Research Title: Challenges to online education during the time of COVID‐19: A focus group study

Author: Maha Mohammed Wahbi Atout, Published Year: 2022

Nursing Forum,

Faculty: Nursing

Abstract: Aim: To explore the experience of online education during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) from the perspectives of nurse educators, postgraduate students, and undergraduate students in two universities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). This article only highlights the challenges faced by nurse educators and students. Method: A qualitative design using a focus group strategy was employed. The data were collected from two universities in the OPT from September 2020 to October 2020. The maximum variation sampling strategy was used. Findings: Seven focus groups were conducted with nurse educators (n = 2), postgraduate students (n = 1), and undergraduate students (n = 4). The findings revealed that nurse educators and students faced several challenges when they were abruptly turned to online learning. These challenges included challenges concerning clinical courses, lack of resources, lack of interaction, evaluation, and their home environment. Conclusions: This study is the first to demonstrate the challenges involved in nursing education in OPT during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Impact: The findings of this study can be used to improve the online learning experience during COVID‐19. As a recent change to nursing education, it is vital to understand the nature of the problems related to this sudden change

Keywords: challenges, COVID‐19, focus group, Occupied Palestinian Territory, online education

Research Title: The Effect of Internal Control on Employee Performance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Jordan: The Role of Accounting Information System

Author: Qasim Ahmad Alawaqleh, Published Year: 2021

Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Abstract This study explores the role of the Accounting Information System (AIS) in mediating the relationship between internal control and the performance of employees. This study examines whether internal control would influence the performance of employees and whether the AIS would impact the performance of employees in Jordan’s industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Internal control is expected to impact employee performance. The survey questionnaire was used to gather data. A random sampling approach was used to survey the respondents. A total of 270 questionnaires were distributed; only 203, with a 75% response rate, were available. The data was analyzed using AMOS and SPSS. The result from the analyses provides support for the hypothesis that AIS mediates the relationship between internal control and the performance of the employee. Specifically, this study found evidence that internal control yielded a strong positive relationship with employee performance and a positive relationship with AIS. The study also found that AIS had a positive relationship with the performance of the employee. In brief, internal control has major effects on employee performance. Also, the AIS mediates the relationship between internal control and the performance of the employee. The result of this research found that in the relationship between internal control and employee performance, AIS plays an important role.

Keywords: Internal Control, Employee Performance, Accounting Information System, Industrial SMEs, Jordan

Research Title: The moderating role of IFRS in the relationship between risk management and financial disclosure in Jordanian banks

Author: Qasim Ahmad Alawaqleh, Published Year: 2022

Banks and Bank Systems, 17

Faculty: Business

Abstract: Abstract This study investigated the impact of IFRS on the relationship between risk management and financial disclosure in Jordanian banks in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study data were collected from Jordanian banks’ financial reports with the help of panel data to measure IFRS and risk management. The study depended on daily data, at a rate of (256) trading days from March 3, 2020 until April 29, 2021. Also, the study used questionnaires to measure financial disclosure in addition to interviews with eight Jordanian bank managers. Multiple regression was used to test hypotheses. The study found a positive statistically significant relationship between risk management and financial disclosure. The relationship was portrayed by a coefficient of 0.315. The result also showed the moderating role of IFRS in such a relationship, the effect reached 0.696. The conclusions have implications for both theory and practice. In fact, the findings elucidated the connection between risk management, IFRS, and financial disclosure. Finally, Jordanian banks should focus on IFRS and risk management, enhanced management, and employee skills as recommendations in this study. Thus, Jordanian banks pay particular attention to IFRS and risk management in order to achieve profitability through financial disclosure.

Keywords: risk management, International Financial Reporting Standards, fiscal disclosure

Research Title: BLIND COLOR USER INTERFACE REQUIREMENTS: A UML SPECIFICATION

Author: Said Ahmad Ammar Ghoul, Published Year: 2022

Proceedings of ICSIC2022 {Scopus), Arab Amman University

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Color blindness, or color vision deficiency, is an inability to see the difference between certain colors. Men are more likely to be born with color blindness. Most people with color blindness can't distinguish between certain shades of red and green. Less commonly, people with color blindness can't distinguish between shades of blue and yellow. For that it’s a significant barrier to effective computer use. Several research works dealing with blind color user interfaces are currently conducted. However, requirements engineering for such interfaces is still missing. The work presented in this paper is part of an automated blind color user interface generation project which explores suitable input requirements document notations, simplifies the generating process, and outputs generated color blind user interface. It aims to define functional and nonfunctional requirements for powerful color blind user interface and their UML specification. Thus, different recent techniques that deal with these interfaces are selected according to their relevance and up to date, then they are analyzed, the lack of requirements engineering for these interface was stated, and a solution is proposed. It consists of requirements elicitation and specification with UML notations. A case study evaluating the proposed approach is presented. The obtained results confirm the power and positive impact of such requirements engineering on researches in this domain.

Keywords: color vision deficiency (CVD), color blindness requirements, color blindness user interface

Research Title: Automatically Generated Feature Model from Requirements: Toward an Enhanced Formalism

Author: Said Ahmad Ammar Ghoul, Published Year: 2022

Proceedings of ICICS2022, IEEE, scopus, Jordan University of Technology

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: The feature model is one of the most important concepts in software product line development process, as it helps to represent commonalities and variabilities among software products. Several research works are currently conducted to generate a feature model of a software product line from its requirements document. However, the generated feature models do not include data and actors aspects which are essential parts of any software product line. The work presented in this paper is part of an automated feature model generating project which explores suitable input requirements document notations, simplifies the generating process, and outputs generated feature model formalism. It aims to propose a powerful feature model that should be the target of any automated process generating a feature model. Thus, in this work, different recent techniques that automatically generate feature models are analyzed. The lack of data and actors in these generated feature models was stated, and a feature model, aimed to be a good generated target, integrating data and actors with other conventional features is proposed. A case study evaluating the proposed target feature model formalism is presented.

Keywords: feature model (FM), software product line (SPL), unified modeling language (UML), FM automatic generation

Research Title: Automatically Generated Goal Model from Requirements: Toward an Enhanced Formalism

Author: Said Ahmad Ammar Ghoul, Published Year: 2022

Proceedings of ICSIC2022 {Scopus), Arab Amman University

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: The Goal Model (GM) of software is one of the important concepts in the software requirements specification, as it helps in representing the software goals and the relationships between them. Several research works were conducted to generate GM of software from its requirements document. However, the generated GMs merge behavior and soft goals aspects. This merging leaded to tangled and complex generated GMs that are difficult to maintain. The work presented in this paper proposes a GM formalism handling this insufficiency. It is part of an automated GM generating project where it focuses on the target GM. Thus, in this work, different recent techniques that automatically generate GMs are analyzed, their merging, tangling, and complexity of maintenance were stated, and a GM formalism facing these challenges is proposed. It separates goals clearly into behavior goals, soft goals, and constraints aspects. An evaluating case study, which is a partial concrete and real word domain requirements specification, is presented. This separation of concerns leaded to valuable results: complexity reduction, improvement of the understandability, simplicity of maintenance, and raising up the expressiveness power.

Keywords: Goal Model (GM), Behavior goal, Soft goal, Requirement specification, Automated goal model generation, Aspect separation, maintenance

Research Title: Feature Model Configuration Reuse Scheme for Self-Adaptive Systems

Author: Said Ahmad Ammar Ghoul, Published Year: 2022

Computers, Materials & Continua (‎Scopus, Q1), 71 No 1

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Most large-scale systems including self-adaptive systems utilize feature models (FMs) to represent their complex architectures and benefit from the reuse of commonalities and variability information. Self-adaptive systems (SASs) are capable of reconfiguring themselves during the run time to satisfy the scenarios of the requisite contexts. However, reconfiguration of SASs corresponding to each adaptation of the system requires significant computational time and resources. The process of configuration reuse can be a better alternative to some contexts to reduce computational time, effort and error-prone. Nevertheless, systems’ complexity can be reduced while the development process of systems by reusing elements or components. FMs are considered one of the new ways of reuse process that are able to introduce new opportunities for the reuse process beyond the conventional system components. While current FM-based modelling techniques represent, manage, and reuse elementary features to model SASs concepts, modeling and reusing configurations have not yet been considered. In this context, this study presents an extension to FMs by introducing and managing configuration features and their reuse process. Evaluation results demonstrate that reusing configuration features reduces the effort and time required by a reconfiguration process during the run time to meet the required scenario according to the current context.

Keywords: Self-adaptive system; feature model; system reuse; configuration management; variability modeling

Research Title: Development of Polymeric-Based Formulation as Potential Smart Colonic Drug Delivery System

Author: Mohammad Bayan, Published Year: 2022

Polymers, 14

Faculty: Pharmacy

Abstract: Conventional oral formulations are mainly absorbed in the small intestine. This limits their use in the treatment of some diseases associated with the colon, where the drug has to act topically at the inflammation site. This paved the way for the development of a smart colonic drug delivery system, thereby improving the therapeutic efficacy, reducing the dosing frequency and potential side effects, as well as improving patient acceptance, especially in cases where enemas or other topical preparations may not be effective alone in treating the inflammation. In healthy individuals, it takes an oral medication delivery system about 5 to 6 h to reach the colon. A colonic drug delivery system should delay or prohibit the medication release during these five to six hours while permitting its release afterward. The main aim of this study was to develop a smart drug delivery system based on pH-sensitive polymeric formulations, synthesized by a free-radical bulk polymerization method, using different monomer and crosslinker concentrations. The formulations were loaded with 5-amino salicylic acid as a model drug and Capmul MCM C8 as a bioavailability enhancer. The glass transition temperature (Tg), tensile strength, Young’s modulus, and tensile elongation at break were all measured as a part of the dried films’ characterization. In vitro swelling and release studies were performed to assess the behavior of the produced formulations. The in vitro swelling and release evaluation demonstrated the potential ability of the developed system to retard the drug release at conditions mimicking the stomach and small intestine while triggering its release at conditions mimicking the colon, which indicates its promising applicability as a potential smart colonic drug delivery system.

Keywords: 5-amino salicylic acid; smart delivery system; sustainable polymers; triggered drug delivery; ulcerative colitis

Research Title: Embedded control unit design for energy management in smart homes

Author: Kasim Mousa Al-Aubidy, Published Year: 2022

,

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: This paper deals with smart home energy management through load scheduling and optimal use of available energy sources. In this study, three energy sources were considered: the national electricity grid, photovoltaic (PV) energy, and the storage unit. The PV array can provide the maximum power to the load at a given operating point where the output power changes with temperature, radiation and load. Therefore, a real-time controller is proposed to track the maximum power. An energy management algorithm has been proposed in a smart home to achieve the main goal of making the electricity bill as low as possible. The algorithm involves scheduling loads by assigning a priority to each load. The loads are supplied with the required power according to their priorities and the available energy. The obtained results indicate that supplying the PV system with a fuzzy-based MPPT indicates an increase in system efficiency. The results also showed that the use of energy management based on load scheduling led to a significant reduction in the electricity bill.

Keywords: Energy management; Fuzzy logic control; Internet of thing (IoT); Smart home; Wireless sensor networks

Research Title: Green synthesis of Size-Controlled copper oxide nanoparticles as catalysts for H2 production from industrial waste aluminum

Author: Firas Abdullah Obeidat, Published Year: 2022

International Journal of Energy Research-Wiley,

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: Extensive research and development in the processes of production and generation of hydrogen are needed to make renewable hydrogen cost-competitive with fossil hydrogen. As a result, developing hydrogen energy from low-cost components and synthesizing it from renewable resources is an important issue that can be considered a global challenge. The current research provided a continuous H2 energy production from waste aluminum in a water medium using copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) as catalysts in the reaction. CuO NPs have been prepared by a green, easy, inexpensive, and systematic method using Catha edulis L. (Khat) extract as reducing and capping agents. Separately, CuO NPs prepared in an alkaline media using the conventional hydrothermal process have been described and reported for comparison. Multidisciplinary tools were used to characterize the powders for structural, morphological, and surface aspects. CuO NPs were homogeneous, well-dispersed, and have fine diameters with an average of 6 nm, owing to the abundant biomolecules in the plant extract. The synthesized samples were utilized as catalysts for H2 production from industrial waste aluminum with a 1/0.02 ration of Al/CuO by weight. The primary results revealed a higher H2 production yield and rapid rate in alkaline than acidic mediums. Under all conditions, the CuO NPs prepared from the extract had better catalytic activity than those prepared by a conventional method. The results proved that the reaction temperature prompts the reaction kinetics more than other parameters. The optimum H2 yield could be optimized at a temperature of 70C, 1/50 ratio of CuO/waste Al, and near-neutral solutions. The above conditions are ideal for designing a continuous production reactor. The hydrogen generated using industrial waste aluminum in the present system is a cost-effective and sustainable approach.

Keywords: aluminum waste, catalysts, clean energy, copper oxide, hydrogen production, nanomaterials