Let $\mathbb N$ be the set of nonnegative integers and $\mathbb Z$ the ring of integers. Let $\mathcal B$ be the ring of $N \times N$ matrices over $\mathbb Z$ generated by the following two matrices: one obtained from the identity matrix by shifting the ones one position to the right and the other one position down. This ring plays an important role in the study of directly finite rings. Calculation of invertible and idempotent elements of $\mathcal B$ yields that the subrings generated by them coincide. This subring is the sum of the ideal $\mathcal F$ consisting of all matrices in $\mathcal B$ with only a finite number of nonzero entries and the subring of $\mathcal B$ generated by the identity matrix. Regular elements are also described. We characterize all ideals of $\mathcal B$, show that all ideals are finitely generated and that not all ideals of $\mathcal B$ are principal. Some general ring theoretic properties of $\mathcal B$ are also established.
Relations introduced by Conrad, Drazin, Hartwig, Mitsch and Nambooripad are discussed on general, regular, completely semisimple and completely regular semigroups. Special properties of these relations as well as possible coincidence of some of them are investigated in some detail. The properties considered are mainly those of being a partial order or compatibility with multiplication. Coincidences of some of these relations are studied mainly on regular and completely regular semigroups.
An inverse semigroup $S$ is pure if $e=e^2$, $a\in S$, $e<a$ implies $a^2=a$; it is cryptic if Green's relation $\mathcal {H}$ on $S$ is a congruence; it is a Clifford semigroup if it is a semillatice of groups. We characterize the pure ones by the absence of certain subsemigroups and a homomorphism from a concrete semigroup, and determine minimal nonpure varieties. Next we characterize the cryptic ones in terms of their group elements and also by a homomorphism of a semigroup constructed in the paper. We also characterize groups and Clifford semigroups in a similar way by means of divisors. The paper also contains characterizations of completely semisimple inverse and of combinatorial inverse semigroups in a similar manner. It ends with a description of minimal non-$\mathcal {V}$ varieties, for varieties $\mathcal {V}$ of inverse semigroups considered.
Let $S$ be a semigroup. For $a,x\in S$ such that $a=axa$, we say that $x$ is an associate of $a$. A subgroup $G$ of $S$ which contains exactly one associate of each element of $S$ is called an associate subgroup of $S$. It induces a unary operation in an obvious way, and we speak of a unary semigroup satisfying three simple axioms. A normal cryptogroup $S$ is a completely regular semigroup whose $\mathcal H$-relation is a congruence and $S/\mathcal H$ is a normal band. Using the representation of $S$ as a strong semilattice of Rees matrix semigroups, in a previous communication we characterized those that have an associate subgroup. In this paper, we use that result to find three more representations of this semigroup. The main one has a form akin to the one of semigroups in which the identity element of the associate subgroup is medial.
Let $S$ be a regular semigroup and $E(S)$ be the set of its idempotents. We call the sets $S(e,f)f$ and $eS(e,f)$ one-sided sandwich sets and characterize them abstractly where $e,f \in E(S)$. For $a, a^{\prime } \in S$ such that $a=aa^{\prime }a$, $a^{\prime }=a^{\prime }aa^{\prime }$, we call $S(a)=S(a^{\prime }a, aa^{\prime })$ the sandwich set of $a$. We characterize regular semigroups $S$ in which all $S(e,f)$ (or all $S(a))$ are right zero semigroups (respectively are trivial) in several ways including weak versions of compatibility of the natural order. For every $a \in S$, we also define $E(a)$ as the set of all idempotets $e$ such that, for any congruence $\rho $ on $S$, $a \rho a^2$ implies that $a \rho e$. We study the restrictions on $S$ in order that $S(a)$ or $E(a)\cap D_{a^2}$ be trivial. For $\mathcal F \in \lbrace \mathcal S, \mathcal E\rbrace $, we define $\mathcal F$ on $S$ by $a \mathrel {\mathcal F}b$ if $F(a) \cap F (b)\ne \emptyset $. We establish for which $S$ are $\mathcal S$ or $\mathcal E$ congruences.
The concept of rank of a commutative cancellative semigroup is extended to all commutative semigroups S by defining rank S as the supremum of cardinalities of finite independent subsets of S. Representing such a semigroup S as a semilattice Y of (archimedean) components Sα, we prove that rank S is the supremum of ranks of various Sα. Representing a commutative separative semigroup S as a semilattice of its (cancellative) archimedean components, the main result of the paper provides several characterizations of rank S; in particular if rank S is finite. Subdirect products of a semilattice and a commutative cancellative semigroup are treated briefly. We give a classification of all commutative separative semigroups which admit a generating set of one or two elements, and compute their ranks.