Measuring the Relationship between Core Competencies of Faculty Members and the Quality of Scientific Research of Graduate Students at Jordan’s Private Universities

Private universities in Jordan are considered an important sector in the Jordanian economy and they serve a large number of students. Private universities face many challenges some of which include accreditation standards, incompatibility of their academic programs with market demands, faculty competencies, management and social implications and the quality of their scientific research. The main purpose of this research is to focus on testing the theme that includes the measurement of the relationship between the core competencies of faculty members and the quality of scientific research of graduate students at Jordan’s private universities. Keywords: Core Competencies, Quality, Scientific Research, Standard

The Relationship between Managers’ Level-Five Leadership Style and their Employees’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Telecommunication Companies in Jordan

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between managers’ level-five leadership style and their employees’ organizational citizenship behavior in the Jordanian telecommunication companies in Jordan. The importance of the study is to find out whether or not this style can nurture or develop the employees’ OCB and it is meaningful because it is the first to be conducted in recent years. The role of leaders is to motivate subordinates to achieve their objectives which feed the achievement of the global organizations’ objective. Old prejudices and stereotypes, such as perceiving employees’ sole motivator or stimulator to have organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with its attributes altruism, courtesy, conscientiousness, sportsmanship and civic virtues, is the material pay back. The so called level-five leadership style qualities, as being highly capable individual, contributing, team member, competent manager, effective leader and great leader found to be motivators to make  employees behave with (OCB) . After analyzing the results, it was concluded that to nurture a culture behavior shaped with altruism, courtesy, conscientiousness, sportsmanship and civic virtues, was necessary for leaders to recognize the need of adapting level-five leadership style qualities, employing the high professionalism in conducting business, but at the same time conducting the business with humanity. Following the quantitative methods with two tailor made designed and developed study questionnaires. The two questionnaires were distributed among the three main telecom companies’ employees in Jordan to get as profoundly insight as possible when it comes first to their perceptions of their managers’ level-five leadership style with its elements “highly capable individual, contributing individual, team member, competent manager, effective leader & great leader”. The second one was designed to get the insight about how subordinates perceive their organizational citizenship behavior level with its dimensions “altruism, courtesy, conscientiousness, sportsmanship and civic virtues”. The population of this study was the headquarters of the three main Jordanian Telecom Companies and the unit of analysis was the employees who are working at the head quarters & the calculated sample was (299). The study followed the analytical descriptive method to investigate the relationship between the independent variables and the dependant variables. Statistical tools were used to highlight the sample characteristics and to test the study hypotheses such as Cronbach Alpha, Correlation coefficient, F test, chi-square test, & the regression analysis.   The study comes up with the following findings: Employees are showing high level of organizational citizenship behavior especially when it comes to courtesy, altruism, civic virtues and conscientiousness. There is a positive relationship between managers’ level-five leadership style & employees’ (OCB). The study comes out with weak results for the effective leader quality. That comes obvious when we talk about setting clear objectives and motivating employees to achieve results and perform effectively. The result of the study shows strong results for the telecom leaders being highly capable individuals, contributing team members and competent managers.   Also the study recommended the following: Leaders need to settle this issue smartly and need to set their subordinates for more success. Managers need to take the following actions: Setting SMART objectives and goals for employees in order to be able to measure the development of their achievements. Managers need to set meeting on monthly bases with their employees to check on the development of the achievements. HR department needs to make a follow up on managers to check whether they set SMART objectives for their employees and follow their achievement. HR department needs to design training programs for managers on how to set SMART objectives for the subordinates and how to follow up on these objectives. Holding the responsibility of the negative results: at the end of the day it is a shared responsibility and sometimes it is the managers’ own responsibility as they are the ones who set the vision and guide the subordinates toward the achievements of their goals. So Telecom companies need to make it clear that leaders have to lead and to guide, so they hold the responsibility of any failure, not the subordinate. Keywords: Level-Five Leadership, Citizenship, Competent, Effective, Altruism, Courtesy, Conscientiousness, Sportsmanship, Civic Virtue

Evaluation of Ramp Metering Algorithms Using Microsimulation

The goal of the thesis was to determine the effectiveness of implementing different ramp metering strategies along I-35 in Kansas City using microsimulation analysis. Ramp metering enhances traffic conditions on the mainline by restricting the accessibility of the on-ramp traffic. Traffic data for one year (04/01/2016 to 03/31/2017) during the peak period were used to evaluate the performance of the facility before and after implementing known ramp metering strategies. The evaluation was done using the VISSIM microsimulation software. The locations of the metered junctions along I-35 were obtained from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), since KDOT installed ramp meters at these locations in 2017. Four ramp meters were located at the southbound direction and two at the northbound direction. In this thesis only the I-35 southbound movements were evaluated, as the meters at the northbound direction were placed primarily for safety purposes. The I-35 southbound corridor starts from Cambridge Dr. in the north and ends at 75th St. in the south. The ramp meters are located at the 7th St., Southwest Blvd., 18th St. Expressway, and 67th St. on-ramps. Currently, KDOT is implementing a speed-based algorithm, the details of which are unknown since the exact algorithm is proprietary. As such, for the purposes of this thesis a review of the literature was conducted to identify possible ramp metering algorithms to evaluate, and it was decided to use one localized and one system-wide ramp metering algorithm. The selected localized ramp metering algorithm is the ALINEA (Papageorgiou et al., 1991). ALINEA is an occupancy-based ramp metering algorithm that operates to maintain the occupancy in the freeway at the congestion location close to the critical occupancy that corresponds to maximum throughput. The selected system-wide ramp metering algorithm is HERO (Papamichail and Papageorgiou 2008). HERO uses ALINEA as its base algorithm, and uses a master/slave protocol. These two ramp metering algorithms, as well as the No Control scenario were evaluated considering various performance measures obtained through microsimulation. Traffic data were obtained from the KC Scout portal. The data obtained were screened for days with adverse weather conditions, traffic incidents, and bad detector data. The remaining data were used to obtain traffic demands and off-ramp relative flows to be used in VISSIM. The three control scenarios (ALINEA, HERO, and No Control) were simulated using 60 demand scenarios. These scenarios were created by averaging the weekday data in each month. Each demand scenario was run four times with different seed numbers to account for variations throughout the week, resulting in a total of 240 simulated days. The selected performance measures that were used to perform the evaluation were travel time and travel time reliability, speeds, throughput, queue lengths, and congestion duration. The entire facility travel time did not show significant improvement; however, significant travel time improvements were observed at the northern part of the facility. Congestion duration decreased after implementing the ramp metering algorithms at all metered locations except the 67th Street. Mainline spot mean speed at the metered locations also increased. Also, the throughput increased after implementing the ramp metering strategies compared to the No Control scenario. Overall, ALINEA was found to perform better than HERO; however, ALINEA had longer queues on the on-ramps, spillback percentage to the arterials and waiting times compared to HERO at all the metered locations except at 7th St. on-ramp. This is because in ALINEA a queue flush system was used when the queue length reaches a threshold, while in HERO, a queue control strategy that adapts to queue length was used

Experimental Toxocara cati Infection in Gerbils and Rats

Mongolian gerbils and Wistar rats were inoculated orally with 240 and 2,500 Toxocara cati embryonated eggs, respectively, to evaluate the larval recovery in different tissues and organs, such as the liver, lungs, heart, kidney, and skeletal muscles after 5, 30, 49, 70, and 92 days post-infection (PI). Larval recovery rates were 1.7-30.0% in Mongolian gerbils on days 5-92 PI and 0.2-3.8% in rats on the same days. These results indicate that Mongolian gerbils and Wistar rats are suitable experimental paratenic hosts for the study of neurological toxocariasis as well as visceral toxocariasis

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Background: Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. // Methods: We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung's disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. // Findings: We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung's disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middle-income countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in low-income countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. // Interpretation: Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Evaluation of Ramp Metering Impacts on Travel Time Reliability and Traffic Operations through Simulation

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Ramp metering has been found to improve traffic conditions on the freeway mainline by breaking the platoons of ramp vehicles minimizing turbulence at the merge locations. The majority of the ramp metering evaluation studies have examined traffic performance under specific demand conditions, whereas travel time reliability and variability aspects have not been adequately addressed. This paper focuses on evaluating two well-known ramp metering algorithms in terms of travel time reliability as well as other performance measures such as queue lengths, throughput, and congestion duration, looking at a wide range of traffic demands throughout a calendar year. The evaluation was done through simulating an 8-mile corridor in Kansas City, KS. The results showed localized improvements due to ramp metering at the northern section of the facility, in terms of travel time reliability, throughput, and congestion duration. It was also shown that ramp metering may cause a new (possibly “hidden”) bottleneck to occur downstream, thus diluting its overall benefits when looking at an entire freeway facility. It is further noted that although ALINEA performed better than HERO on the mainline, traffic operations on the on-ramps significantly deteriorated using isolated control

Evaluation of Ramp Metering Impacts on Travel Time Reliability and Traffic Operations through Simulation

Ramp metering has been found to improve traffic conditions on the freeway mainline by breaking the platoons of ramp vehicles minimizing turbulence at the merge locations. The majority of the ramp metering evaluation studies have examined traffic performance under specific demand conditions, whereas travel time reliability and variability aspects have not been adequately addressed. This paper focuses on evaluating two well-known ramp metering algorithms in terms of travel time reliability as well as other performance measures such as queue lengths, throughput, and congestion duration, looking at a wide range of traffic demands throughout a calendar year. The evaluation was done through simulating an 8-mile corridor in Kansas City, KS. The results showed localized improvements due to ramp metering at the northern section of the facility, in terms of travel time reliability, throughput, and congestion duration. It was also shown that ramp metering may cause a new (possibly “hidden”) bottleneck to occur downstream, thus diluting its overall benefits when looking at an entire freeway facility. It is further noted that although ALINEA performed better than HERO on the mainline, traffic operations on the on-ramps significantly deteriorated using isolated control