We apply set-theoretical ideas to an iteration problem of dynamical systems. Among other results, we prove that these iterations never stabilise later than the first uncountable ordinal; for every countable ordinal we give examples in Baire space and in Cantor space of an iteration that stabilises exactly at that ordinal; we give an example of an iteration with recursive data which stabilises exactly at the first non-recursive ordinal; and we find new examples of complete analytic sets simply definable from concepts of recurrence.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: primary 03E15, 37B20, 54H05; secondary 37B10, 37E15.

In the context of Mackey functors we introduce a category which is analogous to the category of modules for a quasi-hereditary algebra which have a filtration by standard objects. Many of the constructions which work for quasi-hereditary algebras can be done in this new context. In particular, we construct an analogue of the `Ringel dual', which turns out here to be a standardly stratified algebra. The Mackey functors which play the role of the standard objects are constructed in the same way as functors which have been used previously in parametrizing the simple Mackey functors, but instead of using simple modules in their construction (as was done before) we use p-permutation modules. These Mackey functors are obtained as adjoints of the operations of forming the Brauer quotient and its dual. The filtrations which have these Mackey functors as their factors are closely related to the filtrations whose terms are the sum of induction maps from specified subgroups, or are the common kernel of restriction maps to these subgroups. These latter filtrations appear in Conlon's decomposition theorems for the Green ring, as well as in other places, where they arise quite naturally.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: primary 20C20; secondary 20J05, 19A22, 16G70, 16E60.

In this paper we define and study Hopf C$^*$-algebras. Roughly speaking, a Hopf C$^*$-algebra is a C$^*$-algebra $A$ with a comultiplication $\phi : A \rightarrow M(A \otimes A)$ such that the maps $a \otimes b \mapsto \phi(a)(1 \otimes b)$ and $a \otimes b \mapsto (a \otimes 1)\phi(b)$ have their range in $A \otimes A$ and are injective after being extended to a larger natural domain, the Haagerup tensor product $A \otimes_h A$. In a purely algebraic setting, these conditions on $\phi$ are closely related to the existence of a counit and antipode. In this topological context, things turn out to be much more subtle, but nevertheless one can show the existence of a suitable counit and antipode under these conditions.

The basic example is the C$^*$-algebra $C_0(G)$ of continuous complex functions tending to zero at infinity on a locally compact group where the comultiplication is obtained by dualizing the group multiplication. But also the reduced group C$^*$-algebra $C^*_r(G)$ of a locally compact group with the well-known comultiplication falls in this category. In fact all locally compact quantum groups in the sense of Kustermans and the first author (such as the compact and discrete ones) as well as most of the known examples are included.

This theory differs from other similar approaches in that there is no Haar measure assumed.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 46L65, 46L07, 46L89.

In 1914 Bohr proved that there is an $r \in (0,1)$ such that if a power series converges in the unit disk and its sum has modulus less than $1$ then, for $|z| < r$, the sum of absolute values of its terms is again less than $1$. Recently, analogous results have been obtained for functions of several variables. The aim of this paper is to place the theorem of Bohr in the context of solutions to second-order elliptic equations satisfying the maximum principle.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 35J15, 32A05, 46A35.

A generalized quadrangle $\cal S$ is laxly embedded in a (finite) projective space {\bf PG}$(d,q)$ if $\cal S$ is a subgeometry of the geometry of points and lines of {\bf PG}$(d,q)$, with the only condition that the points of $\cal S$ generate the whole space {\bf PG}$(d,q)$ (which one can always assume without loss of generality). In this paper, we classify thick laxly embedded quadrangles satisfying some additional hypotheses. The hypotheses are (a combination of) a restriction on the dimension $d$, a restriction on the parameters of $\cal S$, and an assumption on the isomorphism class of $\cal S$. In particular, the classification is complete in the following cases: \begin{enumerate} \item[(1)] for $d\geq 5$; \item[(2)] for $d=4$ and $\cal S$ having `known' order $(s,t)$ with $t\not= s^2$; \item[(3)] for $d\geq 3$ and $\cal S$ isomorphic to a finite Moufang quadrangle distinct from $W(s)$ with $s$ odd. \end{enumerate}

As a by-product, we obtain a new characterization theorem of the classical quadrangle $H(4,s^2)$, and we also show that every generalized quadrangle of order $(s,s+2)$, with $s>2$, has at least one non-regular line.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 51E12.

Working in the category $\mathcal{T}$ of based spaces, we give the basic theory of diagram spaces and diagram spectra. These are functors $\mathcal{D}\longrightarrow \mathcal{T}$ for a suitable small topological category $\mathcal{D}$. When $\mathcal{D}$ is symmetric monoidal, there is a smash product that gives the category of $\mathcal{D}$-spaces a symmetric monoidal structure. Examples include \begin{enumerate} \item[] prespectra, as defined classically, \item[] symmetric spectra, as defined by Jeff Smith, \item[] orthogonal spectra, a coordinate-free analogue of symmetric spectra with symmetric groups replaced by orthogonal groups in the domain category, \item[] $\Gamma$-spaces, as defined by Graeme Segal, \item[] $\mathcal{W}$-spaces, an analogue of $\Gamma$-spaces with finite sets replaced by finite CW complexes in the domain category. \end{enumerate} We construct and compare model structures on these categories. With the caveat that $\Gamma$-spaces are always connective, these categories, and their simplicial analogues, are Quillen equivalent and their associated homotopy categories are equivalent to the classical stable homotopy category. Monoids in these categories are (strict) ring spectra. Often the subcategories of ring spectra, module spectra over a ring spectrum, and commutative ring spectra are also model categories. When this holds, the respective categories of ring and module spectra are Quillen equivalent and thus have equivalent homotopy categories. This allows interchangeable use of these categories in applications.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: primary 55P42; secondary 18A25, 18E30, 55U35.