Search

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the implementation of lockdown measures, resulting in children attending classes from their homes through online platforms. This study aimed to examine the impact of studying at home on children by investigating various aspects related to their study environment. Data were gathered through two questionnaires administered in Jordan: One targeted children aged 8–15 year through interviews, while the other targeted parents with at least one school-aged child through an online survey. The interview-based survey (N = 152) identified significant factors such as the study location, excessive use of computer peripherals, and physical discomforts like back, hand, and ear pain. Similarly, the parent survey (N = 1,152) revealed various significant factors including parents' monthly income, educational level, occupation, living area, sources of COVID-19 information, fear of the virus, TV time, eating and reading habits, smartphone usage, difficulty in concentrating while studying, engagement with social media, internet usage, elbow position, and eye protection. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: This study examined the impacts of online learning on children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the findings, the practitioners should focus on factors related to the excessive use of screens, ergonomic setup of study environments, and children's physical discomforts. Furthermore, the parents' socioeconomic status, engagement with media, and educational level played an essential role in shaping children's learning experiences. Strategies to improve the study environment, provide ergonomic guidance, and promote healthy media habits could contribute to the effectiveness and success of online learning during a crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the endurance and performance of aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films fabricated on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates, providing new insights into their degradation linked to mechanical flexing and accelerated thermal cycling (ATC). The current study uniquely combines cyclic bending fatigue at 23 °C and 70 °C with ATC between 0 °C and 100 °C, simulating operational stresses in real-world environments, in contrast to previous research that has focused primarily on either isolated mechanical or thermal effects. The 425 nm thick films showed high transparency and conductivity, making them suitable materials for flexible electronics and optoelectronic devices. In this work, electrical resistivity, one of the most important performance parameters, was investigated after each mechanical or thermal cycle. The results indicate that mechanical cycling at high temperatures can drastically enhance the crack formation and electrical degradation, with an over 250% change in the electrical resistance (PCER) after 12,000 cycles at 70 °C and more than 300% after 500 thermal cycles. The highly deleterious effects of combined stressors on the structural integrity and electrical properties of AZO films are underlined by these observations. This study further suggests that the design of more robust AZO-based materials/coatings would contribute toward achieving better durability in flexible electronic applications. These findings also go hand in glove with the ninth goal of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Target 9.5: Enhance Research and Upgrade Industrial Technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic crashes are a prominent cause of fatalities around the world. This study focuses on the dynamics of traffic safety by analysing factors influencing crash frequency during both nighttime and daytime conditions. Four years' data derived from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database were analysed statistically based on the negative binomial regression model, to identify the contributions of several factors affecting crash outcomes. The findings reveal significant related factors, including area type, roadway alignment, speeding-related factors, sex of driver, number of lanes, grade, surface type and weather conditions, that contributed to the expected crash frequency during both daytime and nighttime conditions. Through quantitative analysis, the extent to which each factor contributes to the expected crash frequency was determined, offering effective insights for policymaking to boost roadway safety. The findings highlight the necessity of implementing targeted strategies to minimize the risk of crashes by creating safer road environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study encapsulates not just the collective resolve but presents a compelling narrative of countries' efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spanning from January 2020 to May 2022, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of countries' responses, including a critical examination of the vaccination period. The study introduces a predictive model using linear regression to project future confirmed cases and deaths, providing countries invaluable insights for navigating potential pandemics. The research employs Stepwise Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist Index (MI) to unveil efficiency trends in each country's battle against COVID-19 spread. The analysis unfolds in two dimensions: Assessing the efficiency of 29 countries, including those in the Middle East, in reducing the COVID-19 spread rate, and evaluating their efficiency in curbing the mortality rate. Pearson and Spearman Correlation tests shed light on nuanced relationships within the model. The results underscore the critical impact of variables on confirmed cases and deaths, revealing the pivotal role of country-specific characteristics such as the population, population density, and proportion of individuals aged over 65. This study not only contributes to our understanding but offers a strategic roadmap for countries to strengthen their defenses against future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides an overview of the influence of applying two human resource management (HRM) practices on workers' occupational health and safety (OHS). These practices are selection and recruitment, and development and training. Furthermore, this study highlights the observed activities to define hazards, processes and OHS measures in the manufacturing industries. It also assesses the importance of workers' knowledge and awareness of OHS programs. A structured questionnaire was administered to those working in the manufacturing sector in several countries. The responses were analyzed statistically. The results showed that the demographic variables had a significant impact on workers' knowledge and awareness of OHS programs. In addition, HRM practices played a major role in OHS. Therefore, it is recommended to top management to highly consider OHS practices by integrating them into the workplace, starting from worker selection, all the way to production, operations and management, by establishing a strong HRM system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policymakers have become eager to move towards sustainability recently due to the growing costs of electricity and concerns about the environment. Environment friendly and economical energy sources, such as solar power, are being introduced at increasing rates. Photovoltaic (PV) panels are considered an important method of harnessing solar power. Although solar energy is one of the most efficient renewable and sustainable sources of energy, the accumulation of dust and debris on even one panel in a PV array reduces the efficiency of energy generation, thus highlighting the need to keep the surfaces of PV panels clean. Several methods can be used to clean PV panels, such as Heliotex technology, electrostatic cleaning, the use of self-cleaning glass, automatic cleaning and manual cleaning. The Preference Selection Index (PSI) multicriteria decision-making approach is used in this study to compare these cleaning methods. Data were collected via a survey of solar energy experts in Jordan to enable a comparison of these cleaning methods, and several attributes were considered. After the initial PSI analysis, a follow-up sensitivity analysis was conducted that involved removing the cost attributes. The results showed that the best method was manual cleaning. The results of the sensitivity analysis confirmed that manual cleaning is the method most often preferred by experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community pharmacies play a significant role in providing medicines, vaccines, consultations, and other important health services to the public. Community pharmacies continued to provide their services during the COVID-19 pandemic in most countries around the world, and this was the case in Jordan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pharmacy staff needs to avoid the risk of exposure to the virus causing COVID-19 along with reducing the risk for customers. This paper summarizes the safety practices of most community pharmacies in Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic, to protect staff and customers from the risk of exposure to COVID-19 infection. Data were collected in two folds. First, a survey was distributed online through social media targeting those pharmacists working in community pharmacies. Second, face-to-face interviews were conducted with the staff and owners of pharmacies in Jordan, asking about the procedures followed to enhance the safety practices of pharmacists. Analyzing responses revealed that since the start of the pandemic, about 94% of pharmacists were using personal protective equipment, 88% of pharmacies were frequently sterilizing the pharmacy and the main door handle, and 82% of pharmacies were providing medical masks, gloves, and alcohol at the entrance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic crashes are one of the most severe problems that affect communities worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, the annual number of global fatalities due to traffic crashes is about 1.35 million. Many factors affect the likelihood and the severity of a crash. In this paper, different factors are studied to evaluate their impact on the frequency, the severity, and the type of crashes at intersections, in order to boost road safety. California crash data have been obtained from the Highway Safety and Information System (HSIS) database and have been analyzed statistically. The analysis has included several factors such as severity, type of intersection, and the characteristics of the driver, roadway, environment, and vehicle. A negative binomial regression has been conducted by using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS®) Software for building three models. As a result, different parameters have been considered significant factors in each model. From all the models, the type of intersection and collision, the area of the crash, the type of surface type and its condition, the number of lanes, the age, and the gender have been considered significant factors for crashes at intersections. The result of this study could help reduce the likelihood and severity of crashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driving distraction is an important cause of traffic crashes, as it diverts the driver's attention away from the primary driving task. This paper studies the engagement frequency of drivers in distracting activities due to modern devices used in vehicle dashboards, to improve roadway safety. Data were collected from Jordanian drivers through two questionnaires. In the first, a wide range of distracting activities and their influence on crashes were considered. The focus of the second questionnaire was on factors affecting the driver's distraction by the Human-Machine Interface (HMI) screens in vehicles. The collected data were analyzed statistically. Several significant factors were found that distract drivers, including but not limited to the use of HMI screens, the driver's age, experience and occupation. This paper raises public awareness of the risks of distracted driving due to modern devices, in order to boost traffic safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The effect of the shape factor on the efficiency of the flexible photovoltaic modules. • The performance of different shapes of the flexible photovoltaic modules. • The standard flat photovoltaic modules is the most efficient shape of the flexible photovoltaic modules. This study investigates the performance of different shapes of the flexible photovoltaic modules. Three shapes of the flexible modules were compared under similar outdoor conditions: The standard flat, convex, and concave. The comparison was based on the solar radiation input, voltage output, current output, and back of the module's temperature. Results showed that based on the output power and the efficiency for the modules, the standard flat module was of the highest performance, followed by the convex module and then by the concave module. The average output efficiency of the standard flat module was 4.5–6.0% and 0.8–1.2% for the convex module, while it was 0.46–0.53% for the concave module. In addition, a simulated energy analysis was carried out between the standard flat module toward the south direction and the convex module toward the southeast direction. The simulation results showed that an area that holds 50 standard flat modules, could hold 72 convex modules. Moreover, the annual ejected electrical energy into a grid for the standard flat modules and convex modules were 8.61 MWH and 5.462 MWH, respectively. Furthermore, the performance of the standard flat and convex modules were 74.79% and 70.96%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic crashes are one of the most severe problems that affect communities worldwide. Despite that only 25% of all motor vehicle miles occur at night, about 50% of all traffic fatalities occur during night. In Jordan, traffic crashes were responsible for 4.5% of fatalities in 2007 and ranked as the third cause of death in 2010. The effect of lighting on crash reduction was evaluated in many countries around the world but none of these was in Jordan. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of roadway lighting on night-time crash reduction in Jordan before and after continuous lighting system installation. Crash data collected from the Jordanian Central Traffic Department were analysed statistically. Several variables were considered, out of them, five were statistically significant: Crash year, road surface, whether the crash occurred during the day or the night, number of vehicles involved and lighting condition. Results confirmed that lighting reduces expected crashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A driver's field of view is an essential requirement for decreasing traffic crashes and increasing safety. This article improves driver safety by analyzing factors that affect the invisibility angles formed by a vehicle's A and B pillars. An experiment was conducted with 117 participants. Two models were developed, each associated with one invisibility angle. In the A-pillar invisibility model, the age, weight, waist circumference, torso angle and distance between eyes and windshield were significant. For the B-pillar model, the age, gender, stature, waist depth, waist breadth, torso angle and distance between steering wheel and abdomen were significant. Some of these factors increase the invisibility angle(s), including age, stature, torso angle, distance between windshield and eyes, and distance between steering wheel and abdomen. Other factors decrease the invisibility angle(s), including weight, waist circumference, waist depth and waist breadth. In addition, gender significantly affects the invisibility angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early diagnosis of brain disorders can significantly reduce the devastating consequences of these disorders. Physician's diagnostic capabilities and diagnosis time can be improved using computerized diagnosis techniques. Magnetic Resonance (MR) images are used for diagnosing multiple sclerosis, which is a disease that occurs when the immune system eats away at the protective covering of nerves. MR images segmentation is a complicated task due to the variability in the lesion's shape, location and patients' anatomy. This study proposes a new computerized diagnosis technique for detecting brain disorders based on features extracted from MR images. Data of 121 cases were used, including healthy and patients with brain disorders. The cases were classified into normal and abnormal, with abnormal representing brain disorders cases. The abnormal cases were fed into a classifier to identify brain disorders. Classification accuracies in the two stages were 82.7% and 70%, respectively; indicating a significant improvement over methods found in literature. The automated structure of the proposed algorithm is suitable for use in hospitals at low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A huge variation exists among countries in terms of freshwater availability. Water scarcity is considered a global problem that continues to grow with the fast increase in population and depleting sources of freshwater. Water desalination can be a professional solution for addressing such scarcity of water supply, but the selection of the suitable desalination method can be hard in some cases and depends on several criteria. Multi-criteria decision-making methods could be used to simplify the decision-making problem. In this paper, the preference selection index (PSI) will be used to rank seven desalination technologies; these include reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, multiflash desalination, multi-effect desalination, mechanical vapor compression, nanofiltration and ion exchange. Twelve criteria were used in evaluating the desalination methods, including the capital cost, operating cost, the energy required, recovery ratio, product water quality, adaptability, lifetime, environmental impact, simplicity, reliability, maturity and applicability. The results of the PSI model showed that the ion exchange technology is the optimal desalination technology, followed by nanofiltration technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policymakers have become eager to move towards sustainability recently due to the growing costs of electricity and concerns about the environment. Environment friendly and economical energy sources, such as solar power, are being introduced at increasing rates. Photovoltaic (PV) panels are considered an important method of harnessing solar power. Although solar energy is one of the most efficient renewable and sustainable sources of energy, the accumulation of dust and debris on even one panel in a PV array reduces the efficiency of energy generation, thus highlighting the need to keep the surfaces of PV panels clean. Several methods can be used to clean PV panels, such as Heliotex technology, electrostatic cleaning, the use of self-cleaning glass, automatic cleaning and manual cleaning. The Preference Selection Index (PSI) multicriteria decision-making approach is used in this study to compare these cleaning methods. Data were collected via a survey of solar energy experts in Jordan to enable a comparison of these cleaning methods, and several attributes were considered. After the initial PSI analysis, a follow-up sensitivity analysis was conducted that involved removing the cost attributes. The results showed that the best method was manual cleaning. The results of the sensitivity analysis confirmed that manual cleaning is the method most often preferred by experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buying an apartment or a house is an important step in everyone’s life worldwide, to reach a settled and stable life. Several criteria are considered when buying an apartment or a house. In Jordan, apartments are customers’ preferred choices because of financial circumstances. It is not easy for a person to decide on the apartment’s specifications such as location, design, building design and finances. This study assists people in selecting an appropriate apartment using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is considered an important multi-criteria decision-making approach. Data used in this study were collected in Jordan; however, people worldwide can benefit from this study. The methodology used is twofold. First, feedback was considered from five investors in the real estate sector in Jordan about specifications that customers consider when buying an apartment. Second, several customers were asked about their preferences in a dream apartment using a pairwise comparison questionnaire, which was collected from 305 participants to obtain the priorities of 10 different apartment alternatives found in the Jordanian real estate market. The AHP technique is used to analyse the collected data to assist customers in reaching the best purchase decision. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]