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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
Sat Sep 01 2012
Journal Name
Journal Of Economics And Administrative Sciences
The Role of Knowledge Economy in Financial Reporting System Development proposed model ""
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This  world is moving towards knowledge economy which basically depends on knowledge and information. So, the economic units need to develop its financial reporting system which helps to provide useful information in timeliness for investors in accordance with the requirements of  the knowledge economy and meets the needs of those investors. This  research aims to revealing the reflects of knowledge economy on the approaches of financial reporting and suggesting a financial reporting model in the environment of knowledge economy,  depending on combining the value approach with the events approach using database and communication technology and providing useful accounting information for all users regardless of

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Publication Date
Wed Jun 07 2023
Journal Name
Journal Of Educational And Psychological Researches
Problems Facing University Students in Distance Learning
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The current study aims to examine the level of problems faced by university students in distance learning, in addition to identify the differences in these problems in terms of the availability of internet services, gender, college, GPA, interactions, academic cohort, and family economic status. The study sample consisted of (3172) students (57.3% females). The researchers developed a questionnaire with (32) items to measure distance learning problems in four areas: Psychological (9 items), academic (10 items), technological (7 items), and study environment (6 items). The responses are scored on a (5) point Likert Scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Means, standard deviations, and Multivariate Analysis of Vari

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Publication Date
Sat Feb 21 2026
Journal Name
Journal Of Baghdad College Of Dentistry
The Effect of Plasma Treatment on Shear Bond Strength of High Impact Acrylic Resin Denture Base Lined with Two Types of Soft Lining Materials after Immersion in Distilled Water and Denture Cleanser
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Background: In dentistry, dentist takes the advantages of soft lining materials due to the viscoelastic properties. The major problem is the adhesion of the soft liner with the denture base material. Materials and Methods: Heat cured of high impact acrylic resin specimens prepared with dimensions 75x13x13mm for shear bond strength test, soft lining material (Refit and Mollosil) with a 3-mm thickness and used to join each two acrylic blocks. Also four specimens with the same previous dimensions utilized for chemical and physical surface analysis. The specimens grouped as control (without plasma) and experiment (with oxygen plasma) treated high impact acrylic specimens. Results: Plasma treatment increased the shear bond strength for both Refi

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Publication Date
Mon Sep 30 2024
Journal Name
مجلة جامعة الانبار للعلوم البدنیة والریاضیة
Music and its impact on the sports and military scene of Mesopotamian civilization
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The ancient Iraqis in the Mesopotamian civilization practiced various sports activities and physical exercises to develop their physical fitness until these practices became a part of their lives and accompanied their religious, social, and military celebrations. Music had a presence in many sports scenes, and the presence of musicians and musical instruments with the armies indicated its great role. In the military scene, the research aims to shed light on the archaeological evidence and evidence of the integration of music with the sports and military scene in Mesopotamian civilization and to explore the impact of music in the sports and military scene of Mesopotamian civilization. The historical approach was adopted in collecting and des

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Publication Date
Mon Jan 02 2017
Journal Name
Al-academy
The signification levels of scenery in the Iraqi theatrical show (the play of alubah for example)
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Signification with its different aspects constitutes various aesthetic pictures for human and nature creations over different periods of time. It was a focal around which logical thinking loops on the interpretation level of the signification movement according to its structural context expresses its hidden entities with which a human being deals according to two symmetrical levels while interpreting to attain meaning. Sense was the first passing window for the picture of signification which thought deals with. While trying to decode it and because art in general and theatre in particular are considered as the basis of creating signification through its visual and aural elements, so it was necessary to consider one of the elements of cre

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Publication Date
Fri Apr 12 2019
Journal Name
Journal Of Economics And Administrative Sciences
The effectiveness of the Iraqi banking system in dealing with the effects of fiscal austerity policy
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Abstract:

    Under the state scenario, fiscal policy will not be able to use the oil surpluses optimally and economically and society, as long as these surpluses are not directed by public expenditure towards new productive investments and by following the path of fiscal policy after one year 2003 and until 2013 we note that it is based on the method of spending (excessive) consumption, and did not take any action towards the budget deficit planned at the beginning of the fiscal year, and the actual surplus at the end of the fiscal year, which represents the highest expenditure in the budget, Salaries and wages of workers in various government agencies with the expansion of spending on the security side.&n

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Publication Date
Mon Jan 02 2017
Journal Name
Al-academy
The semiology of culture and the sign variable in a theatre performance: Iraqi theatre as an example
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The culture of theatre performance has a vital role in the process of reading the linguistic and visual signs of the performance. And the process of transforming a theatre performance from its original context into a new hosting cultural context starts from the actual reading of the text. Directors derives their new signs out of his personal culture, depending on the society where they lives and the culture that forms the social conventions, traditions and beliefs. The text is usually written within its own historical and temporal culture. The process of its production usually takes it away from its original culture, when it interprets the codes of the original writer and their visual and linguistic signs and instils new alternative sign

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Publication Date
Mon Oct 01 2018
Journal Name
Journal Of Economics And Administrative Sciences
The impact of managing employees' performance in building intellectual capital Analytical study of the views of a sample of heads of scientific departments At the University of Kirkuk
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The research aims to identify the impact of managing performance's employees in building intellectual capital, Because employing the practice of managing the performance of employees may acquire familiar skills to improve their performance and reflect on the construction of intellectual capital in the surveyed area, Especially that the independent dimension represented by the management of the performance of employees is one of the important topics that has received attention in the world of management in general and human resource management in particular.  While the adopted dimension was represented by Intellectual capital in the important practice of human resource management in the increasing of  their knowledge, to

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Crossref
Publication Date
Thu Aug 01 2019
Journal Name
Journal Of Economics And Administrative Sciences
Analysis of the sustainability of the public debt in light of the volatile oil revenues in Iraq for the period (2005-2015)
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Abstract

This study deals with the fluctuations of oil revenues and its effect on the public debt. This can be studied through the indicators of debt sustainability, the financial, and economic indicators which express the risk of debt. The study focuses on clarification of the public debt path and its management both domestic and foreign. The sustainability of debt takes an important role according the macroeconomic variables. This study stresses the relationship between the rental economy in Iraq and the risk of the public debt, it is very important to work high oil prices, and on investigating during high work to establish a fund to support the budget deficit. This will reduce future risks arising from the use of publi

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Crossref
Publication Date
Fri Aug 12 2022
Journal Name
Surgical Neurology International
“The most inspiring and mind-blowing meetings ever:” Highlights of the 15<sup>th</sup> SNI Baghdad Neurosurgery Online Meeting, from Participants’ Perspectives
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Background:

Education by lectures has been standard for 100 years or more. Given the 21st century technology, people can connect with others around the world instantly, electronically. With the pandemic, teaching changed to one-way information transfer with the loss of interpersonal learning experience. SNI® and now SNI Digital have been experimenting with different forms of communication to transfer information.

Methods:

Using an interactive education model, a meeting for neurosurgeons in Baghdad was held for students, residents, and neurosurgeons

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