Mass-losing pulsating stars and their circumstellar matter

the long version

The rapid progress in research on mass-losing pulsating stars has now taken us far from its early photographic light variation study to the world of massive photometry and interferometic observations. Still some fundamental problems such as the pulsational mode and the mass-loss mechanism remain a mystery. In this volume the modern theoretical works are confronted with the latest observations and the active discussions indicate the directions of future research. Among the subjects presented in this workshop are: recent results of massive photometry; pulsation and properties of mass-losing stars; optical and infrared observations of circumstellar matter; radio and mm observations of circumstellar matter; distribution of maser sources in the Galaxy; VERA and other future projects. Thorough and up-to-date information on mass-losing stars provides invaluable references for all researchers and students who are interested in the AGB evolution, pulsation models, circumstellar matter, precision astrometry, and the Galactic structure.