The aim of this study is to compare the effects of three methods: problem-based learning (PBL), PBL with lecture method, and conventional teaching on the understanding of thermodynamics, group work and self-directed learning skills among physics undergraduates. The actual sample size comprises of 122 students, who were selected randomly from the Physics Department, College of Education in Iraq, for academic year 2011-2012. In this study, the pre and posttest were done and the instruments were administered to the students for data collection. Inferential statistics were employed to analyze data. The independent variables were the PBL, the PBL with lecture method, and the conventional teaching. Dependent variables of statistical analysis were

The aqueous extract of banana fruits peal was tested for its effect on mitosis . The root tips of Allium cepa were used as plant test system and the bone marrow cells of the albino mice Mus musculus were used as mammalians test system in vivo .Root tips of Allium cepa were treated for four hours with five concentrations of the extract (5 , 10 , 20 , 40 ,60 mg / ml.).The Metaphase was arrested in all the treatments , the highest percentage ( 100 % ) was recorded in the first concentration , the last concentration caused stickiness and clumping of the chromosomes. The treatments did not cause significant difference in the mitotic index. The peals extract (5 mg /ml) was compared with the extracts of fruits bulb, leaves and roots of

A high Tc superconductor with a nominal composition
(Bi1-xPbx)2(Sr1-yBay)2Ca2Cu3O10+δ for (0 £ x £ 0.5) and (0 £ y £ 0.5) was prepared by
a solid state reaction method. The effect of the substitution of Pb for Bi and Ba for Sr and
quenching temperature on the superconductivity has been investigated to obtain the
optimum conditions for the formation and stabilization of the high Tc phase (2223).
The results showed that the optimum sintering temperature for the pure composition is
equal to 875°C and the sintering time is equal to 240h with heating and cooling rate of
60°C/h . Our results indicated that a small amount of (Ba = 0.1) could raise the transition
temperature (Tc), but enhancing Ba to 0.4 has raised

Polarization is an important property of light, which refers to the direction of electric field oscillations. Polarization modulation plays an essential role for polarization encoding quantum key distribution (QKD). Polarization is used to encode photons in the QKD systems. In this work, visible-range polarizers with optimal dimensions based on resonance grating waveguides have been numerically designed and investigated using the COMSOL Multiphysics Software. Two structures have been designed, namely a singlelayer metasurface grating (SLMG) polarizer and an interlayer metasurface grating (ILMG) polarizer. Both structures have demonstrated high extinction ratios, ~1.8·103 and 8.68·104 , and the bandwidths equal to 45 and 55 nm for th

The present study was set to demonstrate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection and its effects on patients with systemic  lupus erythematosus (SLE) through determining their serum levels of anti-dsDNA and IL-18 antibodies. For this purpose, the sera from 132 SLE and/or toxoplasmosis patients and 30 healthy women, were collected. The study sample was divided into four groups of SLE, toxoplasmosis, SLE coinfected with toxoplasmosis, and healthy control. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies were examined for all the samples using ELISA kit. The results showed a high mean level of anti-Toxoplasma IgG among SLE patients coinfected with toxoplasmosis (104.8792±12.31585pg/ml) in comparison to that in toxoplasmosis patients (91.1705±12.577

The main purpose of this research aims to measure the role of banking strategies marketing in achieving competitive advantage within a sample of Iraqi private banks, and in order to achieve this purpose,  the researcher depend on number of sober research approaches which consisted of descriptive, analytical and practical methodologies, to strengthen concepts addressed by the research, size of the sample was (56) individuals which makes up the senior leadership represented (Chairman and members of the Board of Directors, Commissioners and their assistants and department heads) while the primary tool for research (questionnaire), which has been designed based on a number of solemn scientific metrics, after adapted these metrics commen