The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on unemployment in six countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey, as this region is considered one of the most regions in the world with a high rate of unemployment. The study employed panel data for the period from 1990 to 2018, where three economic models were used to examine the impact of FDI on unemployment, male unemployment, and female unemployment, in the long run, using the Fixed Effect Model (FEM) and Random Effect Model (REM), in addition to finding the causal relationship in the short term using Panel VAR (Granger causality tests). The results showed that FDI reduces the unemployment rate, the male unemployment rate, and the female unemployment rate in the long run. The results of the study also revealed that there is no causal relationship in the short term between FDI and unemployment in its various forms, while there is a bidirectional causal relationship between FDI and exports according to the three economic models. This paper is the first of its kind in terms of examining the effect of FDI on unemployment in the six countries as a grouped and a sample of the MENA region.
The object of this study is to examine the response of economic growth in Germany to 2006 FIFA World Cup hosting (represented by the heavily influenced variables of this huge event: Growth of Infrastructure Spending, Tourism Revenues, and Foreign Direct investment) during the period (2000 – 2017). The study employed Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) approach to estimate the long-run equilibrium relationships amongst the variables. The results indicate that there is a co-integrating long-run relationship among the studied variables and provide empirical evidence showing that an increase in the growth of infrastructure spending (GINFR) 1 unit leads to an increase in the growth of GDP (GGDP) by 0.374 unit, an increase in the tourism revenues (TR) 1 unit leads to increase in the growth of GDP (GGDP) by 0.155 unit, and an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) 1 unit leads to an increase in the growth of GDP (GGDP) by 0.055 unit. What distinguishes this paper is that it is one of the rare studies that went beyond the short effect of mega-events on the host country and investigated the long-term economic impact of the most important macro variables associated with mega-events on economic growth. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01323 Full Text: PDF
"Exploring a new political phenomenon in the Middle East, this book studies the reconciliation of nationalism and Islamism by Islamic political parties in the context of nation states. Islamism in Kurdistan has significantly become framed by the politics of nationalism. Although the concept of religious nationalism has been discussed substantially before, this work highlights a new brand of religious nationalism that has emerged as a result of intertwining nationalism and Islamism. The focus of this study is on the development of religious nationalism in the continuously tumultuous region of the Middle East. The volume investigates whether Islamism in Kurdistan is limited by the politics of nationalism - which is an accentuated example for the whole Middle East region. By looking at the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), the research studies Islamism in the Kurdistan region to elaborate on this new type of politics. This is essentially due to the absence of a politically recognised nation state which renders Kurds to be particularly susceptible to various manifestations of nationalism. Offering an account on the spread of Muslim Brotherhood in the Kurdistan Region, this original research on Kurdish nationalism will be a key text to students and researchers interested in nationalism, Islamism and Middle East Politics"--
AbstractThis article explores the ideological motivations for ISIS's prejudice against the Kurds. From the group's inception, ISIS has rejected any kind of understanding of Islam but its own. However, its animosity toward Kurds has its own purpose and foundations, separate from its religious dogmas. The aim of this article is to study the reasons behind its fundamental aversion toward the Kurds. An analysis of the literature of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and particularly their interpretation of the Qurʾan and of Islamic prophetic traditions and history, demonstrates such a clear prejudice toward the Kurds, that no honest researcher can deny the vehemence of the group's hatred of the Kurds and their nationalist ideology. This animus explains, at least in part, why ISIS promulgated such a virulent anti-Kurdish ideology and recruited fighters to invade Kurdish lands. This study examines the ideological motives behind the group's behavior toward the Kurds. The article's hypothesis is that the Arab extremists that filled the ranks of ISIS, whether they came from secular nationalist, jihadist, or even moderate Islamist backgrounds, shared an antipathy against the Kurdish people that was deeply rooted in pro-Arab nationalistic sentiment. Below, the article looks at the deadly combination of Baʿthist ideology, which had previously led to genocidal campaigns against Kurds under Saddam Hussein, with the religious extremism of ISIS. A qualitative research method of discourse analysis is used to shed light on the ideological roots of ISIS's antagonism against Kurds. Kurdish-studies researchers will benefit from this study, as well as security, counter-terrorism, and Middle Eastern researchers and students.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of academic advising on changing or maintaining majors in university degrees. It is also a goal of the study to determine which semester students change their majors and whether advising contributes to that change. Through this correlational study, the researchers explored students' perceptions about the academic advising they received and the relationship of its absence on students' major change. The participants were 1725 undergraduate students from all year levels. The survey used to collect the data for this study is: the Influences on Choice of Major survey. Based on the findings, it was found that university advisors have a very poor effect on students' decisions to select their majors as 45.6% of the 1725 participants indicated no influence of advising in their survey answers. Whereas career advancement opportunities, students' interests, and job opportunities indicate a strong effect on their majors' selections, as they score the highest means of 3.76, 3.73, and 3.64, respectively. In addition, findings show that students are most likely changing their majors in their second year, and specifically in the second semester. Second year major change scored 36.9% in the second semester and 30.9% in the first semester. More importantly, results indicate that there is a positive significant correlation between college advisors and major change in the second year (p = 0.000). It is to researchers' understanding based on the findings that when students receive enough academic advising in the first year of study, and this advising continues steadily into the next year, the probability of students changing their majors decreases greatly.
This study aims at examining Jordan's political culture with specific reference to three dimensions. First, tribal dimension; second, national (Pan – Arab) dimension and finally Islamic dimension of Jordan's political culture. More specifically, the study raised two fundamental questions: first, what is the relationship between these different dimensions and "Jordanian Identity"? Second, do these dimensions hinder the possibility of an emerging democratic society? The "central region" of Jordan was selected as a target group for this survey. Reasons for that selection were provided in the study. The study was conducted using the descriptive analytical approach as a method for examining the findings of the survey. This study concluded that there is a strong correlation between various dimensions of Jordan's political culture and the issue of identity. However, there is no evidence to support the idea that Jordan's political culture may prohibit the process of democratization.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess nurse's knowledge and practice regarding basic life support (BLS) skills while working with SARS-CoV-2 patients in Jordanian hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 386 nurses with direct contact with SARS-CoV-2 patients at Jordanian hospitals. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used based on the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines.
Findings A total of 386 participants were recruited. The mean years of experience were 7.89 (SD = 5.97). About three quarters of participants revealed they deal with SARS-CoV-2 patients directly (n = 284, 73.6%). The total mean score of nurse's knowledge was 4.44 (SD = 1.22), while the total mean score of practice was 8.44 (SD = 2.05). Independent t-test was used, which revealed a statistically significant difference between educational level and total score of nurse's knowledge [t(386) = 0.215 and p = 0.001] and between training to deal with SARS-CoV-2 during BLS and total score of practice [t(386) = 2.66 and p = 0.008]. Pearson correlation discloses a positive correlation between the total score of knowledge and practice (r = 0.343 and p = 0.001).
Research limitations/implications In general, nurses revealed a moderate level of knowledge and practice of BLS skills. However, assessing nurse's knowledge and practice during the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 plays a key role in identifying the gap in nurse's knowledge and practice, and therefore, it will have an impact on providing high-quality BLS to save infected patients while providing maximum safety according to AHA guidelines.
Originality/value This study is the first study that examined the level of knowledge and practice of BLS skills during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Jordan.
Reem Abdullah Alamro,1 Mohammad Mustafa,2 Abdulrahman K Al-Asmari2 1Deparment of Gastroenterology, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 2Research Centre, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Objective: The present study planned to investigate the changes in the mRNA expression of inflammatory genes and their association with colorectal cancer (CRC). Our findings could be useful for noninvasive early screening of CRC patients. Patients and methods: Venous blood of 20 CRC cases and 15 healthy controls was collected. The mRNA expression of COX-2, TNF-α, NF-κB and IL-6 genes was carried out by using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Relative quantification was done to find out the fold change of these genes. Results: The mean age of cases and controls was 55 and 50 years, respectively. The ΔCt of COX-2, TNF-α, NF-κB and IL-6 genes was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in cases as compared to controls. Subsequently, the mRNA expression of these genes was, respectively, 3.56-, 3.4-, 1.71- and 3.86-fold higher in CRC cases as compared to controls. Positive correlation of ΔCt of COX-2 was found with ΔCt of TNF-α (r = 0.461, p = 0.041) and NF-κB (r = 0.536, p = 0.015) in CRC cases. The mRNA expression of COX-2 was significantly lower in T2 stage, while mRNA expression of NF-κB was significantly lower in both T2 and T3 stages of CRC as compared to T4 stage. Conclusion: The increased mRNA expression of COX-2 along with the high mRNA expression of TNF-α, NF-κB and IL-6 genes may be associative risk factors for CRC. COX-2 and NF-κB genes were more expressed in advanced stages of CRC indicating their role in tumor progression. Our findings support the possible role of blood biomarker in the screening of CRC patients in the early stages. Keywords: colorectal cancer, mRNA expression, COX-2, TNF-α, NF-κB, IL-6, blood biomarker
Fahdah Al Okaily,1 Seham Alrashidi,1 Mohammad Mustafa,2 Faris Bander Alrashdan3 1Department of Rheumatology, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Scientific Research Center, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Internal Medicine, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Fahdah Al OkailyDepartment of Rheumatology, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaEmail alokaily@yahoo.comBackground: Behcet's disease (BD) is a complex, inflammatory, immune-mediated multi-systemic disease of unknown etiology. Cytokines play major roles in the pathophysiology of BD, and its production may be affected by polymorphism in cytokine genes. Hence, the present study was planned to investigate any possible association between the polymorphism in TGF-β, IFN-γ, and IL-6 genes and BD in the Saudi population.Materials and Methods: The present study includes 79 BD cases and 117 age-matched controls. Polymerase chain reaction with restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and amplification refractory mutation systems (ARMS) PCR methods were used for polymorphic analysis.Results: The heterozygous (CT) and (CT+TT) combined genotypes of TGF-β (509-C/T), heterozygous (AT), variant (TT), and (AT+TT) combined genotypes of IFN-γ (874-A/T) were significantly (P< 0.05) associated with BD in the Saudi population. No significant differences were observed for IL-6 (174-G/C) genotypes and alleles between BD cases and controls. Gender does not reflect any significant genotypic and allelic association with males and females.Conclusion: CT genotype of TGF-β, and AT and TT genotypes of IFN-γ could be associative genetic risk factors for BD in Saudis. Regulatory region polymorphism in cytokines gene can increase inflammation and deregulated immune response, which could be risk factor for BD.Keywords: tumor growth factor-β, Interferon-γ, Interleukin-6, Behcet's disease, Saudis, genetic polymorphism
Maha Ali Al Mohaya,1 Mansour M Almaziad,2 Khalid A Al-Hamad,3 Mohammad Mustafa4 1Oral Medicine & Special Care Dentistry, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 2Oral Medicine and Pathology, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 3Oral and Maxillofacial Department, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia; 4Scientific Research Center, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Maha Ali Al MohayaOral Medicine and Special Care Dentistry, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaEmail malmohaya2013@gmail.comBackground: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic necessitated widespread changes in delivery of dental care. Telemedicine utilization increased overnight during this pandemic because of its ability to enhance access to oral healthcare, easily link to remote area, time management, low cost, etc. We aimed to identify the utilization of telemedicine among oral medicine practitioners in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 pandemic and identify future impacts, potential challenges and barriers hindering the implementation of telemedicine.Methods: The present cross-sectional electronically self-administered supplement-based survey Supplement Based Survey study was conducted among different professional levels of oral medicine involving consultants, specialists, and residents. The supplement includes demographic data, the current use of telemedicine, participant's perspective on future implications, and potential barriers and limitations of telemedicine. Internal consistency was measured using Cronbach's alpha (α) to assess how closely related a set of items in our study.Results: Of the total (N = 75) oral healthcare professionals, 52% were male, 70.7% were Saudi, 45.3% were consultant, 42.7% had 1– 5 years of experience, 82.7% were practicing in urban areas, 93.3% stated COVID-19 affected their clinics, consultation was the major reason for the use of telemedicine before (50.7%) and during (72%) COVID-19 outbreak, 57.3% were communicating with their patients, 97.33% had not experienced any cyber risk, and 45% patients were satisfied with the telemedicine service; our data showed a high level of homogeneity (α = 0.82). The poor knowledge and training on telemedicine technologies may substantially (p < 0.05) impact the future implications of telemedicine in oral medicine practice.Conclusion: Telemedicine could be a useful adjunct for oral medicine practice, especially for remote diagnosis, consultation, referral, training and education. Our study emphasizes an urgent need to increase the awareness and education on how to utilize and practice telemedicine technologies among medical staff to maximize the efficiency.Keywords: awareness, barriers, COVID-19, oral medicine, telemedicine
This research aimed to ascertain the extent of transcendental leadership implementation among public school principals in Amman. Employing a descriptive relational methodology, the study encompassed the entire cohort of male and female educators within Amman's public school system, totaling 1942 individuals. A representative sample comprising 20% of this population, 400 male and female educators, was randomly selected for participation. Subsequently, a comprehensive assessment tool was devised to gauge the prevalence of transcendental leadership practices. The findings of this study revealed a pronounced prevalence of transcendental leadership practices among public school principals in Amman, as perceived by teachers. Notably, all dimensions of the assessment tool manifested a high level of endorsement. Based on these outcomes, the study advocates for a heightened emphasis on facilitating self-evaluation among teachers by school principals in Amman. Furthermore, it underscores the imperative of innovating teaching methodologies to enhance organizational effectiveness within the educational domain.
Received: 20 February 2024 / Accepted: 29 April 2024 / Published: 5 May 2024
