Al-Balqa' Applied University

The current study attempts to improve the performance of SI engines by employing two alternative acetone–gasoline mixtures. This investigation applies the Artificial Bees Colony Algorithm (ABC) to determine the optimum acetone–gasoline blends and engine speed to increase engine performance further and minimize fuel consumption. The SI engine performance of one-cylinder, four-stroke powered by neat gasoline fuel (AC0), 5% of acetone by volume (AC5), and 10 % of acetone by volume (AC10) has been investigated experimentally. Tests were carried out at speed rates from 1,000 to 3,600 rpm. The gasoline engine was integrated into an eddy-current dynamometer to evaluate the performance indexes. It was revealed that the overall performance of the gasoline engine is enhanced when acetone is blended with gasoline. The AC10 exhibited better engine brake torque (BT) and brake thermal efficiency (BTE) than pure gasoline, with 4.39 % and 6.9 %, respectively. According to the optimization findings, a 10% acetone concentration and engine speeds of 2889 rpm and 2769 rpm produced the best results in terms of BT and BTE, which were 7.776 N.m and 29.992%, respectively. However, at 2401 rpm of engine speed, a minimum BSFC of 0.2986 was reached without acetone. This result demonstrates that the ABC algorithm can precisely forecast the optimal position in terms of engine effectiveness and fuel consumption.

An insufficient number of studies investigated the criteria for Arabic letter teaching in schools. Teachers play an integral role in understanding Arabic letters among young children, as it is essential for acquiring reading in the Arabic language early in life. The criteria for teaching letters in a current study include ease of pronunciation, long vowels, short vowels, ease of pronunciation, sound, shape, and letter names. It is important to consider letter teaching as it helps in the early recognition and identification of the language and in performing better academically. The focus of the current study is to explore the orthographic attributes of Arabic letters, how teachers teach these letters, the order and criteria they follow, and the relative difficulty of letter knowledge items within the Arabic alphabet framework. Arabic letter teaching criteria tests were conducted among 80 teachers from Arabic-speaking countries in UAE. These teachers taught Kindergarten, grade 1, and special needs children. The current study’s findings revealed that Arabic letter teaching efforts are dynamic as chi-square results are non-significant, reflecting that teachers’ criteria and order adopted do not depend on teachers’ level of education or their specific area of expertise. Findings show that most teachers who adopt ease of pronunciation of letters in teaching students start with long vowels. Furthermore, results indicated that most teachers introduce Arabic letters, sounds, and shapes when teaching young learners.

Jordan's banking industry has expanded significantly, and various Jordanian banks are now more competitive than ever. Therefore, all Jordanian banks strive to gain a greater competitive edge by luring more clients. In this context, Jordanian Islamic banks sought to strengthen their competitive advantage by offering high-quality banking services, luring highly experienced employees, and equipping them with a capable system of incentives and rewards to boost their performance. It has been suggested that monetary and non-monetary incentives could be used to address these issues. In order to evaluate the effects of incentives on the employees who worked in the Islamic Bank's branches in Jordan, the study set out to conduct a systematic review and analysis. Partial least squares (PLS) analysis was used to gather data that had been gathered through a survey method using questionnaires that were completed by 73 respondents. Simple linear regression (SLR) was used to assess how incentives affect performance. The results of the study revealed a statistically significant positive effect of monetary and non-monetary incentives on performance. In order to implement a fair incentive policy that has an impact on raising employee performance, and added value Islamic banks need to review their system of moral and financial rewards. Giving bonuses, recognizing outstanding employees, providing the ideal employee with monthly annual health benefits, and expressing gratitude and expressing gratitude and appreciation to others. Future knowledge in the field of management accounting will benefit from this study's contribution, which focuses on the existence of the principles based on the performance system, a distinctive and original compensation scheme that has unmistakably aided bank expansion.

This paper presents the theoretical and experimental investigation on performance of a photovoltaic (PV) panel cooled by porous media under indoor condition. Porous media offer a large exterior surface area and a high fluid permeability, making them ideal for PV cells cooling. The photovoltaic panel was cooled using 5 cm thick cooling channel filled with porous media (gravel). Several sizes of porosity (0.35, 0.4, 0.48, and 0.5) at different volume flow rates (1, 1.5, 2, 3, and 4 L/min) were tested to obtain the best cooling process. The theoretical analysis was performed at the optimum case found experimentally, which has a porosity of 0.35 and a volume flow rate of 2 L/min, to test various experimental results of the PV hot surface temperature, related power output, efficiency and I-V characteristic curve. The enhancement obtained in PV power output and efficiency is compared against the case without cooling and the case using water alone without porous media. Results showed that cooling using small size porous media and moderate flow rate is more efficient which reduces the average PV hot surface temperature of about 55.87% and increases the efficiency by 2.13% than uncooled PV. The optimum case reduced the PV hot surface temperature to 38.7°C, and increased the power output to 19 W, efficiency to 6.26%, and the open voltage to 22.77 V. The results showed that the presence of small porous media of 0.35 in the PV cooling process displayed the maximum effectiveness compared to the other two scenarios, because the heat loss from PV surface through porous media layer have developed a homogenous heat diffusion removed much quicker at high flow rate (2 L/min). A good agreement was obtained between experimental and theoretical results for different cases with a standard deviation from 3.2% to 5.6%.

The concept of infidelity is one of the basics of marital life, and on it depends the satisfaction, compatibility and happiness of the spouses. Therefore, there is an urgent need in Arab countries to develop tools that contribute to dealing with this problem and its painful consequences. Infidelity is a problem that affects a person psychologically and physically, and it is important to develop a measure to identify this problem. This study aimed to verify the validity and reliability of the Multidimensional Infidelity Inventory (IMIN) on a Jordanian sample. For this purpose, the Spanish version of the questionnaire was translated and applied to a Jordanian sample of 732 persons (291 men, 441 women). The results showed that three factors explained 70.28% of the total variance of the infidelity trend subscale, and seven factors explained 68.43% of the total variance of the reasons for infidelity subscale. Five factors explained 61.21% of the total variance of the infidelity beliefs subscale, and two factors explained 57.45% of the total variance for the infidelity consequences subscale. All of them had confirmatory models with adequate levels of goodness of fit, adequate Cronbach alpha indicators, item-item and item-test correlations, in addition to concordance with the original proposal of the instrument. This instrument can assess, diagnose, and overcome infidelity.

Background. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major bacterial pathogen. Aim. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of MRSA infections among kidney dialysis patients and the antibiotic susceptibility patterns and investigate the prevalence of mecA gene among MRSA isolates. Materials and Methods. A total of 83 nasal sterile cotton swabs samples were obtained from hemodialysis patients from Al-Karak Governmental Hospital, Al-Karak, Jordan. Collected and cultured on nutrient agar and mannitol salt agar and incubating at 37°C for 24–48 hours, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) strains were identified by gram stain, coagulase test, and catalase tests. The MRSA isolates were tested for the presence of MecA and SCCmec genes using the Xpert SA Nasal Complete assay real-time PCR. Factors such as age and gender were included in the study. The antibiotic profile tested by using the disc diffusion method tested all MRSA isolates. Results. This study showed that 10.8% of the cultures’ growth was S. aureus and 9.6% of all the patients were infected with MRSA, with no relationship between the number and frequency of MRSA according to the patient’s gender or age. All MRSA (100%) isolates have both genes (MecA genes and SCCmec genes), and all samples were resistant to oxacillin, ceftazidime, cefoxitin, aztreonam, and ampicillin. Conclusion. The MRSA prevalence was determined among kidney dialysis patients in the hospital. All positive samples were resistant to oxacillin, ceftazidime, cefoxitin, aztreonam, and ampicillin, which is a very rare finding, and this will give the scientists and doctors a dangerous indication about health-care centers in the Al-Karak city of Jordan.

Heat stress (HS) is an environmental challenge affecting animals' health, productivity and welfare. This work aimed to inspect the protective effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnNPs) and/or prodigiosin (PRG) against inflammation, immune dysfunction, oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress triggered by HS in growing rabbits. Growing weaned rabbits (one hundred males, 35 days of age) were randomly assigned into four groups. The first group fed a basal diet without supplementation and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th groups fed diets containing zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnNPs, 50mg/kg diet), prodigiosin (PRG, 100 mg/kg diet) or their mixture (ZnPRG) under HS conditions for eight successive weeks. The dietary inclusion with ZnNPs and/or PRG significantly boosted FBW (final body weight), CBWG (cumulative body weight gain), and FCR (feed conversion ratio) and had no substantial impacts on the CFI (cumulative feed intake) as compared with those in HS one. All supplemented treatments significantly unveiled an increase in the values of RBCs, hemoglobin, and platelets and significantly decreased in WBCs, basophils and monocytes with non-statistically effects on hematocrit, MCV, MCHC, neutrophils and eosinophils. Compared with the HS group, all supplemental groups showed a significant reduction in TNFα, IL4, IFN-γ, TLR-4 and amyloid A levels and DNA damage markers (Ohdg) and significantly increased in the levels of NO and lysosome activity. Rabbits in the ZnPRG group had significantly higher Ig G and Ig M levels than in other groups. The highest value of CAT and GSH levels were found in rabbits received the mixture of ZnNPs (50mg) and PRG (100mg) in their diets under elevated temperatures. Additionally, both treatments, PRG and ZnNPS, significantly (P<0.001) reduced the values of MDA and MYO, while all treated groups had significantly reduced PC contents compared with the HS group. Co-supplement with ZnPRG showed a considerable restoration in the higher immune expression of reticulum oxidative such GRP78 and IRE1 in hepatic tissues induced by HS conditions. The mixture of ZnNPs and PRG presented more robust effects in mitigating the adverse impacts of HS in rabbits compared with the individual treatments. Collectively, ZnNPs and/or PRG alleviated oxidative stress and DNA damage. In addition, it enhanced the antioxidant capacity and immune function, and downregulated ER stress such as GRP78 and IRE1 signaling in the hepatic tissues of stressed rabbits.

Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging technology and its applications are flattering amidst many users, as it makes everything easier. As a consequence of its massive growth, security and privacy are becoming crucial issues where the IoT devices are perpetually vulnerable to cyber-attacks. To overcome this issue, intrusion detection and mitigation is accomplished which enhances the security in IoT networks. In this paper, we proposed Blockchain entrenched Bi-level intrusion detection and graph based mitigation framework named as HybridChain-IDS. The proposed work embrace four sequential processes includes time-based authentication, user scheduling and access control, bi-level intrusion detection and attack graph generation. Initially, we perform time-based authentication to authenticate the legitimate users using NIK-512 hashing algorithm, password and registered time are stored in Hybridchain which is an assimilation of blockchain and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) which enhances data privacy and security. After that, we perform user scheduling using Cheetah Optimization Algorithm (COA) which reduces the complexity and then the access control is provided to authorized users by smart contract by considering their trust and permission level. Then, we accomplish bi-level intrusion detection using ResCapsNet which extracts sufficient features and classified effectively. Finally, risk of the attack is evaluated, and then the attacks graphs are generated by employing Enhanced k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm to identify the attack path. Furthermore, the countermeasures are taken based on the attack risk level and the attack graph is stored in Hybridchain for eventual attack prediction. The implementation of this proposed work is directed by network simulator of NS-3.26 and the performance of the proposed HybridChain-IDS is enumerated based on various performance metrics.

Recently, a general framework of fractional operators, that includes the Caputo model as a particular case, has been introduced and some applications in the area of fractional calculus have been presented. In this paper, novel fractional epidemic models with generalized Caputo-type derivatives were proposed. The universal predictor-corrector method was modified here to deal with the considered epidemic models for the purposes of simulation. The behavior and complex dynamic of these hybrid fractional epidemic models were studied using the modified method. The dynamics of the generalized Caputo-type fractional SIR, HIV and SEIR models were investigated by numerical simulation. Basically, the effect of generalized Caputo-type fractional derivative operator parameters on the dynamic behavior of the proposed epidemic models was discussed.

Background Human beings have an attraction to sweet items: desserts, fruits, honey, etc., which stimulate the sense of taste. However, sweet things tend to have many calories, thus contributing to issues with obesity. Moreover, those with diabetes must strictly limit their consumption of sugar to maintain their blood glucose levels within acceptable limits. Artificial sweeteners contain substances from several distinct chemical classes. The effects of artificial sweeteners on clinically relevant outcomes such as insulin, blood glucose, and lipids have been incompletely studied. Objective This study aims to assess the effects of artificial sweeteners on blood glucose, triglycerides, and insulin in healthy, non-diabetic, and diabetic type 2 patients. Material and method Levels of glucose, triglycerides, and insulin in serum samples from 25 patients with confirmed Diabetic type 2 disease and 30 normal controls were determined at 30, and 60 after the ingestion of the drinks. Results Levels of glucose, triglycerides, and insulin were notably higher in patients with diabetic Mellitus compared with the normal group. Both triglycerides and insulin (60 min) were elevated significantly above baseline after the intake of the artificial sweeteners in diabetic patients; however, values for all other conditions across time were very stable. Conclusion There is no reason to suppose that a higher consumption would result in an elevation in these measures. Any noted insulin resistance linked to a high intake of artificial sweeteners is likely a function of the excess calories and processed ingredients often included within artificially sweetened food and beverage products.

The soil-to-orange fruit transfer factor of naturally occurring radionuclides was investigated. The temporal evolution of the three identified radionuclides, Ra-226, Th-232, and K-40, concentration was also examined throughout the growth period of the orange fruits until they reached maturity. A mathematical model was developed to predict the soil-to-fruit transfer of these radionuclides during the development of orange fruits. The results were found to agree with the experimental data. The experimental and modeling results revealed that the transfer factor for all radionuclides showed a similar exponential decline with the growth of the fruit and reached its minimum value when the fruit was ripe.

Introduction This study aimed to define and update the prevalence of β-pathogenic thalassemia variants in Jordan. Material and methods A total of 158 patients with suspected β-thalassemia minor were examined using (CBC and Hb-electrophoresis), and (PCR with hybridization) to identify the type of pathogenic variants. Results Five common and seven rare β-thalassemia pathogenic variants were identified in this study. In addition to three variants that had not been previously reported: -101 [C>T], IVS 1.130 [G>C], and codon 44 [-C]. Conclusions The results provide a new update on the existing Jordanian beta-thalassemia variant database that will aid the enhancement of diagnostic and treatment protocols for patients.

In 2017, the Jordanian Ministry of Health reported that gastric cancer was one of Jordan's most diagnosed cancers. Gastric cancer is often linked to Helicobacter pylori, one of the foremost risk factors. Despite the high prevalence of H. pylori in Jordan, no information is available regarding the general population's awareness of the harmful effects of this pathogen. The study aims to assess the knowledge and the impact of the source of knowledge on H. pylori among the general population in Jordan. A cross-sectional study involving 933 participants was conducted between May and July of 2021. After meeting the inclusion criteria and consenting to participate in this study, participants completed the questionnaire. An interview-based questionnaire covered the following sections: sociodemographic data and knowledge related to H. pylori infection. 63% of the participants had a high level of education, 70.5% got their information about H. pylori infection from non-medical sources, and 68.7% had a low level of knowledge. Working in the medical field, attaining information from medical resources, and having a history of self-reported or family member of H. pylori infection showed a significant association with a high level of knowledge. The Mann-Whitney U test showed that the mean ranks of all knowledge items in the medical source group significantly exceed those of the non-medical source group (p-values < 0.05). In Jordan, the awareness of H. pylori was unsatisfying, like in other countries. Nevertheless, misconceptions in knowledge about H. pylori were identified and further awareness must be spread and advocated. Close observation of the non-medical sources of information is essential for delivering sufficient amount of knowledge to the general population.

E-learning platforms are essential tools used widely for teaching and learning English, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also used to communicate and interact with students, assess progress, evaluate assignments, and provide feedback. However, teachers of English face potential barriers when they use such platforms. This study examines the use of e-learning platforms in teaching English as a foreign language in Jordan. The study employed a quantitative research method. The findings revealed that using e-learning platforms for educational purposes is beneficial regarding accessibility when attending courses. E-learning enabled the students to practise more and to be more engaged in the learning process, which improved their language skills. Effective e-learning platform strategies significantly broaden students' perceptions and increase the opportunity to exchange information with their classmates. Nonetheless, several impediments may hinder the application of e-learning platforms, including teacher-related, technical, and technological factors. The study recommends that teachers use interactive methods, including images, sounds, videos, and multimedia, to engage learners with various needs and abilities. The study also suggests building codified standards when designing e-learning to develop students' skills at all levels and training teachers on using modern technological strategies in e-learning.

Objectives Evaluating the knowledge in pharmacogenomics (PGx) is the first step toward the implementation of PGx testing in clinical practice. This survey aimed to evaluate the knowledge of PGx testing among healthcare providing students at the top-ranked university in the West Bank of Palestine. Methods First an online questionnaire consisting of 30 questions regarding the demographic, knowledge, and attitude toward pharmacogenomics testing was structured and validated. Then the questionnaire was distributed to 1,000 current students from different fields. Results 696 responses was received. The results showed that almost half of the participants (n=355, 51.1%) have never took any courses about PGx during their university training. Only 81 (11.7%) of the students who took the PGx course stated that it helped them understanding how genetic variations affect drug response. The majority of the students were uncertain (n=352, 50.6%) or disagreed (n=143, 20.6%) that the lectures during university education described the effects of genetic variants on drug response. Although most of the students (70–80%) answered that genetic variants can indeed affect the drug’s response, only 162 students (23.3%) responded that VKORC1 and CYP2C9 genotypes influence the response to warfarin. In addition, only 94 (13.5%) students were aware that many medicine labels include clinical information about PGx testing provided by the FDA. Conclusions It is concluded from the results of this survey that there is a lack of exposure to PGx education associated with poor knowledge of PGx testing among the healthcare providing students in the West Bank of Palestine. It is recommended to include and improve the lectures and courses regarding PGx as this will have a major impact on precision medicine.

In this paper, a new chaotic image encryption and authentication model based on Elliptic Curves is proposed. The Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) is used to generate a reliable session key prior to encryption. The scheme uses the Henon map for the initial shuffling of the pixels and the Hopfield chaotic neural network to compute random chaotic values. The chaotic matrix is XORed with henon shuffled image. The model encrypts the scrambled image using improved ElGamal encoding to obtain the cipher image. The model employs a low computational cost digital signature to check for the authenticity of the received encrypted images before decryption. The proposed model makes use of a large key space to resist brute force attacks, and produces randomized cipher images with high average Shannon’s entropies, 7.9994 for grayscale and 7.9993 for color images, and lower adjacent pixel correlation to resist statistical attacks and ensure a good quality encryption. The model can withstand the chosen-plaintext and known-plaintext attacks, and attains average Number of Pixel Change Rate (NPCR) and Unified Average Change Intensity (UACI) values of (99.63%, 33.345%) for grayscale and (99.625%, 33.34%) for color images signifying its effectiveness against differential attacks. The ability to recover decipherable images after masking up to 75% of cipher image indicates the robustness of the proposed scheme against the occlusion attacks.

Industry 4.0 (the fourth industrial revolution) involves swift and ongoing technological changes affecting industries and societies because of advanced automation, communication and data exchange, and global connectivity. While its implementation is necessary for organizational success in the face of international competition, many challenges arise with its opportunities. This research is an investigation of the challenges (employee qualification, employee acceptance, organizational, and production fit) and opportunities (strategic, operational, environmental, and social) in the implementation of Industry 4.0 in public shareholding manufacturing companies in Jordan. A questionnaire-based approach for primary data collection with analysis via Smart-PLS was taken. The results revealed that organizational and production fit challenges, strategic opportunities, operational opportunities, and environmental and social opportunities are positively associated with Industry 4.0 implementation, while employee qualification and acceptance challenges are negatively associated. The study explained that there is not enough knowledge about Industry 4.0. This study offers guidance for establishing regulations related to Industry 4.0 implementation by removing challenges and adopting opportunities. Also, this study is an approach for further research about the development of communications in Jordan and global connectivity.

Greywater (GW) treatment by the electrocoagulation (EC) technique alone might not meet the required standards in terms of pollutant removal, specifically when GW contains high loads of pollutants. In this preliminary study, a sand filtration (SF) unit was integrated with the EC technique as a pretreatment step to enhance the EC process for treating high-loaded GW. Three different voltage gradients were investigated (5 V/cm, 10 V/cm, and 15 V/cm) in the EC unit. The results demonstrated that the pretreatment SF step can contribute significantly to reducing pollutant concentrations in the greywater to be treated by EC. In terms of physical impurities, the results showed that the SF pretreatment step reduced the turbidity and the color of the treated GW by 28.4%, and 9.4%, respectively. The COD concentration was reduced by 25.5% by the SF step, which allowed a reduction of EC steady state time in the EC unit from 45 min to 30 min at an applied voltage of 15 V/cm. In addition, a high COD removal rate of 87.8% from high-load greywater was achieved with an energy consumption of only 4.11 kWh/m3 in comparison with 6.21 kWh/m3 without the SF step, which is equivalent to a 34% saving in energy consumption.

Numerous hectares of land are destroyed by wildfires every year, causing harm to the environment, the economy, and the ecology. More than fifty million acres have burned in several states as a result of recent forest fires in the Western United States and Australia. According to scientific predictions, as the climate warms and dries, wildfires will become more intense and frequent, as well as more dangerous. These unavoidable catastrophes emphasize how important early wildfire detection and prevention are. The energy management system described in this paper uses an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with air quality sensors (AQSs) to monitor spot fires before they spread. The goal was to develop an efficient autonomous patrolling system that detects early wildfires while maximizing the battery life of the UAS to cover broad areas. The UAS will send real-time data (sensor readings, thermal imaging, etc.) to a nearby base station (BS) when a wildfire is discovered. An optimization model was developed to minimize the total amount of energy used by the UAS while maintaining the required levels of data quality. Finally, the simulations showed the performance of the proposed solution under different stability conditions and for different minimum data rate types.

For practical applications such as fuel cells, it is important to exploit electrocatalysis with high activity for methanol and glycerol oxidation. A platinum nanostructured electrode (PtNPs) is modified by gold adatoms and is created by application of a square wave potential regime to a tantalum surface electrode. In nanostructured platinum, the structure and the surface properties are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). In acid and alkaline media, the CV and Chronoamperometric (CA) are studied to investigate the catalytic activity of the PtNPs nanoparticles for the electrooxidation of methanol and glycerol. The prepared nanostructured platinum on a tantalum electrode was allowed to balance an open circuit with a 1.0×10⁻³ M solution containing an Au ion. Consequently, the proximity of the irreversibly adsorbed Au-adatoms on the already described Pt-nanostructured electrode. In acidic and alkaline solutions, the electrocatalytically activities toward methanol and glycerol oxidation were evaluated and is found to strongly on the surface of the gold-modified PtNPs. The PtNPs modified by Au electrode system used direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) and direct glycerol fuel cell (DGFC). The DMFC and DGFC are much higher than in acid output in alkaline. Comparison of the i-E curves of nanostructure platinum electrode with that of a platinum nanostructure electrode modified by Au under similar conditions for the letter, the charge under the peak (i-E curve) in the oxidation region was higher. Furthermore, rough chronoamperometric measurements confirmed the results. The results of showed that the electrocatalytic properties of the nanostructured prepared surface were enhanced by the inclusion of gold adatoms with a variable extent of advancement. The current peak (Ip) and the current chronoamperometric (ICA) of glycerol oxidation on the PtNPs electrode modified by Au in acid media (130 mA/cm², 47 µA/cm²) were higher than those of the bare PtNPs electrode and in alkaline media (171 mA/cm², 66 µA/cm²). The stronger catalytic behavior in alkaline media of the Au-PtNP electrode indicates its promising use in alkaline direct alcohol cells. graphical abstract Fullsize Image