: We consider diagram groups as defined by Guba and Sapir [Mem. Amer. Math. Soc. 130 (1997)]. A diagram group G acts on the associated cube complex K by isometries. It is known that if a cube complex L is of a finite dimension, then every isometry g of L is semi-simple: is attained. It was conjectured by Farley that in the case of a diagram group G the action of G on the associated cube complex K is by semisimple isometries also when K has an infinite dimension. In this paper we give a counter-example to Farley's conjecture by showing that R. Thompson's group F, considered as a diagram group, has some elements which act as parabolic (not semi-simple) isometries on the associated cube complex.

We present a simple constructive proof of the fact that every abelian discrete group is uniformly amenable. We improve the growth function obtained earlier and find the optimal growth function in a particular case. We also compute a growth function for some non-abelian uniformly amenable group.

Let $Y$ be a closed 2-dimensional disk or a 2-sphere. We consider a simple, $d$-sheeted branched covering $\pi :X\to Y$. We fix a base point $A_0$ in $Y$ ($A_0\in \partial Y$ if $Y$ is a disk). We consider the homeomorphisms $h$ of $Y$ which fix $\partial

We use a new approach to differential subordination to obtain some subordination implications for subclasses of the class of strongly starlike functions of order $\alpha$.

Bidouble covers $\pi : S \mapsto Q$ of the quadric Q are parametrized by connected families depending on four positive integers a,b,c,d. In the special case where b=d we call them abc-surfaces. Such a Galois covering $\pi$ admits a small perturbation yielding a general 4-tuple covering of Q with branch curve $\De$, and a natural Lefschetz fibration obtained from a small perturbation of the composition of $ \pi$ with the first projection. We prove a more general result implying that the braid monodromy factorization corresponding to $\De$ determines the three integers a,b,c in the case of abc-surfaces. We introduce a new method in order to distinguish factorizations which are not stably equivalent. This result is in sharp contrast with a previous result of the first and third author, showing that the mapping class group factorizations corresponding to the respective natural Lefschetz pencils are equivalent for abc-surfaces with the same values of a+c, b. This result hints at the possibility that abc-surfaces with fixed values of a+c, b, although diffeomorphic but not deformation equivalent, might be not canonically symplectomorphic.