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.
It is commonly known that Euler-Bernoulli’s thin beam theorem is not applicable whenever a nonlinear distribution of strain/stress occurs, such as in deep beams, or the stress distribution is discontinuous. In order to design the members experiencing such distorted stress regions, the Strut-and-Tie Model (STM) could be utilized. In this paper, experimental investigation of STM technique for three identical small-scale deep beams was conducted. The beams were simply supported and loaded statically with a concentrated load at the mid span of the beams. These deep beams had two symmetrical openings near the application point of loading. Both the deep beam, where the stress distribution cannot be assumed linear, and the ex
... Show MoreFor this research, the utilisation of electrocoagulation (EC) toremove theciprofloxacin (CIP) and levofloxacin (LVX) from aqueous solutions was examined. The effective removal efficiencies are 93.47% for CIP and 88.00% for LVX, under optimum conditions. The adsorption isotherm models with suitable mechanisms were applied to determine the elimination of CIP and LVX utilizingtheEC method. Thefindingsshowed the adsorption of CIP and LVX on iron hydroxide flocs followed the Sips isotherm, with correlation coefficient values (R2) of 0.939 and 0.937. Threekinetic models were reviewed to determine the accurate CIP and LVX elimination methods using the EC method. The results showed that itfittedfor the second-order model, which indicated that the c
... Show MoreThe adequacy of diagnostic tests, together with trichomoniasis associated clinical symptoms, were investigated in females suffering vaginitis, and they were referred to the Gynecology Department, Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital during the period December 2004 – June 2005. The total number of patients was 250 cases (age range: 18 - 52 years), and each patient was examined using a sterile speculum to obtain vaginal swabs for examination. The diagnosis with T. vaginalis was done in many methods. The direct methods included wet and stained (Leishman's stain) examinations and cultivation in different culture media (Kupferberg Trichomonas Broth Base;, Trichomonas Agar Base; TAB and Trichomonas Modified CPLM), while the indirect methods were serol
... Show MoreFor this research, the utilisation of electrocoagulation (EC) toremove theciprofloxacin (CIP) and levofloxacin (LVX) from aqueous solutions was examined. The effective removal efficiencies are 93.47% for CIP and 88.00% for LVX, under optimum conditions. The adsorption isotherm models with suitable mechanisms were applied to determine the elimination of CIP and LVX utilizingtheEC method. Thefindingsshowed the adsorption of CIP and LVX on iron hydroxide flocs followed the Sips isotherm, with correlation coefficient values (R2) of 0.939 and 0.937. Threekinetic models were reviewed to determine the accurate CIP and LVX elimination methods using the EC method. The results showed that itfittedfor the second-order model, which indicated that the c
... Show MoreThe effects of temperature on an exotic aquatic snail Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1819) collected from the Shatt Al-Arab intertidal zone were investigated. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted during the summer period of 2017. Individuals of new born snails hatched in the laboratory from adult snails were collected from Shatt Al-Arab intertidal zone, and subjected to five fixed temperatures: 15, 25, 35, 40 and 45 Cº, after short term thermal acclimation. The heartbeats (HB) were counted at each temperature level. The results showed significant direct increase of HB from 15 Cº (19.8 HB/min) up to 25 Cº (76 HB/min) (P<0.05) as well as from 25 Cº to 35 Cº (93 HB/min). At 40 Cº the snail HB
... Show MoreABSTRACT Background: One of the major problems of all ceramic restorations is their probable fracture against the occlusal forces. The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of two gingival finishing lines (90°shoulder and deep chamfer) on the fracture resistance of full contour CAD/CAM and heat press all-ceramic crowns. Materials and Methods: Thirty two maxillary first premolars were prepared to receive full contour CAD/CAM (zolid) and heat press (Cergo Kiss) ceramic crowns using a special paralleling device (Parallel-A-Prep). The teeth were divided into four groups according to the type of finishing line prepared. Each crown was cemented to its corresponding tooth using self-etch, self-adhesive dual cure resin ceme
... Show MoreAs the banking sector is a strong influence on the country's economic growth,The solid financial well-being of anybank does not mean only a guarantee for its investors, It is also important for both owners and workers and for theeconomy in all its joints.The elements of capital adequacy and quality of assets are important to the functioning of thebanking business.In this study, the research sample included four private banks. Quarterly data were used for the period(2011 - 2018).Moreover, data is also collected from articles, papers, the World Wide Web (the Internet) and specializedinternational journals.In this research, an effort was made to try to find out the effect of (the ratio of the capital owned todeposits on the value of the bank),
... Show MoreIraq enjoys many factors and ingredients that made it “affect and be affected at the same time” by the American-Iranian conflict from the “strategic geographical position” adjacent to Iran as an important point and that Iraq has been part of this conflict since the last period which witnessed the outbreak of the first Gulf War (1980-1988) because of border problems and a dispute over Shatt al-Arab, and what followed after that, specifically from 2003 when the United States of America and its allies occupied Iraq’s lands and made a political change by the destruction of its security and military institutions. It increased the importance of Iraq in being a subject of competition between the competing parties in exploiting the
... Show MoreCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a flu-like infection caused by a novel virus known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). After the widespread around the world, it was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic. The symptoms of COVID-19 may arise within 2 weeks and the severity ranged from mild with signs of respiratory infection to severe cases of organ failure and even death. Management of COVID-19 patients includes supportive treatment and pharmacological medications expected to be effective with no definitive cure of the disease. The aims of this study are highlighting the management protocol and supportive therapy especially vitamin D and manifesting the clinical symptoms b
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