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.
For modeling a photovoltaic module, it is necessary to calculate the basic parameters which control the current-voltage characteristic curves, that is not provided by the manufacturer. Generally, for mono crystalline silicon module, the shunt resistance is generally high, and it is neglected in this model. In this study, three methods are presented for four parameters model. Explicit simplified method based on an analytical solution, slope method based on manufacturer data, and iterative method based on a numerical resolution. The results obtained for these methods were compared with experimental measured data. The iterative method was more accurate than the other two methods but more complexity. The average deviation of
... Show MoreNormal concrete is weak against tensile strength, has low ductility, and also insignificant resistance to cracking. The addition of diverse types of fibers at specific proportions can enhance the mechanical properties as well as the durability of concrete. Discrete fiber commonly used, has many disadvantages such as balling the fiber, randomly distribution, and limitation of the Vf ratio used. Based on this vision, a new technic was discovered enhancing concrete by textile-fiber to avoid all the problems mentioned above. The main idea of this paper is the investigation of the mechanical properties of SCC, and SCM that cast with 3D AR-glass fabric having two different thicknesses (6, 10 mm), and different layers (1,2 laye
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Due to the deliberate disposal of industrial waste, a great amount of petroleum hydrocarbons pollute the soil and aquatic environments. Bioremediation that depends on the microorganisms in the removal of pollutants is more efficient and cost-effective technology. In this study, five rhizobacteria were isolated from Phragmites australis roots and exposed to real wastewater from Al-Daura refinery with 70 mg/L total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) concentration. The five selected rhizobacteria were examined in a biodegradation test for seven days to remove TPH. The results showed that 80% TPH degradation as the maximum value by Sphingomonas Paucimobilis as identified with Vitek® 2 Compact (France).
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Background: Angiogenesis is defined as the formation of new blood vessels. However, angiogenesis in cancer will lead to tumour growth and metastasis. Therefore, anti-angiogenesis is one of the ways to slow down growth and spreading of tumour. Moringa oleifera is also known as a “Miracle tree” which has high nutritive value and various therapeutics effect in different parts of the plant. This study aims to determine the anti-angiogenic property of Moringa oleifera leaves extract by using chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. Materials and Methods: The extracts were prepared by decoction method using methanol and water. The qualitative phytochemical screening was carried out for
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Flexible joint robot (FJR) manipulators can offer many attractive features over rigid manipulators, including light weight, safe operation, and high power efficiency. However, the tracking control of the FJR is challenging due to its inherent problems, such as underactuation, coupling, nonlinearities, uncertainties, and unknown external disturbances. In this article, a terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) is proposed for the FJR system to guarantee the finite-time convergence of the systems output, and to achieve the total robustness against the lumped disturbance and estimation error. By using two coordinate transformations, the FJR dynamics is turned into a canonical form. A cascaded finite-time sliding mode observer (CFTSMO) is construct
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Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, one of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), is found in various foods, including dairy products, meat, and vegetables, and most of these bacteria offer beneficial effects to humans and animals as potential probiotics with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities. The aim of this study was evaluating the antibacterial efficacy of L. plantarum against some foodborne bacteria isolated from dairy products. This research involved 34 dairy products, including local and imported milk, cheese, and yogurt sold locally in Baghdad province, Iraq, during May 2022. For the isolation of L. plantarum, a special medium called MRS (de Man Rogosa and Sharpe) was applied. Colonie
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In this paper, we build a fuzzy classification system for classifying the nutritional status of children under 5 years old in Iraq using the Mamdani method based on input variables such as weight and height to determine the nutritional status of the child. Also, Classifying the nutritional status faces a difficult challenge in the medical field due to uncertainty and ambiguity in the variables and attributes that determine the categories of nutritional status for children, which are relied upon in medical diagnosis to determine the types of malnutrition problems and identify the categories or groups suffering from malnutrition to determine the risks faced by each group or category of children. Malnutrition in children is one of the most
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