The context of this work is that of partial frames; these are
meet-semilattices where not all subsets need have joins. A selection function,
S, specifies, for all meet-semilattices, certain subsets under consideration,
which we call the ``designated'' ones; an S-frame then must have joins of (at
least) all such subsets and binary meet must distribute over these. A small
collection of axioms suffices to specify our selection functions; these axioms
are sufficiently general to include as examples of partial frames, bounded
distributive lattices, sigma-frames, kappa-frames and frames. We consider right
and left adjoints of S-frame maps, as a prelude to the introduction of closed
and open maps.
Then we look at what might be an appropriate notion of Booleanness for
partial frames. The obvious candidate is the condition that every element be
complemented; this concept is indeed of interest, but we pose three further
conditions which, in the frame setting, are all equivalent to it. However, in
the context of partial frames, the four conditions are distinct. In
investigating these, we make essential use of the free frame over a partial
frame and the congruence frame of a partial frame.
We compare congruences of a partial frame, technically called S-congruences,
with the frame congruences of its free frame. We provide a natural
transformation for the situation and also consider right adjoints of the frame
maps in question. We characterize the case where the two congruence frames are
isomorphic and provide examples which illuminate the possible different
behaviour of the two. We conclude with a characterization of closedness and
openness for the embedding of a partial frame into its free fame, and into its
congruence frame.