Let R be a Cohen–Macaulay local K-algebra or a standard graded K-algebra over a field K with a canonical module $\omega _R$ . The trace of $\omega _R$ is the ideal $\operatorname {tr}(\omega _R)$ of R which is the sum of those ideals $\varphi (\omega _R)$ with ${\varphi \in \operatorname {Hom}_R(\omega _R,R)}$ . The smallest number s for which there exist $\varphi _1, \ldots , \varphi _s \in \operatorname {Hom}_R(\omega _R,R)$ with $\operatorname {tr}(\omega _R)=\varphi _1(\omega _R) + \cdots + \varphi _s(\omega _R)$ is called the Teter number of R. We say that R is of Teter type if $s = 1$ . It is shown that R is not of Teter type if R is generically Gorenstein. In the present paper, we focus especially on zero-dimensional graded and monomial K-algebras and present various classes of such algebras which are of Teter type.

Let $X$ be a nonempty set and ${\mathcal{P}}(X)$ the power set of $X$. The aim of this paper is to identify the unital subrings of ${\mathcal{P}}(X)$ and to compute its cardinality when it is finite. It is proved that any topology $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}$ on $X$ such that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}^{c}$, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}^{c}=\{U^{c}\mid U\in \unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}\}$, is a unital subring of ${\mathcal{P}}(X)$. It is also shown that $X$ is finite if and only if any unital subring of ${\mathcal{P}}(X)$ is a topology $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}$ on $X$ such that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}=\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}^{c}$ if and only if the set of unital subrings of ${\mathcal{P}}(X)$ is finite. As a consequence, if $X$ is finite with cardinality $n\geq 2$, then the number of unital subrings of ${\mathcal{P}}(X)$ is equal to the $n$th Bell number and the supremum of the lengths of chains of unital subalgebras of ${\mathcal{P}}(X)$ is equal to $n-1$.

If $n$ and $m$ are positive integers, necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the existence of a finite commutative ring $R$ with exactly $n$ elements and exactly $m$ prime ideals. Next, assuming the Axiom of Choice, it is proved that if $R$ is a commutative ring and $T$ is a commutative $R$-algebra which is generated by a set $I$, then each chain of prime ideals of $T$ lying over the same prime ideal of $R$ has at most ${{2}^{\left| I \right|}}$ elements. A polynomial ring example shows that the preceding result is best-possible.