The field of non-crystalline materials has seen the emergence of many challeng ing problems during its long history. In recent years, the interest in polymeric and biological disordered matter has stimulated new activities which in turn have enlarged the organic and inorganic glass community. The current research fields and recent progress have extended our knowledge of the rich phenomenol ogy of glassy systems, where the role of disorder is fundamental for the underlying microscopic dynamics. In addition, despite the lack of a unified theory, many interesting theoretical models have recently evolved. The present volume offers the reader a collection of topics representing the current state in the understanding of disorder effects as well as a survey of the basic problems and phenomena involved. The task of compiling a book devoted to disordered systems has benefited much from a seminar organized by the W.-E. Heraeus Foundation in Bad Honnef in April 1992, where we had the opportunity to discuss the project with most of the authors. Here we wish to thank the Heraeus Foundation for their support, and the authors and Springer-Verlag, especially Dr. Marion Hertel, for the pleasant cooperation.

1 Disordered Systems and Relaxation

General Approaches
2 Local and Global Relaxations in Glass-Forming Materials
3 Translational and Rotational Diffusion Near the Glass Transition
4 Universal Patterns of Relaxations in Complex Correlated Systems
Models for Relaxations
5 Models for Transport and Relaxation in Glass Forming and Complex Fluids: Universality?
6 Mode Coupling Approach to the Glass Transition
7 Models of Cooperative Dynamics for Liquids Near the Glass Transition
8 Models for Anomalous Diffusion
9 Boundary Effects on Dipole-Dipole Interactions and Molecular Relaxation
Dielectric Spectroscopy and Solvation
10 The Scaling of the ?- and ?-Relaxation in Low Molecular Weight and Polymeric Glassforming Systems
11 Dielectric Aspects of Dipolar Solvation at the Glass Transition
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
12 NMR Studies of Disorder in Molecular Glasses and Crystals
13 Molecular Dynamics in Polymers from Multidimensional NMR
Hole Burning
14 Optical Spectroscopy and Disorder Phenomena in Polymers, Proteins and Glasses
15 Disorder-Induced Relaxation Processes in Amorphous Solids at Low Temperatures
16 Stochastic Interpretation of Inhomogeneous Spectroscopic Line Shapes
Transport Phenomena
17 Basic Aspects of Energy Transport in Disordered Systems
18 Exciton and Charge Carrier Transport in Random Organic Solids
19 Dynamics of Energy Transfer in Aromatic Polymers
20 Energy Transport in Disordered Molecular Crystals
Dynamics in Complex Systems
21 Relaxation and Disorder in Proteins
22 Origins of Nonexponential Relaxation in Proteins
23 Dynamics of Irreversibly Forming Macromolecules
24 Glass Transitions and Relaxation Phenomena in Orientational Glasses and Supercooled Plastic Crystals
25 Structural Relaxation inDisordered Diblock Copolymer Melts
26 Dynamics of Rotational Motion in Liquid Crystalline Systems.