCD vacuum. This was reflected in the Scientific Programme of the XXVIII International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics. Emphasis was given during the sessions to the collective phenomena at high energies, including: fluctuations and correlations, quark-gluon plasma, QCD phase transitions (fractals, intermittency, wavelets), the QCD structure of the Pomeron, and new aspects of multiplicity distributions.

The first precision measurements on CP violation in the B system are reported. Both the BELLE and the BABAR collaboration presented, among others, results for sin 2ß with much improved accuracy. Results from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, SNO, also deserve to be mentioned. The convincing evidence of solar neutrino oscillations had been presented by SNO prior to the conference; a full presentation was given at the conference. An incredibly precise measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon is reported, a fresh result from the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Apart from these distinct physics highlights, there are also the first results from the new Tevatron run and from the relativistic heavy ion collider RHIC. Theorists write of our ever better understanding of the Standard Model and of what might lie beyond. Risky as it is to highlight only a couple of exciting subjects, it is merely meantto whet the appetite for further reading.

This volume contains the proceedings of the workshop entitled 'Particle Distributions in Hadronic and Nuclear Collisions', held on 11-13 June 1998 at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). This was the third in a series of annual meetings — organized by the High Energy Physics Groups in the Physics Department at UIC — devoted to topics in fundamental physics. It was a forum for the discussion of topics such as multiplicity distributions, quark-gluon plasma signatures, disoriented chiral condensates and other issues on the borderline between particle and heavy-ion physics. To that end, talks were given by speakers from both the heavy-ion and particle-physics communities.

The Conference OC Bologna 2000: Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the CenturyOCO was devoted to a discipline which has seen a strong revival of research activities in the last decade. New experimental results and theoretical developments in nuclear physics will certainly make important contributions to our knowledge and understanding of Nature's fundamental building blocks. The interest aroused by the Conference among the scientific community was clearly reflected in the large number of participants. These represented the most important nuclear physics laboratories in the world. The Conference covered five major topics of modern nuclear physics: nuclear structure, nucleusOConucleus collisions, hadron dynamics, nuclear astrophysics, and transdisciplinary and peaceful applications of nuclear science. It reviewed recent progress in the field and provided a forum for the discussion of current and future research projects. Contents: Quark and GluonOCoPlasma Phase Transition and Relativistic Heavy-Ion Reactions; LiquidOCoGas Phase Transitions in Nuclear Matter; Nuclear Caloric Curve and Thermodynamics of Heavy Ion Collisions; Statistical and Dynamics Aspects of Fragmentation; Intermediate Energy Heavy-Ion Reactions; Reaction Mechanisms around the Barrier. Fusion and Fission in Heavy-Ion Reactions. Readership: Nuclear physicists."

This is a collection of invited talks and oral contributions presented by the leading scientists in their fields, summarizing the most recent progress of, and new prospects for, nuclear physics research.It covers a broad range of the recent developments in nuclear physics: reactions between massive nuclei leading to superheavy element formation; radioactive beams and neutron-rich systems; exotic nuclei and nuclear astrophysics; new states of nuclear matter.

This is a collection of review articles and more specialized papers on the main issues of early universe physics. Both theoretical and experimental fields of research are dealt with.