RICHARD J. GLASSOCK Introducing a scientific symposium is an uncertain and difficult task. The remarks must not be too specific lest the participant's later contributions be intruded upon, yet an overview of the goals and objectives of the conference should be presented in an inquisitive and stimulating fashion. Perhaps a compromise position would be to make a few general statements and pose a limited number of questions which hopefully would then be addressed dur ing the formal or informal portions of the meeting. A conclusion incorpo of the relevance of the specific topic to the more rating some perspectives global issues of disease and its consequences might be appropriate. The goals and objectives of this conference, as set forth by its organizers, Professors Ponti celli, D'Amico and Minetti, are rather simple and straight forward; namely, to review and elucidate the immunopathophysiology of cryoimmunoglobulins and auto-antibodies to immunoglobulins (lg) and, secondarily, to explore the possible participation of these disordered states in glomerular injury. As such, this conference is principally devoted to an analysis of two properties of certain species of the globulin fraction of serum proteins, specifically the ability to self associate on the basis of immune interactions and to form insoluble aggregates when exposed to reduced ambient temperature. As we shall see, these two properties are often dis tinctly related."

Credit risk is one of the most important contemporary problems for banks and insurance companies. Indeed, for banks, more than forty percent of the equities are necessary to cover this risk. Though this problem is studied by large rating agencies with substantial economic, social and financial tools, building stochastic models is nevertheless necessary to complete this descriptive orientation. This book presents a complete presentation of such a category of models using homogeneous and non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes developed by the authors in several recent papers. This approach provides a good method of evaluating the default risk and the classical VaR indicators used for Solvency II and Basel III governance rules. This book is the first to present a complete semi-Markov treatment of credit risk while also insisting on the practical use of the models presented here, including numerical aspects, so that this book is not only useful for scientific research but also to managers working in this field for banks, insurance companies, pension funds and other financial institutions.

RICHARD J. GLASSOCK Introducing a scientific symposium is an uncertain and difficult task. The remarks must not be too specific lest the participant's later contributions be intruded upon, yet an overview of the goals and objectives of the conference should be presented in an inquisitive and stimulating fashion. Perhaps a compromise position would be to make a few general statements and pose a limited number of questions which hopefully would then be addressed dur­ ing the formal or informal portions of the meeting. A conclusion incorpo­ of the relevance of the specific topic to the more rating some perspectives global issues of disease and its consequences might be appropriate. The goals and objectives of this conference, as set forth by its organizers, Professors Ponti celli, D'Amico and Minetti, are rather simple and straight­ forward; namely, to review and elucidate the immunopathophysiology of cryoimmunoglobulins and auto-antibodies to immunoglobulins (lg) and, secondarily, to explore the possible participation of these disordered states in glomerular injury. As such, this conference is principally devoted to an analysis of two properties of certain species of the globulin fraction of serum proteins, specifically the ability to self associate on the basis of immune interactions and to form insoluble aggregates when exposed to reduced ambient temperature. As we shall see, these two properties are often dis­ tinctly related.