The geometry arising from Michelson &amp; Strominger's study of =4<i>B</i> supersymmetric quantum mechanics with superconformal <i>D</i>(2, 1; )-symmetry is a hyperKhler manifold with torsion (HKT) together with a special homothety. It is shown that different parameters are related via changes in potentials for the HKT target spaces. For 0, 1, we describe how each such HKT manifold <i>M</i> ^<i>4m</i> is derived from a space <i>N</i> ^<i>4m4</i> which is quaternionic Khler with torsion and carries an Abelian instanton.

Weak mirror symmetry relates a manifold with complex structure to another manifold equipped with a symplectic structure through a quasiisomorphism of associated differential Gerstenhaber algebras. The two manifolds are then mirror partners. In this paper we consider the analogous problem on Lie algebras. In particular we show that the semi-direct product of a Lie algebra equipped with a torsion-free flat connection with itself is a mirror partner of a semi-direct product of the same Lie algebra with its dual space. For nilpotent algebras this analysis on Lie algebras can be applied to the compact quotients of the underlying nilpotent group. We classify mirror pairs among 6-dimensional nilpotent Lie algebras that have the semi-direct product structure as well as mirror pairs admitting the more involved special Lagrangian structure, namely compatible complex and symplectic structures on the same space.

Statistical procedures designed for analysing multivariate data sets often emphasize different sample statistics. While some procedures emphasize the estimates of both the mean vector and the covariance matrix , others may emphasize only one of these two sample quantities. In effect, while an unusual observation in a data set has a deleterious impact on the results from an analysis that depends heavily on the covariance matrix, its effect when dependence is on the mean vector may be minimal. The aim of this paper is to develop diagnostic measures for identifying influential observations of different kinds. Three diagnostic measures, based on the local influence approach, are constructed to identify observations that exercise undue influence on the estimate of , of , and of both together. Real data sets are analysed and results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed measures.

An inequality relating the Euler characteristic, the signature and the <i>L</i>₂-norm of the curvature of the bundle of densities is proved for a four-dimensional compact Einstein-Weyl manifold. This generalises the Hitchin-Thorpe inequality for Einstein manifolds. The case where equality occurs is discussed and related to Hitchin's classification of Ricci-flat self-dual four-manifolds and to the recent work of Gauduchon on closed non-exact Einstein-Weyl geometries.

We present the extended Kuranishi space for a Kodaira surface as a nontrivial example to Kontsevich and Barannikov's extended deformation theory. We provide a non-trivial example of Hertling-Manin's weak Frobenius manifold. In addition, we find that Kodaira surface is its own mirror image in the sense of Merkulov. The calculations of extended deformation and the weak Frobenius structure are based on Merkulov's perturbation method. Our computation of cohomology is done in the context of compact nilmanifolds.