Let f be a smooth nonconstant function defined on an n dimensional ball and zero on the boundary n − 1 dimensional sphere. It is shown that the graph of f is a spherical cap (1) if f is positive and if the ratio Hk/Hr is a nonzero constant for 1 ≤ k < r ≤ n on the graph of f or (2) if the ratio Hn/Hk is a nonzero constant on the graph of f.

This self-contained paper characterises those locally convex spaces whose (weakly) precompact (respectively, compact) subsets are metrisable. Applications and examples are provided. Our approach also applies to get Cascales-Orihuela's, Valdivia's and Robertson's metrisation theorems for (pre)compact sets.

In the present paper by extending the original multiplication of a principal groupoid to a weak multiplication and introducing a notion of semitopological semigroupoid compactification we have proved that every principal groupoid with a continuous weak multiplication has a semitopological semigroupoid compactification.

In this paper, semi-weak L-spaces and weak L-spaces (which are generalisations of Lindelöf spaces) are introduced and studied.

Let R be a ring and ℒ a class of R-modules. An R-module N is called ℒ-injective if for all L ∈ ℒ. An ℒ-injective hull of an R-module M is defined to be a homomorphism φ: M → F with F ℒ-injective such that for any monomorphism f: M → F′ with F′ ℒ-injective, there is a monomorphism g: F → F′ satisfying gφ = f. The aim of this paper is to study ℒ-injective hulls and their relations with ℒ-injective envelopes in Enochs' sense.

In this paper we investigate the relationship between the existence of parallel semi-Riemannian metrics of a connection and the reducibility of the associated holonomy group. The question as to whether the holonomy group necessarily reduces in the presence of a specified number of independent parallel semi-Riemannian metrics is completely determined by the the signature of the metrics and the dimension d of the manifold, when d ≠ 4. In particular, the existence of two independent, parallel semi-Riemannian metrics, one of which having signature (p,q) with p ≠ q, implies the holonomy group is reducible. The (p,p) cases, however, may allow for more than one parallel metric and yet an irreducible holonomy group: for n = 2m, m ≥ 3, there exist connections on Rn with irreducible infinitesimal holonomy and which have two independent, parallel metrics of signature (m,m). The case of four-dimensional manifolds, however, depends on the topology of the manifold in question: the presence of three parallel metrics always implies reducibility but reducibility in the case of two metrics of signature (2,2) is guaranteed only for simply connected manifolds. The main theorem in the paper is the construction of a topologically non-trivial four-dimensional manifold with a connection that admits two independent metrics of signature (2,2) and yet has irreducible holonomy. We provide a complete solution to the general problem.

In this paper, we have proposed an active set feasible sequential quadratic programming algorithm for nonlinear inequality constraints optimization problems. At each iteration of the proposed algorithm, a feasible direction of descent is obtained by solving a reduced quadratic programming subproblem. To overcome the Maratos effect, a higher-order correction direction is obtained by solving a reduced least square problem. The algorithm is proved to be globally convergent and superlinearly convergent under some mild conditions without strict complementarity.

Suppose G is a connected, complex, nilpotent Lie group and Γ is a discrete subgroup of G such that G/Γ is Kähler and the top nonvanishing homology group of G/Γ (with coefficients in ℤ2) is in codimension two or less. We show that G is then Abelian. We also note that an example from [12] shows that this fails if the top nonvanishing homology is in codimension three.

The author gives a proof with analytic means of weak uniqueness for the Dirichlet problem associated to a second order uniformly elliptic operator in ℝ3 with coefficients independent of the coordinate x3 and continuous in ℝ2 {0}.

Motivated by a formula of P. Jones that gives the distance of a Bloch function to BMOA, the space of bounded mean oscillations, we obtain several formulas for the distance of a Bloch function to the little Bloch space, β0. Immediate consequences are equivalent expressions for functions in β0. We also give several examples of distances of specific functions to β0. We comment on connections between distance to β0 and the essential norm of some composition operators on the Bloch space, β. Finally we show that the distance formulas in β have Bloch type spaces analogues.

This paper is an attempt to provide a partial answer to the following question put forward by Bernhard H. Neumann in 2000: “Let G be a finite group of order g and assume that however a set M of m elements and a set N of n elements of the group is chosen, at least one element of M commutes with at least one element of N. What relations between g, m, n guarantee that G is Abelian?” We find an exponential function f(m,n) such that every such group G is Abelian whenever |G| > f(m,n) and this function can be taken to be polynomial if G is not soluble. We give an upper bound in terms of m and n for the solubility length of G, if G is soluble.

This note concerns Fourier transforms on the real positive line. In particular, we seek conditions on a real function u(x) in x > 0, that ensure that its Fourier-cosine transform v(t) = u(x) cos xt dx is positive. We prove first that this is so for all t > 0, if u"(x) > 0 for all x > 0, that is, that everywhere-convex functions have everywhere-positive Fourier-cosine transforms. We then obtain a complex-plane criterion for some types of non-convex u(x). Finally we consider criteria on u(x) that imply positivity of v(t) for t > t0, for some t0 > 0.

Let G be an arbitrary finite group, R be a finite associative ring with identity and RG be the group ring. We show that ℤ2Q8 is the minimal reversible group ring which is not symmetric, and we also characterise the finite rings R for which RQ8 is reversible. The first result extends a result of Gutan and Kisielewicz which shows that ℤ2Q8 is the minimal reversible group algebra over a field which is not symmetric, and it answers a question raised by Marks for the group ring case.

Consider a nonexpansive self-mapping T of a bounded closed convex subset of a Banach space. Banach's contraction principle guarantees the existence of approximating fixed point sequences for T. However such sequences may not be strongly convergent, in general, even in a Hilbert space. It is shown in this paper that in a real smooth and uniformly convex Banach space, appropriately constructed approximating fixed point sequences can be strongly convergent.