The physics of atomic inner shells has undergone significant advances in recent years. Fast computers and new experimental tools, notably syn­ chrotron-radiation sources and heavy-ion accelerators, have greatly enhan­ ced the scope of problems that are accessible. The level of research activity is growing substantially; added incentives are provided by the importance of inner-shell processes in such diverse areas as plasma studies, astrophysics, laser technology, biology, medicine, and materials science. The main reason for all this exciting activity in atomic inner-shell physics, to be sure, lies in the significance of the fundamental problems that are coming within grasp. The large energies of many inner-shell processes cause relativistic and quantum-electrodynamic effects to become strong. Unique opportunities exist for delicate tests of such phenomena as the screening of the electron self-energy and the limits of validity of the present form of the frequency-dependent Breit interaction, to name but two. The many-body problem, which pervades virtually all of physics, presents somewhat less intractable aspects in the atomic inner-shell regime: correlations are relatively weak so that they can be treated perturbatively, and the basic potential is simple and known! The dynamics of inner-shell processes are characterized by exceedingly short lifetimes and high transition rates that strain perturbation theory to its limits and obliterate the traditional separation of excitation and deexcitation. These factors are only now being explored, as are interference phenomena between the various channels.

Disorder plays a fundamental role in many natural and man-made systems that are of industrial and scienti?c importance. Of all the disordered systems, hete- geneous materials are perhaps the most heavily utilized in all aspects of our daily lives, and hence have been studied for a long time. With the advent of new - perimental techniques, it is now possible to study the morphology of disordered materials and gain a much deeper understanding of their properties. Novel te- niqueshavealsoallowedustodesignmaterialsofmorphologieswiththeproperties that are suitable for intended applications. With the development of a class of powerful theoretical methods, we now have the ability for interpreting the experimental data and predicting many properties of disordered materials at many length scales.

This conference brought together experts from 15 countries to discuss application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to the nuclear industry. It was apparent from the meeting that even those active in the field were surprised at the extent of work and the progress made. There was a strong impression that application of this technology to nuclear power plants is inevitable. The benefits to improved operation, design, and safety are simply too significant to be ignored. This is a much different conclusion than might have been reached a few years ago when the technology was new and people were struggling to understand its significance. We believe that this meeting reflects a major turning point for the technology. It has moved from being a topic understood only by specialists to a situation where users are the most active people in the field. A broad array of innovative work is described from all of the participating countries. The activity in the u.s. is large and diverse. Although there is no nationally focussed policy for AI research in the U.S., many of these activities are reported here. Japan and France have a strong drive to integrate AI technology into their nuclear plants, and this is reflecteq in these proceedings.

This book reports the establishment of a single-atomic layer metal of In and a novel (In, Mg) ultrathin film on Si(111) surfaces. A double-layer phase of In called “rect” has been extensively investigated as a two-dimensional metal. Another crystalline phase called “hex” was also suggested, but it had not been established due to difficulty in preparing the sample. The author succeeded in growing the large and high-quality sample of the hex phase and revealed that it is a single-layer metal. The author also established a new triple-atomic layer (In, Mg) film with a nearly freestanding character by Mg deposition onto the In double layer. This work proposes a novel method to decouple ultrathin metal films from Si dangling bonds.

Dynamics of Soft Matter: Neutron Applications provides an overview of neutron scattering techniques that measure temporal and spatial correlations simultaneously, at the microscopic and/or mesoscopic scale. These techniques offer answers to new questions arising at the interface of physics, chemistry, and biology. Knowledge of the dynamics at these levels is crucial to understanding the soft matter field, which includes colloids, polymers, membranes, biological macromolecules, foams, emulsions towards biological & biomimetic systems, and phenomena involving wetting, friction, adhesion, or microfluidics.