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The strawberry spider mite (SSM), Tetranychus turkestani Ugarov & Nikolski, is an important pest of greenhouse cucumber in tropical and temperate regions of the world. The use of the host plant resistance is a basic method to reduce pesticide application in greenhouses. In this study, the biological responses of SSM to six greenhouse cucumber cultivars (Puia, Hedieh, Milad Ghadim, Milad Jadid, Khasib and Negin) were investigated. Non-choice tests were performed to evaluate the interaction between the host plant-mite. All tests of this study were carried out under laboratory conditions at 28 ± 1 °C, 60 ± 5% RH and 16:8 h (L: D) in a walk-in growth chamber. The results indicated that immature development time and adult longevity of SSM was significantly influenced by cucumber cultivars. The highest r, λ, and R₀ were 0.275 (day^-1), 1.316 (day^-1) and 36.180 (offspring/generation) all of which were recorded for the mites reared on the Hedieh cultivar. No significant difference was observed for these parameters among the other cultivars. Mean generation times of T. turkestani reared on Negin (14.020 day) and Milad Ghadim (13.57 day) cultivars were significantly longer than for the other cultivars. This mite had the shortest generation time on Puia cultivar (11.43 day). In conclusion, it seems that Hedieh and Milad Jadid cultivars are the more susceptible and resistant cultivars to the SSM than the other tested cultivars, respectively.

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Tetranychus turkestani is one of the most important pests of greenhouse plants in the southern provinces of Iran. Several benefits of using essential oils over chemical pesticides make them appropriate for IPM programs. Contact and fumigant toxicity of the essential oils of Foeniculum vulgare and Citrus limon against the spider mite and its predator, Orius albidipennis were investigated under laboratory conditions. Contact toxicity experiments were conducted at six concentrations, (0, 50, 100, 300, 800 and 2000 ppm) of each essential oil on the mature and immature life stages of the pest, and mortalities were recorded 72 h after exposure. In fumigant toxicity trials, LC₅₀ values of the essential oils were determined on different developmental stages of T. turkestani and O. albidipennis. At 800 and 2000 ppm, both essential oils had high contact toxicity on the eggs, 2^nd instar nymphs and adults of T. turkestani, while the same concentrations caused less mortality on O. albidipennis. No significant phytotoxicity of the essential oils was observed. The mortality rates of T. turkestani and O. albidipennis increased as concentration was increased. Also, the 2^nd instar nymph of T. turkestani was more sensitive to contact application of the essential oils than other developmental stages. In the fumigant toxicity bioassay, LC₅₀ values of the essential oil derived from F. vulgare on the egg, 2^nd instar nymph and adult of T. turkestani were 16.08, 7.98 and 14.06, and the values for C. limon essential oil were 11.6, 9.86 and 11.52 µl × l^-1air, respectively. The highest fumigant toxicity was observed against the 2^nd instar nymphs of the mite. Fumigant toxicity of the essential oils was lower against O. albidipennis than against T. turkestani. This data suggests that the essential oils of these plants have the potential of being employed in the IPM programs of T. turkestani in greenhouse crops, especially cucumber.

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Tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is one of the most destructive pests of tomato in many parts of the world including Iran. Field studies were conducted to determine the short and long term effects of Bacillus thuringiensis var Kurstaki (Bt), azadirachtin (AZ), a mix of AZ + Bt, and indoxacarb, as a current chemical insecticide, on T. absoluta larvae. Also, effects of the insecticides were studied on the coexisting generalist predators, Coccinella septempunctata L., Chrysoperla carnea Stephens and Syritta sp. Sampling of T. absoluta and its coexisting generalist predators were performed 1 day before treatment (DBT) and one, 5, 8, 14 and 19 days after treatment (DAT). The results indicated significant short term effect of indoxacarb on the pest larvae. Indoxacarb reduced T. absoluta density and damages. Bt, AZ and mixture of them significantly suppressed the larval density at 19 DAT and caused significant reduction in leaf, stem and fruit damage. The highest long term effect on the pest abundance and damage were observed in Az + Bt caused 100% reduction in fruit and foliage damage compared to the control. The highest and lowest adverse effects on C. carnea, C. septempunctat and Serrita sp. were observed in indoxacarb and Bt treatments, respectively. Findings of this study imply that the mixture of Az + Bt has the highest selective toxicity on the pest and the lowest effect on its coexisting generalist predators.  

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Tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta, is the most destructive pest of tomato in Iran. Resistance levels of six tomato cultivars to the pest damage were evaluated during two tomato growing seasons (2014-2015). Samplings were done weekly. Leaf and fruit damages as well as the total yield of the cultivars were compared. Furthermore, leaf trichome density was evaluated. The highest to lowest leaf infestation rates were recorded for the Primo early, CaljN3, Petomek, Rio grande, Early urbana and Super 2270 cultivars respectively. Fruit infestation rate in Early urbana was significantly lower than the other cultivars in both growing seasons. Total yield of tomato (from the highest to the lowest) belonged to Super 2270, Early urbana, Rio grande, Petomek, Calj N3 and Primo early cultivars.
 

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Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is an important cucumber pest especially in greenhouse. The efficacy of simultaneous release of generalist predator, Orius albidipennis Reuter (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) and a specialist parasitic wasp, Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), was evaluated in laboratory conditions against the pest. For this purpose, investigations were carried out on preference of the predator between parasitized and non-parasitized aphids. In addition, production of volatile infochemicals between the natural enemies (NEs) was studied by olfactometry trials. In another part of this research, systemic production of volatile synomone by the infested cucumber plants for attraction of each NE was examined by the olfactometry tests. Results revealed that O. albidipennis had no obvious preference to either the parasitized or non-parasitized aphids, while both NEs were significantly attracted to volatiles emitted from infested host plants. Our findings revealed that each of the NEs avoided odors which indicated the presence of another intraguild competitor. The documented facts from the entire study reveal that the NEs are good biocontrol agents against A. gossypii on cucumber, but their avoidance from each other makes simultaneous release of the predator and parasitic wasps unsuitable for biological control of this aphid.
 
 
 

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In this study, the method of molecular dynamics simulation is performed to investigate the shockwave propagation in a solid. The simulation cell contains 51840 atoms at 5 K interacting by means of a pairwise potential. The shockwave is generated using the motion of a piston with different velocities in the solid and the resulted shockwave velocity is in good agreement with the experimental data and the Hugoniot curve. The piston hited the sample from one side of the simulation box, at speeds ranging from 1.2 to 1.3 times the speed of sound in solid argon at the chosen density. Some thermodynamics properties such as density, temperature and pressure are measured during propagation of shockwave. It is found that those thermodynamics properties (density, temperature and pressure) are remarkably and significantly increase when the shockwave passed through the solid. We also show that creating initial strain in the solid up to 6.5% can enhance the pressure increment in the solid up to 9%. The results can be useful in enhancing of the shockwave power by giving a detailed microscopic description of the process.

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Cereal leaf miner, Syringopais temperatella Led. (Lep., Gelechiidae), is an important wheat pest in many regions of the world, including Iran. Fixed precision sequential sampling plan, a cost-efficient method for estimating pest population density, has been used for developing a successful IPM program. In this study, the fixed precision sequential sampling plan of S. temperatella larvae was developed on wheat, cultivar Verinac^®, during 2017-2019 growing seasons in Iran. For this purpose, first, spatial distribution of the larvae on wheat leaves was determined using Taylor's power law and Iwao's patchiness regression. The spatial distribution of the larvae was aggregative on the wheat leaves. Taylor’s power law provided a better fit for the data than Iwao’s patchiness regression. Therefore, Green's model was used for developing the fixed precision sequential sampling plan. The optimum sample sizes of the larvae ranged from 5- 68 plants and 12- 189 plants according to the average of larval density at precision levels D= 0.25 and D= 0.1, respectively. Estimated stop lines showed that the sampling must be continued until the cumulative number of the pest larvae reaches 3.45 (D= 0.25) and 83.76 (D= 0.1) per plant. Accuracy of the sampling plan was validated by RVSP software.

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Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hem.: Aleyrodidae), is a globally important pest of many vegetables including cucumber. In this study, for the first time, the effect of tealeaf extract, Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (Theacea), on the induction of a plant (cucumber) resistance to a phloem feeder insect, namely, B. tabaci, was investigated under laboratory conditions. The cucumber plants were irrigated using different concentrations of C. sinensis leaf extracts (0, 0.001, 0.003, 0.006, and 0.009 g mL^-1). Life table parameters of B. tabaci were determined on the treated and control plants using two-sex life table method. Our data indicated that the whitefly longevity at the concentrations 0.006 and 0.009 g mL^-1 were significantly more than control. Moreover, net Reproductive rate (R₀) and intrinsic rate of increase (r) were 68.8 and 47.7% or 82.6 and 79.1% lower than control at the concentrations 0.006 or 0.009 g mL^-1, respectively. Therefore, these concentrations (0.006 and 0.009 g mL^-1) caused significant adverse effects on the biological traits of the pest implying the induction of cucumber resistance to the whitefly. Chemical analyses of the treated and control plants indicated that the treatment with tea extract led to significant increase in total tannin, phenol and flavonoid contents of treated cucumber, while considerably reducing alkaloid and saponin contents. Totally, the concentrations 0.006 and 0.009 g mL^-1 of aquatic extract of tea can be used as resistance inducer of cucumber to the whitefly.

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Today, human life has become increasingly like games, not just because games have become a big part of human life, but most of the activities, systems and services are game-based. Therefore, the main challenge for organizations in the current digital age is to use skill-based game systems to enhance employee motivation and learning. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the game-based capabilities of learning management systems (LMS). This research, in terms of purpose, is in the field of applied research and in terms of method, in the form of qualitative-quantitative research. In first, a number of seven capabilities were identified by studying theoretical background and empirical background and obtaining expert opinions. The statistical population of the study includes professors as well as administrators and experts. The number of ten of them were selected as sample members. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by content analysis method and its reliability by Kendall's coefficient. To analyze the data was used the CRITIC-COPRAS approach. The results show that among the four types of learning management system studied, iSpring LMS received the highest score. Finally, discussion and conclusions are presented.