One eighth of the bird species in the world is considered globally threatened; the avifauna of Iraq comprises 409 species and is considered as the major indicator of the health of Iraq’s biological resources. The Iraqi geography falls into five main regions among which is the desert and semi-desert areas which cover much of the country area. Al-Najaf desert is still one of the poorly known regions from the biodiversity point of view. Birds of conservation concern are detected in Al-Najaf desert during 31 field trips to 20 sites conducted from August 2018 to April 2020, (citing literature records, and personal interviews with locals).The factors caused the bird numbers to decline in Al-Najaf desert include hunting and trapping, logging, invasive species, and climate change.
Nine birds are found threatened with 3 EN and 6 VU comprising Saker Falcon Falco cherrug Gray, 1834 (Falconidae, Falconiformes), Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus Linnaeus, 1766 (Falconidae, Falconiformes), Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis Hodgson, 1833 (Accipitridae, Accipitriformes), Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Accipitridae, Accipitriformes), Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga (Pallas, 1811) (Accipitridae, Accipitriformes), Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris (Ménétrés, 1832) (Anatidae, Anseriformes), Macqueen's Bustard Chlamydotis macqueeni (Gray, 1834) (Otididae, Otidiformes), Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur (Linnaeus, 1758) (Columbidae, Columbiformes), and Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis aucheri Bonaparte, 1853 (Laniidae, Passeriformes). It is concluded that Al-Najaf desert is a region of top priority area for biodiversity conservation as it hosts large number of threatened bird species.
Acrylic polymer/cement nanocomposites in dark and light colors have been developed for coating floors and swimming pools. This work aims to emphasize the effect of cement filling on the mechanical parameters, thermal stability, and wettability of acrylic polymer. The preparation was carried out using the casting method from acrylic polymer coating solution, which was added to cement nanoparticles (65 nm) with weight concentrations of (0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 wt%) to achieve high-quality specifications and good adhesion. Maximum impact strength and Hardness shore A were observed at cement ratios of 2 wt% and 4 wt%, respectively. Changing the filling ratio has a significant effect on the strain of the nanocomposites. The contact angle was i
... Show MoreThis study aimed at evaluating the torsional capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) beams externally wrapped with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials. An analytical model was described and used as a new computational procedure based on the softened truss model (STM) to predict the torsional behavior of RC beams strengthened with FRP. The proposed analytical model was validated with the existing experimental data for rectangular sections strengthened with FRP materials and considering torque-twist relationship and crack pattern at failure. The confined concrete behavior, in the case of FRP wrapping, was considered in the constitutive laws of concrete in the model. Then, an efficient algorithm was developed in MATLAB environment t
... Show MoreThe dual nature of asphalt binder necessitates improvements to mitigate rutting and fatigue since it performs as an elastic material under the regime of rapid loading or cold temperatures and as a viscous fluid at elevated temperatures. The present investigation assesses the effectiveness of Nano Alumina (NA), Nano Silica (NS), and Nano Titanium Dioxide (NT) at weight percentages of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8% in asphalt cement to enhance both asphalt binder and mixture performance. Binder evaluations include tests for consistency, thermal susceptibility, aging, and workability, while mixture assessments focus on Marshall properties, moisture susceptibility, resilient modulus, permanent deformation, and fatigue characteristics. NS notably im
... Show MoreCarrageenan extract is a compound of sulfated polyglycan that is taken out from red seaweeds. Being hydrocolloid in nature, carrageenan has gelling, emulsifying and thickening properties allowing it to be commonly used in the oral healthcare products and cosmetics. Due to its bioactive compounds, carrageenan has been shown to have antimicrobial, antiviral, and antitumor properties. The purpose of this work is to study the probable use of carrageenan on the diseases that are related to oral cavity and on the genomic DNA in in vitro experimental model
In this study, the effects of k-carrageenan on four different cell lines related to the cancer and normal cells which cultured on selective media were done. Moreover, the eff
... Show MoreTow simple, rapid and sensitive spectrophotometric methods for the determination of mesalazine in pharmaceutical preparations have been carried out. The proposed methods depend on oxidative coupling reaction of mesalazine with m-aminophenol in the existence of N-bromosuccinamide in alkaline medium (method A) and 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid in the existence of sodium metaperiodate in basic medium (method B) to produce colored products , show highest absorptions at 640 (nm) and 515 (nm), alternately. Beer’s law was consistent in concentrations extent of 1.25-30 and 0.5-12.5 (µg.mL-1) with molar absorptivity of 0.36×104 and 0.77×104 L.mol-1.cm<
... Show MoreDam operation and management have become more complex recently because of the need for considering hydraulic structure sustainability and environmental protect on. An Earthfill dam that includes a powerhouse system is considered as a significant multipurpose hydraulic structure. Understanding the effects of running hydropower plant turbines on the dam body is one of the major safety concerns for earthfill dams. In this research, dynamic analysis of earthfill dam, integrated with a hydropower plant system containing six vertical Kaplan turbines (i.e., Haditha dam), is investigated. In the first stage of the study, ANSYS-CFX was used to represent one vertical Kaplan turbine unit by designing a three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (F
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