Let G be a primitive permutation group of finite degree n containing a subgroup H which fixes k points and has r orbits on Δ, the set of points it moves. An old and important theorem of Jordan says that if r = 1 and k ≥ 1 then G is 2-transitive; moreover if H acts primitively on Δ then G is (k + 1)-transitive. Three extensions of this result are proved here: (i) if r = 2 and k ≥ 2 then G is 2-transitive, (ii) if r = 2, n > 9 and H acts primitively on both of its two nontrivial orbits then G is k-primitive, (iii) if r = 3, n > 13 and H acts primitively on each of its three nontrivial orbits, all of which have size at least 3, then G is (k − 1)-primitive.

It is shown that a semigroup is right self-injective and a band of groups if and only if it is isomorphic to the spined product of a self-injective semilattice of groups and a right self-injective band. A necessary and sufficient condition for a band to be right self-injective is given. It is shown that a left [right] self-injective semigroup has the [anti-] representation extension property and the right [left] congruence extension property.

In this note a formation U is considered which can be defined by a sequence of laws which ‘almost’ hold in every finite supersoluble group. The class U contains all finite supersoluble groups and each group in U has a Sylow tower.

It is shown that a finite group belongs to U if and only if all of its subgroups with nilpotent commutator subgroup are supersoluble. A more general result concerning classes of this type finally proves that U is a saturated formation.

Suppose the elementary abelian group A acts on the group G where A and G have relatively prime orders. If CG(a) belongs to some formation F for all non-identity elements a in A, does it follow that G belongs to F? For many formations, the answer is shown to be yes provided that the rank of A is sufficiently large.

If Sp(V) is the symplectic group of a vector space V over a finite field of characteristic p, and r is a positive integer, the abelian p-subgroups of largest order in Sp(V) whose fixed subspaces in V have dimension at least r were determined in the preceding paper, in the case p ≠ 2. Here we deal with the case p = 2. Our results also complete earlier work on the orthogonal groups.

If G is the unitary group U(V) or the symplectic group Sp(V) of a vector space V over a finite field of characteristic p, and r is a positive integer, we determine the abelian p-subgroups of largest order in G whose fixed subspaces in V have dimension at least r, with the restriction that we assume p ≠ 2 in the symplectic case. In particular, we determine the abelian subgroups of largest order in a Sylow p-subgroup of G. Our results complement earlier work on general linear and orthogonal groups.

Let G be a cyclic group of prime order p and K a field of characteristic p. The set of classes of isomorphic indecomposable (K, G)-modules forms a basis over the complex field for an algebra p (Green, 1962) with addition and multiplication being derived from direct sum and tensor product operations.

Algebras n with similar properties can be defined for all n ≥ 2. Each such algebra is isomorphic to a matrix algebra Mn of n × n matrices with complex entries and standard operations. The characters of elements of n are the eigenvalues of the corresponding matrices in Mn.

A Latin square is considered to be a set of n2 cells with three block systems. An automorphisni is a permutation of the cells which preserves each block system. The automorphism group of a Latin Square necessarily has at least 4 orbits on unordered pairs of cells if n < 2. It is shown that there are exactly 4 orbits if and only if the square is the composition table of an elementary abelian 2-group or the cclic group of order 3.

Non-completely simple bisimple semigroups S which are generated by a finite number of idempotents are studied by means of Rees matrix semigroups over local submonoids eSe, e = e2 ∈ S. If under the natural partial order on the set Es of idempotents of such a semigroup S the sets ω(e) = {ƒ ∈ Es: ƒ ≤ e} for each e ∈ Es are well-ordered, then S is shown to contain a subsemigroup isomorphic to Sp4, the fundamental four-spiral semigroup. A non-completely simple hisimple semigroup is constructed which is generated by 5 idempotents but which does not contain a subsemigroup isomorphic to Sp4.

Given a universal algebra A, one can define for each positive integer n the set of functions on A which can be “interpolated” at any n elements of A by a polynomial function on A. These sets form a chain with respect to inclusion. It is known for several varieties that many of these sets coincide for all algebras A in the variety. We show here that, in contrast with these results, the coincident sets in the chain can to a large extent be specified arbitrarily by suitably choosing A from the variety of commutative semigroups.

The purpose of this note is to determine the automorphism group of the doubly regular tournament of Szekeres type, and to use it to show that the corresponding skew Hadamard matrix H of order 2(q + 1), where q ≡5(mod 8) and q > 5, is not equivalent to the skew Hadamard matrix H(2q + 1) of quadratic residue type when 2q + 1 is a prime power.

Congruences on regular semigroups have been characterized in terms of normal equivalences on sets of idempotents and kernels of congruences. A revised characterization is presented here with considerably simplified expressions for the least and greatest congruences associated with normal equivalences and with a new description of kernels. The results are then applied to characterize congruences on completely regular semigroups.

If G is the special orthogonal group O+(V) of a quadratic space V over a finite field of characteristic p, and r is a positive integer, we determine the abelian p-subgroups of largest order in G whose fixed subspaces in V have dimension at least r. In particular, we determine the abelian subgroups of largest order in a Sylow p-subgroup of G, extending some results obtained with different methods by Barry (1979).

We show that the classical interpretation of H3(G, A) is equivalent to Taylor's solutions of compound extensions of groups. It is also equivalent to the exactness to an eight term sequence. Only halves of the equivalences are fully shown in the paper but the other halves are clear.

The Fitting class (of finite, soluble, groups), , is said to be Hall π-closed (where π is a set of primes) if whenever G is a group in and H is a Hall π-subgroup of G, then H belongs to . In this paper, we study the Hall π-closure of products of Fitting classes. Our main result is a characterisation of the Hall π-closedFitting classes of the form (where denotes the so-called smallest normal Fitting class), subject to a restriction connecting π with the characteristic of . We also characterise those Fitting classes (respectively, ) such that (respectively, ) is Hall π-closed for all Fitting classes . In each case, part of the proof uses a concrete group construction. As a bonus, one of these construction also yields a “cancellation result” for certain products of Fitting classes.

Let S be a regular semigroup and D(S) its associated category as defined in Loganathan (1981). We introduce in this paper the notion of an extension of a D(S)-module A by S and show that the set Ext(S, A) of equivalence classes of extensions of A by S forms an abelian group under a Baer sum. We also study the functorial properties of Ext(S, A).

In this paper we characterize the structure of finite inverse perfect semigroups and study congruences on those semigroups, in particular we study those semigroups that have modular lattice of congruences.

Every irreducible ordinary character in a p-block of a finite metabelian group is of height 0 if and only if the defect group of the p-block is abelian.

We show that every inverse semigroup is an idempotent separating homomorphic image of a convex inverse subsemigroup of a P-semigroup P(G, L, L), where G acts transitively on L. This division theorem for inverse semigroups can be applied to obtain a division theorem for pseudo-inverse semigroups.

Let T be a totally ordered set, PT the semigroup of partial transformations on T, and A(T) the l-group of order-preserving permutations of T. We show that PT is a regular left l-semigroup. Let be the set of α ∈ PT such that α is order-preserving and the domain of α is a final segment of T. Then is an l-semigroup, and we prove that it is the largest transitive l-subsemigroup of PT which contains A(T). When T is Dedekind complete, we characterize the largest regular l-semigroup of . When A(T) is also 0 − 2 transitive we show that there can be no l-subsemigroup of properly containing A(T) which is either inverse or a union of groups.