We analyse the impact of quantum gravity on the possible solutions to the strong CP problem which utilize the spontaneously broken discrete symmetries, such as parity and time reversal invariance. We find that the stability of the solution under Planck scale effects provides an upper limit on the scale $\Lambda$ of relevant symmetry breaking. This result is model dependent and the bound is most restrictive for the seesaw type models of fermion masses, with $\Lambda < 10^6$ GeV.

Gamma-ray burst statistics are best explained by a source population at cosmological distances, while spectroscopy and intensity histories of some individual bursts imply an origin on Galactic neutron stars. To resolve this inconsistency I suggest the presence of two populations, one at cosmological distances and the other Galactic. I build on ideas of Shemi and Piran (1990) and of M\'esz\'aros and Rees (1993) involving the interaction of fireball debris with surrounding clouds to explain the observed intensity histories in bursts at cosmological distances. The distances to the Galactic population are undetermined because they are too few to affect the statistics of intensity and direction; I explain them as resulting from magnetic reconnection in neutron star magnetospheres.

In this paper we study the reducibility, composition series and unitarity of the components of some degenerate principal series representations of $\RMO(p,q)$, $\RMU(p,q)$ and $\SP(p,q)$. This is done by realizing these representations in paces of homogeneous functions on light cones and writing down the explicit actions of the universal enveloping algebra of the group concerned.

Singularities of the Radon transform of a piecewise smooth function $f(x)$, $x\in R^n$, $n\geq 2$, are calculated. If the singularities of the Radon transform are known, then the equations of the surfaces of discontinuity of $f(x)$ are calculated by applying the Legendre transform to the functions, which appear in the equations of the discontinuity surfaces of the Radon transform of $f(x)$; examples are given. Numerical aspects of the problem of finding discontinuities of $f(x)$, given the discontinuities of its Radon transform, are discussed.

The paragrassmann calculus proposed earlier is applied to constructing paraconformal transformations and paragrassmann generalizations of the Virasoro-Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond algebras.

Given $\Bbb R^2, $ with a ``good'' complete metric, we show that the unique solution of the Ricci flow approaches a soliton at time infinity. Solitons are solutions of the Ricci flow, which move only by diffeomorphism. The Ricci flow on $\Bbb R^2$ is the limiting case of the porous medium equation when $m$ is zero. The results in the Ricci flow may therefore be interpreted as sufficient conditions on the initial data, which guarantee that the corresponding unique solution for the porous medium equation on the entire plane asymptotically behaves like a ``soliton-solution''.

Given C*-algebras A and B and an imprimitivity A-B-bimodule X, we construct an explicit isomorphism X_* : K_i(A) --> K_i(B) where K_i denote the complex K-theory functors for i=0, 1. Our techniques do not require separability nor existence of countable approximate identities. We thus extend, to general C*-algebras, the result of Brown, Green and Rieffel according to which strongly Morita equivalent C*-algebras have isomorphic K-groups. The method employed includes a study of Fredholm operators on Hilbert modules.

A strong error estimate for the uniform rational approximation of $x^\alpha$ on $[0,1]$ is given, and its proof is sketched. Let $E_{nn}(x^\alpha,[0,1])$ denote the minimal approximation error in the uniform norm. Then it is shown that $$\lim_{n\to\infty}e^{2\pi\sqrt{\alpha n}}E_{nn}(x^\alpha,[0,1]) = 4^{1+\alpha}|\sin\pi\alpha|$$ holds true for each $\alpha>0$.

We announce results about flat (linkless) embeddings of graphs in 3-space. A piecewise-linear embedding of a graph in 3-space is called {\it flat} if every circuit of the graph bounds a disk disjoint from the rest of the graph. We have shown: (i) An embedding is flat if and only if the fundamental group of the complement in 3-space of the embedding of every subgraph is free. (ii) If two flat embeddings of the same graph are not ambient isotopic, then they differ on a subdivision of $K_5$ or $K_{3,3}$. (iii) Any flat embedding of a graph can be transformed to any other flat embedding of the same graph by ``3-switches'', an analog of 2-switches from the theory of planar embeddings. In particular, any two flat embeddings of a 4-connected graph are either ambient isotopic, or one is ambient isotopic to a mirror image of the other. (iv) A graph has a flat embedding if and only if it has no minor isomorphic to one of seven specified graphs. These are the graphs that can be obtained from $K_6$ by means of $Y\Delta$- and $\Delta Y$-exchanges.

It is argued that the recently proposed Kazakov-Migdal model of induced gauge theory, at large $N$, involves only the zero area Wilson loops that are effectively trees in the gauge action induced by the scalars. This retains only a constant part of the gauge action excluding plaquettes or anything like them and the gauge variables drop out.