University of Kurdistan Hewler

The rapid proliferation of social media platforms has significantly altered the manner in which people receive information, define their identities, and assess their self-perceptions, giving rise to new psychological challenges. Drawing on Social Comparison Theory, Role Theory, and Consumer Socialization literature, this study proposes that frequent engagement with social media influencers negatively affects psychological well-being by triggering upward social comparison, material pressure, and feelings of inadequacy. The research further examines whether family income moderates the strength of this relationship. It is hypothesized that low- and middle-income individuals experience more harmful outcomes because they may lack the means to replicate the promoted lifestyles. This study employed a cross-sectional, quantitative approach, collecting data from 165 participants in Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq between October 2025 through December 15, 2025. A Structural Equation Model was used to analyze these relationships. The findings confirm that engagement with social media influencers is a significant negative predictor of psychological well-being. Moreover, family income is a significant moderator, such that low and medium income enhance the negative impact, while high income attenuates it. This study contributes to the literature on digital well-being by emphasizing the importance of socioeconomic context.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disease influenced by genetic, environmental, and immunological factors. Vitamin D exerts immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects through the vitamin D receptor (VDR), and genetic variation in the VDR gene may influence susceptibility to OA. However, data from Middle Eastern and Kurdish populations remain limited. This study aimed to evaluate the association between serum vitamin D status and four common VDR gene polymorphisms (FokI, ApaI, TaqI, and BsmI) in Kurdish adults with knee osteoarthritis. A hospital-based case-control study was conducted, including 100 OA patients and 100 healthy controls recruited in Erbil, Iraq. Serum vitamin D levels were measured biochemically, and VDR polymorphisms were genotyped using PCR-RFLP and sequencing. Association analyses were performed for polymorphic loci using univariate logistic regression. No allelic or genotypic variation was detected at the FokI (rs2228570), ApaI (rs7975232), or TaqI (rs731236) loci, indicating allele fixation in this population. In contrast, the BsmI (rs1544410) polymorphism exhibited significant variability. The AA genotype was significantly more frequent among OA patients than controls and was associated with increased odds of OA (OR = 2.26, 95% CI = 1.21-4.23; p = 0.006). The findings indicate that the VDR BsmI polymorphism is associated with knee osteoarthritis in the Kurdish population, whereas FokI, ApaI, and TaqI loci were non-polymorphic. These results highlight population-specific genetic variation within the VDR gene and underscore the need for larger studies incorporating functional validation to clarify the biological relevance of BsmI variation in osteoarthritis.

Analysis of human sequence polymorphisms of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable segment 1 (HV1) has become a significant technique in forensic casework and is used for genetic diversity and human evolution evaluation, consanguinity identification, and mitochondrial illness diagnosis. The present study aimed to provide insights into the demographic history and origins of the Kurdish people in the Iraqi Kurdistan region by analyzing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variations, particularly focusing on hypervariable segment 1 (HVS I). The HVS I of mtDNA was sequenced in 120 unrelated individuals from the Kurdish population by using Sangar sequencing. The study's findings reveal significant genetic diversity among the Kurdish population's HVS I of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The sequence of HVS I within the non-coding region had 413 mutations across 402 sites, resulting in 111 different haplotypes, as compared to the revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (rCRS) to gauge genetic diversity and community variety. Comparing this population sample to rCRS, the mutations found were (17.055%) transition and (0.921%) transversion. The phylogenetic tree for the Kurdistan region revealed a considerable degree of community variety. In order to determine the Kurdish ancestry and demographic history in the territory of Iraqi Kurdistan, the results also showed that the mtDNA haplotypes were classified into mtDNA haplogroups. The most frequent haplogroups were U, H, J, and HV, with frequencies of 22.5%, 19.2%, 14.5%, and 12.9%, respectively; nevertheless, T and N had a moderate prevalence of 8% and 6.4%, respectively. The haplotype results exhibited that Europe and India had the most genetic diversity in common with the Kurdish people of Iraqi Kurdistan. The findings will contribute to a better knowledge of Kurdish mitochondrial genome diversity, as well as to demographic history and forensic science.

Abstract The deficiency of freshwater resources in arid and semi-arid areas constitutes the main deterrent to sustainable development. The rapid population growth, development in urbanization, and climate change pose considerable challenges to sustainability and water resources management. The study aims to assess the sustainability of water storage in three small earth dams, namely the Al-Rutbah, Horan 2, and Horan 3 impoundment sites in the Wadi Horan catchment area, in the western desert of Iraq. In 2019 and 2020, the usage of water, losses, and residual capacities during the drought period (May-September) were assessed, and the seasonal fluctuations in reservoir storage were estimated using remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In order to assess the quantities of evaporation, infiltration, and release, as well as to ascertain the correlations between area, volume, and elevation, Landsat 8 images and dam technical reports were used. According to the findings, the storage levels of Al-Rutbah Dam are much higher in comparison to the other two dams with 2019 and 2020 recording 18 and 12 MCM respectively. The promise of sustainability was associated with livestock assistance and agriculture production: Horan 2 and Horan 3 could practically be used to water animals while Al-Rutba Dam could irrigate 800 dunams of land intended to produce a combination of summer and winter crops. The combination of RS and GIS is effective in the analysis of the sustainability of the dry and data-less regions in the region, where it is difficult to access the field and install hydrological monitoring stations, the analysis shows. As a consequence, Al-Rutbah Dam is of significant importance in the management of limited water resources as well as food security of the rural population. The recommendations to ensure water sustainability over the long term in the Western Desert of Iraq: Extending the scope of these tests to other dams in the desert, developing and strengthening monitoring networks and the integration of climate change projections.

Background/Objectives: Fetal health is essential in prenatal care, influencing both maternal and fetal outcomes. Cardiotocography (CTG) monitors uterine contractions and fetal heart rate, yet manual interpretation exhibits significant inter-examiner variability. Machine learning offers automated alternatives; however, class imbalance in CTG datasets where pathological cases constitute less than 10% leads to poor detection of minority classes. This study aims to provide the first systematic benchmark comparing five resampling strategies across seven classifier families for multi-class CTG classification, evaluated using imbalance-aware metrics rather than overall accuracy alone. Methods: Seven machine learning models were employed: Naïve Bayes (NB), Random Forest (RF), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Linear Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR), and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP). To address class imbalance, we evaluated the original unbalanced dataset (base) and five resampling methods: SMOTE, BSMOTE, ADASYN, NearMiss, and SCUT. Performance was evaluated on a held-out test set using Balanced Accuracy (BACC), Macro-F1, the Macro-Matthews Correlation Coefficient (Macro-MCC), and Macro-Averaged ROC-AUC. We also report per-class ROC curves. Results: Among all models, RF proved most reliable. Training on the original distribution (base) yielded the highest BACC (0.9118), whereas RF combined with BSMOTE provided the strongest class-balanced performance (Macro-MCC = 0.8533, Macro-F1 = 0.9073) with a near-perfect ROC-AUC (approximately 0.986–0.989). Overall, resampling effects proved model dependent. While some classifiers achieved optimal performance on the natural class distribution, oversampling techniques, particularly SMOTE and BSMOTE, demonstrated significant improvements in minority class discrimination and class-balanced metrics across multiple model families. Notably, certain models benefited substantially from resampling, exhibiting enhanced Macro-F1, BACC, and minority class recall without sacrificing overall accuracy. Conclusions: These findings establish robust, model-agnostic baselines for CTG-based fetal health screening. They highlight that strategic oversampling can translate improved minority class discrimination into clinically meaningful performance gains, supporting deployment in cost-sensitive and threshold-aware clinical settings.

This study is an attempt to analyse educational racism in the discourse of movies, critically and multimodally. Van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach, namely the ideological square and the micro-macro analysis, is used to critically anlyse the movie and Leeuwen and Kress’s visual grammar approach is applied to the movie to analyse it multimodally. Qualitative method is used to analyse the data which consist of shots and scenes that manifest discrimination in education from Miss Virginia, an American movie (2019) that focuses on a single African American mother who tries her best to provide a high-quality education for her only child. The study aims to unmask how the low-income, mostly African American, parents suffer from discrimination as they cannot afford school tuition that ensure a bright future for their children, even when they do their best and have more than one job. The significance of the study lies in studying class discrimination in movies and sheds light on the way the politicians could participate in raising the quality of public schools. The main result can be stated as the discrimination is apparently based on class difference rather than race difference. The truth is that African Americans constitute the majority of the lower class who are not allowed to access high quality education easily in comparison with the privileged Whites. Politicians are not only racists against another race but also against their own people depending on their benefit. Educated, active citizens, and democracy are the bases of sustainable education in multicultural societies.

The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the Reflection of risk analysis and risk assessment into HSE management for oil and gas operations in Kirkuk province. The study focuses on the Baghdad Oil Refinery for petrochemical and bitumen production and the Barham Group for refining petroleum products, which has significant implications for health and safety management. A descriptive analytical method was used to examine the data and describe the relationships between the variables. Questionnaire forms were used for data collection; 92 forms were distributed, and the study population consisted of 64 employees from the two oil operations who completed and returned the form. The IBM SPSS 26 statistical program was used for statistical analysis and findings. The results revealed a direct and significant relationship between the Reflection of risk analysis and risk assessment in HSE management. The relationship variables of Reflection these two aspects also had a positive impact on the HSE management system. The study offers practical recommendations to address identified challenges in the two operations and suggests implementing the findings across industrial facilities in Kirkuk province. It is the first time these variables have been combined in a study of the Baghdad Oil Refinery and the Barham Group.

Liver cirrhosis is a global syndrome that develops from activation and proliferation of hepatic stellate cells, and following extracellular matrix accumulation. The current study evaluates the acute toxicity and prophylactic effects of mangiferin in thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver damage in rats and its causal mechanisms. Thirty Sprague–Dawley rats were separate into five groups and treated for two months as follows: group (A) normal ingested orally daily 10% Tween 20 + distilled water (i.p.) (three times weekly); group (B) TAA control rats treated by mouth daily 10% Tween 20 + 200 mg/kg TAA i.p. (three times weekly); group (C) reference group received daily oral dose of 50 mg/kg silymarin + 200 mg/kg TAA i.p. (three times weekly); groups (D) rats received oral daily 30 mg/kg mangiferin + 200 mg/kg TAA i.p. (three times weekly); group (E) received oral daily 60 mg/kg mangiferin + 200 mg/kg TAA i.p. (three times weekly) for two months. The non-toxic effects of mangiferin were evidenced by the lack of any toxicity incidence in rats ingested with up to 500 mg/kg. Gross morphological examination showed a regular liver architecture in mangiferin fed collections compared to hepatotoxic cluster. Histology of rat’s liver fed with mangiferin showed an important decrease in the liver index with hepatic cells propagation, mild cellular injury. Macroscopy of hepatotoxic liver exhibited irregular, rough surface with micro and macro nodules, and histopathology-stained Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E), and Masson’s Trichome exhibited inflammation infiltration of lymphocytes, focal necrosis, fibrosis, and bile duct propagation. Immunohistochemistry examination of proliferation cellular nucleus antigen (PCNA), TAA inoculation stimulated cellular proliferation and apoptotic actions in damaged liver tissues, designated by increased PCNA. The TAA intraperitoneal inoculation caused significant hepatic dysfunction (lowered total protein, albumin levels, hepatotoxicity, and necrotic cell propagation). The TAA injection aggravated important hepatic intoxication inveterate by histopathological symptoms; change of tissue architecture, cellular propagation, and endothelial harm, enlarged hepatic nucleus, cytoplasmic vacuolation, collagen deposition, and raised necrotic tissues. The oxidative stress and inflammation process was markedly commenced subsequent TAA conveyance to rats proved by down-regulation of SOD, CAT, and IL-10, while, up-regulating the MDA and TNF-α and IL-6 cytokines. No toxicological signs were observed in rats administered 500 mg/kg of Mangiferin. Mangiferin supplementation showed significant resistance against TAA-mediated hepatotoxicity, reversed those cellular alterations, and restored liver functions. These results demonstrate significant ameliorative effects of mangiferin in TAA hepatotoxic rats, which could be attributed to its anti-apoptotic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory potentials, making it a possible viable hepatoprotective agent for inflammatory-related hepatitis.