Let C[0,1] be the Banach space of continuous functions defined on [0,1] and let C be the set of functions f∈C[0,1] mapping [0,1] into itself. If f∈C, fk will denote the kth iterate of f and we put Ck = {fk:f∈C;}. The set of increasing (≡ nondecreasing) and decreasing (≡ nonincreasing) functions in C will be denoted by ℐ and D, respectively. If a function f is defined on an interval I, we let C(f) denote the set of points at which f is locally constant, i.e.

We let N denote the set of positive integers and NN denote the Baire space of sequences of positive integers.

Milutin's Theorem states that if X and Y are uncountable metrizable compact Hausdorff spaces, then C(X) and C(Y) are isomorphic as Banach spaces [15, p. 379]. Thus there is only one isomorphism class of such Banach spaces. There is also an extensive theory of the Banach–Mazur distance between various classes of classical Banach spaces with the deepest results depending on probabilistic and asymptotic estimates [18]. Lindenstrauss, Haagerup and possibly others know that as Banach spaces

where H is the infinite dimensional separable Hilbert space, R is the injective II 1-factor on H, and ≈ denotes Banach space isomorphism. Haagerup informed us of this result, and suggested considering completely bounded isomorphisms; it is a pleasure to acknowledge his suggestion. We replace Banach space isomorphisms by completely bounded isomorphisms that preserve the linear structure and involution, but not the product. One of the two theorems of this paper is a strengthened version of the above result: if N is an injective von Neumann algebra with separable predual and not finite type I of bounded degree, then N is completely boundedly isomorphic to B(H). The methods used are similar to those in Banach space theory with complete boundedness needing a little care at various points in the argument. Extensive use is made of the conditional expectation available for injective algebras, and the methods do not apply to the interesting problems of completely bounded isomorphisms of non-injective von Neumann algebras (see [4] for a study of the completely bounded approximation property).

R. A. Rankin [2] and J. Lehner [1] considered the non-vanishing of Poincaré series for the classical modular matrix group and for an arbitrary fuchsian group, respectively.

In this paper we consider the non-vanishing of Poincaré series for the congruence group

Let L be an odd degree extension field of the field K, char K ≠ 2. Let U* denote the natural extension map from W(K) to W(L) where W(K), resp. W(L) denotes the Witt group of quadratic forms over K, resp. L. It is well-known that U* is injective [4, p. 198]. In fact Springer [10] proved a stronger theorem, namely that if φ is anisotropic over K then it remains anisotropic on extension to L. Rosenberg and Ware [8] proved that if L is a Galois extension then the image of U* is precisely the subgroup of W(L) fixed by the Galois group of L over K, this Galois group having a natural action on W(L). See [4, p. 214] and [3] for a quick proof. See also Dress [1] who extended these results to equivariant forms. In this article we investigate the corresponding map U* when we replace the field L by a central simple K-algebra of odd degree and indeed more generally by any finite dimensional K-algebra which becomes odd-dimensional on factoring out by the radical. Our algebras are equipped with an involution of the second kind, i.e. one which is non-trivial on the centre, and we replace quadratic forms by hermitian forms with respect to the involution. We show that U* is injective for all the algebras mentioned above and that a weaker version of Springer's theorem holds for central simple algebras of odd degree provided we make a suitable restriction on the nature of the involution. We show that the analogue of the Rosenberg-Ware result is valid for hermitian forms over odd-dimensional Galois field extensions but that for central simple algebras of odd degree a result as nice as the Rosenberg–Ware one cannot hold. Indeed the group of all K-automorphisms of such an algebra which commute with the involution fixes all of the Witt group. However the map U* is not surjective in general even for division algebras of odd degree.

Let ν0 be a valuation of a field K0 with residue field k0 and value group Z, the group of rational integers. Let K0(x) be a simple transcendental extension of K0. In 1936, Maclane [3] gave a method to determine all real valuations V of K0(x) which are extensions of ν0. But his method does not seem to give an explicit construction of these valuations. In the present paper, assuming K0 to be a complete field with respect to ν0, we explicitly determine all extensions of ν0 to K0(x) which have Z as the value group and a simple transcendental extension of k0 as the residue field. If V is any extension of ν0 to K0(x) having Z as the value group and a transcendental extension of k0 as the residue field, then using the Ruled Residue theorem [4, 2, 5], we give a method which explicitly determines V on a subfield of K0(x) properly containing K0.

In this paper we shall discuss the positive roots of the equation

where Iq is the modified Bessel function of the first kind. By means of a recurrence relation for Iq(r) [2, (5.7.9)], equation (1.1a) can also be written in the form