The Control on Exercising Legislative Competence According to the Iraqi Constitution of 2005: A Comparative Study

 إن من أهم الخصائص التي تتميز بها الدولة الاتحادية هي ثنائية السلطة السياسية أو ازدواجيتها بحيث يوجد نوعان من السلطة: الأولى: السلطة الاتحادية، والثانية: سلطة الوحدات المكونة للاتحاد، الأمر الذي يترتب عليه وجود ثنائية في التشريع والتنفيذ والقضاء داخل الدولة الواحدة وبقدر تعلق الأمر بالاختصاص التشريعي في الدولة الاتحادية، فإن هذه الأخيرة تمتاز بثنائية السلطة التشريعية التي تمارس الاختصاص المذكور عن طريق توزيعه بين البرلمان الاتحادي وبرلمانات الوحدات المكونة للاتحاد، وبذلك فإن الاختصاص التشريعي يُعد الاختصاص الأساسي للبرلمان في الدولة الاتحادية إذ إنه صاحب الاختصاص الأصيل والولاية العامة في التشريع تشاركه في ذلك السلطة التنفيذية في الدولة.  One of the most important characteristics of the federal state is the duality of political power or its duality, so that there are two types of power: the first: the federal power, and the second is: the power of the constituent units of the federation, which leads to the existence of a duality in legislation, implementation and judiciary within one state and as much as It is related to the legislative competence in the federal state, as the latter is characterized by the duality of the legislative authority that exercises the aforementioned competence by distributing it between the federal parliament and the parliaments of the constituent units of the federation. It is shared by the executive authority in the state. &nbsp

Literature review as a key step in research processes: case study of MA dissertations written on EFL of Saudi context

Purpose – The aim of this study is to find out the most common types of literature review and the accuracy of citing information related to topic in question among Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) postgraduate students at Al-Baha University. This study also aims at revealing the quality of the literature review written by researchers. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative study used content analysis to investigate 15 unpublished Master of Arts (MA) dissertations written on EFL of Saudi context. They were analyzed qualitatively using criteria modified from Snyder's (2019) model which is considered a potential method for making theoretical and practical contributions of literature review. Findings – The findings of the study showed that students favored the systematic review over the integrative. Additionally, data showed that students were lacking in paraphrasing and organizing cited information coherently and appropriately. Moreover, students' performance was better in design, conduct, and data abstraction and analysis criterion, whereas they seemed rather weak in structuring and writing the review criteria. Originality/value – The significance of the study is to provide researchers with methodological guidance and reference to write a comprehensive and appropriate literature review. Based on the findings, this study concluded with some implications that aim to assist researchers in carrying out their studies professionally. Furthermore, the findings provide decision-makers in higher education institutions with important practical implications. In light of the study's findings, it is suggested to carry out further research investigating postgraduate students to find out their perceptions and attitudes regarding the quality standards of scientific research writing and the paraphrasing strategies

On the Development of a Multilayered Agent-based Heuristic System for Vehicle Routing Problem under Random Vehicle Breakdown

With the recent technological advancement, the Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem (DVRP) is becoming more applicable but almost all of the research in this field limited the source of dynamism from the order side rather from the vehicle, in addition to the adoption of inflexible tools that are mainly designed for the static problem. Considering multiple random vehicle breakdowns complicates the problem of how to adapt and distribute the workload to other functioning vehicles. In this ongoing PhD research, a proposed multi-layered Agent-Based Model (ABM) along with a modelling framework on how to deal with such disruptive events in a reactive continuous manner. The model is partially constructed and experimented, with a developed clustering rule, on two randomly generated scenario for the purpose of validation. The rule achieved good order allocation to vehicles and reacted to different problem sizes by rejecting orders that are over the model capacity. This shows a promising path in fully adopting the ABM model in this dynamic problem

Indoor Intruder Tracking Using Visible Light Communications

This paper proposes a comprehensive study of indoor intruder tracking using visible light communication (VLC). A realistic indoor VLC channel was developed, taking into consideration reflections, shadowing, and ambient noise. The intruder was considered smart and aiming to escape tracking. This was modelled by adding noise and disturbance to the intruder’s trajectory. We propose to extend the application of minimax filtering from state estimation in the radio frequency (RF) domain to intruder tracking using VLC. The performance of the proposed method was examined and compared with Kalman filter for both VLC and RF. The simulation results showed that the minimax filter provided marginally better tracking and was more robust to the adversary behavior of the intruder than Kalman filter, with less than 0.5 cm estimation error. In addition, minimax was significantly better than Kalman filter for RF tracking applications

Linear and differential cryptanalysis of small-sized random (n, m)-S-boxes

S-boxes are used in cryptography in order to provide non-linearity in the design of cryptographic primitives such as block ciphers and hash functions. Some cryptographic primitives use bijective S-boxes as in the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and others use surjective S-boxes as in the Data Encryption Standard (DES). That is, S-boxes can have inputs and outputs of the same length as in the (8,8)-S-box of AES, or alternatively the input length can be larger than the output as in the (6, 4)-S-boxes of DES. In this paper, we perform a statistical study of linear and differential properties of randomly generated (n, m)-S-boxes, where m ≤ n. We show that certain S-boxes with well-behaved linear and differential properties can be feasibly obtained via random search. We show further that certain types of S-boxes with specific desirable linear and differential properties are improbable

Average channel capacity bounds of a dynamic vehicle-to-vehicle visible light communication system

As vehicles trajectories are unpredictable and changing dynamically, vehicle-to-vehicle visible light communication (V2V-VLC) experiences a dynamic channel. In this work, we conduct measurements taking into account different realistic inter-vehicle distances and ambient noise levels at different times of the day in order to model and verify the dynamic V2V-VLC channel. We also derive the average channel capacity bounds by considering the impact of traffic at different times of the day, atmospheric turbulence and fog. Considering both peak and average optical power levels constraints, we derive the upper and lower bounds by using sphere packing and constraint relaxation methods, as well as truncated-exponential and truncated Gaussian distributions, respectively. The results show that the constraint relaxation method provides an improved estimation for the upper bound, whereas the truncated exponential distribution tightens the lower bound with a minimum gap of 0.4 bit/s/Hz during rush hour and in a clear weather condition. We also show that the average capacity bounds of V2V-VLC are less affected by atmospheric turbulence and fog, and that the capacity during rush hours is higher by 0.7 bit/s/Hz than during late hours

The Philosophical Discourse of Mir Damad: A Comparative Study of Meta-Temporal Creation and Substantial Motion

This study explores the topic of the incipience of the cosmos and the God-world relationship in the writings of the famous seventeenth-century Safavid philosopher Seyyid Muhammad Baqir Mir Damad (d. 1631). It investigates his grand theory of meta-temporal creation (al-huduth al-dahri), presented as a solution to the ongoing debate between Islamic philosophers and theologians on eternity and creation. The thesis situates Mir Damad's theory of meta-temporal creation within the unique broad philosophical school he founded. Mir Damad's theory offers ratiocinative explanation to creation of the world, which continues to resonate strongly with the Twelver Shi'ah discourse. He is considered a recognised jurist, a scholar of many disciplines, and the last of the traditional Peripatetic Islamic philosophers. Polemicising with Mir Damad's theory, his student Mulla Sadra (d. 1640) presented a - divergent and better-known view regarding creation within his unique philosophical system. This research will critique Sadra's position based on the revised and in-depth reading of Mir Damad's original philosophy. The thesis highlights Mir Damad's outstanding place in the history of Shi'ah intellectual studies and renders his theory in an accessible manner to the English language readership. Its overall conclusion is that Mir Damad's insights into the creation of the cosmos constitute a culmination of the philosophical ideas advanced by Aristotle, Avicenna and Suhrawardi, and remain valid when compared to the alternative theories developed after him, especially those of Mulla Sadra