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A new bio-inspired metaheuristic algorithm named the Pufferfish Optimization Algorithm (POA), that imitates the natural behavior of pufferfish in nature, is introduced in this paper. The fundamental inspiration of POA is adapted from the defense mechanism of pufferfish against predators. In this defense mechanism, by filling its elastic stomach with water, the pufferfish becomes a spherical ball with pointed spines, and as a result, the hungry predator escapes from this threat. The POA theory is stated and then mathematically modeled in two phases: (i) exploration based on the simulation of a predator's attack on a pufferfish and (ii) exploitation based on the simulation of a predator's escape from spiny spherical pufferfish. The performance of POA is evaluated in handling the CEC 2017 test suite for problem dimensions equal to 10, 30, 50, and 100. The optimization results show that POA has achieved an effective solution with the appropriate ability in exploration, exploitation, and the balance between them during the search process. The quality of POA in the optimization process is compared with the performance of twelve well-known metaheuristic algorithms. The simulation results show that POA provides superior performance by achieving better results in most of the benchmark functions in order to solve the CEC 2017 test suite compared to competitor algorithms. Also, the effectiveness of POA to handle optimization tasks in real-world applications is evaluated on twenty-two constrained optimization problems from the CEC 2011 test suite and four engineering design problems. Simulation results show that POA provides effective performance in handling real-world applications by achieving better solutions compared to competitor algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the field of dynamic behaviors in neural networks with variable-order differences is currently a thriving area, marked by various significant discoveries. However, when it comes to discrete-time neural networks featuring fractional variable-order nonlocal and nonsingular kernels, there has been limited exploration. This paper stands as one of the initial contributions to this subject, focusing primarily on the topics of stability and synchronization in finite-time within discrete neural networks. The research employs the nabla ABC variable-order difference operator, with a primary approach involving the investigation of a novel Gronwall inequality using the Atangana-Baleanu difference variable-order sum operator. This analysis leads to the development of a uniqueness theorem and a criterion for the stability in finite-time of variable-order discrete neural networks. Furthermore, the requirements stemming from this type of stability and the novel Gronwall inequality serve as the foundation for establishing the conditions necessary for achieving finite-time synchronization in these networks, employing a specific control using state feedback method. Finally, the study utilizes numerical solutions to validate the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is vital for continuous organizational growth and development. OCB also plays an evident role in advancing the quality of health care services and practicing OCB in hospitals can be useful. Although OCBs' contributing factors have been studied in Jordan in earlier researches, the utilization of OCB in health sector is still a new topic. Therefore, this article aimed to investigate the impact of employees' gender and age on OCB at Jordanian governmental hospitals using a fuzzy approach. A convenient sample of 126 employees working in three main governmental hospitals in the north of Jordan has been taken. The collected data include linguistic terms that suffer from uncertainty which, in turn, cannot be dealt with traditional numerical values. This study indicates that gender impact on OCB has statistically significant differences at α =.05 in favor of males with the total score of 0.011% as far as altruism, courtesy, and civic virtue are concerned. Similarly, the effect of age factor on OCB is statistically significant differences at α =.05 in relation to courtesy, sportsmanship, and civic virtue with the total score of 0.27%. Finally, the results provide baseline data for further studies that may pay more attention toward employees' demographics in OCB. This study can support mangers and leaders holding dominant positions in public sector health care organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Organizational justice (OJ) is important for organizational success; it reflects employee perceptions of fair treatment. OJ promotes employee retention and work engagement toward high performance. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is a discretionary behavior, describing how employees contribute to a smoother organizational performance. OCB enhances employee satisfaction, quality of care, patients' satisfaction with hospital performance, and the use of best hospital practices. Moreover, OJ increases employee satisfaction and is perceived as a factor that encourages workers to go "above and beyond" their responsibilities, while avoiding OCB in the workplace may reduce awareness of justice. Previous efforts have shown that perceptions of a just workplace promoted OCB at different industrial companies. Still, few studies have investigated this relationship in hospitals. Objectives: This study addressed this gap by investigating the significant relationships of OJ and OCB in a large Jordanian hospital. Methods: A fuzzy approach to Pearson's correlation was applied to test the formulated hypothesis, with an aim to better understand causal correlation of vague data. Results: A statistically significant, positive correlation existed between OJ and OCB. Maximum correlations existed between distributive justice and altruism, procedural justice, courtesy, and interactional or interpersonal justice and conscientiousness. This study showed that procedural justice was the best predictor of OCB. Conclusion: This study revealed a correlation between OJ and OCB, reflecting the diversity of these correlation relationships, which can help decision makers to form their strategic plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the near future, data is expected to double in every two years, which translates to more than one terabyte of data for every person on earth. The difficulty of storing and fetching required data from data centers and servers will consequently increase. As a result, significant attention has been given to the flash memory-based solid state drive (SSD) from consumer electronics companies, which has begun to replace the existing hard disk drive and is highly likely to be used as a storage unit for most of consumer electronics to achieve low power consumption. In contrast to traditional disk, SSD uses semiconductor chips to store data. This structure enjoys original technical characteristics, including low power consumption, shock resistance, and high performance in random access. Such features can overcome the shortcomings of magnetic disks. However, flash memory, the basic unit of SSD, has many distinctive characteristics that cause various challenges. Flash memory does not support updating in the place method. A write operation can be performed only on an empty or erased unit, making the process more time-consuming. Moreover, each storage unit has a limited number of erase cycles, after which the block becomes invalid. This research proposes a new scheme called performance and reliability concern to increase the reliability and performance of SSDs. The eligibility of the proposed scheme is proven through EagleTree simulator. The scheme is also compared with other state-of-the-art techniques in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme provides sufficient performance and reliability for SSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]