We describe a variation of Ash’s η-system and give a new proof of Ash’s metatheorem. As an application, we prove a generalization of Ash and Knight’s theorem on pairs of structures.

We examine the computable part of the differentiability hierarchy defined by Kechris and Woodin. In that hierarchy, the rank of a differentiable function is an ordinal less than ${\omega _1}$ which measures how complex it is to verify differentiability for that function. We show that for each recursive ordinal $\alpha > 0$, the set of Turing indices of $C[0,1]$ functions that are differentiable with rank at most α is ${{\rm{\Pi }}_{2\alpha + 1}}$-complete. This result is expressed in the notation of Ash and Knight.

We examine the reverse-mathematical strength of several theorems in classical and effective model theory concerning first-order theories and their number of models. We prove that, among these, most are equivalent to one of the familiar systems RCA0, WKL0, or ACA0. We are led to a purely model-theoretic statement that implies WKL0 but refutes ACA0 over RCA0.

We show that the valuation ring $F_q [[t]]$ in the local field $F_q \left( t \right)$ is existentially definable in the language of rings with no parameters. The method is to use the definition of the henselian topology following the work of Prestel-Ziegler to give an ∃-$F_q $-definable bounded neighbouhood of 0. Then we “tweak” this set by subtracting, taking roots, and applying Hensel’s Lemma in order to find an ∃-$F_q $-definable subset of $F_q [[t]]$ which contains $tF_q [[t]]$. Finally, we use the fact that $F_q $ is defined by the formula $x^q - x = 0$ to extend the definition to the whole of $F_q [[t]]$ and to rid the definition of parameters.

Several extensions of the theorem are obtained, notably an ∃-∅-definition of the valuation ring of a nontrivial valuation with divisible value group.

An uncountable cardinal κ is called ${\omega _1}$-strongly compact if every κ-complete ultrafilter on any set I can be extended to an ${\omega _1}$-complete ultrafilter on I. We show that the first ${\omega _1}$-strongly compact cardinal, ${\kappa _0}$, cannot be a successor cardinal, and that its cofinality is at least the first measurable cardinal. We prove that the Singular Cardinal Hypothesis holds above ${\kappa _0}$. We show that the product of Lindelöf spaces is κ-Lindelöf if and only if $\kappa \ge {\kappa _0}$. Finally, we characterize ${\kappa _0}$ in terms of second order reflection for relational structures and we give some applications. For instance, we show that every first-countable nonmetrizable space has a nonmetrizable subspace of size less than ${\kappa _0}$.

We investigate the partial orderings of the form P(X),⊂〉, where X is a relational structure and P(X) the set of the domains of its isomorphic substructures. A rough classification of countable binary structures corresponding to the forcing-related properties of the posets of their copies is obtained.

We describe the Ziegler spectrum of a Bézout domain B=D+XQ[X] where D is a principal ideal domain and Q is its field of fractions; in particular we compute the Cantor–Bendixson rank of this space. Using this, we prove the decidability of the theory of B-modules when D is “sufficiently” recursive.

We define a functional interpretation of KPω using Howard’s primitive recursive tree functionals of finite type and associated terms. We prove that the Σ-ordinal of KPω is the least ordinal not given by a closed term of the ground type of the trees (the Bachmann-Howard ordinal). We also extend KPω to a second-order theory with Δ1-comprehension and strict-${\rm{\Pi }}_1^1$ reflection and show that the Σ-ordinal of this theory is still the Bachmann-Howard ordinal. It is also argued that the second-order theory is Σ1-conservative over KPω.