In this paper, we show that the class of all properly 3-realizable groups is closed under amalgamated free products (and HNN-extensions) over finite groups. We recall that G is said to be properly 3-realizable if there exists a compact 2-polyhedron K with π1(K) = G and whose universal cover K̃ has the proper homotopy type of a 3-manifold (with boundary).

The category of crossed complexes gives an algebraic model of CW-complexes and cellular maps. Free crossed resolutions of groups contain information on a presentation of the group as well as higher homological information. We relate this to the problem of calculating non-abelian extensions. We show how the strong properties of this category allow for the computation of free crossed resolutions ...

We prove that for an action of a finite group G on a systolic complex X there exists a G–invariant subcomplex of X of diameter 5. For 7–systolic locally finite complexes we prove there is a fixed point for the action of any finite G. This implies that free products with amalgamation (and HNN extensions) of 7–systolic groups over finite subgroups are also 7–systolic.