The Biogeochemical Cycling of Particulate Trace Metals off the Southwest African and Peruvian Shelves

Marine particles in the ocean play an important role in the marine biogeochemical cycling of trace metals (TMs), yet our understanding of the marine biogeochemical cycling of TMs remains incomplete. Additionally, particulate TM (pTM) datasets from key dynamic regions of the global ocean, such as continental shelves, upwelling sites, and oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), are lacking, impeding progress toward fully understanding the processes which impact pTM cycling and distributions. This work studies the biogeochemical cycling of particulate iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), and phosphorus (P) on the SW African and Peruvian shelves, employing a chemical leach to marine particles collected on two separate research expeditions. The distributions and biogeochemical cycling of biogeochemical tracers, molybdenum (Mo), barium (Ba), chromium (Cr), tungsten (W), thorium (Th), and uranium (U) are explored only on the SW African shelf. Transects from these sites traversed through contrasting biogeochemical regimes with diverse particle sources, including the Benguela and Humboldt upwelling regions, OMZs, and the Congo River plume, offering unique gradients under which pTM cycling can be studied. Differentiating between labile and refractory pTM fractions, provided a more accurate assessment of the biogeochemical behavior and fate of pTMs within the different marine environments. Elemental ratios and particle type proxies were also utilized to determine redox and scavenging processes, and biological uptake of TMs in the water column. This approach allowed for the characterization of the principal carrier phases of pTMs in the water column, which is a critical step toward constraining the mechanisms that control their fate and interactions with dissolved phases in the water column

Analytical methods for predicting load-displacement behaviour of piles

Abstract This thesis presents new methods for predicting pile response under different loading and soil conditions. The new methods offer practs engineers with a simple, quick and reliable tool for designing piles and ensuring that both safety and serviceability requirements are satisfied. In this thesis, an energy-based analytical approach for determining the dynamic response of piles subjected to dynamic loads is presented. The kinematic and potential energies of the pile-foundation system are minimized by a variational principle to obtain the governing equations of the pile-foundation system, along with the appropriate boundary conditions. Comparison with field data demonstrates the success of the new approach for predicting the resonant frequencies of laterally loaded piles. Energy-based methods are also developed for piles subjected to combined static loading. These methods are formulated for different constitutive models: linear-elastic, non-linear elastic and elasto-plastic models. In addition to energy-based methods, simple similarity methods have been developed to predict pile displacements. In the similarity methods, the load-displacement curve of a pile foundation can be obtained directly by scaling the stress-strain response obtained from a triaxial test on a representative soil sample. Linear scaling factors are presented and extensive verification is carried out against field data, centrifuge models and nonlinear finite element analysis

Comparison the concepts of sense of place and attachment to place in architectural studies

Today, concepts such as place attachment, sense of place, meaning of place, place identity, and ... has devoted many studies In literature of architecture and urban design particularly in the field of environmental psychology. It is obvious that in all these concepts, various aspects of interaction between human and place and the impact that places have on people has been presented. This paper defines the concepts of sense of place and place attachment and explains the factors that affect them. Sense of place is a comprehensive concept which in it men feels places, percept them and attached meaning to them. Understanding the fundamental aspects of sense of place, can be effective in assess the level of public attachment to places and tendency of people to places. Place attachment refer to emotional and functional bonds between place and people which Interpreted in different scale from a district to a country in Environmental psychology. In this regard different studies point to varied of spatial and human factors. Review the literature, this paper achieves a comprehensive definition of these concepts and then it try to compare them to find their relationship. What will come eventually is that place attachment is one of the sense of place subsets. Thus in encounter of people and place if assume people sense of place a general feeling to that place, place attachment is a positive emotion which people have about the place

Single electron transfer reactions of 2,2,2-trichloro-1-aryl-ethanones and development of tracelessly removable bioconjugation reagents

PhD ThesisIraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (IMHESR) and University of Basra

PROPOSING A MODEL FOR AN IDEAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WEALTHY CITIZENS AND STATE-OWNED BANKS USING GROUNDED THEORY

Abstract. Early investigations on the banking industry indicate that a considerable part of bank’s resources is provided through a limited number of valuable customers. However, many domestic banks in general and state-owned banks in particular, do not provide a clear definition on valuable customers, leading to the lack of an understanding of the subjective expectations of the customers regarding the nature of an effective relationship. This study aims to explain the size and components of the ideal relationship between the customers and banks according to the customers’ comments. Codes extracted from interviews with fourteen privileged customers of banks are analyzed using the grounded theory as a qualitative research approach. Accordingly, dimensions of the paradigmatic model and elements of a good relationship with the privileged customers are explained. After the analysis of the proposed model, some suggestions are presented for future bank managers and researchers in this field.Key words: privileged customers, customer relationship management, Grounded Theory, State-owned Ban

New Design of SCM-SAC-OCDMA-FSO System by Using Gain Techniqe Based on MD Code

بصريات الفضاء الحرة (FSO) هو نظام اتصالات حديث وجديد حيث الفضاء الحر بمثابة وسيلة بين المرسل والمستلم، وينبغي أن تكون في خط البصر (LOS) لنجاح نقل شعاع الضوء. ونظرا لمتوسط ​​المساحة الحرة، فإنها تعاني من تداخلات مختلفة مثل [المطر والضباب والثلج] التي يمكن أن تؤثر على أداء الإشارة وتؤدي إلى تقليل توافر الاشارة، الموثوقية وصلة الاتصال. وبسبب المناخ الصحراوي العراقي، فإنه يتعرض للعواصف الترابية في معظم الوقت من السنة أكثر من مناطق أخرى، لذلك فمن المهم لدراسة تأثير الجو الترابي وإيجاد طريقة مناسبة للحد من هذا التأثير الجوي على شعاع الليزر عند السفر إلى النقطة النهائية للاشارة. ترميز الطيف الضوئي _ الشفرة الضوئية المتعددة المنافذ (SAC-OCDMA) أصبح مجالا رئيسيا للبحوث في نظام الاتصالات البصرية. OCDMA تسمح للمستخدم المتعدد للوصول إلى النظام دون أي خلاف، ترميز متعدد الاقطار (MD) يستخدم في النظام لدعم عدد كبير من المستخدمين مع ارتفاع معدل البيانات المرسلة. مكبر للموجة البصرية يضاف إلى النظام لتوفير المزيد من التحسين والسماح لإرسال شعاع الليزر لمسافات طويلة وانخفاض التدخل بين الموجات المرسلة. وتبين نتيجة الدراسة أن أداء النظام المقترح أفضل من النظام بدون مكبر الموجة البصرية. ويمكن ملاحظة أن معدل الخطأ في البتات (BER) في الحد الأدنى من الرؤية ( عند وجود عاصفة ترابية ) يصل إلى ، معدل الخطا في البتات في الرؤية المتوسطة بين ( & ) ، معدل الخطا في البتات  مع الوضوحية العالية ( )) مع 1.85 كم كمسافة انتقال البيانات  و 1 جيجا  بايت  كبيانات نقل للمستخدم.Free space optic (FSO) is a new modern communication system where free space acts as a medium between transverse and they should be in Line Of Sight (LOS) for successful transmission of optical beam. Due to free space medium , it suffer of various interference like [Rain , Fog/Haze , Snow] that can effect on signal performance and lead to reduce  the availability and reliability of the communication link .Because of Iraqi desert climate ,it exposed to dusty storm in most time of year more than other regions , so it is important to study the effect of Fog/Haze and find suitable method to reduce this atmospheric effect on the laser beam when it travel to its final point .Spectral Amplitude Coding Optical Code Division Multiple Access (SAC-OCDMA) has become a major area of research in optical communication system . OCDMA allows multiple user to access the system without any contention; Multi Diagonal (MD) code used in system to support large number of user with high data rate .Optical amplifier is added to the system to provide more enhancement and permit to send the laser beam in longer distance and decrease the interference on it. The result of the study shows that the performance of the proposed system is better than the system without amplifier. It can be seen that the BER with minimum visibility (strong Haze storm) reach to 8 , BER of medium visibility between (1 & 8 ), BER with high visibility (1 ) at 1.85 Km as a transmission distance and 1Gbps as a transmission data

Analysis of a laterally loaded rigid cylinder embedded in an elastoplastic

An analytical approach has been developed to predict the response of a rigid disc embedded in elastoplastic media. The governing differential equations are obtained using the principle of minimizing the potential energy. The displacement components in cylindrical coordinates could be represented by Fourier series. The fitted method is used to determine the Fourier series harmonic coefficients. Validation is made against finite element analysis and previously published solutions

The Moderating Effect of Organizational Culture on the Relationship between Strategic Human Resource Practices and Stainable Competitive Advantage in Bahrain

The purpose of this study is to identify the moderating role of organizational culture in the relationship between strategic HR practices and sustainable competitive advantage in the manufacturing sector in Bahrain. This study was mainly underpinned by the resource-based view (RBV). To achieve the study’s objectives, 211 questionnaires were distributed in the form of a self-administrated survey. Overall, a total of one hundred fifty-nine (159) completed questionnaires were usable, indicating a response rate of 75.4 percent. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied using SPSS and SmartPLS to carry out the data analysis. The result indicated that clan culture and market culture negatively moderate the relationship between strategic HR practices and sustainable competitive advantage. However, adhocracy culture and hierarchy culture do not moderate this relationship. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by conceptualizing a research framework, which reflects the moderating role of four types of organizational culture on the relationship between strategic HR practices and sustainable competitive advantage. This study offers valuable recommendations for the consideration of practitioners as key tools to support the manufacturing sector in Bahrain when it comes to facing the decline in oil production, and the need to maintain the sustainability of all sub-manufacturing sectors

An Integrated Fuzzy Clustering Cooperative Game Data Envelopment Analysis Model with application in Hospital Efficiency

Hospitals are the main sub-section of health care systems and evaluation of hospitals is one of the most important issue for health policy makers. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a nonparametric method that has recently been used for measuring efficiency and productivity of Decision Making Units (DMUs) and commonly applied for comparison of hospitals. However, one of the important assumption in DEA is that DMUs must be homogenous. The crucial issue in hospital efficiency is that hospitals are providing different services and so may not be comparable. In this paper, we propose an integrated fuzzy clustering cooperative game DEA approach. In fact, due to the lack of homogeneity among DMUs, we first propose to use a fuzzy C-means technique to cluster the DMUs. Then we apply DEA combined with the game theory where each DMU is considered as a player, using Core and Shapley value approaches within each cluster. The procedure has successfully been applied for performances measurement of 288 hospitals in 31 provinces of Iran. Finally, since the classical DEA model is not capable to distinguish between efficient DMUs, efficient hospitals within each cluster, are ranked using combined DEA model and cooperative game approach. The results show that the Core and Shapley values are suitable for fully ranking of efficient hospitals in the healthcare systems