Preface

This Special Issue contains some selected papers presented at the Third International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Optimization: Theory, Methods, Applications and Technology Transfer (NAOIII-2014), held during January 5-9, 2014, at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Muscat, Oman. The conference was sponsored by SQU, The Research Council of Oman, The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP, Italy), AMPL (USA); and the local sponsors the German University of Technology (GUtech) in Oman, the Al-Anan Press (Oman) and Al-Roya Newspaper (Oman).The NAO conference series is held once every 3 years at SQU: the first conference (NAO-2008) was held during April 6-8, 2008, and the second conference (NAOII-2011) was held during January 3-6, 2011. The NAO conference will hopefully become a forum where prominent mathematicians, worldwide experts and active researchers gather and meet to share their knowledge on new scientific methodologies and simulate the communication of new innovative ideas, promote scientific exchange and discuss possibilities of further cooperation, networking and promotion of mobility of senior and young researchers and research students. NAOIII-2014 was inaugurated by HE Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Sarmi, the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, HE Dr. Ali bin Saud Al Bemani, the Vice Chancellor of SQU and HE Mrs. Paola Amadei, Ambassador of Italy to the Sultanate. Twenty world leading researchers gave keynote lectures in twelve Technical Sessions of the conference. In total, forty international participants gave contributed talks. More information is available at: http://conference.squ.edu.om/nao. Thirteen of the keynote papers were selected for the edited Springer proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics Volume 134, “Numerical Analysis and Optimization NAO-III, Muscat, Oman, January 2014”, where each paper was accepted after a stringent peer review process by independent reviewers.Eight of the conference contributed papers were selected for this Special Issue 20(2) of the SQU Journal for Science. We wish to express our gratitude to all contributors. We are also indebted to many anonymous referees for the care taken in reviewing the papers submitted for publication.

T he International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, turned 40 this October. It is an occasion for some reflection. The scientists who created ICTP, notably the Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan, were motivated by a goal that is simple to proclaim but difficult to fulfill: to advance the level and role of science in the Southern world by overcoming the debilitating isolation of scientists who work there. This goal is more important now than ever before. No country today can survive and prosper in isolation, and economic prosperity is tied to scientific development. The building of scientific capacity needed everywhere is thus in our collective interest and is a shared responsibility. Forty years on, however, we still live in a world in which a majority of scientists, scientific discoveries, publications, and patents come from developed countries. So, what has ICTP accomplished? ICTP has been involved, to different degrees, with the careers of some 100,000 visiting scientists. They have come from nearly every country in the world, about half from developing countries. According to physics professor Edmund Zingu of Mangosuthu Technikon in South Africa, “Nearly every Ph.D. in East Africa has had an association with ICTP.” The cadre of ICTP associates has established programs in their home countries, including Brazil, Benin, China, India, and Mexico. Some have turned to public service as ministers of science, members of parliaments, ambassadors, and in one case, the president of a republic. ICTP thus exemplifies that the best investment one can make is in human capital: the individual scientists. But ICTP is keenly aware that its efforts are small relative to the needs. These needs are tremendous even in countries that have made some strides (at least progress has been spotty). Regrettably, countries in Africa and the Middle East have either stood still in scientific progress or actually regressed. The challenges remain daunting. The critical question is how to proceed. We can draw one lesson: Among the diverse ways in which ICTP has attempted to fulfill its mission, the key ingredient for success has been the followthrough. Where we have been able to keep sustained contact with our associates, the success has been greater. Because ICTP is small, large-scale success requires similar commitment from more people and institutions. Greater exchange within the South between the more and less scientifically proficient countries is a case in point. ICTP has established such links by creating networks, cooperative programs, regional schools, and affiliate centers in the South. Recent efforts by Brazil, China, and India to provide fellowships to promising scientists under a program administered by ICTP's sister organization, the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), suggest that programs for South-South cooperation are finally taking off. The involvement of scientific institutions in the North is the next crucial element. Here the goal should not be the transfer of technology, but the creation of scientific capacity in each country for generating appropriate solutions for problems involving public health, energy sources, agriculture, ecology, the proper use of environmental resources, and basic education. Other international institutions in Trieste have been working for this goal in diligent partnership with ICTP. Lasting changes can occur if nations, not just individual scientists, choose to embrace science as an essential part of their national agenda. We must thus move beyond the scientist-to-scientist strategy and become more involved in changing institutions in the developing world. ICTP is increasingly engaging ministries of science and technology in policy discussions, encouraging governments to provide sustainable funding for science. At the same time, we are working in partnership with science institutions in the developing world. This October, ICTP signed an agreement with Brazil's National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) to fund four scientific workshops each year in Latin America. Building scientific capacity is different from instilling a sense of quality. Anchoring quality by providing a well of excellence from which to draw upon will continue to be ICTP's mission and responsibility. That's a full agenda for the next 40 years.

This special issue contains selected papers presented at the Fourth International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Optimization: Theory, Methods, Applications and Technology Transfer (NAOIV-2017), held during January 2-5, 2017, at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Oman. More information is available at https://conference.squ.edu.om/Default.aspx?tabid=2157. The NAOIV-2017 conference was sponsored by SQU, Oman Mathematics Committee, COMSTECH (Pakistan), AMPL (USA), German University of Technology (GUtech) in Oman, and the British Council (Oman). Seventeen world leading researchers gave keynote lectures. In total, thirty-seven international participants contributed talks. After the conference, selected contributions were invited to be submitted as full papers for publication in a special edited book of the Springer series on Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics and SQU Journal for Science.Seven of the papers were selected for this special edited issue, each of which was accepted after a peer review process by independent reviewers. We wish to express our gratitude to all contributors. We are also indebted to many anonymous referees for the care taken in reviewing the papers submitted for publication.The NAO conference series is held once every 3 years at SQU: the first conference (NAO-2008) was held on April 6-8, 2008, the second conference (NAOII-2011) was held on January 3-6, 2011, and the third conference (NAOIII-2014) was held on January 5-9, 2014. The NAO conference will hopefully remain a forum where prominent mathematicians, worldwide experts and active researchers gather and meet to share their knowledge on new scientific methodologies and simulate the communication of new innovative ideas, promote scientific exchange and discuss possibilities of further cooperation, networking and the promotion of the mobility of senior and young researchers and research students.For the NAOIII-2014 conference (http://conference.squ.edu.om/Default.aspx?tabid=572), a total of 13 keynote papers were published in the edited book “Numerical Analysis and Optimization: NAO-III, Muscat, Oman, January 2014,” volume 134 (2015), Springer series on Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics, and eight papers were published in the special issue on “Numerical Analysis and Optimization,” volume 20, No. 2 (2015), SQU Journal for Science.For NAOII-2011 (http://conference.squ.edu.om/Portals/16/Conference2011/index.htm),nineteen papers were selected for two special issues of the SQU Journal for Science, highlighting the two themes of the conference Numerical Optimization and Numerical Analysis. Eleven papers were published in the volume 17(1) for the (2012) special issue on Numerical Optimization and eight papers in volume 17(2) for the (2012) special issue on Numerical Analysis.For the first NAO-2008 conference, M.J.D. Powell (who was a major figure in the world community of optimization researchers and left us during the year 2015) delivered the first plenary talk in the NAO series. For more details, visit the website:http://conference.squ.edu.om/Portals/16/Conference2008/index.htm

The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is celebrating the launch of its first mirror site, in São Paulo, Brazil. The nearly 50-year-old ICTP in Trieste, Italy, aims to advance science in the developing world. It gets about 5000 visitors a year, but many more want to come, says ICTP director Fernando Quevedo. “They can’t come because we cannot afford to pay their expenses. We think the best way to proceed is to partner and expand the mission of ICTP on a regional level.” The ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR) “will play the same role [as the ICTP], but for South America,” says ICTP-SAIFR director Nathan Berkovits. It kicked off in January with a 12-day school on mathematical biology, and held opening ceremonies a few weeks later. A center in Chiapas, Mexico, is also in the works.The ICTP-SAIFR is located at the São Paulo State University’s Institute for Theoretical Physics. The university will hire five permanent researchers, a computer systems manager, and two other administrative people for the center. The other major backer for the center is FAPESP (the State of São Paulo Research Foundation), which has committed funding over five years for schools and workshops, nine postdocs, and 180 months of visitor time. The ICTP in Trieste is contributing €50 000 (about $67 000) annually for Latin Americans from outside Brazil to travel to the São Paulo center. Like the main ICTP, the ICTP-SAIFR will provide a framework, including a location and administrative services, for workshops proposed by the community.Brazil is growing fast economically, says Berkovits, “but there are still many bottlenecks. One big problem is that only people who speak Portuguese can be hired at most universities, which restricts access to international influences.” The ICTP-SAIFR will not be bound by the same rules, and its “international school and workshops will raise the level of students,” he says. (See the story on physics in Brazil in PHYSICS TODAY, September 2011, page 26.)Chiapas promotes scienceSection:ChooseTop of pageChiapas promotes science <<Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, in Chiapas, is not the booming megacity that São Paulo is, but both the president of the university there and the state governor are keen to promote science, and last December various bodies in Mexico signed an agreement with ICTP to start an ICTP Meso-American Institute for Science (ICTP-MAIS). Located in Mexico some 1000 km southeast of Mexico City, the site has the advantage of proximity to the rest of Central America and the Caribbean, the area the Chiapas center aims to serve.The ICTP-MAIS will address the specific needs of the region, says acting director Arnulfo Zepeda. “That is why, in addition to applied mathematics and theoretical physics, we are focusing on energy and the environment.” The center will start by offering a course to prepare physics bachelors for top-level PhD programs, and in the longer term will create a physics PhD program; the highest physics degree currently available at the local university is a master’s.With funding from the state of Chiapas, the federal ministry of energy, and Mexico’s main science funding agency, the ICTP in Mexico will hire five researchers, and Zepeda says he hopes to attract about a dozen visitors in the first year. “There are very few physics schools in Central America. We think [people] will be attracted when we provide the opportunity.”Quevedo, who is from Guatemala, chairs the steering committees of the new centers. The key factors in going ahead with the sites in Brazil and Mexico, he says, were scientific quality and a “natural generosity toward the neighboring countries. They will be able to lift the level of science in their regions.” The brand-name of the ICTP, he adds, “provides prestige and experience gained over the years.”Opening ceremonies for the first offshoot of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics took place in São Paulo, Brazil, in February. Among those present were (left to right) Carlos Brito Cruz, the scientific director of the state’s funding agency FAPESP; Juan Maldacena, an Argentinian physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey; ICTP director Fernando Quevedo; Julio Cezar Durigan, acting rector of São Paulo State University (UNESP); Juan Montero, director of UNESP’s Institute for Theoretical Physics; Jacob Palis, president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences; and IAS director Peter Goddard.DANIEL PATIRE/ACI-UNESPPPT|High resolution© 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Foreword

Raising awareness of medical physics: The ICTP programme

Guest editorial There is no doubt that North Sea activity, both its highs and lows, has been the benchmark of quality and efficiency for many decades. It is also clear that frontier regions, such as west Africa and South America and the more established Middle East, look north to emulate and take advantage of innovative technologies that have been tried and tested in the United Kingdom and Norwegian continental shelves, and that can be transferred to more challenging or hostile environments. Aligned with the transfer of technology and skills is the ambition of many regions, such as the Middle East, to develop and enhance its level of in-country competency. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has traditionally been dominated by the supermajors, but with the entrance of smaller or more independent companies, such as Statoil and Maersk, and competitors from China and South Korea, the “old guard” may have less impact and influence in the future. Over the past 10 years, a number of regional research centers have been created in the Middle East, including the Qatar Science and Technology Park, the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. All these centers work alongside a number of national and international oil companies as well as international service companies across the region. One of the main challenges facing the Middle East region is maximizing production. The UAE alone has a sustained production target of 3.5 million BOPD. Achieving this goal will require recovery rates far greater than the global average, so the combined use of indigenous developments and the modification of traditional techniques from the North Sea experience will have a significant role to play. As in the Middle East, Brazil has been producing oil and gas for several decades, both onshore and offshore. However, deepwater exploration and production (E&amp;P) offshore Brazil is fairly new, especially in ultradeepwater. Unlike the Middle East, where in-country value is an ambition, local content in all new field developments in Brazil is a requirement, whereby international operators must purchase a certain percentage of goods and services from locally established providers. Despite the obvious restrictions, global operators are getting their foot in the marketplace through the investment in and creation of technology centers. This flood of money into the country’s economy and education system will foster a new generation of motivators and innovators tackling the solutions for deep and ultradeepwater pre-salt carbonate fields on their own doorstep. This shifting landscape has the potential to influence the technology development framework globally. The philosophy of the centers is based on cementing a closer collaboration between the industry and academia. Schlumberger’s Brazil Research and Geoengineering Center, for example, boasts three fully integrated laboratories for testing and evaluating rocks and fluids in controlled environments and has a staffing capacity of 300. FMC Technologies has invested more than USD 200 million over the past 5 years to ramp up the output of products, such as wet Christmas trees, an ensemble of underwater pipes and valves designed to manage the flow of oil and natural gas from deepwater wells.

A school on “The Magnetic Properties of Condensed Matter Investigated by Neutron Scattering and Synchrotron Radiation Techniques” was held at the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy, from February 1–1 1, 2000. This was a joint initiative, the first of its kind between the Italian INFM (Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia) and the ICTP, to promote and encourage the use of magnetic neutron and photon scattering techniques in investigations of the magnetic properties of materials. The call for participation attracted 94 applicants from countries thatare members of the UN, UNESCO and IAEA. A total of 47 young researchers and graduate students were finally selected. Seventeen of the selected applicants were from Italian university research groups affiliated with the INFM. Sources of financial sponsorship were from the INFM via its respective neutron and synchrotron radiation commissions and the ICTP, with a contribution from t h e GNSM (Gruppo Nazionale della Struttura della Materia, Italian National Research Council). School directors were: 0. Moze, S. Nannarone, G. Rossi (INFM, Modem), F. Sacchetti (INFM, Perugia), and M. Fabrizio (SISSA, Trieste.)

ICTP, Trieste University, italian and croatian medical physics: A training opportunity for young physicists from developing countries

Part I: Introduction Preface, Brian Tomlinson 1. Language Acquisition and Language Learning Materials: Brian Tomlinson (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman) Part II: Different Types of Materials 2. Materials for General English, Hitomi Masuhara (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman) and Brian Tomlinson (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman) 3. Materials for Teaching English to Young Learners, Wendy Arnold (Hong Kong)and Shelagh Rixon (University of Warwick, UK) 4. Materials for English for Science and Technology (EST), Philip Skeldon (Sohar College, Oman) 5. EAP Materials in Australia and New Zealand, Hans Mol (Southern Cross University, Australia) and Tan Bee (University of Auckland, New Zealand) 6. Multi-Media Materials in Developing Countries: The Malaysian Experience, Jaya Mukundan (Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia) 7. Self-Access Materials, Lucy Cooker (Kanda University of International Studies, Japan) 8. Extensive Reading: Maid in Waiting, Alan Maley (Leeds Metropolitan University, UK) PART III: Materials in Use Around the World 9. Materials Used in the UK, Brian Tomlinson (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman) and Hitomi Masuhar (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman) 10. Materials Used in the USA, Julia Frazier (Hunter College, New York) and Patricia Juza (Baruch College, New York) 11. Materials Used in Western Europe, Luke Prodromou (Leeds Metropolitan University, UK) and Freda Mishen (University of Limerick, Ireland) 12. Materials Used in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, Rod Bolitho (Norwich Institution for Language Education, UK) 13. Materials Used in Africa, Masibo Mumala (University of Nottingham, UK) and Soufiane Trabelsi (University of Sfax, Tunisia) 14. Materials in Japan: Coexisting Traditions, Jim Smiley and Michiyo Masui (Tohuku Bunka Gakuen University, Sendai, Japan) 15. ELT Materials Used in South East Asia, Bao Dat (Monash University, Australia) 16. The Textbook, the Teacher and the Learner, A Middle East Perspective: Nahla Bacha (Lebanese American University, Lebanon), Irma-Kaarina Ghosn (Lebanese American University, Lebanon) and Neil McBeath (Technical Studies Institute, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) 17. Materials in Use in Argentina and the Southern Cone, Mario Lopez Barrios (Universidad National de Cordoba, Argentina), Elba de Debat (Universidad National de Cordoba, Argentina), and Gabriella Tavella (Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Asentamiento) PART IV: Conclusions 18. Conclusions about ELT Materials in Use Around the World, Brian Tomlinson (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman) Index.

The application of quantum mechanics to information related fields such as communication, computation and cryptography is a fast growing line of research that has been witnessing an outburst of theoretical and experimental results, with possible practical applications. On the one hand, quantum cryptography with its impact on secrecy of transmission is having its first important actual implementations; on the other hand, the recent advances in quantum optics, ion trapping, BEC manipulation, spin and quantum dot technologies allow us to put to direct test a great deal of theoretical ideas and results. These achievements have stimulated a reborn interest in various aspects of quantum mechanics, creating a unique interplay between physics, both theoretical and experimental, mathematics, information theory and computer science.In view of all these developments, it appeared timely to organize a meeting where graduate students and young researchers could be exposed to the fundamentals of the theory, while senior experts could exchange their latest results.The activity was structured as a school followed by a workshop, and took place at The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and The International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, from 12–23 June 2006. The meeting was part of the activity of the Joint European Master Curriculum Development Programme in Quantum Information, Communication, Cryptography and Computation, involving the Universities of Cergy–Pontoise (France), Chania (Greece), Leuven (Belgium), Rennes1 (France) and Trieste (Italy).This special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical collects 22 contributions from well known experts who took part in the workshop. They summarize the present day status of the research in the manifold aspects of quantum information.The issue is opened by two review articles, the first by G Adesso and F Illuminati discussing entanglement in continuous variable systems, the second by T Prosen, discussing chaos and complexity in quantum systems. Both topics have theoretical as well as experimental relevance and are likely to witness a fast growing development in the near future. The remaining contributions present more specific and very recent results. They involve the study of the structure of quantum states and their estimation (B Baumgartner et al, C King et al, S Olivares et al, D Petz et al and W van Dam et al), of entanglement generation and its quantification (G Brida et al, F Ciccarello et al, G Costantini et al, O Romero-Isart et al, D Rossini et al, A Serafini et al and D Vitali et al), of randomness related effects on entanglement behaviour (I Akhalwaya et al, O Dahlsten et al and L Viola et al), and of abstract and applied aspects of quantum computation and communication (K Audenart, G M D'Ariano et al, N Datta et al, L C Kwek et al and M Nathanson et al).We would like to express our gratitude to the European Commission, the Abdus Salam ICTP, SISSA and Eurotech SpA (Amaro, Udine, Italy) for financial and/or logistic support. Special thanks also go to the workshop secretary Marina De Comelli, and the secretaries of the Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Trieste, Sabrina Gaspardis and Rosita Glavina for their precious help and assistance.

The `International Topical Conference on Plasma Physics: Complex Plasmas in the New Millennium'; was held at the Petros M Nomikos Conference Centre, Santorini Island, Greece, during the period 8–12 September 2003. The conference was organized by P K Shukla, R Bingham, J T Mendonça and L Stenflo with the help of an international advisory board and a program committee that included well-known scientists from all over the world. The conference enters into a series of previous activities that we have held at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy) since 1989 and at the University of Algarve, Faro (Portugal) since 1999.The dominant theme of ITCPP03 was the unity of plasma physics, including all aspects from low-temperature plasmasto fusion plasmas and from industrial applications to space physics/astrophysics, and through all approaches, namelyexperiments, observations, and theory/simulations. We covered a broad and cross-disciplinary spectrum of subjects,including some new and interesting subfields (viz. dusty plasmas and nonlinear neutrino-plasmas) of plasma physics. The purpose of this conference was threefold: (i) to provide a forum for participants from both the developing and the industrial nations, (ii) to train young European researchers and students working in different EU Networks, and (iii) to promote contacts and collaborations at an international level.The conference was attended by approximately one hundred and forty participants from Europe, USA, Japan, anddeveloping countries. The participants were an admixture of young and senior researchers. This helped to disseminateknowledge between these two generations of plasma physicists.The scientific program was structured into four review talks (45 minutes) and forty invited topical lectures (30 minutes) covering key topics in the frontiers of plasma physics. In addition, there were about eighty poster papers in two sessions. The latter gave opportunities to younger physicists for displaying the results of their most recent works and to obtain comments from the other participants. During the five days at the Santorini Island, we focused on fundamental and applied aspects of: (i) solitons, shocks, and vortices in optics, plasmas and fluid, (ii) numerous collective interactions in dusty plasmas, (iii) laser and beam plasma interactions relevant for high-energy charged particle acceleration, (iv) waves, instabilities, and coherent nonlinear structures in geospace plasmas/astrophysics, and (v) some exotic topics including neutrino-plasma and photon–photon interactions, as well as applications of complex plasmas in microbiology, etc.The discussions were held in a friendly environment and the conference turned out to be successful. Most of the invited talks as well as a few poster papers from the Santorini conference appear in this Topical Issue of Physica Scripta. It is expected that the papers of the present proceedings shall be useful for updating our understanding of the many collective phenomena that are occurring in laboratory and space plasmas as well as in optical fibers and fluids.The editors express sincere gratitude to their colleagues and co-organizers Professors R Bingham and J T Mendonça for their constant and wholehearted support in our endeavours. We appreciate the excellent work of the scientific secretary Dr Ingmar Sandberg. Thanks are also due to the European Commission for supporting our activity through the Research Training Networks entitled `Complex Plasmas: The Science of Colloidal Plasmas and Mesospheric Charged Aerosols', as well as `Turbulent Boundary Layers in Geospace Plasmas'. In addition, the organizers cordial thanks are extended to the speakers and the attendees for their contributions which resulted in the success of the Santorini conference. Specifically, we appreciate the speakers for delivering excellent talks, supplying well-prepared manuscripts for publication, and for enhancing our ITCPP activities.

The "International Topical Conference on Plasma Physics: New Frontiers in Nonlinear Sciences" was held at the University of Algarve (UA), Faro (Portugal), during the period 6–10 September 1999. The conference was organized by P K Shukla, R Bingham, J T Mendonça and L Stenflo with the help of an international advisory board and a program committee that included scientists from all over the world. The conference enters into a series of previous biennial activities that we have held at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, since 1989.The purpose of the Faro meeting was to provide an informal forum for scientists who have dealt with various aspects ofnonlinear processes in space, astrophysical and laboratory plasmas, as well as in fluids and nonlinear optics. The selectedtopics, which were interdisciplinary, are expected to have a great deal of impact on the development of nonlinear sciencesin the coming millennium.The response of the conference was almost overwhelming. It was attended by approximately 120 delegates from Europe,USA, Japan, and developing countries. Many participants were young researchers from both the industrial and developingcountries, as the organizers tried to keep a good balance in inviting senior and younger generations of nonlinear scientiststo our Faro conference.The scientific program included five review talks (45 minutes) and thirty-five invited topical lectures (30 minutes). Inaddition, there were about eighty poster papers in three sessions. The latter gave opportunities to younger physicistsfor displaying the results of their recent work and to obtain comments from the other participants. During the five daysat the UA, we focused on fundamental aspects of: (i) the nonlinear physics in various branches of sciences (plasmas, fluids,and optics), (ii) nonlinearities in space and astrophysics, (iii) coherent processes in non-ideal systems (colloidal and dusty as well as pure electron plasmas), (iv) nonlinear charged particle beams and laser/neutrino-plasma interactions, and(v) nonlinearities in controlled laboratory devices. The focus was on nonlinear phenomena involving wave–wave and wave–particle interactions in ideal and non-ideal complex plasmas, intense short laser pulse interactions with plasmas and atomic clusters, the Kerr nonlinearity in optics, generation of harmonics as well as modulated wave packets in fluids, anomalous transport processes and complexities, etc. The nonlinear Schrödinger-like models for the propagation of particle and laser beams and optical pulses are still common in nonlinear dispersive media. The formation of coherent nonlinear structures (voids, envelope solitons, shocks, various types of solitary vortices, and vortex crystals) was exclusively demonstrated in data from low-temperature laboratory and space plasmas. For example, observations from the auroral ionosphere and microgravity dusty plasma experiments reveal the simultaneous presence of solitary vortex structures of various scale sizes as well as large scale density holes (voids). During the Faro meeting, some talks also concerned the role of self-organized criticality in nature as well as techniques for controlling chaos. Computer modeling of numerous kinetic instabilities and phase space vortex structures revived renewed interest at the conference. Furthermore, charged particle acceleration involving collective processes in ionospheric, astrophysical, and laboratory plasmas remained frontiers of the nonlinear sciences. Novel fields identified during the conference were dusty and neutrino plasma physics, which take advantage of knowledge from condensed matter and particle physics, making plasma physics truly cross-disciplinaryand very fascinating with wide ranging applications. Most of the contributions from the Faro meeting appear in this TopicalIssue of Physica Scripta, which will be distributed to all the participants. It is expected that the papers of the present proceedings, which systematically describe the advancement of a particular subject matter, shall be useful for understanding the many complex nonlinear phenomena that are occurring in science and technology.The organizers are grateful to Professor Adriano Pimpão, the President of the UA, for his generous support and warm hospitality in Faro. The excellent work of the scientific secretary Dr Rui Guerra is also acknowledged. The Editors want to express sincere gratitude to their colleagues and co-organizers Profs Tito Mendonça and Bob Bingham for their constant and wholehearted support in our endeavours. Thanks are also due to the Universidade do Algarve for providing the venue, and for administrative support, the Universidade Técnica de Lisbon for secretarial and other support, and theFCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia for a limited financial support to our conference at the UA, Faro.Finally, the organizers cordial thanks are extended to the speakers and the attendees for their contributions which resulted in the success of the Faro conference. Specifically, we appreciate the speakers for delivering excellent talks, supplying well prepared manuscripts for publication, and enhancing the nonlinear science activity at the UA, where we hope to create a new center of excellence for carrying out high quality research and for training young researchers in the fascinating new areas of nonlinear sciences which may have a tremendous impact on the development of new technologies andnew materials in the twenty-first century.

The "International Topical Conference on Plasma Physics: Colloidal Plasma Science" was held at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Abdus Salam ICTP), Trieste, Italy during the period 3–7 July 2000. The conference was organized by P. K. Shukla, R. Bingham and L. Stenflo with the help of an international advisory board and a program committee that included well known scientists from all over the world. The conference enters into a series of previous biennial activities that we have held at the Abdus Salam ICTP since 1989.The purpose of this meeting was to provide an informal forum for scientists who have dealt with various aspects of colloidal and dusty plasma sciences that are relevant to space, astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. The selected topics, which were interdisciplinary, are expected to have a great deal of impact on the development of dusty plasma science which is one of the most rapidly growing areas in physics as demonstrated by the increasing number of published papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings.The response of the conference was almost overwhelming. It was attended by approximately 110 delegates from Europe, USA, Japan, and the developing countries. A large number of participants were young researchers from both the industrial and developing countries, as the organizers tried to keep a good balance in inviting senior and younger generations of dusty plasma physicists to our Trieste conference.The scientific program included four review talks (45 minutes) and fortyone invited topical lectures (30 minutes). In addition, there were about sixty poster papers in two sessions. The latter gave opportunities to younger physicists for displaying the results of their recent work and to obtain comments from the other participants. During the five days at the Abdus Salam ICTP, we focused on fundamental aspects of: (i) dust grain charging and its dynamics in a dusty sheath, (ii) waves and instabilities in weakly and strongly coupled dusty and colloidal plasmas, (iii) various nonlinear structures in strongly coupled systems (Mach cones, shocks, and vortices) (iv) formation of Coulomb crystals in space and laboratories, (v) the physics of various attractive forces, (vi) phase transitions, (vii) dust in the Earth's middle atmosphere and the generation of plasma irregularities in expanding ionospheric dust clouds, (viii) coating of particles in a rf discharge, and (ix) exotic dusty plasmas involving busting dust (from cosmic grains to terrestrial microbes). It turns out that colloidal plasma science and dusty plasma physics, which also interacts with condensed matter physics, make plasma physics a truly cross-disciplinary and very fascinating science with wide ranging applications in space and technology. Most of the contributions from the Trieste meeting appear in this Topical Issue of Physica Scripta, which will be distributed to all the participants. It is expected that the papers of the present proceedings, which systematically describe the advancement of the physics of weakly and strongly coupled dusty and colloidal plasma systems, shall be useful for understanding the many complex phenomena that are occurring in space and laboratories.The organizers are grateful to Professor M. A. Virasoro, the director of the Abdus Salam ICTP, for his generous support and warm hospitality in Trieste. The Editors want to express sincere gratitude to their colleague and co-organizer Professor R. Bingham for his constant and wholehearted support in our endeavours. We highly appreciate the excellent work of the scientific secretary Mr T. Farid, as well as of Mrs A. Lusenti. Thanks are also due to the European Commission for supporting our activity through the Research Training Network entitled "Complex Plasmas: The Science of Colloidal Plasmas and Mesospheric Charged Aerosols".Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the Abdus Salam ICTP for providing partial financial support to our conference in Trieste. Besides, the organizers cordial thanks are extended to the speakers and the attendees for their contributions which resulted in the success of the Trieste conference. Specifically, we appreciate the speakers for delivering excellent talks, supplying well prepared manuscripts for publication, and enhancing the plasma physics activity at the Abdus Salam ICTP.

The “International Workshop on Theoretical Plasma Physics: Modern Plasma Science was held at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Abdus Salam ICTP), Trieste, Italy during the period 5–16 July 2004. The workshop was organized by P K Shukla, R Bingham, S M Mahajan, J T Mendonça, L Stenflo, and others. The workshop enters into a series of previous biennial activities that we have held at the Abdus Salam ICTP since 1989.The scientific program of the workshop was split into two parts. In the first week, most of the lectures dealt with problems concerning astrophysical plasmas, while in the second week, diversity was introduced in order to address the important role of plasma physics in modern areas of science and technology. Here, attention was focused on cross-disciplinary topics including Schrödinger-like models, which are common in plasma physics, nonlinear optics, quantum engineering (Bose-Einstein condensates), and nonlinear fluid mechanics, as well as emerging topics in fundamental theoretical and computational plasma physics, space and dusty plasma physics, laser-plasma interactions, etc.The workshop was attended by approximately hundred-twenty participants from the developing countries, Europe, USA, and Japan. A large number of participants were young researchers from both the developing and industrial countries, as the directors of the workshop tried to keep a good balance in inviting senior and younger generations of theoretical, computational and experimental plasma physicists to our Trieste activities.In the first week, there were extensive discussions on the physics of electromagnetic wave emissions from pulsar magnetospheres, relativistic magnetohydrodynamics of astrophysical objects, different scale sizes turbulence and structures in astrophysics. The scientific program of the second week included five review talks (60 minutes) and about thirty invited topical lectures (30 minutes). In addition, during the two weeks, there were more than seventy poster papers in three sessions. The latter provided opportunities for younger physicists to display the results of their recent work and to obtain comments from the other participants. During the period 11–16 July 2004 at the Abdus Salam ICTP, we focused on nonlinear effects that are common in plasmas, fluids, nonlinear optics, and condensed matter physics. In addition, we concentrated on collective processes in space and dusty plasmas, as well as in astrophysics and intense laser-plasma interactions. Also presented were modern topics of nonlinear neutrino-plasma interactions, nonlinear quantum electrodynamics, quark-gluon plasmas, and high-energy astrophysics. This reflects that plasma physics is a truly cross-disciplinary and very fascinating science with many potential applications. The workshop was attended by several distinguished invited speakers. Most of the contributions from the second week of our Trieste workshop appear in this Topical Issue of Physica Scripta, which will be distributed to all the participants.The organizers are grateful to Professor Katepalli Raju Sreenivasan, the director of the Abdus Salam ICTP, for his generous support and warm hospitality in Trieste. The Editors appreciate their colleagues and co-organizers for their constant and wholehearted support in our endeavours of publishing this Topical Issue of Physica Scripta. We highly value the excellent work of Mrs Ave Lusenti and Dr. Brian Stewart at the Abdus Salam ICTP. Thanks are also due to the European Commission for supporting our activity through the Research Training Networks entitled “Complex Plasmas” and “Turbulent Boundary Layers”.Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the Abdus Salam ICTP for providing financial support to our workshop in Trieste. Besides, the workshop directors thank the speakers and the attendees for their contributions which resulted in the success of our Trieste workshop 2004. Specifically, we appreciate the speakers for delivering excellent talks, supplying well prepared manuscripts for publication, and enhancing the plasma physics activity at the Abdus Salam ICTP.