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.
Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma has emerged as a
new promising tool in medicine and biology. In this work, A DBD
system was built as a source of atmospheric pressure non-thermal
Plasma suitable for clinical and biological applications. E. coli and
staphylococcus spp bacteria were exposed to the DBD plasma for a
period of time as inactivation (sterilization) process. A series of
experiments were achieved under different operating conditions. The
results showed that the inactivation, of the two kinds of bacteria, was
affected (increasing or decreasing) according to operation conditions
because they affects, as expected, the produced plasma properties
according to those conditions.
Over last decade, rapid growth in economic and population accompanied with depletion of the energy resources lead to serious impacts on environment and humanity. This development coupled with active constructions, which in some examples ignore the impact on the environment and human activities. Therefore, principle of sustainability has required in order to reducing this negative impact on the environment and the humanity.In developing countries, it seems that there is a huge gap between the current construction practices and sustainable principle, which need more attention to clarify and define the problems in order to find suitable solutions before it comes more difficult and expensive. The study aims to choose one of the develo
This research aims to address the most recent international standard in the field of insurance contracts, the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS17) and the theoretical framework of the standard in addition to the most important characteristics of the standard (IFRS17), as well as to identify the paragraphs of the modern standard, with the challenges its application in general and the use of the approach (inputs - operations - outputs) to present the challenges of its application in the Iraqi environment and specifically in the environment of Iraqi insurance sector companies (government), the research is based on the main premise that the identification of the requirements for the application of the International Fin
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The research is presented according to an objective study on the ideological problems, especially the distortions that the divine scriptures have been subjected to under a false pretext that does not pertain to religion, namely that the heavenly books of the Torah and the Bible have been damaged or lost as a result of apostasy and persecution, and the writing of these books has been entrusted by people who have been bestowed Holiness, they have the testimony of the Church, so they distorted and omitted it in a manner suitable for securing their good and worldly gains, and the Holy Qur’an mentioned this explicitly, and they continued later, especially the Jews, in distorting the verses of the Holy Qur’an. This researc
... Show Moreمن أجل فهم دور سلطنة عُمان في المفاوضات الإقليمية والوساطة وحل النزاعات يجب تقدير سياستها الخارجية، والتي سيتم تقييمها من أجل فهم كيفية نشأتها وتشكلها وأثر ذلك على مواقفها السياسية طوال سنوات حكم السلطان الراحل قابوس بن سعيد. وتقع عُمان في منطقة مضطربة، وقد طُلب منها في عدة مناسبات أن تعمل كمفاوض أو وسيط في الصراعات الإقليمية. سيبحث هذا البحث في كيفية قيام السلطنة بالوساطة الدولية، خاصة في الصراع الأمريكي
... Show MoreBackground: This study aimed to apply a high-power pulsed alexandrite laser in vitro, the researchers tested different exposure periods, pulse lengths, and laser fluencies to see which dosage was most successful against S. aureus bacteria, which had developed resistance to many antibiotics. Method: Three bacteria samples were exposed to laser beams for 30 seconds with a 5ms pulse duration and a laser fluency of 5J/cm2. The process was repeated with laser fluencies of 10, 15, and 20. Results: The study was carried out by using different doses of Alexandrite laser. Results: There are significant differences (p = 0.05) in the mean number of bacteria colonies exposed for 30 and 60 seconds at any laser fluencies utilized in the present i
... Show MoreThe research aims to know the effectiveness of a training program based on multiple intelligence theory in developing literary thinking among students of the Arabic Language Department at Ibn Rushd School of Humanities and to achieve the goal of research, the Safaris Research Institute, and the research community of Arabic language students in the Faculty of Education the third section of Arabic Language: The research sample consists of (71) students. Divided into (35) students in the experimental group and (36) students in the control group, the researcher balanced between the two groups with variables (intelligence, testing of tribal literary thinking, and time age in months), and after using the T-test for two independent samples, the
... Show MoreBackground: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative aging disease, with idiopathic PD being most common. Gastrointestinal tract disorders (GITD) and microbiota changes may trigger idiopathic PD. Neurotoxins from microbiota can travel from the gut to the brain via the brain-gut axis (BGA), leading to α-syn protein misfolding and dopaminergic neuron death. Methods: The aim of the current study was to investigate the link between PD and GITD by measuring several biochemical and immunological markers in 142 patients. The biochemical markers measured were vitamins B6, B12, and D, calcium, serotonin, ghrelin, dopamine, and α-syn protein. The immunological markers included transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), tu
... Show MorePurpose: This study aims to shed the light on allusions to real lab rats in Dashner’s trilogy: The Maze Runner (2009), The Scorch Trails (2010), and The Death Cure (2011). It also aims to trace the historical documents and chronicles essential to reveal the justifications behind the vague political and scientific crimes. Methodology: The researchers have used the literary analytical approach to study and analyze selected prominent aspects from each novel; such as the concept of lab rats and genocide crimes in The Maze Runner; references to weather experiments, the climate change conspiracy, gas chambers, and the Holocaust in The Scorch Trails; and finally, the man-made diseases and biological weapons in The Death Cure. Results
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