This study discusses risk management strategies caused by pandemic-related (Covid-19) suspensions in thirty-six engineering projects of different types and sizes selected from countries in the middle east and especially Iraq. The primary data collection method was a survey and questionnaire completed by selected project crew and laborers. Data were processed using Microsoft Excel to construct models to help decision-makers find solutions to the scheduling problems that may be expected to occur during a pandemic. A theoretical and practical concept for project risk management that addresses a range of global and local issues that affect schedule and cost is presented and results indicate that the most significant delays are due to a lack of good project risk management skills and remote project management capability which is exacerbated by shortfalls in technical development and information technology.
To finalize any construction investment project, it would be necessary to identify the most significant problems and obstacles that lead to project reluctance and stalling. Unexpected events and conflicts may have disrupted these strategies and impacted project development. Due to the high initial investment costs of construction projects, crises can have an immediate impact, resulting in significant financial losses. The 2014 financial crisis was one of the most prominent crises that Iraq faced, which prompted the researcher to identify and evaluate those obstacles through this research and questionnaires using Pareto scientific theory to exclude factors that do not contribute to project lag. It was discovered that 28 o
... Show MoreMedical images play a crucial role in the classification of various diseases and conditions. One of the imaging modalities is X-rays which provide valuable visual information that helps in the identification and characterization of various medical conditions. Chest radiograph (CXR) images have long been used to examine and monitor numerous lung disorders, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, atelectasis, and hernia. COVID-19 detection can be accomplished using CXR images as well. COVID-19, a virus that causes infections in the lungs and the airways of the upper respiratory tract, was first discovered in 2019 in Wuhan Province, China, and has since been thought to cause substantial airway damage, badly impacting the lungs of affected persons.
... Show MoreThe present paper aims at investigating the linguistic image portrayed by UNICEF reports on the Iraqi child from a critical discourse analysis perspective during Covid19 pandemic (2020). The paper attempts to fill a gap in research literature concerning the linguistic construction of the Iraqi child by the UNICEF reports during the critical health crisis of Covid19. Van Leeuwen’s (2008) approach of social actor representation has been adopted for this purpose. From Van Leeuwen’s approach, the category of determination (single determination and overdetermination) has been selected to be the main analytical tool for its high compatibility with the set of objectives put forward to figure out how such a globally effective and
... Show MoreDespite efforts to contain and manage the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak which was declared a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID-19 pandemic still remains a major global challenge. Patients who display the classical symptoms of the infection are easily identified, tested, isolated and monitored. However, many cases of infected asymptomatic patients have been documented. These patients are not easily identified even though many evidences suggest that they can spread the virus to others. How and why these COVID-19 asymptomatic presentations occur remain unclear. The many theories and views are conjectural, and supporting evidences are still needed. In this review, we
... Show More<p>Analyzing X-rays and computed tomography-scan (CT scan) images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) method is a very interesting subject, especially after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, a study is made on 423 patients’ CT scan images from Al-Kadhimiya (Madenat Al Emammain Al Kadhmain) hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, to diagnose if they have COVID or not using CNN. The total data being tested has 15000 CT-scan images chosen in a specific way to give a correct diagnosis. The activation function used in this research is the wavelet function, which differs from CNN activation functions. The convolutional wavelet neural network (CWNN) model proposed in this paper is compared with regular convol
... Show More<p>Analyzing X-rays and computed tomography-scan (CT scan) images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) method is a very interesting subject, especially after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, a study is made on 423 patients’ CT scan images from Al-Kadhimiya (Madenat Al Emammain Al Kadhmain) hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, to diagnose if they have COVID or not using CNN. The total data being tested has 15000 CT-scan images chosen in a specific way to give a correct diagnosis. The activation function used in this research is the wavelet function, which differs from CNN activation functions. The convolutional wavelet neural network (CWNN) model proposed in this paper is compared with regular convol
... Show MoreWorldwide, hundreds of millions of people have been infected with COVID-19 since December 2019; however, about 20% or less developed severe symptoms. The main aim of the current study was to assess the relationship between the severity of Covid-19 and different clinical and laboratory parameters. A total number of 466 Arabs have willingly joined this prospective cohort. Out of the total number, 297 subjects (63.7%) had negative COVID-19 tests, and thus, they were recruited as controls, while 169 subjects (36.3%) who tested positive for COVID-19 were enrolled as cases. Out of the total number of COVID-19 patients, 127 (75.15%) presented with mild symptoms, and 42 (24.85%) had severe symptoms. The age range for the partic
... Show More<p>Combating the COVID-19 epidemic has emerged as one of the most promising healthcare the world's challenges have ever seen. COVID-19 cases must be accurately and quickly diagnosed to receive proper medical treatment and limit the pandemic. Imaging approaches for chest radiography have been proven in order to be more successful in detecting coronavirus than the (RT-PCR) approach. Transfer knowledge is more suited to categorize patterns in medical pictures since the number of available medical images is limited. This paper illustrates a convolutional neural network (CNN) and recurrent neural network (RNN) hybrid architecture for the diagnosis of COVID-19 from chest X-rays. The deep transfer methods used were VGG19, DenseNet121
... Show MoreThrombosis is a common clinical feature associated with morbidity and mortality in coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients. Cytokine storm in COVID-19 increases patients' systemic inflammation, which can cause multiple health consequences. In this work, we aimed to indicate the effect of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination on the modulation of monocyte chemoattractant protein-3 (MCP-3), matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels, and other systemic inflammatory biomarkers that associates with COVID-19 severity in patients who suffers from thrombosis consequences. For this purpose, ninety people were collected from Ibn Al-Nafees Hospital and divided into three groups each of which contained 30 people, 15
... Show MoreWith its rapid spread, the coronavirus infection shocked the world and had a huge effect on billions of peoples' lives. The problem is to find a safe method to diagnose the infections with fewer casualties. It has been shown that X-Ray images are an important method for the identification, quantification, and monitoring of diseases. Deep learning algorithms can be utilized to help analyze potentially huge numbers of X-Ray examinations. This research conducted a retrospective multi-test analysis system to detect suspicious COVID-19 performance, and use of chest X-Ray features to assess the progress of the illness in each patient, resulting in a "corona score." where the results were satisfactory compared to the benchmarked techniques. T
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