The conference ‘Rings and Modules’, in honour of Patrick F. Smith's 65th birthday and on the occasion of his retirement, gathered in Lisbon 67 of Patrick Smith's students, co-authors and friends from all over the world. The conference was held at Centro de Álgebra da Universidade de Lisboa (CAUL), 16th–19th September 2008.

If K is a field with a non-trivial non-Archimedean absolute value (multiplicative norm) | |, we describe all non-Archimedean K-algebra norms on the polynomial algebra K[X1, . . . , Xr] which extend | |.

This paper deals with the following degenerate and singular equation with non-local source and absorption. The existence of a unique classical non-negative solution is established and the sufficient conditions for the solution that exists globally or blows up in finite time are obtained.

A graph is called weakly perfect if its chromatic number equals its clique number. In this paper a new class of weakly perfect graphs arising from rings are presented and an explicit formula for the chromatic number of such graphs is given.

Let V be a countably generated right vector space over a division ring D. If D ≇ ℤ/2ℤ, ℤ/3ℤ, then for any γ ∈ EndD(V), there exists α ∈ AutD(V) such that γ+α, γ−α−1 ∈ AutD(V). This gives a generalization of [D. Zelinsky, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 5 (1954), 627–630, Theorem].

Let be a finite dimensional complex semi-simple Lie algebra with Weyl group W and simple reflections S. For I ⊆ S let I be the corresponding semi-simple subalgebra of . Denote by WI the Weyl group of I and let w○ and wI○ be the longest elements of W and WI, respectively. In this paper we show that the answer to Kostant's problem, i.e. whether the universal enveloping algebra surjects onto the space of all ad-finite linear transformations of a given module, is the same for the simple highest weight I-module LI(x) of highest weight x ⋅ 0, x ∈ WI, as the answer for the simple highest weight -module L(xwI○w○) of highest weight xwI○w○ ⋅ 0. We also give a new description of the unique quasi-simple quotient of the Verma module Δ(e) with the same annihilator as L(y), y ∈ W.

Our aim in this paper is to deal with Sobolev's embeddings for Sobolev–Orlicz functions with ∇u ∈ Lp(·) logLq(·)(Ω) for Ω ⊂ n. Here p and q are variable exponents satisfying natural continuity conditions. Also the case when p attains the value 1 in some parts of the domain is included in the results.

A module M is called poor whenever it is N-injective, then the module N is semisimple. In this paper the properties of poor modules are investigated and are used to characterize various families of rings.

Let C be a non-empty closed convex subset of a reflexive and strictly convex Banach space E which also has a weakly continuous duality map Jφ(x) with the gauge φ. Let S and T be non-expansive mappings from C into itself such that F = F(S) ∩ F(T) ≠ ∅. Let {αn} and {βn} be sequences in (0, 1). Let {xn} be a sequence defined by where u ∈ C is a given point. Assume that the following restrictions imposed on the control sequences are satisfied:

Let K be a compact Hausdorff space, X a Banach space and C(K, X) the Banach space of all continuous functions f: K → X endowed with the supremum norm. In this paper we study weakly precompact operators defined on C(K, X).

Let G be a connected graph of order n, and let k ≥ 2 and m ≥ 0 be two integers. In this paper, we show that G is a fractional (k, m)-deleted graph if and for each pair of non-adjacent vertices x, y of G. This result is an extension of the previous result of Zhou [11].

In this survey paper we present some results relating the Goldie dimension, dual Krull dimension and subdirect irreducibility in modules, torsion theories, Grothendieck categories and lattices. Our interest in studying this topic is rooted in a nice module theoretical result of Carl Faith [Commun. Algebra27 (1999), 1807–1810], characterizing Noetherian modules M by means of the finiteness of the Goldie dimension of all its quotient modules and the ACC on its subdirectly irreducible submodules. Thus, we extend his result in a dual Krull dimension setting and consider its dualization, not only in modules, but also in upper continuous modular lattices, with applications to torsion theories and Grothendieck categories.

The Minkowski question mark function ?(x) arises as a real distribution of rationals in the Farey tree. We examine the generating function of moments of ?(x). It appears that the generating function is a direct dyadic analogue of period functions for Maass wave forms and it is defined in the cut plane \ (1, ∞). The exponential generating function satisfies an integral equation with kernel being the Bessel function. The solution of this integral equation leads to the definition of dyadic eigenfunctions, arising from a certain Hilbert–Schmidt operator. Finally, we describe p-adic distribution of rationals in the Stern–Brocot tree. Surprisingly, the Eisenstein series G2(z) does manifest in both real and p-adic cases.

Let K be a field of characteristic 0, which is algebraically closed to radicals. Let F = K((X)) be the valued field of Laurent power series and let G = Aut(F/K). We prove that if L is a subfield of F, K ≠ L, such that L/K is a sub-extension of F/K and F/L is a Galois algebraic extension (L/K is Galois coalgebraic in F/K), then L is closed in F, F/L is a finite extension and Gal(F/L) is a finite cyclic group of G. We also prove that there is a one-to-one and onto correspondence between the set of all finite subgroups of G and the set of all Galois coalgebraic sub-extensions of F/K. Some other auxiliary results which are useful by their own are given.

We call a module Malmost perfect if every M-generated flat module is M-projective. Any perfect module is almost perfect. We characterize almost-perfect modules and investigate some of their properties. It is proved that a ring R is a left almost-perfect ring if and only if every finitely generated left R-module is almost perfect. R is left perfect if and only if every (projective) left R-module is almost perfect.

Let R be a commutative ring with non-zero identity and M be a unitary R-module. Let (M) be the set of all submodules of M, and φ: (M) → (M) ∪ {∅} be a function. We say that a proper submodule P of M is a prime submodule relative to φ or φ-prime submodule if a ∈ R and x ∈ M, with ax ∈ P ∖ φ(P) implies that a ∈(P :RM) or x ∈ P. So if we take φ(N) = ∅ for each N ∈ (M), then a φ-prime submodule is exactly a prime submodule. Also if we consider φ(N) = {0} for each submodule N of M, then in this case a φ-prime submodule will be called a weak prime submodule. Some of the properties of this concept will be investigated. Some characterisations of φ-prime submodules will be given, and we show that under some assumptions prime submodules and φ1-prime submodules coincide.

In this paper we introduce -non-cosingular modules, dual Baer modules and -modules. We prove that a module M is lifting and -non-cosingular if and only if it is a dual Baer and -module. Rings for which all modules are dual Baer are precisely determined. We also give a necessary condition for a finite direct sum of dual Baer modules to be dual Baer.

Kummer's conjecture predicts the rate of growth of the relative class numbers of cyclotomic fields of prime conductor. We extend Kummer's conjecture to cyclotomic fields of conductor n, where n is any natural number. We show that the Elliott–Halberstam conjecture implies that this generalised Kummer's conjecture is true for almost all n but is false for infinitely many n.

A terrace for m is an arrangement (a1, a2, . . . , am) of the m elements of m such that the sets of differences ai+1 − ai and ai − ai+1 (i = 1, 2, . . . , m − 1) between them contain each element of m \ {0} exactly twice. For m odd, many procedures are available for constructing power-sequence terraces for m; each such terrace may be partitioned into segments, one of which contains merely the zero element of m, whereas each other segment is either (a) a sequence of successive powers of an element of m or (b) such a sequence multiplied throughout by a constant. We now adapt this idea by using power-sequences in n, where n is an odd prime power, to obtain terraces for m, where m = n − 2. We write each element from n so that they lie in the interval [0, n − 1] and then delete 0 and n − 1 so that they leave n − 2 elements that may be interpreted as the elements of n−2. A segment of one of the new terraces may be of type (a) or (b), incorporating successive powers of 2, with each entry evaluated modulo n. Our constructions provide n−2 terraces for all odd primes n satisfying 0 < n < 1,000 except for n = 127, 241, 257, 337, 431, 601, 631, 673, 683, 911, 937 and 953. We also provide n−2 terraces for n = 3r (r > 1) and for some values n = p2, where p is prime.

Motivated by a relation on submodules of a module used by both A. W. Goldie and P. F. Smith, we say submodules X, Y of M are β* equivalent, Xβ*Y, if and only if is small in and is small in . We show that the β* relation is an equivalence relation and has good behaviour with respect to addition of submodules, homomorphisms and supplements. We apply these results to introduce the class of -supplemented modules and to investigate this class and the class of H-supplemented modules. These classes are located among various well-known classes of modules related to the class of lifting modules. Moreover these classes are used to explore an open question of S. H. Mohamed and B. J. Mueller. Examples are provided to illustrate and delimit the theory.