Search Results (17)

Across the Middle East, gated communities have become a defining feature of contemporary urban development, raising urgent questions about spatial inequality, public access, and social cohesion. This study examines the socio-spatial impacts of these developments by combining qualitative perceptions from regional expert interviews with in-depth analysis of two case studies in Jordan: Al Andalucía and Green Land. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with urban planners, architects, and policy experts from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, the study employs thematic analysis to investigate expert perspectives on gated communities as a regional planning phenomenon. Findings reveal four dominant themes: (1) gated communities intensify spatial fragmentation and disconnection from surrounding urban fabric; (2) private sector dominance leads to unregulated, market-driven development that weakens strategic urban planning; (3) the erosion of inclusive public space and social cohesion is widely perceived as a social cost; and (4) gated living is framed as an aspirational lifestyle associated with security, prestige, and socio-economic distinction. The article concludes by calling for more inclusive urban policies that balance private development with inclusive planning strategies to mitigate the long-term impacts of fragmentation and exclusivity in Middle Eastern cities. Full article

This paper examines a prospect scenario of adopting Child Development Accounts (CDAs) as a social welfare innovation in Jordan. CDAs are considered as an asset-building policy aimed at enhancing financial inclusion and socio-economic well-being. This paper discovers the feasibility of CDAs that have proven successful in several countries, as their potential in Middle Eastern countries, particularly in Jordan, remains unexplored. The application of CDAs in the social welfare system aims to support sustainable asset accumulation and improve the living standards of diverse segments in Jordan by integrating CDAs within the efforts made by Jordan to achieve financial inclusion, alleviate poverty, and supplement household income through asset development. There are opportunities to implement the program in Jordan, including expanding the scope of microfinance, public–private partnerships, and targeted programs for women, youth, and refugees. However, several challenges may hinder its application, including limited financial literacy, high unemployment rates, income inequality, regulatory obstacles, and difficulties in implementing social reforms. The paper contributes to the debate on social welfare policies adopted in developing countries by providing solutions based on global practices in CDA execution and has implications and recommendations for decision makers to achieve economic development. Future research in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries should target pilot projects and comparative studies to refine CDA strategies. Full article

Energy poverty, resulting from poor energy efficiency and economic and social barriers to accessing appropriate, modern, and sustainable energy services, remains a critical issue in Jordan, a country facing growing climate pressures, particularly given its history of rapid urbanization. This study examines energy poverty through a multidimensional lens, considering its spatial and socio-demographic variations across Jordan. Drawing on data from 19,475 households, we apply a novel energy poverty index and binary logistic regression to analyze key determinants of energy poverty and discuss their intersection with climate vulnerability. The energy poverty index (EPI) is structured around four pillars: housing, fuel, cooling, and wealth. The results show that 51% of households in Jordan are affected by energy poverty. Contributing factors include geographic location, gender, age, education level, dwelling type, ownership of cooling appliances, and financial stability. The results indicate that energy poverty is both a socio-economic and infrastructural issue, with the highest concentrations in the northern and southern regions of the country, areas also vulnerable to climate risks such as drought and extreme heat. Our findings emphasize the need for integrated policy approaches that simultaneously address income inequality, infrastructure deficits, and environmental stressors. Targeted strategies are needed to align social and climate policies for effective energy poverty mitigation and climate resilience planning in Jordan. Full article

This paper mainly focuses on in-depth research on inequalities on symmetric cones. We will further analyze and discuss the inequalities we developed on the second-order cone and develop more inequalities. According to our past research in dealing with second-order cone inequalities, we derive more inequalities concerning the eigenvalue version of Young’s inequality and trace a version of an inverse Young inequality and its applications. These conclusions align with the results established for the positive semidefinite cone, which is also a symmetric cone. It is of considerable help to the establishment of inequalities on symmetric cones and the analysis of their derivative algorithms. Full article

In this paper, two double Jordan-type inequalities are introduced that generalize some previously established inequalities. As a result, some new upper and lower bounds and approximations of the sinc function are obtained. This extension of Jordan’s inequality is enabled by considering the corresponding inequalities through the concept of stratified families of functions. Based on this approach, some optimal approximations of the sinc function are derived by determining the corresponding minimax approximants. Full article

Yearly national immunization coverage reporting does not measure performance at the subnational level throughout the year and conceals inequalities within countries. We analyzed subnational immunization coverage from seven high-priority countries in our region. We analyzed subnational, monthly immunization data from seven high-priority countries. Five were Gavi eligible (i.e., Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen); these are countries that according to their low income are eligible for support from the Global Alliance on Vaccine and Immunization, while Iraq and Jordan were included because of a recent decrease in immunization coverage and contribution to the regional number of under and unimmunized children. DTP3 coverage, which is considered as the main indicator for the routine immunization coverage as the essential component of the immunization program performance, varied monthly in 2019–2021 before reaching pre-pandemic coverage in the last two months of 2021. Somalia and Yemen had a net gain in DTP3 coverage at the end of 2021, as improvement in 2021 exceeded the regression in 2020. In Pakistan and Iraq, DTP3 improvement in 2021 equaled the 2020 regression. In Afghanistan, Syria and Jordan, the regression in DTP3 coverage continued in 2020 and 2021. The number of districts with at least 6000 zero-dose children improved moderately in Afghanistan and substantially in Somalia throughout the follow-up period. In Pakistan, the geographical distribution differed between 2020 and 2021.Of the three countries with the highest number of zero-dose children, DTP1 coverage reached 109% in Q4 of 2020 after a sharp drop to 69% in Q2 of 2020. However, in Pakistan, the number of zero-dose children decreased to 1/10 of its burden in Q4 of 2021. In Afghanistan, the number of zero-dose children more than a doubled. Among the even countries, adaptation of immunization service to the pandemic varied, depending on the agility of the health system and the performance of the components of the expanded program on immunization. We recommended monitoring administrative monthly immunization coverage data at the subnational level to detect low-performing districts, plan catchup, identify bottlenecks towards reaching unvaccinated children and customize strategies to improve the coverage in districts with zero-dose children throughout the year and monitor progress. Full article

It is well known that in $\mathbb{C}\left[X\right]$, the product of two polynomials is equal to the product of their greatest common divisor and their least common multiple. In a recent paper, we proved a similar relation between the ranks of matrix polynomials. More precisely, the sum of the ranks of two matrix polynomials is equal to the sum of the rank of the greatest common divisor of the polynomials applied to the respective matrix and the rank of the least common multiple of the polynomials applied to the respective matrix. In this paper, we present three new proofs for this result. In addition to these, we present two more applications. Full article

In this paper, in the environment of Euclidean Jordan algebras, we establish some inequalities over the Krein parameters of a symmetric association scheme and of a strongly regular graph. Next, we define the modified Krein parameters of a strongly regular graph and establish some admissibility conditions over these parameters. Finally, we introduce some relations over the Krein parameters of a strongly regular graph. Full article

The compatibility between the de Sitter Swampland conjecture and Hořava–Lifshitz $F\left(\overline{R}\right)$ theories with a flat FLRW metric is studied. We first study the standard $f\left(R\right)$ theories and show that the only way in which the dS conjecture can be made independent of R is by considering a power law of the form $f\left(R\right)\sim R^{\gamma }$. The conjecture and the consistency of the theory puts restrictions on $\gamma$ to be greater but close to one. For $F\left(\overline{R}\right)$ theories described by its two parameters $\lambda$ and $\mu$, we use the equations of motion to construct the function starting with an ansatz for the scale factor in the Jordan frame of the power law form. By performing a conformal transformation on the three metric to the Einstein frame, we can obtain an action of gravity plus a scalar field by relating the parameters of the theory. The non-projectable and projectable cases are studied and the differences are outlined. The obtained $F\left(\overline{R}\right)$ function consists of terms of the form ${\overline{R}}^{\gamma }$ with the possibility of having negative power terms. The dS conjecture leads to inequalities for the $\lambda$ parameter; in both versions, it becomes restricted to be greater but close to $1/3$. We can also study the general case in which $\mu$ and $\lambda$ are considered as independent. The obtained F function has the same form as before. The consistency of the theory and the dS conjecture lead to a set of inequalities on both parameters that are studied numerically. In all cases, $\lambda$ is restricted by $\mu$ around $1/3$, and we obtain $\lambda \to 1/3$ if $\mu \to 0$. We consider the $f\left(R\right)$ limit $\mu ,\lambda \to 1$ and we obtain consistent results. Finally, we study the case of a constant Hubble parameter. The dS conjecture can be fulfilled by restricting the parameters of the theory; however, the constraint makes this compatibility exclusive to these kinds of theories. Full article

Introduction: Advances in information and communication technology (ICT) and post-COVID-19 tectonic changes in healthcare delivery have made it possible for cancer survivors to obtain disease-related information for remote management online rather than through healthcare providers. To comprehend and evaluate health information, digital literacy is crucial. Objectives: This study examined cancer survivors’ information-seeking behaviour, information sources, digital health literacy, and digital trends, as well as potential determinants of e-health information receptivity and online resource use. Methods: A national 30-item cross-sectional survey using a representative random sample of cancer survivors from Jordan’s cancer registry was conducted. Chi-square tests established categorical variable relationships. Using the mean and standard deviation, we calculated the Likert scale’s ordinal data average. A p-value < 0.05 was statistically significant. Logistic regression identified predictors of interest in late-trajectory information acquisition and use of e-health platforms (apps, portals) for cancer self-management. Results: Lower digital literacy and electronic searching were associated with older age and lower income, education, and employment status (p ≤ 0.001). Digital literacy independently predicted m-health app use for remote management and interest in cancer supportive care information. Digitally literate survivors preferred the use of digital platforms (p ≤ 0.001). Information acquisition barriers included “reliability” (26%, n = 25) and “health information trustworthiness” (16.2%, n = 25). Following treatment completion, Internet-seeking behaviour decreased significantly when compared to the early cancer trajectory. Conclusion: Our findings imply that Jordanian cancer survivors’ low digital literacy may hinder information acquisition and technology-enabled cancer care. Digital interventions for cancer survivors should be adaptable to varying levels of digital health literacy. Healthcare policymakers should recognise digital inequities and devise focused initiatives to bridge the digital divide while responding to the urgent need to digitalise cancer care delivery. Full article

Sharp bounds for $\frac{cosh\left(x\right)}{x},\frac{sinh\left(x\right)}{x}$, and $\frac{sin\left(x\right)}{x}$ were obtained, as well as one new bound for $\frac{e^x+arctan\left(x\right)}{\sqrt{x}}$. A new situation to note about the obtained boundaries is the symmetry in the upper and lower boundary, where the upper boundary differs by a constant from the lower boundary. New consequences of the inequalities were obtained in terms of the Riemann–Liovuille fractional integral and in terms of the standard integral. Full article

Our article explores how intersecting crises, sociocultural norms around gender, age, household and community and broader political and economic shifts are affecting youth transitions. We draw on qualitative virtual research with 138 young people in Ethiopia and Jordan undertaken between April and August 2020. COVID-19 is exacerbating ongoing crises and gender inequalities in Ethiopia and Jordan and foreclosing opportunities for youth transitions. In Ethiopia, the pandemic has compounded the precarity of young people who have migrated from rural to urban areas, often to locations where they are socially marginalised. In Jordan, the confinement of young people affected by forced displacement to their households with extended family during pandemic-related service closures augments existing perceptions of an extended ‘waithood’—both psychosocially and economically. In both contexts, conservative gender norms further entrench the restrictions on adolescent girls’ mobility with consequences for their opportunities and wellbeing. This article makes an important contribution to the literature on gender, migrant youth and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by showing how multiple crises have sharpened the social and political (im)mobilities that already shaped young men and women’s lives in Ethiopia and Jordan and the consequences for their trajectories to adulthood. Full article

Recent advances in mathematical inequalities suggest that bounds of polynomial-exponential-type are appropriate for evaluating key trigonometric functions. In this paper, we innovate in this sense by establishing new and sharp bounds of the form $(1-\alpha x^2)e^{\beta x^2}$ for the trigonometric sinc and cosine functions. Our main result for the sinc function is a double inequality holding on the interval $(0, \pi )$, while our main result for the cosine function is a double inequality holding on the interval $(0, \pi /2).$ Comparable sharp results for hyperbolic functions are also obtained. The proofs are based on series expansions, inequalities on the Bernoulli numbers, and the monotone form of the l’Hospital rule. Some comparable bounds of the literature are improved. Examples of application via integral techniques are given. Full article

In this paper, we will make some further discussions on the $J_L\left(X\right)$ and $Y_J\left(X\right)$ which are symmetric and related to the side lengths of some special inscribed triangles of the unit ball, and also introduce two new geometric constants $L_1(X,▵)$, $L_2(X,▵)$ which related to the perimeters of some special inscribed triangles of the unit ball. Firstly, we discuss the relations among $J_L\left(X\right)$, $Y_J\left(X\right)$ and some geometric properties of Banach spaces, including uniformly non-square and uniformly convex. It is worth noting that we point out that uniform non-square spaces can be characterized by the side lengths of some special inscribed triangles of unit ball. Secondly, we establish some inequalities for $J_L\left(X\right)$, $Y_J\left(X\right)$ and some significant geometric constants, including the James constant $J\left(X\right)$ and the von Neumann-Jordan constant $C_{\mathrm{NJ}}\left(X\right)$. Finally, we introduce the two new geometric constants $L_1(X,▵)$, $L_2(X,▵)$, and calculate the bounds of $L_1(X,▵)$ and $L_2(X,▵)$ as well as the values of $L_1(X,▵)$ and $L_2(X,▵)$ for two Banach spaces. Full article

There are analogous challenges when it comes to the management and provision of health services and drinking water in First Nations reserves in Canada; both represent human rights and both involve complex and multijurisdictional management. The purpose of this study is to translate the tenets of Jordan’s Principle, a child-first principle regarding health service provision, within the broader context of First Nation drinking water governance in order to identify avenues for positive change. This project involved secondary analysis of data from 53 semi-structured, key informant (KI) interviews across eight First Nation communities in western Canada. Data were coded according to the three principles of: provision of culturally inclusive management, safeguarding health, and substantive equity. Failure to incorporate Traditional Knowledge, water worldviews, and holistic health as well as challenges to technical management were identified as areas currently restricting successful drinking water management. Recommendations include improved infrastructure, increased resources (both financial and non-financial), in-community capacity building, and relationship building. To redress the inequities currently experienced by First Nations when it comes to management of and access to safe drinking water, equitable governance structures developed from the ground up and embedded in genuine relationships between First Nations and Canadian federal government agencies are required. Full article