Automorphism towers were first considered in (19) with the case of finite groups. Recently polycyclic and extremal groups were considered in (7) and (12) respectively. The purpose of this paper is to consider automorphism towers of groups in a class of almost soluble groups which contains all polycyclic and all extremal groups.

In this paper we will be concerned primarily with weak, strong and simple models of a propositional calculus, simple models being structures of a certain type in which all provable formulae of the calculus are valid. It is shown that the finite model property defined in terms of simple models holds for all calculi. This leads to a new proof of the fact that there is no general effective method for testing, given a finite structure and a calculus, whether or not the structure is a simple model of the calculus.

In 1967, Singer (11) gave 3 classes of n-valued two-place functors and proved that all these functors were Sheffer functions. Out of the n possible assignments needed to define a functor completely, Singer showed that it was sufficient to define 3n − 2, 3n − 2, and 2n assignments respectivelyfor the 3 classes. We shall enlarge Singer's classes to give functors of type Ia, type II and type III. For types Ia and III, it will be shown that it is sufficient to define 2n − 1 assignments and for type II we require 2n − 1 assignments to be defined and conditions on a further n/p1 assignments (where P1 is the least prime factor of n). These classes of functors include all of Singer's classes. We also introduce functors of type Ib, similar to those of type Ia, and show that for these itis sufficient to define 2n − 1 assignments to ensure the functor is a Sheffer function.

Penrose (4) gave a necessary and sufficient condition for the consistency of the linear matrix equation AXB = C and also its complete class of solutions. A necessary and sufficient condition for the equations AX = C, XB = D to have a common solution was given by Cecioni (3) and an expression for the general common solution by Rao and Mitra ((6), p. 25). In the present paper, we obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for the equations A1XB1 = C1 and A2XB2 = C2 to have a common solution and also an expression for the general common solution. This result isuseful in computing a constrained inverse of a matrix, a concept originallyintroduced by Bott and Duffin(2) and recently extended by Rao and Mitra(7) who consider more general constraints with the object of bringing together the various generalized inverses and pseudoinverses under a common classification scheme.

Let e be an integer greater than 1 and let pbe a prime such that p ≡ 1 (mod e). Criteria for 2 to be a residue of degree e modulo p have been obtained in various forms for e = 2, 3, 4 and 5. Thus, Euler and Lagrange proved that 2 is a quadratic residue mod p if and only if p ≡ ± 1 (mod 8). Gauss showed that 2 is a cubic residue mod p if and only if p is representable as p = l2 + 27m2 with integers l and m, and that 2 is a quartic residue mod p if and only if p is representable as p = 12 + 64m2. Lehmer (5) and Alderson (1) have found similar but more complicated conditions for 2 to be a quintic residue mod p. There are analogous results about 3. For example, it follows from quadratic reciprocity that 3 is a quadratic residue mod p if and only if p ≡ ± 1 (mod 12), and Jacobi(4) showed that 3 is a cubic residue mod p if and only if 4p is representable as l2 + 35m2.

The first example of a non-trivial group satisfying the normalizer condition but having trivial centre was obtained by Heineken and Mohamed (1). In fact, the group they constructed satisfies the stronger condition that all its proper subgroups are subnormal and nilpotent. In this note we use a construction suggested by their approach to obtain such a group G as a subgroup of the restricted wreath product Cp ≀ Cp∞. The fact that G is given as a subgroup of a well known group makes it rather easier to investigate its properties, and in particular to see that its centre Z(G) is trivial.

The polynomial invariants of a certain classical linear group of order 336 arise naturally in studying error-correcting codes over GF(7). An incomplete description of these invariants was given by Maschke in 1893. With the aid of the Poincaré series for this group, found by Edge in 1947, we complete Maschke's work by giving a unique representation for the invariants in terms of 12 basic invariants. A conjecture is made concerning the relationship between the Poincaré series and the degrees of the basic invariants for any linear group. A partial answer to this conjecture, due to E. C. Dade, is given.

René Thom(5) has shown that if the state of a system is determined by the local minimization of a potential – that is, if the system is so highly dissipative that transients can safely be ignored–then, though a smooth change in the potential function may give rise to a discontinuous change of state, the ways in which this can happen are quite limited. Infact, if we have at most a four-parameter family of potentials, discontinuities of this kind can occur in only seven ways up to local diffeotype, if they are to be structurally stable. (This latter condition is the requirement that it be im-possible to alter the discontinuity type by an arbitrarily small perturbation of the family of potentials: roughly it requires that the behaviour of the system, considered as a function of possible families ofpotentials, be ‘continuous’ at the family concerned. It bears the same relationship as does continuity to computability: a computer given approximately correct data for which to compute the value of a function or the behaviour of a system will give an approximately correct answer if the function is continuous, the system structurally stable. If not, only analytic methods will serve, and the physical significance of the result will be dubious. Fortunately, in the dimensions with which we are concerned, structural stability is an open dense property in the space of possible families of potentials; thus unstable systems can be ignored for almost all purposes, just as we ignore the ‘possibility’ of balancing a pin on its point.)

Constructions are given of sets F(k), (k = 6, 7) of residues mod q(k), (for a suitably chosen integer q(k)) such that F(k) – F(k) contains all residues, while

has a gap of an assigned number of consecutive residues.

In a Noetherian commutative ring with identity, every ideal can be expressed (not necessarily uniquely) as a finite intersection of primary ideals (called a primary decomposition). This note is concerned with powers of ideals generated by subsets of an R-sequence in a local ring R (i.e. a Noetherian commutative ring R with identity possessing a unique maximal ideal m) and with a decomposition of such ideals.

In this paper, we shall first describe the theory of distance-regular graphs and then apply it to the classification of Moore graphs. The object of the paper is to prove that there are no Moore graphs (other than polygons) of diameter ≥ 3. An independent proof of this result has been given by Barmai and Ito(1). Taken with the result of (4), this shows that the only possible Moore graphs are the following:

Recall that in (2) we showed that it was possible to make transverse a homology manifold and PL-manifold inside a large dimensional homology manifold, subject to being able to do some general position inside the large manifold. In (1) we were able to relax the condition that one of the submanifolds be a PL-manifold to it being a homotopy manifold. The way in which the making transverse was achieved was via a system of h-cobordisms from the original situation to the transverse one. The problem we tackle here is that of making a map between homology manifolds transverse regular. Thus we ask: given a map f: M → N of homology manifolds with P a proper submanifold of N, is it possible to homotop f to a map g: M → N such that g−1(P) is a proper submanifold of M and g induces a map from the normal bundle of g−1(P) in M to the normal bundle of P in N?

The purpose of this note is to construct a non-compact 3-manifold M with the following properties:

(i) M is orientable and irreducible

(ii) ∂M is connected and compact and its inclusion in M is a homotopy equivalence

(iii) M is not homeomorphic to ∂M × R+.

(Throughout this paper, all manifolds will be PL and all embeddings will be PL and locally flat.)

The Hughes–Zassenhaus plane, , of order 25 is the simplest of the exceptional Hughes planes (see, e.g. (1), p. 391).

In this paper, an incidence table is constructed analogous to tables for the field plane and the regular Hughes plane, and the following rather surprising properties of the plane emerge:

(i) The table has much greater internal symmetry than either of the analogous tables,

(ii) any polarity with regard to a conic in the central subplane Δ0 of extends to two pairs of polarities in one pair with 30 and the other with 60 singular points each in addition to the six in Δ0.

Zeeman(5) once bravely made the following conjecture:

Conjecture. Suppose K is a contractible 2-complex and I is the unit interval [0, 1]. Then K × I collapses.

This conjecture is interesting since it trivially implies the Poincaré conjecture. For if C is a homotopy 3-cell, then it has a contractible 2-dimensional spine, so that C × I would be a collapsible 4-manifold. But then C × I would be a 4-cell, with C = C × 0 in its 3-sphere boundary, and the PL Schoenfliess theorem shows that C is a 3-cell.

1. It was shown by Barlotti(1) that the number, k, of points on a (k, n)-arc in a Galois plane S2, q, of order q, where n and q are coprime, satisfies

Regular arcs, in which all the points are of the same type have been studied by Basile and Brutti(2) and, for n = 3 by d'Orgeval(4). By means of an electronic computer Lunelli and Sce(5) have enumerated many arcs in Galois planes of low order. The object of this note is to show how the (11, 3)-arcs of S2, 5, none of which is regular, may be described using only geometrical properties.

Let M be a C∞ manifold smoothly embedded as a convex hypersurface of Euclidean n-space n. M has constant width if the distance between each pair of parallel supporting hyperplanes in n is equal. This is equivalent to the condition that any chord of M normal to M at one end-point be normal to M at both end-points.

This note describes a new, and possibly more informative, proof of the fact that any closed orientable 3-manifold is a branched cover over the 3-sphere.

Let (E, ) be a topological vector space with a positive cone C. Jameson (3) says that C given an open decomposition on E if V ∩ C − V ∩ C is a -neighbourhood of 0 whenever V is a -neighbourhood of 0. The concept of open decompositions plays an important rôle in the theory of ordered topological vector spaces; see (3). It is clear that C is generating if C gives an open decomposition on E; the converse is true for Banach spaces with a closed cone, by Andô's theorem (cf. (1) or (9)). Therefore the following question arises naturally:

(Q 1) Let (E, ) be a locally convex space with a positive cone C. What condition on is necessary and sufficient for the cone C to give an open decomposition on E?

In this paper, some theorems of the Borsuk-Ulam type (1) are given. One of these can be applied to show that certain homotopy classes in manifolds cannot be realized by embedded spheres. The n-dimensional sphere Sn is the subset of the euclidean space

Rn+l consisting of all points (x1, …,xn+1) satisfying . Let be a piecewise linear (PL) involution on Sn without fixed points.