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Life table parameters of Aphis pomi DeGeer (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were determined on two host plants: apple (Malus pumila L.) and flowering quince (Chaenomeles japonica Lindl.). This study was carried out under laboratory conditions (25 ± 1 ºC and RH of 70 ± 5 % and a photoperiod of 16: 8 h (L: D). The survivorship from first instar nymphs to adult was very close in M. pumila and C. japonica. The longevity of A. pomi was 8.1 ± 0.458 and 9.65 ± 0.412 days and the fecundity of female was 37.25 ± 2.198 and 32.9 ± 1.802 nymphs on M. pumila and C. japonica, respectively. Peaks of reproductive value occurred at ages of 8 and 9 days when reared on M. pumila and C. japonica, respectively. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) on M. pumila was higher than that on C. japonica, as it was 0.396 ± 0.015 on M. pumila and 0.329 ± 0.006 day^-1 on C. japonica. The mean generation time (T) was 9.13 ± 0.35 and 10.62 ± 0.18 days, on M. pumila and C. japonica, respectively. The results showed that the two closely related host plants had significant influence on life table parameters of A. pomi and the aphid showed a better performance on M. pumila than on C. japonica. These results indicated that M. pumila is more suitable for A. pomi, resulting in a higher reproductive performance.  

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Life table gives the most comprehensive explanation of the survivorship, development, and reproduction of a population. The life table parameters of an aphidophagous midge, Aphidoletes aphidimyza were studied on different densities (5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80) of third instar nymphs of Aphis gossypii as prey in a growth chamber (25 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 5% RH and a photoperiod of 16L: 8D h). The pre-ovipositional period of female A. aphidimyza was reduced as prey density increased with no significant difference. The oviposition period was 3.833 ± 0.401 and 5.5 ± 0.463 days in lowest and highest prey density, respectively. Fecundity increased significantly with increasing prey density. The lowest fecundity was obtained at density of 5 preys/day (49.667 ± 6.053 eggs) and the highest was at density of 80 preys/day (104.25 ± 7.78 eggs). Intrinsic rate of increase (r_m) ranged from 0.110 ± 0.016 to 0.166 ± 0.014 d^-1 with increasing prey density. Net reproductive rate (R₀) was positively dependent on prey density. The peak reproductive values showed that female aphidophagous midge at ages of 17, 18, 19, 22 and 25 days made the highest contribution to the population when reared on 5 to 80 preys in a day, respectively. However, mean generation time (T) ranged from 22.42 ± 0.55 to 24.47 ± 1.04 days. It was concluded that the increase in the density of third instar nymphs of A. gossypii significantly affected the demographic parameters of A. aphidimyza and it had a better reproductive performance in higher prey densities.

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Background and purpose:
As protective elements are related to human life, the elements of Amulet are important in all cultures. In any society, people determine some elements for self-preservation and also to preserve their family and properties_ elements that are mostly supernal. One of these solutions is the use of Amulets. Mysterious aspects of Amulets puts them in the center of mythological and semantic connotation so that the elements are sometimes considered as a taboo or as a holy object and totem. Signs of this duality are seen among nations which is the reason of sacredness and mysteriousness of this elements. The Amulet has a great importance in the universal system of beliefs where  Iranian people’s culture is not the case of exception . The most important function of Amulets is still related to their protective role. Elements that are used to fight demons away, to enslave or kill evil forces and attract the positive and beneficial forces. Believers use various elements of Amulet depending on the kind of problems and injuries; so sometimes even profane and impure elements are used to ward off evil forces and beings. Several studies about the Amulet are adopted from foreign travelogues. Some of these investigators who have noted sporadically to Amulets and other magical elements include: Wishard in "Twenty years in Iran", Wales in "Iran a century ago", Layard in "Layard’s travelogue", Rice in "Iranian women and their way of life", Olivie in "Olivie’s travelogue", Willem Floor in "Social history of Iran during the Qajar era", Pollock in "Pollock’s travelogue", Henry Patnchr in "Traveling in Sindh and Balochistan." In addition to the above-mentioned researchers in the field of 
Amulets, some studies have been conducted amongst them it can refer to: "Magic, Amulet and Amulet and Women's World in Qajar era" by Dariush Rahmaniyan and Zahra Hatami, “Amulet in Khaghani’s poetry" by Abbas Mahyar, and "Bātel-o-ssehr" encyclopedic entry by Ali Bolukbashi.
 
Materials and methods:
Using documents and observations of the authors, in this study, the authors have tried to explore the beliefs of the people in Kerman and identify elements of Amulet and determine their functions as influential elements in people’s life, and in the end, they have showed their supernatural position.
Findings:
In this study, all kinds of Amulet, their classification and mechanisms of Amulets influence in the belief system of the research community are studied. The studied community accepts Amulets to ward off evil and as one of the most important mediators to benefit attraction, so that they are an integral aspect of their lives. Most of the Amulets used, are sacred and play a role as an absorber or mediator to absorb disasters and attract benefits, so they are victims to ward off disaster from the injured person. In general, we can express the mechanisms of effect of the Amulets in the studied community as follows: The Amulets, because of their sacredness, attract benefits and goodness and transfer them to the person utilizing them and ,on the other hand, because of their special power, they ward off the disasters and evil and  prevent them from passing to and hurt the utilizer. Contempt of a Amulet, reverses the mechanism of its effects: Benefits are prevented and the evil is attracted. Benefiting and harming mechanisms of Amulets act according to distance, i. e., Amulets benefit or harm the closest person.
 
Discussion and conclusion:
This study showed that Amulet elements can have an important role in creating a sense of physical and psychological security for mankind. According to authors, the function of the Amulet, is not only an attempt to survive but also a concept beyond that including the worldly and otherworldly life of the believers.

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The purpose of this study is to generate two-phase flow patterns and to obtain a flow pattern map for two phases as water and air in a vertical pipe which is made of transparent Plexiglas. The pipe specification is 50 mm diameter and 390 cm length. In this attempt the average velocity of the Taylor bubble will be calculate. In order to facilitate this research work, a two phase flow was designed, built and adjusted at Tarbiat Modares University Two-phase flow laboratory. Three flow patterns as bubbly, slug and churn flow are generated and examined for 320 runs of different superficial velocities of air and water. A seven-layer distributor with the ability to change the number of bubbles produced is used to create a bubbly flow pattern at the air inlet. The effect of the superficial velocities of each phase on the flow pattern was evaluated and a flow pattern map was presented for 320 different data. By processing the images obtained from the high-speed camera, the average Taylor bubble velocity was calculated for different flow conditions with uncertainty in calculating the velocity. Also, for 5 different velocities of the liquid phase, a diagram of the average velocity of Taylor velocity with increasing gas velocity was drawn and compared with the Nicklin correlation which can be found in the literature

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Demographic parameters of the parasitoid wasp Trichogramma embryophagum Hartig reared on Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier) were determined for 40 generations (G5-G40). The experiments were done in a growth chamber at 26±2°C, 65±5% RH and photoperiod of 16:8 h (L:D). The results showed that the female longevity decreased significantly during successive production, ranging from 10.68 (in G5) to 9.64 days (in G40). On the other hand, the male longevity decreased significantly in the 20^th generation and no significant difference was found from G20 to G40. The oviposition days and mean total fecundity of T. embryophagum decreased as the number of generations increased. Generally, the wasps in earlier generations had longer adult longevity, longer life span, and higher fecundity than later generations. Moreover, sex ratio of T. embryophagum was not significantly different in successive generations. Results of paired bootstrap test indicated that all population growth parameters of T. embryophagum reared on S. cereallela were significantly different in successive generations. The highest and lowest values of the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), net Reproductive rate (R₀), Gross Reproductive Rate (GRR) and mean generation Time (T) of T. embryophagum were observed in G40 and G5, respectively. These results suggest that T. embryophagum wasps reared in sequential generations can be used successfully in biological control programs until the 20th generation without any loss of quality or performance; after that, regular rejuvenation of laboratory population by occasional importing of field-collected parasitoids should be done.