Research Title: Crucial barriers of building information modelling (BIM) in the Jordanian construction industry

Author: Alaa Saleh Al Shdiefat, Published Year: 2020

Global Journal of Engineering and Technology Advances, 03

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: The adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has become essential in Jordan to improve the quality and reduce the challenges facing construction projects. Many studies conclude that implementing BIM in construction projects across the global improves quality, minimises errors and reduces project costs and time. In Jordan, adopting BIM will not be easy or smooth as a result of several barriers. Thus, it is essential to identify the crucial barriers to the adoption of BIM in the Jordanian construction sector. Both qualitative and quantitative methods, i.e. interview and questionnaire techniques, were used to achieve this objective. Interviews were conducted at the first stage of data collection, and the results formed the basis of the questionnaire, which was distributed across the Jordanian construction sector. Content analysis was used to analyse the interview responses, while factor analysis, correlation and the Severity Index (SI) were used to analyse the questionnaire results. The findings identified sixteen barriers which obstructing adoption BIM in Jordan. The sixteen barriers were classified into four main categories, namely finance, communication, people and project procurement, with sub-barriers in each category which are related to each other in significant ways and which affect each other.

Keywords: BIM; Construction; Jordan; Barriers; Adoption

Research Title: Causes of Change Orders in the Jordanian Construction Industry

Author: Alaa Saleh Al Shdiefat, Published Year: 2018

Journal of Building Construction and Planning Research, 6

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: Change orders are common and clearly noticeable in Jordanian construction industry. Several studies have identified change orders as significant problem in Jordanian construction projects, and they mainly cause delay and cost overrun. This situation spurs the researchers for investigating the significant causes of change orders in construction projects. Thus, this paper aims to determine the main causes of change orders in the Jordanian construction private sector which responsible for significant cost overrun. Both qualitative and quantitative methods, i.e. interview and questionnaire techniques, were used to achieve this aim. Interviews were conducted as the first stage of data collection, and the results formed the basis of the questionnaire, which was distributed across the Jordanian construction sector. Content analysis was used to analyse the interview responses, while factor analysis, correlation and the Severity Index (SI) were used to analyse the questionnaire results. The findings identified three main categories of causes of change orders in private sector, namely engineering causes, causes related to the client, and circumstances of the project, with sub-causes in each category which are related to each other in significant ways and which affect each other.

Keywords: Change Orders, Construction Project, Jordan, Private Sector

Research Title: Causes of Change Orders in the Jordanian Construction Industry

Author: Alaa Saleh Al Shdiefat, Published Year: 2018

Journal of Building Construction and Planning Research, 6

Faculty: Engineering and Technology

Abstract: Change orders are common and clearly noticeable in Jordanian construction industry. Several studies have identified change orders as significant problem in Jordanian construction projects, and they mainly cause delay and cost overrun. This situation spurs the researchers for investigating the significant causes of change orders in construction projects. Thus, this paper aims to determine the main causes of change orders in the Jordanian construction private sector which responsible for significant cost overrun. Both qualitative and quantitative methods, i.e. interview and questionnaire techniques, were used to achieve this aim. Interviews were conducted as the first stage of data collection, and the results formed the basis of the questionnaire, which was distributed across the Jordanian construction sector. Content analysis was used to analyse the interview responses, while factor analysis, correlation and the Severity Index (SI) were used to analyse the questionnaire results. The findings identified three main categories of causes of change orders in private sector, namely engineering causes, causes related to the client, and circumstances of the project, with sub-causes in each category which are related to each other in significant ways and which affect each other.

Keywords: Change Orders, Construction Project, Jordan, Private Sector

Research Title: The Dubet poem by Ibn Farkoun Al-Andalusi - An analytical semiotic study Dr. Omar Faris Al-Kafaween

Author: Omar Faris Yousif AlKafaween, Published Year: 2022

مجلة دراسات/ الجامعة الأردنية, 49/ 1

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: This study examines the poem of Ibn Farkoun Al-Andalusi, which he composed using the dubite quartet (Dubet ) template. He wrote it in response to the request of Prince Yusef the third, Prince of Granada in 811 AH.In the poem, he praisedthe princeand highlighted his qualities and virtues. The study dealt with the poem from an analytical semiotic perspective, by deciphering it and revealing all its connotations , which lead to the purpose of praise. It also briefly touched upon the poet and his life, the poem and its occasion, and then examined semiotics in the poem, its concepts and different aspects. The study applied the semiotic approach to the components of poetic composition, through its beginning and structure, and the elements it contained, such as symbols, images, intertextuality, rhythm, etc.The conclusion was then linked to the rest of the components of the poem .

Keywords: Ibn Farkoun Al-Andalusi, Dubet, Semiotics.

Research Title: Description of nature in poetry of Ibn al-LabanaAddani al- Andalusi Technical objective study

Author: Omar Faris Yousif AlKafaween, Published Year: 2021

مجلة الجامعة الإسلامية للبحوث الإنسانية/ غزة, 49/3

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: This study deals with the description of nature in the poetry of Ibn al-Labanah al-Andalusi: it tackles its patterns in an objective and artistic way, starting from his poetic texts, mixed with other purposes, such as eulogy, love poems, lampoon, and elegy, in addition to his independent texts describing nature and its manifestations. The study monitored different natural appearances described by the poet, as classified into two types: the first represents the aspects of what is called (silent) nature, and the second describes the aspects of the (living) nature, and it studied a number of such appearances. Then the study examined the artistic images and elements through which the poet drew nature, and the most important mechanisms that he relied upon to embody that image, such as the art of simile, metaphor, humanization, and sensory images based on hearing, sound, sight, smell and others.

Keywords: Ibn al-LabanaAddani, description of nature, artistic image

Research Title: Four Maqamat “Assemblies” in terms of poetry and poets-Astudy analyzed critically

Author: Omar Faris Yousif AlKafaween, Published Year: 2021

مجلة الآداب والعلوم الاجتماعية بجامعة السلطان قابوس, 12/1

Faculty: Arts

Abstract: This study deals with four Maqamat “Assemblies” in terms of poetry and poets. They are “the Maqama of Poesie” and “The Maqama of Poetry” of Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadhani, “the Maqama of poetry” of Al-Hariri, and “the Maqama of poets” of Al-Saraqusti, the Andalusian. They have been analyzed critically and statistically. The study highlighted the poems and the names of poets in the four Maqamat, in addition to the most critical issues in them.It also focused on artistic style and narrative mechanisms, such as the title, the structure of the introduction, the narrator, the protagonis, the description and others. The study aimed at classifying the poems, the names of the poets, and the critical issues in the Maqamat. Then it analyzed them technically and objectively in a comprehensive manner, based on the common theme of the four Maqamat.

Keywords: Maqamat, Maqamat of poetry, Artistic style.

Research Title: COVID-19: time to rethink about strategy for palliative care in resource-poor settings.

Author: Maha Mohammed Wahbi Atout, Published Year: 2020

International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 26

Faculty: Nursing

Abstract: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on healthcare facilities and health professionals globally, especially in resource-poor settings, including those in African countries This article aims to highlight the challenges of providing palliative care in African countries and to forecast what this means in light of the public health issues surrounding COVID-19. According to the Coronavirus in Africa Tracker (BBC News, 2020), there are 925 369 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Africa as of 31 July 2020, of which 19 605 are confirmed deaths. While 577947 patients are reported to have recovered, there remains a high number of active confirmed cases in the continent, at 327818. These numbers could be higher, but are underreported, due to ineffective reporting systems, the inability to diagnose on a large scale and people not recognising the symptoms of COVID-19. With the anticipation that COVID-19 will have devastating effects on Africa (Hopman et al, 2020; Nkengasong and Mankoula, 2020), this will cause a surge in the need for palliative care and medical supplies. The World Health Organization (2018) defines palliative care as any support that improves the quality of life of patients and their families experiencing lifethreatening illnesses, through the prevention and relief of suffering, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual care

Keywords: COVID-19; palliative care; resource poor settings; strategy

Research Title: Communication styles between family carers and children with leukaemia in occupied Palestinian territory

Author: Maha Mohammed Wahbi Atout, Published Year: 2020

Journal of Child Health Care ,

Faculty: Nursing

Abstract: This study explores the experience of communication regarding the care of children with cancer, from the perspective of family carers, children and health professionals in occupied Palestinian territory. This study employed an ethnographic collective qualitative case study approach, which was applied in one oncology unit in a Palestinian hospital. Participant observation and semistructured interviews were used. This study only reports the findings of the interviews with the participating family carers. Fifteen interviews were conducted with family carers (n = 14 children), namely mothers (n = 7), grandmothers (n = 7) and a father (n = 1). The findings reveal that styles of information were given to children by their family carers: minimal/practical information, gradual information, false information, reassuring information and several sources of information. The term cancer was avoided in the discussion of the disease to ameliorate the negative effect of this term, which is considered taboo in the studied culture. Despite the recent trend emphasising the importance of parents communicating openly with their children with cancer, the findings of this study suggest that such open communication is not accepted by all parents. Hence, a case-by-case strategy could be adopted to treat each child in a way that is individual to that child and their culture.

Keywords: Cancer, children, communication, family carers, leukaemia

Research Title: Nurses' perceptions toward factors that cause medication errors in Jordan: A qualitative study.

Author: Maha Mohammed Wahbi Atout, Published Year: 2020

Perspectives in Psychiatric care ,

Faculty: Nursing

Abstract: Aims The aim of this study was to investigate nurses' experiences related to medication errors (MEs) from the perspective of Jordanian nurses. This article reports the findings concerning the factors that cause MEs from the perspectives of Jordanian nurses. Background MEs are critical issues facing healthcare providers and health institutions. Most of the studies on MEs were conducted in Western countries. However, there is little research that seeks to understand this issue in the developing countries and Jordan is one of these countries. Design A qualitative descriptive approach was used in three hospitals in different clinical settings in Jordan. Methods Individual semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 24 nurses. Results The data that emerged from the interviews was arranged and contextualized in two major themes, individual and systemic factors, that explained the main causes of MEs. From the individual side, lack of knowledge and experience ranked as the highest concerns, and from the systematic side workload was the most important factor. Conclusion This study provides an opportunity for stakeholders and Jordanian managers to increase their awareness of these factors and address them in the future, thereby increasing the level of care provided in their health organizations.

Keywords: barriers of reporting, error reporting, Jordan, medication errors, nurses, qualitative

Research Title: Real-time traffic distribution prediction protocol (TDPP) for vehicular networks

Author: Maram Bani Younes, Published Year: 2020

Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 152

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Over downtown and highway road scenarios several applications have been proposed to enhance the quality of driving trips there. Safety, efficiency and entertainment services are provided to vehicles through several advanced technologies. Many of these applications require accurate investigation of the traffic characteristics and distributions over the area of interest in order to successfully provide the targeted services. To mention a few, path recommendation protocols, traffic light scheduling algorithms and driving assistance techniques need specific, detailed and accurate traffic distribution reports regarding the investigated area of interest. Several traffic prediction and evaluation protocols have been proposed in the literature using historical, visual and wireless connecting technologies to gather the real-time basic traffic data. Accuracy, delay, bandwidth consumption and high cost required equipments are the main challenges of the previous protocols. In this paper, we aim to propose a real-time traffic distribution prediction protocol (TDPP) using the vehicular network technology. The proposed protocol aims to produce accurate traffic evaluation and distribution of the investigated area of interest based on gathering the basic traffic data of some traveling vehicles there. From the experimental results we can infer that the TDPP protocol provides more accurate traffic evaluation in the case that only a few vehicles are equipped with wireless transceivers. Moreover, it requires less bandwidth and time to evaluate the traffic characteristics compared to traditional protocols in this field, since it only processes the basic traffic data of the small selected set of vehicles there.

Keywords: TDPP, Accuracy, delay, bandwidth consumption and high cost