Research Title: Social Media Platforms and Political Participation: A Study of Jordanian Youth Engagement

Author: Abdelsalam Mohammad Al-Odat, Published Year: 2023

Social Sciences, 12

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: The wide adoption of social media platforms has altered how people communicate, obtain information, and participate in society. Regarding political participation, social media has emerged as a novel venue for people to voice their opinions, connect with others who share their viewpoints, and engage in activism. As a result, knowing the effect of social media on political participation is critical, particularly in developing nations like Jordan. This research investigates the moderating effect of certain factors on the impact of social media on political involvement among Jordanian youth. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach is used to analyze data from a survey of 334 young people. The findings show that social media has a favorable and considerable impact on political participation. Gender was also discovered to have a strong moderating effect on the relationship between social media use and political participation. According to the analysis, gender positively moderates the effect of the frequency of social media use on political participation, while gender negatively moderates the effect of the purpose of social media usage on political participation. The study sheds light on the significance of social media in young people’s political participation in Jordan, emphasizing the need to take differences in gender into account when developing effective tactics to engage young people in the political processes.

Keywords: Jordan; PLS-SEM; political participation; social media platforms; gender

Research Title: Corpus-Based Analysis of the Feminine Style of Kamala Harris' Discourse: Women (Not Men) Are the Backbone of America's Democracy and Economy

Author: Hanan Ali Amaireh, Published Year: 2022

Thoery and Practice in Language Studies, 12(9)

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: Few studies analyzed the political discourse of the American Vice President Kamala Harris, especially during the presidential elections and her position as the American Vice President. This paper investigates the political discourse of Harris in a corpus-based study of 40 speeches (82,268) words, from 13 October, 2020 to 10 May, 2022. It examines whether Harris' speeches draw on "the feminine style" of political speeches as envisaged by Campbell (1989), Dow and Tonn (1993), and Blankenship and Robson (1995). Qualitative and quantitative analysis will be used. The quantitative analysis will use the Antconc Software to investigate the frequency of certain lexical items related to females such as woman, women, female(s), girl(s), lady, ladies, mother(s), and mom(s), inter alia. Moreover, the frequency of the first-person and third-person pronouns I, we are investigated to examine whether Harris shares her life experience and inspect whether she uses inclusive language. The qualitative and quantitative analysis shows that the political discourse of the Vice President draws on the feminine style of political speeches, such as constructing a political stance based on genuine experience, dedication to addressing women's issues in the political arena, promoting inclusiveness and realizing that actual achievements are required for leadership positions and highlighting that in her political discourse, which is in line with the observations of Campbell (1989), Dow and Tonn (1993), and Blankenship and Robson (1995).

Keywords: corpus analysis, discourse analysis, Kamala Harris, the feminine style

Research Title: COVID-19 IS WAR, WATER & A PERSON: Metaphorical Language of the Coronavirus Disease in "the Jordan Times" Newspaper

Author: Hanan Ali Amaireh, Published Year: 2022

Thoery and Practice in Language Studies, 12(7)

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: Metaphors permeate our daily communication, and they are part of our cognition. The present study investigates metaphors in a corpus-based study during the Coronavirus disease 19 crisis (COVID-19) using the Antconc Software. The way written media discourse framed the COVID-19 Crisis, especially in the Middle East received little attention from discourse analysts. The data include news editorials about the Coronavirus disease 19 from April 1, 2020 to July 5, 2020 collected from "the Jordan Times" Newspaper in English. The metaphors will be analysed according to Lakoff and Johnson's (1980; 2003) perspective of Conceptual Metaphors and Charteris-Black (2004) of Critical Metaphor Analysis. The quantitative analysis shows that the conceptual metaphors COVID-19 IS WAR, COVID-19 IS WATER, and COVID-19 IS A PERSON are highly used in the corpus to frame the pandemic. The conceptual metaphor COVID-19 IS WAR is not only used to represent a war against the disease, but also a war between countries. So, the metaphorical use is politicised, and reflects hidden ideology. The quantitative analysis asserts that the context is the decisive factor for the analysis of certain lexical items related to the pandemic and identifying whether they are literally or metaphorically used.

Keywords: conceptual metaphors, Covid-19, critical metaphor analysis, the Jordan Times Newspaper

Research Title: A Critical discourse Analysis of Al Jazeera's reporting of the 2021 Israel Palestine Crisis

Author: Hanan Ali Amaireh, Published Year: 2023

International Journal of Arabic English Studies, 24(1)

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: crisis as reported by Al Jazeera English. In this corpus-based study, 50 news reports were analysed using Van Dijk’s ‘ideological square’as the theoretical framework. The findings suggest that the Al Jazeera reporters reflected their personal ideology in their lexical choices, or lexicalisation, displaying either a positive or negative stance towards the crisis, with Palestinians being the ‘in-group’and Israelis the ‘out-group’. The news reporters also framed the Palestinians—‘us’—as the innocent victims of colonisation, while the ‘other’Israelis were negatively represented as victimisers, racists, and colonisers through an emphasis on syntactic agency. One key observation is that the Al Jazeera reporters emphasised the Palestinian narrative while also radiating personal feelings and attitudes towards the crisis. At the same time, the Israelis were silenced and derogatorily portrayed

Keywords: Al Jazeera network, corpus analysis, critical discourse analysis, ideological square, 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis

Research Title: Online reinforcement learning control of robotic arm in presence of high variation in friction forces

Author: Mohammed Bani Younis, Published Year: 2023

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: The operation and accuracy of industrial robotic arms can be negatively affected by significant fluctuations in friction forces within their joints, potentially resulting in financial and operational losses. To mitigate these issues, an online model-free reinforcement learning controller specifically designed to handle high variations in joints’ friction forces. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time where reinforcement learning controller is used to handle high friction variations in a robotic arm. Initially, the dynamic equations of the robotic arm are derived, verified and validated to ensure an accurate representation of real-world behaviour. The stability of the closed-loop system is analyzed using the Lyapunov second method. The performance of the proposed controller in terms of position tracking is compared against four commonly used controllers found in literature for similar applications: (i) nonlinear model-based computed torque controller, (ii) proportional-derivative controller, (iii) adaptive iterative learning controller and (iv) radial basis function neural network adaptive controller. Simulation results demonstrate that the reinforcement learning controller outperforms the other controllers in terms of tracking performance, even in the presence of significant variations in joint friction forces.

Keywords: Reinforcement learning, controlrobotic arm, high friction variation, online learning

Research Title: Household Food Insecurity and Nutritional Status of PreSchool Children Following Relaxation of COVID-19 Restrictions

Author: Zaher Qassim Al-Bashabsheh, Published Year: 2023

Journal of Xi’an Shiyou University, Natural Science Edition, 19 ISSUE 06 19 ISSUE

Faculty: Allied Medical Sciences

Abstract: - Studies found a high prevalence of household food insecurity (HFIS) and malnutrition and an association between them during the movement restriction period of the COVID-19 pandemic. This nutritional status should have improved by now as movement restrictions, including quarantine, have been lifted. Therefore, the goal of this cross-sectional study was to determine the current prevalence of HFIS and malnutrition and their associations and contributing factors among pre-school children (i.e., children under the age of 5 years) following relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions in Jordan. A sample of 386 children (197 boys and 189 girls) in Irbid, Jordan, were recruited in this study following the simple random sampling method. The levels of HFIS and malnutrition were assessed using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and the World Health Organization (WHO) growth reference values, respectively. Relevant information were managed and measurements made and employed to calculate four major anthropometric indicators for the sample children (weight to height (WHZ), height to age (HAZ), weight to age (WAZ) and Body Mass Index to age (BMI/A) (BMI/A)). The results of analysis pointed out that prevalence of food insecurity among the sample children was 58.2%, where 19.9% of the kids were experiencing moderate food insecurity and 38.3% were suffering from severe food insecurity. On the other hand, prevalence of malnutrition among those children was 1.81%, where 1.55% of the kids were emaciated and 1.26% were severely emaciated. The results also indicated that mother’s age, number of children in the family, income of the family, monthly expenses on food and beverages and the energy expenses contributed significantly (p<0.05) to food insecurity. Moreover, the study found that HFIS had negative correlations with WHZ (r=−0.272, p=0.000), WAZ (r=−0.193, p=0.000) and BMI/A (r=−0.263, p=0.000) and a positive correlation with HAZ (r=0.041, p=0.00). The study reports high prevalence of HFIS among children under the age of 5 years in Jordan, even after relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions on mobility. However, prevalence of malnutrition among this group of the population is low. These results spotlight the continued impact of the COVID19 crisis on the financial statuses of households

Keywords: Anthropometry, Household Food Insecurity, Jordan, Malnutrition, Pre-school children.

Research Title: Examining Weight Stigmatization toward Obese Individuals among Nutrition and Dietetic Students using the Attribution Theory

Author: Zaher Qassim Al-Bashabsheh, Published Year: 2023

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Faculty: Allied Medical Sciences

Abstract: Background: Despite the increasing prevalence of obesity in the United States, negative attitudes toward obese individuals are widespread. Health‑care providers, including dietetics and nutritionists, are not exempt from showing bias toward obese individuals, which may lead to subsequent psychological and health problems. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to measure the extent of weight bias among dietetics and nutrition students and investigate its determinants. Materials and Methods: A cross‑sectional survey (316) was conducted among undergraduate dietetics and nutrition students at a large Midwestern University to assess weight bias using the Fat Phobia Scale. Eating competence was measured using the ecSI 2.0 and body dissatisfaction using the Stunkard Figure Rating Scale. Other variables included experience with obesity, media exposure to health and nutrition information, and demographic characteristics. Results: About 36% of the participants had weight bias, 64% were unsatisfied with their body image and none of the participants had eating competence. Media exposure to health information, body dissatisfaction, and eating competence was related to fat phobia (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These findings highlight that weight bias is an apparent issue among students enrolling in health‑related programs. Considering their future role in clinical and community settings, this issue should be addressed properly

Keywords: Determinants of weight bias, health communication, obesity, weight bias, weight bias in health care

Research Title: Corporate environmental responsibility and corporate performance in Jordan

Author: Ali Ahmad Masadeh, Published Year: 2023

Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 12

Faculty: Business

Abstract: This research sought to assess how Jordan's corporate environment affected corporate performance. The population is made up of (182) businesses. Using simple random sampling, 384 respondents from companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange were given questionnaires as part of a quantitative approach. To confirm the correlations between the variables, the data were analyzed using AMOS; the study relied on the descriptive analytical method. The study's most notable findings demonstrated that corporate environmental performance had a favorable and considerable impact on corporate performance.

Keywords: Corporate environmental, Corporate performance, Amman stock exchange

Research Title: Challenges to Female Engineers’ Employment in the Conservative and Unstable Society of Taiz State, Yemen: A Survey Study

Author: Fahd Mohammed Saleh Al-Duais, Published Year: 2023

Sustainability, 15(20), 14919

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Typically, the underrepresentation of female engineers in education, employment, and leadership is a worldwide social issue. The present study investigates the critical employment challenges and barriers for female engineers in Yemeni’s unstable, conservative, and poor society. The quantitative methodology was based on two constructed questionnaires targeting female engineering graduates from 2012 to 2021 at Taiz University and executive HR managers. The results indicated that the ongoing civil war, employability attributes, personal attitudes, low wages, the conservative society, and marriage–family beliefs are the most apparent barriers to female engineers’ employment in Yemen. Nearly 40% of female engineers are frustrated with not having a job, almost the same percentage stopped seeking a job, and about two-thirds did not register with government employment offices. This study prompts engineering colleges to frequently update their programs to cope with rapid developments and to include employability courses in their curricula. Furthermore, this study advises female engineers to consult experts before enrolling in engineering programs and to practice training and employability skills immediately after graduation. We want to encourage such social studies in Yemen that are concerned with female issues to underpin their participation in society and to make use of unutilized resources.

Keywords: women engineers; gender discrimination; engineering profession; employability skills; workforce

Research Title: Challenges to Female Engineers’ Employment in the Conservative and Unstable Society of Taiz State, Yemen: A Survey Study

Author: Fahd Mohammed Saleh Al-Duais, Published Year: 2023

Sustainability, 15(20), 14919

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Typically, the underrepresentation of female engineers in education, employment, and leadership is a worldwide social issue. The present study investigates the critical employment challenges and barriers for female engineers in Yemeni’s unstable, conservative, and poor society. The quantitative methodology was based on two constructed questionnaires targeting female engineering graduates from 2012 to 2021 at Taiz University and executive HR managers. The results indicated that the ongoing civil war, employability attributes, personal attitudes, low wages, the conservative society, and marriage–family beliefs are the most apparent barriers to female engineers’ employment in Yemen. Nearly 40% of female engineers are frustrated with not having a job, almost the same percentage stopped seeking a job, and about two-thirds did not register with government employment offices. This study prompts engineering colleges to frequently update their programs to cope with rapid developments and to include employability courses in their curricula. Furthermore, this study advises female engineers to consult experts before enrolling in engineering programs and to practice training and employability skills immediately after graduation. We want to encourage such social studies in Yemen that are concerned with female issues to underpin their participation in society and to make use of unutilized resources.

Keywords: women engineers; gender discrimination; engineering profession; employability skills; workforce