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The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) stands as a significant player in the hydrocarbon landscape of the Middle East, necessitating an in-depth analysis of its role in the exportation process to Turkey and Mediterranean ports, thereby fostering economic and political ties and projecting toward the future. Situated as a semi-autonomous entity in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Region boasts abundant natural gas resources, attracting interest from Russian firms and Turkish stakeholders. However, Iran’s influence in Iraq and the wider region poses a regional threat to the Kurdistan Region’s natural resources. This chapter meticulously examines the oil and gas blocks within the Kurdistan Region amidst the backdrop of transformative global energy market shifts, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian–Ukrainian conflict. Through this lens, it seeks to delineate the Kurdistan Region’s political and economic positioning within the evolving regional order.

This paper aims to produce lightweight concrete by combining aerated concrete with expanded polystyrene beads concrete to create structural aerated-polystyrene lightweight concrete that satisfies the criteria of sustainability for thermal and sound insulation properties and the structural criteria of having satisfactory compressive strength for structural elements.

The experimental study was carried out to reach the largest compressive strength while maintaining the lowest possible density by preparing nine mixes of concrete, involving different ratios of aluminum waste powder and polystyrene beads as 0%, 0.2% and 0.3% and 0%, 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively, by weight of cement to produce the lightweight concrete with different densities. The performance of mechanical properties, thermal conductivity, ultrasonic pulse velocity, density, modulus of elasticity, acoustic impedance and scanning electron microscopy were studied and discussed.

Results showed that aerated-expended polystyrene beads concrete had the most suitable properties when the proportions of aluminum waste powder and expanded polystyrene beads were 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. The compressive strength, density, thermal conductivity and acoustic impedance were 38.5 MPa, 1,768 Kg/m³, 0.358 W/(m.k) and 4.91 Kg/m² s, respectively.

The experimental work was done using aluminum scrap waste powder as an expanding agent to produce aerated concrete and combining it with expanded polystyrene bead concrete to produce structural aerated-polystyrene concrete, which contains fine materials (silica fume and local natural raw limestone) and superplasticizers.

This article highlights the essential notions of reviving urban space that should adhere to the place’s characteristics and the city’s social-cultural language. It analyzes the central policies and principles that should be considered for revitalizing and sustaining urban spaces in historic city centers.

As a methodology, the article adopted a comparative methodology through an integrative framework based on reviewing a range of literature that explores the main dimensions that were discussed and argued for sustainable revitalization strategies.

The article emphasizes the essential revitalization strategies that could adopt specific frameworks according to each case, such as restructuring, creating elements of attraction and revival of the neighborhood’s center, the most important of which are preservation, renewal, rebuilding and reviving urban space through interactive architecture, in addition to identifying when the urban spaces need to implement removal, replacement or restoration as a strategy for reviving historical centers.

The paper seeks to discuss the cognitive background of the concept of reviving the urban space in historic city centers and analyze the main theories and studies that clarified society’s relationship to the design of urban places and its importance in the process of revitalization and rejuvenation.

The purpose of this review paper is to provide a review of the most recent advances in the field of manufacturing composite sandwich panels along with their advantages and limitations. The other purpose of this paper is to familiarize the researchers with the available developments in manufacturing sandwich structures.

The most recent research articles in the field of manufacturing various composite sandwich structures were reviewed. The review process started by categorizing the available sandwich manufacturing techniques into nine main categories according to the method of production and the equipment used. The review is followed by outlining some automatic production concepts toward composite sandwich automated manufacturing. A brief summary of the sandwich manufacturing techniques is given at the end of this article, with recommendations for future work.

It has been found that several composite sandwich manufacturing techniques were proposed in the literature. The diversity of the manufacturing techniques arises from the variety of the materials as well as the configurations of the final product. Additive manufacturing techniques represent the most recent trend in composite sandwich manufacturing.

This work is valuable for all researchers in the field of composite sandwich structures to keep up with the most recent advancements in this field. Furthermore, this review paper can be considered as a guideline for researchers who are intended to perform further research on composite sandwich structures.

Drawing on the knowledge-based view and social exchange theory, this study aims to examine how top management support relates both directly and indirectly to employee creativity through knowledge management processes (acquisition and sharing) and absorptive capacity.

Data were collected from 284 academics and researchers working in research centres in Iraq’s public universities to assess their perceptions of management support, knowledge management, absorptive capacity and creativity.

Performing structural equation modelling with AMOS, positive relationships were identified between top management support, knowledge management processes, absorptive capacity and employee creativity. The study findings emphasise the pivotal role of top management support in creating an environment that fosters knowledge acquisition and sharing, and enhancing absorptive capacity, in turn, amplifying employee creativity. Empirical evidence confirming the salient role of knowledge management and absorptive capacity in strengthening employee creativity in the context of Iraqi academia and researchers is presented.

The study shows that knowledge management processes and absorptive capacity mediate the influence of top management support on employee creativity. The premise of absorptive capacity is the individual’s ability to identify, accumulate and assimilate relevant knowledge from external sources and commercialise the gained knowledge.

This paper aims to view the tradition of the Prophet in zakat payment, especially the attributed measurements, and adapt these measures to current zakat measurement practices.

This study is designed with an exploratory sequential mixed method where qualitative data were collected from historical archives and also from the measurement of available ṣāʿ صاع and mud_ مد. These standard measures were collected from Malaysia and other Muslim countries and calibrated at the National Measurement Standards Laboratory (currently carried out by the National Metrology Institute of Malaysia). The volume of the ṣāʿ were tabulated, charted, analyzed and determined.

Prophet Muḥammad ordered for zakat al-fiṭr زكاة الفطر to measure the crops using ṣāʿ (gallon: volume measure), not raṭl رطل (pound: standard weight). This paper recommends a reference volume for the ṣāʿ, and from this value, the volume for the smaller measure mud and much larger measure wasq وسق were calculated. The agricultural niṣāb (5 wasq) is one of the key parameters in ṣāʿ volume analysis.

This study covers standard measures acquired from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom (traceable to India). Several empirical data are attained from previous studies from Saudi Arabia and North Africa. Also, some theoretical data are obtained from kitab tafsir, hadith and kitab turath (books and records written by early scholars). A concern in this study is the ratio of de-husked grains currently approximated at half of un-hulled grains. This might not necessarily be accurate and may differ by different types of grains.

After the introduction of the modern measurement system known as the International System of Units (SI) in 1971, ṣāʿ became obsolete, leaving each state in Malaysia to define and convert ṣāʿ to SI units variously. This paper contributes to standardizing the conversion to one value with an appropriate SI unit, that has traceability to the Prophet’s ṣāʿ. This national reference standard ṣāʿ is essential for zakat al-fiṭr measurement, important for zakat centers and impacting every Muslim in Malaysia. Often overlooked, ṣāʿ is more crucial as a basis in determining and standardizing the seasonal crops niṣāb, unfolding the reasons why the poor are paying the paddy zakat in Malaysia.

The Prophet’s tradition for ablution is to use water not more than one mud, this is aligned with the 12th Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations which promoted the responsible consumption of water. Considering half (adults) of the 1.9 billion Muslims in the world, multiplied by 5 times of prayer, the Muslims will at least use 4.75 billion muds of water for ablution alone in 1 day. This is approximately 3.5 billion liters of water daily, and if they limit their water usage to 1 mud for each ablution, they collectively will save at least four times more water (about 14 billion liters) daily than performing ablution from a running tap. Though for ablution, accuracy is not an issue, the mud impact on all Muslims is vital on a daily basis, literally by volume.

Ṣāʿ is essential in measuring food for the annually obligated zakat al-fiṭr and more crucial as a basis in determining the seasonal crops niṣāb. This paper contributes to the development of a national reference standard ṣāʿ for Malaysia that has traceability to the Prophet’s ṣāʿ.