Research Title: Determinants of firm profitability: empirical evidence from Jordan’s service sector

Author: Hassan Hamad Aldboush, Published Year: 2023

Faculty: Business

Abstract: This paper examines the financial factors affecting profitability across the listed Jordanian service companies. Insufficient attention has been paid to the influence of profitability specifically revealed by financial indicators. This study adopts the firm effect model. The investigation is established on panel data from 2015 to 2020, based on annual company reports. Regression was used to test the study hypotheses. The research sample is collected from the 46 public service firms listed. The profitability of Jordan’s service firms is measured by three proxies, including, Return on Equity (ROE), Earnings Per Share (EPS) and Return on Assets (ROA). The results reveal that firm size and liquidity positively and significantly impact profitability. Conversely, the findings verify that company efficiency and market power have no significant impact on profitability. Moreover, among Jordan’s service firms’ financial indicators, the findings confirm that neither firm nor sales growth have a significant influence on profitability, while sustainable growth rate has a positive, significant effect on profitability. The firm effects are higher for ROE than ROA and EPS. The study provides beneficial insights for managers and investors by providing effective policies designed to improve profitability. The results also provide shareholders with statistics that will ensure the profitability of companies operating in developing countries, such as Jordan.

Keywords: Profitability, service companies, return on equity, return on assets, earnings per share.

Research Title: Influence of job satisfaction components on staff performance in the emergency department

Author: Audi Naji Khaled Al Smadi, Published Year: 2024

British Journal of Healthcare Management, 30

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Background/Aims The relationship between job satisfaction and job performance has been well-established in healthcare research. This study aimed to measure job satisfaction and performance among staff working in emergency departments in Jordan, and to explore the association between these two variables, focusing on the different components of job satisfaction. Methods A cross-sectional design with a convenience sampling approach was used, recruiting 286 staff working across 11 emergency departments in Jordan. Participants completed a questionnaire comprising validated scales to measure job satisfaction and job performance. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, Cronbach's alpha and multiple regression analysis were used, via the SPSS version 25, to explore the relationship between job performance and different components of job satisfaction. Results Mean scores on the job satisfaction and job performance scales indicated that participants were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their jobs, but had high perceived job performance levels. Multiple regression showed a significant positive relationship between three job satisfaction dimensions (colleagues' communication and relationship: B=0.16; physical environment and workplace safety: B=0.28; supervisor support: B=0.17) and perceived job performance (P<0.001). There was a small but insignificant association between job performance and the compensation and promotion dimension of job satisfaction (B=−0.05, P=0.192). Conclusions This study supports previous evidence indicating that job satisfaction is positively linked with job performance, although compensation and promotion may not be a strong predictor of job performance in an emergency department context. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of strategies to improve job satisfaction among healthcare professionals.

Keywords: Job satisfaction, Jordan, Emergency Department

Research Title: The Prevalence of Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Diseases in Najran Region, Saudi Arabia

Author: Mohammad Bayan, Published Year: 2024

Journal of Personalized Medicine, 14

Faculty: Pharmacy

Abstract: The primary goal of this study was to investigate the knowledge, prevalence, and risk factors of cardiovascular diseases among individuals in the Najran region of Saudi Arabia. In the Najran region of Saudi Arabia, an online cross-sectional survey was conducted. Between September and October 2023, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of the general population aged 18 and up. The survey instrument asked about history and exposure, physician-diagnosed illnesses, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), medication use, and other risk factors. This research had a total of 2046 individuals. Around one-fifth of the study participants reported that they or a family member suffered from CVD, and arrhythmia was the most commonly reported; blood tests, cardiac catheterization, and ECG were the most commonly reported tests performed for CVD patients, around one-tenth of CVD patients reported that they do not have any chronic diseases other than CVD, and the vast majority of the patients confirmed their regular medical appointments. This is one of the first studies to investigate the knowledge, prevalence, and use of CVD drugs among individuals in the Najran region of Saudi Arabia. The study participants’ lack of knowledge about CVD could lead to ineffective preventive measures and poor patient outcomes. The study’s findings underscore the crucial need for more extensive and efficient educational initiatives that consider the targeted population’s talents, attitudes, and perceptions.

Keywords: cardiovascular; community awareness; Saudi Arabia; Najran

Research Title: Benchmarking docking, density functional theory and molecular dynamics studies to assess the aldose reductase inhibitory potential of Trigonella foenum-graecum compounds for managing diabetes-associated complications

Author: Balakumar Chandrasekarn, Published Year: 2024

Pharmacia, 71

Faculty: Pharmacy

Abstract: Inhibition of aldose reductase (AR) could be a beneficial strategy for managing diabetes-associated complications. Trigonella foenum-graecum (TFG) is used around the globe as a traditional medicine for the management of diabetes. Our study aimed to assess the potential of TFG phytocompounds as inhibitors of AR in the context of diabetes-related complications. Our research work employed molecular docking, density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) to evaluate the efficacy of TFG compounds. The study compared the predictive power of AutoDock and AutoDock Vina docking software and found that AutoDock Vina performs better in ranking and discriminating actives and decoys. The research identified five compounds as potential AR inhibitors from fifty-eight reported TFG phytoconstituents. Tigogenin and Gitogenin stood out as the most promising AR inhibitors. The electronic properties of the compounds were analysed through DFT studies and provided insights into their binding potential. Finally, the results of MD simulations indicated that Tigogenin and Gitogenin bound robustly with AR throughout the simulation period. This study predicted the AR inhibitory potential of TFG compounds for managing diabetes-associated complications and supports further drug development from TFG. The benchmarking approach used in this study improves the accuracy and dependability of bioactivity prediction

Keywords: Benchmarking docking, aldose reductase, diabetic retinopathy, DFT, Trigonella foenum-graecum

Research Title: An Effective Model of Viral Marketing for e-Commerce Enterprises: An Empirical Study

Author: Ali Ahmad Alawneh, Published Year: 2024

HighTech and Innovation Journal , 5

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Knowledge has been utilized as a leverage by many business organization In the Era of Knowledge economy, as it is considered scarce, valuable and cognitive asset. Accordingly, managing that knowledge is considered a fundamental challenge for business managers to obtain the greatest value from it because of its profound impact on employees, business processes, and products, as well as to give organizations a sustainable competitive advantage in light of the hyper competition between businesses. This study aims to integrate cloud computing services within the life cycle of knowledge management, with the aim of benefiting from the cloud computing services model (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) as a breaking-through technological infrastructure to support the four processes of knowledge management (discovery, capture, sharing, application). It is expected that the proposed framework will serve as a reference for employees in knowledge economy organizations to infuse cloud computing services within the processes of creating, possessing, transferring and applying knowledge, which will have a fundamental impact on management practices in the areas of planning, problem-solving, decision-making and policy-making.

Keywords: Keywords: Viral Marketing; Social Networks; Strong Ties; Social Support; Psychological State; Customers’ Similarities; Word-ofMouth.

Research Title: Tilt Angle Optimality Criteria for Stand Alone PV Systems

Author: Mohammad Abdul Qader Abu Naser, Published Year: 2024

Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, 12

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: The conventional approach to optimizing tilt angles for fixed solar panels aims to maximize energy generation over the entire year. However, in the context of a supply controlled electric grid, where solar energy availability varies, this criterion may not be optimal. This study explores two alternative optimization criteria focused on maximizing baseload supply potential and minimizing required storage capacity to address seasonality in energy generation. The optimal tilt angles determined for these criteria differed significantly from the standard approach. This research highlights additional factors crucial for designing solar power systems beyond gross energy generation, essential for the global transition towards a fully renewable energy-based electric grid in the future.

Keywords: Electric Grid, Fixed Solar Panels, Optimal PV Tilt Angle, Seasonal Solar Variability, Renewable Energy, Supply-Demand Balance

Research Title: A Lubricating Oil-Based Maintenance for Diesel Engines at the end-user: An Effective Predictive Approach

Author: Yara Hilal Haddad, Published Year: 2022

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: This study aims to analyze the used lubricating oil of small Diesel engines under different conditions in order to monitor their instant health condition, indicate their useful life, and provide early warnings of failure progressing. It is an attempt to monitor different oil properties together with oil contaminants to diagnose the possible failures before occurring and identify their root causes. It is an effective tool in the case where no historical data records for the engines. Specifically, used lubricating oil samples from eight Diesel-powered engines are analyzed as an important information source for early failure detection and decision support. Oil properties; kinematic viscosity, density, and total acidic number (TAN) were analyzed. Also, oil contaminants; wear debris particles, soot, and water content were also elucidated in attempting to predict engine health conditions, wear mechanisms, and useful life. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to analyze the wear debris particles. The root causes of engine failure were specified using the 5 Why’s method, and interviews with specialists, while the results were schematically presented using the Fishbone diagram. The analysis of oil viscosity showed that engines of high capacities performed better at high operating temperatures than small engines. Besides, the large oil imperfections are not directly related to the oil viscosity reduction but to the high oil TAN and the type and concentration of the oil impurities. This work analysis could assist in robust decision-making on the engine health condition, service life, and the maintenance activity that should be applied.

Keywords: ondition-Based Maintenance; Wear debris particles; Viscosity measurement; Industrial Engine; Wear mechanism; Proactive maintenance; Tribology science.

Research Title: Weight Optimization Based on Firefly Algorithm for Analogy-based Effort Estimation

Author: Ayman Jalal Al Mutlaq, Published Year: 2023

(IJACSA) International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications,, Vol. 14, No. 6, 2023

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Abstract—Proper cost estimation is one of the vital tasks that must be achieved for software project development. Owing to the complexity and uncertainties of the software development process, this task is ambiguous and difficult. Recently, analogybased estimation (ABE) has become one of the popular approaches in this field due to its effectiveness and practicability in comparing completed projects and new projects in estimating the development effort. However, in spite of its many achievements, this method is not capable to guarantee accurate estimation confronting the complex relation between independent features and software effort. In such a case, the performance of the ABE can be improved by efficient feature weighting. This study introduces an enhanced software estimation method by integrating the firefly algorithm (FA) with the ABE method for improving software development effort estimation (SDEE). The proposed model can provide accurate identification of similar projects by optimising the performances of the similarity function in the estimation process in which the most relevant weights are assigned to project features for obtaining the more accurate estimates. A series of experiments were carried out using six real-world datasets. The results based on the statistical analysis showed that the integration of the FA and ABE significantly outperformed the existing analogy-based approaches especially for the ISBSG dataset.

Keywords: Keywords—Analogy-based estimation; firefly algorithm; software cost estimation; weight optimization

Research Title: Fuzzy C-mean Missing Data Imputation for Analogy-based Effort Estimation

Author: Ayman Jalal Al Mutlaq, Published Year: 2021

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA), Volume 12 Issue 8, 2021., Volume 12 Issue 8,

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Abstract: The accuracy of effort estimation in one of the major factors in the success or failure of software projects. Analogy-Based Estimation (ABE) is a widely accepted estimation model since its flow human nature in selecting analogies similar in nature to the target project. The accuracy of prediction in ABE model in strongly associated with the quality of the dataset since it depends on previous completed projects for estimation. Missing Data (MD) is one of major challenges in software engineering datasets. Several missing data imputation techniques have been investigated by researchers in ABE model. Identification of the most similar donor values from the completed software projects dataset for imputation is a challenging issue in existing missing data techniques adopted for ABE model. In this study, Fuzzy C-Mean Imputation (FCMI), Mean Imputation (MI) and K-Nearest Neighbor Imputation (KNNI) are investigated to impute missing values in Desharnais dataset under different missing data percentages (Desh-Miss1, Desh-Miss2) for ABE model. FCMI-ABE technique is proposed in this study. Evaluation comparison among MI, KNNI, and (ABE-FCMI) is conducted for ABE model to identify the suitable MD imputation method. The results suggest that the use of (ABE-FCMI), rather than MI and KNNI, imputes more reliable values to incomplete software projects in the missing datasets. It was also found that the proposed imputation method significantly improves software development effort prediction of ABE model.

Keywords: Keywords: Analogy-based effort estimation; imputation; missing data; fuzzy c-mean

Research Title: The impact of audit committee dimensions on financial reporting efficiency of limited partnership companies listed on the Amman Stock exchange”

Author: Qasim Ahmad Alawaqleh, Published Year: 2024

Investment Management and Financial Innovations, 21

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Abstract Currently, the Jordanian economy needs more investment due to the growing financial deficit facing the Jordanian state. Therefore, this study came to increase investors’ trust in financial reports issued by Jordanian companies to attract more investments. Based on that, this study will investigate the impact of audit committee dimensions on the efficiency of financial reports of limited partnership companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. The data were collected from financial reports issued by 52 limited partnership companies for the year 2021. The study used multiple regression to test the hypotheses. Based on the findings, audit committee dimensions explained the variation in financial reports’ efficiency which reached 0.629. The audit committee members’ size does not significantly affect the financial reports’ efficiency. The significance reached 0.287. However, the knowledge of financial management has a significant positive effect on financial report efficiency; the significance reached 0.000 and the effect volume arrived at 0.699. Also, the findings showed that audit committee meetings have a greater effect on financial reporting efficiency than financial management knowledge. The impact was significantly positive, arriving at 0.790, while the significance reached 0.000. The main research conclusion is that limited partnership companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange adopt corporate governance to achieve control effectiveness of audit committees to increase financial reporting efficiency to achieve more investments.

Keywords: legitimacy, corporate governance, investment, performance, effectiveness, auditing, financial market