Case Study on the Dissemination of Radicalism on Social Media

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there is a close connection between exposure to radicalism and the quantity of terrorism-related discourse on social media. For this study, responses from local high school students were gathered using a technique called as simple random sampling. The number of samples was determined using the method for proportional stratified random sampling, with a precision value of 10 percent and a confidence level of 90 percent. After applying these settings, a total sample of 93 respondents was generated. The data collection process comprised survey research and literature studies, while the data analysis methodology included single table analysis, cross tables, and hypothesis testing. Due to the fact that the majority of respondents visited social media for less than one hour in total, the results suggested that the impact of social media discourse on broadcast of terrorist actions was minimal. There is a connection between the degree of exposure to radicalism and the impact that terrorist rhetoric has on social media. This connection is weak yet indisputable

An Intercultural Study of Refusal Strategies Used in Jordanian Arabic and American English

The present study compares and contrasts the refusal speech act in Jordanian Arabic and American English. The refusal speech act is among the most dominant issues in disciplines such as educational environment and social work. Researchers become more interested in such topics as it helps them to compare and contrast between native and non-native speakers of English. Therefore, the topic is quite common regarding identifying the strategies among non- native speakers. However, very little research discovered the similarities and differences between native and non-native speakers of English. Thus, the researchers of this study tried to fill the gap by presenting an intercultural study of Refusal Strategies Used in Jordanian Arabic and American English. Refusing to take part in an action is a negative response that may result in a disagreement and harm the relationship between the listener and the provider. To prevent conflict when a presenter must deny a request, the presenter must deliver an appropriate denial and adapt to the interlocutors perspective as well as the nature of the issue. The researchers used a modified Discourse Completion Test (DCT) as the research instrument. The findings reveal that both participant groups mainly preferred indirect strategies, followed by adjunct and direct strategies. In comparison, Jordanians tended to use more subversive strategies, unlike American participants who used a direct rejection strategy. The paper ends with an argument of significant future research areas

The Leadership Role of Academic Departments in Integrating New Faculty Members in Yarmouk University from Their Perspective

This study aimed to investigate the role that academic departments play to integrate new faculty members in Yarmouk University. The study sample consisted of (120) newly hired faculty members in the first semester of the academic year (2009/2010). The results showed that the leadership role of the academic departments was «moderate», from the responders respective. Furthermore, the results indicated that there was a significant statistical difference at (α<0.05) in the means of the responders' responses related to job title in favor of professors, whereas there was no significant statistical difference at (α<0.05) in the means of the responders' responses related to the gender or specialization

Validation of the Arabic version of the Social Communication Questionnaire

Validated screening and diagnostic tools for autism spectrum disorder for use in Arabic-speaking individuals are scarce. This study validated the Arabic version of the Social Communication Questionnaire. The total study sample included 206 children with autism spectrum disorder and 206 typically developing children (73.8% male; mean age: 8.5 (standard deviation = 2.6) years). The mean Social Communication Questionnaire total score was significantly higher in autism spectrum disorder children than in typically developing children (p < 0.0001). Scores on the three Social Communication Questionnaire subscales also differed significantly between the groups (p < 0.001). Of the 39 items, 37 were endorsed significantly more often in the autism spectrum disorder group. The total Social Communication Questionnaire score did not vary by age or gender. Internal consistency was excellent (alpha = 0.92). In the receiver operating characteristic analysis, the area under the curve for the total score showed excellent discrimination between autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children (area under the curve = 0.95; 95% confidence interval: 0.93–0.97). The areas under the curve for the scale subscores were 0.923 (95% confidence interval: 0.898–0.949) for the social interaction score, 0.872 (95% confidence interval: 0.838–0.905) for the communication score, and 0.856 (95% confidence interval: 0.819–0.893) for the repetitive behaviors score. The findings support the use of the Arabic Social Communication Questionnaire to successfully differentiate children with clinically diagnosed autism spectrum disorder using the established cutoff value for the English version.The authors would like to thank all the staff of the autism centers and schools who contributed in distributing and collecting the SCQ forms. They also would like to thank Western Psychological Services (WPS) staff for their help during the process of translating and reviewing the Arabic SCQ. They acknowledge Jennifer Holmes, ELS, for medical editing. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The study was funded by the Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP 6-093-3-024)

Prevalence and correlates of autism spectrum disorder in Qatar: a national study

Background Few epidemiological data on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exist for Arabic countries. We conducted the first survey of ASD in Qatar, a population with high consanguinity level. Methods This cross‐sectional survey was conducted from 2015 to 2018 in Qatar school‐age children (N = 176,960) from national and immigrant families. Children diagnosed with ASD were identified through medical centers and special needs schools. Records were abstracted and supplemented by parental interviews. Additionally, children attending 93 schools were screened; ASD case status was confirmed in random samples of screen‐positive and screen‐negative children. Prevalence was estimated after taking into account different sampling fractions and participation rates at each survey phase. Results One thousand three hundred and ninety‐three children already diagnosed with ASD were identified. Among 9,074 school survey participants, 760 screen‐negative children and 163 screen‐positive children were evaluated; 17 were confirmed to have ASD including five children newly diagnosed. Prevalence was 1.14% (95% CI: 0.89–1.46) among 6‐ to 11‐year‐olds. ASD was reported in full siblings/extended relatives in 5.9% (95% CI: 0.042–0.080)/11.8% (95% CI: 0.095–0.146) families. First‐degree consanguinity in Qatari cases (45%) was comparable to known population levels. Among 844 ASD cases (mean age: 7.2 years; 81% male), most children experienced language delay (words: 75.1%; phrase speech: 91.4%), and 19.4% reported developmental regression. At the time of the survey, persisting deficits in expressive language (19.4%) and peer interactions (14.0%) were reported in conjunction with behavioral problems (ADHD: 30.2%; anxiety: 11.0%). In multivariate logistic regression, ASD severity was associated with parental consanguinity, gestational diabetes, delay in walking, and developmental regression. Conclusions ASD prevalence in Qatar is consistent with recent international studies. The methods employed in this study should help designing comparable surveys in the region. We estimated that 187,000 youths under age 20 have ASD in Gulf countries. This figure should assist in planning health and educational services for a young, fast‐growing population.The study was supported by the Qatar National Research Fund. The sponsor had no role in the design and conduct of the study, or the collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data, or in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript, and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors thank all the independent and private schools that have participated in the SCQ screening phase. The authors thank the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Education for providing their team with the data required throughout the study. The authors would like to express our gratitude to the psychological services team at the Shafallah Center for Children with Disabilities, as well as Dr. Irshad Shafeullah and Dr. Zakariah Al-Sayed for their support in patient recruitment. The authors also thank our colleagues from QBRI: Dr. Hatem Al-Shanti for his assistance in patient phenotyping, and Mr. Yasser Al-Sarraj and Ms. Hamda AlMutawwa for their support with patient recruitment. The authors thank Dr. Hanaa Massoud for assisting with patient recruitment through the clinic at the Child Development Center in Rumailah Hospital. The authors would also like to express their appreciation to the QBRI administration team for their assistance with planning and logistics pertaining to research-related training sessions and research collaborator visits. Additionally, the authors would like to thank all of the special needs centers and clinics which collaborated with us to provide data needed for the high probability cases; Shafallah Center for Children with Disabilities, Hamad Medical Corporation, Child Development Center ? Rumailah Hospital, Child Development Center-Private, Renad Academy, Al-Tamakun school, Step by Step Center, Qatar Institute for Speech and Hearing, and Hope Center. The authors also thank the HBKU Sponsored Research Office for the support provided throughout the research funding period.?K.R. and the OHSU Biostatistics & Design Program was partially supported by the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI) through OHSU Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA UL1TR0002369) National Consortium. The authors are immensely grateful to the families and their children for their time and participation in any of the phases of the research. F.A. and E.F. designed the research plan. F.A., M.A., and E.F. applied for funding. F.A., H.A., S.E., I.G., M.T., M.A., M.K., N.A.A., M.A., A.H.S., and L.D. organized the data collection. F.A., H.A., S.E., and I.G. completed data entry and cleaning, and performed initial data analyses with M.A. E.F. performed data and statistical analyses. K.R. provided biostatistical advice. E.F., F.A., and I.G. wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript. The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest.Scopu

Spin-polarized supercurrents for spintronics: a review of current progress

During the past 15 years a new field has emerged, which combines superconductivity and spintronics, with the goal to pave a way for new types of devices for applications combining the virtues of both by offering the possibility of long-range spin-polarized supercurrents. Such supercurrents constitute a fruitful basis for the study of fundamental physics as they combine macroscopic quantum coherence with microscopic exchange interactions, spin selectivity, and spin transport. This report follows recent developments in the controlled creation of long-range equal-spin triplet supercurrents in ferromagnets and its contribution to spintronics. The mutual proximity-induced modification of order in superconductor-ferromagnet hybrid structures introduces in a natural way such evasive phenomena as triplet superconductivity, odd-frequency pairing, Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov pairing, long-range equal-spin supercurrents, $\pi$-Josephson junctions, as well as long-range magnetic proximity effects. All these effects were rather exotic before 2000, when improvements in nanofabrication and materials control allowed for a new quality of hybrid structures. Guided by pioneering theoretical studies, experimental progress evolved rapidly, and since 2010 triplet supercurrents are routinely produced and observed. We have entered a new stage of studying new phases of matter previously out of our reach, and of merging the hitherto disparate fields of superconductivity and spintronics to a new research direction: super-spintronics.Comment: 95 pages, 23 Figures; published version with minor typos corrected and few references adde

Pt and CoB trilayer Josephson π junctions with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

We report on the electrical transport properties of Nb based Josephson junctions with Pt/Co68B32/Pt ferromagnetic barriers. The barriers exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, which has the main advantage for potential applications over magnetisation in-plane systems of not affecting the Fraunhofer response of the junction. In addition, we report that there is no magnetic dead layer at the Pt/Co68B32 interfaces, allowing us to study barriers with ultra-thin Co68B32. In the junctions, we observe that the magnitude of the critical current oscillates with increasing thickness of the Co68B32 strong ferromagnetic alloy layer. The oscillations are attributed to the ground state phase difference across the junctions being modified from zero to π. The multiple oscillations in the thickness range 0.2 ⩽ dCoB ⩽ 1.4 nm suggests that we have access to the first zero-π and π-zero phase transitions. Our results fuel the development of low-temperature memory devices based on ferromagnetic Josephson junctions