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.
Data hiding is the process of encoding extra information in an image by making small modification to its pixels. To be practical, the hidden data must be perceptually invisible yet robust to common signal processing operations. This paper introduces a scheme for hiding a signature image that could be as much as 25% of the host image data and hence could be used both in digital watermarking as well as image/data hiding. The proposed algorithm uses orthogonal discrete wavelet transforms with two zero moments and with improved time localization called discrete slantlet transform for both host and signature image. A scaling factor ? in frequency domain control the quality of the watermarked images. Experimental results of signature image
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We presented here a 65years old lady with an unusual presentation of a large epigastric hernia of twenty years duration .The swelling was occupying all the right hypochondrial region .The diagnosis was made on r^E^a-operative identification of the defect in the linea alba which wassutured after removal of the hernial sac and its contents .The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient remained with no complications or recurrence for more than two years follow up.
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Some physical and chemical characteristics of Jurf Al- Sakar drinking water plant in Babylon governorate have been studied. Seven locations for this plant were selected. These were the drinking water treatment plant source on Euphrates River before entering the plant, precipitation, filtration and collection tanks, and also after leaving the plant at distances of one meter, 4 and 8 km. The samples were collected bimonthly from October, 2002 to August, 2003. Some results match with the national and international standard characters while the other characters (Turbidity, total hardness, calcium, nitrate, phosphate and the biological oxygen demand values) were not match. The present study showed that drinking water treatment plant is undrinka
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The Accommodation industry in Iraq suffers from many problems, especially after 2003, when the Accommodation industry was exposed to many crises due to the security and political situation in Iraq, which negatively affected the administrative operations inside the industry and created many problems, the most important of which are deterioration, high costs and poor performance, so some hotel administrations sought To find alternative solutions that help in the advancement of hotels, one of the proposals is to go to technology, as technology is currently one of the most important solutions to solve large complex problems, as the world has turned to automation to solve complex problems such as increasing production, reducing costs, and rai
... Show MoreBackground: Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) has been used as a traditional medicine for many years to cure different kinds of diseases. Studies have been reported that Gotu Kola extracts might be used as a cure for oral diseases such as periodontal disease. In the present study, Gotu Kola leaves extracted with water will be used to evaluate its effect on some microorganisms living in the human saliva using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method. Material and Method:Gotu Kola fresh leaves extract have been used with water as a solvent, a rotary evaporator was used to separate the solvent from the extract. The following microorganisms: Streptococci, Lactobacilli, and Staphylococcus aureus have been isolated fromthe Saliva of ten voluntee
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Recently, environmental noise has arisen from various sources, such as those from exhaust mufflers of combustion engines found in cars, trucks, or power generators, which produce significant noise during their operation. Controlling the radiated noise from these mufflers is a major factor in improving acoustic comfort and minimizing the impact on the surrounding communities. Numerous research has been presented for this reason by modification of the internal structure of the exhaust muffler. The main objective of this work is to reduce the noise level emitted from exhaust mufflers. This can be achieved by adjusting structure parameters to attenuate the surrounding environment's radiated noise. Analysis of pressure-wave propagation h
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