Let $F$ be a non-Archimedean local field or a finite field. Let $n$ be a natural number and $k$ be $1$ or $2$. Consider $G:=\operatorname{GL}_{n+k}(F)$ and let $M:=\operatorname{GL}_n(F) \times \operatorname{GL}_k(F)\lt G$ be a maximal Levi subgroup. Let $U\lt G$ be the corresponding unipotent subgroup and let $P=MU$ be the corresponding parabolic subgroup. Let $J:=J_M^G: \mathcal{M}(G) \to \mathcal{M}(M)$ be the Jacquet functor, i.e., the functor of coinvariants with respect to $U$. In this paper we prove that $J$ is a multiplicity free functor, i.e., $\dim \operatorname{Hom}_M(J(\pi),\rho)\leq 1$, for any irreducible representations $\pi$ of $G$ and $\rho$ of $M$. We adapt the classical method of Gelfand and Kazhdan, which proves the ``multiplicity free" property of certain representations to prove the ``multiplicity free" property of certain functors. At the end we discuss whether other Jacquet functors are multiplicity free.

Order components of a finite simple group were introduced in [4]. It was proved that some non-abelian simple groups are uniquely determined by their order components. As the main result of this paper, we show that groups $PSU_{11}(q)$ are also uniquely determined by their order components. As corollaries of this result, the validity of a conjecture of J. G. Thompson and a conjecture of W. Shi and J. Bi both on $PSU_{11}(q)$ are obtained.

In this note we show that the image of the transfer for permutation representations of finite groups is generated by the transfers of special monomials. This leads to a description of the image of the transfer of the alternating groups. We also determine the height of these ideals.

Vector invariants of finite groups (see the introduction for an explanation of the terminology) have often been used to illustrate the difficulties of invariant theory in the modular case: see, \eg., \cite{Ber}, \cite{norway}, \cite{fossum}, \cite{MmeB}, \cite{poly} and \cite{survey}. It is therefore all the more surprising that the {\it unpleasant} properties of these invariants may be derived from two unexpected, and remarkable, {\it nice} properties: namely for vector permutation invariants of the cyclic group $\mathbb{Z}/p$ of prime order in characteristic $p$ the image of the transfer homomorphism $\Tr^{\mathbb{Z}/p} \colon \mathbb{F}[V] \lra \mathbb{F}[V]^{\mathbb{Z}/p}$ is a prime ideal, and the quotient algebra $\mathbb{F}[V]^{\mathbb{Z}/p}/ \Im (\Tr^{\mathbb{Z}/p})$ is a polynomial algebra on the top Chern classes of the action.