Using the United Nations’ Online Services Indicator (OSI) as a benchmark, the study analyzes Jordan’s e-government performance trends from 2008 to 2022, revealing temporal variations and areas of discontent. The research incorporates diverse testing strategies, considering technological, organizational, and environmental factors, and aligns with global frameworks emphasizing usability, accessibility, and security. The proposed model unfolds in three stages: data collection, performing data operations, and target selection using the Generalized Linear Model (GLM). Leveraging web crawling techniques, the data collection process extracts structured information from the Jordanian e-government portal. Results demonstrate the model’s efficacy in assessing accessibility and predicting web crawler behavior, providing valuable insights for policymakers and officials. This model serves as a practical tool for the enhancement of e-government services, addressing citizen concerns and improving overall service quality in Jordan and beyond.
The employees in academic sector had to face an abrupt change due to Covid-19 pandemic and transformation of education into online and remote learning. This has led to virtual work intensity as an aftermath that negatively influences employees’ job satisfaction. In addition, due to remote working conditions, the lines between work and life had been dimmed and thus, the current situation is important to be addressed for wellbeing of academic staff. This research specifically aims to examine impact of virtual work intensity on job satisfaction among university staff. Furthermore, mediating effect of organizational support and work-life balance on the aforementioned relationship are analyzed to better understand the underlying effects. Through PLS-SEM and using a questionnaire survey, a total of 183 data were collected from teachers and administrative staff of two universities. The results show that virtual work intensity can hinder job satisfaction, while organizational support and work-life balance can improve job satisfaction of academic employees. This is due to the fact that support, and balance act against work intensity that diminishes wellbeing of individuals. This implies the vital role of organizations (e.g., human resource department) in providing support for their staff, and creating an environment, where academic staff can have a better work-life balance, leading to higher rates of job satisfaction as an important factor for psychological wellbeing.
In this study, nano-scale microstructural evolution in 6061-T6 alloy after laser shock processing (LSP) was studied. 6061-T6 alloy plate was subjected to multiple LSP. The LSP treated area was characterized by X-ray diffraction and the microstructure of the samples was analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. Focused Ion Beam (FIB) tools were used to prepare TEM samples in precise areas. It was found that even though aluminum had high stacking fault energy, LSP yielded to formation of ultrafine grains and deformation faults such as dislocation cells, stacking faults. The stacking fault probability (PSF) was obtained in LSP-treated alloy using X-Ray diffraction. Deformation induced stacking faults lead to the peak position shifts, broadening and asymmetry of diffraction. XRD analysis and TEM observations revealed significant densities of stacking faults in LSP-treated 6061-T6 alloy. And mechanical properties of LSP-treated alloy were also determined to understand the hardening behavior with high concentration of structural defects.
Fire, a phenomenon occurs in most parts of the world and causes severe financial losses, even, irreparable damages. Many parameters are involved in the occurrence of a fire; some of which are constant over time (at least in a fire cycle), but the others are dynamic and vary over time. Unlike the earthquake, the disturbance of fire depends on a set of physical, chemical, and biological relations. Monitoring the changes to predict the occurrence of fire is efficient in forest management. Method: In this research, the Persian and English databases were structurally searched using the keywords of fire risk modeling, fire risk, fire risk prediction, remote sensing and the reviewed papers that predicted the fire risk in the field of remote sensing and geographic information system were retrieved. Then, the modeling and zoning data of fire risk prediction were extracted and analyzed in a descriptive manner. Accordingly, the study was conducted in 1995-2017. Findings: Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) zoning method was more practical among the applied methods and the plant moisture stress measurement was the most efficient among the remote sensing indices. Discussion and Conclusion: The findings indicate that RS and GIS are effective tools in the study of fire risk prediction.
This multiple case study qualitative research examined the impact of adoption and diffusion of innovation on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) growth in the hostile business landscape of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This research is intended to investigate research data and consequent findings based on an interview protocol that was purposefully developed from extant literature, complemented by an initial pilot study of two pharmaceutical SMEs. The researcher conducted 20 interviews, guided by the semi-structured interview protocol offered to the respondents beforehand after sorting their informed consent. The 20 participants represented the different hierarchal levels of the 08 case study of pharmaceutical from the two industrial clusters of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, located at the Hayatabad Industrial Estate, Peshawar, and the Rashkai Industrial Estate, Nowshera. The analysis of the data presented findings and corroborated the research propositions that those SMEs that are structurally entrepreneurial and adopt innovation amenably, are open to mobility and tourism, yield satisfactory results in terms of their growth as compared to those that are inertial and unentrepreneurial. Similarly, the results offer confirmation that the effectiveness of government agencies that are explicitly formed to address the problems of small businesses is insufficient. They rather create hindrances than assistance due to the excessive delays in approving innovative ideas and conceptions by these related organizations and ministries. Moreover, the proposed framework offers pragmatic recommendations to contextualize entrepreneurial culture and innovative structures in SMEs and their essential factors in critical environmental circumstances.
The design of effective flood risk mitigation strategies and their subsequent implementation is crucial for sustainable development in mountain areas. The assessment of the dynamic evolution of flood risk is the pillar of any subsequent planning process that is targeted at a reduction of the expected adverse consequences of the hazard impact. This study focuses on riverbed cities, aiming to analyze flood occurrences and their influencing factors. Through an extensive literature review, five key criteria commonly associated with flood events were identified: slope height, distance from rivers, topographic index, and runoff height. Utilizing the network analysis process within Super Decision software, these factors were weighted, and a final flood risk map was generated using the simple weighted sum method. 75% of the data was used for training, and 25% of it was used for testing. Additionally, vegetation changes were assessed using Landsat imagery from 2000 and 2022 and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The focus of this research is Qirokarzin city as a case study of riverbed cities, situated in Fars province, with Qir city serving as its central hub. Key rivers in Qirokarzin city include the Qara Aghaj River, traversing the plain from north to south; the primary Mubarak Abad River, originating from the east; and the Dutulghaz River, which enters the eastern part of the plain from the southwest of Qir, contributing to plain nourishment during flood events. The innovation of this paper is that along with the objective to produce a reliable delineation of hazard zones, a functional distinction between the loading and the response system (LS and RS, respectively) is made. Results indicate the topographic index as the most influential criterion, delineating Qirokarzin city into five flood risk zones: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. Notably, a substantial portion of Qirokarzin city (1849.8 square kilometers, 8.54% of the area) falls within high- to very-high flood risk zones. Weighting analysis reveals that the topographic humidity index and runoff height are the most influential criteria, with weights of 0.27 and 0.229, respectively. Conversely, the height criterion carries the least weight at 0.122. Notably, 46.7% of the study area exhibits high flood intensity, potentially attributed to variations in elevation and runoff height. Flood potential findings show that the middle class covers 32.3%, indicating moderate flood risk due to changes in elevation and runoff height. The low-level risk is observed sporadically from the east to the west of the study area, comprising 12.4%. Analysis of vegetation changes revealed a significant decline in forest and pasture cover despite agricultural and horticultural development, exacerbating flood susceptibility.
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