Infinite combinatorial issues raised by lifting problems in universal algebra

The critical point between varieties A and B of algebras is defined as the least cardinality of the semilattice of compact congruences of a member of A but of no member of B, if it exists. The study of critical points gives rise to a whole array of problems, often involving lifting problems of either diagrams or objects, with respect to functors. These, in turn, involve problems that belong to infinite combinatorics. We survey some of the combinatorial problems and results thus encountered. The corresponding problematic is articulated around the notion of a k-ladder (for proving that a critical point is large), large free set theorems and the classical notation (k,r,l){\to}m (for proving that a critical point is small). In the middle, we find l-lifters of posets and the relation (k, < l){\to}P, for infinite cardinals k and l and a poset P.Comment: 22 pages. Order, to appea

Abstract Homotopy Theory and the Thomason Model structure

There is a closed model structure on the category of small categories, called Thomason model structure, that is Quillen equivalent to the standard model structure on the category of topological spaces. We will give an introduction to the concepts necessary to understand the definition, as well as the purpose of the Thomason model structure. These concepts include category theory, classical homotopy theory on topological spaces, simplicial homotopy theory on simplicial sets and abstract homotopy theory via the use of model categories. We will show, that there is a model structure on the category of small acyclic categories, that is Quillen equivalent to the Thomason model structure. Both of these model structures share the same cofibrant objects, and we will show that these include finite semilattices, countable trees, finite zigzags and posets with five or less elements

On idempotent n-ary semigroups

This thesis, which consists of two parts, focuses on characterizations and descriptions of classes of idempotent n-ary semigroups where n >= 2 is an integer. Part I is devoted to the study of various classes of idempotent semigroups and their link with certain concepts stemming from social choice theory. In Part II, we provide constructive descriptions of various classes of idempotent n-ary semigroups. More precisely, after recalling and studying the concepts of single-peakedness and rectangular semigroups in Chapters 1 and 2, respectively, in Chapter 3 we provide characterizations of the classes of idempotent semigroups and totally ordered idempotent semigroups, in which the latter two concepts play a central role. Then in Chapter 4 we particularize the latter characterizations to the classes of quasitrivial semigroups and totally ordered quasitrivial semigroups. We then generalize these results to the class of quasitrivial n-ary semigroups in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 is devoted to characterizations of several classes of idempotent n-ary semigroups satisfying quasitriviality on certain subsets of the domain. Finally, Chapter 7 focuses on characterizations of the class of symmetric idempotent n-ary semigroups. Throughout this thesis, we also provide several enumeration results which led to new integer sequences that are now recorded in The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS). For instance, one of these enumeration results led to a new definition of the Catalan numbers