Rating systems for evaluating the sustainability of communities are an essential tool that is increasingly applied throughout the developed world to set criteria indicators to optimize the physical, social, economic, and environmental potential within such communities. Rating systems vary based on existing disparities among societies and their unique building and physical planning practices. Iraqi cities lacked the adaptation of a formal methodology or sustainability rating system to correctly measure the built environment’s sustainability indicators. This research attempts to review the most substantial rating systems to measure the sustainability of communities worldwide to form a point of departure. In conclusion, the Article attempts to delineate relevant parameters to develop a local model to evaluate the suitability levels of communities in urban centres per regional environmental characteristics.
The characteristics of atmospheric-pressure glow discharge (APGD) produced by rod-plate electrodes are experimentally determined. APGD is sustained by applying a high DC voltage between the electrodes. At atmospheric pressure, the shift from corona discharge to glow discharge is investigated. A rod-plate discharges configuration's volt–ampere properties show the existence of three discharge regimes: corona, glow, and spark. The variations in the electrical field distribution in the various regimes are mirrored in the discharge luminosity. The rod-plate patterns are created under a dark region, and are visible mainly due to the effect of electrons heated by the local enhanced electric field at the interface, according to the op
... Show MoreThis study uses the optical emission spectroscopy (OES) technique to find the lead(Pb) and sulfur (S) plasma parameters employing a pulse of Nd: YAG laser (Q-switched 1064nm wavelength) and different laser energies of (400,500,600 and 700 mJ). The electron temperature Te (eV) is calculated using the Boltzmann-Plot method, and the electron density ne (cm-3)is determined by the Stark broadened way. Moreover, Debye length λD (cm) and plasma frequency ωp (Hz) are studied as a function of laser energy. An apparent increase was noted in the electron temperature of lead plasma and a decrease in sulfur plasma. The results also showed that each increase in the laser intensity causes an incr
... Show MoreThe aerodynamic characteristics of general three-dimensional rectangular wings are considered using non-linear interaction between two-dimensional viscous-inviscid panel method and vortex ring method. The potential flow of a two-dimensional airfoil by the pioneering Hess & Smith method was used with viscous laminar, transition and turbulent boundary layer to solve flow about complex configuration of airfoils including stalling effect. Viterna method was used to extend the aerodynamic characteristics of the specified airfoil to high angles of attacks. A modified vortex ring method was used to find the circulation values along span wise direction of the wing and then interacted with sectional circulation obtained by Kutta-Joukowsky the
... Show MoreData steganography is a technique used to hide data, secret message, within another data, cover carrier. It is considered as a part of information security. Audio steganography is a type of data steganography, where the secret message is hidden in audio carrier. This paper proposes an efficient audio steganography method that uses LSB technique. The proposed method enhances steganography performance by exploiting all carrier samples and balancing between hiding capacity and distortion ratio. It suggests an adaptive number of hiding bits for each audio sample depending on the secret message size, the cover carrier size, and the signal to noise ratio (SNR). Comparison results show that the proposed method outperforms state of the art methods
... Show MoreIn this work, the effect of laser energy on the properties of a calcium plasma generated by a Q-switched Nd: YAG laser at the fundamental wavelength was studied using spectroscopy. The Boltzmann plot and Stark broadening method were used to measure the main plasma parameters (electron temperature and electron density). The electron temperature ranged ( 0.169 -0.172 ) eV, the electron density ranged ( 2.10 – 2.63 ) for laser energy range of ( 400 – 700) mJ. Other basic plasma properties were also measured, including the Debye length, the number of particles in the Debye sphere, and the plasma frequency. Laser energy affects all plasma parameters, according to our results.
Devastated by the combined impact of massive drainage works and upstream damming since the 1980's, Al-Hammar Marsh, Southern Iraq, has completely collapsed with 94 % of its land cover transformed into bare land and salt crusts by 2000. After a policy initiated to restore the Iraqi marshes again in 2003, the marsh recovered about half of its former area. As a part of the ecological recovery assessment of this newly inundated marsh, it is important to investigate the extend impact of desiccation after 3 years of inundation on water quality as the latter plays an important role in the restoration process of the marshes. Therefore, from a restoration point of view, major and trace element distribution and sourcing as well as seasonal variati
... Show MoreA number of pulsed experiments have been carried out using a high-voltage circuit containing R,L, and C in certain arrangements. A spherical spark gap of steel electrodes was used as a high-current switch operated by a voltage of up to 8kV and triggered in both self-triggering and third-electrode triggering modes. Current measurements were carried out by using both current-viewing resistor and Rogowski coils designed for this purpose. Typical current waveforms have shown obvious dominating inductance effect of the circuit components in an underdamped oscillation. The behavior of the circuit impedance was studied by recording both pulsed current peaks and the charging voltages when currents of up to 2.5kA were recorded. The dur
... Show MoreThe aim of the current study is to demonstrate the effect of honey on the sperms characteristics (sperm concentration, sperm motility, grade of activity and sperm normal morphology) as well as pregnancy rate in mice. Sperms were obtained from caudal epididymis of male mice and prepared by adding10% of honey to the IVF medium using direct sperms activation technique for 30 minute incubation period before artificial insemination.
The study revealed a significant (P > 0.05) increase in active sperm motility (grade A and grade B) 49% and pregnancy rate 53.3% in female mice artificially inseminated with sperms. On the other hand, there were no significant differences in sperm con
... Show MoreA total of 100 clinical sample from (urine, sputum and swabs of wound , burn and ear) were collected from patients in different hospitals of Baghdad during the period from December 2013 to May 2014. 15 isolates (15%) identified belong to Acinetobacter baumannii, swabs of wounds were represented in high percentage of A.baumannii isolates (40%) while percentage of other samples were variable. Susceptibility of 15 A.baumannii isolates were tested toward 16 different Antimicrobial agents, the results showed all isolates were multi drug resistant. In addition, Polymerase Chain Reaction Technique (PCR) was performed to detection the resistance genes encoding the Oxacillinases enzymes. The PCR analysis showed that the presence of insertion sequ
... Show MoreData steganography is a technique used to hide data, secret message, within another data, cover carrier. It is considered as a part of information security. Audio steganography is a type of data steganography, where the secret message is hidden in audio carrier. This paper proposes an efficient audio steganography method that uses LSB technique. The proposed method enhances steganography performance by exploiting all carrier samples and balancing between hiding capacity and distortion ratio. It suggests an adaptive number of hiding bits for each audio sample depending on the secret message size, the cover carrier size, and the signal to noise ratio (SNR). Comparison results show that the proposed method outperforms state of the art methods
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