In this paper, thermal performance of a zig-zig solar air heater (ZZSAH) with and without using steel wire mesh on the absorber plate of the collector is experimentally investigated. The experimental work includes four inclination angles of the collector 20^o, 30^o, 45^o, and 60^o and four air mass flow rates of 0.03, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.08 kg/s under varieties of operating conditions of a geographic location of  Baghdad. New correlation equations of Nusselt number are obtained from experimental results for both types of collectors where the effect of varying of the inclination angle of collector taken into consideration in the experiment. The correlations show good agreement wi

In digital images, protecting sensitive visual information against unauthorized access is considered a critical issue; robust encryption methods are the best solution to preserve such information. This paper introduces a model designed to enhance the performance of the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) in encrypting images. Two approaches have been suggested for the image cipher process as a preprocessing step before applying the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA). The step mentioned earlier aims to de-correlate and weaken adjacent pixel values as a preparation process before the encryption process. The first approach suggests an Affine transformation for image encryption at two layers, utilizing two different key sets for each layer. Th

Solar photovoltaic (PV) system has emerged as one of the most promising technology to generate clean energy. In this work, the performance of monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic module is studied through observing the effect of necessary parameters: solar irradiation and ambient temperature. The single diode model with series resistors is selected to find the characterization of current-voltage (I-V) and power-voltage (P-V) curves by determining the values of five parameters ( ). This model shows a high accuracy in modeling the solar PV module under various weather conditions. The modeling is simulated via using MATLAB/Simulink software. The performance of the selected solar PV module is tested experimentally for differ

In modern hydraulic control systems, the trend in hydraulic power applications is to improve efficiency and performance. “Proportional valve” is generally applied to pressure, flow and directional-control valves which continuously convert a variable input signal into a smooth and proportional hydraulic output signal. It creates a variable resistance (orifice) upstream and downstream of a hydraulic actuator, and is meter in/meter out circuit and hence pressure drop, and power losses are inevitable. If velocity (position) feedback is used, flow pattern control is possible. Without aforementioned flow pattern, control is very “loose” and relies on “visual” feed back by the operator. At this point, we should examine how this valv

Institutions and companies are looking to reduce spending on buildings and services according to scientific methods, provided they reach the same purpose but at a lower cost. On this basis, this paper proposes a model to measure and reduce maintenance costs in one of the public sector institutions in Iraq by using performance indicators that fit the nature of the work of this institution and the available data. The paper relied on studying the nature of the institution’s work in the maintenance field and looking at the type of data available to know the type and number of appropriate indicators to create the model. Maintenance data were collected for the previous six years by reviewing the maintenance and financial dep

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is considered to be one of the most crucial tools for different applications, i.e. transportation, geographic information systems, mobile satellite communications, and others. Without a doubt, the GNSS has been widely employed for different scientific applications, such as land surveying, mapping, and precise monitoring for huge structures, etc. Thus, an intense competitive has appeared between companies which produce geodetic GNSS hardware devices to meet all the requirements of GNSS communities. This study aims to assess the performance of different GNSS receivers to provide reliable positions. In this study, three different receivers, which are produced by different manufactur

Many studies have been published to address the growing issues in wireless communication systems. Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) is an effective and practical MIMO-OFDM application that can address such issues. It is a powerful tool for increasing wireless performance by coding data symbols and transmitting diversity using several antennas. The most significant challenge is to recover the transmitted signal through a time-varying multipath fading channel and obtain a precise channel estimation to recover the transmitted information symbols. This work considers different pilot patterns for channel estimation and equalization in MIMO-OFDM systems. The pilot patterns fall under two general types: comb and block types, with

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is considered to be one of the most crucial tools for different applications, i.e. transportation, geographic information systems, mobile satellite communications, and others. Without a doubt, the GNSS has been widely employed for different scientific applications, such as land surveying, mapping, and precise monitoring for huge structures, etc. Thus, an intense competitive has appeared between companies which produce geodetic GNSS hardware devices to meet all the requirements of GNSS communities. This study aims to assess the performance of different GNSS receivers to provide reliable positions. In this study, three different receivers, which are produced by different manufacturers, were fi

Aquatic Oligochaeta is an important group of Macroinvertebrates that has been very remarkable as bioindicators for assessing water pollution and determining its degree in water bodies. Hence, the idea of the current study aims at studying the impact of Baghdad effluents on the Tigris River by using oligochaetes community as bioindicators . For this purpose, four sites along the inside of Baghdad has been chosen. Site S1 has been located upstream, site S2 and S3 has been at midstream and site S4 at the downstream of the River.This investigation has used different types of biological indicators, including the  percentage of oligochaeta  within benthic invertebrates, which ranged from 49.2-51.28%. The highest percentage of the tubificid w

This study aims to determine the reasons for the increase in the frequency of sand and dust storms in the Middle East and to identify their sources and mitigate them. A set of climatic data from 60 years (1960–2022) was analyzed. Sand storms in Iraq are a silty sand mature arkose composed of 72.7% sand, 25.1% silt, and 2.19% clay; the clay fraction in dust storms constitutes 70%, with a small amount of silt (20.6%) and sand (9.4%). Dust and sand storms (%) are composed of quartz (49.2, 67.1), feldspar (4.9, 20.9), calcite (38, 5), gypsum (4.8, 0.4), dolomite (0.8, 1.0), and heavy minerals (3.2, 6.6). Increasing temperatures in Iraq, by an average of 2 °C for sixty years, have contributed to an increase in the number of dust storm