For $S\subseteq\mathbb R^n$ a set $C\subseteq S$ is an $m$-clique if the convex hull of no $m$-element subset of $C$ is contained in $S$. We show that there is essentially just one way to construct a closed set $S\subseteq\mathbb R^2$ without an uncountable $3$-clique that is not the union of countably many convex sets. In particular, all such sets have the same convexity number; that is, they require the same number of convex subsets to cover them. The main result follows from an analysis of the convex structure of closed sets in $\mathbb R^2$ without uncountable 3-cliques in terms of clopen, $P_4$-free graphs on Polish spaces.

We consider a class of strongly $q$-log-convex polynomials based on a triangular recurrence relation with linear coefficients, and we show that the Bell polynomials, the Bessel polynomials, the Ramanujan polynomials and the Dowling polynomials are strongly $q$-log-convex. We also prove that the Bessel transformation preserves log-convexity.

We present a new approach to noncommutative real algebraic geometry based on the representation theory of $C^\ast$-algebras. An important result in commutative real algebraic geometry is Jacobi's representation theorem for archimedean quadratic modules on commutative rings. We show that this theorem is a consequence of the Gelfand--Naimark representation theorem for commutative $C^\ast$-algebras. A noncommutative version of Gelfand--Naimark theory was studied by I. Fujimoto. We use his results to generalize Jacobi's theorem to associative rings with involution.

We study the dimension of ``random'' Euclidean sections of direct sums of normed spaces. We compare the obtained results with results from \cite{LMS}, to show that for the direct sums the standard randomness with respect to the Haar measure on Grassmanian coincides with a much ``weaker'' randomness of ``diagonal'' subspaces (Corollary~\ref{sle} and explanation after). We also add some relative information on ``phase transition''.

Suppose $m$ and $n$ are integers such that $1 \le m \le n$. For a subgroup $H$ of the symmetric group $S_m$ of degree $m$, consider the {\it generalized matrix function} on $m\times m$ matrices $B = (b_{ij})$ defined by $d^H(B) = \sum_{\sigma \in H} \prod_{j=1}^m b_{j\sigma(j)}$ and the {\it generalized numerical range} of an $n\times n$ complex matrix $A$ associated with $d^H$ defined by $$ \wmp(A) = \{d^H (X^*AX): X \text{ is } n \times m \text{ such that } X^*X = I_m\}. $$ It is known that $\wmp(A)$ is convex if $m = 1$ or if $m = n = 2$. We show that there exist normal matrices $A$ for which $\wmp(A)$ is not convex if $3 \le m \le n$. Moreover, for $m = 2 < n$, we prove that a normal matrix $A $ with eigenvalues lying on a straight line has convex $\wmp(A)$ if and only if $\nu A$ is Hermitian for some nonzero $\nu \in \IC$. These results extend those of Hu, Hurley and Tam, who studied the special case when $2 \le m \le 3 \le n$ and $H = S_m$.