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Students’ Perceptions of The Use of ICT Tools in Language Preparatory School
Get PDFThis article examines the role, advantages, and obstacles associated with the utilization of Information and Communication Technology tools in the context of language learning and teaching. The primary objective of this study is to explore the advantages of technology tools throughout various domains of life, particularly in the context of education, encompassing students, instructors, and parents. Additionally, this study aims to investigate both the detriments and advantages associated with using these tools. This study utilized a Likert-scale questionnaire administered through Google Forms to gather student perspectives. Additionally, face-to-face interviews were done with a sample size of 31 students. Upon analysis of the findings, it was discovered that the students had a predominantly favorable disposition towards these instruments. They stated that these tools contributed to their language learning and improved language skills. According to the findings of the study, the mobile phone emerged as the predominant instrument among students, with a utilization rate of 84%. Furthermore, certain drawbacks have been identified through empirical investigations, in addition to the mentioned advantages. Recent findings indicate that the utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in educational settings has been associated with many negative consequences. These include the potential for distraction among students, their increased isolation, and the exacerbation of existing disparities among students from diverse economic backgrounds. The prevailing consensus derived from extensive study suggests that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools possess a greater number of benefits in the realm of language learning and instruction, as opposed to drawbacks
Production of Advice Speech Act by Non-Native Speakers of English: The Case of Kurdish EFL Learners
Get PDFSpeech act studies are commonly used in Second Language Acquisition research to assess second language learners’ pragmatic skills. Contrary to other speech acts, the speech act of offering advice has not been sufficiently studied and has not been a topic of cross-cultural or cross-linguistic research either, particularly among Kurdish EFL learners. The study aimed to conduct a comparative analysis of the advice speech act as expressed by Kurdish EFL learners and native English speakers. Thus, the study looked at the proficiency of Kurdish EFL users in selecting appropriate pragmatic expressions during the act of providing advice and discernible differences between male and female learners regarding the degree of (in)directness while advice is offered. Hence, the study included 82 undergraduate students from various universities in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, particularly in Erbil. This group consisted of 42 females and 40 males, all majoring in English Language Teaching. Additionally, 30 native English speakers also took part in the research. Data collection was conducted through a 12-item discourse completion test, and the collected data were subsequently subjected to analysis using SPSS. The results unveiled a significant difference between Kurdish EFL learners and native speakers. It figured out that Kurdish EFL learners are not quite aware of the social power and social distance of interlocutors while giving advice. Additionally, it was indicated that female learners are more indirect in offering advice than their male counterparts. Moreover, the findings also unearthed a visible indication of first language pragmatic transfer, though it was not a variable of the study
A cross-sectional study on the perceived barriers to physical exercise among women in Iraqi Kurdistan Region
Get PDFBackground
Limited research has investigated the barriers to physical exercise among women in Iraqi Kurdistan Region and other similar Muslim and Middle Eastern societies. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of perceived barriers to physical exercise among women and examine the associations of these barriers with the participants’ sociodemographic characteristics.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was carried out in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan Region, from December 2022 to January 2023. A self-administered online survey was designed using Google Forms. A convenience sample of 500 women and girls aged 18–65 years was selected for the study. A questionnaire was designed for data collection, including a list of 21 potential barriers to physical exercise developed based on literature review and experts’ opinions. The barriers were divided into three categories: interpersonal (8 barriers), social environment (8 barriers), and built environment factors (5 barriers). The participants were asked to indicate for each potential barrier whether it was “not really a barrier, somewhat a barrier, or a very important barrier.“ The statistical package for social sciences was used to estimate the prevalence of different barriers and assess their association with sociodemographic characteristics using the Chi-square test.
Results
The prevalence of physical inactivity among the study participants was 68.2%. The most prevalent interpersonal barriers to physical exercise included lack of time (47.4%), followed by fatigue (24%), and cost (22.4%). Regarding social environment factors, work (30.6%), harassment outside (22.2%), not having a friend or family member accompanying (19%), and not being allowed by family (15.4%) were the most prevalent barriers to physical exercise. Lack of footpaths, cycle lanes, or parks (34.4%), limited accessibility of gyms or other exercise facilities (25.8%), and environmental pollution (21%) were the most prevalent built environment factors as barriers to physical exercise.
Conclusion
Women in Iraqi Kurdistan Region experience many barriers to physical exercise. Women require family and social support and awareness about exercise benefits to overcome interpersonal and social environment barriers to physical exercise. Built environment factors are very important barriers and can be reduced by taking appropriate action and adopting necessary policies to provide the required infrastructure and facilities for physical exercise
Accuracy and Reliability of WebCeph Digital Cephalometric Analysis in Comparison with Conventional Cephalometric Analysis
Get PDFAim: The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy and reliability of direct digital radiograph tracing using WebCeph, comparing it to manually tracing digital printouts. Materials and methods: A single operator measured 12 linear and angular cephalometric parameters digitally and manually, which comprised 25 digital lateral cephalometric photographs. The difference in measurements obtained from manual to digital tracings was compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and confidence interval (CI), while the intraexaminer error was assessed using the coefficient of variation (CV). Results: A comparison of hand and WebCeph tracing showed an excellent level of agreement except for upper incisor (UI) to nasion-point A (NA), Frankfort-mandibular plane angle (FMA), incisor mandibular plane angle (IMPA), and lower incisor (LI) to nasion-noint B (NB), which showed moderate to good agreement. Intraexaminer reliability was excellent for both manual and digital approaches. Conclusion: In conclusion, except for UI to NA, FMA, IMPA, and LI to NB, all measurements in this study demonstrated excellent agreement between digital and manual tracing. Clinical significance: It can be concluded that digital tracing with WebCeph is suitable for clinical uses and equivalent to manual cephalometric tracings. For everyday use and research, digital imaging may be preferred over analog methods due to the advantages of digital imaging in terms of storage, enhancement, and transmission quality
Integrated geospatial approach for adaptive rainwater harvesting site selection under the impact of climate change
Get PDFThe impact of global climate change on water resources is a pressing concern, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, where water shortages are becoming increasingly severe. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) offers a promising solution to address these challenges. However, the process of selecting suitable RWH sites is complex. This paper introduces a comprehensive methodology that leverages various technologies and data sources to identify suitable RWH locations in the northern region of Iraq, considering both historical and future scenarios. The study employs remote sensing and geographic information systems to collect and process geospatial data, which are essential for the site selection process. AHP is utilized as a decision-making tool to assess and rank potential RWH locations based on multiple criteria, helping to prioritize the most suitable sites. The WLC approach is used to combine and weigh various factors, enabling a systematic evaluation of site suitability. To account for the uncertainty associated with future climate conditions, a stochastic weather generator is employed to simulate historical and future precipitation data for period (1980–2022) and (2031–2100). This ensures that the assessment considers changing climate patterns. Historical precipitation values ranged from 270 to 490 mm, while future projections indicate a decrease, with values varying from 255 to 390 mm. This suggests a potential reduction in available water resources due to climate change. The runoff for historical rainfall values ranged from 190 mm (poor) to 490 mm (very good). In the future projections, runoff values vary from 180 mm (very poor) to 390 mm (good). This analysis highlights the potential impact of reduced precipitation on water availability. There is a strong correlation between rainfall and runoff, with values of 95% for historical data and 98.83% for future projections. This indicates that changes in precipitation directly affect water runoff. The study incorporates several criteria in the model, including soil texture, historical and future rainfall data, land use/cover, slope, and drainage density. These criteria were selected based on the nature of the study region and dataset availability. The suitability zones are classified into four categories for both historical potential and future projections of RWH zones: very high suitability, covering approximately 8.2%. High suitability, encompassing around 22.6%. Moderate suitability, constituting about 37.4%. Low suitability, accounting for 31.8% of the study region. For the potential zones of RWH in the future projection, the distribution is as follows: very high suitability, approximately 6.1%. High suitability, around 18.3%. Moderate suitability, roughly 31.2%. Low suitability, making up about 44.4% of the study region. The research's findings have significant implications for sustainable water resource management in the northern region of Iraq. As climate change exacerbates water scarcity, identifying suitable RWH locations becomes crucial for ensuring water availability. This methodology, incorporating advanced technology and data sources, provides a valuable tool for addressing these challenges and enhancing the future of water management to face of climate change. However, more investigations and studies need to be conducted in near future in the study region
Development of a robust daily soil temperature estimation in semi-arid continental climate using meteorological predictors based on computational intelligent paradigms
Get PDFChanges in soil temperature (ST) play an important role in the main mechanisms within the soil, including biological and chemical activities. For instance, they affect the microbial community composition, the speed at which soil organic matter breaks down and becomes minerals. Moreover, the growth and physiological activity of plants are directly influenced by the ST. Additionally, ST indirectly affects plant growth by influencing the accessibility of nutrients in the soil. Therefore, designing an efficient tool for ST estimating at different depths is useful for soil studies by considering meteorological parameters as input parameters, maximal air temperature, minimal air temperature, maximal air relative humidity, minimal air relative humidity, precipitation, and wind speed. This investigation employed various statistical metrics to evaluate the efficacy of the implemented models. These metrics encompassed the correlation coefficient (r), root mean square error (RMSE), Nash-Sutcliffe (NS) efficiency, and mean absolute error (MAE). Hence, this study presented several artificial intelligence-based models, MLPANN, SVR, RFR, and GPR for building robust predictive tools for daily scale ST estimation at 05, 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100cm soil depths. The suggested models are evaluated at two meteorological stations (i.e., Sulaimani and Dukan) located in Kurdistan region, Iraq. Based on assessment of outcomes of this study, the suggested models exhibited exceptional predictive capabilities and comparison of the results showed that among the proposed frameworks, GPR yielded the best results for 05, 10, 20, and 100cm soil depths, with RMSE values of 1.814°C, 1.652°C, 1.773°C, and 2.891°C, respectively. Also, for 50cm soil depth, MLPANN performed the best with an RMSE of 2.289°C at Sulaimani station using the RMSE during the validation phase. Furthermore, GPR produced the most superior outcomes for 10cm, 30cm, and 50cm soil depths, with RMSE values of 1.753°C, 2.270°C, and 2.631°C, respectively. In addition, for 05cm soil depth, SVR achieved the highest level of performance with an RMSE of 1.950°C at Dukan station. The results obtained in this research confirmed that the suggested models have the potential to be effectively used as daily predictive tools at different stations and various depths
Assessment of environmental radiological hazards associated with elevated levels of radon gas in drinking water
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to assess the environmental radiological hazards associated with elevated levels of radon gas in drinking water. Using passive (CR-39 plastic detector) and active (RAD 7) detectors, the radon levels in the air and drinking water (tap water) of 124 homes in 31 distinct locations in Iraqi Kurdistan were determined. Almost anywhere with a high indoor radon level also has a high radon exhalation rate from drinking water. The cities of Similan and Kelak had the highest and lowest radon concentrations using both techniques. A good correlation was found between the values of the average indoor radon concentration for active and passive detection methods. The values are smaller than the internationally recommended limit of 11 Bq/l as proposed by the Environmental Potential Agency (US EPA)
Chemical composition of Corymbia citriodora
Get PDFDogara AM. 2023. Chemical composition of Corymbia citriodora. Nusantara Bioscience 15: 172-178. Aromatic plants, particularly those in the Myrtaceae family, are widely used both traditionally and commercially to lengthen food's shelf life and safety. The current investigation was prompted by a lack of information on the composition of the plant's oil, which has traditionally been used to treat and manage cancer, malaria, typhoid fever, and various other ailments. The study thoroughly examines the chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from Corymbia citriodora (Hook.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson. Hydro distillation was used to extract essential oil from the leaves, which were then analyzed using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to identify the functional group in the essential oil. According to the findings, monoterpene compounds make up (0.8137%), sesquiterpenoids (0.6568%) and other compounds (95.7207% of the total). The most abundant substance was 1-Octadecene (7.83%), followed by Oleic acid, 9-Octadecenoic acid, (E)-, (6.16%), Octadecanal, Disparlure, and 1-Octadecene (all of which were at or below 4%), and all other substances. The C. citriodora essential oil yielded 11 spectra. The extracts had sharp peaks at 900 cm-1 (phenyl), 1400 (mono-, oligo-, and carbohydrates), and 2900 (lipid methoxy compounds of CH3 and CH2, which have distinctive C-H stretching vibrations). OH groups from water, alcohols, phenols, polysaccharides, and peroxides are fingerprinted at 3400 cm-1. The study concludes that oleic acid-rich oil from C. citriodora leaves could be used as an economical source of oleic acid; the study lays the groundwork for future research on the plant in this issue
Effects of Economic Deterrence Theory and Environmental Regulation on Tax Evasion: Evidence from Energy Sector
Get PDFEnvironmental regulation is the responsibility of individuals, corporations, and other entities to prevent environmental damage or improve the tarnished environment. The Environmental law of every country works to protect the natural resources of land, water, air, and soil. There are research evidence that environmental regulation influences Corporate taxes. Economic deterrence theory acted as deterrent to threats of punishment for unwanted or illegal behavior. The fundamental concept of the theory is deterring the taxpayers into compliance by the risk of audit, penalty, etc. The objective of the study is to analyze the impact of economic deterrence theory and environmental regulation on corporate tax evasion, particularly petroleum profit taxes in Nigeria. The components of Economic deterrence theory (tax agents, tax complexity, tax knowledge) and environmental regulations are the independent variables and corporate tax evasion particularly PPT is the dependent variable of the study. It is quantitative research based on primary data which was collected from the oil and gas companies’ representatives. Structural Equation Modelling techniques were applied, and the outcome of the research is a positive and significant relationship between tax agents, tax complexity, tax knowledge, and environmental regulations on corporate tax evasion. The result further shows a positive but non-significant relationship between tax audits and perceived petroleum profit tax evasion. The study draws the attention of policymakers to formulate environmental regulations that are more robust, simple, and flexible, to reduce adverse effects of environmental damage on the economic growth and development of oil and gas-producing countries
Impact of Self-Efficacy Intervention Program on Caregivers Adherence toward Home-based Care Children with Type I Diabetes Mellitus
Get PDFBackground and aims: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder associated with many complications; caregivers’ self-efficacy is essential for sustained home management. The study aimed to find out the effects of nursing intervention programs on caregivers’ self-efficacy regarding adhering to home-based management of child to type1 diabetes mellitus.
Methods: A quasi‐experimental study design on home-based nursing intervention was conducted and recruited 60 caregivers who took homecare for their diabetes type 1. The systematic sampling method was used to select the participants Who were divided into two groups (30 in an intervention group and 30 in a control group) and who were registered at the Gulan General Hospital in Akre / Duhok city of Iraqi Kurdistan region. Verbal consent was obtained. starting from 3rd of January to the end of 5th September 2022.The home-based lesions were adopted for 5 months, Mann-Whitney U test, and T-Test ware used to identify the comparison between the variables. A p-value of ≤ 0.05, considered statistically significant.
Results: There is no significant association between the control and study groups at the pretest before conducting the intervention program, while after conducting a home-based program for the intervention group, the results show that there was a highly significant difference between the pre and post test, the result reflects and successful program to change the self-efficacy of the caregivers from intervention, and it means a provided compared with the control group ( non-intervention group), at a p-value of ≤ 0.05.
Conclusion: The results show that the caregivers who participated in the program (Intervention group), were successfully adapted to the self-efficacy program. Applying the program to a wider range of caregivers, to adhere to the caregivers and improve their self -efficacy toward home-based management of type 1 diabetes mellitus