Research Title: Novel fluorophenyl tethered thiazole and chalcone analogues as potential anti-tubercular agents: Design, synthesis, biological and in silico evaluations

Author: Balakumar Chandrasekarn, Published Year: 2022

Journal of Molecular Structure, 1276

Faculty: Pharmacy

Abstract: Novel analogues of fluorophenyl tethered thiazoles 7a-k and chalcones 10a-k were designed through molecular hybridization approach. All the synthesized final compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antimycobacterial activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain. Among the two series, compound 10g displayed potent inhibition with MIC99 of 1.56 µM against parental and isoniazid-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis. Further, the same compound inhibited the growth of intracellular M. tuberculosis. To gain an insight into the molecular mechanism of actions, in silico molecular docking experiments were conducted using the molecular structure of the DNA gyrase enzyme, which revealed crucial interactions. This was further substantiated through molecular dynamics simulation study of the mycobacterial DNA Gyrase protein against the lead compound 10g and the reference drug (CFX-Ciprofloxacin). Furthermore, the drug-likeliness of the synthesized compounds was computed based on Lipinski's rule of five and ADME pharmacokinetic parameters. Thus, a chalcone-based lead 10g was identified in our study and showed promising antitubercular activity with drug-like properties. The identified lead molecule could act as a starting point to develop novel, potent antitubercular agents against the parental and drug-resistant tuberculosis strains.

Keywords: Fluorophenyl-thiazoleChalconeMolecular dockingMolecular dynamicsADME properties

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

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

Financial, business and sustainable development environment in light of the Corona pandemic, Ma'an

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: The impact of information sharing on the quality of decision-making: From the point of view of employees in Jordanian private hospitals

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

Cogent Business & Management , 10(1)

Faculty: Business

Abstract: This paper examines how information sharing impacts the quality of decision-making in Jordanian private hospitals from the point of view of employees. It involved a structured questionnaire, which consisted of demographic data, information sharing, and decision-making. The research results suggest that sharing information in both common and unique situations significantly positively influences the decision-making abilities of teams. Merely possessing unique information does not enhance the ability to make decisions; conversely, common information is crucial to facilitate the decision-making process. Participant characteristics have no effect on decision-making quality, especially as team functional diversity continues to rise, with information sharing even less relevant as a result. Our results indicate that participants’ characteristics do not predict whether the discussion of shared information will contribute to decision-making quality. As a practical contribution, our findings recognise the importance of decision teams in information management, encourage flexibility and openness in organisational relations, and assist policymakers, managers, and regulators through training programs that confirm participation is one of the most important components of generating new ideas.

Keywords: Information sharing, decision making, common information, unique information, Jordanian hospitals.

Research Title: HR practices and turnover intention; the mediating role of organizational commitment in Tehran: a cross-sectional study

Author: Mohammad Khalel Ibrahim Okour, Published Year: 2022

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Background: Employees are increasingly being recognised as a valuable source of information, especially in knowledge-based businesses. Businesses, however, suffer financial and organisational memory losses related to re-hiring and training new staff, and lost productivity and intellectual property because of employee turnover. Hence, employee turnover should be considered an essential part of human resource management. Furthermore, employees’ trust in management and human resource (HR) practices substantially impact organisational commitment (OC). Thus, anticipating employee commitment and turnover intentions is crucial, as people are the sole source for knowledge-based firms to maintain their competitive advantage. In the context of selected Tehran Renewable Energy (RE) firms, this study investigated the mediating impact of OC on the relationship between HR practices (recruitment and selection; training and development opportunities; performance appraisal and evaluation; teamwork; compensation and pay; and job security) and employee turnover intention. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in Tehran that involved 90 experts and knowledgeable employees from four of Tehran's top RE businesses. A questionnaire was distributed to collect data which was later analysed with correlation, regression and bootstrapping analyses. Results: All six dimensions of HR practices were discovered to have an indirect impact on turnover intention and a direct impact on OC. OC among employees has an indirect effect on turnover intention. It was also revealed that the training and development opportunity has the most considerable effect on OC and turnover intention. OC was not found as a mediator between HR practices and turnover intention. Conclusions: The outcomes of this study showed that both training and development opportunities; and pay and compensation structure were found to be two significant components of HR practices in the relationship with OC. RE managers should employ appropriate HR strategies, particularly in these two dimensions, to improve an individual's degree of OC and reduce turnover intention.

Keywords: HR practices, turnover intention, organisational commitment, learning organisations, renewable energy industry

Research Title: Strategic planning of human resources as an entrance to enhance marketing capabilities: A case study of King Abdullah II Center for Design and Development (KADDB)

Author: Mohammad Khalel Ibrahim Okour, Published Year: 2023

Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 21, Issue 1,

Faculty: Business

Abstract: The study aims to identify the impact of strategic planning of human resources in enhancing marketing capabilities at the King Abdullah II Center for Design and Development (KADDB). The descriptive and analytical methods were used to understand the effect of human resource planning in enhancing marketing capabilities. The research population includes all departments in the respective center. As for the sample, it consisted of 65 marketing and sales managers and workers in the marketing departments. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the research data. The results showed a significant effect of strategic planning for human resources in enhancing marketing capabilities at KADDB (R2 = 0.619, sig < 0.05). It was also found that strategic planning for human resources contributes to increasing the leader ability to do their work diligently and proficiently and improving the ability to organize work, distribute duties to subordinates, and coordinate efforts. Therefore, this study recommends giving strategic planning to human resources the importance it deserves for its active role in enhancing marketing capabilities at KADDB.

Keywords: strategic planning, human resources, marketing, capabilities, Jordan

Research Title: KIBRA Genetic Polymo A Cross Sectional Study on the Association of KIBRA Genetic Polymorphism with Episodic Memory in North Jordanian Adults"

Author: Raida W. Khalil, Published Year: 2023

Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences.,

Faculty: Science

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Episodic memory is one of the cognitive processes most damaged by ageing and is thought to be the system most susceptible to neurodegenerative illnesses. Recently, episodic memory function has been linked to a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs17070145) in the ninth intron of the KIBRA gene (kidney and brain expressed gene). AIM: This study looked at the relationship between the KIBRA polymorphism (rs17070145) and the episodic memory abilities assessed by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Rey Complex Figure Test at various time points (20-minute, 30-minute, 24-hours, and 6-month). METHODS:112 healthy adult Jordanians between the ages of 18 and 45 were included in the study, and the genotypes at the KIBRA (rs17070145) polymorphic site were identified using the PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS: The outcomes did not reveal any statistically significant assessment of verbal and visual episodic memory tests and the KIBRA polymorphism. The findings also indicated that KIBRA polymorphism had no statistically significant impact on short-term memory or learning capacity, indicating that KIBRA did not affect a person's ability to pay attention or concentrate. In the Jordanian population, the genotype percentages for KIBRA rs17070145 were: 10.7% for TT, 43.8% for TC, and 45.5% for CC, and the percentage of the T allele was 0.326. CONCLUSION: The current investigation discovered no statistically significant differences between the Jordanian population and either the European or the South Asian populations in terms of the percentages of alleles and genotypes of the KIBRA rs17070145 gene.

Keywords: Keywords: Episodic memory, immediate memory, KIBRA.

Research Title: Modelling of a Solar Heating System for Industrial Processes using Linear Fresnel Reflectors

Author: Yara Hilal Haddad, Published Year: 2023

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: Thermal energy in industries has a significant share of the total energy consumed by different processes in the industrial sector. In solar energy rich countries, like Libya, this can be significantly provided by solar energy technologies. Dairy factories involve a number of processes requiring heat at different temperatures. Some processes even require steam at high temperatures. Pasteurization, sterilization, cleaning, washing, and evaporation are some of the operations in dairy processing plants. Concentrated solar power plants can provide such high temperatures using a number of technologies, specifically parabolic trough reflectors, linear Fresnel reflectors, parabolic dish, and the central receiver with a heliostat field. Libya is located in the sun belt and is pleasant with high levels of sun radiation. This paper investigates the techno-economic feasibility of a concentrated solar power plant utilizing linear Fresnel reflectors technology to provide heat for the pasteurizing process at a proposed milk processing diary. A production rate of 100,000 liters per day of milk was assumed. All of the parameters involved in the design process, such as the available area, solar energy available at the location, energy demand of the process, inlet and outlet temperatures, energy storage requirement, and cost per unit of electricity, were fed to the Ressspi platform, a solar simulator for industrial processes. Results showed that the system is highly feasible in terms of technical as well as economic aspects. The heat generated by the solar plant was 1260661.4 kWh, while that consumed by the process was 1321636.8 kWh and that represents 95.4% of the energy needed for the process. The solar utilization factor is 77.1% as a result of energy lost due to defocusing of the Fresnel reflectors. The payback period of the project was found to be 5 years with an internal rate of return of 23.88% and a levelized cost of energy of 0.03228 €/kWh.

Keywords: Solar energy, LFR, Industrial processes

Research Title: An Approach towards Goal-Oriented Requirements Ontology: Consistency and Completeness Based Requirements Analysis

Author: Mohammad Taye, Published Year: 2023

Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, Vol.16 No.2,

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: The paper presents a new approach to managing software requirement elicitation techniques with a high level of analyses based on domain ontology techniques, where we established a mapping between user scenario, structured requirement, and domain ontology techniques to improve many attributes such as requirement consistency, completeness and eliminating duplicate requirements to reduce risk of overrun time and budgets. One of the main targets of requirement engineering is to develop a requirement document with high quality. So, we proposed a user interface to collect all vital information about the project directly from the regular user and requirement engineering; After that, the proposal will generate an ontology based on semantic relations and rules. Requirements Engineering tries to keep requirements throughout a project’s life cycle consistent necessities clear, and up to date. This prototype allows mapping requirement scenarios into ontology elements for semantically interrupted. The general points of our prototype are to guarantee the identification requirements and improved nature of the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) by solving incomplete and conflicting information in the requirements specification.

Keywords: Requirements Engineering, Requirements Elicitation, Domain Ontology, Ontology

Research Title: Theoretical Understanding of Convolutional Neural Network: Concepts, Architectures, Applications, Future Directions

Author: Mohammad Taye, Published Year: 2023

Computation, 11

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are one of the main types of neural networks used for image recognition and classification. CNNs have several uses, some of which are object recognition, image processing, computer vision, and face recognition. Input for convolutional neural networks is provided through images. Convolutional neural networks are used to automatically learn a hierarchy of features that can then be utilized for classification, as opposed to manually creating features. In achieving this, a hierarchy of feature maps is constructed by iteratively convolving the input image with learned filters. Because of the hierarchical method, higher layers can learn more intricate features that are also distortion and translation invariant. The main goals of this study are to help academics understand where there are research gaps and to talk in-depth about CNN’s building blocks, their roles, and other vital issues.

Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI); deep learning (DL); machine learning (ML); convolution neural network (CNN); deep learning applications; image classification; supervised learning

Research Title: Polyethylene glycol and polyvinylpyrrolidone: potential green corrosion inhibitors for copper in H2SO4 solutions

Author: Adnan Dahadha, Published Year: 2023

International Journal of Corrosion and Scale Inhibition, 12

Faculty: Science

Abstract: Weight-loss, thermometric, and electrical conductance techniques were employed for the investigation of the influence of polyethylene glycol 400, 4000, and polyvinylpyrrolidone K15 as cost-effective, efficient, and eco-friendly inhibitors on the corrosion inhibition of copper in H2SO4 solution. The corrosion rates of copper in H2SO4 solutions increase with an increase in acid concentrations and temperatures in the absence of inhibitors. The addition of PEG 400, PEG 4000, and PVP K15 to the corrosive solutions was found to have a considerable inhibitory influence on the corrosion rates of copper at various temperatures. Consequently, the inhibition efficiency of PEG 400, PEG 4000 and PVP K15 increases with an increase in their concentrations. Remarkably, PVP K15 was a more efficient inhibitor than PEG 400, and PEG 4000, this effect might be attributed to the nature of the functional groups and the size of the PVP K15 chains. An evaluation of the temperature effect was studied to show that rising temperatures lead to an increased corrosion rate and lower inhibition efficiencies. However, PEG 400, PEG 4000, and PVP K15 inhibited copper corrosion by virtue of adsorption, which was found to accord with the Langmuir and Temkin adsorption isotherm models. Moreover, the thermodynamic aspects (ΔH0, ΔS0 and Ea) of the adsorption process were calculated and discussed

Keywords: corrosion inhibitor, copper, polyethylene glycol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, Temkin and Langmuir adsorption isotherms