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Downy mildew is one of the most important diseases of cucurbits in the world and Iran. The development of the disease was investigated in a commercial variety (Sakata^® F1 Hybrid Saso), three hybrids and eight pure lines of cucumber, four pure squash lines, and one commercial cultivar of watermelon (Sakata^® F1 Charleston Gray 243) in two consecutive years (2017 and 2018 spring and summer) at the experimental field of the University of Guilan, Iran to identify the sources of resistance. Plants were regularly inspected until the downy mildew symptoms appeared. The disease was measured using standard scale and Image J software at five stages in the plant growing season. Comparison of disease progress curves, final severity of the disease, and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) showed that cucumber B10 and A12 pure lines were the most susceptible and resistant in both years, respectively. None of the squash lines were infected in the first year, but in the second year, two lines showed the disease symptoms, and the severity of the disease in these lines was close to each other. The commercial cultivar of watermelon was not infected in both years.

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Accurate and nondestructive methods to determine individual leaf areas of plants are useful tools in physiological and agronomic research. A determination of the individual leaf area (LA) of such species in Brassicaceae family as red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. cappitata L. f. Rabra), cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. cappitata L. F. Alba) and broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. Italica L.) involves measurements of leaf parameters including leaf length (L) and width (W), or some combination of these parameters. This research was carried out during 2008 (on eight cabbage, six broccoli, and three red cabbage genotypes) under open field conditions, to see whether an equation could be developed to estimate leaf area of cabbage and broccoli across their genotypes. Regression analysis of LA vs. L and W revealed several equations that could be used for estimating the area of individual cabbage and broccoli leaves. A linear equation having W as the independent variable provided the most accurate estimate of red cabbage as well as ordinary cabbage LA. The linear equation (LA= a+b W2) exhibited a high accuracy and precision in estimating red cabbage and non-red cabbage LA. For broccoli a linear equation having LW as the independent variable provided the most accurate estimate of LA, but required twice the time needed for leaf area measurement.

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Transmission network expansion planning is a challenging problem with the aim to determine the type, location, and time of the equipment to be added to the existing transmission network in order to desirably meet the increasing load demand. On the other hand, reactive power sources are the other important components of the power system, which are used improve voltage profile and maintain the system stability. This paper, presents a comprehensive AC load flow based framework for concurrent expansion planning of transmission networks and reactive power resources. Although major advances have been made in optimization techniques, finding an optimal solution to a problem of this nature is still challenging. Using some linearization techniques, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for transmission expansion and reactive power planning is proposed. In order to show the influence of the concurrent transmission network expansion and reactive power resources planning in reducing investment costs, simulation studies and analysis of the numerical results are carried out on the Garver 6-Bus and the standard IEEE 24-bus test system.
 

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Froriepia subpinnata is an endemic endangered medicinal plant growing indigenous to Caspian coast forest in the north of Iran. This research was done to obtain primary information on morphological and phytochemical variation for the next step of domesticating and breeding of this plant. Twenty-three morphological traits measured indicated high variation among 52 accessions. There was a significant positive correlation between leaf dimension, plant height, and attributes related to biomass data. The range of phytochemical attributes analyzed was for total phenols (355.6-941.3 mg GAE 100 g^-1 FW), total flavonoids (204.33-540.74 mg CAT 100 g^-1 FW), total carotenoids (1.52 to 3.15 μg 100g^-1 FW) and antioxidant capacity (31.36-81.82 DPPH%.). The HPLC analysis results showed that chlorogenic acid was the dominant phenolic compound generally found in this plant. Total carotenoids had no significant correlation with other biochemical traits, while the rest exhibited a linear relationship with each other. UPGMA cluster based on combined data of morphological and biochemical traits showed 3 distinct groups with high inter and intra-regional variations. Also, these information were combined with molecular data to separate environment and genetic effects. The high level of variation of phytochemical and morphological traits among and within populations could be a useful tool for future breeding and selection programs.