Evaluation of disaster response management in Iraq resulting from terrorism

Since 2003, Iraq has been experiencing an unprecedented series of disasters; both human made and natural, and this has given rise to increased attention by policymakers to the country's arrangements for disaster management. Disaster response, which refers to actions “taken immediately before, during, or directly after an emergency occurs, to save lives [and] minimise damage to property” is one of the critical phases in the Disaster Management life cycle. The focus of this study is on disaster response management associated with the events caused by terrorism activities in Iraq. The study analyses and evaluates the basic functions of disaster management operations (planning, organising, directing, controlling); these are presented as weaknesses, strengths and recommendations, which are identified for effective disaster response management. This research adopts a single holistic case study approach, where the Iraqi General Directorate of Civil Defence is the case study and disaster response management is the unit of analysis. The Iraqi General Directorate of Civil Defence is considered as the critical case for this study as they are the main administrative body responsible for responding to disasters stemming from terrorism in Iraq. A mixed methods approach is used to improve the validity and reliability of the research. As such, the findings are based on semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys with executives responsible for disaster response in the Iraqi General Directorate of Civil Defence. In addition, a documentary review of all major documents related to disaster response management in this directorate is undertaken. Conceptual content analysis is used to articulate the primary data and this is then analysed in the context of the secondary data, by conducting cross analysis between the four different stages of disaster response management. The findings show that disaster response management is a significantly important stage in the disaster management cycle, as an efficient and effective response will ultimately minimise the loss of life and damage to property. Whilst there are some weaknesses and limited implementation of several elements of good practice in disaster response management in the current disaster response practices, there are some strengths which should be built upon. The final recommendations are made up of eleven sets of different themes, based on findings from both the secondary and primary data. This study contributes to the scarce literature currently published on the subject of disaster response management in developing countries, such as Iraq. The uniqueness of such studies could be attributed to the very limited attempts that have been made in the past to explore disaster response management, possibly due to the difficulty in collecting data around terrorism activities. The practical contribution of this study is the potential improvement of the current disaster response practices and the systems of disaster response management, which will ultimately minimise the loss of life and damage to property. The recommendations proposed in this study could potentially improve the immediate response system to serve Iraq’s disaster management in the future

Study of the Effect of Laser on the Structural and Electrical Properties of the Compound Bi2-(x+y)CdyAgx Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ Superconductor at High Temperatures

في هذه الدراسة تم تحضير عينات المركب (Bi2-(x+y)CdyAgx Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ) وعند تراكيز مختلفة ل x حيث (x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4) وباستخدام طريقة تفاعل الحالة الصلبة وتحت ضغط هيدروستاتيكي (8ton/cm2) وعند درجة حرارة تلدين (850 C) , ومعرفة تأثير الليزر على الخواص التركيبية والكهربائية للمركب الفائق التوصيل الكهربائي. لوحظ عند فحص تحت حيود الاشعة السينية (XRD) تبين ان افضل نسبة تعويض لx هي 0.3 حيث ان قيمة a=b=5.3799(A), c=36.22(A) حيث تبين ان التركيب من النوع الرباعي القائم.This study included the preparation of composite samples (Bi2-(x+y)CdyAgx Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ  )by solid state reaction method and under hydro static pressure (8ton/cm2) interaction and annealing temperature   (850 C) also determine the effect of the laser on the structural and electrical properties in the compound in various concentrations of x where x=(0,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4) observed by examining the XRD , the best ration of cooperation for (x) is 0.3 as the value of a=b=5.3799(A) , c=36.22(A) showed that the installation of tetragonal structure

Staphylococcal infections among leukemic patients

Staphylococcus are cause hospital community acquired infection and they are an important cause of health –care associated infection.The Coagulase positive Staphylococcus are Staphylococcus aureus which can implicated in toxic shock syndrome. Methicillin and Vancomycin Staphylococcus aureus resistant (MRSA, VRSA) become major cause of hospital- acquired infection and community acquired infection.Coagulase negative staphylococcus emerged as major cause of infection in immunocompromised patients.The main objective of this study was to evaluate the distribution of Staphylococci among leukemic patients since it is well known that leukemic patients are prone to be infected easily due to their immunosuppressed status.This study was undertaken between oct. 2009 and Jun 2010 at Iraqi center of hematology and medical genetics. 140 clinical specimen(aspirated wound,superficial wound,urine, blood) have deen collected carefully from leukemic patients and subjected to well known established microbiological methods for diagnosis and identification of the isolates .All isolates were tested for their susceptibility to antimicrobials according to Kirby –Bauer technique.Out of 140 clinical specimen collected from leukemic patients, it was possible to obtain( 63) bacterial isolates form which(43) of Coagulase negative staphylococci (CONS) and (20) of Coagulase positive staphylococci. Out of 43(CONS) isolates has been found that S.epidermidis constitutes (28)the highest of all isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibility reveald that S.aureus is highly sensitive to Gentamycin (85%), Erythromycin (80%), while it is resistant to the drugs Cefotaxim (45%), Choramphenicol(40%),and Tetracycline(20%). S.epidermidis show highly sensitive to Erythromycin(100%),Vancomycin (100%), and Cefotaxim(70%) and highly resistant to the drugs Chloromphenicol(45%), Augmentin(45%),Gentamycin (10%), and Tetracycline(10%).It is concluded that S.epidemidis rankes the first( 28)among the isolates and S.aureus ranke the 2nd .All isolates were highly resistant to Chloramphenicol and highly sensitive to Erythromycine

Challenges during disaster response planning resulting from war operations and terrorism in Iraq

Challenges during disaster response planning resulting from war operations and terrorism in Ira

Understanding the terminologies: Disaster, crisis and emergency

Despite the fact that there is a difference between the terms disaster, crisis and emergency, they are closely interconnected, interdependent and overlap significantly. With a blurred line between the definitions of these terms, the mainstream literature uses the terms disaster, crisis and emergency interchangeably and in combination such as 'disaster crisis management' and 'crisis and emergency management'. The aim of this article is to systematically and critically review the arguments and counterarguments about the definitions of disaster, crisis, and emergency to date. A comprehensive literature review in the relevant field has been conducted in order to improve understanding of these phenomena. A qualitative conceptual content analysis has been carried out to establish the differences and similarities between disaster, crisis and emergency. The analysis reveals that the sudden nature of the event and the damage caused are the common features of all three terms, though emergency is not always of a sudden nature. Further, many common features have been identified between disaster and crisis, so that they can be used interchangeably up to a certain extent. The term emergency does not share many common features with the other two terms and has some contradictory features. Also, the authors conclude that both crisis and emergency would lead to disaster if the event were neglected or mismanaged

Strongly Pseudo Nearly Semei-2-Absorbing Submodule(I)

Let  be a module over a commutative ring  with identity. In this paper we intoduce the concept of Strongly Pseudo Nearly Semi-2-Absorbing submodule, where a  proper submodule  of an -module  is said to be Strongly Pseudo Nearly Semi-2-Absorbing submodule of   if whenever , for ,  implies that either  or , this concept is a generalization of 2_Absorbing submodule, semi 2-Absorbing submodule, and strong form of (Nearly–2–Absorbing, Pseudo_2_Absorbing, and Nearly Semi–2–Absorbing) submodules. Several properties characterizations, and examples concerning this new notion are given. We study the relation between Strongly Pseudo Nearly Semei-2-Absorbing submodule and (2_Absorbing, Nearly_2_Absorbing, Pseudo_2_Absorbing, and Nearly Semi–2–Absorbing) submodules and the converse of this relation is true under certain condition. Also, we introduced many characterizations of  Strongly Pseudo Nearly Semei-2-Absorbing submodules in some types of modules

Microbial community composition of deep-sea corals from the Red Sea provides insight into functional adaption to a unique environment

Microbes associated with deep-sea corals remain poorly studied. The lack of symbiotic algae suggests that associated microbes may play a fundamental role in maintaining a viable coral host via acquisition and recycling of nutrients. Here we employed 16 S rRNA gene sequencing to study bacterial communities of three deep-sea scleractinian corals from the Red Sea, Dendrophyllia sp., Eguchipsammia fistula, and Rhizotrochus typus. We found diverse, species-specific microbiomes, distinct from the surrounding seawater. Microbiomes were comprised of few abundant bacteria, which constituted the majority of sequences (up to 58% depending on the coral species). In addition, we found a high diversity of rare bacteria (taxa at 90% of all bacteria). Interestingly, we identified anaerobic bacteria, potentially providing metabolic functions at low oxygen conditions, as well as bacteria harboring the potential to degrade crude oil components. Considering the presence of oil and gas fields in the Red Sea, these bacteria may unlock this carbon source for the coral host. In conclusion, the prevailing environmental conditions of the deep Red Sea (>20 °C, <2 mg oxygen L−1) may require distinct functional adaptations, and our data suggest that bacterial communities may contribute to coral functioning in this challenging environment.This work was supported from baseline funds to CRV and under the Center Competitive Funding (CCF) Program FCC/1/1973-18-01 by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)