Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem services (as determined by 30 interviews with residents of the Marshes) included the trading of fish, harvested plants, water buffalo milk, and fodder were collected across six months in 2014. We valued the ecosystem services within the CM (40,000 ha) over a 6-month period to have a total value of 860,078.23 USD. This estimated total value was the sum of 86,637.25 USD from harvested plants, 551,334.80 USD from trading fish, 167, 303.70 USD from trading water buffalo milk, and 54,804.00 USD from trading fodder. The average income per individual in Iraq in 2014 was 6720 USD (World Bank data - https://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq): thus, the CM provided an average salary for 256 people. Our results provided greater understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by the Central Marshes and has highlighted the crucial role of nature in supporting sustainable well-being for humans living in the area. In addition, the results can be used to enhance local policy, to aid management plans of the National park, and to estimate lost and damage that could result from impact of climate change on the area.
The insulation system of a machine coil includes several layers made of materials with different characteristics. The effective insulation design of machine coils, especially in the machine end winding, depends upon an accurate model of the stress grading system. This paper proposes a modeling approach to predict the transient overvoltage, electric field, and heat generation in machine coils with a stress grading system, considering the variation of physical properties in the insulation layers. A non-uniform line model is used to divide the coil in different segments based on material properties and lengths: overhang, stress grading and slot. The cascaded connection of chain matrices is used to connect segments for the representation of the
... Show MoreIn this study, the potential of adsorption of amoxicillin antibiotic (AMOX) from aqueous solutions using prepared activated carbon (AC) was studied. The used AC was prepared from an inexpensive and available precursor (sunflower seed hulls (SSH)) and activated by potassium hydroxide (KOH). The prepared AC was examined for its ability to remove AMOX from aqueous contaminated solutions and characterized with the aid of N2 -adsorption/desorption isotherm Brunauer–Emmett– Teller, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared. Zeta potential of the prepared activated carbon from sunflower seed hulls (SSHAC) were studied in relation to AMOX adsorption. The physical and chemical propert
... Show MoreThis paper presents the non-linear finite element method to study the behavior of four reinforced rectangular concrete MD beams with web circular openings tested under two-point load. The numerical finite elements methods have been used in a much more practical way to achieve approximate solutions for more complex problems. The ABAQUS /CAE is chosen to explore the behavior of MD beams. This paper also studies, the effect of both size and shape of the circular apertures of MD beams. The strengthening technique that used in this paper is externally strengthening using CFRP around the opening in the MD beams. The numerical results were compared to the experimental results in terms of ultimate load failure and displace
... Show MoreAn experimental study was conducted with low cost natural waste adsorbent materials, barley husks and eggshells, for the removal of Levofloxacine (LEVX) antibacterial from synthetic waste water. Batch sorption tests were conducted to study their isothermal adsorption capacity and compared with conventional activated carbon which were, activated carbon > barley husks > eggshells with removal efficiencies 74, 71 and 42 % with adsorbents doses of 5, 5 and 50 g/L of activated carbon, barley husks, and eggshells respectively. The equilibrium sorption isotherms had been analyzed by Langmuir, Freundlich, and Sips models, and their parameters were evaluated. The experimental data were correlated well with the Langmuir model which gives the
... Show MoreObjective : To study the effect of some risk factors like age, smoking and Diabetes mellitus (DM) among patients with
certain cardiovascular diseases (Angina pectoris and Myocardial infarction), in addition to the assessment of the Creactive
protein (CRP) in the sera of those patients.
Methodology: The study was carried out on (100) subjects who were hospitalized in the Iraqi Center of heart Diseases
in Baghdad city and were suffering from Myocardial InfarcƟon (MI) (16) and Angina Pectoris (AP) (79) or from both (5)
over a period from September 2009 to June 2010. The results of paƟents were compared with those of (30) healthy
and age-matched individuals as a control group. Data were obtained from patients who were alr