Preferred Language
Articles
/
jcolang-12
Numbness of the Mind Paradigm in Haruki Murakami’s After the Quake and Iraq’s After the Quake
...Show More Authors

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.

View Publication Preview PDF
Quick Preview PDF
Publication Date
Sat May 09 2015
Journal Name
International Journal Of Innovations In Scientific Engineering
USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK TECHNIQUE FOR THE ESTIMATION OF CD CONCENTRATION IN CONTAMINATED SOILS
...Show More Authors

The aim of this paper is to design artificial neural network as an alternative accurate tool to estimate concentration of Cadmium in contaminated soils for any depth and time. First, fifty soil samples were harvested from a phytoremediated contaminated site located in Qanat Aljaeesh in Baghdad city in Iraq. Second, a series of measurements were performed on the soil samples. The inputs are the soil depth, the time, and the soil parameters but the output is the concentration of Cu in the soil for depth x and time t. Third, design an ANN and its performance was evaluated using a test data set and then applied to estimate the concentration of Cadmium. The performance of the ANN technique was compared with the traditional laboratory inspecting

... Show More
View Publication
Publication Date
Sat Jun 03 2023
Journal Name
Al-rafidain Journal Of Medical Sciences ( Issn: 2789-3219 )
Analyzing the Potential Antioxidative Effects of Omega-369 in Preventing Acetaminophen-Induced Liver Damage
...Show More Authors

Background: As acetaminophen (APAP) toxicity has become more common in many countries, related cases of poisoning, whether deliberate or unintentional, have been identified as a key contributor to acute liver failure. Aime: To discover if omega-369 fatty acids could protect the liver of male mice from the effects of acetamiophen. Methods: Thirty-five albino male mice were allocated to one of five groups at random. Group 1 served as the "negative control" and received a single intraperitoneal injection (10 ml/kg) of normal saline on the eleventh day of the test following ten days of receiving liquid paraffin orally at a dose of 10 ml/kg. The liquid paraffin was given to group 2 "positive control". Group 3 received Omega 369 (50 mg/kg

... Show More
View Publication
Scopus (3)
Crossref (3)
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Wed May 31 2017
Journal Name
Journal Of Engineering
Evaluating the Performance of High Modulus Asphalt Concrete Mixture for Base Course in Iraq
...Show More Authors

In the 1980s, the French Administration Roads LCPC developed high modulus mixtures (EME) by using hard binder. This type of mixture presented good resistance to moisture damage and improved . mechanical properties for asphalt mixtures including high modulus, good fatigue behaviour and excellent resistance to rutting. In Iraq, this type of mixture has not been used yet. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the performance of high modulus mixtures and comparing them with the conventional mixture, to achieve this objective, asphalt concrete mixes were prepared and then tested to evaluate their engineering properties which include moisture damage, resilient modulus, permanent deformation and fatigue characteristics. These prope

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Publication Date
Sun May 01 2016
Journal Name
Journal Of Engineering
Three-Dimensional Finite Element Simulation of the Buried Pipe Problem in Geogrid Reinforced Soil
...Show More Authors

Buried pipeline systems are commonly used to transport water, sewage, natural oil/gas and other materials. The beneficial of using geogrid reinforcement is to increase the bearing capacity of the soil and decrease the load transfer to the underground structures.

This paper deals with simulation of the buried pipe problem numerically by finite elements method using the newest version of PLAXIS-3D software. Rajkumar and Ilamaruthi's study, 2008 has been selected to be reanalyzed as 3D problem because it is containing all the properties needed by the program such as the modulus of elasticity, Poisson's ratio, angle of internal friction. It was found that the results

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Publication Date
Fri Mar 03 2023
Journal Name
Research On Crops
Evaluating newer herbicides on the performance of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Central Iraq
...Show More Authors

Due to the great losses caused by weeds to the crop, it is necessary to continue testing new herbicides that may be more efficient than the herbicides used that can reduce competition between weeds and crops, Therefore, a field experiment was carried out in the experimental field of the Department of Field Crops, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad (Al-Jadriya) during the winter season of 2021-22 in order to evaluate the efficiency of the herbicide H-199 and compare it with some herbicides used in controlling companion weed to three cultivars of wheat and its effect in the yield and its components. The experiment was applied according to the randomized complete block design with split-plot arrangement

... Show More
View Publication
Scopus (5)
Crossref (2)
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Mon Jun 05 2023
Journal Name
Journal Of Engineering
Eco- Industrial parks & Eco-Industrial Cities, The Possibility of Its Future Implication in Iraq
...Show More Authors

Recently new and multiple concepts emerged in the sustainability issues ,which transformed into number of planning and designing policies and strategies that must be committed by the designers and the relevant trends in building ,regarding Iraq and the reality of industrial areas ,especially in Baghdad, which helped to sustain few of it & emerged another with bad reflect ,which for that made it clear the importance of implicating sustainable ecological planning and designing strategies provided by the concept of Eco-industrial parks and the concept of Ecotowns and the future potentials provided ,and the easiness of carrying it out which made it flexible and away to provide a base supported by it for rebuilding and rehabilitation and

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Publication Date
Thu Aug 01 2024
Journal Name
Al-kindy College Medical Journal
The Correlation of Serum Periostin Level with Disease Severity in Patients with Covid -19
...Show More Authors

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the new respiratory virus SARS-CoV2. It has a tropism in the lung tissues where excess target receptors exist. Periostin plays a role in subepithelial fibrosis associated with bronchial asthma. Since the Coronavirus's target is the human respiratory system, Periostin has been recently described as a valuable new biomarker in the diagnosis and evaluation of disease in patients with COVID-19 lung involvement. Objectives: To assess the level of Periostin in the serum of COVID-19 patients and to correlate its role in disease severity and prognosis. Subjects and Methods: Periostin serum levels were measured for 63 patients attending three main COVID

... Show More
View Publication
Scopus (1)
Scopus Crossref
Publication Date
Sun Sep 07 2008
Journal Name
Baghdad Science Journal
Epidemiological Surveillance of Communicable Diseases in Baghdad City during the Period January-April 2006
...Show More Authors

The records of Primary Health Care Centres (Al-Risafa section of Baghdad) were inspected for communicable diseases during the period January-April 2006. There were 8622 recorded cases (the diagnosis was based on a clinical examination and laboratory findings), which were distributed as 4782 (55.5%), 1430 (16.6%), 1604 (18.6%) and 806 (9.3%) for Sadar city, Risafa, A'adhamyiah and Mada'in, respectively. The highest frequency was reported for chicken pox (42.7%), followed by mumps and typhoid fever (20 and 13.7%, respectively), while diphtheria and cholera were not recorded. These three most frequent diseases were further analyzed, and their distribution showed a significant difference (P ? 0.001). April was the month of the highest recorded

... Show More
View Publication Preview PDF
Crossref
Publication Date
Fri Dec 01 2023
Journal Name
International Society For The Study Of Vernacular Settlements
Evaluation of Sustainability Using LEED Rating Scales: The Bismayah New City in Baghdad, Iraq
...Show More Authors

View Publication
Crossref
Publication Date
Fri Dec 01 2023
Journal Name
Iop Conference Series: Earth And Environmental Science
Population Density of Bemisia tabaci on Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum) Varieties in the Greenhouse
...Show More Authors
Abstract<p>We conducted an experiment in a greenhouse at the research station belonging to the Department of Plant Protection / Ministry of Agriculture, in Abu Ghraib area during the spring and autumn season 2022-2023, to study the population density of the whitefly on two varieties of sweet pepper plant (Charisma and Sierra Nevada). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design “RCBD” with three replicates for each variety. The results showed that in spring season the population density of <italic>B. tabaci</italic> eggs and nymphs reached the peak in the last week of May, which where 2.667 and 4.444 individual / leaf, respectively while the population density </p> ... Show More
Preview PDF
Scopus (1)
Scopus Crossref