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.
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Isolation and identification of bacterial isolates were carried out according to the morphology and biochemical characteristics on one hundred and twenty stool specimens collected from children under five years old via using biochemical tests and Api 20E compact system for further confirmation. Bacterial isolates were distributed as (34.48, 20.68, 5.17,0.86) % for Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi ,Enterobacter aerogenos, Citrobacter freundii and Hafnia alvei respectively and 9.48 % for each Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella Pneumonia. As well as, 2.58% for both Shigella sonnei and Serratia marcescens. Antibiotic susceptibility test for 116 bacterial isolates was performed towards 20 antibiotics types using disk d
... Show MoreThe efficiency of solar energy absorption in solar heaters is increased by the use of selective absorption coating that possesses high absorption of solar radiation in the UV-visible spectrum as well as low emission at the operating temperature in the infrared region. In this work, novel selective coatings were synthesized by improving the selectivity of chromium oxide (Cr2O3) nanoparticles by doping with carbon nanoparticles using the exploding wire technique for carbon rods by high current in suspended Cr2O3 particles. The structural properties and surface topography were studied by XRD and FE-SEM, which illustrate the carbon-coated Cr2O3 nanoparticles. The prepar
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The effects of nutrients and physical conditions on phytase production were investigated with a recently isolated strain of Aspergillus tubingensis SKA under solid state fermentation on wheat bran. The nutrient factors investigated included carbon source, nitrogen source, phosphate source and concentration, metal ions (salts) and the physical parameters investigated included inoculum size, pH, temperature and fermentation duration. Our investigations revealed that optimal productivity of phytase was achieved using wheat bran supplemented with: 1.5% glucose. 0.5% (NH4)2SO4, 0.1% sodium phytate. Additionally, optimal physical conditions were 1 × 105 spore/g substrate, initial pH of 5.0, temperature of fermentation 30˚C and fermentation dura
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Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow (spongy tissue in the center of bone). In ALL, too many bone marrow stem cells develop into a type of white blood cell called lymphocytes. These abnormal lymphocytes are not able to fight infection very well. The aim of this study was to investigate possible links between E3 SUMO-Protein Ligase NSE2 [NSMCE2] and increase DNA damage in the childhood patients with Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Laboratory investigations including hemoglobin(Hb) ,white blood cell (WBC) , serum total protein , albumin ,globulin , in addition to serum total antioxidant activity (TAA) , Advanced oxidation protein products(AOPP) and E3 SUMO-Protein Ligase NSE2[NSMCE2]. Blood samples
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Activated carbon prepared from date stones by chemical activation with ferric chloride (FAC) was used an adsorbent to remove phenolic compounds such as phenol (Ph) and p-nitro phenol (PNPh) from aqueous solutions. The influence of process variables represented by solution pH value (2-12), adsorbent to adsorbate weight ratio (0.2-1.8), and contact time (30-150 min) on removal percentage and adsorbed amount of Ph and PNPh onto FAC was studied. For PNPh adsorption,( 97.43 %) maximum removal percentage and (48.71 mg/g) adsorbed amount was achieved at (5) solution pH,( 1) adsorbent to adsorbate weight ratio, and (90 min) contact time. While for Ph adsorption, at (4) solution pH, (1.4) absorbent to adsorbate weight ratio, and (120 min) contact
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In this paper, an enhanced artificial potential field (EAPF) planner is introduced. This planner is proposed to rapidly find online solutions for the mobile robot path planning problems, when the underlying environment contains obstacles with unknown locations and sizes. The classical artificial potential field represents both the repulsive force due to the detected obstacle and the attractive force due to the target. These forces can be considered as the primary directional indicator for the mobile robot. However, the classical artificial potential field has many drawbacks. So, we suggest two secondary forces which are called the midpoint
... Show MoreThe 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
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