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Numbness of the Mind Paradigm in Haruki Murakami’s After the Quake and Iraq’s After the Quake
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Haruki Murakami (1949-present) is a contemporary Japanese writer whose works have been translated into fifty languages and won him plenty of Japanese and international awards. His short stories are well constructed in a weird realistic manner and are mixed with elements of surrealism. His novels and short stories fall under the genre of magical realism. One of the major revolving themes that Murakami wrote about was the haunting feeling of emptiness and disconnectedness in a world which seems to care much for materialism and self-interests.

    The paper explores two of Murakami’s short stories in his book After the Quake (2000) and the relevance of their themes and characters to Iraq after the quake. Literally, Iraq may never have witnessed a real earthquake, but one can say its metaphorical meaning has a great implication upon the lives of its people. The reference to Iraq after the quake in this paper would focus on the aftermath of the 2003 War such as: the feeling of disconnection among people, disinclination in life, feelings of deprivation and depreciation, and the corruption of leaders and politicians. Likewise, though Murakami’s short stories chosen in this paper do not deal with the actual earthquake, its implications can be felt as we read the stories. His characters witness a sense of disconnectedness and the feeling of being unappreciated even when they do the hardest and most dangerous jobs.

    Two of Murakami’s short stories “UFO in Kushiro” and “Super Frog Saves Tokyo” are tackled to show the paradigm and comparison between the lives of these characters (that are actually a reflection of Japanese lives in mid 1990s) and the restricted depressing life of the Iraqis in the postwar era of the 2003 War. Both have experienced fragmentation, despair and lack of self-worth due to the reasons that are explained in this paper. The Iraqis however, may have experienced a deeper suffering where one can say they have reached a state of the numbness or enslavement of the mind and feelings. The paper also highlights that animosity should be dissipated from the hearts of people specifically in politicians and top leaders. Though it is a complicated world, man should conceive that the prosperity of mankind rests in his own hands. Cherishing the diversity of cultures and understanding each other’s moral principles are the means to diminish evil in order to reach the desired bliss.

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Publication Date
Thu Jul 07 2011
Journal Name
Arabian Journal Of Geosciences
Mineralogy, geochemistry, and reserve estimation of the Euphrates limestone for Portland cement industry at Al-Najaf area, South Iraq
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Publication Date
Thu Oct 03 2024
Journal Name
Retos
The effect of purposeful three-dimensional training on developing some motor abilities and skill performance among female fencing players
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O estudo destaca a necessidade crítica de se focar nas capacidades físicas, motoras e técnicas das jogadoras de esgrima, desenvolvendo e testando metodologias de treino modernas, baseadas na ciência, adaptadas às exigências específicas do desporto. O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar a eficácia do treino tridimensional visando melhorar as capacidades motoras e o desempenho técnico dos participantes. Recorrendo a um desenho experimental, o estudo envolveu a formação de grupos experimentais e de controlo. A amostra incluiu 16 esgrimistas da Faculdade Feminina de Educação Física e Ciências do Desporto. Após a exclusão de dois jogadores durante a fase exploratória, os restantes 14 foram divididos igualmente em grupos experimental

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Publication Date
Wed Jan 01 2014
Journal Name
Scienceasia
A combined compact genetic algorithm and local search method for optimizing the ARMA(1,1) model of a likelihood estimator
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In this paper, a compact genetic algorithm (CGA) is enhanced by integrating its selection strategy with a steepest descent algorithm (SDA) as a local search method to give I-CGA-SDA. This system is an attempt to avoid the large CPU time and computational complexity of the standard genetic algorithm. Here, CGA dramatically reduces the number of bits required to store the population and has a faster convergence. Consequently, this integrated system is used to optimize the maximum likelihood function lnL(φ1, θ1) of the mixed model. Simulation results based on MSE were compared with those obtained from the SDA and showed that the hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) and I-CGA-SDA can give a good estimator of (φ1, θ1) for the ARMA(1,1) model. Anot

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Publication Date
Wed Dec 30 2020
Journal Name
Modern Sport
The effect of special exercises using rubber ropes to develop special endurance and achieve a 200-meter freestyle swimming
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Swimming has now become the focus of attention of specialists, which has led to the search for the best methods and various methods of training, which rely heavily on scientific research and studies, through the use of proper planning and a comprehensive scientific and practical vision in the preparation and training process for this game. Some studies have proven that  The use of training methods has a positive role in the athletic training of the swimmer, provided that these methods are used in the correct way according to the scientific principles of training and with the loads and stresses that serve the specialized activity, i.e. the swimming distance. The study aimed at the follow 1- Preparing exercises using elastic ro

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Publication Date
Sat Dec 30 2023
Journal Name
Iraqi Journal Of Chemical And Petroleum Engineering
An Experimental Study to Demonstrate the Effect of Alumina Nanoparticles and Synthetic Fibers on Oil Well Cement Class G
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    In the drilling and production operations, the effectiveness of cementing jobs is crucial for efficient progress. The compressive strength of oil well cement is a key characteristic that reflects its ability to withstand forceful conditions over time. This study evaluates and improves the compressive strength and thickening time of Iraqi oil well cement class G from Babylon cement factory using two types of additives (Nano Alumina and Synthetic Fiber) to comply with the American Petroleum Institute (API) specifications. The additives were used in different proportions, and a set of samples was prepared under different conditions. Compressive strength and thickening time measurements were taken under different conditions. The amoun

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Publication Date
Wed Nov 11 2020
Journal Name
Journal Of Research In Medical And Dental Science
Effect of Topical Melatonin Application on the Peri-Implant Proximal Bone Level and Cortical Plate Thickness (Pilot Clinical Trial)
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Publication Date
Wed Jan 01 2020
Journal Name
Periodicals Of Engineering And Natural Sciences
Bayesian and non-Bayesian estimation of the lomax model based on upper record values under weighted LINEX loss function
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In this article, we developed a new loss function, as the simplification of linear exponential loss function (LINEX) by weighting LINEX function. We derive a scale parameter, reliability and the hazard functions in accordance with upper record values of the Lomax distribution (LD). To study a small sample behavior performance of the proposed loss function using a Monte Carlo simulation, we make a comparison among maximum likelihood estimator, Bayesian estimator by means of LINEX loss function and Bayesian estimator using square error loss (SE) function. The consequences have shown that a modified method is the finest for valuing a scale parameter, reliability and hazard functions.

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Publication Date
Tue Oct 14 2025
Journal Name
Journal Of Baghdad College Of Dentistry
The effect of incorporating carbon nanotubes on impact, transverse strength, hardness, and roughness to high impact denture base material
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Background: One of the most common complications of dentures is its ability to fracture, so the aim of this study was to reinforce the high impact denture base with carbon nanotubes in different concentrations to improve the mechanical and physical properties of the denture base. Materials and methods: Three concentrations of carbon nanotubes was used 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% in a pilot study to see the best values regarding transverse strength, impact, hardness and roughness test, 1 wt% was the best concentration, so new samples for control group and 1wt% carbon nanotubes and the previous tests were of course repeated. Results: There was a significant increase in impact strength and transverse strength when we add carbon nanotubes in 1wt%, compared

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Publication Date
Mon Mar 01 2021
Journal Name
Journal Of Physics: Conference Series
Synthesis and study the liquid crystalline properties of new compounds containing 5-methyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3-one
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Abstract<p>The new compounds of pyrazolines were synthesized from the reaction of different acid hydrazide with ethylacetoacetate and ethanol under reflux. These compounds were obtained from many sequence reactions. The 4-acetyl-5-methyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3-one compounds synthesized from the reaction of 5-methyl-2,4-dihydro-3H-pyrazol-3-one with acetyl chloride in calcium hydroxide and 1,4-dioxane. Finaly, Schiff bases were prepared via condensation reaction of products of mono- and tri ketone derivatives[IV]<sub>a, b</sub> with phenyl hydrazines as presented in (Scheme 1, 2). The synthesized compounds were identification by using FTIR, NMR and Mass spectroscopy (of some of them).</p> ... Show More
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Publication Date
Wed May 31 2023
Journal Name
Iraqi Geological Journal
Studying the Effect of Permeability Prediction on Reservoir History Matching by Using Artificial Intelligence and Flow Zone Indicator Methods
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The map of permeability distribution in the reservoirs is considered one of the most essential steps of the geologic model building due to its governing the fluid flow through the reservoir which makes it the most influential parameter on the history matching than other parameters. For that, it is the most petrophysical properties that are tuned during the history matching. Unfortunately, the prediction of the relationship between static petrophysics (porosity) and dynamic petrophysics (permeability) from conventional wells logs has a sophisticated problem to solve by conventional statistical methods for heterogeneous formations. For that, this paper examines the ability and performance of the artificial intelligence method in perme

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