Experiments using highly polarized intense beams and targets, and theoretical studies of spin and polarization phenomena, are now providing us with numerous additional details of the electroweak and strong interactions and the structure of matter. The spin structure of the nucleon has been measured over wide ranges of kinematic variables, and the cross sections have been calculated to several orders in perturbative field theory. At present, the influence of the higher twist contributions, the gluon spin, and the quark orbital angular momentum are under scrutiny. Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) captures a lot of our experimental knowledge of hard polarized scattering processes. Can our understanding of such processes within QCD be further improved?Hyperons produced in high energy reactions show how puzzling strong interactions between hadrons still are. Spin observables in experiments at intermediate energy are used to test parity and charge symmetries. Will they also reveal, at low energy, a violation of time reversal symmetry? We are on the verge of using parity violation measurements at intermediate electron scattering energies to determine the amount of strange quark contributions to the neutral weak form factor of the nucleon. The polarization of the sea quarks is expected to be measured soon in W± decays produced in high energy polarized proton interactions. Will the jets in polarized Z⁰ decays show a definite handedness? These and many other topics are discussed in these proceedings.

From its early beginnings at SLAC in the 1970's, the study of nucleon spin structure using polarized lepton beams and polarized nucleon targets has become increasingly important in nuclear and particle physics, with current experiments at several of the world's high energy and nuclear physics laboratories (CERN, DESY, SLAC and Jefferson Lab) and with enormous related theoretical studies. The understanding of the fascinating but complicated problem of nucleon spin structure has progressed substantially, but fundamental questions remain and it can be confidently predicted that future activity will be high.The Erice Course on The Spin Structure of the Nucleon covered both the experimental and theoretical aspects of the subject, and this volume includes the lectures given at the School. In many cases the lecture material has been extended and updated by the authors. In addition, several recent publications on experimental work have been added in an appendix.

In this book, the author begins with the elementary theory of Markov chains and very progressively brings the reader to the more advanced topics. He gives a useful review of probability that makes the book self-contained, and provides an appendix with detailed proofs of all the prerequisites from calculus, algebra, and number theory. A number of carefully chosen problems of varying difficulty are proposed at the close of each chapter, and the mathematics are slowly and carefully developed, in order to make self-study easier. The author treats the classic topics of Markov chain theory, both in discrete time and continuous time, as well as the connected topics such as finite Gibbs fields, nonhomogeneous Markov chains, discrete- time regenerative processes, Monte Carlo simulation, simulated annealing, and queuing theory. The result is an up-to-date textbook on stochastic processes. Students and researchers in operations research and electrical engineering, as well as in physics and biology, will find it very accessible and relevant.

This book contains various experimental and theoretical reports on the status and prospects of one of the most interesting and difficult areas of modern high energy physics — elastic and diffractive scattering. One can find here general trends and problems, and original ideas on particle interactions and structure.

This volume deals with the electroweak interactions at low and high energies. The results of the collider experiments are discussed, and the low energy experiments with complications for astrophysics are considered. Also, theoretical developments are presented to highlight the impact of forthcoming experiments and to find new directions of study.