University of Jordan

About: University of Jordan is a education organization based out in Amman, Jordan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 7796 authors who have published 13764 publications receiving 213526 citations.

Reflexivity in research: Promoting rigour, reliability and validity in qualitative research

Abstract: Background: The value of qualitative research is increasingly acknowledged in health studies, as well as the demand for employing rigorous strategies. Although the literature recognises that reflexivity is a valuable and rigorous strategy, few studies unravel the practical employment of reflexivity as a strategy for ensuring rigour and quality in qualitative research. Aim: To present a practical example of how reflexivity can be employed as a strategy for ensuring rigour by reviewing 13 narratives from the author's reflexive diary on qualitative research. Methods: Content analysis and narrative analysis were used to approach and analyse data. Findings: Analysis of the posited qualitative research study found five main outcomes of the influence of reflexivity as a strategy to establish criteria of rigour. Conclusions: Further research is needed to show how reflexivity can be employed as a strategy in qualitative research to: i) establish criteria of rigour; ii) monitor the researcher's subjectivity in gene...

COVID-19 Home Confinement Negatively Impacts Social Participation and Life Satisfaction: A Worldwide Multicenter Study.

Abstract: Public health recommendations and governmental measures during the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have enforced numerous restrictions on daily living including social distancing, isolation, and home confinement. While these measures are imperative to mitigate spreading of COVID-19, the impact of these restrictions on psychosocial health is undefined. Therefore, an international online survey was launched in April 2020 to elucidate the behavioral and lifestyle consequences of COVID-19 restrictions. This report presents the preliminary results from more than one thousand responders on social participation and life satisfaction. Methods: Thirty-five research organizations from Europe, North-Africa, Western Asia, and the Americas promoted the survey through their networks to the general society, in 7 languages (English, German, French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, and Slovenian). Questions were presented in a differential format with questions related to responses “before” and “during” confinement conditions. Results: 1047 participations (54% women) from Asia (36%), Africa (40%), Europe (21%), and others (3%) were included in the analysis. Findings revealed psychosocial strain during the enforced COVID-19 home confinement. Large decreases (p < 0.001) in the amount of social activity through family (−58%), friends/neighbors (−44.9%), or entertainment (−46.7%) were triggered by the enforced confinement. These negative effects on social participation were also associated with lower life satisfaction (−30.5%) during the confinement period. Conversely, the social contact score through digital technologies significantly increased (p < 0.001) during the confinement period with more individuals (+24.8%) being socially connected through digital technology. Conclusion: These preliminary findings elucidate the risk of psychosocial strain during the early COVID-19 home confinement period in 2020. Therefore, in order to mitigate the negative psychosocial effects of home confinement, implementation of national strategies focused on promoting social inclusion through a technology-based solution is strongly suggested.

Increased seasonality in Middle East temperatures during the last interglacial period

Abstract: The last interglacial period (about 125,000 years ago) is thought to have been at least as warm as the present climate. Owing to changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun, it is thought that insolation in the Northern Hemisphere varied more strongly than today on seasonal timescales, which would have led to corresponding changes in the seasonal temperature cycle. Here we present seasonally resolved proxy records using corals from the northernmost Red Sea, which record climate during the last interglacial period, the late Holocene epoch and the present. We find an increased seasonality in the temperature recorded in the last interglacial coral. Today, climate in the northern Red Sea is sensitive to the North Atlantic Oscillation, a climate oscillation that strongly influences winter temperatures and precipitation in the North Atlantic region. From our coral records and simulations with a coupled atmosphere-ocean circulation model, we conclude that a tendency towards the high-index state of the North Atlantic Oscillation during the last interglacial period, which is consistent with European proxy records, contributed to the larger amplitude of the seasonal cycle in the Middle East.

Application of reproducing kernel algorithm for solving second-order, two-point fuzzy boundary value problems

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the analytic and approximate solutions of second-order, two-point fuzzy boundary value problems based on the reproducing kernel theory under the assumption of strongly generalized differentiability. The solution methodology is based on generating the orthogonal basis from the obtained kernel functions, while the orthonormal basis is constructing in order to formulate and utilize the solutions with series form in terms of their r-cut representation in the space $$\oplus _{j=1}^2 W_2^3 \left[ {a,b}\right] $$źj=12W23a,b. An efficient computational algorithm is provided to guarantee the procedure and to confirm the performance of the proposed method. Results of numerical experiments are provided to illustrate the theoretical statements in order to show potentiality, generality, and superiority of our algorithm for solving such fuzzy equations. Graphical results, tabulated data, and numerical comparisons are presented and discussed quantitatively to illustrate the possible fuzzy solutions.