A Prediction of Future Land Use/Land Cover in Amman Area Using GIS-Based Markov Model and Remote Sensing

The paper aims to analyze land use/land cover (LULC) changes in western part and the populated area of Amman governorate and to identify the process of urbanization and urban expansion within the study area for the period of 1984-2014. It also aims to predict future LULC map for the year 2030 using Markov Model to provide city planners and decision makers with information about the past and current spatial dynamics of LULC change and strictly urban expansion towards successful management and better planning in the future. Images from Landsat 5-TM for the years 1984, 1999 and from Landsat 8-OLI for the year 2014 were used to investigate LULC within the study area during 1984-2014 and the resulted LULC maps in 1999 and 2014 were used to predict future LULC map based on Markov Model. The results indicated that the urban/built up area expanded by 147% during the period from 1984 to 2014 and predicted to expand by 43.9% from 2014 to 2030 based on Markov model predictions. The areas in the western, northwest and southwest parts of Amman as well as the areas of Marka and Uhud, the northeast of the study area, were predicted to witness the major urban expansion in 2030. And these are the areas where city planners and decision makers should take into consideration in future plans of Amman. The urban expansion was mainly attributed to the high population growth rate and large number of immigrants from neighboring countries and other socio-economic changes.

Impact of Rapid Urbanization and Changing Housing Patterns on Urban Open Public Spaces of Amman, Jordan: A GIS and RS Perspective

Rapid urbanization and population growth of the Amman Area were combined with land resource degradation when the city was heading for mounting urbanization from the early 1950s. The deterioration of natural resources and green areas, was coupled with the creation of different urban public open spaces in the city. The transformation from large single-family houses to dense residential apartments was associated with social and behavioral changes among the inhabitants living in the dense apartments. Consequently, a large private sector has been developed to provide public and social spaces. Photo-interpretation and satellite images were used to map and characterize land use/cover changes have been occurred in the Amman area between 1953 and 2017. Maximum Likelihood Classification method was employed to identify land use/cover changes between 1986 and 20017, and GIS was utilized also to map examples of the recently emerged socio-economic open spaces. Excessive urban development in the last two decades, and the adoption of neo-liberal privatization policies by the government, enhanced social stratification and residential segregation. So, instead of encouraging outdoor activity and social interaction among all groups of Amman residents, the freedom of accessibility to major open spaces has been restricted within the same urban fabric, thus, the “two Ammans” paradigm, a “tale of two cities”, has been recently acknowledged.

Groundwater Vulnerability and Hazard Mapping in an Arid Region: Case Study, Amman-Zarqa Basin (AZB)-Jordan

The importance of groundwater portability and the possible sources of anthropogenic contamination have led to the development of intrinsic groundwater vulnerability mapping. In this study, groundwater vulnerability map for Amman Zarqa Basin (AZB) has been generated based on information derived and calculated from processed remote sensing information and laboratory analysis. The database was prepared from soil hydro geological and hydrological data, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and geological maps. For assessment of groundwater vulnerability, the method proposed by the state geological surveys of Germany (GLA-method) has been adapted and applied. The vulnerability map shows about 77% which is about 2919 Km2 of the AZB is classified as very low to low which could be corresponding to the pollution sources due to the absence of potential hazards and also due to low vulnerabilities. These areas could consequently be interesting for future development as they set preferable in view of ground water protection. In addition, about 14% (530 km2) is classified within the moderate vulnerability zone. About 5% (around 19 km2) of the study area lies under the area of high vulnerability zone. Only 4% can be classified as very high risk areas. Groundwater quality results revealed that water leach ate from point source is the main cause for groundwater contaminations in highly vulnerable karstic limestone aquifer (Amman Wadi Es Sir Aquifer-B2/A7). On the other hand, the Kurnub Sandstone aquifer (K) is generally well protected in the central and eastern part of the AZB due to its thick cover of partly marly sequences. However, the Kurnub aquifer might have a potential risk from the recharged infiltrating surface water from the Zarqa River, which is highly polluted due to industrial activities located along the river.

Application of Remote Sensing and GIS for Modeling and Assessment of Land Use/Cover Change in Amman/Jordan

Modeling and assessment of land use/cover and its impacts play a crucial role in land use planning and formulation of sustainable land use policies. In this study, remote sensing data were used within geographic information system (GIS) to map and predict land use/cover changes near Amman, where half of Jordan’s population is living. Images of Landsat TM, ETM+ and OLI were processed and visually interpreted to derive land use/cover for the years 1983, 1989, 1994, 1998, 2003 and 2013. The output maps were analyzed by using GIS and cross-tabulated to quantify land use/cover changes for the different periods. The main changes that altered the character of land use/cover in the area were the expansion of urban areas and the recession of forests, agricultural areas (after 1998) and rangelands. The Markov chain was used to predict future land use/cover, based on the historical changes during 1983-2013. Results showed that prediction of land use/cover would depend on the time interval of the multi-temporal satellite imagery from which the probability of change was derived. The error of prediction was in the range of 2%-5%, with more accurate prediction for urbanization and less accurate prediction for agricultural areas. The trends of land use/cover change showed that urban areas would expand at the expense of agricultural land and would form 33% of the study area (50 km×60 km) by year 2043. The impact of these land use/cover changes would be the increased water demand and wastewater generation in the future.

The Problematic Build-pollution and Its Architectural Impact beyond the Architectural Uprising in Jordan （Case Study： Housing ＆ Commercial Buildings of Amman City）

By the adoption of architecture as a means for communication and discourse between the architect and the recipient, yet current arguments took the conscious of local architect away from the uniqueness and the concerns of the society, as well. It also dominated its creative and educational capabilities through making him distracted in formal non-rational overestimated compositions without dealing with the concerns and needs of the society and sympathize with its affection that led to the appearance of an intellectual crisis resulted from the loss of design strategy in the current trends among some Jordanian architects. As such, not only substantial amount of the leading architectural intellect had deteriorated to formal practices but also it took another approach, becoming incomplete intellectual isolation practicing an overestimated architecture that satisfies free markets requirements which appeared along with the globalization economy. This study attempts to comparatively investigate the variation in some architectural practices as a methodology based on design readings of the previous issues which were characterized of architectural uniqueness and current issues that lack of the existing intellectual references.

Amman＇s Land Typology： The Importance of Site Characteristics on the Delivery of Sustainable Buildings

Amman＇s land typology is characterized by hilly slopes, and this presents challenges and opportunities for architects and designers aiming at delivering sustainable buildings. The research focuses on the importance of any site＇s given criteria, mainly its slope and topography on the delivery of sustainable buildings. Amman city consists broadly of two main types of buildings, apartment buildings and villas, by studying each type of building with regard to its environmental context on a given site in the city, the research seeks to identify the sustainable variables that site topography delimit or facilitate, using a set of attributes for each building type. The main objective of this research is to highlight the sustainable approach for building on sloped sites throughout the building project life-cycle in general, and to set a sustainability framework for designers during the initial design phase in particular. A number of case studies for both types of buildings are studied and analysed, and conclusions are given based on syntheses of available data from literature review or case analysis. At the end, the research provides a mechanism for the development of guidelines for sustainable and passive viability on preferred buildings orientation in hilly areas with regard to local climatic data.

Large Interactive Media Display and Its Influence on Transformation Urban Spaces from Neglecting to Action: The Case of Al-Thaqafa Street in Amman City

In 21st?century, media become the most important factor affecting the development of urban cities, including public places. As a result of the digital revolution, re-imaging and re-linkage public places by media are essential to create more interactions between public spaces and users, interaction media display, and urban screens, one of the most important defined media. This interaction can transform the urban space from being neglected to be more interactive space with users, specially the pedestrians. This paper aims to identify the effects of these new digital factors to transform public spaces, and the influences of large media display on the interaction between urban spaces and pedestrians. The paper focuses on Al-Thaqafa Street as one of the neglected spaces in Amman city, and attempts to analyse this street, explains its problems, and studies the influence of these new digital factors on its transformation, to be more active and vital by pedestrians.

Feasibility of Hybrid Wind and Solar Energy System for Heating Residential Buildings in Amman-Jordan

A design of a solar-wind electrical hybrid system to supply space heating requirements for a 1,200 m^2 residential building in Amman-Jordan was implemented. The building heating requirements were estimated from existing heating building data based on traditional heating design already adopted by engineering firms in Jordan. The traditional heating load was transferred into electrical load to be supplied by hybrid system. The hybrid system consists of a 75 kW vertical axis windmill and 140 solar modules. Because of the high cost of land in residential buildings, the hybrid system is to be installed on the building roof. The hybrid system and the conventional systems＇ cost were found to be compatible in four years period when oil prices reach $100 per barrel. As the international price of oil rises above $100 per barrel, the proposed hybrid system becomes more economical than the already existing hot water heating system.

A Variationist Analysis of/ð/in Ammani Arabic

This study examines the realizations of variable/ð/sound in Ammani Arabic(AA)as well as the correlation between this variation and a number of sociolinguistic factors.Four phonetic variants([ð],[d],[z]and[ðˤ]),four social factors(sex,age,region and educational attainment)and two linguistic factors(the position of the variant in the word and the syntactic category of the word)were investigated.To achieve the objectives of the study,40 native speakers of AA were interviewed for approximately 30 min each.A multivariate analysis using GoldVarb X was carried out in order to discern the effects of the operationalized factors on the variant choice.The results confirmed that the social and linguistic factors condition the variant choice.Additionally,the study examined the possible social meanings of variation in pronouncing the variable/ð/in AA adopting Silverstein’s(Lang Commun,23(3–4),193–229,https://doi.org/10.1016/s0271-5309(03)00013-2,2003)concept of indexical order.The sociolinguistic investigation of the variable/ð/in AA appears to suggest that it is an object of stylistic variation.

基于高水压射流的盾构泥饼切割试验研究

为解决高水压射流清理泥饼布置方式无依据等问题,研制泥饼压制设备和高水压射流装置,并以强风化泥质粉砂岩作为试验材料,开展高水压射流切割泥饼试验,研究射流压力、流量、传输介质等参数对泥饼切割宽度和深度的影响。主要结论有:1)随着冲刷距离的增大,泥饼切割宽度先增大然后逐渐减小至0,而切割深度则逐渐减小;2)射流压力相同的情况下,当流量从49.1 L/min增大至110.0 L/min时,高水压射流对泥饼的切割宽度增大,当流量从110.0 L/min增加至202.8 L/min时,切割宽度反而减小,切割深度则随着流量的增加而增大;3)射流流量相同的情况下,水压力越大,则切割宽度和深度也越大;4)在水中进行泥饼切割时,高水压射流对泥饼的作用以冲刷为主,难以产生有效的切割。

Frilled Lizard Optimization: A Novel Bio-Inspired Optimizer for Solving Engineering Applications

This research presents a novel nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithm called Frilled Lizard Optimization(FLO),which emulates the unique hunting behavior of frilled lizards in their natural habitat.FLO draws its inspiration from the sit-and-wait hunting strategy of these lizards.The algorithm’s core principles are meticulously detailed and mathematically structured into two distinct phases:(i)an exploration phase,which mimics the lizard’s sudden attack on its prey,and(ii)an exploitation phase,which simulates the lizard’s retreat to the treetops after feeding.To assess FLO’s efficacy in addressing optimization problems,its performance is rigorously tested on fifty-two standard benchmark functions.These functions include unimodal,high-dimensional multimodal,and fixed-dimensional multimodal functions,as well as the challenging CEC 2017 test suite.FLO’s performance is benchmarked against twelve established metaheuristic algorithms,providing a comprehensive comparative analysis.The simulation results demonstrate that FLO excels in both exploration and exploitation,effectively balancing these two critical aspects throughout the search process.This balanced approach enables FLO to outperform several competing algorithms in numerous test cases.Additionally,FLO is applied to twenty-two constrained optimization problems from the CEC 2011 test suite and four complex engineering design problems,further validating its robustness and versatility in solving real-world optimization challenges.Overall,the study highlights FLO’s superior performance and its potential as a powerful tool for tackling a wide range of optimization problems.

Improving the Segmentation of Arabic Handwriting Using Ligature Detection Technique

Recognizing handwritten characters remains a critical and formidable challenge within the realm of computervision. Although considerable strides have been made in enhancing English handwritten character recognitionthrough various techniques, deciphering Arabic handwritten characters is particularly intricate. This complexityarises from the diverse array of writing styles among individuals, coupled with the various shapes that a singlecharacter can take when positioned differently within document images, rendering the task more perplexing. Inthis study, a novel segmentation method for Arabic handwritten scripts is suggested. This work aims to locatethe local minima of the vertical and diagonal word image densities to precisely identify the segmentation pointsbetween the cursive letters. The proposed method starts with pre-processing the word image without affectingits main features, then calculates the directions pixel density of the word image by scanning it vertically and fromangles 30° to 90° to count the pixel density fromall directions and address the problem of overlapping letters, whichis a commonly attitude in writing Arabic texts by many people. Local minima and thresholds are also determinedto identify the ideal segmentation area. The proposed technique is tested on samples obtained fromtwo datasets: Aself-curated image dataset and the IFN/ENIT dataset. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achievesa significant improvement in the proportions of cursive segmentation of 92.96% on our dataset, as well as 89.37%on the IFN/ENIT dataset.

A Measurement Study of the Ethereum Underlying P2P Network

This work carried out a measurement study of the Ethereum Peer-to-Peer(P2P)network to gain a better understanding of the underlying nodes.Ethereum was applied because it pioneered distributed applications,smart contracts,and Web3.Moreover,its application layer language“Solidity”is widely used in smart contracts across different public and private blockchains.To this end,we wrote a new Ethereum client based on Geth to collect Ethereum node information.Moreover,various web scrapers have been written to collect nodes’historical data fromthe Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine project.The collected data has been compared with two other services that harvest the number of Ethereumnodes.Ourmethod has collectedmore than 30% more than the other services.The data trained a neural network model regarding time series to predict the number of online nodes in the future.Our findings show that there are less than 20% of the same nodes daily,indicating thatmost nodes in the network change frequently.It poses a question of the stability of the network.Furthermore,historical data shows that the top ten countries with Ethereum clients have not changed since 2016.The popular operating system of the underlying nodes has shifted from Windows to Linux over time,increasing node security.The results have also shown that the number of Middle East and North Africa(MENA)Ethereum nodes is neglected compared with nodes recorded from other regions.It opens the door for developing new mechanisms to encourage users from these regions to contribute to this technology.Finally,the model has been trained and demonstrated an accuracy of 92% in predicting the future number of nodes in the Ethereum network.

Formation Mechanisms of Some Features in Siliceous Upper Cretaceous-Lower Tertiary Beds of Jordan-Undulations, Geodes, Boudinages

Geode, boudinage, and undulation structures are widely distributed in the siliceous beds of the Upper Cretaceous/Tertiary rocks in Jordan. Their formation was attributed to tectonic forces, syngenetic processes, organic disintegration processes, subaquatic gliding, compaction and settlement, and meteoritic impacts. In this work, the structural features in the siliceous beds of Jordan are attributed to an interplay of load and directed pressures, and mineralogical transformation processes (opal-A to opal-CT to quartz), governed by pH changes. Tectonic directed pressure was acting in an ESE-WSW direction and is common in the silicified limestone of Upper Cretaceous.

Cloud Datacenter Selection Using Service Broker Policies:A Survey

Amid the landscape of Cloud Computing(CC),the Cloud Datacenter(DC)stands as a conglomerate of physical servers,whose performance can be hindered by bottlenecks within the realm of proliferating CC services.A linchpin in CC’s performance,the Cloud Service Broker(CSB),orchestrates DC selection.Failure to adroitly route user requests with suitable DCs transforms the CSB into a bottleneck,endangering service quality.To tackle this,deploying an efficient CSB policy becomes imperative,optimizing DC selection to meet stringent Qualityof-Service(QoS)demands.Amidst numerous CSB policies,their implementation grapples with challenges like costs and availability.This article undertakes a holistic review of diverse CSB policies,concurrently surveying the predicaments confronted by current policies.The foremost objective is to pinpoint research gaps and remedies to invigorate future policy development.Additionally,it extensively clarifies various DC selection methodologies employed in CC,enriching practitioners and researchers alike.Employing synthetic analysis,the article systematically assesses and compares myriad DC selection techniques.These analytical insights equip decision-makers with a pragmatic framework to discern the apt technique for their needs.In summation,this discourse resoundingly underscores the paramount importance of adept CSB policies in DC selection,highlighting the imperative role of efficient CSB policies in optimizing CC performance.By emphasizing the significance of these policies and their modeling implications,the article contributes to both the general modeling discourse and its practical applications in the CC domain.

Brucellosis: An Outpatient Non-Probability Retrospective Study of 199 Patients

Background: A descriptive study of the characteristics of brucellosis patients in Jordan and antimicrobial therapy. Methods: In an outpatient study, records were reviewed between July 2016 and April 2024 and electronically saved. Brucella diagnosis was based on epidemiological factors, risk factors, the standard tube agglutination test (STA), and blood or tissue cultures. Records were uploaded into a spreadsheet and imported into the R-Program. A 2-sample Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tested the equality of proportions between two treatment regimens for all available and spondylodiscitis, P Results: Two hundred patients with Brucellosis were analyzed;males 106 (53%) with a mean age of 46.8 years, and females 94 (47%) with a mean age of 48.1 years. Patients from Jordan were 159 (79.9%), and the Arabian Peninsula 25 (12.6%). Brucellosis was a non-focal presentation in 121 (60.50%) patients, spondylodiscitis in 64 (32.0%), and sacroiliitis in 7 (3.5%). Spondylodiscitis involved lumbar 48 (75.0%), thoracic 11 (17.20%), and cervical 5 (7.8%). STA was a common diagnostic method (188, 94%). Risk factors included cheese 80 (47.3%), cattle, small ruminants, and she-camel milk 37 (21.89%), dairy products 28 (16.57%), meat 9 (05.33%), and working with cattle 10 (05.92%). ESR was highest in spondylodiscitis (mean of 54.5). Imaging studies commonly requested were MRI and Bone scans. Doxycycline/Rifampin were mostly prescribed antimicrobials. Conclusion: There is no clear guidance on brucella treatment. In endemic areas, brucella is still a concern. Population education must be a priority. Support for randomized trials addressing antimicrobials and durations is extremely needed.

Portraying Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Comparative Evaluation of Diabetic Foot Infections versus Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Background: Confusion often arises in caring for diabetic foot infections and ulcers, especially with antimicrobials;we aim to shed light on this entity and alert healthcare workers to its stewardship. Methods: Records were reviewed between February 2016 and September 2023. Data for patients diagnosed with diabetes and foot ulcers, infected or not, were examined following ICD 9 search terms. Records for patients were included if they were prediabetic/diabetic adults with foot ulcers, more than 18 years old, and on antidiabetic treatment. Patients were excluded if they insulin resistant, with normal HgbA1c levels, wheel-chair dependent, bed-bound, non-diabetic patients, diabetic patients who had vascular lower limb surgery earlier to ulcers, diabetic patients who had aortocoronary bypass, deep venous thrombosis within six months, malignancy, and severe clinical depression. A modified IWGDF/IDSA guidelines definitions for DFI and DFU was considered. Statistical analysis was done using R programming. Statistical methods were employed as appropriate, and a significant P-value was considered for P Results: Most characteristics were well balanced between DFI and DFU, on imaging osteomyelitis and tissue swelling were significantly more in DFI. Endovascular radiological procedures showed angiograms to be considerably more in DFI, while angioplasty was more in DFU, in addition to smoking. Bacteremia was uncommon, and swab cultures were mostly polymicrobial in both ulcers;no clear association with blood bacteria was detected with the polymicrobial growth, though few were concordant. Antimicrobials prescribed for both ulcers were not statistically different except for carbapenems, which were more in DFI (P Conclusion: Attention should be paid to best practices while caring for diabetic ulcers. These include swab culture interpretations, the use of antimicrobials, and plan management according to DFI or DFU to utilize either local care or combination with antimicrobials.

Performance Comparison of Hyper-V and KVM for Cryptographic Tasks in Cloud Computing

As the extensive use of cloud computing raises questions about the security of any personal data stored there,cryptography is being used more frequently as a security tool to protect data confidentiality and privacy in the cloud environment.A hypervisor is a virtualization software used in cloud hosting to divide and allocate resources on various pieces of hardware.The choice of hypervisor can significantly impact the performance of cryptographic operations in the cloud environment.An important issue that must be carefully examined is that no hypervisor is completely superior in terms of performance;Each hypervisor should be examined to meet specific needs.The main objective of this study is to provide accurate results to compare the performance of Hyper-V and Kernel-based Virtual Machine(KVM)while implementing different cryptographic algorithms to guide cloud service providers and end users in choosing the most suitable hypervisor for their cryptographic needs.This study evaluated the efficiency of two hypervisors,Hyper-V and KVM,in implementing six cryptographic algorithms:Rivest,Shamir,Adleman(RSA),Advanced Encryption Standard(AES),Triple Data Encryption Standard(TripleDES),Carlisle Adams and Stafford Tavares(CAST-128),BLOWFISH,and TwoFish.The study’s findings show that KVM outperforms Hyper-V,with 12.2%less Central Processing Unit(CPU)use and 12.95%less time overall for encryption and decryption operations with various file sizes.The study’s findings emphasize how crucial it is to pick a hypervisor that is appropriate for cryptographic needs in a cloud environment,which could assist both cloud service providers and end users.Future research may focus more on how various hypervisors perform while handling cryptographic workloads.

Orbit Weighting Scheme in the Context of Vector Space Information Retrieval

This study introduces the Orbit Weighting Scheme(OWS),a novel approach aimed at enhancing the precision and efficiency of Vector Space information retrieval(IR)models,which have traditionally relied on weighting schemes like tf-idf and BM25.These conventional methods often struggle with accurately capturing document relevance,leading to inefficiencies in both retrieval performance and index size management.OWS proposes a dynamic weighting mechanism that evaluates the significance of terms based on their orbital position within the vector space,emphasizing term relationships and distribution patterns overlooked by existing models.Our research focuses on evaluating OWS’s impact on model accuracy using Information Retrieval metrics like Recall,Precision,InterpolatedAverage Precision(IAP),andMeanAverage Precision(MAP).Additionally,we assessOWS’s effectiveness in reducing the inverted index size,crucial for model efficiency.We compare OWS-based retrieval models against others using different schemes,including tf-idf variations and BM25Delta.Results reveal OWS’s superiority,achieving a 54%Recall and 81%MAP,and a notable 38%reduction in the inverted index size.This highlights OWS’s potential in optimizing retrieval processes and underscores the need for further research in this underrepresented area to fully leverage OWS’s capabilities in information retrieval methodologies.

Cretaceous Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) Affect Sedimentary Processing: Jordan, Arabian Plate;NW Germany, Central Europe

Both the NE Gondwana Platform (Jordan) and the Carpathian/NW Europe Seaway towards the N Atlantic expose comparable sequence analytical patterns as i.e. the Maximum Flooding Surface (MSF), relating to the Arabian Shelf, throughout one of the warmest Phanerozoic Epochs. Supervolcanic Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), (explosive island arc andesitic volcanism), Mid-Oceanic Rift Basalts (MORB), (S/N Atlantic, Arctic) and kimberlitic volcanism (W Gondwana) provided striking conditions for an immense influence (tuff, degassing, T) on the sedimentary processing throughout the Cretaceous, mainly verified by K-montmorillonite , dozens of tuff beds (predominantly in NW Germany), zeolite, cristobalite, extremely high chert occurrences as well as the reconfirming of the global anoxic event around the Cenomanian/Turonian b. (94 Ma) by a positive ∂13C-maximum (~0.5%). Thus the lithofacies spectrum (carbonate rocks, chalk, chert, porcellanite, shale) was affected by pH, Eh, T, photosynthesis, and greenhouse gases—change during varying positive/negative climate forcing. While acid sturzrain events caused the transformation of arkosic/subarkosic sediments of the hinterlands to quartz arenite cycles deposited on the Jordanian Platform during early Cretaceous, the other patterns mentioned, led to a rapid change of lithofacies through Late Cretaceous. The southward directed Neotethys transgression can be reconstructed during the Early Cretaceous by glauconite-aged tidalites that give hint on transpressional tectonics during the Upper Cenomanian east of the Dead Sea. The Cretaceous/Paleogene (K-Pg) transitional zone evidences a zone of several cumulative events (island arc-volcanism) and the Chicxulub impact, indicated by at least two extinctions phases. The southward obduction of the Palmyrides, Syria and related transtensional/transpressional strike slip tectonics (partially pull-apart structures) left a fast facies change on the Jordanian Platform.