• Preface.- I: Basic Observational and Laboratory Data of Dust Properties.- Dust Models Confronted with Observations.- The Role of Grains in Molecular Chemical Evolution.- Interstellar Gas Depletion and Dust Parameters.- On the Geometrical Cross-Section of an N-Mer.- Experimental Investigations of Astronomically Important Interstellar Silicates.- Problems with the Interpretation of the 220 nm Interstellar Feature.- Observations of the Very Broad-Band Structure by Combined uvby and UBV Photometry.- Carbon Molecules as Possible Carrier of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands.- Astrophysical Influences on the Diffuse Interstellar Lines.- II: Properties of Dense Clouds and Circumstellar Dust Shells.- Submm/Farinfrared Observations of Cold and Warm Dust Clouds.- On the Dust and Gas Associated with Sharpless 252.- The RHO Ophiuchi Cloud — An Overview.- The Relation Between Molecular Clouds and Stellar Kinematics.- The IRAS Satellite — Some Remarks on the Data, Their Availability and their Usage in Leiden.- Circumstellar Dust Shells Around Very Young and Massive Stars.- III: Very Young Stellar Objects and Star Formation in Molecular Clouds.- Bipolar Nebulae and Jets from Young Stars: Contributions from Calar Alto.- BN Objects — A Class of Very Young and Massive Stars.- Centers of Activity in Dust Clouds.- The Simulation of the Initial Mass Function and Star Formation Efficiency.- Self-Regulated Star Formation and Evolution of Stellar Systems.- The Past Star Formation Rate and the Initial Mass-Function in the Solar Neighbourhood.- Concluding Remarks.

'To scholars as well as new-comers in this field of research this book can certainly be recommended without hesitation.' Space Science Reviews, Vol. 47, No. 203, 1988.

• Preface.- I: Basic Observational and Laboratory Data of Dust Properties.- Dust Models Confronted with Observations.- The Role of Grains in Molecular Chemical Evolution.- Interstellar Gas Depletion and Dust Parameters.- On the Geometrical Cross-Section of an N-Mer.- Experimental Investigations of Astronomically Important Interstellar Silicates.- Problems with the Interpretation of the 220 nm Interstellar Feature.- Observations of the Very Broad-Band Structure by Combined uvby and UBV Photometry.- Carbon Molecules as Possible Carrier of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands.- Astrophysical Influences on the Diffuse Interstellar Lines.- II: Properties of Dense Clouds and Circumstellar Dust Shells.- Submm/Farinfrared Observations of Cold and Warm Dust Clouds.- On the Dust and Gas Associated with Sharpless 252.- The RHO Ophiuchi Cloud — An Overview.- The Relation Between Molecular Clouds and Stellar Kinematics.- The IRAS Satellite — Some Remarks on the Data, Their Availability and their Usage in Leiden.- Circumstellar Dust Shells Around Very Young and Massive Stars.- III: Very Young Stellar Objects and Star Formation in Molecular Clouds.- Bipolar Nebulae and Jets from Young Stars: Contributions from Calar Alto.- BN Objects — A Class of Very Young and Massive Stars.- Centers of Activity in Dust Clouds.- The Simulation of the Initial Mass Function and Star Formation Efficiency.- Self-Regulated Star Formation and Evolution of Stellar Systems.- The Past Star Formation Rate and the Initial Mass-Function in the Solar Neighbourhood.- Concluding Remarks.

'To scholars as well as new-comers in this field of research this book can certainly be recommended without hesitation.' Space Science Reviews, Vol. 47, No. 203, 1988.

• Preface.- I: Basic Observational and Laboratory Data of Dust Properties.- Dust Models Confronted with Observations.- The Role of Grains in Molecular Chemical Evolution.- Interstellar Gas Depletion and Dust Parameters.- On the Geometrical Cross-Section of an N-Mer.- Experimental Investigations of Astronomically Important Interstellar Silicates.- Problems with the Interpretation of the 220 nm Interstellar Feature.- Observations of the Very Broad-Band Structure by Combined uvby and UBV Photometry.- Carbon Molecules as Possible Carrier of the Diffuse Interstellar Bands.- Astrophysical Influences on the Diffuse Interstellar Lines.- II: Properties of Dense Clouds and Circumstellar Dust Shells.- Submm/Farinfrared Observations of Cold and Warm Dust Clouds.- On the Dust and Gas Associated with Sharpless 252.- The RHO Ophiuchi Cloud — An Overview.- The Relation Between Molecular Clouds and Stellar Kinematics.- The IRAS Satellite — Some Remarks on the Data, Their Availability and their Usage in Leiden.- Circumstellar Dust Shells Around Very Young and Massive Stars.- III: Very Young Stellar Objects and Star Formation in Molecular Clouds.- Bipolar Nebulae and Jets from Young Stars: Contributions from Calar Alto.- BN Objects — A Class of Very Young and Massive Stars.- Centers of Activity in Dust Clouds.- The Simulation of the Initial Mass Function and Star Formation Efficiency.- Self-Regulated Star Formation and Evolution of Stellar Systems.- The Past Star Formation Rate and the Initial Mass-Function in the Solar Neighbourhood.- Concluding Remarks.

'To scholars as well as new-comers in this field of research this book can certainly be recommended without hesitation.' Space Science Reviews, Vol. 47, No. 203, 1988.