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: Imaging techniques play a very important role in the specialty of endodontic. The ultrasonographic technique is non-expensive procedure, safe, and reproducible. The aim of the study was to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ultrasound and color Doppler ultrasonography in evaluation of periapical lesions (cyst, granuloma, mixed lesion “cyst within graulomas mass”, and abscess. Subject, Material and method: The sample consists of prospective study for 64 Iraqi participants who attended Karbalaa Specialized Center for Dentistry (males & females). Those patients were diagnosed clinically and radiographically as having periapical lesions of dental origin. They were examined by real time ultrasound and color
... Show MoreThe number of infections caused by microorganisms is increasing significantly over the last few years. A total of 140 patients admitted to the central teaching hospital of pediatrics from the 1st of Jun 2017 to 31 October 2017. The Clinical samples was processed from culture and sensitivity testing. Antibiotic discs used for gram negative isolates. The most prevalent gram negative isolates included Escherichia coli 63 (45.0 %), Pseudomonas spp. 21 (15.0 %), Klebsiella spp. 19 (13.6 %) predominantly. Escherichia coli were the most prevalent isolates from urine 45 (71.4 %), Klebsiella spp. 11 (57.9 %) and Enterobacter spp. 11 (68.8 %) followed by Escherichia coli 10 (15.9 %) predominant from blood. 68 (48.6 %) of specimens were urine, 47 (33.
... Show MoreThis research aims to the possibility of evaluating the strategic performance of the State Board for Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) using a balanced scorecard of four criteria (Financial, Customers, Internal Processes, and Learning and Growth). The main challenge was that the State Board use traditional evaluation in measuring employee performance, activities, and projects. Case study and field interviews methodology has been adopted in this research with a sample consisting of the Chairman of the State Board, 6 General Managers, and 7 Department Managers who are involved in evaluating the strategic performance and deciding the suitable answers on the checklists to analyze it ac
... Show MoreThis research aims to the possibility of evaluating the strategic performance of the State Board for Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) using a balanced scorecard of four criteria (Financial, Customers, Internal Processes, and Learning and Growth). The main challenge was that the State Board use traditional evaluation in measuring employee performance, activities, and projects. Case study and field interviews methodology has been adopted in this research with a sample consisting of the Chairman of the State Board, 6 General Managers, and 7 Department Managers who are involved in evaluating the strategic performance and deciding the suitable answers on the checklists to analyze it according to the 7-points Likert scale. Data analysis re
... Show MoreCurrent study was Based on the variables interact with each other to form a general framework of the pricing of banking services, and the role of profitability in the banking activity, because profit is the most important goal of commercial banks, that included the study United Bank, North Bank and Bank of Baghdad, and the each formation of bank were was collected about the prices (Iraqi dinar and the U.S. dollar) and interest percentages and then revenue (Iraqi Dinars) through banking channels, and each channel service included a group of well-known banking operations.
The study found that the effect of prices, and interest on profitability and clear. There have been a correlation between the rates, and interes
... Show MoreCO2 laser (10.6 μm) is the most often used laser in the oral surgery due to its high absorption by water of the oral tissues. Several benefits of the use of CO2 laser have been reported for oral surgical procedures. This study aims to evaluate the effect of CO2 laser on soft and hard oral tissues (in vitro study). This study was done on fresh tissues from sheep’s head. CO2Surgical Laser with different operation modes was used; 0.2 mm spot size using different laser parameters on the tongue, and bone making holes, incisions and cutting. The depths and widths of holes and incisions were measured using endodontic file under magnification. The speed of incisions was calculated and the required time for cutting was measured using sport clo
... Show MoreRecurrent respiratory tract infections are responsible for about 85% of all diseases in childhood, and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to evaluate the main causes underlying recurrent respiratory tract infections in 176 pediatric patients aged 2 month to 4 year and weight from 4 to11 kg referred to the child center hospital and Al-sader hospital prospective study.All parents were given information sheet which then analyzed and the percentage of incidence of causes were recorded, we found that higher % related to many causes; mostly related to the parent like poor family education, mother carelessness, incomplete vaccination, other related to empirical diagnosis, and short course of t
... Show MoreThis study is to evaluate plasma levels of several cytokines in preeclamptic pregnancies compared to those of healthy pregnancies. Ninety pregnant women with preeclampsia (37 mild & 53 severe) and thirty healthy pregnant women were enrolled in the study. Blood samples were taken and plasma levels of IL-8, IL-10, and IFN-? were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Preeclamptic women and their severe cases but not mild cases had significantly (P<0.05) increased levels of plasma IL-8, and IFN-? as compared with healthy pregnancies. By contrast, plasma levels of IL-10 was significantly (P<0.05) increased in healthy pregnant women as compared to all groups of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is associated with an imbalance betwe
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