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aima' Abdallah Elhaj,1 Yousra Odeh,1,2 Dina Tbaishat,1,3,4 Anwar Rjoop,5,6 Asem Mansour,1 Mohammed Odeh1,7,81Cancer Care Informatics Research, King Hussain Cancer Center (KHCC), Amman, Jordan; 2Faculty of Information Technology, Philadelphia University, Amman, Jordan; 3College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; 4Library and Information Science Department, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; 5Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 6Department of Pathology, Blood Bank, King Abdullah University Hospital, Irbid, Jordan; 7College of Arts, Technology and Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK; 8Global Academy for Digital Health, Bristol, UK Correspondence: Mohammed Odeh, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QY, UK, Tel +44 (0)117 9656261, Email [email protected] Yousra Odeh, Philadelphia University, Jarash Road, P.O.Box 19392, Amman, Tel +96 (2) 64799000, Fax +96 (2) 64799040, Email [email protected] ; [email protected] Purpose: The current state of the art in process modeling of blood banking and transfusion services is not well grounded; methodological reviews are lacking to bridge the gap between such blood banking and transfusion processes (and their models) and their automation. This research aims to fill this gap with a methodological review. Methods: A systematic mapping study was adopted, driven by five key research questions. Identified research studies were accepted based on fulfilling the following inclusion criteria: 1) research studies should focus on blood banking and transfusion process modeling since the late 1970s; and 2) research studies should focus on process automation in relation to workflow-based systems, with papers classified into categories in line with the analysis undertaken to answer each of the research questions. Results: The search identified 22 papers related to modeling and automation of blood banking and transfusion, published in the period 1979– 2022. The findings revealed that only four process modeling languages were reported to visualize process workflows. The preparation of blood components, serologic testing, blood distribution, apheresis, preparation for emergencies, maintaining blood banking and transfusion safety, and documentation have not been reported to have been modeled in the literature. This review revealed the lack of use of Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) as the industry standard process modeling language in the domain. The review also indicated a deficiency in modeling specialized processes in blood banking and transfusion, with the majority of reported processes being described as high level, but lacking elaboration. Automation was reported to improve transfusion safety, and to reduce cost, time cycle, and human errors. Conclusion: The work highlights the non-existence of a developed process architectural framework for blood banking and transfusion processes, which is needed to lay the groundwork for identifying and modeling strategic, managerial, and operational processes to bridge the gap with their enactment in healthcare systems. This paves the way for the development of a data-harvesting platform for blood banking and transfusion services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to investigate the moderating role of corporate governance on the relationship between earnings management and debt level in capital structure. The paper used a hypothesis-testing research approach to gather data from the annual reports of 13 industrial companies listed on Palestine Exchange and 25 Jordanian companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2020. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed, along with correlation analysis to evaluate linear relationships between variables. The fixed and random effect regressions were utilized to develop the research model. In the case of Palestinian manufacturing firms, the results revealed that Earnings Management (EM) had a significant negative impact on debt level. According to the moderating role of Corporate Governance (CG), larger boards and the existence of female members on the board of directors causes an increase in the high-leverage impact of EM, whereas CEO duality mitigates the high-leverage impact. However, in the case of Jordanian manufacturing firms, EM showed an insignificant impact on debt level. Regarding the moderating role of CG, it was proved that the presence of female members on the board of directors increased the firm's reliance on debt financing as a result of EM practices, while institutional investors mitigate the effect of EM on debt financing, leading to a decrease in reliance on debt. The findings of this research are suitable for the regulators while formulating policies on the Corporate Governance and the Impact of Earnings Management on Capital Structure. These findings have guided the policymakers that they should enhance their focus on Palestine and Jordan companies to test Corporate Governance Moderates the Impact of Earnings Management on Capital Structure. This study is also helpful for the new researcher while investigating this area in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the prevalence of conflict and fragility continue to rise around the world, research is increasingly heralded as a solution. However, current ethical guidelines for working in areas suffering from institutional and social fragility, insecurity or violent conflict have been heavily critiqued as highly abstract; focussed only on data collection; detached from the realities of academia in the Global South; and potentially extractive. This article seeks to respond to that assessment by spotlighting some of the most prevalent challenges researchers face in the pursuit of ethical working practices. It explores the material and epistemic injustices that often shape and underpin research structures and relationships in these contexts. The paper draws on the authors' experiences of research in conflict-affected and fragile contexts over the last fifteen years and on workshop discussions with researchers based in fragile and conflict-affected contexts conducted in Amman, Bogotá and Dhaka in 2019-2020. The paper works from the premise that achieving ethical research in fragile spaces is not dependent solely on activity at the site of research, but also on decisions made across the entire ecosystem of a research project. It therefore interrogates the full research landscape, from funding models, to research design (including research topics, partnerships, methods, participant selection, and researcher positionality), to dissemination plans and ethical gatekeeping. The paper critically reflects on inequities in the processes of knowledge production about conflict and fragility and the key ethical challenges that researchers encounter. It highlights the need for further guidance, support and accountability to ensure ethical research practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper aims to investigate the moderating role of liquidity in the relationship between accounting and advertising expenditures and the financial performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan. Furthermore, the present paper highlights the importance of managing expenditures and improving financial performance. Since the performance of Jordanian SMEs is extremely critical, furthermore, the present paper explores the possibility of empowering these businesses in order to achieve profitability. This paper is based on descriptive statistics, regression, and correlation analysis in order to analyze the data, collecting secondary data from 200 SMEs. The results demonstrate that accounting expenditures are key factors for financial performance, especially in SMEs. Moreover, SMEs are more sensitive to liquidity challenges, which significantly impact their short-term expenditure and consequently influence their financial performance. It is evident that accounting expenditures moderated by liquidity have a positive effect on the financial performance of SMEs. However, our findings indicate a negative effect regarding the relationship between advertising expenditures and financial performance. According to the results of this study, regulators may offer new regulations and legislation in the future to the Ministry of Finance and the Amman Stock Exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the growth of the economy has been well-documented in the past few decades. Studies in literature have focused on the reasons behind the trade credit offerings and acceptance of SMEs, but empirical findings revealing the positive relationship between trade credit itself and profitability is still limited. Thus, in this paper, the trade credit effect on the profitability of SMEs from the side of supply and demand is examined. The paper focused on 38 SMEs in Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the years from 2009 to 2021. The obtained findings showed a positive relationship between accounts payable and profitability, which indicates that SMEs should establish long-term relationships with their suppliers to maintain credit. However, no clear relationship was found between accounts receivable and profitability, represented by ROE and ROA. Furthermore, financial leverage and size were revealed to impact the profitability of SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how forcibly displaced people cope with prolonged liminality through identity work. Our paper is based on a longitudinal multiple case study of women refugees who fled Syria and experienced liminality in Amman-Jordan, the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan and the United Kingdom. We contribute to the liminality literature by demonstrating how forcibly displaced people respond to extreme structural constraints and maintain cognitive control over their sense of self during liminality with an end date that is unknown. We develop the concept of liminality by illustrating how the actors were pushed into a state of 'indeterminate liminality' and coped by co-constructing it through three forms of identity work – recomposing conflicting memories, reclaiming existence and repositioning tradition. This enabled them to stretch the boundaries of indeterminate liminality, symbolically restore their familiar past and narratively construct a meaningful future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In both industry and academia, sustainability has become a priority in the interior design and architecture industry, having a significant impact on society. However, most recent studies on building sustainability focus mainly on environmental and economic issues, with social sustainability often being complicated and overlooked in relevant research. This paper argues that there is a need for workplace design guidance that prioritizes parameters at the intersection of twenty-first-century workforce–corporate interests, embodying the notion of social sustainability within the built environment. Through this perspective, the physical environment is considered the container of its social content, and its features and characteristics have a direct impact on the quality of life and work for office workers. Although international currents in the age of globalization have stimulated tangible progress in the context of sustainability, the interior design of most design and architecture offices in Jordan suffers from an underrepresentation of the distinctive features of socially sustainable, user-welcoming interior spaces and environments. The current study explores the experiences of interior design professionals in Jordan through four windows of "Physiological Health and Comfort", "Efficiency and Ergonomics", "Privacy and Social Interaction", and "Spatial Organization (Design)" from a quantitative perspective. A survey was developed to investigate these criteria and was administered among 145 full-time design professionals working in offices in Amman, Jordan. The study aimed to investigate the experiences of these practitioners in relation to their office work environment, with a focus on exploring Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), Quality of Work Life (QWL), and Quality of Life (QoL) from the perspective of social sustainability. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and regression models were employed to analyze the survey data and evaluate the findings. Overall, the study highlights the need for theoretical and practical incentives to promote the adoption of socially sustainable development in workplace design, particularly in the context of interior design in Jordan. By focusing on the experiences of interior design professionals with their workplace environment, this study provides valuable insights for the development of workplace design guidelines that prioritize social sustainability parameters within the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, financial performance has attracted researchers' attention, especially in the insurance sector. Insurance is a tool for the growth and sustainability of both rising and developing economies. It promotes economic stability for people, organizations, and governments by taking on risk and spreading it across the market. We intend to classify insurance companies' financial performance in Jordan's Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The sample size is 15 out of 22 selected insurance firms from 2008 to 2020. We apply the Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) model for the detection of (high/low) total asset turnover (TAT) as output, while we select the subrogation (SB), claims paid (CP), market capitalization (MC), and total shareholders' equity (SE) as input to the MLP model. The performance of the MLP model is evaluated using different criteria, namely the false positive rate (FP rate), false negative rate (FN rate), F-measure, precision, and accuracy (ACC). The results show that MLP is efficient and performs well in multiple criterion tests through iteration growth. Based on our knowledge, the paper assesses the financial performance of Jordanian insurance firms, which has not been investigated previously. Furthermore, this study gives valuable information to regulators and policymakers to improve asset management efficiency in the insurance sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was conducted to delimit the water influx in the Hamzeh oil reservoir, located in northeastern Jordan approximately 150 km east of Amman. Petroleum reservoirs are frequently encompassed by water aquifers that back up the reservoir pressure through water inflow. When the pressure declines in a petroleum reservoir, the water aquifer responds by providing an influx of water. Gradually, the damage is reduced and then eliminated, and more oil is produced from the reservoir. The material balance equation (MBE) is used as the fundamental method for this study, predicting reservoir performance for a period of 11 years. The results for this study prove that the reservoir has a water drive mechanism and that the original oil in place (OOIP) was 24,958,290 m3. The projected oil recovery factor ranges from 10.9 to 25 percent for the Hummar and Shueib formations, respectively, depending on the areal efficiency assumed in the calculations. The water influx for the 11-year period was predicted by an MBE, an unsteady-state model, and the results of the performance reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost two decades today, the topic of brownfields has extensively been researched in urban sociology, urban planning, and human geography, and numerous Western-Centric studies have linked the redevelopment of the abandoned, contaminated, vacant or derelict sites to sustainable urban regeneration and achieving smart cities and sustainability goals in general. Yet, until this day, the concept has received little academic and practical attention in Middle Eastern contexts. Western contexts on the other hand including Europe, UK and USA continue to offer unique perspectives on approaching brownfields in ways that reduce the alarming spatial cluttering and address socio-spatial disparities and spatial segregation in addition to achieving economic and environmental goals, and similar to the global scene, brownfield sites make a large portion of the post-industrial city of Amman, the capital of Jordan. However, with the lack of a systematic definition for the urban phenomenon objectives, methods to identifying potential brownfield sites and evaluating the prioritisation of their redevelopment that takes into consideration context particularities, and with the absence of participative approaches that include the local community in the decision-making regarding these spaces, city planners fail to include the increasingly growing number of brownfield site that proliferate their cities in the urban planning practice. Through the examination of literature discussions on objectives, approaches, classification systems, methodologies, assessment and evaluation tools for the support of design and prioritising decisions for brownfield regeneration in different contexts, and through looking at the numerous potential alternatives for brownfield sites regeneration these contexts highlight, this paper bids to emphasise the importance of developing context specific, localised tools tailored for the Middle Eastern case. Building on the above, this paper identifies five potential brownfield typologies in the context of Amman; (1) residual planning outcomes; (2) discontinued mines and quarries; (3) unfinished mega-projects; (4) contaminated and hazardous sites, and; (5) miscellaneous abandoned sites and buildings, and ends on the note that looking at the increasing demand to meeting smart growth and sustainability needs, these urban landscapes may function as catalysts for achieving comprehensive sustainable urban regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the utilization of Arabic tautological expressions, provided by customers as a reiteration of an element of an English compound such as 'apple pie' [ fatˁi:rit ʔabil bai 'an apple pie pie'], from the perspective of Relevance Theory (RT). Data was collected from 90 participants, divided into two groups: 40 native speaker informants recruited from various shopping malls, and 50 shop assistants in Amman, Jordan. The first group was interviewed, whereas the second group filled out a multiple-choice task aimed at identifying the type of expression they typically receive when taking orders from customers. The data analysis revealed that Arabic tautological expressions are more frequently used compared to other alternatives. Drawing on RT, we argue that Arabic tautological expressions function as an ostensive stimulus. We propose that tautological expressions, utilized within a code-switching context, function as a means of pragmatic enrichment. This occurs through the process of ad hoc construction, wherein speakers refine the originally encoded concept to convey corrective or contrasting meanings. Instead of lacking information, the use of tautological phrases can be seen as a pragmatic tactic to maximize relevance by minimizing cognitive effort, optimizing successful communication of the intended meaning, and reinforcing contextual effects. • Examining the use of Arabic tautology in English compounds provided by customers. • Arabic tautologies are preferred and more frequently used than alternatives. • Drawing on RT, Arabic tautological expressions function as an ostensive stimulus. • The use of tautology conveys corrective or contrastive meanings via ad hoc concept construction. • The use of tautological phrases can be seen as a pragmatic tactic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sun is a huge and clean energy source that must be relied upon to reduce greenhouse gases and promote the renewable and sustainable energy transition. In this paper, the testing of Al, Cu, and Fe metals with different thicknesses, both bare and painted matte black, was investigated for solar water heating systems. The used technique was a direct contact flat solar heating system (DCFSHS). Many experiments were run to assess this system in terms of metals' thicknesses and their thermal conductivities as well. Thicknesses of around 0.35 mm and 1 mm of Cu gave almost similar feedback. Maximum temperatures in the range of 93–97 °C were achieved during the autumn season in Amman, Jordan, while it was approximately 80 °C in winter. It has been confirmed that high water temperatures can be obtained in all used metals, regardless of their thermal conductivities. It was also found that a white color of the solar heater case inner wall leads to an increase in water temperature of approximately 4 °C in comparison to a black color. Furthermore, a light reflectance % test in the wavelength range of 240–840 nm for the studied metals, with both bare and black-painted surfaces, gave a superb result that was in line with the obtained results of the DCFSHS. Our innovative system design for solar water heating is due to improvements in many aspects, such as design, production costs, environment, and weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous paper Amman et al. (Macroecon Dyn, 2018) compare the two dominant approaches for solving models with optimal experimentation (also called active learning), i.e. the value function and the approximation method. By using the same model and dataset as in Beck and Wieland (J Econ Dyn Control 26:1359–1377, 2002), they find that the approximation method produces solutions close to those generated by the value function approach and identify some elements of the model specifications which affect the difference between the two solutions. They conclude that differences are small when the effects of learning are limited. However the dataset used in the experiment describes a situation where the controller is dealing with a nonstationary process and there is no penalty on the control. The goal of this paper is to see if their conclusions hold in the more commonly studied case of a controller facing a stationary process and a positive penalty on the control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of climate change, population growth and urbanization, water resources are under severe pressure like never before. Many developing and even developed countries around the world have suffered from water scarcity, with more to come if no management actions take place. In response to these pressures, governments and water authorities have shifted from supply-side to demand-side policies. Pricing and non-pricing policies are the two main categories for managing the demand for water. Many studies have shown the inadequacy of pricing policies to reduce consumption due to the inelasticity of demand related to price. Hence, the trend in managing water resources has focused on non-pricing policies. Of these is the installation of water-saving devices, which can save up to 50% of water consumption. To date, remarkably, studies on the adoption of such devices are limited. This is attributed to the fact that the acquisition of data for this type of study is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by understanding the perception of water consumers about water-saving devices; the belief being that policy makers and water authorities need to better understand the perception of consumers of such tools before applying them. The research was undertaken in one of the poorest countries in terms of water resources by conducting a questionnaire-based survey of the water situation in Amman, the capital city of Jordan. A binary logistic model was developed based on the attributes of water consumers in Amman. Results suggest that as the amount of the water bill increases, the tendency to appreciate water-saving devices will decrease. On the other hand, those who are not willing to respond to water-demand management policies were found to be less recognizing of the importance of water-saving devices compared to those who are willing to respond to such policies. The study suggests that media and educational campaigns should be utilized to increase public awareness of water-saving devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to examine the effect of managerial/board gender diversity and corporate governance structure on firm performance in a Jordanian business environment—a developing economy that has a distinct environment from that of developed economies. The current study focuses on the unique context of an emerging economy (i.e., Jordan). Data were collected from nonfinancial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange from 2018 to 2020. Data analysis was carried out using the random-effects estimator, which was considered as the most suitable for this study. The results disclose that female representation on the board of executives of Jordanian companies had a positive but insignificant effect on corporate performance, as measured by the return on equity, indicating that this variable has no effect on the performance of firms in Jordan. Both family ownership and board size had negative significant effects on performance, but for the moderating effect, corporate governance structure had no effect on the relationship among CEO duality, institution ownership, government ownership, independent directors, and firm performance. The current study only focused on Jordanian industrial firms listed on ASE, thus rendering the findings nongeneralizable to other sectors and nations. Further investigations are urged to broaden the context of the study to achieve more enriched findings. Managers can use the findings to achieve a deeper understanding of the way governance structure affects firm performance. Additionally, regulators at the Jordan Securities Commission can attain valuable insight about the adequacy of the current regulations regarding the role of gender diversity and corporate governance structure in Jordan. The current study contributes to the literature concerning the effect of managerial gender diversity and corporate governance structure on performance. Furthermore, this investigation aims to fill the current research gap in the context of Jordan, which is an emerging economy in the Arab region that is under-represented in this field of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the possibility of reducing the energy demand of the typical multi-family buildings in Amman, Jordan utilizing passive design strategies are investigated through a parametric simulation study. Firstly, the energy demand of the multi-family buildings under the typical practice is evaluated, after that several design strategies are proposed such as wall and roof insulation, shading device, ventilation, etc. The effect of each strategy on the multi-family buildings' energy demands is assessed alone and then in combination with the other strategies, to find the optimum solution to reduce the energy demand. This is beneficial for architects, engineers, and decisions makers involved in the design of energy-efficient multifamily buildings. The result proves that it's possible to reduce the annual energy demand by 53, 71, and 78% of the cooling, heating, and lighting, respectively, by introducing passive design strategies. Around 45% savings of the heating demand are achieved due to adding wall insulation. Regarding the cooling demand about 17%, and 14% are saved due to applying a ventilated blind shading device and using a nighttime ventilation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travel demand plays an essential role in strategic transport planning. Generally, experts use either discrete methods, e.g. discrete choice models or simulation, e.g. activity-based models to estimate demand in transportation. This paper offers a different solution; instead of using the traditional approach, the demand is considered as a Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem and surveying the citizens' preferences provides the results for decision support. Public transport demand depends on two main issues, quality and price of the transportation. In a hierarchical model, both issues have been integrated and the well-proven Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) method has been applied in the current research. Further, fuzzyfication of the scores have also been conducted because of the citizen evaluator pattern. The fuzzy-AHP (FAHP) model has been tested in a real-world situation with the case study of Amman (Jordan). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaic energy-generating has attracted widespread attention, because of its efficiency and environmental benefits. As the number of buildings floors increases, the area of the façade grows substantially larger than the roof, which led to increasing the potential for a solar system installed on the vertical walls, although they receive less solar radiation than roof surfaces. As a result, it has become critical to assess the solar installation possibilities on buildings’ roofs as well as facades in the early design stage. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to present a method to evaluate the suitable area on the building surfaces for photovoltaic installation, taking Apartment buildings in Amman, Jordan as a case study. The methodology is based on the assessment of the incident solar radiation on different surfaces, considering the shading effect from surrounding buildings in the most common residential urban zone in Jordan, and architectural suitable areas for PV installation. Different simulation software was used, Autodesk Ecotect simulation software was used to calculate the incident solar radiation on the building surfaces and IDA ICE 4.8 simulation software to predict the overshadowing area. The main findings of this study show that conducting a solar potential in the early design stage is critical to defining the most suitable surfaces for PV installa- tion. Moreover, the highest potential envelope part of installing the solar photo- voltaic technologies is the roof because it is unshaded and received the highest solar radiation, followed by the south façade with about 40% less received solar radiation. This study can contribute to supporting energy and urban planners in determining the best locations for solar photovoltaic installations on building surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, there has been an increasing trend towards open-access (OA) publishing. Objective: To evaluate the current status of OA Scopus-indexed journals of ophthalmology regarding quality and volume. Design: A Cross-Sectional Study. Setting: University of Jordan Hospital, Amman, Jordan. Method: Active journals indexed by Scopus in 2017 were investigated. Data were gathered and filtered into OA or non-OA ophthalmology journals. Eight variables were adopted to compare the quality of the included journals namely: CiteScore, CiteScore Percentile, Citation Count, Scholarly Output, Percent Cited, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), and SCImago Quartiles. Result: One hundred eight ophthalmology journals were indexed by Scopus in 2017. OA journals were 29 (26.9%). We found that OA journals did not have higher impact indices, and the only index that differs between OA and non-OA ophthalmology journals was SJR. Conclusion: The increasing demand of OA publishing has not yet been linked to improved quality and citation advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big cities suffer from serious complex problems such as air pollution, congestion, and traffic accidents. Developing public transport quality in such cities is considered an efficient remedy to obviate these critical issues. This paper aims to determine the significant supply quality criteria of public transportation. As a methodology, a hybrid Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) combined with the Best Worst Method (BWM) is applied. The proposed model is basically a hierarchy structure with at least a 5 × 5 pairwise comparison matrix or larger. A real-world complex problem was examined to validate the created model (public transport quality improvement). An urban bus transport system in the Jordanian capital city, Amman, was used as a case study; three stakeholder groups (passengers, nonpassengers, and representatives of the local government) participated in the evaluation process. The conventional Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) leads to weak consistency in the case of existing 5 × 5 pairwise comparison matrices or larger, particularly in estimating complex problems. To avoid this critical issue in AHP, we used Best Worst Method (BWM) comparisons, which make the evaluation process easier for decision makers; moreover, it saves survey time and provides more consistency when compared to AHP pairwise comparisons. The model adopted highlighted the most significant service quality criteria that influence urban bus transport systems. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis conducted detected the stability of the criteria ranking in the three levels of the hierarchical structure. Since the proposed AHP–BWM model (which is the sole example of this sort of combination) is independent from the decision attributes, it can be applied to arbitrary hierarchically structured decision problems with a relatively large number of pairwise comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nucleic acid hybridization (NAH) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a practical and reliable tool for virus genotyping. Genotype assignment is an important factor in the prediction of treatment success in chronic hepatitis C patients. The aim of this study was to determine the genotype distribution among HCV clinical isolates in Jordan between 2007 and 2018.Methods: Electronic and paper-based clinical data registry records from 2007 to 2018 at the Jordan University Hospital (JUH) were retrospectively examined for individuals with HCV genotype, HCV viral load, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) testing results. Genotype determination was based on NAH technique using the HCV 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) with 386 requests available from 342 unique individuals.Results: A total of 263 out of 342 unique individuals (76.9%) had genotyping results available for final analysis with 259 individuals each having a single genotyping result. The most common HCV genotypes in the study were: genotype 4 (n = 142, 54.0%), genotype 1 (n = 87, 33.1%), genotype 3 (n = 16, 6.1%), genotype 2 (n = 9, 3.4%), other undetermined genotypes (n = 5, 1.9%) and mixed infections (n = 4, 1.5%). Sub-genotyping results were available for 46 individuals as follows: sub-genotype 4c/d (n = 13, 28.3%), sub-genotype 1a (n = 11, 23.9%), sub-genotype 1b (n = 10, 21.7%), sub-genotype 4a (n = 8, 17.4%), sub-genotype 3a (n = 2, 4.3%), sub-genotypes 2a/c and 4 h (n = 1, 2.2% for both). Individuals infected with genotype 1 showed higher viral load when compared to those infected with genotype 4 (p = 0.048, t-test). Younger HCV-infected individuals (< 52 years) had higher ALT levels compared to older individuals (p = 0.036, t-test). Self-reported risk factors for HCV acquisition included: history of previous surgery, invasive dental procedures, and blood transfusion, delivery at home, circumcision at home and wet cupping therapy (hijama).Conclusions: High genetic diversity of HCV was found in Jordan, with genotypes 4 and 1 as the most prevalent genotypes co-circulating in the country. Potential impact of virus genotype on disease markers (viral load, ALT) was detected and needs further assessment. The study can be helpful to plan for future prevention and management of HCV infection in Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criticality analysis was performed on a representative sample of medical equipment at King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC), Amman-Jordan, in order to assess and improve the effectiveness of current maintenance management policy. A sample of twenty-one medical devices was selected for this study. Past failure and maintenance data, in addition to relevant financial information were collected for these devices and compiled into criticality ranks. In order to take account of the special nature of this equipment medical criticality (in terms of risk score) values were also calculated based on relevant tables of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE). Overall criticality ranking of medical equipment was then determined based on equipment cost, ASHE risk score, reliability and maintenance cost. The present results have revealed major flaws within the purchase and maintenance policies at KHCC. For example, some extremely expensive devices with extremely high-cost maintenance contracts were revealed to exhibit low reliability values and suffer from repeated failures. These were within patient-sensitive cancer treatment devices. The results also have shown that under "less than optimum" maintenance practice, the ASHE risk score may be a misleading measure of equipment criticality. This was shown by comparing the obtained overall equipment criticality to their ASHE risk score where high level of discrepancy was present between the two measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for a service includes generally two major components; quality elements and the reasonable and affordable price. Public transport can be considered as a special service, there is no direct market competition for the provider, but the use of private transport modes substitutes the usage of public vehicles. The dominating competitor, the usage of private cars, causes higher CO2 emission and has a serious impact on the environment. Thus, it is important to analyze from market and sustainability point of view which are the preferences of the public for the improvement of the urban transport system. This paper aims to conduct this analysis by including quality criteria and transport fare criteria related to the current service of a city and by setting up and testing a generally applicable model for decision support. Since the acquisition of public preference was the primary objective, and the problem can be considered as decision making, the Analytic Hierarchy Process was selected as methodology. There are previous research results of applying this method on public transport, however, not in an integrated model, in which quality and cost considerations are pairwise compared. Thus, the conventional Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was used and the well-proven requisites of consistency and sensitivity check were analyzed. The new model was tested in a case study: surveying the public transport demand in the capital of Jordan, Amman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy application is gaining a wide acceptance by end users; however, considering the fact that renewable energy is intermittent, variable and cannot be predicted, the need of storage systems is becoming a necessity at both micro and macro levels. Fuel cell technology is one of the most promising storage systems due to the fact that hydrogen has high energy density. This paper presents a design of stand-alone PV-PEMFC hybrid system for a small house under Amman climate. The simulation results show that the optimal size of PV array, fuel cell (PEMFC), inverter, electrolyzer (ELE) and H2 Tank capacity were 10 kW, 1 kW, 5 kW, 6 kW, and 5 kg respectively. Hydrogen proved itself as a low carbon energy source, which is environmental friendly and characterized with high energy content per unit mass. Due to fuel cells technology, hydrogen can be used for inter-season storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme event magnitude and frequency are prerequisites for accurately designing and managing various water infrastructure systems. This paper studies precipitation extremes in the Amman Zara Basin (AZB) using daily precipitation records from 24 weather stations during a period that exceeds 50 years. Two extreme precipitation series (the annual maximum (AM) and the peak over threshold (POT)), four generalized probability distributions (generalized extreme value (GEV), generalized Pareto (GP), generalized lognormal (GLN), and generalized logistic (GLO)) and the L moment method for distribution parameter estimation are used. A mix of increasing and decreasing trends is observed at different stations for both the AM and POT series over the study period. Since the POT series considers up to the fifth largest precipitation in some years, in contrast to the AM series, and skips the largest precipitation in the AM series in other years, the trend analysis results for the POT series differ slightly from those for the AM series. According to the goodness-of-fit (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and L moment diagram), the probability distributions GEV, GLN, and GLO can better fit the AM series, with no unique distribution among them consistently ranking the best for all stations, while the POT series is better fitted by the GP distribution. The calculated extreme precipitation amounts of the AM series are up to 18% greater than those of the POT series for the same return period. Additionally, the AM series can describe extreme precipitation events better than the POT series based on relative error calculations. The 50- and 100-year extreme precipitation events occurred more frequently in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism marketing is a key policy focus in the tourism sector development strategy of most countries in the global south. This is because of its potential as the most optimal alternative for achieving economic and social development, even in economies with daunting economic climates. In this research paper, Authors illustrates the role of tourism marketing in introducing the tourism product in the City of Constantine (Algeria) and the City of Amman (Jordan), through various methods of tourism marketing in practice, which have had a dissimilar impact on tourism revenues in both cities. The importance of the research lies in clarifying the importance of tourism marketing in achieving tourism development, as well as highlighting the tourism product as a major attraction factor for tourists. This research is based on the analytical descriptive approach in clarifying the tourism product in Constantine and Amman Cities. The research also depended on a collection of theoretical reference. The study reveals that there are wide and sharp differences in tourism marketing strategy of Constantine and Amman Cities and that there is A sharp contrast in the quality of tourism development projects of both cities, reflected by the numbers and categories of tourists coming to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on the residential patterns that were traced in Amman in the last decades due to the constant influx of migrants. Therefore, mapping the residential patterns that are emerging was seen important to understand the morphology of the area. A mixed-methods approach was used to identify the typologies emerging into the setting. New residential patterns that called for new strategic thinking were captured and analyzed. Enhancing the new image of "celebrated character" that urges new perception of heterogeneous communities and attracting more sustainable residential attributes towards the neighborhood were the two main outcomes of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this research was to investigate the potential moderating role of audit fees in the relationship between audit committee characteristics and earnings management. Specifically, this study aimed to establish connections between audit committee features, such as committee size, member independence, and financial expertise, and the practice of earnings management. To address these research questions, a convenient sample of 46 service providers listed on the Amman Stock Exchange between 2016 and the subsequent year was employed. Descriptive statistical methods were applied to characterize the variables under investigation, while a multiple regression model was utilized to assess the study's hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant correlation between the size of the audit committee and earnings management. However, a negative correlation was observed between the audit committee's independence and the financial expertise of its members. Importantly, when audit fees were introduced as a moderating variable, the relationships between committee member independence and earnings management, as well as between committee member financial expertise and earnings management, were found to be weakened. These results have potential implications for policymakers and regulators in Jordan. They may offer valuable insights into corporate governance reforms that could assist Jordanian businesses in enhancing their earnings management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the effects of three social factors on the variation of (Qaf) in Ammani Arabic. In specific, the social factors investigated were gender, age, and level of education. In order to elicit a corpus of vernacular speech, thirty sociolinguistic interviews with 30 speakers who were all born and raised in Amman were conducted. Using computer software GOLDVARB X (Sankoff et al., 2005), it was found that all social factors were statistically significant. Furthermore, gender was considered the most significant factor while education appeared to be the least significant factor. The results of the study support previous research that females frequently use [?], presenting their feminine identity. In regard of age, old participants favored the use of [g] rather than [?] while [?] was most frequently used by young speakers. Moreover, education was also found as a significant social factor. In this respect, low-educated preferred [g] and highly-educated speakers preferred [q]. In regard to education, the researcher followed Abdel-Jawad's (1987) proposal that education in Arabic is a genuine variable which directly affects language variation in Arabic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having established itself as a heritage discourse, planetary gentrification is being studied in terms of how it operates in the Global South. This study focuses on the case of Abdali Amman, a significant mixed-use neighbourhood in Jordan that has experienced numerous mega-gentrification initiatives. According to Bourdieu's theories of the state and dispositional practices, this study critically evaluates urban gentrification practices. In terms of gentrification governance, which takes place in two adjacent 'state' and 'civic' zones inside the Abdali district, this study analyses the interactions between transnational and state actors and the intragovernmental (state-municipality) governance system. Gentrification in Amman is connected to the revitalisation of historic sites, is a matter of urban governance, and operates from the transnational sphere along national and local lines. Furthermore, gentrification is caught in a desire/resistance paradox with calls for legitimacy and recognition. As a country in the Global South, Jordan has welcomed capitalist urbanisation. Gentrification is articulated within a flux between deterritorialisation/reterritorialisation, producing a form of 'heritage gentrification' in which history and national heritage are sacrificed through a process of satellite gentrification that is rooted in generative cultural transformation and governed by decentralised power structures. Introducing a Western blueprint of planetary gentrification through narrow gates into non-Western environments is a prevailing challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study compares the outcomes of managing retinoblastoma between patients with unilateral and bilateral presentations. Methods: The study, conducted at the King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan, retrospectively analyzed cases of retinoblastoma treated between March 2003 and December 2019. Evaluation criteria included clinical features, disease stage, treatment methods, and overall management outcomes. Results: The study comprised 697 eyes from 478 patients with retinoblastoma, with 52% being males. Bilateral disease was observed in 70% of patients, and a family history of retinoblastoma was more prevalent in cases with bilateral disease (20%) compared to those with unilateral disease (4%). Unilateral cases had a median age at diagnosis of 28 months, whereas bilateral cases were diagnosed at a median age of 6 months. Extra-ocular retinoblastoma was detected in 1% of eyes. According to the International Intraocular Retinoblastoma Classification (IIRC), 88% of unilateral cases presented with advanced disease (IIRC group D/E), compared to 46% in bilateral cases. Primary enucleation was performed in 29% of unilateral cases and 16% of bilateral cases (p-value 0.0007). Eye salvage rates were 31% in unilateral cases and 68% in bilateral cases (p-value < 0.0001). At 120 months of follow-up, 5% of patients died from secondary neoplasms or metastases, 81% were alive, and 14% were lost to follow-up. There was no significant difference in metastasis, secondary neoplasms, or mortality between patients with unilateral and bilateral retinoblastoma. Conclusions: This study highlights the nuanced differences in clinical characteristics and outcomes between unilateral and bilateral retinoblastoma, emphasizing the necessity of customized management and early detection strategies. It demonstrates that while bilateral retinoblastoma benefits from earlier detection and has a higher rate of eye salvage, there is no significant difference in metastasis or mortality rates when compared to unilateral cases. The critical roles of primary enucleation in advanced cases, along with effective communication and patient education, are also underscored to improve treatment adherence. Overall, these findings point to the importance of tailored approaches in optimizing outcomes for the diverse patient population affected by retinoblastoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the interest grew in research on measuring the “quality of life” (QOL) in cities. This interest comes from the success QOL measurement achieved in understanding communities’ needs, tracking changes in different aspects of life and assessing the most desired types of future development among citizens. This research highlights the importance of measuring QOL in Jordan. It examines the opportunity and applicability of carrying out QOL measurement studies in Amman, the capital city. It outlines different scopes, visions and approaches that can be used to study and measure QOL and the most suitable mechanism that can work firmly. A professional top–bottom approach was used for that. Thirty-three experts with different backgrounds were interviewed in order to determine the appropriate scopes and visions for studying QOL, define the most significant aspects affecting QOL in Amman, and define the appropriate domains to be studied. Results were analyzed, limitations were defined and the final set of representative domains was stated. Domains were ranked according to their relevance and the important -underneath- aspects were defined in the form of models, each representing a certain domain. The paper attempts by the end to set the stage for setting up criteria for measuring QOL in Amman and to open the way for future QOL research to take place in Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a feasibility study of utilizing an on-grid photovoltaic (PV) system for electrification of Cedars hotel located in Amman in Jordan as a case study. The PV system has been designed, keeping in view the required electrical load and energy available from the sun in Jordan. The actual energy consumption of the hotel is estimated (444 MWh/year) for the design and simulation of the on-grid PV system using Photovoltaic Geographical Information System software (PVGIS) and photovoltaic software (PVsyst). The results showed that PV system required 912 panels distributed over 12 inverters, with a required area of 1757.3 m2. In addition, the on-grid PV system produced a total yearly energy of 541 MWh, with an average performance ratio of 0.828. The economic study for the proposed PV system showed that the system's payback period was 4.1 year. Moreover, life cycle savings (LCS) and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) analysis have been carried out. The LCS and LCOE of the system were found to be $51,493 and $0.0199 /kWh, respectively. Therefore, installing a proposed on-grid PV system on the Cedars hotel will save $38,718/year. It is concluded that an on-grid PV system is a technically and economically viable technology for the electrification of residential hotel applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Benoit software to calculate and compare five types of fractal dimensions (Box Db, Perimeter Area Dp, Information Di, Mass Dm, and Ruler Dr) in 22 districts in the Greater Amman metropolitan area. Also, each calculated fractal dimension is regressed to the district's area, built-up areas, population, total number of roads, total length of roads, buildings area and number of buildings with a log-linear function. The results show that the five types of fractal dimensions (FD) are between1 and 2. The average values of Db, Dp, Di, Dm and Dr are 1.66, 1.25, 1.69, 1.72 and 1.15. In the same district, the values ​​of Dp and Dr are lower than the values ​​of Db, Di and Dm, while the values ​​of Db and Di are higher. The values of Dm show unevenness compared with the value of Db and Di. Statistical analysis shows strong correlation between the following pairs: Db and each of Log population and Log Buildings area. Dp and Log population. Di and each of Log population, Log number of roads, Log Buildings area and Log number of buildings. Dm and Dr show insignificant correlation with all variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional approach to "property rights" and how they are established and assigned to individuals in society assumes a consensual process in which rational individuals compare the benefits and costs of establishing such rights. Drawing on a case study along the periphery of Amman, Jordan, this paper attempts to examine the meaning of "rights" in the context of conflicting claims to land. Furthermore, the paper questions the assumed causal relationship between legal rights, security of tenure, and investment in land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intends to identify the motives that lead to increasing or fighting the fraud risk in the Financial Statements (FSs) of industrial companies whose shares are traded in regulated and unregulated markets at the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) based on the Hexagon theory, which divides the motives for fraud into six factors. The study relied on secondary data to collect and measure the study variables by extracting them from the annual reports that were published by those companies on the website of the ASE during the period of 2012–2017. The collected data were analyzed using the logistic regression model on the SPSS program. The results confirmed that the return on assets (ROA), percentage of independent members in audit committees, and tone-related party transactions had a statistically significant relationship with predicted fraudulent FSs, where these three variables belong to pressure, opportunity, and collusion fraud motives, respectively. Thus, it is worth mentioning that this study is distinguished from previous studies that examined the issue of fraud in Jordanian companies by detecting the motives of fraud according to the Fraud Hexagon theory. Moreover, some of the fraud motives were measured using new variables such as a change in inventory, the age of auditing committee's members, and tone-related party transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical research endeavor seeks to enhance the accuracy of forecasting time series data in the banking sector by utilizing data from the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The study relied on daily closed price index data, spanning from October 2014 to December 2022, encompassing a total of 2048 observations. To attain statistically significant results, the research employs various mathematical techniques, including the non-linear spectral model, the maximum overlapping discrete wavelet transform (MODWT) based on the Coiflet function (C6), and the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. Notably, the study's findings encompass the comprehensive explanation of all past events within the specified time frame, alongside the introduction of a novel forecasting model that amalgamates the most effective MODWT function (C6) with a tailored ARIMA model. Furthermore, this research underscores the effectiveness of MODWT in decomposing stock market data, particularly in identifying significant events characterized by high volatility, which thereby enhances forecasting accuracy. These results hold valuable implications for researchers and scientists across various domains, with a particular relevance to the fields of business and health sciences. The performance evaluation of the forecasting methodology is based on several mathematical criteria, including the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), the mean absolute scaled error (MASE), and the root mean squared error (RMSE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study is to measure the risk disclosure level and to determine the relationship between ownership structure dimensions (institutional ownership, foreign ownership and family ownership) and corporate risk disclosure in Jordan. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a sample of 94 Jordanian listed firms from the Amman Stock Exchange for the period from 2014 to 2017. This study measured risk disclosure using the number of risk-related sentences in the annual report, while random effects regression was used for hypotheses testing. Findings: The results revealed that family ownership has a negative effect on risk disclosure practices, but institutional ownership, foreign ownership, firm size and leverage have no significant effect on the risk disclosure level. Practical implications: The finding of this study is more likely be useful for many concerned parties, researchers, authorities, investors and financial analysts alike in understanding the current practices of the risk disclosure in Jordan, thus helping them in reconsidering and reviewing the accounting standards and improving the credibility and transparency of the financial reports in the Jordanian capital market. Originality/value: This study offers novel evidence detailing the impact of ownership structure toward corporate risk disclosure, its implementation in emerging markets following the minimal amount of scholarly efforts on the topic. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first examination of the impact of ownership structure on corporate risk disclosure. Thus, this study has important implications for the decisions of executives, policymakers, shareholders and lenders, as it enables them to better understand the linkage between ownership structure on corporate risk disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of push and pull factors on the intentions of international participants to revisit MICE events held in Amman, given that there are very few existing studies on the topic. This research is quantitative and employs a questionnaire method to collect data. For data analysis, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to test the research hypothesis with a purposive sample of 479 international visitors who had attended 14 MICE events held in Amman in 2022. The study revealed that networking opportunities, educational opportunities, destination image, travel cost, destination attraction and accessibility have a significant positive impact on revisit intentions. In terms of implications, these findings contribute to enriching push and pull theory in this context among MICE participants. In practical terms, the findings contribute to empowering planners, managers, marketers and organizers in the MICE industry in terms of creating and promoting effective strategies related to MICE tourism. The findings are anticipated to be useful for conference organizers, enabling them to attract repeat participants in this extremely competitive event industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the sociolinguistic variation of Noun Phrase (NP) genitive alternatives in Jordanian Arabic (JA) as spoken in Amman. It attempts to examine the role of certain linguistic factors i.e., animacy, definiteness, alienability, complexity, and grammatical function as well as social factors, i.e., age, gender, education, and region which may constrain the choice of using free state nominals (FSN) or construct state nominals (CS) in JA structure. Drawing on Labov's variationist approach (1972), for the current study's objectives, a corpus of spontaneous speech data is created. The corpus includes 32 sociolinguistic interviews of 32 speakers of JA (all reside in Amman). Using GOLDVARB X (Sankoff, Tagliamonte, and Smith, 2005), distributional analysis, multivariate analysis, and cross-tabulation approach are employed to analyze the data. An overall distribution of 1319 tokens indicates that CS is evidently more frequent than FSN in JA. Multivariate analysis is used to ascertain the statistical significance of factor groups. Region and four linguistic factors i.e., alienability, animacy, definiteness, and grammatical function are found to be statistically significant regarding constraining the variant choice. An interpretation of the effect of these factors on the observed linguistic phenomenon is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the quest for sustainable and energy-efficient building solutions, the incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) into building envelopes emerges as a groundbreaking strategy. PCMs, renowned for storing and releasing thermal energy during phase transitions, stand as a promising avenue to curtail energy consumption while enhancing thermal performance. This study rigorously explores the potential energy savings and thermal comfort benefits achievable through PCM integration into building envelopes. Multiple energy simulations are conducted on a residential building model in diverse locations, including Irbid, Amman, and Aqaba in Jordan, and the city of Oradea in Romania, utilizing the EnergyPlus simulation tool embedded in DesignBuilder software v7.0.2.006. The results reveal that BioPCM®, derived from renewable biomass, significantly elevates thermal performance owing to its heightened latent heat of fusion. Optimal outcomes materialize with a PCM melting point of 23 °C, a configuration closer to the interior surface, and a thickness of 37.1 mm. The study underscores the superior performance in moderate climates (Irbid and Amman) compared to hot-dry climates (Aqaba) and cold-wet climates (Oradea, Romania). Financially and environmentally, incorporating PCM in Amman demonstrates potential annual energy savings of 5476.14 kWh, translating to a cost reduction of 1150 USD/year, and a decrease in GHG emissions by 2382.31 kgCO2eq. The estimated payback period for PCM incorporation in external walls is four years, robustly emphasizing the feasibility and multifaceted benefits of this energy-efficient solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Existing theories on the determining factors of corporate investment decisions raise the importance of financial market imperfections in explaining investment behavior. Many factors have been proposed as drivers of investment, mainly in developed economies, while emerging countries have almost been neglected. The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of financing constraints on the investment behavior of a small context, namely, Jordan, with an imperfect environment. Design/methodology/approach: This study considers panel data regressions from the industrial companies traded at the Amman Stock Exchange with a total of 1,058 firm-year observations. Findings: The results are able to demonstrate that business size, tangibility, market-to-book ratio, profitability, financial slack and leverage are major drivers of investment choices. The results support the importance of information asymmetry in explaining the investment behavior of firms. Nonetheless, the Q-theory is in place, as is firm agility. Practical implications: Policies to reduce information asymmetry are immediately needed to help firms increase investments by providing them with access to training, technology and market information. They also should enhance the firms' opportunities for growth. Moreover, they should make it easier for businesses to access financial slack, such as by improving access to credit and financial institutions. They also can work to improve the financial infrastructure to meet the financing needs of businesses. Finally, smaller businesses should be assisted by improving their ability to invest and grow. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies, if any, to investigate this issue in a distinct environment. Despite the unique characteristics of Jordan, the findings are applicable to other countries that experience comparable political and economic circumstances because Jordan has traits common to many emerging nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Adab Al-Kufa is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The growing demand for combining digital technology with learning practices has surpassed the use of technology or learning how to use it into the process of enhancing learners' intellectual levels and scaffolding their understanding by focusing on skills that include thought processes gathered in what is called computational thinking. On the other hand, educational challenges promote the search for new instructional tools and approaches. Consequently, learning shall be extended by superimposing science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) approach in the instructional practices. The aim of this paper is to show how STEAM approach can develop the computational thinking among high school learners. The main skills of computational thinking included: algorithmic thinking, abstraction, decomposition, and generalization. The sample of this study involved 32 high school students in a private school in Amman. The experimental group studied geography skills in a STEAM approach that included the use of online resources such as LightBot maze and the Ordnance Survey maps (OS) website. The control group studied the same content but through conventional method. Findings showed a significant development in the computational thinking especially in algorithmic thinking and abstraction. Thus a STEAM approach learning environment is one of the effective methods of teaching that improved computational thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigates the nature of the association between profit warnings and stock price informativeness in the context of Jordan as an emerging country. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used a large panel data set that related to stock price synchronicity and profit warnings percentages on the Amman Stock Exchange for the period spanning 2007–2018. Robust regression was used as a parametric test. This enabled us to obtain stronger results that fall in line with our prediction that a profit warning encourages firm investors to collect and process more firm-specific information than common market information. Findings: Our findings show a significant positive effect of profit warnings on the amount of firm-specific information incorporated into stock price, which means that the greater the percentage of profit warnings the more likely that more firm-specific information will be incorporated in stock price synchronicity. In addition, corporate governance characteristics (moderating variables) significantly increase the level of the relationship between profit warnings and stock price synchronicity. Practical implications: Our study results could be useful to investors, senior managers, and regulators in Jordanian firms, particularly in relation to decisions about enhancing the quality of financial statements. In addition, our results provide new evidence about the consequences of earnings announcements for information content and the informativeness of stock prices. Our methodology and evaluation of profit warnings may also demonstrate useful evidence for future researchers on profit warnings and stock price informativeness in developing economies, especially given that such evidence is scarce in developing economies. Originality/value: This research is the first study of its kind on emerging markets, particularly in the Middle East. Moreover, entering the corporate governance variables as moderating variables to the robust regression was found to be more powerful than other regressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to compute the performances of a smaller version of Solana power plant, with half the solar field, and 1 of 2 turbines in the power cycle, that can be built in Amman or Ma'an in Jordan. The climate conditions for both Amman and Ma'an are discussed thoroughly in the paper. Furthermore, a preliminary validation exercise performed by using measured monthly average values of electricity production from existing plants, a system advisor model (SAM) is used to predict the performances of the proposed Solana-like plants in Ma'an and Amman. The validation shows a good agreement with the measured data for different existing power plants. The simulation results including the monthly capacity factors suggest the annual operation in Ma'an maybe even better than the operation in Gila Bend, for an annual average capacity factor of about 41% for Ma'an vs. a capacity factor of about 39% for Gila Bend. This is mainly due to the best combination of direct normal irradiance (DNI) and the dry bulb temperature across the year in Ma'an versus Gila Bend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we studied the implementation of a course on global history as a blended section of a massive open online course (MOOC) and the learning challenges faced by the students in three crisis contexts: Azraq refugee camp (Jordan), Kakuma refugee camp (Kenya), and Amman urban refugee center (Jordan). The results showed that poor Internet connection in the camps severely impacted both students' and instructors' experience of the course. In the context of chronic Internet connectivity issues, the instructors had difficulties assessing their students' needs and challenges. The results also showed that in light of these intermittent connection problems, the collaborative learning environment helped students navigate the challenges of a blended course. Also, the onsite visit by the online tutors and the face-to-face interactions that resulted from it had a noticeable impact on the human dynamics of the course by allowing instructors to provide targeted solutions to students' problems as well as by building rapport between the students and the instructional team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amman, the capital of Jordan, has experienced significant traffic congestion due to the rise in private vehicle ownership and limited public transportation services. A Stated Preference (SP) survey was conducted to determine public transportation users' willingness to use the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service. Another survey assessed the demand for an on-demand transit bus service with flexible and moderate costs, particularly for individuals far from the main BRT stations who need to reach them. Two models, Multinomial Logit (MNL) and Mixed Logit (ML), were utilized to understand user preferences for work-related trips. The study findings indicate that the cost of the trip and the waiting time are the two primary factors influencing public transport users' choices. Furthermore, sociodemographic factors, such as age, income, household size, and current status, were found to have a significant impact. The results reveal that approximately 71% of participants would utilize an integrated public transportation system comprising BRT and on-demand services. The findings underscore the potential benefits of an integrated public transport system in addressing Amman's traffic congestion. By combining BRT and on-demand services, the city can offer residents comfortable, affordable, and efficient transportation options, thus effectively mitigating congestion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dirasat: Educational Sciences is the property of University of Jordan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)