We give a simple proof that, if X is a Lindelöf topological space, and A is an algebra of continuous real-valued functions on X which is inverse-closed, local and z-regular, then every character on A is a point evaluation. We also give a number of examples to illustrate both the applications of this theorem and its limitations.

Let ƒ(z) be a transcendental meromorphic function of finite order, g(z) a transcendental entire function of finite lower order and let α(z) be a non-constant meromorphic function with T(r, α) = S(r,g). As an extension of the main result of [7], we prove that

where J has a positive lower logarithmic density.

Let Mn be an n-dimensional compact oriented connected Riemannean manifold. It is proved that either of the following conditions is sufficient to insure that the flow defined by a generalized gradient vector field in Mn has either a stationary point or a periodic orbit:

• a)Mn is the product of a circle with an (n — 1 ) dimensional manifold of non-zero Euler characteristic.

• b)The (n — 1) dimensional Stiefel-Whitney class of Mn is different from zero and in addition Mn possesses no one-dimensional 2-torsion.

In the paper we identify up to bordism all manifolds with (Z2)k-action whose fixed point set is Sn × Sm U point.

We prove that generalized free products of finitely generated free-byfinite or nilpotent-by-finite groups amalgamating a cyclic subgroup areconjugacy separable. Applying this result we prove a generalization of a conjecture of Fine and Rosenberger [7] that groups of F-type are conjugacy separable.

A series of elements of order 4 in the symplectic cobordism ring is constructed.

We show that under reasonable restrictions on the metric spaces X and Y, every surjective isometric isomorphism between Lip(X) and Lip(Y) arises in a simple manner from an isometry between X and Y. Our result differs from several previous results along these lines in that we do not require X and Y to be compact.

Let A be a bounded linear operator on a Hilbert space H. Assume that A is selfadjoint in the indefinite inner product defined by a selfadjoint, bounded, invertible linear operator G on H; [x,y] := (Gx,y). In the first part of the paper we define two orders of neutrality for the pair (G, A) and a connection is made with the "types" of numbers in the point and approximate point spectrum of A. The main results of the paper are in the second part and they deal with strong and uniform definitizability of a bounded selfadjoint operator on a Pontrjagin space. They state:

A) Let A be a bounded strongly definitizable operator on a Pontrjagin space ΠK, then A is uniformly definitizable.

B) A bounded selfadjoint operator A on a Pontrjagin space ΠK is uniformly definitizable if and only if all the eigenvalues of A are of definite type and all the nonisolated eigenvalues of A are of positive type.

Some applications to the theory of linear selfadjoint operator pencils are given.

In this note, we show that a ring R is a left perfect ring if and only if every generating set of each left R-module contains a minimal generating set. This result gives a positive answer to a question on left perfect rings raised by Nashier and Nichols.

Let V be any left vector space over any division ring D and let G be any group of finitary linear maps of V. Then the D — G bimodule V satisfies a Jordan- Hölder theorem. Specifically, there is a bijection between the G-nontrivial factors in two composition series of V such that corresponding factors are isomorphic as D — G bimodules. This cannot be extended to cover the G-trivial factors.

We prove that a positive unital linear mapping from a von Neumann algebra to a unital C*-algebra is a Jordan homomorphism if it maps invertible selfadjoint elements to invertible elements, and that for any compact Hausdorff space X, all positive unital linear mappings from C(X) into a unital C*-algebra that preserve the invertibility for self-adjoint elements are *-homomorphisms if and only if X is totally disconnected.