A note on E-direct and S-inverse systems (Q1115513)

A family \(\{M_ i\}_{i\in I}\) of submodules of M is said to be an E- direct system if for any finite number of elements \(i_ 1,i_ 2,...,i_ k\) of I there is an element \(i_ 0\) in I such that \(M_{i_ 0}\supseteq M_{i_ 1}+M_{i_ 2}+...+M_{i_ k}\) and \(M_{i_ 0}\) is a non-essential submodule of M. The family \(\{M_ i\}_{i\in I}\) is said to be an S-inverse system if for any finite number of elements \(i_ 1,i_ 2,...,i_ k\) of I there is an element \(i_ 0\) in I such that \(M_{i_ 0}\subseteq M_{i_ 1}\cap M_{i_ 2}\cap...\cap M_{i_ k}\) and \(M_{i_ 0}\) is not a small submodule of M. The author shows that an R-module M has finite Goldie dimension if and only if every E-direct system of non-zero submodules of M is bounded above by a non-essential submodule of M. He also shows that if M has finite spanning dimension, then every S-inverse system of submodules of M is bounded below by a non-small submodule of M. The converse holds if every S-inverse system of M is bounded below by a non-small and non-hollow submodule.