"For mathematicians interested in Algebra and its relationship with Computer Science the articles will offer an impressive view into the mainstreams of the current research. For the semigroup theorist they will give the convincing confirmation that his theory is something useful, which can be applied in other disciplines receiving conversely new ideas, new tasks and new impulses for its further development." H Mitsch, Wien Monatshefte fur Mathematik, 1993

• Counting factors in words, semidirect products and power semigroups, J. Almeida; languages and scanners, D. Beauquier and J.E. Pin; characterizations of Schutzenberger graphs, D. Cowan and N.R. Reilly; encoding images as words and languages, K. Culik and S. Dube; rewriting methods for world problems, N. Dershowits; Mobius functions and confluent semi-commutation, V. Diekert; rewritable groups and semigroups and structure theory of set addition, G.A. Freiman and B.M. Schein; rational relations with bounded delay, C. Frougny and J. Sakarovitch; systems of equations over finite sets of word and automata theory, J. Karhumaki; permutation and iteration conditions for semigroups, A. De Luca and S. Varricchio; some recent results on string-rewriting systems that are confluent on some congruence class, F. Otto; total orders on free groups and monoids, W.B. Powell; order, invariance and visibility, I. Rival; rational word functions - characterization and minimization, C. Reutenauer and M.P. Schutzenberger.