  We study the effects of the finite size of baryons on the equation of state
of homogeneous hadronic matter. The finite extension of hadrons is introduced
in order to improve the performance of field theoretical models at very high
densities. We simulate the in-medium averaged baryon-baryon strong repulsion at
very short distances by introducing a Van der Waals like normalization of the
fields. This is done in the framework of the Quark Meson Coupling model, that
allows to take care of the quark structure of baryons. Since within this model
the confinement volume evolves with the fields configuration, the treatment is
not equivalent to a simple hard-core potential. We investigate the phase
transition to quark matter and the structure of neutron stars. We have found
significant corrections at high densities.

Nuclear Theory;Astrophysics