The Advances in Chemical Physics series—the cutting edge of research in chemical physics The Advances in Chemical Physics series provides the chemical physics and physical chemistry fields with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the discipline. Filled with cutting-edge research reported in a cohesive manner not found elsewhere in the literature, each volume of the Advances in Chemical Physics series presents contributions from internationally renowned chemists and serves as the perfect supplement to any advanced graduate class devoted to the study of chemical physics. This volume explores: Kinetics and thermodynamics of fluctuation-induced transitions in multistable systems (G. Nicolis and C. Nicolis) Dynamical rare event simulation techniques for equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems (Titus S. van Erp) Confocal depolarized dynamic light scattering (M. Potenza, T. Sanvito, V. Degiorgio, and M. Giglio) The two-step mechanism and the solution-crystal spinodal for nucleation of crystals in solution (Peter G. Vekilov) Experimental studies of two-step nucleation during two-dimensional crystallization of colloidal particles with short-range attraction (John R. Savage, Liquan Pei, and Anthony D. Dinsmore) On the role of metastable intermediate states in the homogeneous nucleation of solids from solution (James F. Lutsko) Effects of protein size on the high-concentration/low-concentration phase transition (Patrick Grosfils) Geometric constraints in the self-assembly of mineral dendrites and platelets (John J. Kozak) What can mesoscopic level in situ observations teach us about kinetics and thermodynamics of protein crystallization? (Mike Sleutel, Dominique Maes, and Alexander Van Driessche) The ability of silica to induce biomimetic crystallization of calcium carbonate (Matthias Kellermeier, Emilio Melero-GarcÍa, Werner Kunz, and Juan Manuel GarcÍa-Ruiz)