This is the fifth volume in a series of Lecture Notes based on the highly successful Euro Summer School on Exotic Beams. The aim of these notes is to provide a thorough introduction to radioactive ion-beam physics at the level of graduate students and young postdocs starting out in the field. Each volume covers a range of topics from nuclear theory to experiment and applications. Vol I has been published as LNP 651, Vol II as LNP 700, Vol. III as LNP 764 and Vol. IV as LNP 879.

This is the forth volume in a series of Lecture Notes based on the highly successful Euro Summer School on Exotic Beams. The aim of these notes is to provide a thorough introduction to radioactive ion-beam physics at the level of graduate students and young postdocs starting out in the field. Each volume covers a range of topics from nuclear theory to experiment and applications. Vol I has been published as LNP 651, Vol II has been published as LNP 700, and Vol. III has been published as LNP 764.

This is the second volume in a series of lecture notes based on the highly s- cessful Euro Summer School on Exotic Beams that has been running yearly since 1993 (apart from 1999) and is planned to continue to do so. It is the aim of the School and these lecture notes to provide an introduction to - dioactive ion beam (RIB) physics at the level of graduate students and young postdocs starting out in the ?eld. Each volume will contain lectures covering a range of topics from nuclear theory to experiment to applications. Our understanding of atomic nuclei has undergone a major re-orientation over the past two decades and seen the emergence of an exciting ?eld of research: the study of exotic nuclei. The availability of energetic beams of short-lived nuclei, referred to as radioactive ion beams (RIBs), has opened the way to the study of the structure and dynamics of thousands of nuclear species never before observed in the laboratory. In its 2004 report “Persp- tives for Nuclear Physics Research in Europe in the Coming Decade and - yond”, the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC) statesthatthe?eldofRIBphysicsisoneofthemostimportantdirectionsfor the future science programme in Europe. In 2005 it published its “Roadmap for Construction of Nuclear Physics Research Infrastructures in Europe”.

This book is based on the lectures given at the “Euroschool on Exotic Beams” and collects contributions which address topics from the traditional core of the field of exotic nuclei like nuclear structure far from stability, discussing recent theoretical developments and state-of-the-art experimental methods. It provides also new perspectives in nuclear astrophysics and in applied areas such as gamma-ray emission imaging. The contributions are written with a pedagogical approach and carefully edited in order to provide the readership with a clear and fluent reading. The book is intended for PhD students and young researchers who are approaching the new research lines in nuclear physics with exotic nuclei. Only basics concepts on quantum mechanics and nuclear physics are requested to follow and master the covered arguments.

This is the third and ?nal volume in a series of Lecture Notes based on the highlysuccessfulEuroSummerSchoolonExoticBeamsthathasbeenrunning yearly since 1993 (apart from 1999) and is planned to continue to do so. It is the aim of the series to provide an introduction to Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) physics at the level of graduate students and young postdocs starting out in the ?eld. Each volume contains lectures covering a range of topics from nuclear theory to experiment to applications. Our understanding of atomic nuclei has undergone a major re-orientation over the past two decades and seen the emergence of an exciting ?eld of research: the study of ‘exotic’ nuclei. The availability of energetic beams of short-lived nuclei, referred to as ‘radioactive ion beams’ (RIBs), has opened the way to the study of the structure and dynamics of thousands of nuclear species never before observed in the laboratory. This ?eld has now become one of the most important and fast-moving in physics worldwide. And it is fair to say that Europe leads the way with a number of large international projects starting up in the next few years, such as the FAIR facility at GSI in Germany. From a broader perspective, one must also highlight just how widely RIB physics impacts on other areas, from energy and the environment to medicine and materials science.

Research with radioactive ion beams has entered a new era with the advent of energetic beams of radioactive nuclei able to induce nuclear reactions. The present book is the first volume of edited lectures based on material presented at the Euroschool on Exotic Beams over the past years. It introduces the graduate student and nonspecialist scientist from related areas to various topics encompassing theoretical, experimental as well as application-related aspects of this growing field of research.

This groundbreaking, five-volume series offers a comprehensive, fully illustrated history of Egypt and Western Asia (the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran), from the emergence of complex states to the conquest of Alexander the Great. Written by a diverse, international team of leading scholars whose expertise brings to life the people, places, and times of the remote past, the volumes in this series focus firmly on the political and social histories of the states and communities of the ancient Near East. Individual chapters present the key textual and material sources underpinning the historical reconstruction, paying particular attention to the most recent archaeological finds and their impact on our historical understanding of the periods surveyed. The second volume covers broadly the first half of the second millennium BC or in archaeological terms, the Middle Bronze Age. Eleven chapters present the history of the Near East, beginning with the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom Egypt and the Mesopotamian kingdoms of Ur (Third Dynasty), Isin and Larsa. The complex mosaic of competing states that arose between the Eastern Mediterranean, the Anatolian highlands and the Zagros mountains of Iran are all treated, culminating in an examination of the kingdom of Babylon founded by Hammurabi and maintained by his successors. Beyond the narrative history of each region considered, the volume treats a wide range of critical topics, including the absolute chronology; state formation and disintegration; the role of kingship, cult practice and material culture in the creation and maintenance of social hierarchies; and long-distance trade-both terrestrial and maritime-as a vital factor in the creation of social, political and economic networks that bridged deserts, oceans, and mountain ranges, binding together the extraordinarily diverse peoples and polities of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Near East, and Central Asia.