Twisted étale groupoid algebras have recently been studied in the algebraic setting by several authors in connection with an abstract theory of Cartan pairs of rings. In this paper we show that extensions of ample groupoids correspond in a precise manner to extensions of Boolean inverse semigroups. In particular, discrete twists over ample groupoids correspond to certain abelian extensions of Boolean inverse semigroups, and we show that they are classified by Lausch’s second cohomology group of an inverse semigroup. The cohomology group structure corresponds to the Baer sum operation on twists.

We also define a novel notion of inverse semigroup crossed product, generalizing skew inverse semigroup rings, and prove that twisted Steinberg algebras of Hausdorff ample groupoids are instances of inverse semigroup crossed products. The cocycle defining the crossed product is the same cocycle that classifies the twist in Lausch cohomology.

For every pseudovariety $\mathbf {V}$ of finite monoids, let $\mathbf {LV}$ denote the pseudovariety of all finite semigroups all of whose local submonoids belong to $\mathbf {V}$ . In this paper, it is shown that, for every nontrivial semidirectly closed pseudovariety $\mathbf {V}$ of finite monoids, the pseudovariety $\mathbf {LV}$ of finite semigroups is also semidirectly closed if, and only if, the given pseudovariety $\mathbf {V}$ is local in the sense of Tilson. This finding resolves a long-standing open problem posed in the second volume of the classic monograph by Eilenberg.

In this paper we determine the structure of the total component of the Schur multiplier over an algebraically closed field of some relevant families of groups, such as dihedral groups, dicyclic groups, the infinite cyclic group and the direct product of two finite cyclic groups.

We devise a fairly general sufficient condition ensuring that the endomorphism monoid of a countably infinite ultrahomogeneous structure (i.e. a Fraïssé limit) embeds all countable semigroups. This approach not only provides us with a framework unifying the previous scattered results in this vein, but actually yields new applications for endomorphism monoids of the (rational) Urysohn space and the countable universal ultrahomogeneous semilattice.

We provide a short, intuitive proof of Isbell’s zigzag theorem.

In this paper we shall extend the classical theory of Morita equivalence to semigroups with local units. We shall use the concept of a Morita context to rediscover the Rees theorem and to characterise completely 0-simple and regular bisimple semigroups.

Let 5 be a monoid. A right S-system A is called strongly flat if the functor A ⊗ — (from the category of left S-systems into the category of sets) preserves pullbacksand equalizers. (This concept arises in B. Stenström, Math. Nachr. 48(1971), 315-334 under the name weak flatness). The main result of the present paper is a proof that for A to be strongly flat it is in fact sufficient that A ⊗ — preserve only pullbacks. The approach taken is to develop an "interpolation" condition for pullback-preservation, and then to show its equivalence to Stenström's conditions for strong flatness.