Kut City Research Articles

Morphologic and Engineering Characteristics of Watersheds (A Case Study: East Wasit Watersheds that Feed the Al-Shewicha Trough - Iraq)

The Al-Shewicha Trough represents a real flood hazard to Kut City (capital of Wasit Province, Iraq) as well as to the other cities along the Tigris River downstream Kut Barrage, especially heavy monsoon years. Under the acute lack of water resources around the world, many modern techniques in unconventional innovative water resources management were developed. In this study, ArcGIS was used in the morphologic analysis of six river basins which represent the main sources of feed for the Al-Shewicha Trough. The results show that the high value of the greatest length of a basin 1,5 and 6 indicate that these watersheds have high value of concentration time (tc) which delays the peak flow. All basins consisted of very coarse and permeable subsurface strata, and were of coarse texture. Circularity ratio Form factor and elongation ratio shows an elongated shape of all basins with lower peak flow and long duration. Analyses of soil data demonstrate that the soil type that covers a large area is loam soil within the hydrologic soil group type B, which indicates that all basins have low permeability and high runoff. The most predominant land use was bare soil and all basins have a covering of poor vegetation which highlights the basins that are most susceptible to erosion, thus resulting in the generation of higher sedimentation.

Design and Implementation of a Smart Traffic Light Management System Controlled Wirelessly by Arduino

<p>In Iraq, the number of people who own vehicles has grown up significantly. However, this increment in vehicles number doesn’t accomplished by a study of roads and intersections expansion. As a result, traffic jams became a big problem that led to long waiting time at each intersection, increased car accidents, pollution, and economic problems. To solve this problem a Smart Traffic Light System (STLS) has been implemented using Arduino, camera, IR sensor to overcome traffic jams problems in Kut city – Iraq.</p>

Study of the Random Growth Areas of Some Residential Areas in Kut City Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

With the advent of the housing problem in Kut city, many residents have resorted to set up informal housing scheme to achieve the need for housing. This has a significant urban, environmental and social impact on those residents. This research focuses on the impact of unplanned growth of urban areas on the environmental behavior. The phenomenon of random or informal housing is one of the most negative urban phenomena facing larger cities because of the burden on the processes of economic and social development. In Kut city, there are a lot of scattered areas such as Al-Hakim1, Al-Hakim2, Al-Jawadeen neighborhood, etc. Most of these areas were agricultural, areas for military use and vacant lands then they were encroached upon by the indiscriminate residential encroachment which has a negative impact on them. GIS is used to study the temporal and spatial changes of this phenomenon from 2005 to 2017 and to estimate the percentage of change of each period and the disparity in the areas of random overtaking between other areas.

The Impact of the distribution of Fuel Stations on the Urban Environment Case Study Kut-Iraq

The task of urban planning is to optimize use of land for competing activities in the city, so the successful planning is which maximizes benefits and reduces environmental, social and economic costs through determinants and standards. The use of gas stations is one of the uses of the land supposed to be distributed spatially achieve better efficiency of the city and improve its performance. The research attempts to assess the spatial distribution of the fuel station and how it serves of the Kut city of (within the masterplan border) and the impact of this distribution on the urban structure of the city. It was found that the distribution of stations was inefficient, lacked clear criteria and lacked social justice in distribution, As poor areas are less covered, It adds economic costs as a result of the increase in the number of trips, and length so thus increase pollution of all kinds due to increased traffic volume.

The Impact of Prenatal Nutritional Status on Occlusion of Primary Teeth among Kindergarten Childrenin Al- Kut City/ Wassit

The Impact of Prenatal Nutritional Status on Occlusion of Primary Teeth among Kindergarten Childrenin Al- Kut City/ Wassit

Prevalence of hypertension and associated factors in arthritis patients attending the rheumatology department in Al-Zahraa teaching hospital in Kut city, Iraq

Prevalence of hypertension and associated factors in arthritis patients attending the rheumatology department in Al-Zahraa teaching hospital in Kut city, Iraq

Morphologic and Engineering Characteristics of East Wasit Watersheds Feeding the Al-Shewicha Trough in Iraq

The Al-Shewicha Trough represents a serious flood hazard to Kut City (the capital of Wasit Province, Iraq) and to the other cities along the Tigris River downstream Kut Barrage, especially in heavy monsoon years. In this study, The Geographic Information System software ArcGIS was used in the morphologic analysis of six river basins that represent the main feeding sources for the Al-Shewicha Trough. The results revealed that the high values for the greatest length of Basins 1, 5, and 6 meant that these watersheds had high concentration time (tc) values, which delay peak flow. All basins consisted of very coarse and permeable subsurface strata that were of coarse texture. Circularity ratio form factor and elongation ratio suggested an elongated shape for all basins with lower peak flow and long duration. Analyses of soil data demonstrated that the soil type that covered a large area was loam soil (classified as hydrologic soil group B), which indicates that all basins had low permeability and high runoff. The predominant land use was bare soil, and all basins had a covering of poor vegetation, which highlighted the fact that basins were highly susceptible to erosion, thus resulting in the generation of higher sedimentation.

Experimental Study of Using Thermal Insulation In Buildings Walls To Reduce Heating Load In Al - Kut City

Experimental study has been carried out on a small room model constructed from sandwich panel in Al-Kut city to reduce the heating load in winter season. Three types of thermal insulation were used; (Glass wool, Air gap and Sawdust). The room model dimensions were (2m length x2m width x2.4 m height). Room's south wall includes two openings of 0.3m width, 1m height. The first opening is closed by common bricks only, while the second opening is built with double walls from brick separated by thermal insulation of thickness 2cm. The results show that the maximum energy saving of heating load at night time when using thermal insulation were.69%, 58.4%, and 53.6%for glass wool, sawdust and Air gap respectively.

Urban Visual Quality Of Traditional Kut City Center

"This paper addresses of urban visual quality at Traditional Kut City Center as an important part of urban life concept. Where most of the traditional city centers suffer from unorganized interventions and urban disruption, affecting the identity and future of the city and its quality of urban life. To achieve the objectives of this paper, the study area was divided into three main areas: the river side, the middle part, and the part overlooking the residential units. A quantitative analysis of the city center (the three parts) was prepared and analyzed using the SWAT method. A questionnaire was prepared and answered by a group of experts with expertise and specialization in the field of urban design and architecture to answer the set of axes allocated to the questionnaire. The research found that there is a positive correlation between these indicators. The more attention is paid to the visual urban image indicators of the traditional city center, the clearer the urban environment will be, thus increasing the city’s visual value and quality of life. To improve the urban visual quality at Traditional Kut City Center, the research considers the need to attention of three vertical indicators, and look at to urban sustainability as an important part of enhancing the visual quality of the city center, where sustainability works with visual quality first by determining the standards of construction and urban intervention of The traditional city of Kut, And secondly, the morphological formation of the traditional center which is the main factor in the concept of enhancing the visual quality of urban centers in the cities."

Assessment of some heavy metals contamination in sediments of Tigris River in Kut City, Wasit Governorate, Iraq

The grade of contamination in the Tigris River sediments in the Kut City by heavy metals Co, Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn and Cd has been evaluated by using some pollution indices like Enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation (I-geo), contamination factor (CF) and pollution load (PLI). The (EF, enrichment factor) is one of the most factors applied as a way to describe the degree of anthropogenic pollution to find enrichment ratios, where on the geo-accumulation has been mostly applied as a measurement of contamination in freshwater sediment. Whereas, the index of pollution load (PLI), appear the sum of times by which the heavy metals concentrations in the sediment exceed the level, concentration and accord a guide to the total level of heavy metals is toxicity in a special sample. By using these numerical sediments indices we found that the Sediments of Tigris River in the Kut city are polluted by the metals of Lead and Cadmium, and moderately polluted by the metals of Nickel, Zinc and Copper, while the sediments of Tigris River are not polluted by the metals of Manganese, Cobalt and Chromium.

Characteristics of Tigris River bed material at 67 Km Downstream Kut Barrage

The study reach has a length of about 70 km of Tigris River at downstream Kut barrage. This starts directly after Kut Barrage up to Shiekh Saad south of Kut city. The aim of this study is to analyze the bed material at the bottom of the Tigris River. Twenty-one samples were collected from seven cross-sections by using Van Veen's Grab Sampler. The median diameter (d50) of these samples ranged between 0.005 mm and 0.1 mm even as the mean size was 0.032 mm. This indicates that the bed material can be classified as fine grain clay, silt, sand and loam, and also that the percent of washed fine particles near the barrage regulators are larger than those at the other site downstream This could be due to the large water power of released water discharge from the barrage. The flow regime of the first two kilometers of the study reach was flatbed due to the high flow strength of the released water discharged from the barrage.

Comparative Study in detection of Toxoplasma Gondii on Soil Sample from Baghdad and Kut Cities by Using PCR

Toxoplasma gondii caused a widely distributed protozoan disease called Toxoplasmosis. “The infective stage of T. gondii is capable of infecting variety of vertebrates including humans, domestic animals and wild felids are capable of serving as definitive hosts and T. gondii Oocyst are excreted in their feces”. “Toxoplasmosis is caused by ingestion T. gondii Oocyst from contaminated soil or water or foodstuff or by consuming T. gondii tissue cysts from infected hosts”. “The present study was designed to develop methods for detection of Oocyst from soil by nested PCR using Toxoplasma gene B1 primers”. The results in this study noted that the contamination was highest prevalence in gardens with T. gondii, schools and “backyards of homes” that is in Baghdad city (21.42%, 17.4%, 16.66%) respectively and in the Kut city is (6%, 5.5%, 4%) respectively. rural area infection with T. gondii was highest in the two cities Baghdad and Kut.

Experimental investigation of Brackish Water Desalination using a Semi Spherical Solar Still

The intensity of radiation reaches 930 W/m2 during April, 2016 in Kut city. Thus this city is suitable to use application of solar energy such as solar still. An experimental study was performed to evaluate the production of Semi Spherical Solar Still (SS-SS) with and without Charcoal. It was measured in the climatic conditions of Kut, Wasit (32o N latitude), Iraq. The still consists of square basin of length 0.3 m and area 0.09 m2 made of Aluminum. The square absorber basin is painted with black paint for maximum absorption of incident solar radiation. It was found that the productivity of Semi spherical solar still without charcoal is better than the using of charcoal at depth of basin water (dbw=1.5 & 2cm). The productivity of SS-SS without charcoal was 2.7 lit/m2 for 6 hours at total irradiation 5935 W/m2. Whereas 2.5 lit/m2 for SS-SS with charcoal at total irradiation 5845 W/m2 for dbw=1.5cm. In addition, the instantaneous efficiency reaches 58% without charcoal and 70% with charcoal at dbw=1.5cm at 3:00PM. The salinity of water before desalination in SS-SS was 999.54 ppm and becomes 4.06 ppm after desalination. It could be concluded that the semi spherical solar still can be used for distilled water production

Informative accuracy investigation and updating map using remote sensing technique and GIS

In this work, using GPS which has best accuracy that can be established set of GCPs, also two satellite images can be used, first with high resolution QuickBird, and second has low resolution Landsat image and topographic maps with 1:100,000 and 1:250,000 scales. The implementing of these factors (GPS, two satellite images, different scales for topographic maps, and set of GCPs) can be applying. In this study, must be divided this work into two parts geometric accuracy and informative accuracy investigation. The first part is showing geometric correction for two satellite images and maps.The second part of the results is to demonstrate the features (how the features appearance) of topographic map or pictorial map (image map), Where it is highlight the different features with different scales to know the accuracy of information. Where can be noticed through graphics that features appear very close to each other at a certain scale and become detached at another scale and this problem can be solved by generalization method. Geodatabase in GIS program also have been used as a modern style store all data related to the project in one folder divisions with that data. In addition to storage in a shape file. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) uses Remote Sensing (RS) data for a lot of applications. One of the application areas is the updating of the GIS database using high resolution imagery. Finally, high resolution satellite imagery data is very important to obtain updating map for Kut city by implementation two methods geodatabase and shapefile.

The Variation Effect of Collector Tilt Angle on the Heat Pipe Solar Collector Performance

The thermal performance of FPHPSC has been studied experimentally and theoretically. The collector consists of copper absorber plate, single glass cover, glass wool insulation and aluminum case, ten wickless heat pipes of 12.7 mm inner diameter. The experimental studies of collector performance have been performed on four different CTA (22°, 32°, 45° and 60°). The relation between the solar intensity and the collector energy losses are also discussed. The collector are tested under the climate condition of Kut city (32.602 latitude and 45.752 longitude). It is investigated that the increasing of CTA increase the efficiency of collector up to certain limit after that the efficiency decreases with the increasing of tilt angle of collector. A computer program which is based on VISUAL BASICE language (version 6) is made for the theoretical analysis. The experimental results agree reasonably with the theoretical predictions.

Numerical Investigation of Phase Change Materials for Insulation of Residential Buildings in Hot Regions in Iraqi cities

In this paper, numerical study has been conducted for using PCM as thermal insulation materials by incorporating it with layers of walls and ceiling of buildings. The effect of PCM and its role in improvement of thermal performance and thermal comfort is numerically studied. ESP-r software program has been used for numerical simulation in this paper. Energy plus weather database software was used to create climate date for Kut city (32.5 oN 45.8 oE) that used for simulation in this study. Two identical rooms were inserted in software ESP-r with dimensions (1.5m*1.5m*1m), the first is standard room for comparison and the second is test room for experimenting. Many cases were studied according to the thickness of the PCM and according to the orientation (North wall, South wall, East wall, West wall, and ceiling). Results obtained showed a reduction in indoor temperature of the zone and the reduction in the cooling load and as a result saving in electricity consumption with using PCM as insulation materials.

Modelling of soil cation exchange capacity for some soils of east gharaf lands from mid-Mesopotamian plain (Wasit province/Iraq)

This work was carried out in an area located at the mid-Mesopotamian plain, Wasit province/Iraq, and nearly 15 km. south of Kut city and aimed to develop a pedotransfer function to aid in predicting cation exchange capacity value using readily measured soil physicochemical properties. Soil data were subjected to descriptive statistics (minimum, maximum, standard deviation, the coefficient of variation, the coefficient of skewness and kurtosis). Three different combinations of soil physicochemical attributes bulk density (Bd), porosity (p), volumetric moisture content (Pv), texture class (T.C), total available water content (Taw), soil color (col.), clay (C), sand (S), silt (Si), cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil reaction (pH), electrical conductivity (Ec), sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca+2), magnesium (Mg+2), organic matter (O.M), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and exchangeable sodium percentage (Esp) were used in developing models. Consequently, 25 mathematical models were generated. The generated model was cross-validated by means of coefficient of determination (R2), standard estimated error (SEE), root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), relative error (RE). In addition, the accuracy and precision of the constructed models were checked by assessing the strength of the relationship between observed and estimated values of cation exchange capacity. The results showed that the model physicochem.1.1 (Y = a * TC + b * Bd + c * T.a.w + d * col. + e * SAR + f * EC + g * Ca+2 + h) was best in predicting the value of soil cation exchange capacity with R2 = 0.98, SEE = 2.243, RMSE = 0.709, MAE = 0.510, RE = 0.016, r = 0.99, S = 0.745.

Pollution Assessment of Surface and Drainage Water by Heavy Elements in Al Ahrar District, Wasit Governorate, Iraq

The study area lies in Wasit governorate south west Kut city, where Al Ahdeb oil field is located to the south of Al Ahrar district. The present study deals with assessment of heavy metals pollution in water by collecting eleven water samples (five samples from drainage and six samples from surface water) in 5th of December 2016. The water samples analysis of heavy elements in the study area shown that water is polluted with high concentration of (Pb, Cd) elements, while the concentration of (Cu, Fe, Zn) in water samples are within the permissible limits of both World Health Organization, and Iraqi standards and there are no hazard effects from these elements. The study detected some diseases that injured the people living in the vicinity of the oil field complex such as scabies, vitiligo, eczema and contact dermatitis, as a result of increasing of (Pb) ion in water samples.

Urban air quality evaluation over Kut city using field survey and Geomatic techniques

Air pollution is caused by various sources such as cars exhaust, energy sources, petrol stations, industrial activities, and other sources. The aim of this study was to measure some air pollutants gases, representing the results by Arc GIS maps over AL-Kut city and finding the ways for reducing them. Twenty samples have been taken using Global Positioning System (GPS) for measuring the main air pollutants (sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), total suspended particle (TSP), and particulate matters (PMs). The measurements were carried out by several specialized portable equipment at afive months starting from November 2015 to March 2016. The distribution maps resulted from ArcGIS 10.2, display that the highest concentrations of air pollutants were in the center and north of the study area. The highest concentrations of pollutants were in November and March, whereas lower concentrations observed during January period. The average monthly concentrations of (TSP) measured during the study period was (504.4 μg/m3, 359.5 μg/m3, 32.2 μg/m3, 324.8 μg/m3, and 392.45 μg/m3) from November 2015 to March 2016, these results were significantly higher than the permissible allowable limits of the Iraqi national (350 μg/m3) and international allowable limits (150 μg/m3), except for January is founded (32.2 μg/m3) within the acceptable limits due to heavy rainfall. the averages monthly concentrations of (CO), (6.567, 5.165, 4.08, 5.454 and 7.25 ppm) were lower than standards limits for five months, comparing with the Iraqi National limits (35 ppm) and WHO Limits (9 ppm). Pollutant concentrations such as (O3), were within acceptable limits of Iraqi and WHO limits at all period of study, while other air pollution gasses such as (SO2 and NO2), their concentrations over the study area were within the Iraqi national limits but slightly over the WHO limits.

Estimation of Consumptive Water Use of Vicia faba Under Conditions of middle of Iraq – Kut city

Experiment field was conducted for irrigation scheduling depending on moisture depletion of available water for leguminosae in field of agriculture college-Wasit University at latitudes 32° 30′ 31.19″North and longitudes 45° 26′ 89″ East, Altitude 19 m through the autumn season 2016-2017 in loam soil. the aim of this study to determine the reference water consumptive ETo , actual consumptive use ETa , crop coefficient Kc of leguminosae and water use efficiency at irrigation scheduling on base of moisture depletion of available water at ratios 25, 50 and 75% and effect of climate factors on it. The experiment carried out using random complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. The seeds of leguminosae planted at date 10/10/2016, the end of growth season at 15/4/2017. The quantities of added water used to calculate the actual consumptive use ETa by using water-balance equation, the gravimetric water content determined immediately after irrigation and before the following irrigation through the growth season to limit irrigation scheduling of studied treatments. The reference water consumptive ETo calculated by using three empirical equations (Blaney-criddle, Najib Kharrufa, Evaporation pan). The results showed that the Najib Kharrufa equation gave high value of ETo 675.49 mm comparatively with equations of evaporation Pan and Blaney–criddle that gave ETo values 591.92 and 544.77 mm alternately. The treatment of irrigation at depletion of 25% of available water gave high value of ETa 577.95 mm, comparatively with treatments depletion of 50 and 75% of available water that gave ETa values 531.5 and 472.1 mm, alternately. The results showed increasing of crop coefficient Kc, for all treatments, with progress of growth season and reached high value at flowering and spuds formation stage and reduced at maturation stage (end of growth season), the high value of Kc showed at irrigation treatment at depletion 25% of available water, its ranged between 0.62 to 1.44, but the low value of Kc showed at irrigation treatment at depletion 75% of available water, its ranged between 0.38 to 1.29. The irrigation treatments showed significant differences between studied characteristics crop , thus irrigation treatment at depletion 25% of available water increased significantly in comparison with irrigation treatment at depletion 75 % of available water in height plant and leaf area surface , but there are non-significant differences were noted in stem diameter , the irrigation treatment at depletion 25% of available water increased significantly in comparison with other treatments in total yield (spuds) . The irrigation treatment at depletion 50% of available water gave high water use efficiency (WUEf) that equal 1.43 kg m-3.