This volume presents the most updated research reviews on the topics of QCD, Lightcone Quantization and Hadron Phenomenology. Graduate students and researchers can review recent progresses and explore future directions in nuclear/particle physics research.

The traditional purpose of the Adriatic Meeting is to present most advanced scienti?c research conducted by the lecturers who take part in the development of their ?elds and, in addition, to provide a school-like atmosphere for young scientists. Dubrovnik, as a geographical centre of this region of Europe, provided a most adequate location for this conference. Having very agreeable surroundings, the conference site nevertheless gave a focus for very strong scienti?c interaction. The subjects chosen for the 8th meeting, in September 2001, were gauge theories, particle phenomenology, string theories and cosmology. We were able to bring together a very good cross section of outstanding scientists who gave extraorinarily good presentations. Certainely one reason for this success is that most of us feel obliged to help the scienti?c life in South East Europe return to its former level. However, there are very exciting new scienti?c developments as well. Part of the meeting was dominated by neutrino physics which has just seen exciting progress by establishing neutrino masses experimentally. This was d- cussed within neutrino masses and grand uni?ed theories (GUTs). General - pects of neutrino physics and CP violation, neutrino mixing and the bayron asymmetry were presented along the same lines. On the theoretical side the idea of the construction of gauge theories on non-commutative spaces and their phenomenological implications is accepted worldwide within the particle physics community.