Sandstorms (dust storms) are considered the most events which cause destructive and costly damages in lots of desert regions. These sandstorms may be a reason of huge disasters or damages on environmental as well as health aspects. The aim of this paper is to develop a mathematical model for predicting the Dust Storm in Republic of Iraq using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique. As a case study, four construction projects in Iraqi cities were selected (Baghdad, Basrah, Samawa, and Nasiriya) in order to identifying and prediction of the sandstorms, which significantly help to reduce the effects of damages. Only one ANN model was built to predict a dust storm. The datas of this model cited from Iraqi Meteorological Organization and Seismology. Four factors were adapted to develop the model (Max. Temperature, Min. Temperature, Rain and Wind), It was found that ANN has the ability to predict the dust storm with a high accuracys off the correlation coefficient (R) which is 90.00%, with a percentage of average accuracy is 89%.

Construction industry has complexity in its nature because it contains a large number of participants as clients, consultants, contractors, stakeholders, shareholders, regulators and others. The topic of performance measurement becomes very crucial to construction projects to determine their success. Previous studies show the development of specific indicators for performance is among the most significant mechanisms for the measurement of performance. The main objective of this study is to examine and evaluate the systems for performance measurement adopted in the Iraqi construction projects during the implementation phase. This aim was achieved through structured interviews and a survey that was carried out among the different parties involved in the construction process. A total of 97 participants contributed to this survey representing public and private clients, consultants, and contractors. The analysis of the survey revealed that the most significant factors relating to the types of measurement systems in use are satisfaction of the client, the profitability of the project, viability and feasibility of the project, satisfaction of the project's users, and quality of the project. The study Salah Kh. Zamim ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr Salah Zamim has 35 years of experience in implementing buildings, civil engineering, and infrastructure projects in Iraq and the UAE. He gained his MSc and PhD in the field of Construction Project Management in the years 1998 and 2002, respectively. Currently, Dr Salah is an assistant professor at Uruk University/Iraq teaching many subjects in the field of Project Management and Economy at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Also, he is responsible for organizing many short courses related to continuing education. His research interests include risk, quality control, productivity, and application of Building Modeling in developing countries. He is the co-author of a book titled BIM in Project Management. Dr Salah is a member of many engineering institutions in Iraq and Jordan.