The duration of sunshine is one of the important indicators and one of the variables for measuring the amount of solar radiation collected in a particular area. Duration of solar brightness has been used to study atmospheric energy balance, sustainable development, ecosystem evolution and climate change. Predicting the average values of sunshine duration (SD) for Duhok city, Iraq on a daily basis using the approach of artificial neural network (ANN) is the focus of this paper. Many different ANN models with different input variables were used in the prediction processes. The daily average of the month, average temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity, wind direction, cloud level and atmospheric pressure were used as input parameters in order to obtain the daily average of sunshine duration (SD) as the output. The eight-year data were divided into two categories. The first category covers whole years (annually) and the second category is seasonal. To recognize and assess the influence of different input parameters on sunshine duration, six models of ANN have been evolved. The findings showed that in the annual models, the outcomes of RMSE, MAE and R for the model with input parameters (Month, Cloud Level and Average Temperature) were the best results 1.82, 1.175 and 0.89, respectively. As for the season models, the outcomes of RMSE, MAE and R for the autumn season were the best results 1.450, 1.009 and 0.94, respectively. Accordingly, the performance of the artificial neural network is considerably effective in predicting the sunshine duration.
The Asphalt cement is produced as a by-product from the oil industry; the asphalt must practice further processing to control the percentage of its different ingredients so that it will be suitable for paving process. The objective of this work is to prepare different types of modified Asphalt cement using locally available additives, and subjecting the prepared modified Asphalt cement to testing procedures usually adopted for Asphalt cement, and compare the test results with the specification requirements for the modified Asphalt cement to fulfill the paving process requirements. An attempt was made to prepare the modified Asphalt cement for pavement construction in the laboratory by digesting each of the two penetration grade Asphalt c
... Show MoreA mixture model is used to model data that come from more than one component. In recent years, it became an effective tool in drawing inferences about the complex data that we might come across in real life. Moreover, it can represent a tremendous confirmatory tool in classification observations based on similarities amongst them. In this paper, several mixture regression-based methods were conducted under the assumption that the data come from a finite number of components. A comparison of these methods has been made according to their results in estimating component parameters. Also, observation membership has been inferred and assessed for these methods. The results showed that the flexible mixture model outperformed the
... Show MoreA mixture model is used to model data that come from more than one component. In recent years, it became an effective tool in drawing inferences about the complex data that we might come across in real life. Moreover, it can represent a tremendous confirmatory tool in classification observations based on similarities amongst them. In this paper, several mixture regression-based methods were conducted under the assumption that the data come from a finite number of components. A comparison of these methods has been made according to their results in estimating component parameters. Also, observation membership has been inferred and assessed for these methods. The results showed that the flexible mixture model outperformed the others
... Show MoreThe marketing logistic chain, as an integrated system aimed to balance the achievement of its main opposite objectives which represented in the access to the best service presented to the customer with lowest possible logistic costs especially the transportation costs, where encourages the researcher to choose the second objective as a field of this study in order to reduce the transportation costs in the final link of marketing logistic chain which related to delivering of fuel oil to the customer that falls within organizational responsibilities of the company under consideration (Oil Marketing Company) and also known in a brief name by (SOMO) through two methods, the first is by functioning quantative techniques by using trans
... Show MoreKey components estimated in Acol total plant leaves and the results were as follows plant Acol humidity 72%
Aims: To assess the success rate and implant stability changes of narrow dental implants (NDIs) during the osseous healing period. Materials and methods: This prospective observational clinical study included 21 patients with narrow alveolar ridge of restricted mesiodistal interdental span who received NDIs. The alveolar ridge width was determined by the ridge mapping technique. Implant stability was measured using Periotest® M immediately after implant insertion then after 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks postoperatively. The outcome variables were success rate and implant stability changes during the healing period. The statistical analysis included one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey\'s multiple comparisons test, values < 0.05 w
... Show MoreObjective: To assess the nurses-midwives' knowledge and practices regarding the management of second stage
of labor and to find out the association between their knowledge and practices and socio-demographic
characteristics and working years and experience.
Methodology: A descriptive study was carried out from March 22nd
, 2008 through 30th June, 2008. A purposive
sample of (75) Nurse-Midwives which was selected from (6) hospitals. A questionnaire was comprised of two
parts: (socio-demographic characteristics and the assessment tool for Nurse-Midwives' knowledge and health
practices performed by them). The questionnaire validity was determined by experts and its reliability was
determined through a pilot study. Th
Objectives: The study aims to assess the female adolescents’ risk-health behaviors, to identify their
determinants, to determine the association between the risk health behaviors and the stage of
adolescence for these females' demographic variable.
Methodology: A purposive sample of (268) female adolescents is selected from intermediate and
secondary schools in Baghdad City. These adolescents have presented the age of (14-19) year old and
divided into two groups of (14-16) year and (17-19) year. A questionnaire is constructed for the purpose
of the study, it is composed of (10) major parts, and the overall items, which are included in the
questionnaire, are (106) item. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire