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The rose sawfly, Arge rosae Linnaeus, is one of the most destructive pests of rose bushes in the north of Iran. Nowadays, many attempts have been made to reduce pesticide application by looking for new methods of pest control. A non chemical method for controlling insect pests including A. rosae can be achieved by using genetically engineered plants expressing carbohydrase inhibitors. Therefore, in present study we characterized biochemical properties of digestive carbohydrases in the gut of A. rosae for achieving a new method for control of this pest. The specific activity of α-amylase in the digestive system of last larval instars of A. rosae was obtained as 9.46 ± 0.06 μmol min^-1 mg^-1 protein. Also, the optimal pH and temperature for α-amylase were found to be at pH 8 and 50 °C. As calculated from Lineweaver-Burk plots, the K_m and V_maxvalues for α-amylase were 0.82 mg/ml and 7.32 µmol min^-1 mg^-1 protein, respectively, when starch was used as substrate. The effects of ions on amylolytic activity showed that Mg²⁺ and Na⁺ significantly increased amylase activity, whereas SDS and EDTA decreased the enzyme activity. The highest activities of α-/β-glucosidase and β-galactosidase were obtained at pH 5.0. By the native PAGE, three, one, one and two bands were clearly detected for α-amylase, α-/β-glucosidase and β-galactosidase, respectively. No bands were found for α-galactosidase that confirmed the absence or low activity of this carbohydrate in the digestive system of A. rosae. These results could provide the knowledge needed to produce transgenic plants for control of this pest.  

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The objective of this paper is to analyze entrepreneurship in Iran. More specifically, it focuses on the introduction of the entrepreneurial aspects of the 16th famous Iranian entrepreneur and evaluates his performance. To this end, we study the performance of late Mustafa Ali Nasab as a distinguished entrepreneur. We describe the main characteristics of the entrepreneur through analyzing the productivity performance of his two firms including oil and gas industry. The findings confirm that following his passing, the productivity of the firms is significantly decreased.

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Here we report the presence of Cybocephalus nipponicus Endrödy-Younga, 1971 from Iran, which has been collected on mulberry in Gilan province, as well as on bitter orange and Japanese spindle in Mazandaran province, northern Iran. The specimens were collected while feeding on scale insects, Pseudaulacaspis pentagona (Targioni Tozzetti, 1886), Unaspis euonymi (Comstock, 1881) and Lepidosaphes gloveri (Packard, 1869) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae). Photos of habitus and genitalia with some taxonomic comments are presented.

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Aims: The study of natural shells has long been considered by architects. This research focuses on investigation and recognition of "Rotationally Symmetrical Synclastic" shells (RSS shells). It aims to promote and introduce the structural capabilities of RSS shells in architecture in order to promote the use of the bird eggshell pattern in nature.
Methods: The research method is mixture of the descriptive-analytical and the comparative methodology; with the use of the primary sources, MATLAB analytical software, and parametric analysis of the optimality of bird eggshell surfaces as examples of natural RSS shells. The research method is set to introduce how to use the optimal and functional capabilities of these surfaces in architecture.
Findings: First, an introduction of RSS shells and their morphology is presented with an emphasis on bird eggshells. Next, the issue of bird eggshell optimality and the usability of optimal forms and structures of these shells in architecture is discussed. Finally, after interpreting and analyzing the data, a parametric analysis of the optimality of eggshell surfaces was carried out, which informed the use of similar RSS shells in architecture.
Conclusion: By using digital analysis tools in parametric modeling of bird eggshells, more optimal RSS shells can be achieved in contemporary architecture. Shells with minimal materials and the ability to run faster and easier than other shells, which can be suitable coverings for large spans.

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Vacuum tube solar water heaters are one of the most common types of solar water heaters, and they have been used widely in recent years. Evacuated tube solar collectors compared to flat plate collectors have higher absorption coefficient and lower heat loss. Many factors are effective on thermal efficiency of evacuated solar water heaters and many studies have been done to increase their efficiency. In this study, thermal performance of a modified model has been investigated experimentally. Two laboratory samples, one of them with the modified structure and the other like commercial samples have been made and their performance has been studied under equal solar radiation and ambient temperature. The results have shown that this structure modification has a positive effect on collector performance. This change has made the temperature distribution in the pipe and tank more uniform, and has increased the efficiency to 11 percent. Absorbing thermal energy in the modified model was more than typical model about 25 percent in duration one hour. Also, effects of solar radiation on the average temperature of water in the storage tank have been investigated in both cases. In this study, an experimental method is used to calculate the radiation received to vacuum tubes.

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Retrotransposons (RTNs) constitute informative molecular markers for plant species because of their ability to integrate into a multitude of loci throughout the genome and thereby generate insertional polymorphisms between individuals. In the present study, RTN-based molecular markers, IRAP (inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism) and REMAP (retrotransposon-microsatellite amplified polymorphism), were applied to study RTN integration events and genetic diversity in 100 melon genotypes (88 genotypes from 11 populations, three inbred lines, and 9 hybrids). A total of 94 and 262 loci were amplified using 5 IRAP and 15 REMAP primers, respectively. The percentage of polymorphic loci (PPL) in populations ranged from 39% (Zivari Shahrood) to 48% (Shadegani E). The Mantel test between IRAP and REMAP cophenetic matrices evidenced no significant correlation (r= 0.29). IRAP+REMAP-based cluster analysis using UPGMA algorithm and Dice similarity coefficient depicted 6 groups among 100 melon genotypes. AMOVA revealed the higher level of genetic variation within populations (67%) compared to among populations (33%). The mean Fst values of all groups, except for group VI, were more than 0.20, demonstrating differentiation among the populations and genetic structure of the studied melon collection. 

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Forming limit diagrams (FLDs) are very important in predicting the behavior of the sheet. Therefore, predicting and drawing these diagrams by theoretical and experimental methods has been one of the main objectives of this paper. In this paper, the formability behavior of 5083 aluminum sheet was investigated by considering the strain hardening behavior. Tensile tests has performed in seven directions 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and 90° from the rolling direction due to identify and calibrate coefficients of BBC2008 advanced yield criteria. The yield stresses was defined in the plane strain mode, also the anisotropy coefficients and the appropriate error function were extracted; Then the relationships of the plane strain yield stress were added to the error function. The error function was optimized using Genetic Algorithm and limit strains were calculated using yield coefficients. The results showed that if the strain hardening exponent increases by 0.1, the limit strains increase by 30 to 40%. Also the results showed that the initial imperfection factor ( ) has a great effect on determining the FLD and with a very small change, it has a great effect on the FLD; So that by increasing this factor to about 0.016, the values of the limit strains are almost doubled. Using the results of this paper and having sheet properties such as yield strengths and anisotropy coefficients and proper selection of yield criteria, the FLD of different sheets to be theoretically determined with acceptable accuracy.