Dust storms are typical in arid and semi-arid regions such as the Middle East; the frequency and severity of dust storms have grown dramatically in Iraq in recent years. This paper identifies the dust storm sources in Iraq using remotely sensed data from Meteosat-spinning enhanced visible and infrared imager (SEVIRI) bands. Extracted combined satellite images and simulated frontal dust storm trajectories, using the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, are used to identify the most influential sources in the Middle East and Iraq. Out of 132 dust storms in Iraq during 2020–2023, the most frequent occurred in the spring and summer. A dust source frequency percentage map (DSFPM) is generated using ArcGIS software. The regions located in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Jordan are the largest dust storm sources. New dust sources are identified in Iraq’s southwestern and western regions, such as Al-Nukhaib, Wadi Hauran, and Sinjar, along with new sources in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. The most common sources are concentrated in Iraq (55.31%), mainly in the Tigris and Euphrates basin, western desert, and Al-Jazeera region, followed by Syria (19.55%), Saudi Arabia (12.29%), and Jordan (11.73%). The highest dust storm source frequency in Iraq is found in the Al- Samawa desert’s southern region (27.37%). Also, the highest frequency of dust sources from each country is determined. Knowing the origins and trajectories of dust storms will enhance treatments of these causes and their consequences on the environment and socio-economics of the region. It contributes to the support of specialised regional agencies to mitigate this phenomenon.
Linear and mass attenuation coefficient of reactive powder concrete (RPC) sample ( of compressive strength equal to 70 Mpa) using beta particles and gamma ray with different energies have been calculated as a function of the absorber thickness and energy. The attenuation coefficient were obtained using NaI(Tl) energy selective scintillation counter with 90Sr/90Y beta source having an energy rang from (0.546-2.274) MeV and gamma ray energies (0.569, 0.662, 1.063, 1.17 and 1.33) MeV . The attenuation coefficient usually depends upon the energy of radiations and nature of the material. The result represented in graphical forms. Exponential decay was observed. It is found that the capability of reactive powder concrete to absorber beta particle
... Show MoreThe ascaroid nematode Contracaecum rudolphii was recovered in large numbers from the
digestive tract of Phalacrocorax carbo collected in Baghdad area, Central Iraq. The infection
rates of the two sexes of the bird and some meristic and morphometric characters of the
parasite that allowed species determination of the nematode Contracaecum rudolphii were
discussed. This finding represents a new host record for this nematode in Iraq.
The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) is a devastating invasive pest of palm trees, invading the Iraqi date palm tree in 2015 for the first time in Safwan county, Basrah province. The Red Palm weevil has been categorized as a quarantine pest of date palm trees worldwide. In this study, a five years monitoring program has been achieved by scouting the invasive pest RPW population in Safwan county by using visual sampling and Pheromone baited traps.
The results indicated that the number of infested palms, increased from 12 trees in 2015 to 111 in 16 orchards in 2016. The number of the infested palms was minimized to 3 trees in the county in 2019 due to the management protocol of the Ministry of Agriculture
Information from 54 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) brain tumor images (27 benign and 27 malignant) were collected and subjected to multilayer perceptron artificial neural network available on the well know software of IBM SPSS 17 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). After many attempts, automatic architecture was decided to be adopted in this research work. Thirteen shape and statistical characteristics of images were considered. The neural network revealed an 89.1 % of correct classification for the training sample and 100 % of correct classification for the test sample. The normalized importance of the considered characteristics showed that kurtosis accounted for 100 % which means that this variable has a substantial effect
... Show MoreWith the increase in industry and industrial products, quantities of waste have increased worldwide, especially plastic waste, as plastic pollution is considered one of the wastes of the modern era that threatens the environment and living organisms. On this basis, a solution must be found to use this waste and recycle it safely so that it does not threaten the environment. Therefore, this research used plastic waste as an improvement material for clay soil. In this research, two types of tests were conducted, the first of which was a laboratory test, where the undrained shear strength (cohesion), compression index (Cc), and swelling index (Cr) of the improved and unimproved soils were calculated (plastic was added in pr
... Show MoreRecently digital mammography is most widely used technology for early detection of breast cancer. The main diagnosing elements such as lesion or masses in digital mammograms are with law contrast. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the mammogram images by increasing its contrast. Different enhancement method are used for this purpose such as histogram equalization (HE), Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE), Morphological, and Retinex. The Retinex method also implement by combining it with HE once, and with CLAHE to improve its performance. The experimental results show that using Retinex with CLAHE can produce an image with enhancement in contrast better than using it with HE method and better than other methods
... Show MoreElemental capture spectroscopy (ECS) is an important tool in the petroleum industry for determining the composition and properties of rock formations in a reservoir. Knowledge of the types and abundance of different minerals in the reservoir is crucial for accurate petrophysical interpretation, reservoir engineering practices, and stratigraphic correlation. ECS measures the elemental content of the rock, which directly impacts several physical properties that are essential for reservoir characterization, such as porosity, fluid saturation, permeability, and matrix density. The ability to accurately determine these properties leads to better reservoir mapping, improved production, and more effective resource management. Accurately de
... Show MoreElemental capture spectroscopy (ECS) is an important tool in the petroleum industry for determining the composition and properties of rock formations in a reservoir. Knowledge of the types and abundance of different minerals in the reservoir is crucial for accurate petrophysical interpretation, reservoir engineering practices, and stratigraphic correlation. ECS measures the elemental content of the rock, which directly impacts several physical properties that are essential for reservoir characterization, such as porosity, fluid saturation, permeability, and matrix density. The ability to accurately determine these properties leads to better reservoir mapping, improved production, and more effective resource management. Accurately determi
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