The effect of human resources practice on job satisfaction among the academics staffs of Yarmok University in Jordan

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of human resources practice on job satisfaction among the academics staffs of Yarmok University in Jordan. The factors that examined in this study are training and development, compensations, performance appraisal, benefit as well as safety and health. The Yarmok Universitie academics staffs were the respondent of this study. The respondent was obtained from the human resource department of the University, a total of 283 questionnaires were distributed to obtained the primary data used for this study, both descriptive and internal analysis employed in this study, the result shows that training and development, compensation, performance appraisal, safety and health precedents employee job satisfaction with training and development showing strongest contribution, suggestions are made for future research on ways to enhance job satisfaction among employee

Ensembles of choice-based models for recommender systems

In this thesis, we focused on three main paradigms: Recommender Systems, Decision Making, and Ensembles. The work is structured as follows. First, the thesis analyzes the potential of choice-based models. The motivation behind this was based on the idea of applying sound decisionmaking paradigms, such as choice and utility theory, in the field of Recommender Systems. Second, this research analyzes the cognitive process underlying choice behavior. On the one hand, neural and gaze activity were recorded experimentally from different subjects performing a choice task in a Web Interface. On the other hand, cognitive were fitted using rational, emotional, and attentional features. Finally, the work explores the hybridization of choice-based models with ensembles. The goal is to take the best of the two worlds: transparency and performance. Two main methods were analyzed to build optimal choice-based ensembles: uninformed and informed. First one, two strategies were evaluated: 1-Learner and N-Learners ensembles. Second one, we relied on three types of prior information: (1) High diversity, (2) Low error prediction (MSE), (3) and Low crowd error

Nexus between Intellectual Capital and Financial Performance Sustainability: Evidence from Listed Jordanian Firms

Purpose: The authors observe the effect of exploring the reality of Intellectual Capital (IC) and its impact on the financial performance of Jordanian industrial firms in Amman Stock Exchange. This empirical research explores the effect of intellectual capital on financial performance using data from 36 Jordanian industrial firms listed in Amman Stock Exchange for the period 2016-2020. The Value-Added Intellectual coefficient (VAIC) was adopted to measure the intellectual capital, while the return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and earnings per share (EPS) were adopted as measures of the companys financial performance. The effect of IC was tested by using statistical analysis, dependent on the data obtained from annual financial statements. The results showed that the IC has a significant and positive effect on profitability due to its significant effect on ROA and EPS. However, it has not been proven that IC affects the ROE. This research extends the research on IC and aims to enrich studies in this field, especially in the Jordanian market. It reflects the reality of Intellectual Capital and its impact on industrial firms’ performance in Jordan as an example of developing countrie

Evaluation of the validity of the pre-marriage mean corpuscular volume value as a predictive test for b-thalassemia carrier status

Background: The national mandatory premarital screening test is based on mean corpuscular volume (MCV) > 80 fL value for the detection of b-thalassemia to provide acceptance for marriage. The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of MCV as a screening test for b-thalassemia trait in the present population. Methods: This study was conducted on 418 blood samples collected from adult individuals. The diagnosis of b-thalassemia carrier was given to those having HbA2 values equal to or above 3.5%. The diagnostic reliability of different RBC indices and formulas in discriminating cases of b-thalassemia trait were evaluated. Finally, a new index called "Momani" was determined based on MCV, RDW and RBC count. Results: b-thalassemia trait was identified in 10% of the cases. The measured MCV value was significantly lower in b-thalassemia carrier group compared to non-carrier group (p = <0.001). MCV value and RBC count showed a higher diagnostic reliability than other RBC indices. We found that MCV ≤ 74.45 fL is more suitable cutoff value of MCV with 86.2% specificity, 71.4% sensitivity, 36.6% positive predictive value, and 96.4% negative predictive value. Finally, our index "Momani" was found to be useful in predicting carrier and paralleled the performance of Sirdah, Mentzer, and Ehsani indices. Conclusions: MCV<80 is a useful but not a perfect cutoff point for the screening of b-thalassemia carriers from noncarriers. The diagnostic accuracy of MCV can be improved by selecting a new cutoff value. Moreover, "Momani" index shows good discrimination ability in diagnosing b-thalassemia carrier in our population

Application of choice models in tourism recommender systems

Choice models (CM) are proposed in the field of tourism recommender systems (TRS)with the aim of providing algorithms with both a theoretical understanding of tour-ist's motivations and a certain degree of transparency. The goal of this work is toovercome some of the limitations of current state-of-art algorithms used in TRSs byproviding: (1) accurate preferences, which are learnt from user choices rather thanfrom ratings, and (2) interpretable coefficients, which are achieved by means of theset of estimated parameters of CM. The study was carried out with a gastronomicdata set generated in an ecological experiment in the tourism domain. The perfor-mance of CM has been compared with a set of baseline algorithms (rating-based andensembles) by using two evaluation metrics: precision and DCG. The CM out-performed the baseline algorithms when the size of the choice set was limited. Thefindings suggest that CM may provide an optimal trade-off between theoreticalsoundness, interpretability and performance in the field of TRSThis research was sponsored by EMALCSA/Coruña Smart City under grant CSC-14-13, the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain under grant TIN2014-56633-C3-1-R, the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain under grant MTM2013-41383P, the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (accreditation 2016-2019, ED431G/08), and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)S

Silicon Quantum Dots Derived From Zinc Oxide Incorporated Porous Silicon For Photovoltaic Applications

The transition metals were used to enhance the optical properties of the semiconductor. Zinc (Zn) was inserted in porous silicon (PSi) and silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) to improve the optical properties by reducing oxidation. The colloidal Si QDs integrated with Zn oxide (ZnOSi QDs) were obtained from the electrochemically etched PSi with Zn inclusion followed by the sonication, that process called the top-down process. The emission spectra of the studied ZnOSi QDs were mainly ascribed to the effects of quantum confinement and zinc oxide (ZnO) surface layer on the Si QDs that minimized the Si oxidation. The combining top-down and bottom-up processes led to producing ZnOSi QDs of various bandgaps depending on the particles size; hence drawbacks encounter Si QDs such as the challenge to produce particles of uniform size and Si QDs oxidized after the electrochemical process due to ambient exposure, were exceeded. The bottom-up method was used to reproduce these ZnOSi QDs with various uniform sizes and shapes by regrowth of the Si QDs, which ZnO covered. Thin films containing titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) were prepared from titanium hydroxide (Ti(OH)4). Spherical TiO2 NPs of average size in the range of 3.2 nm to 33.94 nm were utilised to improve the extraction of photo-generated charges. The graded bandgap quantum dots solar cells (GBQDSCs) were fabricated based on non-toxic materials such as Si QDs and TiO2 NPs. ZnOSi QDs layers of various sizes were inserted between the PSi and TiO2 NPs to achieve GBQDSCs

Electrochemical oxidation of ammonia (NH4+/NH3) ON synthesized nickel-cobalt oxide catalyst

Ni–C and Co/Ni–C electro-catalysts were prepared using solvothermal reaction method and used to oxidize ammonia in aqueous solution. Ni and Co were consistently dispersed in carbon generating spherical and porous structure (pore size~ 20–50 nm). The sphericity and porosity of the electro-catalysts increased by increasing the percentage of Co in the composite. The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of Co/Ni–C composite with a reasonable presence of metal hydroxide (Ni(OH)2 & Co(OH)2). The addition of Co to Ni–C enhanced ammonia oxidation reaction (AOR) by decreasing the oxidation peaks in the range of 0.23–0.56 V, increasing the reversible production of metal-hydroxides and generating power (Pgen) to sustain the reaction. The reported Pgen were 0.55, 0.85, 1.1 and 0.0.93 mW/cm2 for Ni–C, Co10/Ni–C, Co20/Ni–C and Co40/Ni–C. A concentration of Co higher than 40% decreased cell potential (Vcell) and reduced the percentage removal of ammonia (%REAmm). A %REAmm of 97 and 99% were achieved by Ni–C and Co20/Ni–C, respectively. The mechanism of AOR follows direct electron transfer at low initial ammonia concentrations and changed to oxidation mechanism at higher concentrations. AOR is more effective at alkaline and high temperature with a high possible chance to be used as fuel in electrochemical cell to generate electricity as well as treating wastewater contaminated with ammonia.Scopu

Matching a laser driven proton injector to a CH-drift tube linacs

Experimental results and theoretical predictions in laser acceleration of protons achieved energies of ten to several tens of MeV. The LIGHT project (Laser Ion Generation, Handling and Transport) is proposed to use the PHELIX laser accelerated protons and to provide transport, focusing and injection into a conventional accelerator. This study demonstrates transport and focusing of laser-accelerated 10 MeV protons by a pulsed 18 T magnetic solenoid. The effect of co-moving electrons on the beam dynamics is investigated. The unique features of the proton distribution like small emittances and high yield of the order of 1013 protons per shot open new research area. The possibility of creating laser based injectors for ion accelerators is addressed. With respect to transit energies, direct matching into DTL's seems adequate. The bunch injection into a proposed CH− structure is under investigation at IAP Frankfurt. Options and simulation tools are presented

On the optimal computing budget allocation problem for large scale simulation optimization

Selecting a set that contains the best simulated systems is an important area of research. When the number of alternative systems is large, then it becomes impossible to simulate all alternatives, so one needs to relax the problem in order to find a good enough simulated system rather than simulating each alternative. One way for solving this problem is to use two-stage sequential procedure. In the first stage the ordinal optimization is used to select a subset that overlaps with the actual best systems with high probability. Then in the second stage an optimization procedure can be applied on the smaller set to select the best alternatives in it. In this paper, we consider the optimal computing budget allocation (OCBA) in the second stage that distribute available computational budget on the alternative systems in order to get a correct selection with high probability. We also discuss the effect of the simulation parameters on the performance of the procedure by implementing the procedure on three different examples. The numerical results indeed indicate that the choice of these parameters affect its performance.Scopu