We introduce the class of partially invertible modules and show that it is an inverse category which we call the Picard inverse category. We use this category to generalize the classical construction of crossed products to, what we call, generalized epsilon-crossed products and show that these coincide with the class of epsilon-strongly groupoid-graded rings. We then use generalized epsilon-crossed groupoid products to obtain a generalization, from the group-graded situation to the groupoid-graded case, of the bijection from a certain second cohomology group, defined by the grading and the functor from the groupoid in question to the Picard inverse category, to the collection of equivalence classes of rings epsilon-strongly graded by the groupoid.

Let R be a commutative ring. It is shown that if an R-module M is a sum of δ-local submodules and a semisimple projective submodule, then every finitely generated submodule of M is δ-supplemented. From this result, we conclude that finitely generated δ-supplemented modules over commutative rings are amply δ-supplemented.

Let $R$ be a ring. An $R$-module $M$ is called a (weak) duo module provided every (direct summand) submodule of $M$ is fully invariant. It is proved that if $R$ is a commutative domain with field of fractions $K$ then a torsion-free uniform $R$-module is a duo module if and only if every element $k$ in $K$ such that $kM$ is contained in $M$ belongs to $R$. Moreover every non-zero finitely generated torsion-free duo $R$-module is uniform. In addition, if $R$ is a Dedekind domain then a torsion $R$-module is a duo module if and only if it is a weak duo module and this occurs precisely when the $P$-primary component of $M$ is uniform for every maximal ideal $P$ of $R$.

Quasi-hereditary algebras were introduced by Cline-Parshall-Scott (see [CPS] or [PS]) to deal with highest weight categories which occur in the study of semi-simple complex Lie algebras and algebraic groups. In fact, the quasi-hereditary algebras which appear in these applications enjoy a number of additional properties. The objective of this brief note is to describe a class of lean quasi-hereditary algebras [ADL] which possess such typical characteristics. A study of these questions originated in collaboration with C. M. Ringel (see [DR]).