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.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Iraqi repatriated
prisoners of Iran-Iraq war, and the relationship with demographic factors.
Methodology: A descriptive study was carried out from Oct. 18th, 2009 through Jan. 10th, 2010. A nonprobability
based snowball sampling technique was used to recruit 92 Iraqi repatriated prisoners of war
(IRPOWs) who had visited Ministry of Human Rights. A data collection instrument was constructed that
consisted of six demographic characteristics, and eight items to measure the level of PTSD in POWs. Data were
collected with the constructed instrument during a brief interview. Data were analyzed through the application of
descriptive statist
First record of Myxobolus insignis Eiras, Malta, Varella, Pavanelli, 2005 (Myxozoa: Myxobolidae) in Iraq from gills of the common carp Cyprinus carpio
The Eurasian marsh frog Pelophylax ridibundus is a widespread species in Iraq. Examination of intestine of 25 marsh frogs collected in Al-Diwaniya city, middle of Iraq during the period from September to November 2014 revealed the presence of Nematotaenia dispar (Cestoda), Cosmocerca commutata and Cosmocercoides variabilis (Nematoda). Infection rates and intensity have been presented in this paper.
World War II has brought suffering for all people; it has led people to have a nostalgic feeling. The war has many faces all of them are ugly, like death, separation, loneliness, violence, crime, betrayal, and disconnection and many other meanings. Michael Ondaatje in his novel The English Patient (1992) portrays a picture of the effect of World War II on four different characters; Hana a Canadian nurse, The English patient who is Hungarian, Caravaggio a Canadian-Italitan thief, and Kip an Indian sapper. They live together in one house, share their secrets and memories about World War II. Ondaatje brings them together to reveal their secrets and to heal their wounds of the war experience.
World War II has brought suffering for all people; it has led people to have a nostalgic feeling. The war has many faces all of them are ugly, like death, separation, loneliness, violence, crime, betrayal, and disconnection and many other meanings. Michael Ondaatje in his novel The English Patient (1992) portrays a picture of the effect of World War II on four different characters; Hana a Canadian nurse, The English patient who is Hungarian, Caravaggio a Canadian-Italitan thief, and Kip an Indian sapper. They live together in one house, share their secrets and memories about World War II. Ondaatje brings them together to reveal their secrets and to heal their wounds of the war experience.
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ABSTRACT— In primary teeth, root canal treatment is a time consuming and challenging procedure, particularly during the most important step in endodontic treatment which is the preparation of the canal. Pulpectomy is the treatment of choice in all the necrotic primary teeth. For better treatment protocol, advancing technology brought the rotary system to reduce the manual dexterity and improve the quality of treatment for pulpectomy. This study aimed to compare and assess the efficacy of cleaning and the time required for the instrumentation during the preparation of root canals of the primary molars using the rotary and the manual (conventional) systems. Thirty root canals of primary teeth were selected. These teeth submitted to a
... Show MoreIn all applications and specially in real time applications, image processing and compression plays in modern life a very important part in both storage and transmission over internet for example, but finding orthogonal matrices as a filter or transform in different sizes is very complex and importance to using in different applications like image processing and communications systems, at present, new method to find orthogonal matrices as transform filter then used for Mixed Transforms Generated by using a technique so-called Tensor Product based for Data Processing, these techniques are developed and utilized. Our aims at this paper are to evaluate and analyze this new mixed technique in Image Compression using the Discrete Wavelet Transfo
... Show MoreBackground: Opportunistic viral infections make an important threat to renal transplantation recipients (RTRs), and with the use of more intense newly-developed immunosuppressive drugs; the risk of renal allograft loss due to reactivation of these viruses has increased considerably. At the top priority of these viruses lie BK polyomavirus (BKV) and human cytomegalovirus (CMV). Reactivation of these viruses in these chronically immunosuppressed RTRs can lead to renal impairment and subsequently allograft loss, unless early detected and properly treated. Objectives: The study aimed to detect and quantify plasma viral load of BKV and CMV in RTRs using quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR), in order to study the prevalence of these two viruses i
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Background: Drawing blood to measure total serum bilirubin is painful & time consuming. Transcutaneous bilirubinometer working by multiwavelength spectral reflectance from the skin surface on forehead or upper sternum is a quick & painless technique. Objectives: to compare the effectiveness of transcutaneous (over the upper sternum and forehead) and serum bilirubin measurement of neonate with jaundice. Subjects and Methods: This is a cross sectional prospective study. It enrolled 175 jaundiced neonates & excluded those exposed to phototherapy. It was conducted at Child Central Teaching Hospi |