The construction sector in Iraq has faced many challenges. One of the major challenges is the lack of productivity of laborers who are working construction sites. Although research studies have been conducted to investigate, explore, and identify factors influencing labor productivity in the Middle-east region, the lack of such research studies to address these challenges in Iraq. This motivates the researcher to explore and identify the key factors affecting labor productivity in construction sites across different organizational structures (Matrix, Projectized, and functional). A survey questionnaire has been conducted using Delphi technique in order to achieve a concrete and reliable view of the major factors influencing labor productivity in Iraq. Twenty-four experts from different construction sectors have participated in Delphi rounds. In addition, a total of 110 factors affecting labor productivity is considered in this study. The main findings of this study show a correlation between some of the identified factors and characteristics of the organizational structures. The poor communication and management of the construction site, lack of communication and coordination between construction parties, size and arrangement of the construction crew, on-time payment, and motivational program factors were found to be highly correlated with the characteristics of the selected organizational structures. Also, the study shows that explosive remnants and dangerous construction sites due to terrorist attacks are very influential factors on labor productivity.
In recent years, infectious diseases are increasingly being encountered in clinical settings. Due to the development of antibiotic resistance and the outbreak of these diseases caused by resistant pathogenic bacteria, the pharmaceutical companies and the researchers are now searching for new unconventional antibacterial agents. Recently, in this field, the application of nanoparticles is an emerging area of nanoscience and nanotechnology. For this reason, nanotechnology has a great deal of attention from the scientific community and may provide solutions to technological and environmental challenges. A common feature that these nanoparticles exhibit their antimicrobial behavior against pathogenic bacteria. In this report, we evaluate
... Show MoreTo study the site of placentae and the umbilical artery blood flow of different age groupsand relate that to the newborn baby and the mother. 117 placentae samples were investigatedusing ultrasound and 30 placentae samples were studied using Doppler ultrasound during theperiod from August 2007 to August 2008 for full term placentae of mothers aged 15- > 45 yearsold. By ultrasound; there was detection of good pe rcentage of the placental site to be on theposterior wall of the uterus in case of male babies, while it was anterior in case of female babiesand it was previa and fundal in females more than in the males. The Doppler ultrasound revealedthat the mother in any age group can conceive and have a healthy placenta because the readings ina
... Show MoreBackground: Sliding mechanics is widely used during orthodontic treatment. One of the disadvantages of this mechanics is the friction generated at the bracket/archwire interface, which may reduce the amount of desired orthodontic movement obtained. The aim of the present in vitro study was to evaluate and compare the static frictional forces produced by two passive self-ligating brackets stainless-steel and hybrid and two conventional brackets stainless-steel and monocrystal ligated with stainless-steel ligature wire at two degrees of torque(zero and twenty) under dry condition. Materials and method: One hundred and sixty brackets were used in this study divided into four groups each group consisted of forty brackets these are: Two self-li
... Show MoreEthanol as a solvent, a precursor of titanium isopropoxide and a stabilizer of either hydrochloric acid or ammonium hydroxide was used to prepare a titanium dioxide aqueous solution. The aqueous solutions with different values of pH and the morphology of the resultant reaction of the nanoparticles of titanium dioxide were investigated. The X-ray diffraction showed that at low temperatures and with acidic solutions, rutile structures are more favorable to grow on titanium dioxide synthesized, while at low and average temperatures and with base solutions, anatase phase is more pronounced. The crystalline form and the re-confirmation of the crystallite size growth were observed by the scanning electron microscopy. The atomi
... Show MoreIn recent years, the world witnessed a rapid growth in attacks on the internet which resulted in deficiencies in networks performances. The growth was in both quantity and versatility of the attacks. To cope with this, new detection techniques are required especially the ones that use Artificial Intelligence techniques such as machine learning based intrusion detection and prevention systems. Many machine learning models are used to deal with intrusion detection and each has its own pros and cons and this is where this paper falls in, performance analysis of different Machine Learning Models for Intrusion Detection Systems based on supervised machine learning algorithms. Using Python Scikit-Learn library KNN, Support Ve
... Show MoreEthanol as a solvent, a precursor of titanium isopropoxide and a stabilizer of either hydrochloric acid or ammonium hydroxide was used to prepare a titanium dioxide aqueous solution. The aqueous solutions with different values of pH and the morphology of the resultant reaction of the nanoparticles of titanium dioxide were investigated. The X-ray diffraction showed that at low temperatures and with acidic solutions, rutile structures are more favorable to grow on titanium dioxide synthesized, while at low and average temperatures and with base solutions, anatase phase is more pronounced. The crystalline form and the re-confirmation of the crystallite size growth were observed by the scanning electron microscopy. The atomic force micr
... Show MoreIn this paper, image compression technique is presented based on the Zonal transform method. The DCT, Walsh, and Hadamard transform techniques are also implements. These different transforms are applied on SAR images using Different block size. The effects of implementing these different transforms are investigated. The main shortcoming associated with this radar imagery system is the presence of the speckle noise, which affected the compression results.
The applications of Multilevel Converter (MLC) are increased because of the huge demand for clean power; especially these types of converters are compatible with the renewable energy sources. In addition, these new types of converters have the capability of high voltage and high power operation. A Nine-level converter in three modes of implementation; Diode Clamped-MLC (DC-MLC), Capacitor Clamped-MLC (CC-MLC), and the Modular Structured-MLC (MS-MLC) are analyzed and simulated in this paper. Various types of Multicarrier Modulation Techniques (MMTs) (Level shifted (LS), and Phase shifted (PS)) are used for operating the proposed Nine level - MLCs. Matlab/Simulink environment is used for the simulation, extracting, and ana
... Show MoreDigital Elevation Model (DEM) is one of the developed techniques for relief representation. The definition of a DEM construction is the modeling technique of earth surface from existing data. DEM plays a role as one of the fundamental information requirement that has been generally utilized in GIS data structures. The main aim of this research is to present a methodology for assessing DEMs generation methods. The DEMs data will be extracted from open source data e.g. Google Earth. The tested data will be compared with data produced from formal institutions such as General Directorate of Surveying. The study area has been chosen in south of Iraq (Al-Gharraf / Dhi Qar governorate. The methods of DEMs creation are kri
... Show MoreZinc oxide nanoparticles sample is prepared by the precipitation method. This method involves using zinc nitrate and urea in aqueous solution, then (AgNO3) Solution with different concentrations is added. The obtained precipitated compound is structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The average particle size of nanoparticles is around 28nm in pure, the average particle size reaches 26nm with adding AgNO3 (0.05g in100ml =0.002 M) (0.1g in100ml=0.0058M), AgNO3 (0.2g in 100ml=0.01M) was 25nm. The FTIR result shows the existence of -CO, -CO2, -OH, and -NO2- groups in sample and oxides (ZnO, Ag2O).and used an
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