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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
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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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 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
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
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
Sat Jun 06 2026
Journal Name
Journal Of Baghdad College Of Dentistry
Evaluation of shear bond strength of zirconia to tooth structure after different zirconia surface treatment techniques
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Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of zirconia different surface treatments (primer, sandblast with 50μmAl2O3, Er,Cr:YSGG laser) on shear bond strength between zirconia surface and resin cement. Material and methods: Sixty presintered Y-TZP zirconia cylinder specimens (IPS e.max ZirCAD, Ivoclar vivadent) will be fabricated and sintered in high temperature furnace of (1500 C for 8 hours) according to manufacturer’s instructions to the selected size and shape of (5mm. in diameter and 6mm in height). All specimens were ground flat using 600.800.1000.1200, aluminum oxide abrasive paper to obtain a standardized surface roughness. Surface roughness values were then recorded in µm using surface roughness tester (profi

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Publication Date
Tue Jun 01 2021
Journal Name
Journal Of Planner And Development
Spatial analysis of rural services in the district of Fallujah, Zgharit village, as a model
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          The study of services in villages is one of the imperative matters that must   be focused on, because it leads to increased attention, which reduces the differences between the countryside and the urban. The extent of its.

  It is well known that community services need to be reached by a person, unlike the anchor services that reach people, here the population distribution plays an important and prominent role in signing these services, so the dispersed distribution pattern and the gathering pattern appeared in the distribution, thus an effect on the time and distance that the person walked to obtain The services are community-based. Therefore

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Publication Date
Tue Jan 01 2019
Journal Name
Advances In Science, Technology &amp; Innovation
Potentiometric Salinity Mapping of Mishrif Oilfield Waters in (Iraq’s) Southern Oil Fields
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Scopus (11)
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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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Publication Date
Sat Apr 01 2017
Journal Name
Journal Of Economics And Administrative Sciences
Measuring the efficiency of public spending in the Iraqi economy for the period 2006-2013
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In light of the limited sources of funding suffered by the Iraqi economy, it highlights the importance of enhancing the efficiency of public expenditure, and if the measurement of the efficiency of public expenditure and identify benchmarks first step of promoting efficiency, the adoption of scientific methods of analysis imperative in promoting the efficiency. Under this framework, the focus was on the methodologies used to measure the efficiency of public spending and supply analysis with trying statement strengths and weaknesses, and make use of it in the measurement of the efficiency of public spending in the Iraqi economy. As well as devise measurable indicators take into account the specificity of the Iraqi economy and the

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