Let $R$ be a commutative ring with identity, and let $M$ be a unitary module over $R$. We call $M$ H-smaller (HS for short) if and only if $M$ is infinite and $|M/N|<|M|$ for every nonzero submodule $N$ of $M$. After a brief introduction, we show that there exist nontrivial examples of HS modules of arbitrarily large cardinality over Noetherian and non-Noetherian domains. We then prove the following result: suppose $M$ is faithful over $R$, $R$ is a domain (we will show that we can restrict to this case without loss of generality), and $K$ is the quotient field of $R$. If $M$ is HS over $R$, then $R$ is HS as a module over itself, $R\subseteq M\subseteq K$, and there exists a generating set $S$ for $M$ over $R$ with $|S|<|R|$. We use this result to generalize a problem posed by Kaplansky and conclude the paper by answering an open question on Jónsson modules.

We generalize Löwner's method for proving that matrix monotone functions are operator monotone. The relation $x\leq y$ on bounded operators is our model for a definition of $C^{*}$-relations being residually finite dimensional. Our main result is a meta-theorem about theorems involving relations on bounded operators. If we can show there are residually finite dimensional relations involved and verify a technical condition, then such a theorem will follow from its restriction to matrices. Applications are shown regarding norms of exponentials, the norms of commutators, and "positive" noncommutative $*$-polynomials.

We derive a necessary and sufficient condition for HNN-extensions of cyclic subgroup separable groups with cyclic associated subgroups to be cyclic subgroup separable. Applying this, we explicitly characterize the residual finiteness and the cyclic subgroup separability of HNN-extensions of abelian groups with cyclic associated subgroups. We also consider these residual properties of HNN-extensions of nilpotent groups with cyclic associated subgroups.