Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2009
Let N be an arbitrary near-ring. Each element a ∈ N determines in a natural way a new multiplication on the elements of N which results in a near-ring Na whose additive group coincides with that of N but whose multiplicative semigroup generally differs. Specifically, we define the product x * y of two elements in Na by x * y = x a y where a product in the original near-ring is denoted by juxtaposition. One easily checks that Na is a near-ring with addition identical to that of N. The original near-ring N will be referred to as the base near-ring, Na will be referred to as a laminated near-ring of N and a will be referred to as the laminating element or sometimes more simply as the laminator.