This volume summarizes the papers presented at the First Osaka University Macromolecular Symposium OUMS'93 on "Ordering in Macromolecular Systems," which was held at Senri Life Science Center, Osaka, Japan, on June 3 through June 6, 1993. The symposium covered the three topics, (1) Crystallization and Phase Transitions, (2) Polymer Liquid Crystals and (3) Block Copolymers, Polymer Blends and Surfaces, and invited leading scientists in these fields. At present any of these topics is a hot issue in itself and frequently taken up separately in many occasions. It is noted however that all these topics are correlated with each other with the keyword "Ordering" and their combination provides a unique feature of the present symposium in reflecting the interactions among investigators working in these important fields with the common ground expressed by the keyword "Ordering." Nineteen invited lectures and 40 posters of both experiment and theory were presented at the symposium, and the eighteen lectures and ten poster presentations contribute to this volume. In the first topic crystal structures and their transitions were discussed from kinetic as well as static points of view; attention was paid to give a molecular-level interpretation of the structure, phase transition and physical properties, using theories and simulations. The second topic was mainly concerned with static structures and thermodynamic properties of polymer liquid crystals including phase behaviours.

Structural organization or disorganization in macromolecular systems has been an important subject of polymer physical chemistry during the last one or two decades. This volume summarizes the main lectures presented at the Osaka University Macromolecular Symposium OUMS '98 on Molecular Interactions and Time-Space Organization in Macromolecular Systems, where the following topics were discussed:crystallization kinetics, liquid crystals, phase separation, gelation, adhesion, complex formation, and self-organization, with emphasis on molecular interactions. Both these topics are hot issues at present and frequently are taken up as a main theme at a particular symposium. The present symposium invited leading theorists and experimentalists in these fields as guest speakers and is expected to attract the interest of a significant range of readers.