Book excerpt: Evolution equations describe many processes in science and engineering, and they form a central topic in mathematics. The first three contributions to this volume address parabolic evolutionary problems: The opening paper treats asymptotic solutions to singular parabolic problems with distribution and hyperfunction data. The theory of the asymptotic Laplace transform is developed in the second paper and is applied to semigroups generated by operators with large growth of the resolvent. An article follows on solutions by local operator methods of time-dependent singular problems in non-cylindrical domains. The next contribution addresses spectral properties of systems of pseudodifferential operators when the characteristic variety has a conical intersection. Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rules and first order exponential asymptotics of the resonance widths are established under various semiclassical regimes. In the following article, the limiting absorption principle is proven for certain self-adjoint operators. Applications include Hamiltonians with magnetic fields, Dirac Hamiltonians, and the propagation of waves in inhomogeneous media. The final topic develops Hodge theory on manifolds with edges; its authors introduce a concept of elliptic complexes, prove a Hodge decomposition theorem, and study the asymptotics of harmonic forms.