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.
The largest use of x-ray in medical by dentists, employers or persons that needed by patients with specific conditions, lead to higher exposure of x-ray that may cause many diseases. In the present work radiography films have been used in evaluating the efficiency of using unsaturated polyester polymer reinforced with lead oxide (PbO) as shield material for medical x-ray devices, many parameters studied like concentration and thickness that they are increasing the attenuation of x-ray in them. The results show that the attenuation of X-ray increasing with concentration of reinforced material and with thickness, and the optical density decreases with increasing concentration from 0% to 50%, we chose 30% as suitable concentration to increase
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Abstract: Background: Staphylococcus aureus is Gram-positive bacteria that lives as a normal flora in living organisms but can be pathogenic to humans. Although a relatively unspectacular, nonmotile coccoid bacterium, S. aureus is a dangerous human pathogen in both community-acquired and nosocomial infections. Due to the increasing emergence of new strains of this antibiotic-resistant bacteria, it has become essential to approach different methods to control this pathogen. One of these methods is the antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation process using a low-level laser, in this paper, the Photodynamic effects of Rose Bengal and LLLL on the virulence factors of S.aureus were evaluated.
In this study, NAC-capped CdTe/CdS/ZnS core/double shell QDs were synthesized in an aqueous medium to investigate their utility in distinguishing normal DNA from mutated DNA extracted from biological samples. Following the interaction between the synthesized QDs with DNA extracted from leukemia cases (represents damaged DNA) and that of healthy donors (represents undamaged DNA), differential fluorescent emission maxima and intensities were observed. It was found that damaged DNA from leukemic cells DNA-QDs conjugates at 585 nm while intact DNA (from healthy subjects) DNA–QDs conjugates at 574 nm. The obtained results from the optical analyses indicate that the prepared QDs could be utilized as probe for detecting disrupted DNA th
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This study analyses six political cartoons selected based on their relevance to current Iraqi political issues, specifically the period between 2005 and 2015, from American online newspapers (calgecartooms.com). The selection criteria included the cartoons' satirical elements, visual rhetoric, and their ability to engage with themes such as power dynamics, social issues, and public opinion. It sheds light on how these cartoons can function as mediators of meanings between the cartoonists and the readers. The data is examined using multimodal discourse analysis (MDA), which combines language study with the analysis of other visual elements, like colors, gestures, and images, to understand meaning (O’Halloran et al., 2011). The Visual Socia
... Show MoreThe widespread use of the Internet of things (IoT) in different aspects of an individual’s life like banking, wireless intelligent devices and smartphones has led to new security and performance challenges under restricted resources. The Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) is the most suitable choice for the environments due to the smaller size of the encryption key and changeable security related parameters. However, major performance metrics such as area, power, latency and throughput are still customisable and based on the design requirements of the device.
The present paper puts forward an enhancement for the throughput performance metric by p
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a laser ablation Q-switched Nd: YAG laser with a wave-length of 355 nm at a variety of laser pulse energies (E) and deposited on porous silicon (PS). Optical emission spectrometer was used to diagnosed medium air to study gold plasma characteristics and prepared Au nanoparticles. The laser pulse energy influence has been studied on the plasma characteristics in air. The data showed the emergence of the ionic (Au II) spectral emission lines in the gold plasma emission spectrum. XRD has been utilized to examine structural characteristics. Moreover, AFM results 37.2 nm as the mean value of the diameter that is coordinated in a shape similar to the rod that appears for Au NPs, in addition to that, TEM has been an indication of the fact that syn
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The current study aimed the syntheses and characterizations of Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) using a laser ablation Q-switched Nd: YAG laser with a wave-length of 355 nm at a variety of laser pulse energies (E) and deposited on porous silicon (PS). Optical emission spectrometer was used to diagnosed medium air to study gold plasma characteristics and prepared Au nanoparticles. The laser pulse energy influence has been studied on the plasma characteristics in air. The data showed the emergence of the ionic (Au II) spectral emission lines in the gold plasma emission spectrum. XRD has been utilized to examine structural characteristics. Moreover, AFM results 37.2 nm as the mean value of the diameter that is coordinated in a shape similar to the
... Show MoreAromatic Schiff-bases are known to have antibacterial activity, but most of these compounds are sparingly soluble in water. The present work describes the synthesis of new Schiff-bases derived from branched aminosugars. Treatment of 3-Amino-3-Cyano-3-Deoxy-1,2:5,6-Di-O-Isopropylene-α-D-Allofuranose (1) with the aldehydes (2) under reflux in methanol afforded the Schiff-bases (3) in good yields. The new Schiff-bases were in accord with their NMR, IR spectral data and elemental analysis.