A mounted specimen of a mustelid animal deposited in the Kurdistan Museum of Natural History, Salahaddin University, Erbil proved to be Mustela erminea (Linnaeus, 1758) and represents a new record for the mammalian fauna of Iraq. Its measurements and some biological noted are provided. Also, two passerine birds; the Red-headed bunting, Emberiza bruniceps Brandt, 1841(Family, Emberizidae) and the Variable wheatear, Oenanthe picata (Blyth, 1847) (Family, Muscicapidae) were recorded for the first time in Iraq. Furthermore, the tree frog Hyla savignyi Audouin, 1829 was found in two locations north east of Iraq with spotted dorsum and having interesting behavior in having the capabil

The phytoremediation technique has become very efficient for treating soil contaminated with heavy metals. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted where the Dodonaea plant (known as hops) was grown, and soil previously contaminated with metals (Zn, Ni, Cd) was added at concentrations 100, 50, 0 mg·kg-1 for Ni and Zn, and at concentrations of 0, 5, 10 mg·kg-1 for cadmium. Irrigation was done within the limits of the field capacity of the soil. Cadmium, nickel and zinc was estimated in the soil to find out the capacity of plants to the absorption of heavy and contaminated metals by using bioconcentration factors (BCFs), bioaccumulation coefficient (BAC) and translocation factor (TF). Additionally, BCF values of both Ni and Zn were l

This work studies the performance of zeolite permeable reactive barrier in removing cadmium from a contaminated shallow aquifer. Batch tests have been performed to characterize the equilibrium sorption properties of the zeolite in cadmium-containing aqueous solutions. A 1D numerical finite difference model has been developed to describe pollutant transport within groundwater taking pollutant sorption on the permeable reactive barrier (PRB), which is performed by Langmuir equation, into account. Numerical results show that the PRB starts to saturate after a period of time (~120 h) due to reduction of the retardation factor, indicating a decrease in the percentage of zeolite functionality. However, a reasonable agreement between model predict

The ground state proton, neutron, and matter density distributions and corresponding root-mean-square (rms) of P19PC exotic nucleus are studied in terms of two-frequency shell model (TFSM) approach. The single-particle wave functions of harmonic-oscillator (HO) potential are used with two different oscillator parameters bRcoreR and bRhaloR. According to this model, the core nucleons of P18PC nucleus are assumed to move in the model space of spsdpf. The shell model calculations are carried out for core nucleons with w)20(+ truncations using the realistic WBPinteraction. The outer (halo) neutron in P19PC is assumed to move in the pure 2sR1/2R-orbit. The halo structure in P19PC is confirmed with 2sR1/2R-dominant configuration.Elastic electr

In this work, the possibility of utilizing osmosis phenomenon to produce energy as a type of the renewable energy using Thin Film Composite Ultra Low Pressure membrane TFC-ULP was studied. Where by forward osmosis water passes through the membrane toward the concentrated brine solution, this will lead to raise the head of the high brine solution. This developed static head may be used to produce energy. The aim of the present work is to study the static head developed and the flux on the high brine water solution side when using forward and reverse osmosis membranes for an initial concentration range from 35-300 g/l for each type of membrane used at room temperature and pressure conditions, and finally calculating the maximum possible po

The research aims to characterize the strategic plan of the Educational Professional Development Center, to reveal the most important training needs for teachers from this center, to reveal the extent to which this center meets those needs, and to identify the differences between teacher responses about the degree of importance, availability of those needs according to variables of sex, specialization, and years of experience. This descriptive study adopted a questionnaire applied to (256) teachers in the K.S.A. The results of the study showed that all training needs ranged in the degree of importance from large to very large and that the most important were the skills associated with communicating with members of the learning community.

Water scarcity is one of the most important problems facing humanity in various fields such as economics, industry, agriculture, and tourism. This may push people to use low-quality water like industrial-wastewater. The application of some chemical compounds to get rid of heavy metals such as cadmium is an environmentally harmful approach. It is well-known that heavy metals as cadmium may induce harmful problems when present in water and invade to soil, plants and food chain of a human being. In this case, man will be forced to use the low quality water in irrigation. Application of natural materials instead of chemicals to remove cadmium from polluted water is an environmental friendly approach. Attention was drawn in this research wor

In the present work, the pollutants of the municipal wastewater are reduced using Chlorella vulgaris microalgae. The pollutants that were treated are: Total organic carbon (TOC), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Nitrate (NO₃), and Phosphate (PO₄). Firstly, the treatment was achieved at atmospheric conditions (Temperature = 25^oC), pH 7 with time (1 – 48 h). To study the effect of other microorganisms on the reduction of pollutants, sterilized wastewater and unsterilized wastewater were used for two types of packing (cylindrical plastic and cubic polystyrene) as well as algae's broth (without packing), where the microalgae are grown on the packing then transported to the wastewater for treatment. Th