Starburst Galaxies: Near and Far

I Introduction.- Starbursts Near and Far: An Overview.- II The Initial Mass Function.- The Initial Mass Function in the Galactic Center.- The IMF of Starbursts Near and Far.- Evidence in Favour of IMF Variations.- Evidence Supporting the Universality of the IMF.- The Stellar Content of Obscured Galactic Giant HII Regions.- III Star Formation in Different Environments.- Star Formation in the Galactic Center and Nearby Nuclei.- Star Formation in Galactic Disks.- Nearby Dusty Starbursts.- Starbursts, Dark Matter and Dwarf Galaxy Evolution.- The Starburst-AGN Connection.- Finding Signatures of the Youngest Starbursts.- The BIGGEST Starbursts at the HIGHEST Redshifts.- Star Clusters in Merging Galaxies.- Spectroscopy of Compact Star Clusters in NGC 4038 / 4039.- Near-IR Spectroscopy and Population Synthesis of Super Star Clusters in NGC 1569.- The Obscured Mid-Infrared Continuum of NGC 4418: A Dust- and Ice-Enshrouded AGN.- Modeling Starbursts in Interacting Galaxies.- Evidence for Large Stellar Disks in Elliptical Galaxies.- Starbursts in Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies - Fueling and Properties.- The Stellar Populations of Nearby Radiogalaxies.- IV Star Formation and the ISM.- Starbursting in Spiral Arms and ULIRGs.- Extreme Starbursts and Molecular Clouds in Galaxies.- Starbursts: Triggers and Evolution.- The Genesis of Super Star Clusters as Self-Gravitating HII Regions.- V Global Properties.- Stellar Features in Integrated Starburst Spectra as Stellar Population Diagnostics.- The Stellar Population of Nearby Starbursts.- Star Formation Histories of Starbursts.- Chemical Evolution and Starbursts.- Chemical Abundances and Evolution in Nearby Starbursts.- Can We Date Starbursts?.- Investigating ULIRGs in the Near-Infrared: Imaging and Spectroscopy.- Post-Starburst Populations Near and Far - The Potential of Near-IR Spectroscopy.- Optical Spectra of Dusty Starbursts.- The Nature of ISOCAM Galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field South.- Hard X-rays from Starburst Galaxies Near and Far.- Distribution of Star Formation Between Starbursts and Normal Galaxies.- How to Correct for Dust Absorption in Starbursts.- HST Ultraviolet Spectra of Nearby Starbursts: Benchmarks for High Redshift Galaxies.- VI Cosmic Star Formation History.- Deep NICMOS/HST and Radio 1.4 GHz Observations of Galaxies at High Redshifts.- Star Forming Galaxies at z ? 2.- Identification of ISOPHOT Deep Field Sources.- The History of Starburst Galaxies.- Radio Observations of High Redshift Star Forming Galaxies.- The Cosmic Star-Formation History: The UV Finds Most.- The Cosmic Star-Formation History: The Far-IR and Sub-mm View.