Development of a Method for Assessing the Organizational, Cultural, and Political Considerations Affecting the Insertion of Siloms into the MoD

United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has a minimal number of aircraft at its disposal. As a result, the aircraft are considered high demand, low-density (small number in Air Force inventory) weapon systems. Any chance to increase aircraft availability would greatly enhance the capability of AFSOC. Isochronal maintenance (ISO) conducted once every 365 days (per AFI for C-130 aircraft) provides the best opportunity to increase aircraft availability by improving the scheduling of tasks and accurately estimating the inspection duration. Scheduled maintenance portrays the characteristics of projects, therefore, this theses proposed that Critical Chain (CC) scheduling, a project management technique, could provide an improved ISO schedule reducing aircraft downtime. The ISO inspection process was modeled three ways (1) existing process, (2) task constraints removed, and (3) task and resource constraints removed. 100 simulated aircraft inspections took place in each model. The simulated duration times were compared to estimates provided by the use of Critical Path and Critical Chain scheduling techniques. Critical Chain scheduling techniques did not directly increase aircraft availability. However, Critical Chain scheduling did identify the potential for increasing aircraft availability by removing policy and scheduling constraints

Isolation of Entomopathogenic and Opportunistic Fungi from Soil in Duhok Province,Kurdistan Region of Iraq by Different Selective Isolation Media

Soil is a natural habitat for several important insect pathogenic fungi which play a key role in regulating populations of soil dwelling insect pests. Forty soil samples were collected during 2012-2013 from different agro ecosystems at Duhok governorate were screened for the presence of soil dwelling entomopathogenic fungi using four different selective isolation media. The four isolation media were prepared by modifying previously prepared DOC2 medium and a selective medium based on the use of Cetyletrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) with oatmeal agar (OT) as a basal medium. The percentage occurrence of fungi and number of detected species was significantly affected by the type of isolation medium. The least number of recovered species (5 species) was on DOC2 medium, whereas, the highest number (14 species) was displayed by CTAB+OT medium. The two true entomopathogenic species Lecanicillium lecanii and Metarhizium anisopliae were successfully recovered only with our new formula by combination of DOC2+CTAB and OT+CTAB media, whereas, DOC2 and DOC2+OT media failed to recover the two species. This result indicated that addition of CTAB to media was a vital factor for the recovery of the two entomopathogenic species. L. lecanii and M. anisopliae have been recorded for the first time from Iraqi soil. Several other opportunistic pathogens were also detected. These include Aspergillus flavus, A.parasiticus, Clonostachys rosea and Fusarium species. The distribution of entomopathogenic and opportunistic fungi is discussed in relation to different agroecosystems and to some physical and chemical characteristics of soil samples. Key words: Entomopathogenic fungi, soil, Iraq.

Stress-induced behavioral changes in Iraqi dentistry academics during the COVID-19 outbreak

Introduction: Studies of dental practitioners performed around the world demonstrate that COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacts their daily activities lives, social functions, and health-care providing duties. The aim of the study is to evaluate the pandemic-induced psychological stress and associated factors on dental academics in Iraq.Methods: We conduct an observational study using a self-administered survey to obtain data from dental academics in many colleges of dentistry within Baghdad city. A closed-ended questionnaire was utilized, to assess post-traumatic responses to particular events. The Impact of Event Scale was used to assess the level of stress in the first of two outcomes. The second depicts the effects of COVID-19 on behavioral changes.Results: A total of 108 participants from seven colleges in Bagdad responded. About 38% reported a state of severe stress, 46.3% showed moderate stress, and 13.9% complained of mild states of stress. Stress levels were found to be substantially linked to fear of infection, worries about professional responsibilities, and limited mobility.Conclusion: The pandemic stress induces psychological and behavioral changes on the Iraqi dental educators, which can never be eliminated

Emerging African multi-national corporations : trends and determinants

Despite the recent attempts to address the evolution of EMNCs, limited research has been conducted to examine EAMNCs. Moreover, the importance of this investigation is increased as it may guide African governments in drafting their policy envisaging initiating and boosting the global orientation of their domestic firms. As such, this thesis intends to examine the phenomenon of EAMNCs, with application to South Africa and Egypt. Overall statistics exhibit that both South African and Egyptian MNCs were growing outstandingly, at a different pace during the period from 1990 to 2016. However, both groups of firms significantly lost ground on the emerging MNCs landscape during that period. In 2016, South Africa owned less than a quarter of its share in the early nineties. The Egyptian outbound investment did not surpass one percent of the corresponding investments owned by emerging economies over the same period. Moreover, the outward Foreign Direct Investment Performance Indices of both countries were often less than unity, indicating that they was playing a smaller role in the global outward foreign direct investment than their economies warrant. Apart from the financial sector, the mining and quarrying sector ranked first for South African MNCs, while the industrial sector was the most important for Egyptian MNCs. The private sector dominated, to different extent, in both South African and Egyptian MNCs. Similar to emerging MNCs, South African and Egyptian MNCs both exhibited a remarkable preference to greenfield investment over mergers and acquisitions as foreign market entry mode, and to set their greenfield investments in nearby markets. The empirical research proves that trade openness, patent and the gross domestic product (GDP) and the GDP growth rate of South Africa and Egypt are dominant drivers of their outward foreign direct investment. In contrast, the number of investment treaties and inward foreign direct investment rate do not significantly influence outbound investment decisions of South African and Egyptian corporations. Regarding the pull drivers, the market size, resources endowment and proximity between home and host country are significant pull drivers of both Egyptian and South African MNCs. While not affecting Egyptian MNCs, assets availability, trade openness, the service sector quality, export to the host country, the official exchange rate of the receiving destination and the quality of institutions have an influential impact on foreign market selection of the South African investors. Inflation neither affects the attention of Egyptian firms nor South Africans to choose a certain market to invest in.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018.EconomicsPhDUnrestricte

A Study of Some Mechanical, Thermal and Physical Properties of Polymer Blend with Iraqi Kaolin Filler

In the present work, polymer blends were fabricated by mixing two polymers of polypropylene and poly (methyl methacrylate) mixed in different weight percentage and different particle size of Iraqi kaolin. The study of some mechanical, physical and thermal conductivity properties was carried out on all composites. The mechanical tests included (impact, hardness, modulus of elasticity, yield strength, elongation, stress at break and compression), Lee's disc method was used to calculate the coefficient of the thermal conductivity of specimens before and after reinforcement with kaolin powder. The physical properties test included absorption tests, as well as X-ray measurement. The results have shown that after the reinforcement with different weight percent of kaolin powder, most mechanical properties such as hardness , modulus of elasticity and compression increase while impact and elongation decrease with increasing in weight percentage and a decreasing in particle size. The results have shown also that the coefficient of thermal conductivity decreases with increase weight percentage the water gain is decreased with the increase in weight percent and decrease in particle size of the filler. X-ray diffraction pattern of filled samples indicates that addition of kaolin adversely affects the crystallization of PP/PMMA blend

In vitro scan accuracy and time efficiency in various implant-supported fixed partial denture situations.

OBJECTIVES To compare the accuracy and time efficiency of different digital workflows in 3 implant-supported fixed partial denture situations. METHODS Three partially edentulous maxillary models with 2 implants (Model 1: implants at lateral incisor sites; Model 2: implants at right canine and first molar sites; Model 3: implants at right first premolar and first molar sites) were digitized (ATOS Capsule 200MV120, n=1) for reference scans. Test scans were performed for direct (Primescan (DDW-P) and Trios 3 (DDW-T)) and indirect (IDW) digital workflows (n=14). For IDW, stone casts (type IV) were obtained from vinylsiloxanether impressions and digitized (S600 Arti). The scan/impression and post processing times were recorded. Reference and test scans were superimposed (GOM Inspect) to calculate 3D point, inter-implant distance, and angular deviations. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used for trueness and precision analyses (α=.05). RESULTS Tested workflows affected trueness (P≤.030) and precision (P<.001) of scans (3D point, inter-implant distance, and angular deviations) within models. DDW-P had the highest accuracy (3D point deviations) for models 1 and 3 (P≤.046). IDW had the lowest accuracy for model 2 (P<.01). DDW-P had the highest accuracy (inter-implant distance deviations) for model 3 (P≤.048). Direct digital workflow mostly led to lower angular deviations (P≤.040), and higher precision for models 2 (mesiodistal direction) and 3 (P<.001). The time for direct digital workflow was shorter (P<.001), DDW-P being more efficient than DDW-T (P=.008). CONCLUSION Direct digital workflow was more accurate and efficient than indirect digital workflow in tested partial edentulism situations with 2 implants. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Tested intraoral scanners can be recommended for accurate and efficient impressions of anterior and posterior 3- or 4-unit implant-supported fixed partial dentures