Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem services (as determined by 30 interviews with residents of the Marshes) included the trading of fish, harvested plants, water buffalo milk, and fodder were collected across six months in 2014. We valued the ecosystem services within the CM (40,000 ha) over a 6-month period to have a total value of 860,078.23 USD. This estimated total value was the sum of 86,637.25 USD from harvested plants, 551,334.80 USD from trading fish, 167, 303.70 USD from trading water buffalo milk, and 54,804.00 USD from trading fodder. The average income per individual in Iraq in 2014 was 6720 USD (World Bank data - https://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq): thus, the CM provided an average salary for 256 people. Our results provided greater understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by the Central Marshes and has highlighted the crucial role of nature in supporting sustainable well-being for humans living in the area. In addition, the results can be used to enhance local policy, to aid management plans of the National park, and to estimate lost and damage that could result from impact of climate change on the area.
Background: Poly-ether-ether-ketone(PEEK) has been introduced to many dental fields. Recently it was tested as a retainer wire‎ following orthodontic treatment. This study aimed to investigate the effect of changing the bonding spot size and location on the performance of PEEK retainer wires. Methods: A biomechanical study involving four three-dimensional finite element models was performed. The basic model was with a 0.8 mm cylindrical cross-section PEEK wire, bonded at the center of the lingual surface of the mandibular incisors with 4 mm in diameter composite spots. Two other models were designed with 3 mm and 5 mm composite sizes. The last model was created with the composite bonding spot of the canine away from the center of t
... Show MoreComputer simulations were carried out to investigate the dependence of the main perturbation parameters (Sun and Moon attractions, solar radiation pressure, atmosphere drag, and geopotential of Earth) on the orbital behavior of satellite. In this simulation, the Cowell method for accelerations technique was adopted, the equation of motion with perturbation was solved by 4th order Runge-Kutta method with step (1/50000) of period to obtain the state vectors for position and velocity. The results of this simulation have been compared with data that available on TLEs (NORD data in two line elements). The results of state vectors for satellites (Cartosat-2B, Gsat-14 an
This research means a study (the impact of the Arab-Islamic environment on contemporary painting, the artist Abd al-Rahman al-Suleiman as a model). The research falls into two axes: the first: the theoretical axis, and the second: the applied axis. The first axis dealt with an introduction that contained: (the research problem, its importance, its goal, its limits, and the definition of terms). This research aims to uncover (the impact of the Arab-Islamic environment on contemporary painting, and the artist Suleiman was a model). And the research limits spatially: Saudi Arabia, and temporally: 2010-2014. This theme included two topics: The first: the characteristics of the Saudi environment and its impact on art. The second: the s
... Show MoreThe research aims to analysis of the current financial crisis in Iraq through knowing its causes and then propose some solutions that help in remedy the crisis and that on the level of expenditures and revenues, and has been relying on the Federal general budget law of the Republic of Iraq for the fiscal year 2016 to obtain the necessary data in respect of the current expenditures and revenues which necessary to achieve the objective of the research , and through the research results has been reached to a set of conclusions which the most important of them that causes of the current financial crisis in Iraq , mainly belonging to increased expenditures and especially the current ones and the lack of revenues , especially non-oil o
... Show MoreThe present study reports Morchella conica Pers.1818, which belongs to the family, Morchellaceae as a new record of Iraqi macromycota based on the morphological and molecular methods. During their short and often sporadic fruiting season, this fungal species was found in mixed forest unburned areas in Branan ranges (Suliamaniya Province, Northeast Iraq). Currently, M. conica is the second Morchella species reported from Iraq. The current study aimed to introduce this new record, which is poorly studied in the Middle East. M. conica is morphologically described and phylogenetically confirmed. The relationship between this species and other species within the genus was studied using the nrDNA ITS sequences from different species and divers
... Show MoreThe Iraqi political and social arena has been characterized, subjectively and objectively, by the weakness of leadership building. This has led to a leadership crisis, which is reflected in the quality of the outcome of the process of rebuilding the state in Iraq. Thus, this building process has lacked the simplest requirements and conditions of success. It has suffered from a major and obvious failure: the situation in Iraq has raised conflict leaders, not constructive leaders, and this confirms the existence of a cultural crisis in the production of conscious, aware leadership compatible with democratic action. The weakness of leadership in Iraq is reflected in a series of ongoing crises that require radical solutions in accordance with l
... Show MoreSara and other kid's Agony: - Back to Innocence to Save Iraq
The Old World Screwworm Fly Chrysomya bezziana is a new insect pest on cattles and other domestic recor¬ded for the first from Iraq. It was first observed in cow's vagina in September of 1996 in Shaikh Hammed (Tarmiya), near Baghdad city. Chrysomya bezziana Villeneuve is well known as one of the most important insect pests of livestock. Its larvae infest living tissues by causing myiasis. In a wide range of worm-blooded host species (Spradbery and Vanningham, 1980; Spradbery and Kirk. 1992). It is widely dist¬ributed species over an extensive area of tropical and subtropical Africa, the Arabian Gulf countries, Iran. Indian subcontinent. South-East Asia. Indonesia, and as far east as Papua New Guinea (Zurapt, 1965; Djalayer et al. 1978;
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