Research in the field of English language as a foreign language (EFL) has been consistently highlighted the need for communicative competence skills among students. Accompanied by the validated positive impact of technologies on students’ skills’, this study aims to explore the strategies used by EFL students in enhancing their communicative competence using digital platforms and identify the factors of developing communicative competence using digital platforms (linguistic factors, environmental factors, psychological factors, and university-related factors). The mixed-method research design was utilized to obtain data from Iraqi undergraduate EFL students. The study was conducted in the Iraqi University in Baghdad Iraq. EFL undergraduate students from the English department from the second-year grade constituted the population of the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 EFL students to explore students’ usage of digital platforms to enhance communicative competence. A convenient sampling technique was used to select the students. The data from the interviews were analysed thematically using QSR NVivo software. Also, a survey questionnaire was demonstrated to the sample of the study to identify the challenges of development. 150 EFL students participated in the study sampled using the proportional sampling method. SPSS software was also used to analyse the data. The findings showed that students used digital platforms to develop grammar accuracy, pronunciation, vocabulary, cohesion and coherence, punctuation, and spelling. On the other hand, the challenging factors identified are grouped in four categories which are linguistic factors, environmental factors, psychological factors, an university-related factors. The findings of the study offer new insight for future directions research and recommendations to the university management as these findings could be the cornerstones of the planning for successful implementation of digital platforms in teaching and learning English in general and communicative competence in specific.
Background: Periodontal diseases (PD) are common chronic inflammatory diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms colonizing the gingival area and inducing local and systemic elevations of pro-inflammatory cytokines resulting in tissue destruction by a destructive inflammatory process. Stress was considered as one of the important risk factors that cause many inflammatory diseases including PD. The purpose of this study wasto determines and compares clinical periodontal parameters (PLI, GI and BOP), stress level and salivary IL-1? level among dental students before, during and after mid-year exam, also to find the correlation among stress, IL-1? and clinical periodontal parameters. Materials and methods: The sample was consisted of 24 dent
... Show MoreBackground: Cystinosis is a rare autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease with high morbidity and mortality. It is caused by mutations in the CTNS gene that encodes the cystine transporter, cystinosin, which leads to lysosomal cystine accumulation. It is the major cause of inherited Fanconi syndrome, and should be suspected in young children with failure to thrive and signs of renal proximal tubular damage. The diagnosis can be missed in infants, because not all signs of renal Fanconi syndrome are present during the first months of life. Elevated white blood cell cystine content is the cornerstone of the diagnosis. Since chitotriosidase (CHIT1 or chitinase-1) is mainly produced by activated macrophages both in normal and inflammator
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Thyroid disease is a common disease affecting millions worldwide. Early diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease can help prevent more serious complications and improve long-term health outcomes. However, thyroid disease diagnosis can be challenging due to its variable symptoms and limited diagnostic tests. By processing enormous amounts of data and seeing trends that may not be immediately evident to human doctors, Machine Learning (ML) algorithms may be capable of increasing the accuracy with which thyroid disease is diagnosed. This study seeks to discover the most recent ML-based and data-driven developments and strategies for diagnosing thyroid disease while considering the challenges associated with imbalanced data in thyroid dise
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Background Many antidiabetic medications with distinct modes of action are available, The sodium glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors are among the most recent oral antihyperglycemic medications. The American Diabetes Association recommends metformin, a biguanide medication, as the first option for oral control of type 2 diabetes because it has demonstrated promise in this regard. Aim of the study To evaluate and compare the effects of metformin and SGLT-2 inhibitors on general urine parameters in T2DM patients from Iraq. Method a prospective cohort study where 101 adult patients of both sexes aged under 70 years and newly diagnosed with T2DM, patients were divided into two groups, Metformin group (n=52), where metformin was p
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Background: Age determination of skeletal remains is apart of many medico-legal as well as anthropological examination. Many anatomical structures have been studied, but the teeth and their measurements seem to be the most reliable method since teeth represent the most durable and resilient part of the skeleton. This study was undertaken for estimating the chronological age among Iraqi adult subjects based on various morphological variables of canine teeth using digital panoramic radiograph. Material and methods: The sample in the current study consisted of 240 Iraqi patients attending to the dental radiological clinic at College of dentistry/ Babylon University taking panoramic radiographs for different diagnostic purposes, the study samp
... Show MoreBackground: The use of the cone beam computed tomography for analysing the position of the greater palatine foramen in relation to various anatomical landmarks is crucial in dentistry. The aims of the current study, firstly is to determine the greater palatine foramen position in relation to various anatomical landmarks by using cone beam computed tomography and secondly is to make a comparison of the measurements according to side, gender, and age. Materials and methods: This prospective study included 60 Iraqi patients (28males and 32 females) who selected according to availability of Inclusion criteria, which include age range (21 - 60 years), with no dentofacial deformities or pathological lesion at the maxilla. All patients had inform
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Background: Occupational exposure to hazardous drugs occurs in all aspects of anticancer drug handling. Proper recommendations and guidelines should be applied to control and reduce exposure. Objective: To assess pharmacists' knowledge and practice regarding the safe handling of anticancer drugs. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at seven major hospitals in Baghdad City, Iraq, from December 2023 to February 2024. A pre-designed questionnaire was given to pharmacists who handled anticancer drugs in chemotherapy units. The questionnaire comprises sociodemographic data, knowledge of the safe handling of cytotoxic drugs and thoughts about exposure and risk, practices for safely handling cytotoxic drugs, and challenges for s
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The research aimed to find the effectiveness of teaching impact of the reflex learning strategy on the fifth class female student achievement of the geography content material). The researcher adopted the null hypotheses (there are no statistically significant differences at (0,05) level between the women score mean of the experimental group student who has been taught by the cement material assigned by the reflex learning strategy, and that of the control group who have been taught by the traditional method on the achievement test. The researcher adopted the post-test experimental design to measure students’ achievement. The population of the present study has been limited to the fifth literary class female stud
... Show MoreThe objective of the research is to identify the effect of the five-finger strategy on the holistic thinking of chemistry students in the second intermediate grade, where the sample consisted of 60 female students in a second classfrom one of the intermediate schools in Baghdad city, divided into two groups: control and experimental. The experimental design was based on the partial control; the scientific course was defined in the third and fourth chapters of the science book of the second intermediate grade.The two research tools were prepared: the attainment test with the scientific course and the holistic thinking scale paragraph (36) of multiple-choice pre- and posttest. The results showed a statistically significant difference between
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