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.
The present work considers an alternative solution for a complex configuration of rotor discs by applying Galerkin Method. The theoretical model consists of elastic shaft carrying number of discs and supported on number of journal bearings. The equation of motion was discretized to finite degree of freedom in terms of the system generalized coordinates. The various effects of the dynamical forces and moments arising from the bearing, discs and shaft were included. Rayleigh beam model is used for analyzing the shaft while the discs are considered rigid . The validity and convergence of the present analysis was carefully checked by comparing with the Finite Element solution. An example of rotor consists of three different size discs and su
... Show Moreبهذا البحث نقارن معاييرالمعلومات التقليدية (AIC , SIC, HQ , FPE ) مع معيارمعلومات الانحراف المحور (MDIC) المستعملة لتحديد رتبة انموذج الانحدارالذاتي (AR) للعملية التي تولد البيانات,باستعمال المحاكاة وذلك بتوليد بيانات من عدة نماذج للأنحدارالذاتي,عندما خضوع حد الخطأ للتوزيع الطبيعي بقيم مختلفة لمعلماته
... Show MoreThe photonconductor detectors CdSe:Cu was fabricated as a thin film of (1 μm) in thickness using vacuum evaporation technique. doping with copper was made using vacuum annealing at 350oC under argon atmosphere . The spectral responsivity and spectral detectivity of the detector were determined as a function of incident wavelength on the sample. A remarkable improvement in performance was absorbed for the specimen, which doping with (1-5 wt%) Cu.
The spectral response increases with increasing of wavelength for incident radiation to maximum value, after that , it reduced sharply . There is a shifting for peak responsivity indirect of higher wavelength. The detectivity was increased with doping but its decreased as the concentration in
Investigation of the adsorption of acid fuchsin dye (AFD) on Zeolite 5A is carried out using batch scale experiments according to statistical design. Adsorption isotherms, kinetics and thermodynamics were demonstrated. Results showed that the maximum removal efficiency was using zeolite at a temperature of 93.68751 mg/g. Experimental data was found to fit the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo second order kinetics with maximum removal of about 95%. Thermodynamic analysis showed an endothermic adsorption. Optimization was made for the most affecting operating variables and a model equation for the predicted efficiency was suggested.
Two grades of paving asphalt with penetration of 46 and 65 are studied for determining changes in their physical and chemical properties caused by ageing.
The ageing process has been conducted on two petroleum paving asphalt cement using thin film oven test at 150, 163 and 175 C, and ageing time 5, 10,15, 20, 25 and 30 hours. The effect of ageing time and temperature on penetration, kinematic viscosity, softening point, solubility in trichloroethylene, heat loss and changes in chemical composition are investigated. The results of thin film oven test process indicte that the asphaltenes concentration of all aged asphalt increases with increasing ageing time, while the opposite was observed for polar-aromatic and naphthene-aromatic. The
The electrical properties of the AlNiCo thin films with thickness (1000oA) deposited on glass substrates using Ion – Beam sputtering (IBS) technique under vacuum <10-6 torr have been studied . Also it studied the effect of annealing temperature from this films , It is found that the effective energy decrease with increase of temperature and the conductivity decrease with increase temperature 323oK but after this degree the conductivity increasing .
Despite widespread agreement on the beneficial nature of hydrated lime (HL) addition to asphalt concrete mixes, understanding of the effect of HL particle size is still limited. Previous investigations have focused mainly on two different size comparisons, and so certain guidance for a practical application cannot yet be produced. This study investigates three distinct sizes of HL, in the range of regular, nano, and sub-nano scales, for their effects on the properties of modified asphalt concretes. Five different percentages of HL as a partial replacement of ordinary limestone filler in asphalt concrete mixes were studied for wearing course application purposes. Experimental tests were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties
... Show More