Assessing Site Selection of College Student Housing : Commuting Efficiency across Time

Universities around the world are promoting walking for their students because it provides many health and environmental benefits at the personal as well as the community level. This paper aims to help universities, city planners and housing investors in the process of efficient site selection for future student housing projects, by analyzing off-campus students’ commuting habits and travel time preferences to and from the university campuses. An online survey is operated to collect responses of students (n= 527) from two Jordanian universities located within the city of Irbid (N-Jordan). Results indicate that the mean value for students’ longest preferred one-way walking duration is 17.04± 8.25 minutes for the whole sample. A statistically significant negative correlation is found between students’ longest preferred one-way walking duration and age. The percentage of students who would accept this duration was represented in a formula in order to calculate the accumulated walking potential of varied sites around university campuses. The paper presented a local scenario using GIS mapping where this process was implemented to evaluate prospect vacant sites' walking potential around Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan

Influence of Storage Temperature and Duration of Tomato Leaf Samples on Proline Content

In arid and semi-arid countries such as Jordan, shortage in water sources might affect agricultural development and reduces the effectiveness of economic benefits of most crops planted in such areas. Tomato is an important agricultural crop and faces severe drought stress due to climate changes, therefore, measurement of proline accumulation in plant tissues is used as an indicator for drought stress tolerance. This research was conducted at Jarash University Campus in northern Jordan. A field experiment was carried out to investigate the impact of different storage temperature (+4ºC, - 20ºC and -80ºC) and different storage durations (0, 3, 6 and 11 weeks) on proline content in five different Jordanian tomato landraces. Results indicated that the average free proline content for samples tested directly after leaves collection was 7.1 µmol/g. Proline content in leaves stored at +4 ºC for 3, 6, and 11 weeks was 4.8, 1.8, and 1.1µmol/g, respectively, while for -20ºC was 11.8, 7.9, and 9.5 µmol/g for samples stored for 3, 6, 11 weeks respectively. In contrast the highest values for these parameters were obtained from samples stored at -80ºC, the average measured values of free proline content were 9.5, 7.8, and 12.9 µmol/g at 3, 6, and 11 weeks of storage, respectively. Based on the results obtained by this research, it is recommended to measure proline content directly after leaves collection. However, for large number of samples, keeping the samples at -20ºC not longer than six weeks could be a solution. Finally, we highly recommend the development of in-field method for measurement of free proline content

Delayed intravitreal anti-vegf therapy for patients during the covid-19 lockdown: An ethical endeavor

Purpose: To assess the impact of Jordanian’s Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) lockdown on visual acuity and macular thickness in patients with macular edema receiving intravitreal injections, and to assess the ethical endeavor of lockdown among serious sight threatening conditions. Patients and Methods: This retrospective observational study included patients planned for intravitreal injections who did not complete the planned course before the lockdown (ie, before 20th of March 2020). Data included demographics, indication for the intravitreal injection, corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), and central macular thickness on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) before and after the lockdown. Results: One-hundred and sixty-six eyes of 125 patients were studied, 68 (54.4%) patients were males, and the mean (± standard deviation, SD) age was 64.79 (±9.41) years. Mean (±SD) duration of delay in the planned injection was 60.97 (±24.35) days. The change in visual acuity was statistically significant for patients with diabetic macular edema (p= 0.045 improvement), patients with central retinal vein thrombosis (CRVO) (p= 0.05 deterioration), and patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (p= 0.005 deterioration). Of interest, delay of more than 2 months and the previous need for 3 or more injections were significant poor prognostic factors for visual outcome for patients with diabetic macular edema (p=0.027 and 0.045). Conclusion: The impact of delay in the scheduled intravitreal injections resulted in variable outcomes depending on the indication. Triaging the urgency of patients should be based on the indication to support the equity principle of bioethics, where those in need are prioritized against others, depending on potential adverse outcome

Evaluation of the Wound Healing Potential of Hypericum triquetrifolium Turra: An Experimental Animal Study and Histopathological Examination

The wound healing potential of the aerial parts of Hypericum triquetrifolium Turra (Hypericaceae) was evaluated using an in vivo excision wound model in rats. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned into seven groups; blank vehicles (olive oil and petroleum jelly), negative control, treatments [H. triquetrifolium ethanolic extract in petroleum jelly (5% and 10%) and H. triquetrifolium olive oil macerate (100 and 200 g/L)], and positive control (MEBO). Treatments were applied topically once daily until the wounds had completely healed. Wound areas and contraction rates were calculated, and full-thickness samples of the healed skin were collected for histopathological examination. H. triquetrifolium ointment (5%) showed the best wound healing activity with statistically significant differences when compared with the MEBO, petroleum jelly, and the negative control groups. Tissue sections were histopathologically examined in terms of re-epithelialization, granulation tissue development, collagen deposition, inflammatory cell infiltration, angiogenesis, and ulcer formation to support the in vivo excision wound model findings. H. triquetrifolium ointment (5%) showed the best histopathological scores in both re-epithelialization and ulcer formation. For quality control purposes, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was used to quantify key marker compounds in the extract, namely hypericin and rutin which showed a content of 0.64% and 4.46% (w/w), respectively. Based on the experimental results, H. triquetrifolium ointment (5%) exhibits remarkable wound healing properties at various stages of the wound healing process. Further investigations to prove its safety and efficacy in different types of wounds and to uncover its cellular mechanisms are warranted.This work was funded by the Deanship of Research, Jordan University of Science and Technology (Grant number: 122/2017), and Qatar University

An investigation into the effect of social support on job performance and job satisfaction in the Jordanian insurance industry

An increased sense of job performance and better job satisfaction can be achieved by receiving social support. In order to fulfil this purpose, this study aimed to determine the relationship between social support on the one hand and job performance and job satisfaction on the other hand for the Jordanian insurance industry employees. Survey data were gathered from 269 employees from the Jordanian insurance industry. The PLS 3.0 software was used to process data using the structural equation modelling method. The study’s findings revealed that all social support factors were positively and significantly related to job performance and job satisfaction, including manager support, peer support, friends support, and others’ support. Hence, job performance and job satisfaction in the Jordanian insurance industry can be predicted by studying the existence of social support. The study’s findings concluded that the higher the social support, the higher the job performance and job satisfaction