An annotated list of the Pterophorinae (Oidaematophorini and Pterophorini) of Iran (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae)

A checklist of the 29 species of Pterophorinae (tribus Oidaematophorini and Pterophorini) of Iran is presented. Calyciphora golestanica sp. n., and the hitherto unknown male of Merrifieldia farsi (Arenberger 1981) and the female of Tabulaephorus djebeli (Arenberger 1981) are described. Emmelina argoteles (Meyrick 1922) and Hellinsia pectodactylus (Staudinger 1859), are reported as new for Iran. The known distribution of each species is given

Cephalometry to determine the head index of children younger than 6 years in kindergartens at the Ministry of higher education in Kabul, Afghanistan

Background: A part of the anthropometry that measures and studies the dimensions of the head and the faces is called cephalometric, the results of which are used in various medical branches. The standard of this measurement is different in each country because different racial factors and geographic impact on it, so the values obtained by researchers in other countries cannot be a criterion for determining the normal growth of head in other countries. The aim of this study was to determine the head standard index and the prevalence of head anatomic types in children younger than 6 years old in Kabul ministry of higher education Kindergartens in order to determine the head standard index in 2018.Methods: This descriptive study was conducted for all male and female children less than 6 years old at the ministry of higher education in Kabul, which had no specific physical and mental problems in 2018. The measurements of the length and width of the head were measured by the Martin Calliper Cephalometry, and according to the protocol, the head index and the prevalence of different phenotypes was determined.Results: Based on the present study, it was found that most of the male and female head are in the form of brachicephalic with a total percentage of 56.82%, as well as 31.81% of the heads hyper brachicephalic and 9.09% of the mesosafalic head and the lowest number of heads the were dolgossific species with a total percentage of 2.28%. Also, the study of the head index based on age showed that in less than one-year olds, the heads were most the type of hyper brachicephalic and in other age groups, the head index was lower and the brachicephalic.Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the dominant phenotypes in children under the age of six years in kindergartens at the ministry of higher education in Kabul are of brachicephalic in both males and females

Numerical solution of the two-dimensional Fredholm integral equations using Gaussian radial basis function

AbstractIn this paper, we introduce a numerical method for the solution of two-dimensional Fredholm integral equations. The method is based on interpolation by Gaussian radial basis function based on Legendre–Gauss–Lobatto nodes and weights. Numerical examples are presented and results are compared with the analytical solution to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the method

The Impact of ECB’s Unconventional Monetary Policy on the German Stock Market Volatility

This study investigated the reaction of German stock market volatility (Dax index) to the European Central Bank (ECB)’s unconventional monetary policy (UMP) announcements. The financial crisis of 2008 proved that the traditional monetary policy’s tool (the short -term interest rate) has lost its effectiveness to meet the new challenges. So, the key central banks, ECB included, had to implement the new, untested and nonstandard monetary policy which so called unconventional monetary policy. In this study, we used the ECB’s shadow policy rate approach to extract unconventional monetary policy. Also, We employed GJR GARCH (p,o,q) model to estimate the volatility in the German stock market. Then we calibrated both OLS (linear regression) and Markov-switching (probability-matrix of regime changes) models to examine the reaction of German stock returns volatility to UMP announcement by ECB for a period from January 2006 to December 2019. The results delivered by both models showed that the ECB’s UMP had a strong and negative effect on the volatility of the German stock market. Also, both models showed that the past German stock volatility has a significant and negative effect on the dependent variable, while the volatility of the German stock returns is a function of the global volatility estimated by the VIX index. Moreover, the results showed that the Markov-switching regression model provides a better illustration of the stock market volatility impact of UMP than the OLS model because it can represent the changes into the two different regimes named ordinary regime and quantitative easing (crisis) regime. Furthermore, under the Markov-switching regression model, we can see how the output gap and the inflation gap influence the volatility of the Dax index, while the results of the OLS regression model showed that there is no significant relationship between the output gap and the inflation gap with the German stock market volatility

Agdistis falkovitshi (Lep.: Pterophoridae: Agdistinae), a new record for the fauna of Iran

ضمن بررسی نمونه‌های Microlepidopter جمع‌آوری‌شده از منطقه‌ گته‌ده از توابع ساوجبلاغ استان البرز، نمونه‌ای بال‌پولک‌دار متعلق به جنس Agdistis Hübner از خانواده‌ Pterophoridae و زیرخانواده‌ Agdistinae با نام علمی Agdistis falkovitshi Zagulajev, 1986 مورد شناسایی قرار گرفت. این گونه که تاکنون از ازبکستان، ترکمنستان، قزاقستان و مغولستان گزارش شده است، برای اولین‌بار از ایران گزارش می‌شود و به‌این‌ترتیب تعداد گونه‌های این جنس در ایران به 17 عدد می‌رسد

Identification of a single nucleotide polymorphism of the pituitary-specific transcriptional factor 1 (Pit 1) gene and its association with body composition trait in Iranian commercial broiler line

Pit-1 is a pituitary-specific transcriptional factor that has been shown to play a critical role both in cell differentiation during organogenesis of the anterior pituitary and as a transcriptional activator for pituitary gene transcription. This study was designed to investigate the associations of Pit-1 gene polymorphism on chicken body growth and body composition traits. Genomic DNA was extracted from 120 chickens from Iranian commercial broiler line. Two polymorphisms of the Pit-1 gene were found with restriction fragment length polymorphisms. The association between these polymorphisms with chicken growth and body composition traits were analyzed using single marker analysis. Polymorphisms in Pit-1 gene were significantly (P<0.1) associated with body growth and body composition traits. This study suggests that Pit-1 gene could be a candidate locus or linked to major gene(s) that affects growth and body composition traits in the chicken.Key words: Iranian broiler lines, growth and body composition traits, pituitary-specific transcription factor gene (Pit 1), polymorphism, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP)