Degree theory has been developed as a tool for checking the solution existence of nonlinear equations. In his classic paper published in 1983, Browder developed a degree theory for mappings of monotone type f+ T, where f is a mapping of class (S)+ from a bounded open set in a reflexive Banach space X into its dual X, and T is a maximal monotone mapping from X into X. This breakthrough paved the way for many applications of degree theoretic techniques to several large classes of nonlinear partial differential equations. In this paper we continue to develop the results of Browder on the degree theory for mappings of monotone type f+ T. By enlarging the class of maximal monotone mappings and pseudo-monotone homotopies we obtain some new results of the degree theory for such mappings.

Inspired by the recent work of Bekka, we study two reasonable analogues of property (T) for not necessarily unital C-algebras. The stronger one of the two is called property (T) and the weaker one is called property (T e). It is shown that all non-unital C-algebras do not have property (T)(neither do their unitalizations). Moreover, all non-unital -unital C-algebras do not have property (T e).

For a linear isometry T: C 0 (X) C 0 (Y) of finite corank, there is a cofinite subset Y 1 of Y such that Tf| Y 1= h f is a weighted composition operator and X is homeomorphic to a quotient space of Y 1 modulo a finite subset. When X= Y, such a T is called an isometric quasi-n-shift on C 0 (X). In this case, the action of T can be implemented as a shift on a tree-like structure, called a T-tree, in M (X) with exactly n joints. The T-tree is total in M (X) when T is a shift. With these tools, we can analyze the structure of T.

Let <i>X</i> be a locally compact Hausdorff space and <i>C</i> ₀(<i>X</i>) the Banach space of continuous functions on <i>X</i> vanishing at infinity. In this paper, we shall study unbounded disjointness preserving linear functionals on <i>C</i> ₀(<i>X</i>). They arise from prime ideals of <i>C</i> ₀(<i>X</i>), and we translate it into the cozero set ideal setting. In particular, every unbounded disjointness preserving linear functional of <i>c</i> ₀ can be constructed explicitly through an ultrafilter on complementary to a cozero set ideal. This ultrafilter method can be extended to produce many, but in general not all, such functionals on <i>C</i> ₀(<i>X</i>) for arbitrary <i>X</i>. We also make some remarks where <i>C</i> ₀(<i>X</i>) is replaced by a non-commutative C*-algebra.

It is well known that a vector variational inequality can be a very efficient model for use in studying vector optimization problems. By using the Ky Fan fixed point theorem and the scalarization method we will prove some existence theorems for strong solutions for generalized vector variational inequalities where discontinuous and star-pseudomonotone operators are involved. Our results can be applied to the study of the existence of solutions of vector optimal problems. Some examples are given and analyzed.