Let$X$be a rationally convex compact subset of the unit sphere$S$in ℂ^{2}, of three-dimensional measure zero. Denote by$R$($X$) the uniform closure on$X$of the space of functions$P$/$Q$, where$P$and$Q$are polynomials and$Q$≠0 on$X$. When does$R$($X$)=$C$($X$)?

Let Ω be an open subset of$R$^{$d$},$d$≥2, and let$x$∈Ω. A$Jensen measure$for$x$on Ω is a Borel probability measure μ, supported on a compact subset of Ω, such that ∫$u$$d$μ≤$u$($x$) for every superharmonic function$u$on Ω. Denote by$J$_{$x$}(Ω) the family of Jensen measures for$x$on Ω. We present two characterizations of ext($J$_{$x$}(Ω)), the set of extreme elements of$J$_{$x$}(Ω). The first is in terms of finely harmonic measures, and the second as limits of harmonic measures on decreasing sequences of domains.

We characterize componentwise linear monomial ideals with minimal Taylor resolution and consider the lower bound for the Betti numbers of componentwise linear ideals.

We show that the median$m$($x$) in the gamma distribution with parameter$x$is a strictly convex function on the positive half-line.

Let Ω⊂ℝ^{$n$}be an arbitrary open set. We characterize the space$W$^{1,1}_{loc}(Ω) using variants of the classical area and coarea formulas. We use these characterizations to obtain a norm approximation and trace theorems for functions in the space$W$^{1,1}(ℝ^{$n$}).