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.
Abstract
It considers training programs is an important process contributing to provide employees with the skills required to do their jobs efficiently and effectively, so it should be concerned with and the focus of all government our organizations, and perhaps the most important reasons that I was invited to select the subject (evaluation of training programs directed toward the diagnosis of the phenomenon of financial and administrative corruption) It is the importance of those programs working in the regulatory institutions General and the Office of Inspector General of Finance and the Ministry particularly for employees because of their role in the development of their skills and their experience and their beha
... Show MoreBackground: presence of lingual vascular foramina and canals in the interforaminal region may increase the risk ofsurgical complications during implant placement or any surgical procedure in this area. Aim of this study is the radiological evaluation of the anatomic characteristic of the lingual foramina and their vascular canals in the anterior of the mandible using cone beam computed tomography. Materials and Methods: Prospective study including 72 Iraqi subjects (31 male and 41 female) ranging from 20 to 59 years, all subjects attended Al-Sharaa dental clinic in AL-Najaf AL-Ashraf city, scanned with CBCT from September 2016 to February 2017. Using 3dimentional and sagittal cross section to detect lingual foramina and their vascular canal
... Show MoreBackground: presence of lingual vascular foramina and canals in the interforaminal regionmay increase the risk ofsurgical complications during implant placement or any surgical procedure in this area.Aim of this study is the radiological evaluation of the anatomic characteristic of the lingual foramina and their vascular canals in the anterior of the mandible using cone beam computed tomography. Materials and Methods: Prospective study including 72 Iraqi subjects (31 male and 41 female) ranging from 20 to 59 years, all subjects attended AL- Sharaa dental clinic in AL-Najaf AL-Ashraf city, scanned with CBCT from September 2016 to February 2017. Using 3dimentional and sagittal cross section to detect lingual foramina and their vascular canals
... Show MoreThe US invasion of Iraq in 2003 unleashed the repressed national aspirations of the Kurdish people. After the colonial powers, especially Britain, failed to establish a homeland of scattered Kurds in Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran, Iraq's Kurds managed to establish a semi-independent state in the north of the country Which lasted decades against the central authority in Baghdad in protest against what they call the forced integration of Kurds in the Iraqi state, and to obtain more rights and privileges as partners in this country. The federal region in the Kurdistan region of Iraq has become a reality, and it is eager not to strengthen its authority in return for the authority of the central government, but to annex other areas inhabited b
... Show MoreEpoxy resin has many chemical features and mechanical properties, but it has a small elongation at break, low impact strength and crack propagation resistance, i.e. it exhibits a brittle behavior. In the current study, the influence of adding kaolin with variable particle size on the mechanical properties (flexural modulus E, toughness Gc, fracture toughness Kc, hardness HB, and Wear rate WR) of epoxy resin was evaluated. Composites of epoxy with varying concentrations (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 weights %) of kaolin were prepared by hand-out method. The composites showed improved (E, Gc, Kc, HB, and WR) properties with the addition of filler. Also, similar results were observed with the decrease in particle size. In addition, in this study, mult
... Show MoreStripping is one of the major distresses within asphalt concrete pavements caused due to penetration of water within the interface of asphalt-aggregate matrix. In this work, one grade of asphalt cement (40-50) was mixed with variable percentages of three types of additives (fly ash, fumed silica, and phosphogypsum) to obtained an modified asphalt cement to resist the effect of stripping phenomena .The specimens have been tested for physical properties according to AASHTO. The surface free energy has been measured by using two methods namely, the wilhelmy technique and the Sessile drop method according to NCHRP-104
procedures. Samples of asphalt concrete using different asphalt cement and modified asphalt cement percentages(4.1,4.6 an
Hepatitis B is an inflammation of the liver that caused by Hepatitis B virus (HBV) which is DNA virus that infects the human and some kinds of animals such as chimpanzees and birds. This disease considered as the major disease of mankind and a serious global public health problem. HBsAg, HBeAg, HBcAb, HBeAb and HBsAb are markers used to detect the presence and the stage of infection. The current study included (181) individuals from both sexes, (137) males and (44) females. By ratio 3.11: 1.The mean age of patients 2.4033 ± 0.83519 (range 18-73) years as follows < 20 (11.6%), 21–40 (47.5%), 41–60 (29.8%) and > 60 (11.0%) . These patients are 73 (40.4%) Blood donors from Central Blood Bank, 88 (48.6%) Chronic kidney failure at Ibn –
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