As part of the cultural season of the Environmental Research Center

  Assist. Prof. Dr. Sahar A. Amin-lecturer in the Department of Environmental Technology-ERC presented a lecture on Tuesday, 18/2/2020 at 12:00 entitled “Electromagnetic Spectrum and its Uses”. The lecturer stated that the electromagnetic spectrum is a general term that includes all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation starting from low frequencies such as radio, then medium frequencies such as visible light rays, to high frequencies such as X-rays, and ending with gamma rays. The electromagnetic spectrum consists of seven bands that include radio waves, microwave waves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet rays, X-rays and gamma rays. Each of these bands has different characteristics in terms of how they are formed, how they interact with matter and their practical applications. Gamma rays, X-rays and high-frequency ultraviolet rays are classified as “ionizing radiation” since their photons have enough energy to ionize the atoms, and thus affecting seriously the living organisms when exposed to more than the permissible limits according to the approved standards.

Despite the fact that the huge applications and uses of electromagnetic waves in various fields such as radar, satellites, radio, television, mobile phones, microwave ovens, thermo-detectors, treatment and diagnostics in the medical fields, optical fibers, sterilization of surgical instruments and operating theaters and etc. It has not been scientifically and practically proven in terms of the presence of the direct impact on human health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). However, there is still a public concern about the potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields. 

As part of the cultural season of the Environmental Research Center

 Dr. Thaer Al-Jadir (lecturer in the University of Technology) presented a lecture on Tuesday, 11/2/2020 at 12:00 entitled “Proofreading and Editing Effective Techniques for Flawless Publications”. The lecturer stated that the non-acceptance of scientific research, i.e. its rejection by the approved international journals, leads to a state of frustration and upset for the researcher (author) or researchers (authors) involved in due to their great effort and long time in preparing it. This state of rejection is a normal case in this field because it may face many researchers with high experience in their specialized field. Several studies have been conducted to investigate the reasonable reasons that led to the refusal of research by the reviewers in those international journals. It was found that the process of writing the article plays an important role as a means of communication for the transfer of knowledge and then influence later in the field of knowledge.

In this seminar, the lecturer extensively discussed the writing of manuscript based on a scientific method to avoid common mistakes that lead to reducing the chances of its acceptance for publication in terms of proofreading (language corrections-grammar) and editing the manuscript and then preparing it to be submitted for publication.  

As part of the cultural season of the Environmental Research Center

Dr. Mohammed Muayad Taha-lecturer in the Department of Environmental Technology-ERC presented a lecture on Tuesday, 3/2/2020 at 12:00 entitled “Smart Project of the Environmental Research Center”. The lecturer stated that this project is a computerized working system that aims to improve the administrative performance of scientific activities of center’s staff that ensure their documentations and following-up the updates. Thus, achieving high speed and accuracy away from a routine work in this respect that lead to the delay, inaccuracy and slowness in documenting these activities. The nature of this system depends on the electronic forms that were prepared in advance for this purpose through self-efforts by the scientific committee in ERC where the process of updating all the scientific activities during the academic year through those forms, thus obtaining the required outputs.

The lecturer recommended the necessity of adopting this program and expediting its implementation due to its effective contribution in terms of administrative work for the center. Moreover, achieving other considerations that are in agreement with the concepts of achieving a sustainable environment by reducing the rate of consumption of paper files and plastic folders, and thus reducing the rate of paper and plastic wastes.

As part of the cultural season of the Environmental Research Center

 Assist. Prof. Dr. Salih A. Al-Bakri (lecturer in the Department of Environmental Technology-ERC) presented a lecture on Tuesday, 4/2/2020 at 12:00 entitled “Parasites in Iraqi Environment”. The lecturer stated that a parasite is an organism that lives on or in the host (another organism). The presence of the host plays an essential role in enabling the parasite to live, grow and reproduce where it is generally smaller than the host. Parasite uses the host's resources to complete its life cycle and maintain itself. The size of parasite ranges from the microscopic size (about 70% of parasites are not visible to the human eye such as malarial type) to the macroscopic size (some worm parasites can reach over 30m in length). Parasites are not the same as predators and have the ability to reproduce at fast rates.

 The lecturer pointed out that parasites are present in diverse forms in the Iraqi environment and have the ability to reproduce at fast rates. Thus, they pose a real threat to human health if they are not diagnosed early. The environmental pollution plays a key factor in their spread such as drinking contaminated water and eating unclean or not well (partially) cooked food. Therefore, the lecturer recommended the necessity of health and environmental awareness in this respect in order to avoid their dangers.