The semigroup $S=S\left(M₂{(}_q)\right)$ of subspaces of the algebra $M₂{(}_q)$ of 2 × 2 matrices over a finite field ${}_q$ is studied. The ideal structure of S, the regular -classes of S and the structure of the complex semigroup algebra ℂ[S] are described.

A longstanding open problem in the theory of von Neumann regular rings is the question of whether every directly finite simple regular ring must be unit-regular. Recent work on this problem has been done by P. Menal, K. C. O'Meara, and the authors. To clarify some aspects of these new developments, we introduce and study the notion of almost isomorphism between finitely generated projective modules over a simple regular ring.

We compute a complete set of nonisomorphic minimal Auslander generators for the exterior algebra in two variables.

The theorem of Czerniakiewicz and Makar-Limanov, that all the automorphisms of a free algebra of rank two are tame is proved here by showing that the group of these automorphisms is the free product of two groups (amalgamating their intersection), the group of all affine automorphisms and the group of all triangular automorphisms. The method consists in finding a bipolar structure. As a consequence every finite subgroup of automorphisms (in characteristic zero) is shown to be conjugate to a group...

Let $G$ be a finite group and $H$ a subgroup. Denote by $D(G;H)$ (or $D\left(G\right)$) the crossed product of $C\left(G\right)$ and $ℂH$ (or $ℂG$) with respect to the adjoint action of the latter on the former. Consider the algebra $\langle D\left(G\right),e\rangle$ generated by $D\left(G\right)$ and $e$, where we regard $E$ as an idempotent operator $e$ on $D\left(G\right)$ for a certain conditional expectation $E$ of $D\left(G\right)$ onto $D(G;H)$. Let us call $\langle D\left(G\right),e\rangle$ the basic construction from the conditional expectation $E:D\left(G\right)\to D(G;H)$. The paper constructs a crossed product algebra $C(G/H\times G)⋊ℂG$, and proves that there is an algebra isomorphism between $\langle D\left(G\right),e\rangle$ and $C(G/H\times G)⋊ℂG$.

We discuss Bass's conjecture on the vanishing of the Hattori-Stallings rank from the viewpoint of geometric group theory. It is noted that groups without u-elements satisfy this conjecture. This leads in particular to a simple proof of the conjecture in the case of groups of subexponential growth.

We define a BV-structure on the Hochschild cohomology of a unital, associative algebra $A$ with a symmetric, invariant and non-degenerate inner product. The induced Gerstenhaber algebra is the one described in Gerstenhaber’s original paper on Hochschild-cohomology. We also prove the corresponding theorem in the homotopy case, namely we define the BV-structure on the Hochschild-cohomology of a unital $A_{\infty }$-algebra with a symmetric and non-degenerate $\infty$-inner product.

Let $H_4$ and $H_8$ be the Sweedler’s and Kac-Paljutkin Hopf algebras, respectively. We prove that any Hopf algebra which factorizes through $H_8$ and $H_4$ (equivalently, any bicrossed product between the Hopf algebras $H_8$ and $H_4$) must be isomorphic to one of the following four Hopf algebras: $H_8\otimes H_4,H_{32,1},H_{32,2},H_{32,3}$. The set of all matched pairs $(H_8,H_4,▹,◃)$ is explicitly described, and then the associated bicrossed product is given by generators and relations.