The volume contains both general and research papers. Among the first ones are papers showing recent and original developments or methods in subjects such as resolution of singularities, D-module theory, singularities of maps and geometry of curves. The research papers deal on topics related to, or close to, those listed_above. The contributions are organized in three parts according to their contents. Part I presents a set of papers on resolution of singularities, a topic of renewed activity. It deals with important topics of current interest, such as canonical, algorithmic, combinatorial and graphical procedures (Villamayor, Oka, Marijmin), as well as special results on desingularization in characteristic p (Cossart, Moh), and connections between resolution and structure of the space of arcs through a singularity (Gonz81ez-Sprinberg-Lejeune-Jalabert). Part II contains a series of papers on the study~of singularities and its connections with differential systems and deformation or perturbation theo- ries. Two expository papers (Maisonobe-Briam;on, :'vlebkhout) describe, in an algebro-geometric way, the interaction between singularities and D-module t.he- ory including recent progress on Bernstein polynomials and Newton polygon techniques.Geometry of foliations (Henaut, Garcfa-Reguera), polar varieties and stratifications (Hajto) are also topics treated here. Two other papers (Wall, Greuel-Pfister) deal with quasihomogeneous singularities in the contexts of per- turbations and moduli spaces. Globalization of deformations of singularities (de Jong) and determination of complex topology from the real one (~10nd) com- plete this series of papers. Part III consists of papers on algebraic geometry of curves and surfaces.
