This study aims to use claystone beds exposed in the Injana Formation (Late Miocene) at Karbala-Najaf plateau, middle of Iraq for the manufacturing of perforated and ordinary bricks. The claystone samples were assessed as an alternative material of the recent sediments, which are preferred to remain as agricultural land. The claystones are sandy mud composing of 29.1 - 39.1% clay, 37.2 - 54.8% silt and 14.1-26.8% sand. They consist of kaolinite, illite, chlorite, palygorskite, and montmorillonite with a lot of quartz, calcite, dolomite, gypsum and feldspar. Claystone samples were characterized by linear shrinkage 0.01 - 0.1%, volume shrinkage 0.1 - 0.9%, bulk density 1.2 - 2.11gm/cm3 (1.68 g / cm3 average), and the efflorescence is

Abstract (Iraq post – war reconstruction strategy: analytical study in fact and future prospects.) There search aims at identifying the causes of internal instability in Iraq from the political ,economic , social and security aspects , to diagnose the imbalance and to work towards finding real solutions to this . The study also aims at identifying the reconstruction proposals to completely eliminate the organizationof the terrorist advocate, as well as to know. theproblem of research lies in the ability of Iraqi political elites to achieve internal stability and to employ reconstruction proposals at all levels . The hypothesis of the research lies in the equation that the process of building stability (political – economic)and (socia

The study was conducted to measure diatom species diversity in the lotic ecosystem across the Wasit Province for 12 months. The quantitative study of diatoms (phytoplankton) was investigated in the Tigris river. The density of algae was ranged from 60989 cell×103/l to 112780.82 cell×103/l in the five sites. These algae were belonging to 39 genera. The richness index values ranged from 1.53 at site 5 in January 2016 to 6.34 at site 1 and June2015. Shannon-Weiner diversity index (H´) was 2.33 in February 2016 and 3.72 in June 2015 both values at site 3, whereas Evenness index was 0.54 at site 5 in March2016 and 0.98 at site 1 in both August2015 and May2016. The lack of homogeneity of the appearance of species indicates the dominance of a

    A total of 215 sheep and 87 goats were carefully searched for ixodid ticks from January to December 2015 at different regions of the middle and south of Iraq. The detached ticks count 1533 ticks from sheep with intensity of 8.4 and count 332 ticks from goats with intensity of 6.8. Tick species recovered from sheep and their incidence rates were: Rhipicephalus turanicus (39%), Hyalomma anatolicum (28%), R. (Boophilus) annulatus (11%), Hyalomma sp. (9%), H. turanicum (6%), H. excavatum (6%) and R. leporis (1%) while the tick species recovered from goats and their incidence rates were: R. turanicus (64%), H. anatolicum (24%)

The Ratawi Oil Field (ROF) is one of Iraq's most important oil fields because of its significant economic oil reserves. The major oil reserves of ROF are in the Mishrif Formation. The main objective of this paper is to assess the petrophysical properties, lithology identification, and hydrocarbon potential of the Mishrif Formation using interpreting data from five open-hole logs of wells RT-2, RT-4, RT-5, RT-6, and RT-42. Understanding reservoir properties allows for a more accurate assessment of recoverable oil reserves. The rock type (limestone) and permeability variations help tailor oil extraction methods, extraction methods and improving recovery techniques. The petrophysical properties were calculated using Interactive Petroph

    This article reveals the first record of the parasitoid wasp, Monodontomerus obscurus Westwood (Hymenoptera, Torymidae) from Iraq.  A total of 27 specimens were emerged from mud nests of sphecoid wasp of Sceliphron sp. (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae), that collected from a wall at a residential garden in Dohuk province.  A short morphological description is presented.

The  insect is diagnosed and named by the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI), USA as the Mint leaf Beetle Chrysolina herbacea alnadawi (Duftschmid, 1825), (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). The diagnosis was performed depending on the DNA analysis by 73% similarity with Chrysolina herbacea (Duftschmid, 1825) sequence, In the present study. It is recorded as a new insect pest on mint plant Mentha  puleguim (L,1753) (Lamiaceae). DNA analysis confirmend that it is recorded for the first time in Iraq and the Arab world as well as the Middle East. Those insects were observed initially during August 2017 in residential gardens of Al-Bonooq district in Baghdad / Iraq.

This study was conducted to investigate phytoplasma causing a virescence disease on Arabic jasmine Jasminum sambac based on microscopy and molecular approaches. Samples were collected from symptomatic Arabic jasmine plants grown in nurseries in Baghdad-Iraq. Specimens from infected plants were prepared and Dienes stained for light microscopy examination. Phytoplasma were detected in infected plants by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using P1/P7 and SecAfor1/SecArev3 Candidatus Phytoplasma specific primer sets. Light microscopy test showed symptomatic Arabic jasmine plants were phytoplasms infected when phloem tissues were stained with a dark blue color. PCR test confirmed the symptomatic plants were phytoplasms infected when SecAfor1/Sec