Research Title: INVESTIGATING THE EFFICIENCY OF FINANCIAL MARKETS: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM MENA COUNTRIES

Author: Izzeddien Naef Ananzeh, Published Year: 2021

Investment Management and Financial Innovations, Volume 18, Issue 1,

Faculty: Business

Abstract: The market efficiency hypothesis has become an important concept for all investors looking to own internationally diversified portfolios, which coincides with an increase in investment flows between all countries, both developed and undeveloped. This study was aimed at investigating the efficiency of a group of Arab stock markets located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region according to the Random Walk Hypotheses (RWH) at weak form. The study covered the markets of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Oman.

Keywords: MENA markets, market efficiency, financial markets, unit root tests, run test, variance ratio test

Research Title: Examining Perceived Stress and Coping Strategies of University Students during COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study in Jordan

Author: Fahd Mohammed Saleh Al-Duais, Published Year: 2022

Faculty: Business

Abstract: COVID-19 has changed our lives in all arenas, including higher education and psychological well-being. Three objectives were set forth in this study. We started by examining issues related to online education during the pandemic in Jordan, particularly for students pursuing business studies. Second, we assessed academic, behavioural, and financial stressors that business students experience at Jordanian higher education institutions. Lastly, we examined the possible coping methods students employed to cope and adapt during the pandemic. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted based on the perceived stress scale distributed to 473 Jordanian undergraduate students (18–27 years of age), across both public and private universities. Results showed an association between academic, behavioural, and financial stressors and students’ perceived stress. While students perceived various levels and types of stress during COVID-19, including academic, behavioural, and financial, they also experienced new online skills. However, despite coping with stress, some students (especially females) displayed more stress because of the deficient course content, which added to their perceived stress and left them feeling unmotivated. This study contributes to bettering the university students’ mental health.

Keywords: perceived stress; coping strategies; higher education; university students; COVID-19; psychological well-being; Jordan

Research Title: Intention to Use E-Payments from the Perspective of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT): Evidence from Yemen

Author: Fahd Mohammed Saleh Al-Duais, Published Year: 2022

Faculty: Business

Abstract: This study explores the challenges facing the current e-payment systems and investigates the main factors that support using the e-payment system. This study used a cross-sectional approach. An online survey was conducted on Yemeni consumers as part of the collection of data. The data from 486 questionnaires were analyzed using smartPLS4 and Jamovi software for structural model analysis and statistical analysis. According to the PLS-SEM results, the structural model shows that R2 is 0.757, which explains the variances in behavioral intention via all the constructs. Statistically, the intention to use e-payment systems is significantly and positively influenced by performance and effort expectancies and social influence. In contrast, facilitation conditions are significantly and negatively correlated with behavioral intention. This is attributed to consumers’ view of the infrastructure of Internet services, which does not contribute to the behavioral intention and acceptance of using electronic payment in Yemen. Contrary to expectations, age does not moderate the relationship between performance expectancy, social influence, and intention to use e-payment systems; hence, the related hypothesis was not supported. This study provides valuable suggestions for policymakers, designers, developers, and researchers, enabling them to better understand the critical aspects of using the electronic payment system. This study developed a model for predicting the likelihood of acceptance of electronic payments in a country that has not given adequate attention to this issue. An application and evaluation of the UTAUT model in Yemen are presented in this study.

Keywords: technology acceptance; facilitating conditions; intention; e-payment; Yemen

Research Title: Textual analysis of the annual report and corporate performance: evidence from China

Author: Fahd Mohammed Saleh Al-Duais, Published Year: 2022

Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, ahead-of-print No.

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between the readability of annual reports and corporate performance in Chinese listed firms. Design/methodology/approach This research examined the annual report readability factors of Chinese listed companies by using a textual analysis method using Python to extract the text from the annual reports, convert it into numerical form to facilitate statistical analysis and then merge the results with data from the Chinese stock market to explain the impact on corporate performance and predict future earnings in the Chinese financial markets from 2008 to 2021. Findings Study findings indicate that firms with better financial reporting readability are more profitable, incur lower agency costs and have low earnings in the Chinese stock markets when readability is low (i.e. more complexity and length of annual reports). It was also found that when a listed company has a good performance, it prefers to use a short space to explain its operating and financial status. More generally, the means of the report length are short, and accounting terms are used less frequently; in the case of a poor company, the annual report is particularly long and accounting terms are more frequently used. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, this study served as a proxy measure of returns prior to the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, an instrumental variable approach is used, which helps results to remain robust and control for fixed effects and potential endogeneity problems. Research limitations/implications Although this study’s results cannot be generalised globally because of their limited scope, they can still be generalised across non-English speaking countries. Thus, future cross-country research is encouraged to examine the textual analysis of financial reports across those countries. Practical implications This study conveys two messages to investors and policymakers within the Chinese market. First, investors ought to pay greater attention to the nonfinancial information contained in annual reports to improve the accuracy of their predictions regarding future firm performance. Second, Chinese policymakers are encouraged to instate a policy for the use of plain English in annual reports to make them more readable by international investors. Originality/value This study contributes to the paucity of research that examines English-written annual reports in non-English speaking countries by examining the readability of annual reports in the Chinese market.

Keywords: Readability, Annual financial report, Corporate performance, Text analysis, Future earnings, Chinese listed companies

Research Title: How relative defect migration energies drive contrasting temperature-dependent microstructural evolution in irradiated ceramics

Author: Yara Hilal Haddad, Published Year: 2018

PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS,

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: Ceramic materials have become widely used in various fields of material science, and ceramic oxides such as cubic zirconia (c-ZrO2) and magnesia (MgO) are candidate materials for nuclear energy applications. For the corresponding in-service conditions of these materials, there is a crucial need in studies at moderate or high temperatures of the physical phenomena underlying the damage buildup under irradiation. In the present work, we show, using x-ray diffraction, that these two materials exhibit a similar damage accumulation process under ion irradiation at fixed temperature. However, they display an unexpected opposite damaging rate to changes in the irradiation temperature. In fact, as the temperature is increased, the final damage state is reached earlier in c-ZrO2 while it is delayed in MgO. Rate equation cluster dynamics simulations show that defect clustering is favored over defect recombination in c-ZrO2, but the situation is reversed for MgO, explaining the observed opposite response to temperature of the two materials. This contrasting behavior can be rationalized in terms of nonequivalent interstitial versus vacancy defect migration energies in MgO. We finally demonstrate that these results allow for a qualitative prediction of the evolution of the experimental irradiation-induced disorder with temperature, henceforth potentially reducing the cost in selecting and developing ad hoc materials

Keywords: defects, radiation damage, X-ray diffraction, irradiation effects

Research Title: In situ characterization of irradiation-induced microstructural evolution in urania single crystals at 773 K

Author: Yara Hilal Haddad, Published Year: 2018

Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research B,

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: Implantations with low-energy ions (Xe, La) on UO2 single crystals at 773 K were performed to investigate the role played by both the radiation damage and the incorporation of foreign elements on the matrix destabilization. The radiation damage was monitored by both in situ RBS-C and in situ TEM during ion irradiation experiments performed at 773 K. RBS-C data shows a similar regular increase of the radiation-induced disorder in crystals for both Xe and La ions followed by a saturation plateau at about 3–4 dpa. An unexpected difference of the value of the saturation plateaus is observed, with a higher value recorded for Xe-irradiated crystals. In situ TEM images show the apparition and evolution of several defects as a function of the ion dose up to 40 dpa, irrespective of the nature of the bombarding ion: ‘black dots’ defects, dislocation loops and lines, and finally a dislocation network at high dpa. Nanometre-sized gas bubbles were observed at 773 K for the Xe-implanted crystal for doses larger than 3 dpa. Neither precipitate nor cavity were observed on La-implanted crystals. The difference in the saturation plateau as seen by RBS-C can be ascribed to the formation of the Xe aggregates that lead to an increase of the dechannelling yield.

Keywords: Uranium dioxide, Radiation damage, In situ TEM, Ion channelling, High burnup structure

Research Title: Procrastination in daily academic tasks and its relationship to self-esteem among university students

Author: Sanaa Nasser Alkhawaldeh, Published Year: 2022

International Journal of Health Sciences,, 6283–6293

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: Abstract---Procrastination in daily academic tasks is a popular and complex phenomenon that can be influenced by several factors including self-esteem. The current study seeks to explore the relationship between procrastination in daily academic tasks and selfesteem among university students in Jordan. Additionally, the study aims at examining whether the participants’ gender, academic level and academic specialization have significant effects on procrastination in daily academic tasks and self-esteem. Data were collected form 240 university students in Jordan (123 male & 117 female) by administering an online survey. The study adopted a descriptive correlational approach by employing academic procrastination and self-esteem scales. Results of the study reported a low negative relationship between procrastination in daily academic tasks and selfesteem of participants. The participants reported a moderate level of procrastination in daily academic tasks and self-esteem. The level of procrastination was slightly higher than self-esteem level. Moreover, there was a significant difference in levels of procrastination and selfesteem which were attributed to gender which was in favour of male students. Finally, there were no significant differences between

Keywords: -procrastination, self-esteem, daily academic tasks, university students

Research Title: The predominant leadership styles among private schools' principals during Covid-19 pandemic and its relationship to level of teachers' psychological motivation

Author: Sanaa Nasser Alkhawaldeh, Published Year: 2022

, Journal of Positive

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: This study pursuits to expansion our knowledge regarding the predominant leadership styles among private schools' principals during Covid-19 pandemic and its relationship to level of teachers' psychological motivation. Moreover, the study attempts to disclose whether teachers' educational stream and experience years interact with leadership styles. 200 participant (100 males & 100 females) have been randomly selected to participate in this study. Their point of views and psychological motivation were measured using 5- Likert scales format. Results of the study find out that the democrat leadership style is the most predominant style from teachers point of views. Moreover, their level of psychological motivation was moderate. The results find out a positive correlation between leadership styles and psychological motivation and its dimensions. It was finally revealed that no significant effects of teacher educational stream and experience years on leadership styles

Keywords: Leadership, Private schools', Covid-19 pandemic, Motivation

Research Title: The Associations Between Patients’ Characteristics and the Quality of Life Among Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Author: Maha Mohammed Wahbi Atout, Published Year: 2022

Sage Open Nursing , In press

Faculty: Nursing

Abstract: Abstract Introduction: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is one of the most significant leading causes of death and disability in the world. The quality of life (QoL) score is used to evaluate the impact of ACS treatments on the patients’ physical, emotional, and social functioning. It is considered a significant indicator of the progress of the patients’ health status and is useful in predicting patients’ needs for continuing, modifying, or changing their treatment plans. Objective: To identify the associations between patients’ characteristics and the QoL among ACS patients in Jordan. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a convenience sample of 372 participants with ACS from six referral hospitals in Jordan. Results: Jordanian patients with higher educational level and exercise had significant and positive association with QoL (β=0.257, p < .001), (β=0.191, p < .001), respectively. Also, patients who reported having dyslipidaemia and having unstable angina (UA) had lower score of QoL (β=−0.165, p < .001), (β=−0.149, p < .001), respectively. Finally, gender and working status did not significantly appear to have an association with the total QoL. Conclusions: This study sheds light on the importance of increasing the level of patients’ awareness about their illness by educating them about it and encouraging them to engage in physical activity programs

Keywords: quality of life, acute coronary syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, Jordan

Research Title: Jordanian Nurses’ Perspectives of Spirituality and Spiritual Care

Author: Maha Mohammed Wahbi Atout, Published Year: 2022

Cancer Nursing , In press

Faculty: Nursing

Abstract: Background: Spirituality is considered one of the main aspects of wholesome care for human beings. Spirituality is a multidimensional concept and has several definitions in the literature. Most of the studies concerning spirituality were conducted in Western cultures and the Middle East; however, there are a limited number of studies regarding spirituality in Jordan. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore Jordanian nurses’ perspectives on spirituality and spiritual care in a palliative care unit in 1 cancer center in Jordan. Methods: A descriptive qualitative design with 20 semistructured interviews was used to access Jordanian nurses’ perspectives on spirituality. This study was conducted in the major specialist center for the treatment of cancer in Jordan. A purposive sample of 20 registered nurses who had worked at least 6 months in the palliative care unit was recruited. Results: Nurses’ perceptions of spirituality were represented by 2 themes: spirituality means connectedness to “Allah,” and spirituality evokes enjoyment in life. Two themes emerged in terms of nurses’ perceptions of spiritual care: ensuring patients’ comfort and relaxation, and sharing patients’ religious rituals. Conclusion: These findings underscore the importance of the nurses’ perspectives on spirituality in the context of Islamic and Arabic culture, and the need for training in spirituality. Implications for Practice: The concept of spirituality is recognized as a fundamental aspect of the nurse’s role, making it essential to improve nurses’ capabilities to integrate spirituality courses into the nursing curriculum

Keywords: Nurse Palliative care Perception Spirituality