The class of $\lambda $-synchronizing subshifts generalizes the class of irreducible sofic shifts. A $\lambda $-synchronizing subshift can be presented by a certain $\lambda $-graph system, called the $\lambda $-synchronizing $\lambda $-graph system. The $\lambda $-synchronizing $\lambda $-graph system of a $\lambda $-synchronizing subshift can be regarded as an analogue of the Fischer cover of an irreducible sofic shift. We will study algebraic structure of the ${C}^{\ast } $-algebra associated with a $\lambda $-synchronizing $\lambda $-graph system and prove that the stable isomorphism class of the ${C}^{\ast } $-algebra with its Cartan subalgebra is invariant under flow equivalence of $\lambda $-synchronizing subshifts.

Let $C$ be a curve in a closed orientable surface $F$ of genus $g\geq 2$ that separates $F$ into subsurfaces $\widetilde {{F}_{i} } $ of genera ${g}_{i} $, for $i= 1, 2$. We study the set of roots in $\mathrm{Mod} (F)$ of the Dehn twist ${t}_{C} $ about $C$. All roots arise from pairs of ${C}_{{n}_{i} } $-actions on the $\widetilde {{F}_{i} } $, where $n= \mathrm{lcm} ({n}_{1} , {n}_{2} )$ is the degree of the root, that satisfy a certain compatibility condition. The ${C}_{{n}_{i} } $-actions are of a kind that we call nestled actions, and we classify them using tuples that we call data sets. The compatibility condition can be expressed by a simple formula, allowing a classification of all roots of ${t}_{C} $ by compatible pairs of data sets. We use these data set pairs to classify all roots for $g= 2$ and $g= 3$. We show that there is always a root of degree at least $2{g}^{2} + 2g$, while $n\leq 4{g}^{2} + 2g$. We also give some additional applications.

The aim of the present paper is to extend the dualizing object approach to Stone duality to the noncommutative setting of skew Boolean algebras. This continues the study of noncommutative generalizations of different forms of Stone duality initiated in recent papers by Bauer and Cvetko-Vah, Lawson, Lawson and Lenz, Resende, and also the current author. In this paper we construct a series of dual adjunctions between the categories of left-handed skew Boolean algebras and Boolean spaces, the unital versions of which are induced by dualizing objects $\{ 0, 1, \ldots , n+ 1\} $, $n\geq 0$. We describe the categories of Eilenberg-Moore algebras of the monads of the adjunctions and construct easily understood noncommutative reflections of left-handed skew Boolean algebras, where the latter can be faithfully embedded (if $n\geq 1$) in a canonical way. As an application, we answer the question that arose in a recent paper by Leech and Spinks to describe the left adjoint to their ‘twisted product’ functor $\omega $.

A semiring is a set $S$ with two binary operations $+ $ and $\cdot $ such that both the additive reduct ${S}_{+ } $ and the multiplicative reduct ${S}_{\bullet } $ are semigroups which satisfy the distributive laws. If $R$ is a ring, then, following Chaptal [‘Anneaux dont le demi-groupe multiplicatif est inverse’, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Ser. A–B 262 (1966), 274–277], ${R}_{\bullet } $ is a union of groups if and only if ${R}_{\bullet } $ is an inverse semigroup if and only if ${R}_{\bullet } $ is a Clifford semigroup. In Zeleznikow [‘Regular semirings’, Semigroup Forum 23 (1981), 119–136], it is proved that if $R$ is a regular ring then ${R}_{\bullet } $ is orthodox if and only if ${R}_{\bullet } $ is a union of groups if and only if ${R}_{\bullet } $ is an inverse semigroup if and only if ${R}_{\bullet } $ is a Clifford semigroup. The latter result, also known as Zeleznikow’s theorem, does not hold in general even for semirings $S$ with ${S}_{+ } $ a semilattice Zeleznikow [‘Regular semirings’, Semigroup Forum 23 (1981), 119–136]. The Zeleznikow problem on a certain class of semirings involves finding condition(s) such that Zeleznikow’s theorem holds on that class. The main objective of this paper is to solve the Zeleznikow problem for those semirings $S$ for which ${S}_{+ } $ is a semilattice.

Here we prove that, for a $2$-primal ring $R$, the Laurent series ring $R((x))$ is a clean ring if and only if $R$ is a semiregular ring with $J(R)$ nil. This disproves the claim in K. I. Sonin [‘Semiprime and semiperfect rings of Laurent series’, Math. Notes 60 (1996), 222–226] that the Laurent series ring over a clean ring is again clean. As an application of the result, it is shown that, for a $2$-primal ring $R$, $R((x))$ is semiperfect if and only if $R((x))$ is semiregular if and only if $R$ is semiperfect with $J(R)$ nil.