Evaluating the Status of the Accounting System in the Small and Medium Enterprises in Jordan

This study aimed to identify the status of accounting system in the small and medium enterprises in Jordan.  To achieve this aim, a questionnaire was designed and distributed into 100 respondents of owners of small and medium enterprises in Jordan where 80 questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed statistically.  The study concluded that these enterprises lack of requirements of the good accounting system; these enterprises do not employ accountants but they get help from an external accountant where there is a need and these enterprises do not also have appropriate set of documents and do not keep suitable records. And these enterprises prepared only income statement and balance sheet and ignore preparing cash flows statement  and mentioning disclosures. In addition, these enterprises do not audit their accounts at a legal audit office and they do not adapt any of computerized accounting systems. Keywords: accounting system, documents,  financial statements, qualitative characteristics of accounting information, small and medium enterprises

An Empirical Study of the Relationship Between Covid-19 and Jordanian Banks' Profitability

Purpose:  To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the profitability of Jordanian banks using financial disclosure data.   Theoretical framework:  The study focuses on the impact of external environmental factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and non-performing loans on the profitability of Jordanian banks.   Design/methodology/approach:  The study uses a panel model to analyze financial disclosure data of 15 Jordanian banks between 2017 and 2021. The study employs both descriptive and inferential methods, utilizing a range of secondary sources including official reports, articles, electronic journals, and previous studies.   Findings:  The study reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the Return on Assets (ROA) of Jordanian banks. Additionally, the number of bank branches, earnings per share, and non-performing loans were significantly associated with ROA and Return on Equity (ROE).   Research, Practical & Social implications:  The study highlights the sensitivity of banks to external environmental factors such as pandemics and economic shocks, which can impact their solvency and trigger a chain effect that puts the entire economy at risk. The findings can inform policy decisions and help increase bank resilience in the face of future crises.   Originality/value:  The study contributes to the literature on the impact of external environmental factors on the profitability of banks in emerging economies such as Jordan. The study's use of financial disclosure data provides a unique insight into the performance of Jordanian banks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Consequences to the Stock Market Caused by Currency Fluctuations: Jordanian Evidence

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the fluctuations in currency exchange in the stock market, as it relates to the Jordanian market.   Theoretical framework:  The study's main goal is to identify how Jordanian SMR changes in currency exchange are influenced. Thus, the rational expectations theory has been used in this study. This theory illustrates three key aspects that influence the decision to participate in the stock market, including the availability of information, prior experience, and human reason.   Design/ methodology/approach: The study incorporates the quantitative design, in which, information was extracted from secondary sources i.e. Investing.com. The information has been compiled considering the exchange rates, stock market returns, and cotton prices, beginning in 2015 and ending in 2020. The analysis has been conducted with Granger Causality test, VAR, and ADF.   Findings: The results of this study concludes that fluctuations of exchange rates do not impact changes in cotton prices and the returns of the Jordanian stock exchange.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The study is limited to Jordan, as only Jordan’s cotton price and stock market return data have been gathered. In addition, the time period of consideration of data is confined from 2015 to 2019, limiting the study’s scope.    Originality/Value: The study uses sensitivity analysis to investigate the robustness of the impacts of fluctuations in currency exchange in the stock market, as it relates to the Jordanian market

The patellofemoral joint alignment in patients with symptomatic accessory navicular bone

Quadriceps angle (Q angle) provides useful information about the alignment of the patellofemoral joint. The aim of the present study was to assess a possible link between malalignment of the patellofemoral joint and symptomatic accessory navicular (AN) bone as an underlying cause in early adolescence using Q angle measurements. This study was performed on patients presenting to the Foot and Ankle Clinic at the Jordanian Royal Medical Services because of pain on the medial side of the foot that worsened with activities or shoe wearing, with no history of knee pain, between September 2013 and April 2015. The Q angle was measured using a goniometer in 27 early adolescents aged 10-18 years diagnosed clinically and radiologically with symptomatic AN bone, only seven patients had associated pes planus deformity; the data were compared with age appropriate normal arched feet without AN. Navicular drop test (NDT) was used to assess the amount of foot pronation. The mean Q angle value among male and female patients with symptomatic AN with/without pes planus was significantly higher than in controls with normal arched feet without AN (p<0.05). Symptomatic AN feet were also associated with higher NDT values (p<0.001). The present findings suggest an early change in patellofemoral joint alignment in patients with symptomatic AN bone with/without arch collapse. Therefore, it is recommended that Q angle assessment should be an essential component of the examination in patients with symptomatic AN bone

The impacts of task technology fit, transparency, and supply chain agility on the blockchain adoption by SMEs in Jordan

This study aims to find out how much the ways that blockchain technology helps in different parts of the supply chain affect how SMEs use blockchain technology. Moreover, the research examines the correlation between blockchain use and overall performance. The data was obtained from the SMEs' owners and managers, who have the authority to implement blockchain technology. Two follow-up phone calls yielded 145 usable replies from 500 prospective respondents, for a response rate of 29%, which was analysed employing structural equation modelling (SEM). The results demonstrated that the contributions of blockchain adoption to task technology fit, task characteristics, technology characteristics, operational supply chain transparency, and supply chain agility influenced the acceptance intentions of SME managers and that there is a significant positive correlation between blockchain adoption and overall performance. The results aid vendors and policymakers in formulating strategies and effective plans to accelerate blockchain adoption by SMEs. Furthermore, the findings provide owners/managers of SMEs with reason to believe that blockchain technology might be a source of competitive advantage

Enhanced Practical Wireless Communications Education via Blended Instructional Tools

Today's graduating telecommunications engineers need marketable skills that are typically developed beyond the traditional classrooms. These skills set can be acquired by experimenting for hands-on experience that resembles the professional field workplace. In this paper, we address blending of methodologies, applications, and the use of the Internet for delivery of knowledge, and instruction in an undergraduate wireless communications engineering course. This solution combines several different delivery methods, such as face-to-face, team collaboration, field measurements, in conjunction with high-end professional simulation software. Two examples of handover in a dual-mode cellular network and radio frequency (RF) signal propagation modeling are considered. Demonstrations and verification of theoretical models are presented based-on blending of instructional means. Lessons are learned to enhance hands-on experiments beyond traditional laboratories to strengthen in-depth analysis, learning skills of students, in addition to promoting proper team collaboration on projects

The multipole expansion of the local expansion rate

We design a new observable, the expansion rate fluctuation $\eta$, to characterize deviations from the linear relation between redshift and distance in the local universe. We also show how to compress the resulting signal into spherical harmonic coefficients in order to better decipher the structure and symmetries of the anisotropies in the local expansion rate. We apply this analysis scheme to several public catalogs of redshift-independent distances, the Cosmicflows-3 and Pantheon data sets, covering the redshift range $0.01<z<0.05$. The leading anisotropic signal is stored in the dipole. Within the standard cosmological model, it is interpreted as a bulk motion ($307 \pm 23$ km/s) of the entire local volume in a direction aligned at better than $4$ degrees with the bulk component of the Local Group velocity with respect to the CMB. This term alone, however, provides an overly simplistic and inaccurate description of the angular anisotropies of the expansion rate. We find that the quadrupole contribution is non-negligible ($\sim 50\%$ of the anisotropic signal), in fact, statistically significant, and signaling a substantial shearing of gravity in the volume covered by the data. In addition, the 3D structure of the quadrupole is axisymmetric, with the expansion axis aligned along the axis of the dipole. Implications for the determination of the $H_0$ parameter are also discussed

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 is involved in the phosphorylation of gephyrin and clustering of GABAA receptors at inhibitory synapses of hippocampal neurons.

CDK5 has been implicated in neural functions including growth, neuronal migration, synaptic transmission and plasticity of excitatory chemical synapses. Here we report robust effects of CDK5 on phosphorylation of the postsynaptic scaffold protein gephyrin and clustering of inhibitory GABAA receptors in hippocampal neurons. shRNA-mediated knockdown of CDK5 and pharmacological inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinases reduced phosphorylated gephyrin clusters and postsynaptic γ2-containing GABAA receptors. Phosphorylation of S270 is antagonized by PP1/PP2a phosphatase and site-directed mutagenesis and in vitro phosphorylation experiments indicate that S270 is a putative CDK5 phosphorylation site of gephyrin. Our data suggest that CDK5 plays an essential role for the stability of gephyrin-dependent GABAA receptor clusters in hippocampal neurons