Purpose: This research is to identify the most important challenges for the local investment commissions and to develop solutions and proposals to encourage local and foreign investment in local governments in Iraq (the Iraqi provinces are irregular in the region). Theoretical Framework: This research suggests a conceptual framework for the local investment commissions in order to solve their problems, the most important of which was to identify the most critical challenges which are facing the Baghdad Investment Commission BIC and how to overcome them. Design/The methodology approach: Research involved a mixed-methods approach through two stages. During the first stage, the researcher gathered quantitative data from all investment projects that obtained Baghdad investment commission BIC from 2015 to 2021 were 168 projects. The second stage gathered qualitative data to explore the survey results more deeply by conducting individual interviews with a sub-sample of 12, 6 interviewees are from BIC and 6 interviewees are from investment organisations. Findings: The research showed several important results represented by legal and administrative challenges. Also, weak incentives and guarantees provided by The National Investment Low NIL No13 of 2006 and its amendments in 2010. The practical and social implications: This research will enable the local investment commissions how to deal with their challenges and then improve their provided services for both investors (foreign and local), particularly in Baghdad province, Iraq. The originality of research: This article provided a significant topic for businessmen and governments on international and local levels, also there is no previous research that has thoroughly searched the reality of local investment in Iraq and prospects for its development.
<p>Analyzing X-rays and computed tomography-scan (CT scan) images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) method is a very interesting subject, especially after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, a study is made on 423 patients’ CT scan images from Al-Kadhimiya (Madenat Al Emammain Al Kadhmain) hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, to diagnose if they have COVID or not using CNN. The total data being tested has 15000 CT-scan images chosen in a specific way to give a correct diagnosis. The activation function used in this research is the wavelet function, which differs from CNN activation functions. The convolutional wavelet neural network (CWNN) model proposed in this paper is compared with regular convol
... Show MoreA laboratory investigation of six different tests were conducted on silty clay soil spiked with lead in concentrations of 1500 mg/kg. A constant DC voltage gradient of 1 V/cm was applied for all these tests with duration of 7 days remediation process for each test. Different purging solutions and addition configurations, i.e. injection wells, were investigated experimentally to enhance the removal of lead from Iraqi soil during electro-kinetic remediation process. The experimental results showed that the overall removal efficiency of lead for tests conducted with distilled water, 0.1 M acetic acid, 0.2 M EDTA and 1 M ammonium citrate as the purging solutions were equal to 18 %, 37 %, 42 %, and 29 %, respectively. H
... Show MoreIn this work, diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films were prepared from Cyclohexane. Thin films were deposited on quartz substrate by atmospheric pressure Argon plasma jet system. The plasma jet system was applying high voltage sinusoidal waves of frequency 28 kHz and potential difference of 7.5kV peak to peak across the electrodes. The effect of annealing at 400, 500 and 600 °C under vacuum for two hours on optical properties and structural properties of the DLC thin films were investigated. This effect was clarified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, UV-Visible absorption, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Raman Spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction patterns for the annealing DLC thin films show two broad peaks at 2θ, 26.62° and 51.58
... Show MoreThis study involves the design of 24 mixtures of fiber reinforced magnetic reactive powder concrete containing nano silica. Tap water was used for 12 of these mixtures, while magnetic water was used for the others. The nano silica (NS) with ratios (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3) % by weight of cement, were used for all the mixtures. The results have shown that the mixture containing 2.5% NS gives the highest compressive strength at age 7 days. Many different other tests were carried out, the results have shown that the carbon fiber reinforced magnetic reactive powder concrete containing 2.5% NS (CFRMRPCCNS) had higher compressive strength, modulus of rupture, splitting tension, str
... Show MoreThis paper presents thermal characteristics analysis of a modified Closed Wet Cooling Tower (CWCT) based on heat and mass transfer principles to improve the performance of this tower in Iraq. A prototype of CWCT optimized by added packing was designed, manufactured and tested for cooling capacity of 9 kW. Experiments are conducted to explore the effects of various operational and conformational parameters on the thermal performance. In the test section, spray water temperature and both dry bulb temperature and relative humidity of the air measured at intermediate points of the heat exchanger and packing. Heat exchangers consist of four rows and eight columns for an inline tubes arrangement and six rows and five columns f
... Show More This paper describes the application of consensus optimization for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) system. Consensus algorithm is usually conducted within a certain number of iterations for a given graph topology. Nevertheless, the best Number of Iterations (NOI) to reach consensus is varied in accordance with any change in number of nodes or other parameters of . graph topology. As a result, a time consuming trial and error procedure will necessary be applied
to obtain best NOI. The implementation of an intellig ent optimization can effectively help to get the optimal NOI. The performance of the consensus algorithm has considerably been improved by the inclusion of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). As a case s
Thin-walled members are increasingly used in structural applications, especially in light structures like in constructions and aircraft structures because of their high strength-to-weight ratio. Perforations are often made on these structures for reducing weight and to facilitate the services and maintenance works like in aircraft wing ribs. This type of structures suffers from buckling phenomena due to its dimensions, and this suffering increases with the presence of holes in it. This study investigated experimentally and numerically the buckling behavior of aluminum alloy 6061-O thin-walled lipped channel beam with specific holes subjected to compression load. A nonlinear finite elements analysis was used to obtain the
... Show MoreProblem of water scarcity is becoming common in many parts of the world. Thus to overcome this problem proper management of water and an efficient irrigation systems are needed. Irrigation with buried vertical ceramic pipe is known as a very effective in management of irrigation water. The two- dimensional transient flow of water from a buried vertical ceramic pipe through homogenous porous media is simulated numerically using the software HYDRUS/2D to predict empirical formulas that describe the predicted results accurately. Different values of pipe lengths and hydraulic conductivity were selected. In addition, different values of initial volumetric soil water content were assumed in this simulation a
... Show MoreIt has increasingly been recognised that the future developments in geospatial data handling will centre on geospatial data on the web: Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). The evaluation of VGI data quality, including positional and shape similarity, has become a recurrent subject in the scientific literature in the last ten years. The OpenStreetMap (OSM) project is the most popular one of the leading platforms of VGI datasets. It is an online geospatial database to produce and supply free editable geospatial datasets for a worldwide. The goal of this paper is to present a comprehensive overview of the quality assurance of OSM data. In addition, the credibility of open source geospatial data is discussed, highlight
... Show More