Morphology of Tigris River within Baghdad City

In recent years, substantial changes have occurred in the morphology of the River Tigris within Baghdad City. Although huge volumes of sediment are being trapped in recently constructed headwater reservoirs, the number of islands in the Tigris at Baghdad is increasing. The debris of bridges destroyed in the wars of 1991 and 2003 and their subsequent reconstruction have enhanced the development of these islands. As a consequence the ability of the river to carry the peaks of flood waters has been reduced. This has led to potential increase of flooding in parts of the city. <br><br> The bed of the River Tigris has been surveyed on three occasions (1976, 1991, and 2008). The most recent survey was conducted by the Ministry of Water Resources, extended 49 km from the Al-Muthana Bridge north Baghdad to the confluence with the Diyala River south Baghdad. It yielded cross-section profiles at 250 m intervals. The data are used to predict the maximum flood capacity for the river using the one-dimensional hydraulic model for steady flow "HEC-RAS" modeling. Calibration of the model was carried out using field measurements for water levels along the last 15 km of the reach and the last 10 yr of observation at the Sarai Baghdad gauging station. <br><br> The model showed a significant predicted reduction in the current river capacity below that which the river had carried during the floods of 1971 and 1988. The three surveys conducted on the same reach of the Tigris indicated that the ability of the river to transport water has decreased

Unenhanced whole-body MRI versus PET-CT for the detection of prostate cancer metastases after primary treatment

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of unenhanced whole-body MRI, including whole-body Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI), used as a diagnostic modality to detect  pathologic lymph nodes and skeletal metastases in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) undergoing restaging after primary treatment

Expected Future Precipitation in Central Iraq Using LARS-WG Stochastic Weather Generator

The Middle East (ME) is characterized by its water shortage problem. This region with its arid climate is expected to be the most vulnerable in the world to the potential impacts of climate change. Iraq (located in ME) is seriously experiencing water shortage problem. To overcome this problem rain water harvesting can be used. In this study the applicability of the long-term weather generator model in downscaling daily precipitation Central Iraq is used to project future changes of precipitation based on scenario of seven General Circulation Models (GCMs) outputs for the periods of 2011-2030, 2046-2065, and 2080-2099. The results indicated that December-February and September-November periods, based on the ensemble mean of seven GCMs, showed an increasing trend in the periods considered; however, a decreasing trend can be found in March, April, and May in the future

Future Prospects for Macro Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) Technique in North East Iraq

Countries in Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) are considered arid and semi-arid areas that are suffering from water scarcity. They are expected to have more water shortages problem due to climatic change. Iraq is located in the Middle East covering an area of 433,970 square kilometers populated by 31 million inhabitants. One of the solutions suggested to overcome water scarcity is Rain Water Harvesting (RWH). In this study Macro rain-water harvesting technique had been tested for future rainfall data that were predicted by two emission scenarios of climatic change (A2 and B2) for the period 2020-2099 at Sulaimaniyah Governorate north east of Iraq. Future volumes of total runoff that might be harvested for different conditions of maximum, average, and minimum future rainfall seasons under both scenarios (A2 and B2) were calculated. The results indicate that the volumes of average harvested runoff will be reduced when average rainfall seasons are considered due to the effect of climatic change on future rainfall. The reduction reached 10.82 % and 43.0% when scenarios A2 and B2 are considered respectively