Determining behaviour intentions from the overall destination image and risk perception

Purpose – This study aims to examine the impact of perceived risks and the overall destination image on tourists\u27 behavioural intentions. Design/Methodology/Approach – A questionnaire was prepared drawing from the scales in literature, and it was applied in a form of a self-administered questionnaire on European tourists who visited Jordan in 2018. Multiple regression analyses were applied to test the hypotheses on a data set of 339 completed questionnaires. Findings – The findings identified that two dimensions of perceived risks (financial risk and performance risk) had significant impact on the overall destination image and on tourists\u27 behavioural intentions, however, physical, time, and socio-psychological perceived risks were neither important to the tourists\u27 revisit intention nor to the overall image. Research limitation/implications – The findings solely reflect the perceived risks, the overall image, and behavioural intentions of the European tourists who visited Jordan. The focus should be placed on reducing implemented taxes on the touristic services and products in order to make Jordan more price competitive. The research originality – This study establishes an empirical relation between risk dimensions, overall image, and tourists\u27 behavioural intentions; therefore, the findings have implications on tourism industry, especially for the key players in the Jordanian tourism board. It also serves as a reference to destinations with similar risk background

Analysis of Web 2.0 Technologies for Problem-Based and Colloborative Learning

The advancement seen on the Web during the last decade has put the users in the center of the interaction. A similar tendency is apparent in education, thus making the blend of Web 2.0 technology and learning a natural part of instructional environment. The geographical spread of the students has meant that most discussions have been restricted to instances when the students are physically on campus by virtue of their scheduled classes. By using Web 2.0 technologies, students are able to collaborate remotely, at a time that suits them. The purpose of this research was to investigate and analyze the potential of using Web 2.0 tools in collaborative learning. Several interviews were conducted with users and expert opinions were sought to gather empirical data to determine which tools are suitable for collaborative learning. This project comes up with a framework for Web 2.0 tools through an organized assortment of literature and existential data to describe the benefits of these tools

Technology to enhance learning: The Jordanian experience

The rapidly growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has changed the routine life in the world. Developing nations see the economic prosperity in developed nations by development of associated information technology and development of a knowledge society.Jordan, as one of the developing countries, highly values the importance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their role in achieving an economic prosperity through the development of human resources.Unfortunately, the adoption and usage of ICT in teaching and learning process is quite low among the academic staff in the public HEIs in Jordan.The main purpose of this study is to present the differences between academic staffs’ demographic characteristics and the usage of common technologies such as computers, Internet, mobile phone, and personal digital assistant (PDA) that affects their adoption and usage of ICT in the teaching and learning process. The results show there are some significant differences between demographic factors and such common technologies.Besides, the study presents the current status of ICT usage in public HEIs in Jordan among academicians

Adoption of Information and Communication Technology in Teaching and Learning Environment in Jordanian Higher Education

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays an important role in modern institutions by facilitating and improving the teaching and learning process to be in line with the information technology age. Jordan, as one of the developing countries, highly values the importance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their role in achieving an economic prosperity through the development of human resources. Unfortunately, the adoption and usage of ICT in teaching and learning process is quite low among the academic staff in the public HEIs in Jordan. The main purpose of this study is to examine the potential prominent factors related to the adoption and usage of ICT in Jordanian HEIs among the academicians. The study provides an understanding on the ICT usage by applying the Diffusion of Innovation theory, Theory of Planned Behavior and the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior. A self-administered survey was conducted on 500 academic staff selected from public HEIs in Jordan. A total of 415 participants (83%) responded to the questionnaires. The findings showed that subjective norms, attitude towards technology, and perceived behavioral control positively affected the behavioral intention to use ICT in HEIs among academicians. The study provides recommendations to the higher education leaders and policy makers towards promoting a successful adoption and diffusion of technologies in the future. Besides, it offers a clear description about the adoption in the field of educational technologies in the context of developing countries and the Arab world in particular

A Risk Management Framework Using Digital Transformation for the Healthcare Sector during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Despite the many changes in the orientation of the world economy and the spotlight positioning, the healthcare sector remains one of the most important and critical sectors for its contribution in every aspect of human life. Improvements in the healthcare sector are seen and evident on a daily basis to cope with the technological and digital advancements in the world, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic has put these improvements into a faster pace. Several challenges in the health sector have risen to surface since the beginning of the pandemic; some of these challenges have been properly addressed and tackled, while others have shown the flaws in the healthcare sector in several countries around the world. These challenges have come with risks that can be projected on the sector as a whole, and thus this has given researchers a golden chance to dig further deep into more improvements in the sector, to have these risks identified, assessed, and eliminated or monitored in the future. Digital transformation has recently become one of the most robust tools to improve the processes and operations of organizations as whole and paramount ones in particular. Digital transformation brings however its own risks and thus a lot of research has been previously addressed the risks of digital transformation, whereas no research has yet been done on digital transformation by itself being used as a risk management and mitigation tool despite its effective use as an improvement tool and for other organizational goals. Our research comes to address the main risks in the healthcare sector and to match these risks with monitoring actions that use digital transformation as a tool. One of the main challenges the healthcare sector has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, was the ability to maintain ordinary operations while handling COVID-19 cases and controlling the spread of the virus in the healthcare facility. This situation has called for segregation of COVID-19 patients from other patients whether it was in the same facility or by adapting them into different facilities. The segregation of patients has been done using two digital solutions; embedment of automatic thermometers, and the development of an efficient scheduling strategy for COVID-19 symptomatic patients. Furthermore, other challenges have risen due to the pandemic and caused major risks that called for monitoring actions and solutions, whether digital or non-digital ones. To investigate these challenges, a literature review was conducted in this research to highlight the 11 most common challenges that can be included in a survey to be distributed to different healthcare organizations for the purpose of prioritization and ranking of these challenges and ultimately conclude the associated risks based on the results of the survey. In this research, a survey was conducted with over 100 hospitals inside and outside the UAE to identify the main challenges in the healthcare sector faced during the pandemic. The survey addressed the challenges that were found in the literature review to be the most impactful on the healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges acted as an inspiring source for the associated risks to be identified accordingly based on their impact result from the survey. Furthermore, an assessment of these risks was conducted to evaluate the likelihood of each risk and ultimately the risk rank and priority. The final step in the risk management strategy entailed the recommendation of monitoring actions based on digital transformation tools and techniques. Basing the monitoring actions on digital transformation will pose the trademark of this research and will highlight its originality. Moreover, the survey has also addressed three factors by questions that were answered by the respondents. These factors included the country, the size of the healthcare organization, and its technological readiness. The correlation of these factors with the collected responses of healthcare organizations is investigated using statistical tools to study the effect of these factors on the impact level of COVID-19 on the healthcare organization. This risk management framework will act as a guideline for any healthcare organization Finally, a risk management framework is drawn from these findings involving a risk response strategy and a risk control plan as part of risk registers. The main and ultimate goal of this research is to outline a recommended management approach to the healthcare sector risks caused by an event of a pandemic in general and COVID-19 in specific. This risk management framework designed in this report will act as a guideline for any healthcare organization of any size, with any level of technological readiness, and at any level outbreak severity in the country

Optimising oscillatory positive expiratory pressure devices for effective airway clearance

Oscillatory positive expiratory pressure (OPEP) devices are a form of airway clearance techniques that are wildly used in the clinical practice and well accepted by patients. Clinicians and respiratory therapists are responsible for choosing the appropriate OPEP device for their patients. In addition, they are responsible for optimising the mechanical behaviour of the device to achieve effective airway clearance results. The effectiveness of OPEP devices is critically dependent on the properties of the oscillatory pressure wave generated by these devices. However, the pressure wave parameters vary at different settings (flow rates and resistance levels combinations). Despite OPEP devices been around for several years and routinely used in clinical practice, the question remains as to “which settings are appropriate for optimum airway clearance results”. The mechanical behaviour of several OPEP devices has been investigated in previous studies. However, experimental set up variations makes a direct comparison between the results very difficult, especially for devices from different manufacturers. Also, previous attempts to inform the clinical practice on how to use OPEP devices were limited by the lack of technical performance criteria to guide optimising these devices according to patients underlying physiological dysfunction and airway clearance aims. The aim of this research is to characterise the optimum mechanical behaviour of OPEP devices for effective airway clearance. In this research, the mechanical behaviour of OPEP devices was characterised using a validated measurement system and a systematic experiment design that takes into account the findings and limitations of previous studies. The mechanical behaviour was mathematically modelled and validated using regression analysis techniques. Desirability optimisation function was used to characterise OPEP device settings that satisfy optimum technical performance criteria. Based on these findings, the research discussed how OPEP devices could be optimised in clinical practice for different disease groups and airway clearance therapy aims. In the field of airway clearance research, devices evaluation lies at the base of the evidence appraisal hierarchy. In this research, optimum technical performance criteria for effective airway clearance are proposed. This research offers a comprehensive characterisation of the mechanical behaviour of OPEP devices under a unified experimental setup and flow ranges commonly found in clinical practice. Also, this research provided a comprehensive characterisation of the optimum mechanical behaviour of OPEP devices for different disease groups and airway clearance therapy aims. A possible area for future work would be to investigate the pressure wave parameters effect on airway clearance from a fluid dynamic perspective

Temperature Effect on Frictional Properties of HMA at Different Polishing Stages

Both short-term and long-term variations have been observed in measured friction on pavement surface. These variations have been attributed to different factors, such as traffic, rainfall and temperature. Due to the fact that Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) pavement surface and rubber tires are viscoelastic materials, it is believed that temperature may affect the measured frictional properties. Some researchers have found this effect to be significant; whereas, others have not. Therefore, the effect of temperature on the measured pavement friction remains to be further studied. This paper provides the results of a laboratory study aimed at evaluating the effect of temperature on the measured frictional properties of the HMA surface. The British Pendulum Tester (BPT) was used to measure friction of HMA surfaces at different polishing stages and different temperatures. Statistical analyses were performed to quantify the effect of temperature on the measured friction numbers. The main conclusion of this paper is that temperature is statistically significant in affecting the measured friction values. However, for agencies who desire to record skid number (SN) at a reference temperature for a long-term monitoring purpose, this paper provides a method for converting SN at a given temperature to the SN at the reference temperature

The impact of Servant Leadership on Organizational Trust: The Mediating Role of Organizational Culture

This study aims to examine the impact of servant leadership on organizational trust and mediating role of organizational culture for the mentioned relationship for employees in the Kuwaiti Ministry of Higher Education. A survey questionnaire was used as the main instrument for data collection. A total of 285 questionnaires were distributed among the Kuwaiti Ministry of Higher Education employees. In total, 248 valid questionnaires to analysis were returned equivalent to 87% response rate. Data analysis was conducted with the help of PLS-SEM to determine the level of relationships among servant leadership, organizational trust, and organizational culture. According to the obtained findings, there is a positive impact of servant leadership on organizational trust, and organizational culture has a partially mediated role in the relationship between servant leadership and organizational trust. The study findings motivate future studies to carry out studies of the same caliber in other sectors to obtain different perspectives