We prove that for simple complex finite dimensional Lie algebras, affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras, the Virasoro algebra and the Heisenberg-Virasoro algebra, simple highest weight modules are characterized by the property that all positive root elements act on these modules locally nilpotently. We also show that this is not the case for higher rank Virasoro and for Heisenberg algebras.

It is shown that a Lie algebra having a nilpotent radical has a fundamental set of invariants consisting of Casimir operators. A different proof is given in the well known special case of an abelian radical. A result relating the number of invariants to the dimension of the Cartan subalgebra is also established.

We study the transfer of nondegeneracy between Lie triple systems and their standard Lie algebra envelopes as well as between Kantor pairs, their associated Lie triple systems, and their Lie algebra envelopes. We also show that simple Kantor pairs and Lie triple systems in characteristic $0$ are nondegenerate.

We study infinitesimal deformations of holomorphic maps of compact, complex, Kähler manifolds. In particular, we describe a generalization of Bloch's semiregularity map that annihilates obstructions to deform holomorphic maps with fixed codomain.

In this paper we prove that the Kostrikin radical of an extended affine Lie algebra of reduced type coincides with the center of its core, and use this characterization to get a type-free description of the core of such algebras. As a consequence we get that the core of an extended affine Lie algebra of reduced type is invariant under the automorphisms of the algebra.

Certain canonical resolutions are described for free associative and free Lie algebras in the category of non-associative algebras. These resolutions derive in both cases from geometric objects, which in turn reflect the combinatorics of suitable collections of leaf-labeled trees.