Globalisation and rapid environmental change have created many challenges for public and private organisations across Iraq as a developing country, particularly in the higher education sector. This includes, for example, decreases in government funding; increased demand for higher education; a need for economic transformation, and related competitiveness of organizations. Such challenges require exceptional leaders and strategic planning in order to take action to improve. In Iraq, the higher education sector is still one of the main foundations in progressing the knowledge economy. Studies into leadership style, strategic planning processes, and the importance of leadership and organisational culture to an organisation’s success have been used to assist both public and private Iraqi colleges in responding to the challenges they face. Although, some studies have examined the interaction between leadership and strategic planning, and leadership and organisational success, there has been no empirical study that has investigated how these three variables interact together. Thus, this study aimed, firstly, to identify the current leadership styles and strategic planning processes in the colleges and the challenges they faced, and to gain an understanding from the perspective of the senior leaders themselves as to how they might best respond to the current situation. Secondly, based on the participants’ experiences, knowledge and perceptions, the study aimed to identify implications for both practice and policy to help improve the colleges’ outcomes. The study involved a mixed-methods approach and was conducted in two stages. During the first stage, the researcher gathered quantitative data by administering a survey package to 129 leaders (deans, associate deans, and heads of departments) across both public and private colleges in the capital city of Baghdad. During the second stage, the researcher gathered qualitative data to more deeply explore the survey results by conducting individual interviews with a sub-sample of 21 leaders from both college types (ten public and 11 private). In the data analyses stages, both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were applied to compiling tables and charts, and to test hypotheses, by employing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Microsoft Excel, and NVivo. The results of study showed that both transformational and transactional leadership styles played a varied and vital role in the colleges’ strategic planning processes, and in turn their success. The fact that private colleges were ‘for profit’ and public colleges were ‘not for profit’, as well as their contrasting funding models, highlighted key differences between the two college types’ leadership and general modus operandi. While it was found that both transformative leadership and transactional leadership styles were necessary to address the challenges colleges faced in the Iraqi educational context, the impetus for change extended far beyond the need for professional development of leaders. The embracing of information communication technologies, and reliable Internet was seen as necessary in all aspects of the colleges’ work and provision for teaching and learning, and students’ success. This applied to both college types along with the need for closer adherence to government regulations and more focused government coordination of colleges’ administrative functions. Furthermore, implications for making successful improvements to practice also identified the need to manage the challenge of sociocultural influences on the appointments and promotions of leaders. It was concluded that a greater emphasis on teamwork and provision of incentives for staff, along with a ‘boost’ to pedagogy and practice, which could be provided through the adoption of information communication technologies and appropriate professional development strategies, would enhance the colleges’ ranks and the status of their qualifications. Also, theoretically, the study offers a value-add to leadership, strategic planning process, and organisational success literature in the form of a conceptual model that links these variables in the context of Iraqi higher education sector.
In this study, we set up and analyze a cancer growth model that integrates a chemotherapy drug with the impact of vitamins in boosting and strengthening the immune system. The aim of this study is to determine the minimal amount of treatment required to eliminate cancer, which will help to reduce harm to patients. It is assumed that vitamins come from organic foods and beverages. The chemotherapy drug is added to delay and eliminate tumor cell growth and division. To that end, we suggest the tumor-immune model, composed of the interaction of tumor and immune cells, which is composed of two ordinary differential equations. The model’s fundamental mathematical properties, such as positivity, boundedness, and equilibrium existence, are exami
... Show MoreThe electrospun nanofibers membranes (ENMs) have gained great attention due to their superior performance. However, the low mechanical strength of ENMs, such as the rigidity and low strength, limits their applications in many aspects which need adequate strength, such as water filtration. This work investigates the impact of electrospinning parameters on the properties of ENMs fabricated from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solved in N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF). The studied electrospinning parameters were polymer concentration, solution flow rate, collector rotating speed, and the distance between the needle and collector. The fabricated ENMs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the surface morphology and es
... Show MoreThe aim of this study is to get practical evidence from the Egyptian business environment The Impact of Audit Committees Effectiveness and External Audit Quality on Timeliness of annual Financial Report. Design and methodology: The study based on the content analysis technique to examine the annual reports of a sample of (30) companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX100) during the period (2016-2019) with a total of (120) respondents. To test the research hypotheses, the results of the study indicate that there is a negative significant impact of audit committees on timeliness of annual financial report. Moreover, while there is a negative impact on the quality of the external audit on the timing of issuing the annual
... Show MoreThe present study aimed to explain the dose-dependent possible deleterious effects of 30 day administration of Tramadol on some hematological and biochemical parameters of laboratory male rats (Rattus norvegicus), the study consisted of eighteen adult male rats randomly divided into three equal groups (each of six). Group 1 (control) were treated by intraperitoneal injection of normal saline solution (0.2 ml), group two (low dose) was treated by intraperitonealy (i.p) injection of Tramadol at a dose of 50 mg/kg/day, group three (high dose) was treated by intraperitonealy injection of Tramadol at a dose of 100 mg/kg/day for 30 days. At the end of experimental period, rats were sacrificed. Blood were collected by cardiac puncture to inv
... Show MoreBackground: Polishing technique for acrylic resin material have great effect on properties of acrylic material and bacterial colonization such as staphylococcus aurous, which are responsible for many acrylic prosthetic infections such as the commonly ocular infections. Ineffective polishing technique could affect roughness and subsequently porosity of acrylic materials.So, a new effective method for polishing acrylic was used depending on the use of optiglaze coating material. So, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of optiglaze polishing on porosity of acrylic resin material and staphylococcus aurous activity in comparison to conventional polishing technique.
Materials and methods: Specimen(n=120) were prepared :20 spe
... Show MoreThe structural, optical properties of cupper indium gallium selenite (CuIn1-xGaxSe) have been studied. CuIn1-xGaxSe thin films for x=0.6 have been prepared by thermal evaporation technique, of 2000±20 nm thickness, with rate of deposition 2±0.1 nm/sec, on glass substrate at room temperature. Heat treatment has been carried out in the range (373-773) K for 1 hour. It demonstrated from the XRD method that all the as-deposited and annealed films have polycrystalline structure of multiphase. The optical measurement of the CIGS thin films conformed that they have, direct allowed energy gap equal to 1.7 eV. The values of some important optical parameters of the studied films such as (absorption coefficient, refractive index, extinction coeffici
... Show Moreيعد التقطيع الصوري من الاهداف الرئيسة والضرورية في المعالجات الصورية للصور الرقمية، فهو يسعى الى تجزئة الصور المدروسة الى مناطق متعددة اكثر نفعاً تلخص فيها المناطق ذات الافادة لصور الاقمار الصناعية، وهي صور متعددة الاطياف ومجهزة من الاقمار الصناعية باستخدام مبدأ الاستشعار عن بعد والذي اصبح من المفاهيم المهمة التي تُعتمد تطبيقاته في اغلب ضروريات الحياة اليومية، وخاصة بعد التطورات المتسارعة التي شهد
... Show MoreIn this research CdTe and CdTe: Cu thin films with different doping ratios (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) %, were deposited by thermal evaporation technique under vacuum on glass substrates at room temperature in thickness 450 nm. The measurements of electrical conductivity (σ), and activation energies (Ea1, Ea2), have been investigated on (CdTe) thin films as a function of doping ratios, as well as the effect of the heat treatment at (373, 423, and 473) K° for one hour on these measurements were calculated and all results are discussed. The electrical conductivity measurements show all films prepared contain two types of transport mechanisms, and the electrical conductivity (σ) increases where
... Show MoreThe effect of thermal annealing on some structural and optical properties of ZnSe thin films was studied which prepared by thermal evaporation method with (550±20) nm thickness and annealing at (373,473)K for (2h), By using X-ray diffraction technique structural properties studied and showed that the films are crystalline nature and have ( cubic structure ) .From the observed results after heating treatment, We found that the annealing to perform decreases in grain size and increases in dislocation and observed the optical properties increase in absorption and decrease in transmission. From absorption spectra optical energy gap calculated about (2.66,2.68)eV which decreases value after heating treatment