This volume (>Ie) NEMATICS Mathematical and Physical aspects constitutes the proceedings of a workshop which was held at l'Universite de Paris Sud (Orsay) in May 1990. This meeting was an Advanced Research Workshop sponsored by NATO. We gratefully acknowledge the help and support of the NATO Science Committee. Additional support has been provided by the Ministere des affaires etrangeres (Paris) and by the Direction des Recherches et Etudes Techniques (Paris). Also logistic support has been provided by the Association des Numericiens d'Orsay. (*) These proceedings are published in the...