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A two dimensional numerical study is presented for steady state performance analysis of a catalytic radiant counter-diffusive burner. In these burners, the gaseous fuel enters from the rear of the burner and passes through the insulation and catalyst layers. The oxygen enters the catalyst layer from the burner surface and opposite to the fuel path. The reaction takes place over the catalyst layer. In this paper, the momentum, energy and species conservation equations in porous and non-porous media are solved using the finite element method in the COMSOL software. The simulations are based on proposed corrections on boundary conditions and combustion rate of methane equation. The simulation results compared with experimental measurements published in the literature for the same geometry and conditions which shows a considerable (10%) improvements. It is shown that diffusion of oxygen through the pad limits the catalytic combustion and controls the fuel conversion in the burner.

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Calving records of Iranian buffaloes from April 1991 to June 2010 comprising 1,151 herds with 34,911 calving events were used to evaluate reported secondary sex ratio, stillbirth, and calf birth weight. Logistic regression models were applied to analyze stillbirth and calf sex at birth, and statistical analysis of calf birth weight was performed using a linear mixed model. Overall, the ratio of males to females was 53:47. It was observed that there were no significant effects of herd, calving year, season of calving, dam parity or interactions between these effects on the odds of male or female rates in Iranian buffaloes. Greater odds of calf stillbirth existed for calves born from primiparous buffaloes than from multiparous ones (Odds Ratio (OR)= 1.83; P< 0.0001). The greatest odds of stillbirth was for spring season (OR= 2.47; P< 0.0001), and male births had greater odds of stillbirth than female ones in Iranian buffaloes (OR= 1.21; P< 0.01). In general, male calves were heavier than the female calves at birth (P< 0.01) and the birth weights of calves from cows of parity 4 and beyond were significantly more than the weights of calves from cows of other parities (P< 0.01). Fall-born calves had significantly greater body weight at birth than calves born in other seasons (P< 0.01). It seems that providing good management practices for primiparous and multiparous buffaloes to minimize stress before parturition can reduce stillbirth incidence.

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Numerical simulation of gaseous detonation is one of the most challenging problems in computational fluid dynamics (i.e., CFD). The presence of sonic locus at the end of the reaction zone isolates the reaction zone and the leading shock from the far-field flow perturbations, so computational domain may be truncated by artificial boundary conditions. However, some artificial boundary conditions generate spurious waves that introduce some errors into the results. The computational domain is usually considered very large for protecting the domain from spurious waves. A systematic study of boundary conditions’ role in simulation of self-sustained detonation has not been performed yet. In the present study, it is aimed to investigate the influence of the width and length of the computational domain on numerical simulation and the effect of activation energy on the length and width of the domain. Instead of considering a very large domain, the so-called non-reflecting boundary condition is implemented in the present investigation. Characteristics method was employed to define the non-reflecting boundary conditions. Finite length of domain was computed for 1D and 2D simulations. Suitable length of the domain was determined for different activation energies. The results indicate that the suitable length and width of the domain for high activation energy mixtures are larger with respect to the corresponding length and width for low activation energy mixtures. Results also show that, using non-reflecting boundary condition, the computational time decreases considerably for both one and two-dimensional simulations.

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Dry bubble disease is one of the most important serious diseases of the cultivated white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Imbach). It is a cosmopolitan disease having a worldwide distribution. Ten isolates of Lecanicillium fungicola var. fungicola (Preuss) Zare and Gams were collected from mushroom farms. Sensitivity of the isolates to benomyl, carbendazim, carbendazim+iprodione and prochloraz manganese were studied. All the isolates were resistant to benomyl(ED50= 415.45-748.12 mg L^-1), carbendazim (ED₅₀= 1123.87-1879.59 mg L^-1) and iprodione+carbendazim (ED₅₀= 415.45-748.12 mg L^-1). However, most of the isolates were sensitive to prochloraz manganese (ED₅₀=1.62–12.58 mg L^-1). As the primary source of the pathogen inoculum is casing soil and insects, stringent environmental hygiene of the mushroom houses will play a very important role in preventing and controlling the disease.

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To obtain an optimum formulation for stabilizers–emulsifier in ice cream, different combinations of three stabilizers, i.e. basil seed gum, guar gum, and carboxymethyl cellulose, at two concentrations of 0.15 or 0.35% with or without E471 emulsifier were studied using a simplex-centroid mixture design. The regression models for physical properties and texture smoothness of samples were also established. Generally, increasing ratios of basil seed gum in gums mixture increased the apparent viscosity of ice cream mixes and smoothness of texture, but decreased the melting rate. Increasing proportions of guar gum enhanced overrun of samples. Results suggested that the combination of 96.94% basil seed gum and 3.06% guar gum at the concentration of 0.35% with 0.15% emulsifier produced the optimum ice cream. Subsequently, the interaction of the obtained optimum formulation with κ-carrageenan as a secondary stabilizer was studied at two levels of 0.01 and 0.02%. The pH, draw temperature, overrun, hardness, and melting rate were measured through physical methods. Rheological and sensory analyses were also performed. Inclusion of κ-carrageenan in formulations decreased the values of instrumental hardness and improved the smoothness of the samples; while it had no significant effects on other properties such as draw temperature, overrun, sandiness, and foaminess.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the role of writing self-efficacy and writing strategy in writing performance. To this aim, 110 Participants filled out two questionnaires including writing self-efficacy questionnaire and writing strategy questionnaire and composed an argumentative writing and a narrative writing chosen from TOEFL writing tasks. The data showed no significant relationship between writing self-efficacy and writing strategy use. There was a significant relationship between writing self-efficacy and writing achievement. Furthermore, a negative relationship was found between writing strategy and writing performance. Results of multiple regression showed that writing self-efficacy was the only significant predictor of writing performance. The outcomes of this study can help  teachers to improve their students’ writing. 

1. Introduction
Different factors affect writing in a second/foreign language (L2) such as cognitive, emotional, linguistic, and social factors (Anastasiou & Michail, 2013; Hayes, 2012; Graham & Perin, 2007). Two important factors influencing writing performance are self-efficacy and writing strategies (Ghoorchaei & Khosravi, 2019Pajares, 2003; Schunk & Pajares, 2010). Although writing strategies and writing self-efficacy are important factors influencing writing performance, there has not been sufficient research on these two variables in the context of teaching English as a foreign language, especially in the academic context of Iran, where learners' writings are traditionally evaluated based on grammatical rules and without considering their beliefs about writing and language strategies (Amiri & Saeedi, 2017; Birjandi & Malmir, 2007). Additionally, only a few previous studies in the context of teaching English as a foreign language have examined how the interaction between writing self-efficacy and writing strategies contributes to writing performance, and it is unclear which of these two factors has a greater impact on writing performance. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between writing self-efficacy, writing strategies, and writing performance among Iranian English language students. It is worth noting that previous studies have not compared the impact of writing strategies and writing self-efficacy across different writing genres. To this end, this study compares the role of writing strategies and writing self-efficacy in argumentative and narrative writing exercises.
Research Question(s)
The following research questions were formulated:
1.    Is there a significant relationship between writing self-efficacy and writing strategies among English language learners
2.    Is there a significant relationship between English language learners' writing self-efficacy and their writing performance in narrative and argumentative genres?
3.    Is there a significant relationship between English language learners' writing strategies and their writing performance in narrative and argumentative genres?
4.    Can writing self-efficacy and writing strategies significantly predict English language learners' writing performance in narrative and argumentative genres?

2. Literature Review
Writing self-efficacy refers to students' beliefs in their abilities to successfully complet writing tasks (Pajares & Valiante, 1997). Previous research has indicated that language learners with higher levels of writing self-efficacy produce better writing (Pajares, 2003; Schunk & Pajares, 2010). In addition, Writing strategies are defined as techniques that L2 learners use to complete a eriting task more efficiently (Collins, 1998). Resrach has indicated that more succesful L2 writers use more effective writing strategies during their writing (Ghoorchaei & Khosravi, 2019). This implies that these two factors are important for L2 writing.  

3. Methodology
In this study, 110 participants were selected through convenience sampling, including 61 undergraduate students and 49 graduate students majoring in English Language Teaching at a public university in Iran. The age range of the participants was from 19 to 35 years (M = 27.86, SD = 7.49), and the sample consisted of 30 men and 80 women. To measure writing self-efficacy, we used Teng et al.’s (2017) questionnaire on a 7 point Likert-type scale and to measure writing strategies, we used Hwang et al.’s (2017) scale on a 5 point Likert-type scale. In addition, to assess participants’ writing performance we asked them to write one narrative writing task and one argumentative writing task, both should include between 200 to 300 words. To achieve inter-rater reliability, two different raters separately assessed all the writings and assigned a score between 0 and 6 for each of the two pieces of writing.

4. Results
With regard to the first research question, our findings did not show any significant relationship between writing self-efficacy and writing staregy use (r = -.072). Then, we examined the relations between self-efficacy and writing performance. Results indicated a positive correlation between self-efficacy and narrative writing performance (r = .282) as well as between self-efficacy and argumentative writing performance (r = .223). Interestingly, with regard to the third research question, we found negative correlations between writing strategies and both narrative writing (r = -.311) and argumentative writing (r = -.273) tasks. Finally, we found that while self-efficacy was a positive predictor of narrative and argumentative tasks, writing strategy use was a negative predictor of narrative and argumentative tasks
 

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In this paper flutter phenomena for a cropped wing with an external store using numerical and experimental methods in a subsonic and incompressible flight regime has been studied. Wing structure was modeled base on von Karman plate theory. A 3D time domain unsteady vortex lattice method was used for wing aerodynamic model and a slender body aerodynamic theory was used for store aerodynamic model. Finally, the aeroelastic governing equations with considering vibratory wing motion has been solved. The experimental tests were performed in an incompressible subsonic wind tunnel. Comparison of experimental results with theoretical analysis shows good agreement with each other especially in calculation of aeroelastic behavior of the wing. In continue, the effects of some parameters such as wing thickness, wing aspect ratio, store position, weight of the store, aerodynamic of the store, store vertical distance from under wing, and center of mass of the store on both flutter speed and instability boundary of the wing have been studied analytically and experimentally. The results show with both increasing aspect ratio and decreasing wing thickness, flutter speed will be decreased. Moreover, change in store position effects on flutter speed of the wing/store configuration. Aerodynamic of the store has no significant effect on flutter speed of the wing/store configuration and increasing store weight leads to increasing flutter speed. Change in center of mass of the store influences on flutter speed.

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 The cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), is one of the important polyphagous pests causing serious loss to many economically important crops in Iran. The goal of this experiment was to study the age-stage, two-sex life table of H. armigera on different bean cultivars including white kidney bean (cultivars Daneshkadeh, Pak, and Shokufa), red kidney bean (cultivars Akhtar, Naz, and Sayyad) and common bean (cultivar Talash) under laboratory conditions (25±1^ºC, 65±5% RH, a 16:8 h light-dark photoperiod). The longest and shortest larval period and development time of total pre-adult H. armigera were 19.83±3.83 and 37.58±0.90 days on red kidney bean Akhtar, respectively, and 14.13±0.32 and 31.82±0.42 days on white kidney bean Pak, respectively. The lowest intrinsic rate of increase (r) was on red kidney bean Akhtar (0.115±0.009 day^-1) and the highest on white kidney bean Pak and common bean Talash (0.142±0.001 day^-1). The lowest and highest values of the net reproductive rate (R₀) were on red kidney bean Akhtar (177.3±6.7 offspring) and white kidney bean Shokufa (270.1±6.7 offspring), respectively. The mean generation time (T) on different bean cultivars ranged from 37.03±0.05 to 44.64±0.07 days, which was shortest on white kidney bean Pak and longest on red kidney bean Akhtar. The results revealed that the cultivar Akhtar was the most unsuitable host for population growth of H. armigera.

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Large amount of diesel engine waste heats make researchers design systems that utilize the engine waste heat to provide the cooling demand of the heavy-duty vehicles and improve the engine efficiency. Considerable advantages of adsorption cooling system lead to be nominated for this purpose. Coolant and exhaust gases are the main sources of waste heats of diesel engines and using each of them to drive the adsorption cooling system requires its own equipment and working pair. In this paper, a detailed numerical model has been developed and to examine the performance of the cooling system driven by the coolant waste heat with working pair of silica gel-water and also driven by exhaust waste heat with zeolite13x-water working pair. An identical absorbent bed and ambient conditions have been employed to compare the performance of both systems to identify the more appropriate system. The results show that exhaust driven adsorption cooling system has more capability to meet the vehicle cooling demand. Moreover, the performance of the both adsorption cooling systems were examined under variable ambient condition. Results indicate that increase in ambient temperature leads to almost a linear performance drop in both systems that is more considerable in the coolant- driven adsorption system.

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The considerable amount of internal combustion engine waste heat through exhaust gases and the capability of adsorption cooling system to be driven by waste heats cause adsorption cooling systems to be interesting for vehicle air conditioning. Low specific cooling power of these systems leads them to be bulkier with respect to other cooling systems. Therefore, practical use of these system has been a challenge. One of the methods to enhance the system performance is adsorber bed optimization which is only feasible by numerical simulations. Hence, an exhaust waste heat driven adsorption cooling system with longitudinal finned-tube adsorber is simulated three dimensionally and considering heat and mass transfer details. Also, both the intra-particle and inter-particle mass transfer resistance has been taken into account in governing equations in order to study the effect of adsorbent particle diameter on the system performance. Results show that among the examined geometrical configurations, bed with 20 fin numbers and fin height of 10 mm is the optimum case corresponding to the maximum specific cooling power. In addition, adsorbent particle diameter in the range of 0.3-0.4 mm is the most suitable diameter for the adsorber bed packed with zeolite13x grains.

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In the present study, for the first time, adsorbent bed of SWS-1L/water adsorption chiller with rectangular and trapezoidal finned flat-tube heat exchanger with has been simulated three dimensionally based on the distributed parameters model and finite volume method. Effects of some important parameters on the chiller performance such as bed averaged pressure, temperature and uptake variations with cycle time have been examined for better understanding of bed dynamic behavior. Also, a comparative study between two different configurations of adsorbent bed including rectangular and trapezoidal fins has been conducted based on identical adsorbent mass. For this purpose, bed temperature, uptake and pressure distributions as well as the vapor flow patterns at the end of heating cycle phases and also effects of fin height and spacing on the system performance have been studied. In this investigation at fixed bed length of 20mm, fin height and spacing variations have been examined in the range of 8-20mm and 3-12mm, respectively. Results indicated that the system performance with rectangular and trapezoidal adsorbent beds are almost similar except for those conditions which fin spacing is 3mm and fin height are 14, 20mm. For the mentioned dimensions, the specific cooling power (SCP) of rectangular beds are almost 5% and 17% (for fin heights of 14 and 20mm, respectively) better than those of trapezoidal beds. Maximum and minimum SCP of adsorption chiller with flat-tube heat exchanger were obtained about 882 and 163W/kg for the smallest and the largest bed geometry and operating conditions considered in this study.

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Identification of spin maneuver flight characteristics focused in this paper. To analyses an airplane flying quality, identification of the dynamic modes and extracting their characteristics is essential for assessment of the airplane dynamic stability and response-to-control. The paper aims to present a new method for identification of some flight modes, including natural and nonstandard modes, and extraction of their characteristics the same as instantaneous frequency and instantaneous damping ratio, directly from measurements of flight parameters in the time domain in nonlinear flight regime. Firstly, a conceptual method based on the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) algorithm is proposed. The key issue of the EMD algorithm is to represent the signal as the summation of the pattern and detail parts, besides separating them from each other. by utilize the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) capabilities in real-time, a local-online algorithm is introduced which estimates the signal intrinsic mode functions Secondly, by applying Hilbert- Huang transformation to IMFs obtained by EMD algorithm the flight characteristics the same as instantaneous frequency and instantaneous damping ratio for flight mode has been estimated from spin measured flight data. The results indicate the appropriate performance of the identification method in nonlinear flight regime.

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Numerical simulation of multi material or multi-phase flows are one of the most challenging problems between computational fluid dynamics researches. The main difficulty of these problems is producing some unexpected and non-physical oscillation at material interface which causes entering some error in to computation domain. For eliminating this source of error, many sophisticated algorithm have been proposed recently. By neglecting diffusion processes, Euler equations and HLLC reimann solver are applied. In addition, Level set algorithm is implemented to track interferences between two materials. An accurate, easily developed and low computation cost algorithm, proposed by Abgrall and Karni, is used to prevent generating the oscillations in the interfaces. In the current work, the algorithm is developed to 2 dimensional algorithm. Afterwards, the result of 1 and 2 dimensional code are evaluated to verify the developed algorithm by some standard problems such as sod problem. Finally, shock –bubble (Air – Helium) interaction problem is simulated to investigate the effect of the algorithm in 2 dimensional simulation. The comparison shows that the code and its result have very good accuracy with very low computational cost.

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In the present study, adsorbent bed of an adsorption chiller with finned flat-tube heat exchanger has been simulated three dimensionally based on the heat and mass transfer model with finite volume method. To examine the inter-particle mass transfer resistance effects on the system performance parameters, two different configurations of adsorbent bed including rectangular and trapezoidal fins with identical length and adsorbent mass have been considered and the effects of bed length on the system performance for different fin height and fin pitch have been studied. Moreover, effects of bed length for different particle diameters and also heating source temperatures have been investigated. Results indicated that increasing of bed length (or in the other words increasing of inter-particle resistance) increases and decreases cycle time and specific cooling power, respectively, yet the coefficient of performance is not influenced. Also, increasing bed length reduces the difference between specific cooling power of rectangular and trapezoidal beds if there is any. Moreover it is clear that optimum particles size increase with bed length increase. Finally, it is shown that effect of higher heating fluid temperature on specific cooling power improvement for beds with smaller length is more significant than those with longer length.

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Hybrid joints (Metal–Composite) is being used more and more in aerospace industry due to their low weight and high strength. Dynamic study of this joint, owing to limitation of increase in screw’s preload in composite substructure, has certain importance. Effective factors on nonlinear behavior of the joint are low preload of the screw and high excitation force amplitude on the structure. Layer Element Model has been used to better the description of joint’s behavior in recent years. In this study effects of nonlinear behavior of joint on the structure has been investigated using 2D layer element theory in two divisions: increase of damping and decrease of stiffness which result in nonlinearity. Stiffness characteristics of the joint was modeled with normal stiffness and damping characteristics of the joint with structural damping in shear direction. Nonlinear frequency response function for two preload and two excitation force was extracted and nonlinear finite element model for stiffness and damping of the joint is suggested by High-order polynomial approximation in terms of response amplitude. Effects of increase of excitation force amplitude and decrease of screw’s preload on increase of nonlinearity was extracted by this finite element model. Results indicate that presented nonlinear finite element model corresponds closely to nonlinear vibration tests.

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The design process of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) requires mathematical model of subsystems or disciplines such as guidance and control, payload, hydrodynamic, propulsion, structure, trajectory and performance and their interactions. In early phases of design, an AUV are often encountered with a high degree of uncertainty in the design variables and parameters of system. These uncertainties present challenges to the design process and have a direct effect on the AUV performance. Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) is an approach to find both optimum and feasible design and robust design is an approach to make the system performance insensitive to variations of design variables and parameters. It is significant to integrate robust design and MDO for designing complex engineering systems in optimal, feasible and robust senses. In this paper, an improved robust MDO methodology is developed for conceptual design of an AUV under uncertainty with considering tactic and system design simultaneously. In this methodology, Uncertain MultiDisciplinary Feasible (UMDF) framework is introduced as uncertain MDO framework. Two evolutionary algorithms are also used as Pareto-based Multi-Objective optimizers and results of two algorithms are compared. The results of this research illustrate that the new proposed robust multidisciplinary design optimization framework can carefully set a robust design for an AUV with coupled uncertain disciplines.

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Seventy-five isolates of the fungus Zymoseptoria tritici, collected from seven wheat producing provinces in Iran, were studied using the molecular markers ISSR and SSR to determine its structure and genetic variations within its populations. Results indicated that the populations of the causal agent of this disease had a relatively high level of genetic diversity, with the total average genetic diversity (Ht) of 0.34 in the studied samples. When the genetic diversity was divided by the genetic diversity within and between the tested fungal populations, intra-population and inter-population genetic diversities were, respectively, 69 and 31%. Moreover, results showed that there was a strong gene flow between the studied provinces. The maximum genetic diversity among the studied provinces was observed in Ardebil and Khuzestan Provinces, and cluster analysis also revealed that the fungal populations of these two provinces had the greatest similarity with each other.
 

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Since water pumping stations supply most of the water for irrigation schemes and consume considerable percentage of energy in some countries, performance evaluation of these facilities, especially in relation to irrigation management, is essential. Therefore, definition and determination of some indices could be effective for evaluation process, planning for future, and optimal use of water and energy. Since there is no typical method for the assessment of irrigation pumping systems in the literature, in the present study, some evaluation indices in the areas of operation and maintenance, management, energy, and economic performance of the irrigation pumping stations are introduced. Some irrigation pumping stations in Khuzestan Province (Iran) and energy-water relations of these projects were evaluated based on the proposed integrated approach. According to the results, the first step in evaluating the performance of these facilities is the establishment of a system for monitoring and recording the information. Evaluation of the operation and maintenance of these pumping stations shows the average status. Therefore, the weakest parameters, i.e. required hydraulic equipment, periodic monitoring of hydraulic parameters and security against water hammer, have to be strengthened and pumping stations be equipped properly. It was also shown that to achieve the ideal management of the case studies, the profitability of operating company should be improved. Besides, due to high energy loss in irrigation pumping stations (up to 49% in this study), use of equipment for reducing energy consumption and proper selection of pump and electromotor should be a priority in the design and management phases. The required power of electromotor is overestimated by at least 25%.
 

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Rosemary is a plant from the Lamiaceae family with antioxidant properties, Therefore, the purpose of this study was to extract rosemary plant extract using different solvents, methods (maceration, hot extraction, Soxhlet, percolation and sonication), particle size (300, 500 and 800 μm) and plant to solvent ratios (1:100, 2:100, 3:100, 4:100 & 5:100) were. In this experimental study, the amount of phenolic and flavonoid compounds was measured by aluminum chloride colorimetric method and the antioxidant activity of plant extracts was evaluated by DPPH method. To extract these compounds, different solvents and methods were used and compared and analyzed and Data analysis was performed using SPSS software and ANOVA test. The best solvents for the extraction of phenolic, flavonoid and antioxidant compounds were water-methanol (20:80). The amount of total phenolic compounds using this solvent was 7.172 (mg/g) and flavonoid compounds were 28.157 (mg/g) and the antioxidant activity to inhibit free radicals was 87.2586 (mg/lit). The best method for extracting phenolic compounds was Maceration method with a rate of 7.481 (mg/g) and for flavonoid compounds with a rate of 47.85 (mg/g) and 73.524 (mg/lit) to inhibit free radicals.The results show that in order to achieve the maximum extraction of total phenolic compounds, flavonoids and antioxidants in rosemary extract, use plant powder with a particle size of 300 μm, water solvent: methanol (80:20), plant to solvent ratio 1:100 (g/ml) and the use of maceration method should be used as optimal operating conditions.
 

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The presence of genetic diversity leads to better adaptation of plants to different environments and enables researchers to select superior genotypes adapted to given culture conditions. In order to estimate the genetic diversity of eggplant, 22 accessions were obtained from the INRAe vegetable germplasm center and the National Plant Gene Bank of Iran and were planted in horticultural science station of University of Tehran, Karaj, in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The number of flowers per plant and number of fruits per plant were higher in the MM00007 and FLT02 accessions, respectively. The maximum leaf area (190 cm² plant^-1) was recorded for MM 01597. Accessions FLT46, MM 0064, MM 00108 bis MM 01597 and MM 01010 revealed high variations in root characters. Higher number of root tips and maximum number of roots were assigned for FLT46, and average root orientation and steep root angle frequency for MM 01597 and MM 01010. The correlation of root angles frequency and root number could possibly be exploited in selection programs as factors indirectly involved in increasing yield and the number of flowers per plant. Based on all evaluated traits, genotypes FLT10, MM 01597, MM 01010, FLT46, and FLTE9012 could be used as parents for future eggplant breeding programs due to their desirable agricultural traits.