---

In a taxonomic study of the subfamily Phasiinae (Diptera: Tachinidae), seven species and the three genera Opesia Robineau-Desvoidy, Subclytia Pandellé and Xysta Meigen are recorded for the first time from Iran. The diagnostic characters, distributional data along with the photographs of species are presented. Taxonomical positions of the genera and species are discussed.

---

The East Asian psyllid, Acizzia jamatonica (Kuwayama, 1908) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) is newly reported from Iran. This is also considered as the first record of the genus Acizzia Heslop-Harrison and the subfamily Acizziinae for the country. The psyllid was collected from Persian silk tree, Albizia julibrissin Durazzini (Fabaceae), in Rasht, Guilan province, in July 2013. A brief taxonomic diagnosis is provided to facilitate its recognition.

---

In the present study, which is based on the material collected from Southern part of Caspian Sea, Iran during 2013- 2016, one parasitoid species of the genus Coccobius Ratzeburg was identified as Coccobius pistacicolus (Yasnosh, 1968) (Hym: Aphelinidae). This species, which is reported for the first time from Iran, was collected in Rasht, Guilan province, and reared from Lepidosaphes pallida (Maskell) (Hem.: Diaspididae) on Ficus carica (Moraceae). Diagnostic characters of C. pistacicolus are provided. 

---

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.

---

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a fully Lagrangian particle method which solves a problem without using any mesh or grid. Pressure fluctuation is one of the main drawbacks of the weakly compressible SPH (WCSPH) method that leads to an inaccurate pressure distribution. In the present work, a diffusive term is added to the continuity equation to suppress the density and consequently pressure fluctuations. In contrast to the mesh-based methods, flow separation and inflow/outflow boundary conditions are two challenging issues in the SPH method. To overcome these problems, a new algorithm for inflow/outflow boundary condition as well as a particle shifting method is utilized for simulation of flow past a cylinder. Comparing the results with those of literature, it is shown that the method is capable to decrease the pressure fluctuations and solve problems including open boundaries as well as flow separation.

---

Onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, is a broadly distributed pest that attacks a wide range of crops. To investigate the intra-specific morphometric variation and the genetic diversity of the species in Iran, four populations from tobacco plus 18 populations from onion were studied in some 17 provinces of Iran. Morphological analysis, using principal components and canonical discriminant analyses indicated that the populations living on tobacco were significantly different from those living on onion. DNA sequence data for the COI gene was obtained for all the populations including some other 21 population sequences retrieved from the GenBank database. Maximum parsimony analyses revealed the distinct clades of T. tabaci on tobacco and on onion with the exception of one population collected from tobacco grown in Golestan Province. The results were identical for maximum likelihood and neighbor-joining analyses. Both molecular and morphometric analyses show heterogenecity of T. tabaci populations representing at least two different biotypes on tobacco and on onion.

---

In order to determine the best growing media for Gerbera jamesonii under alkaline conditions, a factorial experiment was conducted with two factors, namely: (i) Growing medium, and (ii) Concentrations of bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) in nutrient solution. Results showed that increasing the concentration of NaHCO₃ from 0 to 40 mM in nutrient solution significantly decreased plant growth, maximal quantum yield of PSII photochemistry (F_v/F_m), photosynthesis Performance Index (PI), Glutamine Synthetase (GS) activity, Leaf Relative Water Content (LRWC), Chlorophylls (Chl a, b and total Chl) and carotenoids. Under alkalinity stress, reduction in vegetative growth, F_v/F_m, PI, LRWC, GS activity and photosynthesis pigments content was the lowest in Coconut Fiber (CF) substrate compared to the other substrates. Furthermore, plants grown in CF substrate had higher soluble sugars and proline content than those in other substrates. On the other hand, plants grown on Perlite (P) substrate had the highest reduction in growth and physiological characteristic in alkaline conditions. The alleviation of alkalinity-induced growth inhibition of plants by CF substrate may be related to improvement of photosynthesis, enhancement of GS enzyme activity and osmotic regulation. It is concluded that the use of CF substrate could provide a useful tool to improve alkalinity tolerance of gerbera plants under NaHCO₃ stress.

---

The issue of a suitable career path and women's participation in the labor market is one of the most important changes of the last century. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explain the factors related to the glass ceiling in order to develop the career path of female employees of the executive organization of Kerman. For this purpose, the statistical population includes two groups of university experts and all female employees of the executive organization of Kerman in the number of 14,186 people. To identify the components of the research, the theoretical foundations of the research and the components proposed by the experts, the Delphi method was used. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations have been used in data analysis. The number of statistical samples in the qualitative section by Delphi technique was 30 and in the quantitative section through Morgan table, 374 people were selected by stratified sampling. By performing factor analysis test through two software SPSS and Amos, 14 components in the form of 6 dimensions were extracted and tested. Findings showed that there is a significant relationship between organizational factors, individual factors, socio-cultural factors and legal factors with career development (-p <0.05). Also, the correlation coefficient between legal factors and career development is more important (r = 0.686) and the correlation coefficient between socio-cultural factors and the presence of the glass ceiling phenomenon is more important (0.769).