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.
A field experiment was conducted at the field of the Dept. of Field Crop Sci. / College of Agriculture / University of Baghdad . The objective was to determine the values of relative constant of three – way and double crosses of maize . Ten inbreds were used and crossed during spring and fall seasons of 2009 to produce three - way and double crosses , and ten hybrids were taken from each group . The ten hybrids were grown and selfed during spring 2010 to produce 2 seed . Three way and double crosses were sown with their parents and 2 seed during fall 2010 in RCBD with four replicates . Leaf area , total dry matter , row/ear , grain/ear , grain weight and grain weight/plant of hybrids , parents and 2 plants were taken . Results showed that
... Show MoreThe experimental study showed the use of closed cavity wall (the thickness of the cavity 5cm) made a percentage reduction in the cooling load caused by heat gain from the wall by (21.5 %) compared with the conventional wall. also the thermal resistance of the closed cavity was an average (0.2 m2.oC/W).
The experimental results of the study showed that the use of closed cavity wall reduced the average temperature of the inner surface of the wall during the day, and that the reduction was an average (0.45 oC) when compared with the conventional wall , as well as the use of closed cavity wall reduced the temperature difference range of the inner surface of the wall during the day, and that the
... Show MoreThe electronic properties and Hall effect of thin amorphous Si1-xGex:H films of thickness (350 nm) have been studied such as dc conductivity, activation energy, Hall coefficient under magnetic field (0.257 Tesla) for measuring carrier density of electrons and holes and Hall mobility as a function of germanium content (x = 0–1), deposition temperature (303-503) K and dopant concentration for Al and As in the range (0-3.5)%. The composition of the alloys and films were determined by using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
This study showed that dc conductivity of a-Si1-xGex:H thin films is found to increase with increasing Ge content and dopant concentration, whereas conductivity activati
Poly vinyl alcohol has been studied for its ability to form crystallites by using annealing method. Semicrystalline films of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) were prepared by casting 11.5 wt. % and 13 wt. % PVA aqueous solution onto glass slides at annealing temperature range 90 -120°C and duration time 15- 60 minute. This allowed the macromolecules to form crystallites, small regions of folded and compacted chains separated by amorphous regions where single PVA chain may pass through several of these crystallites. Degree of crystallinity of PVA films (hydrogels) was determined by method of density; on the other hand the swelling behavior was conducted by the determination of water uptake, wet degree of crystallinity, gel fraction and solubilit
... Show MoreThe study aims to identify the third instar larvae of fly species (Order : Diptera) feeding on carcasses (Fishes and Rabbits). Two families (Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae), were recorded with highest rate in Calliphoridae species. The following species had been registered in accordance with their prevalence respectively; Calliphora vicina Rob.-Desvoidy, Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedmann), Chrysomy megacephala (Fabricius), Sarcophaga sp. and Lucilia sericata (Meigen). The highest rate has been registered Calliphora vicina during February, November, December and January at rate 100%, the larvae of this fly have not been observed during July, August, September and October. The highest rate of Ch
... Show MoreThis article focuses on the relationship of gender to the effectiveness of both women and men in public relations work. Its aim is to identify the extent to which public relations employees are aware of the concept of gender, and to reveal the role of the institution in determining certain roles for both women and men at work, as well as to find out which employees are most effective in public relations activities within the institution.
The researcher uses public relations employees and officials in Iraqi ministries as a research sample to capture the point of view of both parties on the effectiveness of workers in public relations based on the definition of gender. The sample consists of 396 individuals
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This paper deals with a method called Statistical Energy Analysis that can be applied to the mechanical and acoustical systems like buildings, bridges and aircrafts …etc. S.E.A as a tool can be applied to the resonant systems in the circumstances of high frequency or/and complex structure». The parameters of S.E.A such as coupling loss factor, internal loss factor, modal density and input power are clarified in this work ; coupled plate sub-systems and explanations are presented for these parameters. The developed system is assumed to be resonant, conservative, linear and there is an equipartition of energy between all the resonant modes within a given frequency band in a given sub-system. The aim of th
... Show MoreThe aim of this study was to investigate the effect of operating variables on, the percentage of removed sludge (PSR) obtained during re-refining of 15W-40 Al-Durra spent lubricant by solvent extraction-flocculation treatment method. Binary solvents were used such as, Heavy Naphtha (H.N.): MEK (N:MEK), H.N. : n-Butanol (N:n-But), and H.N. : Iso-Butanol (N:Iso:But). The studied variables were mixing speed (300-900, rpm), mixing time (15-60, min), and operating temperature (2540, oC). This study showed that the studied operating variables have effects where, increasing the mixing time up to 45 min for H.N.: MEK, H.N.: n-Butanol and 30 min for H.N.: Iso-Butanol increased the PSR, after that percentage was decreased; increasing t
... Show MoreInfluence of metal nanoparticles synthesized by microorganisms upon soil-borne microscopic fungus Aspergillus terreus K-8 was studied. It was established that the metal nanoparticles synthesized by microorganisms affect the enzymatic activity of the studied culture. Silver nanoparticles lead to a decrease in cellulase activity and completely suppress the amylase activity of the fungus, while copper nanoparticles completely inhibit the activity of both the cellulase complex and amylase. The obtained results imply that the large-scale use of silver and copper nanoparticles may disrupt biological processes in the soil and cause change in the physiological and biochemical state of soil-borne microorganisms as well.
The objective of this study is to determine the efficacy of class V Er:YAG laser (2940 nm) cavity preparation and conventional bur cavity preparation regarding Intrapulpal temperature rise during cavity preparation in extracted human premolar teeth. Twenty non carious premolar teeth extracted for orthodontic purposes were used and class V cavity preparation was applied both buccal and lingual sides for each tooth .Samples were equally grouped into two major groups according to cavity depth (1mm and 2mm). Each major group was further subdivided into two subgroupsof ten teeth for each (twenty cavities for each subgroup). TwinlightEr:YAG laser (2940 nm) with 500mJ pulse energy, P.R.R of 10 Hz and 63.69 J/cm2 energy density was used. The ana
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