The ability to directly manipulate an embedded object in the free-form deformation (FFD) method improves controllability. However, the existing solution to this problem involves a pseudo-inverse matrix that requires complicated calculations. This paper solves the problem using a constrained optimization method. We derive the explicit solutions for deforming an object which is to pass through a given target point. For constraints with multiple target points, the proposed solution also involves simple calculations, only requiring solving a system of linear equations.We show that the direct manipulations exhibit the commutative group property, namely commutative, associative, and invertible properties, which further enhance the controllability of FFD. In addition, we show that multiple point constraints can be decomposed into separate manipulations of single point constraints, thus providing the user the freedom of specifying the constraints in any appropriate order.

We describe the S 1 -action on the Quot-scheme $\Quot({\cal E}^n)$ associated to the trivial bundle ${\cal E}^n=CP^1\times{\smallBbb C}^n$. In particlular, the topology of the S 1 -fixed-point components in $\Quot({\cal E}^n)$ and the S 1 -weights of the normal bundle of these components are worked out. Mirror Principle, as developed by three of the current authors in the series of work [L-L-Y1, I, II, III, IV], is a method for studying certain intersection numbers on a stable map moduli space. As an application, in Mirror Principle III, Sec 5.4, an outline was given in the case of genus zero with target a flag manifold. The results on $S^1$ fixed points in this paper are used here to do explicit Mirror Principle computations in the case of Grassmannian manifolds. In fact, Mirror Principle computations involve only a certain distinguished subcollection of the $S^1$ -fixed-point components. These components are identified and are labelled by Young tableaus. The $S^1$-equivariant Euler class $e_{S^1}$ of the normal bundle to these components is computed. A diagrammatic rule that allows one to write down $e_{S^1}$ directly from the Young tableau is given. From this, the aforementioned intersection numbers on the moduli space of stable maps can be worked out. Two examples are given to illustrate our method. Using our method, the A-model for Calabi-Yau complete intersections in a Grassmannian manifold can now also be computed explicitly. This work is motivated by the intention to provide further details of mirror principle and to understand the relation to physical theory. Some related questions are listed for further study.

Making use of the extended flux homomorphism defined in [13] on the group Symp§g of symplectomorphisms of a closed ori- ented surface §g of genus g ≥ 2, we introduce new characteristic classes of foliated surface bundles with symplectic, equivalently area-preserving, total holonomy. These characteristic classes are stable with respect to g and we show that they are highly non- trivial. We also prove that the second homology of the group Ham§g of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms of §g, equipped with the discrete topology, is very large for all g ≥ 2.

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We study the tropical lines contained in smooth tropical surfaces in ℝ^{3}. On smooth tropical quadric surfaces we find two one-dimensional families of tropical lines, like in classical algebraic geometry. Unlike the classical case, however, there exist smooth tropical surfaces of any degree with infinitely many tropical lines.