Several toxigenic cyanobacteria produce the cyanotoxin (microcystin). Being a health and environmental hazard, screening of water sources for the presence of microcystin is increasingly becoming a recommended environmental procedure in many countries of the world. This study was conducted to assess the ability of freshwater cyanobacterial species Westiellopsis prolifica to produce microcystins in Iraqi freshwaters via using molecular and immunological tools. The toxigenicity of W. prolifica was compared via laboratory experiments with other dominant bloom-forming cyanobacteria isolated from the Tigris River: Microcystis aeruginosa, Chroococcus turigidus, Nostoc carneum, and Lyngbya sp. signifi

Freshwater mussels are a guild of stationary, suspended-feeding species; they perform significant ecological functions like nitrogen cycling, bioturbation that gives oxygen and habitat that other creatures need to survive, and increasing water clearance by filtration. Knowledge of the freshwater mussel Unio tigridis Bourguignat, 1852, distribution, and molecular study in Iraq was inadequate. In the current study, this species of freshwater Mussels belonging to the family Unionidae was collected from different locations in the Greater Zab River, from April 2022 to November 2022. The average water temperature of the site was arranged between (17.8 to 36.1 C°). All previous studies in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq were based on morphologic

     Keratin is a fibrous, insoluble structural protein that is highly cross-linked with hydrophobic, hydrogen, and disulfide bonds. Keratinases are enzymes that belong to the category of serine hydrolases that are capable of breaking down keratin. The results of the determination of the better fermentation system showed that the production of keratinase from local A.terreus A13 isolate by submerged fermentation (SmF) system was the best system to give the highest specific activity (113.4 U/mg) of keratinase compared with solid-state fermentation (SSF). The optimum conditions for keratinase production by SmF, were determined via cultivation conditions, including carbon source, nitrogen source, temperature, pH of the medium,

Removal of Congo red, Rhodamine B, and Dispers Blue dyes from water solution have been achieved using Flint Clay as an adsorbent. The adsorption was studied as a function of contact time, adsorbent dose, pH, and temperature under batch adsorption technique. The equilibrium data fit with Langmuir, Freundlich and Toth models of adsorption and the linear regression coefficient R2 was used to elucidate the best fitting isotherm model. Different thermodynamic parameters, namely Gibb’s free energy, enthalpy and entropy of the on-going adsorption process have also been evaluated. Batch technique has been employed for the kinetic measurements and the adsorption of the three dyes follows a second order rate kinetics. The kinetic investigations al

              Due to the increasing interest in the quality of auditing by writers, researchers and regulators of the auditing profession. The matter necessitated a statement of the extent to which the auditor practices professional skepticism, because of its significant impact in discovering errors and material misrepresentations contained in the financial statements in order to give the financial community confidence in them and the success of the audit process. The research aims to clarify the concept and importance of the practice of professional skepticism and its effect on the quality of the auditor's performance in Iraq. To achieve the research objectives, the two re

    The knowledge of the quantity of total solar radiation on horizontal and inclined surfaces is very important in the calculations of heating and cooling loads in architecture and in the design of certain solar energy applications such as photovoltaic and solar collectors. This paper estimates the total solar radiation on inclined surfaces in Baghdad (Lat. 33⁰ 21' N      44⁰ 14' long and 34m above MSL).  A good model was used to estimate hourly total solar radiation on the inclined surface with different elevations (15⁰, 30⁰, 45⁰, 60⁰, 75⁰, 90⁰) from a horizontal surface. The mean hourly, daily and monthl

This Study was conducted out at the Ministry of Agriculture's Poultry Research Station/Animal Resources Department/Agricultural Research Center. To see how body weight (BW) and leptin hormone (LEP) levels in breeder blood affect fertility and hatchability. 140 Iraqi local laying chickens (120 females + 20 males) aged 28 weeks were used in the study. Following the numbering of females, the birds were grown in individual cages and dispersed sequentially on cages. The experiment was divided into three periods, each lasting 28 days, during which the breeder's live body weight was recorded and divided into two categories (greater than 1.5 kg and less than 1.5 kg), and blood samples were collected at the end of each period to determine th