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.
This paper presents ABAQUS simulations of fully encased composite columns, aiming to examine the behavior of a composite column system under different load conditions, namely concentric, eccentric with 25 mm eccentricity, and flexural loading. The numerical results are validated with the experimental results obtained for columns subjected to static loads. A new loading condition with a 50 mm eccentricity is simulated to obtain additional data points for constructing the interaction diagram of load-moment curves, in an attempt to investigate the load-moment behavior for a reference column with a steel I-section and a column with a GFRP I-section. The result comparison shows that the experimental data align closely with the simulation
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Dam operation and management have become more complex recently because of the need for considering hydraulic structure sustainability and environmental protect on. An Earthfill dam that includes a powerhouse system is considered as a significant multipurpose hydraulic structure. Understanding the effects of running hydropower plant turbines on the dam body is one of the major safety concerns for earthfill dams. In this research, dynamic analysis of earthfill dam, integrated with a hydropower plant system containing six vertical Kaplan turbines (i.e., Haditha dam), is investigated. In the first stage of the study, ANSYS-CFX was used to represent one vertical Kaplan turbine unit by designing a three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (F
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Objective: Geographic differences in clinical and pathological aspects of ameloblastoma have been suggested, therefore the purpose of this study was to analyze cases of ameloblastoma in terms of clinical and radiographic manifestations, histopathological types, treatment modalities and recurrence rate and compare them with reports from other parts of the world. Methods: The medical reports of patients diagnosed with ameloblastoma were reviewed and the data concerning the age, gender, chief complaint, the anatomical site of the lesion, radiographic appearance, histopathological diagnosis, treatment approach and recurrence were retrieved. Surgical treatment consisted of either enucleation with curettage and peripheral ostectomy or resection;
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BACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid carcinoma that represents a set of characteristic of nuclear features in which the diagnosis is depend. AIM: The study aimed to review different variants of PTC which has different malignant potential in correlation with many prognostic and clinical factors in Iraq. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Paraffin blocks of 227 cases of PTC were selected, subtyped, and grouped according to the malignant potential. The prognostic and clinical factors were studied. RESULTS: The mean age was (39.29 ± 12.17) years, with female predominance (86.3%), where (55.5%) of them below 40 years, conventional variant was most common (40.1%), followed by papillary microcarcinoma
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Histological study of the cerebellum in a bird white cheeked bulbul Pycnonotus lecucotis, the result of the study showed that the cerebellum took the parts of the hindbrain, the histological study of the cerebellum revealed the presence of deep folds on its surface. The cerebellum consists of two areas, the cerebellar cortex, which is called the gray matter, which consists of three layers: the outer layer (the molecular layer), the middle (Purkinje cells) and inner layer (the granular layer). The second area of the cerebellum is called the medullary and the white matter.
formation constants for the conrdination of aniline pyridine dimethyl sulfoxide dimethyl formamide ethanol dimethylamine have been determined the cordination
Morphologies of ceramic hollow fiber membranes prepared by a combined phase-inversion and sintering method were studied. The organic binder spinning solution containing suspended Al₂O₃ powders was spun to a hollow fiber precursor, which was then sintered at elevated temperatures( 300 ˚C, 1400 ˚C, 25 ˚C) in order to obtain the Al₂O₃ hollow fiber membranes. The spinning solution consisted of polyether sulfone (PES), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), which were used as polymer binder, solvent, respectively. The prepared Al₂O₃ hollow fiber membranes were characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). It is believed that finger-like void formation in asymmetric ceramic membranes is initiated by hydrodynamically unstable vis
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Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to study the thermal cracking for acenaphthylene molecule to estimate the bond energies for breaking C8b-C5a , C5a-C5 , C5-C4 , and C5-H5 bonds as well as the activation energies. It was found that for C8b-C5a , C5-C4 , and C5-H5 reactions it is often possible to identify one pathway for bond breakage through the singlet or triplet states. The atomic charges , dipole moment and nuclear – nuclear repulsion energy supported the breakage bond .Also, it was found that the activation energy value for C5-H5 bond breakage is lower than that required for C8b-C5a , C5a-C5 , C5-C4 bonds which refer to C5-H5 bond in acenaphthylene molecule are weaker than C8b-C5a , C5a-C5 , C5-C
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