In this paper, we give a simple proof of Mirzakhanis recursion formula of Weil-Petersson volumes of moduli spaces of curves using the Witten-Kontsevich theorem. We also briefly describe a very general recursive phenomenon in the intersection theory of moduli spaces of curves. In particular, we present several new recursion formulas for higher degree classes.

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We show that the analogue of Hamilton's Ricci flow in the combinatorial setting produces solutions which converge exponentially fast to Thurston's circle packing on surfaces. As a consequence, a new proof of Thurston's existence of circle packing theorem is obtained. As another consequence, Ricci flow suggests a new algorithm to find circle packings.

We present a new method to solve certain ar {\partial} -equations for logarithmic differential forms by using harmonic integral theory for currents on Kahler manifolds. The result can be considered as a ar {\partial} -lemma for logarithmic forms. As applications, we generalize the result of Deligne about closedness of logarithmic forms, give geometric and simpler proofs of Deligne's degeneracy theorem for the logarithmic Hodge to de Rham spectral sequences at ar {\partial} -level, as well as certain injectivity theorem on compact Kahler manifolds.

Let <i>M</i> be a compact Khler manifold and <i>N</i> be a subvariety with codimension greater than or equal to 2. We show that there are no complete KhlerEinstein metrics on M - N . As an application, let <i>E</i> be an exceptional divisor of <i>M</i>. Then M - N cannot admit any complete KhlerEinstein metric if blow-down of <i>E</i> is a complex variety with only canonical or terminal singularities. A similar result is shown for pairs.