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.
Tuberculosis (TB) still remains an important medical problem due to high levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A series of innate immune mechanisms that create a cytokine network control the pathogenesis of tuberculosis and this response has the capacity to modify the host genomic DNA structure through epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation which could constantly alter the local gene expression pattern that can modulate the metabolism of the tissues and the immune-response. Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine regulator of the innate immune response to TB. This study aims to determine DNA methylation patterns of INF-γ gene promoter and measure serum IFN- γ level in newly diagnosed TB patient
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Rice (Oryza sativa) is a fundamental food for the majority of world population. Cyclin Dependent Kinase -A (CDKA) accelerates transition through different stages of cell cycle and contributes in gametes formation. In the present investigation, a CDKA encoding gene along with the corresponding protein were characterized in O. sativa Indica Group, O. glaberrima, O. barthii, O. brachyantha, O. glumipatula, O. longistaminata, O. meridionalis, O. nivara, O. punctata and O. rufipogon using in silico analyses. The results reflected little variation in most species except O. longistaminata and O. brachyantha. Compared with the remaining species, O. longistaminata
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There is currently a significantly larger concentration of toxins in our environment than there was in the past. This is mostly attributable to the expansion of modern industry. This investigation was conducted in order to investigate various haematological and biochemical changes in order to determine the effects of Cd on the liver and kidney. Because of its long biological half-life, it is considered hazardous to human health. The effect of sub-lethal doses (40, 80 and 120 mg\Kg) of Cadmium (Cd) on male mice were evaluated for 4 weeks, and analysis was done to estimate their biochemical parameters and antioxidant enzymes. The results showed that Cd-treated mice had considerably lower packed cell volume, red blood cells, and haemoglobin. W
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Science is linked to each other bonds assets, branches and even close to each other; to become a link of this type of patterns of scientific integration, and perhaps the most prominent science that saw the overlap and interdependence of science and jurisprudence and its origins, and this interdependence did not stop at the epistemological foundations of knowledge; To the branches, methods of extraction, and diligence to extend to the terminology; to find similar terms in both flags; to become those terms similar in the word and meaning and even the end, but we do not lack terms similar in pronunciation and differing in meaning; and this difference is imposed by the specificity of each science and what M E; however, approached many terms
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From a group of 60 patients with dentoalveolar infections among which 10 were diabetic and 10 non-diabetic were elected as test group as well as 10 normal subjects as control group. Six Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus anginousus were diagnosed in the first and second group of the patients the immune status of the patients and control subject were tested by pathogen specific antibody titre, neotrophil NBT reduction phagocytosis and leukocyte inhibition LIF. Diabetic patients with dentoalveolar infection shows decreased specific antibody titers, subnormal neutrophil NBT phagocytic % as well as non significant LIF % in comparison non diabetic reveal high specific antibody titers against , high neutrophil NBT% and significant LIF% re
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Abstract:
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This study aims to show the level of organizational fairness at Hawija Technical Institute ,from the point view of the faculty ,and the degree of their performance, and the nature of the relationship between organizational fairness and their performance.
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