18 research outputs found
Equivalence relations and operators on ordered algebraic structures with difference.
This work concerns algebraic models of fuzzy and many-valued propositional logics, in particular Boolean Algebras, Heyting algebras, GBL-algebras and their dual structures, and partial algebras.
The central idea is the representation of complex structures through simpler structures and equivalence relations on them: in order to achieve this, a structure is often considered under two points of view, as total algebra and partial algebra. The equivalence relations which allow the representation are congruences of partial algebras.
The first chapter introduces D-posets, the partial algebraic structures used for this representation, which generalize Boolean algebras and MV-algebras.
The second chapter is a study of congruences on D-posets and the structure of the quotients, in particular for congruences induced by some kinds of idempotent operators, here called S-operators. The case of Boolean algebras and MV-algebras is studied more in detail.
The third chapter introduces GBL-algebras and their dual, and shows how the interplay of an S-operator with a closure operator gives rise to a dual GBL-algebra. Other results about the representation of finite GBL-algebras and GBL*algebras (GBL-algebras with monoidal sum), part of two papers previously published, are summarized and put in relation with the other results of this work
Categories of Residuated Lattices
We present dual variants of two algebraic constructions of certain classes of residuated lattices: The Galatos-Raftery construction of Sugihara monoids and their bounded expansions, and the Aguzzoli-Flaminio-Ugolini quadruples construction of srDL-algebras. Our dual presentation of these constructions is facilitated by both new algebraic results, and new duality-theoretic tools. On the algebraic front, we provide a complete description of implications among nontrivial distribution properties in the context of lattice-ordered structures equipped with a residuated binary operation. We also offer some new results about forbidden configurations in lattices endowed with an order-reversing involution. On the duality-theoretic front, we present new results on extended Priestley duality in which the ternary relation dualizing a residuated multiplication may be viewed as the graph of a partial function. We also present a new Esakia-like duality for Sugihara monoids in the spirit of Dunn\u27s binary Kripke-style semantics for the relevance logic R-mingle
Functorial Properties of the Reticulation of a Universal Algebra
The reticulation of an algebra A is a bounded distributive lattice whose
prime spectrum of ideals (or filters), endowed with the Stone topology, is homeomorphic
to the prime spectrum of congruences of A, with its own Stone topology.
The reticulation allows algebraic and topological properties to be transferred
between the algebra A and this bounded distributive lattice, a transfer which
is facilitated if we can define a reticulation functor from a variety containing A
to the variety of (bounded) distributive lattices. In this paper, we continue the
study of the reticulation of a universal algebra initiated in [27], where we have
used the notion of prime congruence introduced through the term condition
commutator, for the purpose of creating a common setting for the study of the
reticulation, applicable both to classical algebraic structures and to the algebras
of logics. We characterize morphisms which admit an image through th
Embedding theorems and finiteness properties for residuated structures and substructural logics
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2008.Paper 1. This paper establishes several algebraic embedding theorems, each of which asserts that a certain kind of residuated structure can be embedded into a richer one. In almost all cases, the original structure has a compatible involution, which must be preserved by the embedding. The results, in conjunction with previous findings, yield separative axiomatizations of the deducibility relations of various substructural formal systems having double negation and contraposition axioms. The separation theorems go somewhat further than earlier ones in the literature, which either treated fewer subsignatures or focussed on the conservation of theorems only. Paper 2. It is proved that the variety of relevant disjunction lattices has the finite embeddability property (FEP). It follows that Avronâs relevance logic RMImin has a strong form of the finite model property, so it has a solvable deducibility problem. This strengthens Avronâs result that RMImin is decidable. Paper 3. An idempotent residuated po-monoid is semiconic if it is a subdirect product of algebras in which the monoid identity t is comparable with all other elements. It is proved that the quasivariety SCIP of all semiconic idempotent commutative residuated po-monoids is locally finite. The lattice-ordered members of this class form a variety SCIL, which is not locally finite, but it is proved that SCIL has the FEP. More generally, for every relative subvariety K of SCIP, the lattice-ordered members of K have the FEP. This gives a unified explanation of the strong finite model property for a range of logical systems. It is also proved that SCIL has continuously many semisimple subvarieties, and that the involutive algebras in SCIL are subdirect products of chains. Paper 4. Anderson and Belnapâs implicational system RMO can be extended conservatively by the usual axioms for fusion and for the Ackermann truth constant t. The resulting system RMO is algebraized by the quasivariety IP of all idempotent commutative residuated po-monoids. Thus, the axiomatic extensions of RMO are in one-to-one correspondence with the relative subvarieties of IP. It is proved here that a relative subvariety of IP consists of semiconic algebras if and only if it satisfies x (x t) x. Since the semiconic algebras in IP are locally finite, it follows that when an axiomatic extension of RMO has ((p t) p) p among its theorems, then it is locally tabular. In particular, such an extension is strongly decidable, provided that it is finitely axiomatized
Structural completeness in quasivarieties
In this paper we study various forms of (hereditary) structural completeness
for quasivarieties of algebras, using mostly algebraic techniques. More
specifically we study relative weakly projective algebras and the way they
interact with structural completeness in quasivarieties. These ideas are then
applied to the study of -structural completeness and -primitivity,
through an algebraic generalization of Prucnal's substitution. Finally we study
in depth dual i-discriminator quasivarieties in which a particular instance of
Prucnal's substitution is used to prove that if each fundamental operation
commutes with the i-discriminator, then it is primitive
Weighted Finite Automata over Strong Bimonoids
We investigate weighted finite automata over strings and strong bimonoids. Such algebraic structures satisfy the same laws as semirings except that no distributivity laws need to hold. We define two different behaviors and prove precise characterizations for them if the underlying strong bimonoid satisfies local finiteness conditions. Moreover, we show that in this case the given weighted automata can be determinized
Substructurality and residuation in logic and algebra
A very and natural way of introducing a logic is by using a sequent calculus, or Gentzen
system. These systems are determined by specifying a set of axioms and a set of rules.
Axioms are then starting points from which we can derive new consequences by using
the rules. Hilbert systems consist also on a set of axioms and a set of rules that are used
to deduce consequences. The main difference is that, whereas the axioms in Hilbert
systems are formulas, and the rules allow to deduce certain formulas from other sets of
formulas, in the case of Gentzen systems the axioms are sequents and the rules indicate
which sequents can be inferred from other sets of sequents. By a sequent we understand
a pair hG, Si, where G and S are finite sequences of formulas. We denote the sequent
hG, Si by G . S.1 The sequent G . S intends to formalize â at least in its origin â the
concept âthe conjunction of all the formulas of G implies the disjunction of all the
formulas of S.â
The notion of a sequent calculus was invented by G. Gentzen in order to give axiomatizations
for Classical and Intuitionistic Propositional Logics. And the rules he
gave in both cases can be grouped in different categories: because of its character, the
Cut rule deserves a special category for itself; then we have the rules of introduction
and elimination of each one of the connectives, both on the left and on the right â of
the symbol . â; and finally a set of rules that do not involve any particular connective.
These rules are necessary in Classical and Intuitionistic logics because in these logics
1Traditional notations for sequents are G ) S and G ` S, but since both the symbols ) and ` have
many other meanings, we prefer to denote sequents by using the less overloaded symbol ., which can also
be found in literature with this use.
the order in which we are given the premises, or if we have them repeated, is irrelevant,
and we do not loose consequences if we extend the set of hypotheses. But there are other
logics that do not satisfy all these rules: for instance, relevance logics and linear logic.
At first, these logics were studied separately, and different theories were developed for
their investigation. But later on, researches arrived to the conclusion that all of them
share a common feature, which became more apparent after the work of W. Blok and
D. Pigozzi. It was discovered that (pointed) residuated lattices â or FL algebras â are
the algebraic counterpart of substructural logics.
In the XIX century, Boole noticed a close connection between âthe laws of thought,â
as he put it, and algebra. After him, other mathematicians put together all the pieces
and described a sort of algebras, named Boole algebras after him, and shed light on the
connection anticipated by Boole: Boole algebras are the ânaturalâ semantics for Classical
Propositional Logic. More connections were discovered between other logics and
other sorts of algebras: for instance, Heyting algebras are the ânaturalâ semantics for
Intuitionistic Propositional Logic, and MV algebras for Ćukasievicz Multivalued Logic.
But it was not until 1989, when Blok and Pigozzi published their book Algebraizable
Logics, that for the first time the connections between these logics and classes of algebras
were finally described with absolute precision. According to their definitions,
these classes of algebras are the equivalent algebraic sematics of the corresponding logics.
That is, these classes of algebras are the algebraic counterparts of the corresponding
logics. Their ideas paved the way to a new branch of mathematics called Abstract Algebraic
Logic, which investigates the connections between logics and classes of algebras,
and the so-called bridge theorems: that is, theorems that establish bridges between some
property of one realm (logic or algebra) with another property of the other realm.
The core of the connection between substructural logics and residuated lattices is
that in all these logics, some theorem of the following form could always be proven.
Thus, we could think that the metalogical symbol â,â is acting as a real connective. More
precisely, we could introduce a new connective , called fusion, and impose the following
rule. Given an algebraic model with a lattice reduct, it is usually the case that the meet and
join operations serve as the interpretations of the conjunction and disjunction connectives.
What should be then the interpretation of the fusion? Usually, the elements of the
lattice are thought as different degrees of truth, and âa . b is provableâ is interpreted as âfor every assignment, the degree of truth of a is less than that of b.â Under this
natural interpretation, the condition (1) becomes:
That is, the fusion is interpreted as a residuated operation on the lattice.
Being the algebraic semantics of substructural logics and containing many interesting
subvarieties such as Heyting algebras, MV algebras, and lattice-ordered groups,
to name a few, the variety of residuated lattices is of utmost importance to the studies
of Logic and Algebra, hence our interest. In this dissertation we carry out some
investigations on different problems concerning residuated lattices.
In what follows we give a brief description of the contents and organization of this
dissertation. Every chapter â except for the first one, which is devoted to setting the
preliminaries â starts with an introduction in which the reader will find a lengthier
explanation of the subject of the chapter, the way the material is organized, and references.
We start by compiling in Chapter 1 all the essential well-known results about residuated
lattices that we will need in the subsequent chapters. We present here the definitions
of those concepts that are not specific to some particular chapter, but general.
We define the variety of residuated lattices, and some of its more significant subvarieties.
We also introduce nuclei, and nucleus retracts. As it is widely known, the lattice
of normal convex subalgebras of a residuated lattice is isomorphic to its congruence
lattice, and hence its importance. But it turns out that also the lattice of convex (not
necessarily normal) subalgebras is of great significance, specially in the case of e-cyclic
residuated lattices. Many of its properties depend on the fact that it is a pseudo-complemented
lattice. Actually, it is a Heyting algebra. For instance, polars are special
sets usually defined in terms of a certain notion of orthogonality; in the case of e-cyclic
residuated lattices, polars are the pseudo-complements of the convex subalgebras. We
end the chapter by briefly explaining the notions of semilinearity and projectability for
residuated lattices.
In the 1960âs, P. F. Conrad and other authors set in motion a general program for the
investigation of lattice-ordered groups, aimed at elucidating some order-theoretic properties
of these algebras by inquiring into the structure of their lattices of convex `-subgroups.
This approach can be naturally extended to residuated lattices and their convex
subalgebras. We devote Chapters 2 and 3 to two different problems that can be framed
within Conradâs program for residuated lattices. More specifically, in Chapter 2 we
revisit the Galatos-Tsinakis categorical equivalence between integral GMV algebras and negative cones of `-groups with a nucleus, showing that it restricts to an equivalence
of the full subcategories whose objects are the projectable members of these classes.
Afterwards, we introduce the notion of Gödel GMV algebras, which are expansions
of projectable integral GMV algebras by a binary term that realizes a positive Gödel
implication in every such algebra. We see that Gödel GMV algebras and projectable integral
GMV algebras are essentially the same thing. Analogously, Gödel negative cones
are those Gödel GMV algebras whose residuated lattice reducts are negative cones of
`-groups. Thus, we turn projectable integral GMV algebras and negative cones of projectable
`-groups into varieties by including this implication in their signature. We
prove that there is an adjunction between the categories whose objects are the members
of these varieties and whose morphisms are required to preserve implications.
We devote Chapter 3 to the study of certain kinds of completions of semilinear
residuated lattices. We can find in the literature different notions of completions for
residuated lattices, like for example Dedekind-McNeil completions, regular completions,
complete ideal completions, . . . Very often it happens that for a certain algebra in
a variety of residuated lattices, those completions exists but do not belong to the same
variety. That is, varieties are not closed, in general, under the operations of taking these
kinds of completions. But there are other notions of completions that might have better
properties in this regard. Conrad and other authors proved the existence of lateral completions,
projectable completions, and orthocompletions for representable `-groups, and
moreover, that the varieties of representable `-groups are closed under these completions.
Our goal in this chapter is to prove the existence of lateral completions, (strongly)
projectable completions, and orthocompletions for semilinear e-cyclic residuated lattices,
as they are a natural generalization of representable `-groups. We introduce all
these concepts along the chapter, and prove first that every semilinear e-cyclic residuated
lattice can be densely embedded into another residuated lattice which is latterly
complete and strongly projectable. We obtain this lattice as a direct limit of a certain
family of algebras obtained from the original lattice by taking quotients and products,
so the direct limit stays in the same variety where the original algebra lives. Finally,
we prove that for semilinear GMV algebras, we can find minimal dense extensions
satisfying all the required properties.
In Chapter 4 we study the failure of the Amalgamation Property on several varieties
of residuated lattices. The Amalgamation Property is of particular interest in the study
of residuated lattices due to its relation with various syntactic interpolation properties
of substructural logics. There are no examples to date of non-commutative varieties of
residuated lattices that satisfy the Amalgamation Property. The variety of semilinear
Abstract 5
residuated lattices is a natural candidate for enjoying this property, since most varieties
that have a manageable representation theory and satisfy the Amalgamation Property
are semilinear. However, we prove that this is not the case, and in the process we
establish that the same happens for the variety of semilinear cancellative residuated
lattices, that is, it also lacks the Amalgamation Property. In addition, we prove that
the variety whose members have a distributive lattice reduct and satisfy the identity
x(y ^ z)w xyw ^ xzw also fails the Amalgamation Property.
In Chapter 5 we show how some well-known results of the theory of automata, in
particular those related to regular languages, can be viewed within a wider framework.
In order to do so, we introduce the concept of module over a residuated lattice, and
show that modules over a fixed residuated lattice â that is, partially ordered sets acted
upon by a residuated lattice â provide a suitable algebraic framework for extending
the concept of a recognizable language as defined by Kleene. More specifically, we introduce
the notion of a recognizable element of a residuated lattice by a finite module
and provide a characterization of such an element in the spirit of Myhillâs characterization
of recognizable languages. Further, we investigate the structure of the set of
recognizagle elements of a residuated lattice, and also provide sufficient conditions for
a recognizable element to be recognized by a Boolean module.
We summarize in Chapter 6 the main results of this dissertation and propose some
of the problems that still remain open. We end this dissertation with an appendix
on directoids. These structures were introduced independently three times, and their
aim is to study directed ordered sets from an algebraic perspective. The structures
that we have studied in this dissertations have an underlying order, but moreover they
have a lattice reduct. That is not always the case for directed ordered sets. Hence
the importance of the study of directoids. We prove some properties of directoids and
their expansions by additional and complemented directoids. Among other results,
we provide a shorter proof of the direct decomposition theorem for bounded involute
directoids. We present a description of central elements of complemented directoids.
And finally we show that the variety of directoids, as well as its expansions mentioned
above, all have the strong amalgamation property
Substructurality and residuation in logic and algebra
A very and natural way of introducing a logic is by using a sequent calculus, or Gentzen
system. These systems are determined by specifying a set of axioms and a set of rules.
Axioms are then starting points from which we can derive new consequences by using
the rules. Hilbert systems consist also on a set of axioms and a set of rules that are used
to deduce consequences. The main difference is that, whereas the axioms in Hilbert
systems are formulas, and the rules allow to deduce certain formulas from other sets of
formulas, in the case of Gentzen systems the axioms are sequents and the rules indicate
which sequents can be inferred from other sets of sequents. By a sequent we understand
a pair hG, Si, where G and S are finite sequences of formulas. We denote the sequent
hG, Si by G . S.1 The sequent G . S intends to formalize â at least in its origin â the
concept âthe conjunction of all the formulas of G implies the disjunction of all the
formulas of S.â
The notion of a sequent calculus was invented by G. Gentzen in order to give axiomatizations
for Classical and Intuitionistic Propositional Logics. And the rules he
gave in both cases can be grouped in different categories: because of its character, the
Cut rule deserves a special category for itself; then we have the rules of introduction
and elimination of each one of the connectives, both on the left and on the right â of
the symbol . â; and finally a set of rules that do not involve any particular connective.
These rules are necessary in Classical and Intuitionistic logics because in these logics
1Traditional notations for sequents are G ) S and G ` S, but since both the symbols ) and ` have
many other meanings, we prefer to denote sequents by using the less overloaded symbol ., which can also
be found in literature with this use.
the order in which we are given the premises, or if we have them repeated, is irrelevant,
and we do not loose consequences if we extend the set of hypotheses. But there are other
logics that do not satisfy all these rules: for instance, relevance logics and linear logic.
At first, these logics were studied separately, and different theories were developed for
their investigation. But later on, researches arrived to the conclusion that all of them
share a common feature, which became more apparent after the work of W. Blok and
D. Pigozzi. It was discovered that (pointed) residuated lattices â or FL algebras â are
the algebraic counterpart of substructural logics.
In the XIX century, Boole noticed a close connection between âthe laws of thought,â
as he put it, and algebra. After him, other mathematicians put together all the pieces
and described a sort of algebras, named Boole algebras after him, and shed light on the
connection anticipated by Boole: Boole algebras are the ânaturalâ semantics for Classical
Propositional Logic. More connections were discovered between other logics and
other sorts of algebras: for instance, Heyting algebras are the ânaturalâ semantics for
Intuitionistic Propositional Logic, and MV algebras for Ćukasievicz Multivalued Logic.
But it was not until 1989, when Blok and Pigozzi published their book Algebraizable
Logics, that for the first time the connections between these logics and classes of algebras
were finally described with absolute precision. According to their definitions,
these classes of algebras are the equivalent algebraic sematics of the corresponding logics.
That is, these classes of algebras are the algebraic counterparts of the corresponding
logics. Their ideas paved the way to a new branch of mathematics called Abstract Algebraic
Logic, which investigates the connections between logics and classes of algebras,
and the so-called bridge theorems: that is, theorems that establish bridges between some
property of one realm (logic or algebra) with another property of the other realm.
The core of the connection between substructural logics and residuated lattices is
that in all these logics, some theorem of the following form could always be proven.
Thus, we could think that the metalogical symbol â,â is acting as a real connective. More
precisely, we could introduce a new connective , called fusion, and impose the following
rule. Given an algebraic model with a lattice reduct, it is usually the case that the meet and
join operations serve as the interpretations of the conjunction and disjunction connectives.
What should be then the interpretation of the fusion? Usually, the elements of the
lattice are thought as different degrees of truth, and âa . b is provableâ is interpreted as âfor every assignment, the degree of truth of a is less than that of b.â Under this
natural interpretation, the condition (1) becomes:
That is, the fusion is interpreted as a residuated operation on the lattice.
Being the algebraic semantics of substructural logics and containing many interesting
subvarieties such as Heyting algebras, MV algebras, and lattice-ordered groups,
to name a few, the variety of residuated lattices is of utmost importance to the studies
of Logic and Algebra, hence our interest. In this dissertation we carry out some
investigations on different problems concerning residuated lattices.
In what follows we give a brief description of the contents and organization of this
dissertation. Every chapter â except for the first one, which is devoted to setting the
preliminaries â starts with an introduction in which the reader will find a lengthier
explanation of the subject of the chapter, the way the material is organized, and references.
We start by compiling in Chapter 1 all the essential well-known results about residuated
lattices that we will need in the subsequent chapters. We present here the definitions
of those concepts that are not specific to some particular chapter, but general.
We define the variety of residuated lattices, and some of its more significant subvarieties.
We also introduce nuclei, and nucleus retracts. As it is widely known, the lattice
of normal convex subalgebras of a residuated lattice is isomorphic to its congruence
lattice, and hence its importance. But it turns out that also the lattice of convex (not
necessarily normal) subalgebras is of great significance, specially in the case of e-cyclic
residuated lattices. Many of its properties depend on the fact that it is a pseudo-complemented
lattice. Actually, it is a Heyting algebra. For instance, polars are special
sets usually defined in terms of a certain notion of orthogonality; in the case of e-cyclic
residuated lattices, polars are the pseudo-complements of the convex subalgebras. We
end the chapter by briefly explaining the notions of semilinearity and projectability for
residuated lattices.
In the 1960âs, P. F. Conrad and other authors set in motion a general program for the
investigation of lattice-ordered groups, aimed at elucidating some order-theoretic properties
of these algebras by inquiring into the structure of their lattices of convex `-subgroups.
This approach can be naturally extended to residuated lattices and their convex
subalgebras. We devote Chapters 2 and 3 to two different problems that can be framed
within Conradâs program for residuated lattices. More specifically, in Chapter 2 we
revisit the Galatos-Tsinakis categorical equivalence between integral GMV algebras and negative cones of `-groups with a nucleus, showing that it restricts to an equivalence
of the full subcategories whose objects are the projectable members of these classes.
Afterwards, we introduce the notion of Gödel GMV algebras, which are expansions
of projectable integral GMV algebras by a binary term that realizes a positive Gödel
implication in every such algebra. We see that Gödel GMV algebras and projectable integral
GMV algebras are essentially the same thing. Analogously, Gödel negative cones
are those Gödel GMV algebras whose residuated lattice reducts are negative cones of
`-groups. Thus, we turn projectable integral GMV algebras and negative cones of projectable
`-groups into varieties by including this implication in their signature. We
prove that there is an adjunction between the categories whose objects are the members
of these varieties and whose morphisms are required to preserve implications.
We devote Chapter 3 to the study of certain kinds of completions of semilinear
residuated lattices. We can find in the literature different notions of completions for
residuated lattices, like for example Dedekind-McNeil completions, regular completions,
complete ideal completions, . . . Very often it happens that for a certain algebra in
a variety of residuated lattices, those completions exists but do not belong to the same
variety. That is, varieties are not closed, in general, under the operations of taking these
kinds of completions. But there are other notions of completions that might have better
properties in this regard. Conrad and other authors proved the existence of lateral completions,
projectable completions, and orthocompletions for representable `-groups, and
moreover, that the varieties of representable `-groups are closed under these completions.
Our goal in this chapter is to prove the existence of lateral completions, (strongly)
projectable completions, and orthocompletions for semilinear e-cyclic residuated lattices,
as they are a natural generalization of representable `-groups. We introduce all
these concepts along the chapter, and prove first that every semilinear e-cyclic residuated
lattice can be densely embedded into another residuated lattice which is latterly
complete and strongly projectable. We obtain this lattice as a direct limit of a certain
family of algebras obtained from the original lattice by taking quotients and products,
so the direct limit stays in the same variety where the original algebra lives. Finally,
we prove that for semilinear GMV algebras, we can find minimal dense extensions
satisfying all the required properties.
In Chapter 4 we study the failure of the Amalgamation Property on several varieties
of residuated lattices. The Amalgamation Property is of particular interest in the study
of residuated lattices due to its relation with various syntactic interpolation properties
of substructural logics. There are no examples to date of non-commutative varieties of
residuated lattices that satisfy the Amalgamation Property. The variety of semilinear
Abstract 5
residuated lattices is a natural candidate for enjoying this property, since most varieties
that have a manageable representation theory and satisfy the Amalgamation Property
are semilinear. However, we prove that this is not the case, and in the process we
establish that the same happens for the variety of semilinear cancellative residuated
lattices, that is, it also lacks the Amalgamation Property. In addition, we prove that
the variety whose members have a distributive lattice reduct and satisfy the identity
x(y ^ z)w xyw ^ xzw also fails the Amalgamation Property.
In Chapter 5 we show how some well-known results of the theory of automata, in
particular those related to regular languages, can be viewed within a wider framework.
In order to do so, we introduce the concept of module over a residuated lattice, and
show that modules over a fixed residuated lattice â that is, partially ordered sets acted
upon by a residuated lattice â provide a suitable algebraic framework for extending
the concept of a recognizable language as defined by Kleene. More specifically, we introduce
the notion of a recognizable element of a residuated lattice by a finite module
and provide a characterization of such an element in the spirit of Myhillâs characterization
of recognizable languages. Further, we investigate the structure of the set of
recognizagle elements of a residuated lattice, and also provide sufficient conditions for
a recognizable element to be recognized by a Boolean module.
We summarize in Chapter 6 the main results of this dissertation and propose some
of the problems that still remain open. We end this dissertation with an appendix
on directoids. These structures were introduced independently three times, and their
aim is to study directed ordered sets from an algebraic perspective. The structures
that we have studied in this dissertations have an underlying order, but moreover they
have a lattice reduct. That is not always the case for directed ordered sets. Hence
the importance of the study of directoids. We prove some properties of directoids and
their expansions by additional and complemented directoids. Among other results,
we provide a shorter proof of the direct decomposition theorem for bounded involute
directoids. We present a description of central elements of complemented directoids.
And finally we show that the variety of directoids, as well as its expansions mentioned
above, all have the strong amalgamation property