The covid-19 global pandemic has influenced the day-to-day lives of people across the world. One consequence of this has been significant distortion to the subjective speed at which people feel like time is passing. To date, temporal distortions during covid-19 have mainly been studied in Europe. The current study therefore sought to explore experiences of the passage of time in Iraq. An online questionnaire was used to explore the passage of time during the day, week and the 11 months since the first period of covid-19 restrictions were imposed in Iraq. The questionnaire also measured affective and demographic factors, and task-load. The results showed that distortions to the passage of time were widespread in Iraq. Participants consistently reported a slowing of the passage of time for the day and the week during the pandemic in comparison to normal (i.e. before the pandemic). Participants also reported that it felt like longer than 11-months since the first lockdown began. The passage of time during the day and week were not predicted by any demographic, affective or task-load measures taken in the study. The perceived length of time since the first lockdown was however predicted by stress and change of life due to covid, with greater stress and greater change of life being associated with greater subjective lengthening of the pandemic. The findings indicate that whilst distortions to the passage of time during covid-19 appear to be a global phenomenon, the factors which predict temporal experience during the pandemic differ between countries and cultures.
Artificial Neural networks (ANN) are powerful and effective tools in time-series applications. The first aim of this paper is to diagnose better and more efficient ANN models (Back Propagation, Radial Basis Function Neural networks (RBF), and Recurrent neural networks) in solving the linear and nonlinear time-series behavior. The second aim is dealing with finding accurate estimators as the convergence sometimes is stack in the local minima. It is one of the problems that can bias the test of the robustness of the ANN in time series forecasting. To determine the best or the optimal ANN models, forecast Skill (SS) employed to measure the efficiency of the performance of ANN models. The mean square error and
... Show MoreAs they are the smallest functional parts of the muscle, motor units (MUs) are considered as the basic building blocks of the neuromuscular system. Monitoring MU recruitment, de-recruitment, and firing rate (by either invasive or surface techniques) leads to the understanding of motor control strategies and of their pathological alterations. EMG signal decomposition is the process of identification and classification of individual motor unit action potentials (MUAPs) in the interference pattern detected with either intramuscular or surface electrodes. Signal processing techniques were used in EMG signal decomposition to understand fundamental and physiological issues. Many techniques have been developed to decompose intramuscularly detec
... Show MoreIn this paper, the reliability and scheduling of maintenance of some medical devices were estimated by one variable, the time variable (failure times) on the assumption that the time variable for all devices has the same distribution as (Weibull distribution.
The method of estimating the distribution parameters for each device was the OLS method.
The main objective of this research is to determine the optimal time for preventive maintenance of medical devices. Two methods were adopted to estimate the optimal time of preventive maintenance. The first method depends on the maintenance schedule by relying on information on the cost of maintenance and the cost of stopping work and acc
... Show MoreAbstract— The growing use of digital technologies across various sectors and daily activities has made handwriting recognition a popular research topic. Despite the continued relevance of handwriting, people still require the conversion of handwritten copies into digital versions that can be stored and shared digitally. Handwriting recognition involves the computer's strength to identify and understand legible handwriting input data from various sources, including document, photo-graphs and others. Handwriting recognition pose a complexity challenge due to the diversity in handwriting styles among different individuals especially in real time applications. In this paper, an automatic system was designed to handwriting recognition
... Show MoreEmbracing digital technological advancements in media and communication has led government entities to adopt communication practices fully aligned with the digital and networked system in government communication. Traditional media practices within the government environment increasingly rely on the ability to utilize digital tools and systems for content creation, communication, evaluation, and the management of the entire communication process within an electronic and intelligent framework for government services. Naturally, this transformation has caught the attention of communication and public relations researchers worldwide, as the digital and networked aspects of government communication now form an intelle
... Show MoreThis study deals with establishing the depositional environment of the Fatha Formation through facies analysis. It also deals with dividing the formation into units based on the rhythmic nature. Data from selected shallow wells near Hit area and deep wells at East Baghdad Oil field are used. Five major lithofacies are recognized in this study, namely, greenish grey marl, limestone, gypsum (and/or anhydrite), halite and reddish brown mudstone (with occasional sandstone).The limestone lithofacies is divided into three microfacies: Gastropods bioclastic wackestone microfacies, Gastropods peloidal bioclastic packstone, and Foraminiferal packstone microfacies.The lithofacies of the Fatha are nested in a rhythmic pattern or what is known as sh
... Show MoreVarious theories have been proposed since in last century to predict the first sighting of a new crescent moon. None of them uses the concept of machine and deep learning to process, interpret and simulate patterns hidden in databases. Many of these theories use interpolation and extrapolation techniques to identify sighting regions through such data. In this study, a pattern recognizer artificial neural network was trained to distinguish between visibility regions. Essential parameters of crescent moon sighting were collected from moon sight datasets and used to build an intelligent system of pattern recognition to predict the crescent sight conditions. The proposed ANN learned the datasets with an accuracy of more than 72% in comp
... Show MoreTigris River is one of the main important surface water resources in Iraq. This necessitates continuous study of its quality . The present study is concerned with the characteristics and quality of Tigris water passing through in Baghdad city. (eight) samples were collected from the river in the area Grea't City. The study periods were carried over four season, which has been sampled once represent the every season. First sampling 12-11-2012 represent the autumn season The second sampling 20-1-2013 to represent the winter season. The third in 25-3- 2013 to represent the Springer season. The fourth during 29-5-2013 to represent the summer spring season. In order to specify the water quality, a group of physical and chemical analyses have bee
... Show MoreJoints are among the most widespread geologic structures as they are found in most each exposure of rock. They differ greatly in appearance, dimensions, and arrangement, besides they occur in quite different tectonic environments. This study is important because joints provide evidence on what kind of stress produced them (history of deformation) and also because they change the characteristics of the rocks in which they occur. The Measured data of joints from the studied area which are located in the high folded zone – Northeast of Iraq, were classified according to their relationship with the tectonic axes by projecting them stereographically using Schmidt net in GEOrient ver.9.5.0 software. The joint systems revealed the orientation of
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