The impact of traditional succession planning on corporate governance in family-owned businesses in Jordanian context

The main aim of this research was to explore in-depth how professional succession planning might evolve corporate governance practices through identifying and describing the key aspects of family-owned businesses in Jordan. Further, this study considers how succession planning takes place and impacts corporate governance in achieving business strategic goals and objectives. The significance of this research derived from the importance of family-owned businesses continuity and sustainability in Jordan, given their contribution to the Jordan GDP and maintenance of social stability. This qualitative study was conducted through a semi-structured interview with founders of Jordanian family-owned businesses, CEOs, and candidate successors from different sectors. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis strategy and Kings' template tool. The thesis identifies many issues facing Jordanian family-owned businesses, given the unique aspects, founders' management style and cultural perspectives involved in these businesses. The findings of the thesis outline that implementing professional strategic management practices and professional succession plans is a solution for conflicts and disputes. Accordingly, preparing the next generation professionally will supply with skilled and qualified generation aware of Jordanian family businesses' aspects such as legal form, family size, the importance of decentralization, and delegation. The study concludes that there are four distinct factors of succession planning in Jordanian family-owned businesses. Firstly, the importance of deciding preparation plan for the next generation is tied with an educational plan and career path. Secondly, the importance of consultants in governance and succession issues. Thirdly, the separation between family and business issues, and avoid mixing problems with Islamic Sharia law. The fourth is deciding the family constitution and its role in managing conflicts. The study also pointed out that the impact of traditional succession plans on corporate governance is characterized by splitting the business in the long run and consequently split among family members and increasing the level of conflicts and disputes. This study finds that the subject of Jordanian family-owned businesses is open and amenable for further explanatory, descriptive, or exploratory research. Furthermore, many areas such as the family constitution and Jordanian culture, the effect of Sharia law and culture on the decision-making process, and governance and conflict management are considered for this type of business

Bayes model for assessing the reading difficulty of English text for English education in Jordan

Predicting the reading difficulty level of English texts is a critical process for second language education and assessment. Reading difficulty level is concerned with the problem of matching a reader’s proficiency and the appropriate text. The reading difficulty level or readability assessment is the process for predicting the reading grade level required from an input text or document, which corresponds to the reader and to the materials. Students in Jordan at their academic levels find obstacles in finding relevant readable data for any subject at their levels. This paper is intended to introduce a model that foretells the reading difficulty level of a given text in terms of a student's ability to read and understand English as a non-native English speaker in Jordanian schools. In this paper, Jordanian students were classified into four categories according to their knowledge of English. The prediction of the reading difficulty level is achieved by using a modern statistical model that is situated on the Bayes model. The model compares the given text with some standard predefined text that strongly reflects the ability to read and understand English text. The accuracy of the proposed model was tested using the hold-out method. The overall prediction accuracy was 75.9%

Managing Software Project Risks With The Chi-Square (X2)Technique

[Abstract] Regardless how much effort we put into software projects to make them succeed, many software projects have very high failure rate. The aim of this paper is to present a new technique by which we can study the impact of different control factors and different risk factors to determine software project risks. The new technique uses the chi-square test to control the risks in a software project. Fourteen risk factors and eighteen control factors were used in this paper. A group of manageys was used in this study. Successful project risk management will greatly improve the probability of project success. [Keywords] Software project management; risk management, risk factors, risk controls, ChiSquar

Harnessing artificial intelligence for human resources management: Tools, advantages, and risks in the energy sector

The main goal of the study is aimed at determining the features of the use of artificial intelligence in HR in the energy sector. The relevance and necessity of the study is due to the increasing intensity of the introduction of artificial intelligence in all sectors of the world economy, which necessitates the need to improve existing and search for new management approaches in companies in the energy sector. The introduction of artificial intelligence technologies into HR business processes is justified. Artificial intelligence tools in HR are considered, the advantages and disadvantages of each of them are highlighted. The focus is on artificial intelligence in HR processes of energy companies: personnel training and development. The ways of using artificial intelligence in HR and its impact on HR business processes and personnel efficiency are highlighted. The prospects for the development of HR systems, difficulties, dangers and risks of using artificial intelligence in HR business processes are covered. The results of the study can be used in practice when organizing a human resource management strategy for a company in the energy sector using trending artificial intelligence technologies and to ensure the efficiency of these business processes

Exploring the role of digital citizenship and digital empowerment to enhance academic performance of business students

In the changing educational environment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates the dynamic interactions between digital citizenship, digital empowerment, and academic performance. Data is collected from a survey of students at the College of Business, Al-Ahliyya Amman University. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) method of structural equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the collected data. The findings reveal how digital empowerment is directly impacted by digital education, respect and protection. It was also discovered that digital empowerment directly improves academic performance, highlighting the significance of promoting digital settings that are safe, respectful, and conducive to learning. With the changing educational landscape, this study adds to a better understanding of how digital citizenship influences students' academic performance and learning experiences. It provides educators, organizations, and legislators with useful information to help them better prepare students for success in a fast-evolving educational landscape by enhancing their digital skills and competences

A reliable route repairing scheme for internet of vehicles

Recently, Internet of Vehicles (IoVs) has been recognised as a key solution for vehicular communications. Connected vehicles and infrastructure' roadside units have been shaping the underlying architecture of IoVs technology, where the conventional routing protocols cannot facilitate reliable and efficient communication for dynamic IoVs topologies. Hence, this technology is highly susceptible to frequent network fragmentations, thus exposing communication channels to regular failure problems. This paper, thus, introduces a novel routing repair strategy, referred as Reliable Route Repairing Strategy (RRRS) to tackle routing failure problems. Repairing the operation of channel communications is prioritised according to a stability degree of the connected vehicles. The RRRS features are combined with the traditional AOMDV protocol, and a comparison study has been conducted to compare the AOMDV, the RRRS-AOMDV and the HM-AOMDV protocols. The simulation results demonstrate that the RRRS-AOMDV achieves better performance, about 30% to 45% in terms of packets overhead and latency

Rare case of chemotherapy-refractory metastatic vaginal squamous cell carcinoma with complete response to concurrent pembrolizumab and radiotherapy- case report and literature review

Primary vaginal cancer is a rare malignancy with a lack of international guidelines and supporting clinical trial evidence to guide decision making. Historical results have shown poor outcomes with chemotherapy for stage IVB vaginal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The evolving role of checkpoint inhibitors in rare gynaecological cancers prompted us to investigate the role of pembrolizumab in this setting. The efficacy of pembrolizumab in vaginal SCC has never been investigated in any clinical trial. There is established data to support the use of concurrent chemoradiotherapy in gynaecological cancers, however, the data for concurrent use of immunotherapy and radiotherapy is still lacking but is the subject of several clinical trials. We herein present the first reported case of chemotherapy refractory vaginal SCC with complete response to pembrolizumab and concurrent pelvic radiotherapy. We also present wall-eyed bilateral internuclear ophthalmoplegia (WEBINO) as a rare but new immune related adverse event

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat