This volume comprises the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Geilo, Norway, between 8-19 April 1985. Although the principal support for the meeting was provided by the NATO Committee for Scientific Affairs, a number of additional sponsors also contributed, allowing the assembly of an unusually large number of internationally rec ognized speakers. Additional funds were received from: EXXON Research and Engineering Co. IBM (Europe) Institutt for energiteknikk (NorwaY) Institut Lauge-Langevin (France) The Norwegian Research Council for Science and Humanities NORDITA (Denmark) The Norwegian Foreign Office The U. S. Army Research, Development and Standardization Group (Europe) The U. S. National Science Foundation - The Norwegian Council for Science and Letters The organizing committee would like to take this opportunity to thank these contributors for their help in promoting a most exciting rewarding meeting. This Study Institute was the eighth of a series of meetings held in Geilo on subjects related to phase transitions. In contrast to previous meetings which were principally concerned with transitions in ordered systems, this school addressed the problems which arise when structural order is absent. The unifying feature among the subjects discussed at the school and the link to themes of earlier meetings was the concept of scaling.

This volume comprises the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Geilo, Norway, between 8-19 April 1985. Although the principal support for the meeting was provided by the NATO Committee for Scientific Affairs, a number of additional sponsors also contributed, allowing the assembly of an unusually large number of internationally rec ognized speakers. Additional funds were received from: EXXON Research and Engineering Co. IBM (Europe) Institutt for energiteknikk (NorwaY) Institut Lauge-Langevin (France) The Norwegian Research Council for Science and Humanities NORDITA (Denmark) The Norwegian Foreign Office The U. S. Army Research, Development and Standardization Group (Europe) The U. S. National Science Foundation - The Norwegian Council for Science and Letters The organizing committee would like to take this opportunity to thank these contributors for their help in promoting a most exciting rewarding meeting. This Study Institute was the eighth of a series of meetings held in Geilo on subjects related to phase transitions. In contrast to previous meetings which were principally concerned with transitions in ordered systems, this school addressed the problems which arise when structural order is absent. The unifying feature among the subjects discussed at the school and the link to themes of earlier meetings was the concept of scaling.

Investigation of the fractal and scaling properties of disordered systems has recently become a focus of great interest in research. Disordered or amorphous materials, like glasses, polymers, gels, colloids, ceramic superconductors and random alloys or magnets, do not have a homogeneous microscopic structure. The microscopic environment varies randomly from site to site in the system and this randomness adds to the complexity and the richness of the properties of these materials. A particularly challenging aspect of random systems is their dynamical behavior. Relaxation in disordered systems generally follows an unusual time-dependent trajectory. Applications of scaling and fractal concepts in disordered systems have become a broad area of interdisciplinary research, involving studies of the physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and engineering aspects of random systems. This book is intended for specialists as well as graduate and postdoctoral students working in condensed-matter or statistical physics. It provides state-of-the-art information on the latest developments in this important and timely topic. The book is divided into three parts: Part I deals with critical phenomena, Part II is devoted to discussion of slow dynamics and Part III involves the application of scaling concepts to random systems. The effects of disorder at the mesoscopic scale as well as the latest results on the dynamical properties of disordered systems are presented. In particular, recent developments in static and dynamic scaling theories and applications of fractal concepts to disordered systems are discussed.

Fractals, Diffusion, and Relaxation in Disordered Complex Systems is a special guest-edited, two-part volume of Advances in Chemical Physics that continues to report recent advances with significant, up-to-date chapters by internationally recognized researchers.

This volume comprised the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in Geilo, Norway between 29 March and 9 April 1987. Al though the principal support for the meeting was provided by the NATO Cornrni ttee for Scientific Affairs, a number of additional sponsors also contributed. Additional funds were received from: Institutt for Energiteknikk (Norway) The Norwegian Research Council for Science and Humanities NORDITA (Denmark) VISTA (Norway) The organizing cornrni ttee would like to take this opportunity to thank all sponsors for their help in promoting an exciting and rewarding meeting. This Study Institute was the ninth of a series of meetings held in Geilo on subjects related to phase transitions and was a natural successor to the 1985 meeting on Scaling Phenomena in Disordered Systems. Many of the subjects discussed at the latter meeting were revisited in 1987, with time dependence as an added feature. Often the common theme was the concept of fractals first introduced into statistical physics some six years ago. However, by no means all disordered systems can be forced into a fractal framework, and many of the lectures reinforced this lesson.