Three New Records of Orobanche (Orobanchaceae) to the Flora of Iraq

Three species of Orobanche L., O. alba Stephan ex Willd., O. caryophyllacea Sm. in Trans, and O. reticulata Wallr. were recorded for the first time to the flora of Iraq. O. alba is collected from Chah-Maka village, after Sheomersy from Zalan junction in Sulaimanyia District (MSU), it is parasitized on Vicia monantha. O. caryophyllacea is collected from Pira-Magron mountain (MSU), it is parasitized on Galium sp. (Rubiaceae) and O. reticulata is collected from Pera-Magron and parasitized on Vicia monantha. Key to the species, description, habitat, distribution map and photographs  were provided.

Financing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Role of Private Banks: an Exploratory Study in Dhi-Qar Province

Purpose: The research aims to shed light on the financing of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Dhi-Qar province and the role of private banks in that.   Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework of study focuses on the defining of (SMEs), the method of financing the (SMEs) which included the operating loans and investment loans, the obstacles to financing, and the factors of success and failure in SMEs also included in theoretical framework.   Design/methodology/approach: The study tool for the practical side was a questionnaire, and the study relied on the descriptive analytical approach, where the questionnaire was distributed (335) questionnaire on the owners of (SMEs) represented (Chamber of Commerce, The Business Federation, and the Chamber of Industry) and the number of questionnaires valid for analysis was (300) and the statistical program was used (SPSS.v.23), Research, Practical & Social implications:   Findings: The study reached the most important conclusions, including the inability of owners of (SMEs) to provide the required guarantees from private banks, and the weak ability to Submit the required financial statements for which the loan is granted, and the amount of loans granted by the banks is not compatible with the capital and operational needs of the owners of (SMEs).   Originality/value: Highlight in the necessity of finding a mechanism to financially support (SMEs) and urge banks and financial institutions to encourage them to support these enterprises

Recognition of corona virus disease (COVID-19) using deep learning network

Corona virus disease (COVID-19) has an incredible influence in the last few months. It causes thousands of deaths in round the world. This make a rapid research movement to deal with this new virus. As a computer science, many technical researches have been done to tackle with it by using image processing algorithms. In this work, we introduce a method based on deep learning networks to classify COVID-19 based on x-ray images. Our results are encouraging to rely on to classify the infected people from the normal. We conduct our experiments on recent dataset, Kaggle dataset of COVID-19 X-ray images and using ResNet50 deep learning network with 5 and 10 folds cross validation. The experiments results show that 5 folds gives effective results than 10 folds with accuracy rate 97.28%

Room Temperature Conductance of Graphene Sheet as a Function of Some Variables Using LAD/SZ Method

Current study deals with the room temperature conductance of Graphene Sheets as a function of their binding energy and lengths. The structural properties of each sheet were calculated after the relax of the structures by performing the SIESTA-trunk-462 program. The results showed that the electric conductivity is inversely proportional to the theoretical separation of the gold electrode. The increase of the angle C-C-Au effects on the electric properties of the Graphene Sheet, the Sheet is became much conductive and effectient electrically at large angles. This may refers to that the electron transmission coefficient of the Graphene Sheet depends on the type of the contact of the top gold atoms of the pyramids with the anchor atoms in the Sheet

Occupational safety basics understanding in oil and gas industry: An evaluation

In project management, risk is a surprise that might be resulted in a good, or bad, impact on a project. However, people tend to consider it a threat. This study is an evaluation work to the understanding of the risk management and safety culture of the construction sector in oil and gas industry in Iraq. A survey questionnaire was prepared, tested, distributed to a sample of engineers, from several engineering specialties, who are working on different levels in the mentioned sector. A high percent of the respondents are safety engineers, and some have a higher university degree, e.g. MS an Ph.D. The collected data then analyzed using different statistical approaches. The results show that there is a good understanding of the safety in general among engineers. However, risk management and planning tools are not understood effectively among the respondents. Moreover, having a higher degree or specializing in different majors have no impact on perceptional understanding of the safety and risk. This study is one of the first steps in studying the occupational safety in Iraq construction and oil and gas industries. Since Iraq is considered for rebuilding after different wars, international firms are in need to understand how safety is managed and to what level it is applied. From this perspective, this study is one of studies that help achieving the firms’ goal regarding safety

Benchmarking of the Current Solid Waste Management System in Karbala, Iraq, Using Wasteaware Benchmark Indicators

Solid waste management (SWM) poses severe problems to the authorities of the city of Kerbala, one of the main tourism centres in Iraq. Due to the city’s limited funds, it is crucial to evaluate the priorities for improvements in SWM services to tackle this problem efficiently. This paper employed Wasteaware benchmark indicators for integrated and sustainable solid waste management to evaluate the city SWM system performance. The data used in this evaluation was collected by in-depth interviews with the management authorities and field observations over two months in 2016. The outcomes showed that the SWM system in the city is weak. It therefore requires several improvements in physical infrastructure and management. Disposal and recycling were the highest priority to be improved among SWM physical components. While, in the management, the authority should have clear strategy for SWM and stakeholders such as public, private waste sector, and informal waste collectors should be included in SWM planning to improve the management services. This study can provide a starting point for the city authorities to prioritise their actions to improve the current SWM system

Investigating municipal solid waste management system performance during the Arba’een event in the city of Kerbala, Iraq

Every year, many religious events attended by 300 million pilgrims take place in many holy cities and sites around the world. However, research on municipal solid waste is limited despite the reputation of religious events to generate substantial amounts of waste. This research aims to address this gap and contribute to new knowledge on municipal solid waste management at religious events by investigating and evaluating the municipal solid waste management system applied at the Arba’een event in Kerbala, one of the largest religious events in Iraq. Field observations and in-depth interviews with nine senior managers from Kerbala’s municipalities were conducted during the event in 2016, to develop an overall picture of the municipal solid waste management system applied during the event. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and fed to the ‘Wasteaware’ benchmark indicators framework to evaluate the performance of the event system. The results indicated that the system suffers from operational and governance weaknesses. Despite a focus on municipal solid waste collection and transportation, the collection coverage is only ~ 70%. There is no controlled landfill site in Kerbala. It is estimated that currently ~ 5% of the event municipal solid waste is recycled by informal recyclers: there is no formal recycling scheme. Kerbala does not perform well regarding governance. The inclusivity of providers and users of the municipal solid waste management services is minimal during the event, as the majority of stakeholders are not included in decision-making processes. Municipal solid waste management services are delivered free of charge, thus significantly influencing the financial sustainability of the system. This study recommends that MSW recycling should be encouraged through integrating the informal sector, improving public awareness and introducing a formal recycling scheme to make the event municipal solid waste management system effective and financially sustainable

E-Learning And Instructional Management System Based On Local Computer Networks And Internet

This article describes the educational efforts invested at Wasit University (WU), in Wasit, Iraq, in order to make WU the first university in that country to implement campus-wide e-learning, which is essential for any country aiming for progress through the essential goal of “Education For All”; e-learning being economic, far-reaching, and relatively simple to implement. These efforts have materialized in an integral e-system that performs and manages a complete educational process that can be used by any educational organization (schools, colleges, or continuing education centers) in a highly flexible, reliable, and secure manner. The e-learning management system architecture consists of three layers: user’s interface layer, middle layer, and server layer. The user interface layer is composed of four modules: user interface module, teacher module, student module, and administrator module. Each module has several sub-modules that are described in detail throughout the paper. Our proposed e-learning system has been successfully tested on some courses in the Electrical Engineering Department at WU. Our primary objective is to implement it department-wide, evaluate it, and refine it. Once satisfactory and efficient, the goal is to expand its use throughout WU, and eventually to all other institutions of learning in Iraq

Estimating solid waste generation by hospitality industry during major festivals: a quantification model based on multiple regression

Mega-religious festivals hosted in the city of Kerbala, Iraq, annually generate huge quantities of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) which negatively impacts the environment and human health when poorly managed. The hospitality sector, specifically hotels, is one of the major sources of MSW generated during these festivals. Because it is essential to establish a proper waste management system for such festivals, accurate information regarding MSW generation is required. This study therefore investigated the rate of production of MSW from hotels in Kerbala during mega festivals. A field questionnaire survey was conducted with 150 hotels during the Arba’een festival, one of the largest festivals in the world, attended by about 18 million participants, to identify how much MSW is produced and what features of hotels impact on this. Hotel managers responded to questions regarding features of the hotel such as size (Hs), expenditure (Hex), area (Ha) and number of staff (Hst). An on-site audit was also carried out with all participated hotels to estimate the mass of MSW generated from these hotels. The results indicate that MSW produced by hotels varies widely. In general, it was found that each hotel guest produces an estimated 0.89 kg of MSW per day. However, this figure varies according to the hotels’ rating. Average rates of MSW production from two and five star hotels were 0.83 and 1.22 kg per guest per day, respectively. Statistically, it was found that the relationship between MSW production and hotel features can be modelled with an R2 of 0.799, where the influence of hotel feature on MSW production followed the order Hs > Hex > Hst