We consider the interior and Dirichiet problems and problems with first order boundary conditions, for a second order homogeneous elliptic partial differential operator with constant coefficients. Under natural conditions on the operators, these problems give rise to isomorphisms between the appropriate spaces with homogeneous norms. From there we obtain a priori estimates and regularity results for boundary value problems in Sobolev spaces.

Let υ be a C*-algebra, α a *-anti-automorphism of order 2, and υα(±1) = {A; A ∈ υ, α(A) = ± A} the spectral subspaces of α. It follows that υα(+ 1) is a Jordan algebra and υα(− 1) is a Lie algebra. We begin the classification of pairs of Jordan and Lie algebras which can occur in this manner by examining υ = ℒ(ℋ), the algebra of bounded operators on a Hilbert space ℋ.

A monodromy theorem for homomorphisms of local groups into groups is proved. It follows that under suitable conditions the universal group of the local group depends only on the germ of the local group (up to natural isomorphism).

1980 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc.): 22 E 05.

Let Out (RG) be the set of all outer R-automorphisms of a group ring RG of arbitrary group G over a commutative ring R with 1. It is proved that there is a bijective correspondence between the set Out (RG) and a set consisting of R(G × G)-isomorphism classes of R-free R(G × G)-modules of a certain type. For the case when G is finite and R is the ring of algebraic integers of an algebraic number field the above result implies that there are only finitely many conjugacy classes of group bases in RG. A generalization of a result due to R. Sandling is also provided.

The main result is that d(Ssm) = n+2 for every finite non-abelian two-generator simple group S of order s and every integer n > 0. This is applied to give a very close estimate on d(Gn) for any finite group G whose simple images are two-generator. The article is based on the author's previous papers with similar titles.

Let J be a cofinite set of positive integers which contains 1. In (1973) I proved that the following condition on a variety (equational class) is Mal'tsev-definable: if υ ∈and υ is finite, then |υ| ∈J. This article contains some subsidiary results, concerned mainly with a more detailed description of these Mal'tsev conditions. Many of our results arose upon considering a recent article of W. D. Neumann (1978).

An extension of the Banach-Mackey theorem is used to prove a theorem about countable families of closed balanced convex sets that cover a product of linear topological spaces. This theorem clarifies proofs that certain Baire-type properties, including the unordered Baire-like property, are preserved under products. A modification of the theorem is used to show that a property involving the bounded-absorbing sequences of DeWilde and Houet is also productive. Finally, a question is posed about balanced absorbing sets relating to products of linear Baire spaces.

1980 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc.): 46 A 99.

A lemma is obtained which guarantees that non-expansive mappings on contractive spaces have fixed points. An example shows that Schauders's fixed point theorem cannot be extended to contractive spaces, but a theorem for contractive spaces, analogous to a result of B. N. Sadovskii on convex spaces, is derived from the lemma. Finally, some local results for ε-chainable contractive spaces are given.

Let I be a set and let (I) denote the set consisting of the 0 matrix over I × I and the matrix units over I × I. Then for x, z in (I) and x≠0≠z, xyz≠0 has precisely one solution y. This and several other statements are shown to be equivalent characterizations of (I) regarded as a semigroup with zero.

1980 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc.): 20 M 10.

Let δ be a root system and let V be the Hahn group of real-valued functions on δ Then δ can be order-embedded into P(δ), the root system of prime l-ideals of V. In this note we identify P(δ) in terms of δ without explicit reference to V, up to the convex subgroup structure of the additive groups of real closed η1-fields. In particular, we characterize the minimal prime 1-ideals of V in terms of δ by an ultrafilter construction which generalizes the well-known method when δ is trivially ordered.

We prove a result on compactness properties of Fréchet-derivatives which implies that the Fréchet-derivative of a weakly compact map between Banach spaces is weakly compact. This result is applied to characterize certain weakly compact composition operators on Sobolev spaces which have application in the theory of nonlinear integral equations and in the calculus of variations.

In this paper we investigate how the ideal structure of the Lie ring of symmetric derivations of a ring with involution is determined by ideal structure of the ring.

If L is any semilattice, let TL denote the Munn semigroup of L, and Aut (L) the automorphism group of L.

We show that every semilattice L can be isomorphically embedded as a convex subsemilattice in a semilattice L' which has a transitive automorphism group in such a way that (i) every partial isomorphism α of L can be extended to an automorphism of L', (ii) every partial isomorphism: α: eL → fL of L can be extended to a partial isomorphism αL′: eL′ → fL′ of L′ such that TL → TL′, α → αL′ embeds TL' isomorphically in TL′, (iii) every automorphism γ of L can be extended to an automorphism γL′ of L′ such that Aut (L) → Aut (L′), γ → γL embeds Aut (L) isomorphically in Aut (L′).

The main theorem of this paper shows that the lattice of congruences contained is some equivalence π on a semigroup S can be decomposed into a subdirect product of sublattices of the congruence lattices on the ‘prinipal π-facotrsρ of S—the semigroups formed by adjoining zeroes to the π-classes—whenever these are well-defined. The theorem is then applied to various equavalences and classes of semigroups to give some new results and alternative proofs of known ones.

The main results of this article are (I) Let B be a homogeneous Banach algebra, A a closed subalgebra of B, and I the largest closed ideal of B contained in A. We assert that for some closed subalgebra J of B. Furthermore, under suitable conditions, we show that A is an R-subalgebra if and only if J is an R-subalgebra. A number of concrete closed subalgebras of a homogeneous Banach algebra therefore are R-subalgebras. For the definition of P(A) and that of an R-subalgebra, see the introduction in Section 1. (II) We give sufficient and necessary conditions for a closed subalgebra of Lp(G), 1 ≦ p ≦ ∞, to be an R-subalgebra.

If G and H are infinite groups then G is said to be larger than H (H≼G) if there are subgroups A of G, B of H, each of finite index, such that B is an epimorphic image of A. Pride (1979) showed that if G has finite ‘height’ with respect to the quasi-order ≼ then there are only finitely many (classes of) minimal groups H with H ≼G, and asked whether this were true without the minimality restriction on H. This paper gives a negative answer to his question by exhibiting a group G of height four with infinitely many (classes of) groups H satisfying H≼G.

1980 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc.): 20 E 99, 20 K 15.

We contine our study of the following combinatorial problem: What is the largest integer N = N (t, m, p) for which there exists a set of N people satisfying the following conditions: (a) each person speaks t languages, (b) among any m people there are two who speak a common language and (c) at most p speak a common language. We obtain bounds for N(t, m, p) and evaluate N(3, m, p) for all m and infintely many values of p.

Certain semigroups of continuous selfmaps of the closed unit interval are shown to have the property that all their automorphisms are inner. Contrary to expectation, certain other such semigroups do have outer automorphisms.

1980 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc.): primary 20 M 20; secondary 54 C 40.

On analogy with functions if Lebesuge class Lα on the real line the author considers those multiplicative arthmetic functions which are bounded in mean α>1. Necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained in order that they should have a mean-value, zero or non-zero. An application is made to Ramanujan's τ-function.

A group G is termed conjugacy separable (c.s.) if any pair of distinct conjugacy classes may be mapped to distinct conjugacy classes in some finite epimorph of G. The free product of A and B with cyclic amalgamated subgroup H is shown to be c.s. if A and B are both free, or are both finitely generated nilpotent groups. Further, one-relator groups with nontrivial center and HNN extensions with c.s. base group and finite associated subgroups are also c.s.