On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations

It is well-known [16] that the semigroup Tn of all total transformations of a given n-element set Xn is covered by its inverse subsemigroups. This note provides a short and direct proof, based on properties of digraphs of transformations, that every inverse subsemigroup of order-preserving transform...

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Автори: Catarino, P., Higgins, P.M., Levi, I.
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Опубліковано: Інститут прикладної математики і механіки НАН України 2015
Назва видання:Algebra and Discrete Mathematics
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Цитувати:On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations / P. Catarino, P.M. Higgins, I. Levi// Algebra and Discrete Mathematics. — 2015. — Vol. 19, № 2. — С. 162-171. — Бібліогр.: 18 назв. — англ.

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spelling irk-123456789-1542502019-06-16T01:26:52Z On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations Catarino, P. Higgins, P.M. Levi, I. It is well-known [16] that the semigroup Tn of all total transformations of a given n-element set Xn is covered by its inverse subsemigroups. This note provides a short and direct proof, based on properties of digraphs of transformations, that every inverse subsemigroup of order-preserving transformations on a finite chain Xn is a semilattice of idempotents, and so the semigroup of all order-preserving transformations of Xn is not covered by its inverse subsemigroups. This result is used to show that the semigroup of all orientation-preserving transformations and the semigroup of all orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations of the chain Xn are covered by their inverse subsemigroups precisely when n≤3. 2015 Article On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations / P. Catarino, P.M. Higgins, I. Levi// Algebra and Discrete Mathematics. — 2015. — Vol. 19, № 2. — С. 162-171. — Бібліогр.: 18 назв. — англ. 1726-3255 2010 MSC:20M20, 05C25. http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/154250 en Algebra and Discrete Mathematics Інститут прикладної математики і механіки НАН України
institution Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
collection DSpace DC
language English
description It is well-known [16] that the semigroup Tn of all total transformations of a given n-element set Xn is covered by its inverse subsemigroups. This note provides a short and direct proof, based on properties of digraphs of transformations, that every inverse subsemigroup of order-preserving transformations on a finite chain Xn is a semilattice of idempotents, and so the semigroup of all order-preserving transformations of Xn is not covered by its inverse subsemigroups. This result is used to show that the semigroup of all orientation-preserving transformations and the semigroup of all orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations of the chain Xn are covered by their inverse subsemigroups precisely when n≤3.
format Article
author Catarino, P.
Higgins, P.M.
Levi, I.
spellingShingle Catarino, P.
Higgins, P.M.
Levi, I.
On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations
Algebra and Discrete Mathematics
author_facet Catarino, P.
Higgins, P.M.
Levi, I.
author_sort Catarino, P.
title On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations
title_short On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations
title_full On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations
title_fullStr On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations
title_full_unstemmed On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations
title_sort on inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations
publisher Інститут прикладної математики і механіки НАН України
publishDate 2015
url http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/154250
citation_txt On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations / P. Catarino, P.M. Higgins, I. Levi// Algebra and Discrete Mathematics. — 2015. — Vol. 19, № 2. — С. 162-171. — Бібліогр.: 18 назв. — англ.
series Algebra and Discrete Mathematics
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first_indexed 2025-07-14T05:54:32Z
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fulltext Algebra and Discrete Mathematics RESEARCH ARTICLE Volume 19 (2015). Number 2, pp. 162–171 © Journal “Algebra and Discrete Mathematics” On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup of orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations Paula Catarino∗, Peter M. Higgins, Inessa Levi Communicated by V. Mazorchuk Abstract. It is well-known [16] that the semigroup Tn of all total transformations of a given n-element set Xn is covered by its inverse subsemigroups. This note provides a short and direct proof, based on properties of digraphs of transformations, that every inverse subsemigroup of order-preserving transformations on a finite chain Xn is a semilattice of idempotents, and so the semigroup of all order-preserving transformations of Xn is not covered by its inverse subsemigroups. This result is used to show that the semigroup of all orientation-preserving transformations and the semigroup of all orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations of the chain Xn are covered by their inverse subsemigroups precisely when n 6 3. 1. Introduction In a regular semigroup S every element α has an inverse β in S meaning that α = αβα and β = βαβ. In an inverse semigroup S every element of S has a unique inverse in S. An inverse β of an element α in a ∗The first author is a Member of the Research Center of Mathematics, CM-UTAD, Portugal. 2010 MSC: 20M20, 05C25. Key words and phrases: semigroup, semilattice, inverse subsemigroup, strong inverse, transformation, order-preserving transformation, orientation-preserving trans- formation, orientation-reversing transformation. P. Catarino, P. M. Higgins, I . Levi 163 semigroup S is said to be a strong inverse of α if the subsemigroup 〈α, β〉 of S generated by α and β is an inverse subsemigroup of S. A semigroup S is covered by its inverse subsemigroups precisely when every element in S has a strong inverse in S. This note addresses the following question: what regular semigroups are covered by their inverse subsemigroups? For example, the semigroup Tn of all total transformations of a given n-element set Xn and the semigroup PT n of all total and partial transfor- mations of Xn are both regular but not inverse. B. M. Schein [16] noted that the above question was formulated in 1964 during the VI Vsesouznyi Algebra Colloquium in Minsk, USSR, in terms of the semigroups Tn and PT n. In his 1971 paper [16], B. M. Schein showed, generalizing the results by L. M. Gluskin [9], that Tn and PT n are covered by their inverse sub- semigroups. A detailed proof of this result may be found in P. M. Higgins’ book [11]. Note that this result does not hold for the semigroup of all total transformations of an infinite set, see, for example, [11, Exercise 6.2.8]. Let Xn = {1, 2, · · · , n} be a chain with respect to the standard order, and let On be the semigroup of all order-preserving transformations α on Xn, that is transformations satisfying the condition xα 6 yα whenever x < y, for all x, y ∈ Xn. Let {in} denote the identity permutation of Xn. The semigroup On was introduced by A. Ya. Aizenstat [1], where she gave a presentation for On \ {in} in terms of 2n − 2 idempotent generators. She described in [2] the congruences on On. There is a large body of literature on properties of the semigroup On. For example, it is shown in [10] that the minimal number of generators of On \ {in} is n; combinatorial properties of On were studied in [13], [12] and [14]. It is well known that On is a regular semigroup. It was shown recently by A. Vernitski [18] that all the inverse sub- semigroups of On are semilattices. Indeed he proved that a finite inverse semigroup can be represented by order-preserving mappings if and only if it is a semilattice of idempotents. Vernitski’s paper is concerned with the study of the pseudovariety of all finite semigroups whose inverse subsemigroups consist of a single element, and the quasivariety of all finite semigroups whose inverse subsemigroups are semilattices. The proof uses the Krohn-Rhodes Theorem on wreath products of monoids. In the present paper we provide a simple self-contained proof of the result based on digraphs associated with transformations (Theorem 2.7). A transformation α ∈ Tn is said to be orientation-preserving (orientation-reversing) if the sequence (1α, 2α, . . . , nα) is a cyclic permutation of a non-decreasing (non-increasing) sequence. The semigroup 164 On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup OPn of all orientation-preserving transformations and the semigroup Pn of all orientation-preserving or orientation-reversing transformations were introduced independently by D. B. McAlister [15] and P. M. Catarino and P. M. Higgins [5]. Clearly, On is a subsemigroup of OPn, which in turn is a subsemigroup of Pn. For a transformation α ∈ Tn the rank of α, denoted by rank(α), is the number of elements in the image set Xnα of α. It was shown in [4] and [15] that OPn is generated by an idempotent in On of rank n − 1 and the cyclic group generated by the n-cycle (1, 2, 3, . . . , n). It was also shown [15] that Pn is generated by an idempotent in On of rank n − 1 and the dihedral group Dn. It follows that minimal generating sets of OPn and Pn have sizes 2 and 3 respectively. The semigroups OPn and Pn are regular [5]. The introduction of the semigroups OPn and Pn generated a large body of fruitful research by a number of authors. For example, P. M. Catarino [4] exhibited a presentation of OPn in terms of 2n − 1 gen- erators, by extending A. Ja. Aizenstat’s [1] presentation for On by a single generator and 2n relations. R. E. Arthur and N. Ruškuc [3] gave a presentation for OPn in terms of the minimal number of generators (two) and n+2 relations. In the same article they also gave a presentation of Pn on three generators and n + 6 relations. The congruences of OPn and Pn were described by V. H. Fernandes, G. M. S. Gomes and M. M. Jesus [8]. The pseudovariety generated by all semigroups of orientation-preserving transformations on a finite cycle was introduced and studied by P. M. Catarino and P. M. Higgins in [6]. More recently, combinatorial properties of semigroups of total and partial orientation-preserving transformations were studied by A. Umar [17], and all maximal subsemigroups of OPn and Pn were described by I. Dimitrova, V. H. Fernandez and J. Koppitz [7]. In the present paper we use the result that every inverse subsemigroup of On is a semilattice of idempotents (Theorem 2.7 below) to show that OPn and Pn are covered by their respective inverse subsemigroups if and only if n 6 3. 2. Results Every transformation α of Xn may be viewed as a digraph on n vertices, in which for x, y ∈ Xn we have that xy is an arc of the digraph of α precisely when xα = y. A comprehensive discussion on digraphs associated with transformations may be found in [11, Section 1.6]; we summarize here the results used in the proofs below. P. Catarino, P. M. Higgins, I . Levi 165 The orbits of a mapping α in Tn are the classes of the equivalence relation ∼ on Xn defined by x ∼ y if and only if there exist non-negative integers k, m such that xαk = yαm. The sets of vertices of connected components of a digraph of α correspond to orbits of α. Each component of a digraph of a transformation is functional, that is, it consists of a unique cycle together with a number of trees rooted around this cycle. A cycle on m distinct vertices of Xn is to be referred to as an m-cycle. If the cycle of a component consists of a single vertex x, then x is a fixed point of α, that is xα = x. Lemma 2.1. Let α be a transformation in Tn and suppose that all the cycles in the digraph of α are 1-cycles. Then for any positive integer k, the orbits and fixed points of α and αk are identical. Proof. Assume that x and y are in the same orbit with respect to some power αk of α, that is x ∼ y with respect to αk. Then there exist positive integers s and t such that x (αk)s = y (αk)t, whence x αks = y αkt and so x ∼ y with respect to α. Conversely, assume that x ∼ y with respect to α. By our assumption, the component C of the digraph of α containing vertices x and y has a unique 1-cycle, say, with a vertex z. Therefore z is a fixed point of α, and so x αt = y αt = z for any positive integer t > l, where l is the length of the longest directed path in C. Hence x αkl = y αkl = z or x (αk)l = y (αk)l. Thus x ∼ y with respect to αk also. We conclude that the vertex set of C is a common orbit for all positive powers of α. Moreover z is a fixed point of α if and only if the same is true of all such powers. The following result follows directly from Lemma 2.1. Corollary 2.2. Let α be a transformation in Tn and suppose that all the cycles in the digraph of α are 1-cycles. Let ε be an idempotent in Tn such that ε = αr, for some positive integer r. Then the orbits and fixed points of α and ε are identical. Lemma 2.3. Let α be a transformation in Tn and suppose that all the cycles in the digraph of α are 1-cycles. If β ∈ Tn is any strong inverse of α then the orbits and fixed points of α and β are identical. Proof. Observe that since β is a strong inverse of α, the subsemigroup S = 〈α, β〉 of Tn generated by α and β is an inverse semigroup. Therefore for any positive integer t we have that βt is the unique inverse of αt in S. Taking t = r so that ε = αr is an idempotent as in Corollary 2.2 we have 166 On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup that βr is the unique inverse of αr = ε. Since an idempotent is its own unique inverse in S, we have that βr = ε also, and so αr = βr. It follows immediately from Lemma 2.1 that the orbits and fixed points of α, β and ε are identical. It follows from the definition of an order-preserving transformation on a finite chain that the iterative sequence of images x, x α, . . . , x αk, . . . of a point x ∈ Xn under a transformation α ∈ On must terminate in a fixed point, whence it follows that the cycles of the components of the digraph of α are merely fixed points. This observation leads to Proposition 2.4 below, see a proof in [12, Proposition 1.5]. From this we also note that the semigroup On is aperiodic, meaning that all of its subgroups are trivial as it follows from the previous observation that the cyclic subgroup of the monogenic subsemigroup 〈α〉 of On has only one member. Proposition 2.4 ([12, Proposition 1.5]). The cycle of each component of α ∈ On consists of a unique fixed point. Therefore, as it was noted in [12], the digraph of a mapping in On consists of components, each of which is a directed tree with all arcs directed towards the root, which represents a fixed point of the mapping. The next result follows from Proposition 2.4 and Lemma 2.3. Corollary 2.5. Let α, β be transformations in On. If β is a strong inverse of α then α and β have the same orbits and their components have the same roots. Recall that any order-preserving transformation has a strong inverse in Tn. However, as the next result shows, an order-preserving trans- formation does not have an order-preserving strong inverse unless the transformation is an idempotent. Theorem 2.6. Let α ∈ On. Then 1) α has a strong inverse in On if and only if α is an idempotent. 2) If α is a non-idempotent with at least two fixed points, then α has no strong inverse in OPn. Proof. Since the first statement of the theorem is clearly true in the forward direction, we assume that there exists a non-idempotent α ∈ On that has a strong inverse β in OPn. Moreover, since an idempotent transformation may be characterized as a transformation that fixes each P. Catarino, P. M. Higgins, I . Levi 167 element of its image, for a non-idempotent α there exist distinct u, v ∈ Xn such that uα = v, vα 6= v. Let C be the component of the digraph of α containing vertices u, v. Since C is a directed tree with all arcs directed towards the root, say, z ∈ Xn, there exists a unique directed path in C from u through v to z. Therefore there exist distinct vertices x, y distinct from z in this path such that xα = y, yα = z, and zα = z. We may assume without loss of generality that x < y. Then since α is order-preserving we have that y = xα 6 yα = z, so that x < y < z since y 6= z. Since β is an inverse of α, βα is an idempotent transformation with image Xnβα = Xnα, so y ∈ Xnβα and yβα = y. Let w denote yβ. If y 6 w, then since α is order-preserving we have that z = yα 6 wα = yβα = y, a contradiction to our earlier observation that y < z. Therefore we have yβ = w < y. Assume first that β is order-preserving, so an application of β to both sides of the inequality yβ < y yields yβ2 6 yβ < y, so yβ2 < y < z. By using a similar argument we obtain that yβ3 < y < z, and indeed yβm < y < z for any integer m > 2. (1) Let k > 2 be chosen such that αk is an idempotent, say ε. Put m = k in Equation (1) above. On one hand by Corollary 2.2 we have that yαk is the root of the common component of y under α and under ε, so that yαk = z. On the other hand we now obtain by Lemma 2.3 and Equation (1) that yαk = yβk < y < z, a contradiction. It follows that if β ∈ On then α is an idempotent, and so the first statement is proved. Finally assume that α has at least two fixed points and β ∈ OPn. Consider the (common) components C(1) and C(n) associated with digraphs of α and β containing 1 and n respectively. Since the components of α are intervals of the standard chain Xn (see Lemma 2.8 of [5]), it follows that if C(1) = C(n) then α would have just one component and so just one fixed point, contrary to hypothesis. Hence C(1) = {1, 2, . . . , i} and C(n) = {j, j + 1, . . . , n}, for some i < j. But since these are also components of β, and β maps each of its components into itself, it follows that 1 β lies in C(1) and n β lies in C(n); in particular 1 β < n β, whence it follows from Proposition 2.3 of [5] that β lies in On. But that contradicts the first part of our theorem. Therefore α does not have a strong inverse in OPn. An immediate consequence of the above is the result of A. Vernitski [18, Corollary 4]. 168 On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup Theorem 2.7. Any inverse subsemigroup of On is a semilattice. The union of all inverse subsemigroups of On is just the set of idempotents of On, or equivalently, the set of group elements of On. Next we apply the above results to the semigroups OPn of all orientation-preserving transformations of Xn and Pn of all orientation- preserving or orientation-reversing transformations of Xn. Let ORn denote the set of all orientation-reversing transformations in Tn. It was shown in [5] that Pn = OPn ∪ ORn, OPn ∩ ORn = {α ∈ Tn : rank(α) 6 2}, OPn · ORn = ORn = ORn · OPn and (ORn)2 = OPn = (OPn)2. (2) Note that for n 6 2 we have OPn = Tn and so every element of OPn has a strong inverse in OPn. Now |OP3| = 24 (see [5], Corollary 2.7), and T3 \ OP3 consists of the three transpositions, which reverse orientation. It is easily seen that each member of OP3 has a strong inverse: indeed, P3 = T3 (see [5]), and so P3 is covered by its inverse subsemigroups. Since the elements of P3 and OP3 of rank at most two coincide, and the ranks of a transformation and its inverse are the same, we only need to observe that the three permutations in OP3 each have strong inverses in OP3 as together they form a (cyclic) group. Let θ denote the n-cycle (1, 2, 3, . . . , n) in OPn. As a consequence of Theorem 2.7 we can prove the following result: Lemma 2.8. A non-idempotent transformation in OPn with at least two fixed points does not have a strong inverse in OPn. Proof. Observe that if n 6 3 then any transformation in OPn with at least two fixed points is an idempotent. Hence assume that n > 4. By Theorem 4.9 in [5], the digraph of any member of OPn cannot have two cycles of different length. It follows that all the cycles of α are fixed points. By Corollary 4.12 in [5], the mapping α can be written as θ−mδθm for some δ ∈ On and a non-negative integer m. Now assume by way of contradiction that β ∈ OPn is a strong inverse of α. Take the mapping ϕ : OPn → OPn defined by κϕ = θmκθ−m for κ ∈ OPn. Since θ is a permutation in OPn, the mapping ϕ is an automorphism of OPn. Moreover, αϕ = δ and βϕ = θmβθ−m, so ϕ maps P. Catarino, P. M. Higgins, I . Levi 169 〈α, β〉 isomorphically onto 〈δ, θmβθ−m〉. Since, by our assumption, β is a strong inverse of α, we have that 〈α, β〉 and 〈δ, θmβθ−m〉 are isomorphic inverse subsemigroups of OPn and θmβθ−m is a strong inverse of δ. We now note that α and its conjugate δ have the same number of fixed points. Indeed for any x ∈ Xn we have that x α = x if and only if x θ−mδθm = x, that is (x θ−m)δ = x θ−m. Thus δ ∈ On has at least two fixed points, and by Theorem 2.6(2), δ does not have a strong inverse in OPn, a contradiction. Putting together the observations above that OPn is covered by its inverse subsemigroups when n 6 3, and that if n > 4 then OPn contains non-idempotent transformations with at least two fixed points, an application of the above lemma yields the following result. Theorem 2.9. The semigroup OPn is covered by its inverse subsemi- groups if and only if n 6 3. Example. In OP3 we have the pair of strong inverses α = ( 1 2 3 2 3 3 ) and β = ( 1 2 3 3 1 3 ) . We note that neither α nor β are idempotents, and α is a member of O3, while β is a member of OP3. The semigroup 〈α, β〉 is the five-element combinatorial Brandt (inverse) semigroup, yet neither of α nor β is a group element. Hence, although OPn is not covered by its inverse subsemigroups, its set of strong inverses encompasses more than its group elements (so that Theorem 2.7 is not true if On is replaced by OPn). We note that α is a member of O3 and β is a member of the semigroup of order-preserving mappings on the chain 3 < 1 < 2. This however does not contradict Lemma 2.8 as both α and β have just one fixed point. If n 6 3, it is observed in [5] that Pn = Tn, and so Pn is covered by its inverse semigroups. The result below demonstrates that these are the only instances when this is true. Theorem 2.10. The semigroup Pn of all orientation-preserving or ori- entation reversing mappings is covered by its inverse subsemigroups if and only if n 6 3. Proof. Assume n > 4 and choose, using Theorem 2.6, a transformation α ∈ OPn of rank at least 3 that has no strong inverse in OPn. Assume β ∈ Pn is a strong inverse of α in Pn. Now any inverse of α has the same 170 On inverse subsemigroups of the semigroup rank as α, so β ∈ ORn with rank at least 3. But then by [5, Corollary 5.2] α = αβα ∈ OPn ·ORn ·OPn = ORn. Since the rank of α is at least 3, and, in accordance with [5, Lemma 5.4], ORn∩OPn consists of transformations of rank at most 2, α ∈ ORn \ OPn, a contradiction to the assumption that α ∈ OPn. This completes the proof. Acknowledgement The first author acknowledges support by the Portuguese Govern- ment through the Portuguese Foundation FCT under the project PEst- OE/MAT/UI4080/2014. References [1] A. Ja. Aizenštat, The defining relations of the endomorphism semigroup of a finite linearly ordered set, Sibirsk. Mat. Ž. 3 (1962), 161-169 (Russian). [2] A. Ja. Aizenštat, On homomorphisms of semigroups of endomorphisms of ordered sets, Leningrad. Gos. Pedagog. Inst. Učen. Zap. 238 (1962), 38-48 (Russian). [3] R. E. Arthur and N. Ruškuc, Presentations for two extensions of the monoid of order-preserving mappings on a finite chain, Southeast Asian Bull. Math 24 (2000), 1-7. [4] P. M. Catarino, Monoids of orientation-preserving mappings of a finite chain and their presentation, Semigroups and Applications, St. Andrews(1997), 39–46, World Sci. Publ., River Edge, NJ, 1998. [5] P. M. Catarino and P. M. Higgins, The monoid of orientation-preserving mappings on a chain, Semigroup Forum, 58, (1999), 190-206. [6] P. M. Catarino and P. M. Higgins, The pseudovariety generated by all semigroups of orientation preserving transformations on a finite cycle, Int. J. Algebra Comput., 12(3), (2002), 387-405. [7] I. Dimitrova, V. H. Fernandes and J. Koppitz, The maximal subsemigroups of semigroups of transformations preserving or reversing the orientation on a finite chain, Publ. Math. Debrecen, 81, 1-2, (2012), 11-29. [8] V. H. Fernandes, G. M. S. Gomes and M. M. Jesus, Congruences on monoids of transformations preserving the orientation on a finite chain, J. Algebra, 321(2009), no. 3, 743-757. [9] L. M. Gluskin, Elementary Generalized Groups, Mat. Sb. N. S., 41(83) (1957), 23-36. [10] G. M. S. Gomes and J. M. Howie, On the ranks of certain semigroups of order- preserving transformations, Semigroup Forum 45 (1992), no. 3, 272-282. [11] P. M. Higgins, Techniques of semigroup theory, Oxford Science Publications. The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992. [12] P. M. Higgins, Combinatorial results for semigroups of order-preserving transfor- mations. Math. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., (1993), 113, pp 281-296. P. Catarino, P. M. Higgins, I . Levi 171 [13] J. M. Howie, Products of idempotents in certain semigroups of transformations, Proc. Edinburgh Math. Soc., (1971), 17, pp 223-236. [14] A. Laradji and A. Umar, Combinatorial results for semigroups of order-preserving full transformations, Semigroup Forum 72 (2006), 51-62. [15] D. B. McAlister, Semigroups generated by a group and an idempotent. Comm. Algebra, 26(2), (1998), 515-547. [16] B. M. Schein, A symmetric semigroup of transformations is covered by its inverse subsemigroups, Acta Mat. Acad. Sci. Hung., 22, (1971) 163-171. [17] A. Umar, Combinatorial results for semigroups of orientation-preserving partial transformations, J. Integer Seq. 14 (2011), Article 11.7.5. [18] A. Vernitski, Inverse subsemigroups and classes of finite aperiodic semigroups, Semigroup Forum, 78, (2009), 486-497. Contact information Paula Catarino Departamento de Matemática Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal E-Mail(s): pcatarin@utad.pt Peter M. Higgins Department of Mathematical Sciences University of Essex Colchester CO4 3SQ U.K. E-Mail(s): peteh@essex.ac.uk Inessa Levi Department of Mathematics Columbus State University Columbus, GA 31907, USA E-Mail(s): levi_inessa@columbusstate.edu Received by the editors: 04.06.2014 and in final form 04.08.2014.