Let A be a graded algebra. In this paper we develop a generalized Koszul theory by assuming that A_0 is self-injective instead of semisimple and generalize many classical results. The application of this generalized theory to directed categories and finite EI categories is described.

We give two homological proofs of the Noetherianity of the category FI, a fundamental result discovered by Church, Ellenberg, Farb, and Nagpal.

Using the Nakayama functor, we construct an equivalence from a Serre quotient category of a category of finitely generated modules to a category of finite-dimensional modules. We then apply this result to the categories FI_G and VI_q, and answer positively an open question of Nagpal on representation stability theory.

In this paper we study derived equivalences between triangular matrix algebras using certain classical recollements. We show that special properties of these recollements actually characterize triangular matrix algebras, and describe methods to construct tilting modules and tilting complexes inducing derived equivalences between them.

In this paper we give an explicit algorithm to construct the ordinary quiver of a finite EI category for which the endomorphism groups of all objects have orders invertible in the field k. We classify all finite EI categories with hereditary category algebras, characterizing them as free EI categories (in a sense which we define) for which all endomorphism groups of objects have invertible orders. Some applications on the representation types of finite EI categories are derived.