Dormancy is a state of lack of germination/sprouting in seed/tuber although required conditions (temperature, humidity, oxygen and light) are provided. Dormancy is based on hard seed coat dormancy or lack of supply and activity of enzymes (internal dormancy) necessary for germination/sprouting. Dormancy is an important factor limiting production in many field crops. Several physical and chemical pretreatments to production material (seed/tuber) are carried out for overcoming dormancy. Physical and physiological dormancy can be found together in some plants and this event makes it difficult to provide high frequency healthy seedling growth. Whereas, emerging of all production material (seed, tuber) sown/planted and forming healthy seedling are prerequisites of plant production.

In this paper, electrically conductive composites comprised of silicone rubber and titanium diboride (TiB₂) were synthesized by conventional mixing methods. Fine particles of TiB₂ (in micron size) and 10 parts per hundred parts of rubber (phr) proportion of carbon black (XC-72) were used to make the composites with HTV silicone rubber. The composites were cured at appropriate temperature and pressure and the effect on the electrical properties was studied. The resistance of the silicone rubber is ~ 10¹⁵Ω which decreases to 1–2 kΩ in case of composites with negligible effect of heat ageing. The hardness increases by ~ 35% simultaneous to the decrease of ~ 47% in the tensile strength. Morphological characterization indicates the homogeneous dispersion of the fillers in the composite.

This paper attempts to shed light on the current role of academia in the context of rural areas of low population density, which are regional interaction models. In this study, we follow a qualitative research methodology of a case study. We found that through the case study applied to a hotel unit, that the Academia can through its third mission, and in the context of regional triple helix dynamics (Academia-Business-government interaction), play an important role in terms of knowledge dissemination, wealth creation and employability. The limitations, which our study presents, are principally related to the measurement of the variables. Some of the characteristics of education should be studied more deeply. In the instance of a case study applied to the hospitality industry, it is important to take as limitations of the study to its direct application to any economic context. This study allowed however, contribute to the enrichment of literature through case studies presented in the hospitality industry.

Simple mathematical expressions are given for the betweenness centrality of nodes in trees, forests and cycles. As application, a centrality test is given for when a network might be a forest.