A hyperfinite von Neumann algebra satisfies the condition that every o.d. homomorphism is a normal operator if and only if it is a factor of type In.

This is a study of formal power series under the binary operation of formal composition from a group-theoretical point of view. Various “large” properties are derived.

We give algebraic criteria for distinguishing composition operators among all continuous linear operators on spaces of continuous functions with topologies generated by seminorms that are weighted analogues of the supremum norm. In another direction, we also characterize those self maps of the underlying topological space which induce composition operators on such weighted spaces, as well as determine conditions on these self maps which correspond to various basic properties of the induced composition operator. Our results are applied to a question concerning translation invariance which arises in the context of topological dynamics.

A characterization of group congruences on an eventually regular semigroup S is provided. It is shown that a group congruence is dually right modular in the lattice of congruences on S. Also for any group congruence ℸ and any congruence p on S, ℸ Vp and kernel ℸ Vp are described.

The main result proved in this paper is the following. Suppose X1, X2 are two subspaces of a space X such that X = Int(X1)∪ X2 = X1 ∪ Int(X2). Then the pair (X1, X2) is a ϕ on X. This result settles an open question and includes all known results on ϕ-excisiveness in sheaf cohomology as its special cases. We construct several several examples to illustrate our main theorem and to show that it is, in fact, quite sharp.

This paper constructs a minimal faithful representation of a semilattice of groups by partial transformations. The solution is expressed in terms of join irreducible elements of the semilattice and minimal faithful representations of groups with respect to certain normal subgroups.

We prove that finite dimensional nonatomic vector measures and their integral maps are open maps. These results can be found in the literature, but unfortunately the proofs presented there are not complete.

This paper is concerned with the distribution of N points placed consecutively around the circle by an angle of α. We offer a new proof of the Steinhaus Conjecture which states that, for all irrational α and all N, the points partition the circle into arcs or gaps of at least two, and at most three, different lengths. We then investigate the partitioning of a gap as more points are included on the circle. The analysis leads to an interesting geometrical interpretation of the simple continued fraction expansion of α.

It was kindly pointed out to the authors by Z. Lipecki and A. Spakowski that the proofs of Theorem 2.3 and Proposition 3.8 of [1] are incomplete; the gaps are on lines 15–14 from the bottom of page 457 and line 2 from the bottom of page 463 respectively. The openness of a non atomic measure in finite dimensions has also been treated in [2], [3], and [4]. A complete proof may be found in [2].

The following questions are studied: When is a semigroup graded ring left Noetherian, respectively semiprime left Goldie? Necessary sufficient conditions are proved for cancellative semigroup-graded subrings of rings weakly or strongly graded by a polycyclic-by-finite (unique product) group. For semigroup rings R[S] we also give a solution to the problem in case S is an inverse semigroup.

Motivated by work of Garsia and Lamperti we consider null-recurrent renewal sequences with a regularly varying tail and seek information about their rate of convergence to zero. The main result shows that such sequences subject to a monotonicity condition obey a limit law whatever the value of the exponent α is, 0 < α < 1. This monotonicity property is seen to hold for a large class of renewal sequences, the so-called Kaluza sequences. This class includes moment sequences, and therefore includes the sequences generated by reversible Markov chains. Several subsidiary results are proved.

In this paper we show that a group A is embedded in any finite group G as a subnormal subgroup with low degree of complication, provided that the automorphism group of A satisfies a condition depending on some Fitting class (which coincides with completeness for the Fitting class of all groups). A criterion is given for these groups as to whether they can be embedded subnormally in the commutator subgroup of some finite group or not.

The notion of a scalar operator on a Banach space, in the sense of N. Dunford, is widened so as to cover those operators which can be approximated in the operator norm by linear combinations of disjoint values of an additive and multiplicative operator valued set function, P, on an algebra of sets in a space Ω such that P(Ω) = I, subject to some conditions guaranteeing that this definition is unambiguous. An operator T turns out to be scalar in this sense, if and only if, there exists a (not necessarily bounded) Boolean algebra of bounded projections such that the Banach algebra of operators it generates is semisimple and contains T.