In this paper, we generalize the Gauduchon metrics on a compact complex manifold and define the _k functions on the space of its hermitian metrics.

We prove that the quotient space of a variationally complete group action is a good Riemannian orbifold. The result is generalized to singular Riemannian foliations without horizontal conjugate points.

For a path in a compact finite dimensional Alexandrov space X with curv  , the two basic geometric invariants are the length and the turning angle (which measures the closeness from being a geodesic). We show that the sum of the two invariants of any loop is bounded from below in terms of , the dimension, diameter, and Hausdorff measure of X. This generalizes a basic estimate of Cheeger on the length of a closed geodesic in a closed Riemannian manifold ([Ch], [GP1,2]). To see that the above result also generalizes and improves an analog of the Cheeger type estimate in Alexandrov geometry in [BGP], we show that for a class of subsets of X, the n-dimensional Hausdorff measure and rough volume are proportional by a constant depending on n = dim(X).

We obtain an estimate for the norm of the second fundamental form of stable H-surfaces in Riemannian 3-manifolds with bounded sectional curvature. Our estimate depends on the distance to the boundary of the surface and on the bound on the sectional curvature but not on the manifold itself. We give some applications, in particular we obtain an interior gradient estimate for H-sections in Killing submersions.

For a one parameter family of Calabi-Yau threefolds, Green et al. (2009) expressed the total singularities in terms of the degrees of Hodge bundles and Euler number of the general fiber. In this paper, we show that the total singularities can be expressed by the sum of asymptotic values of BCOV (Bershadsky-Cecotti-Ooguri-Vafa) invariants, studied by Fang et al. (2008). On the other hand, by using Yau's Schwarz lemma, we prove Arakelov type inequalities and Euler number bound for Calabi-Yau family over a compact Riemann surface.