Royal Scientific Society

Microplastics (MPs) have been recognized as persistence contaminant in drinking water causing potential risks to human health. This study investigated the occurrence, removal and polymer type of MPs in three major drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) as well as different commercial brands of bottled water in Jordan. Water samples were collected from different treatment stages at DWTPs between May and June 2025. These samples were sieved over 20 µm sieve and analyzed for MPs using Nile Red staining and micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (μ-FTIR). The results showed that MPs were present in all raw water samples of Zai, Zara and Jerash DWTPs, with concentrations ranged from 2.3 to 17.7 particles/L resulting an average MPs removal efficiency of 75%, 81%, 65% respectively. Also, for commercial bottled water, MPs concentrations ranged from 1.1 to 4.4 particles/L which are slightly higher than those measured at the outlets of the DWTPs. Moreover, the results showed that the rayon fiber, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), polyurethane (PU), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were the main types of polymers detected in the samples. Overall, the study findings demonstrated that existing DWTPs in Jordan substantially reduce microplastic loads but do not fully eliminate MPs ≥ 20 µm. Moreover, the results established a baseline for MPs levels in drinking water and commercial bottled water in a water-scarce region. • First national assessment of MPs in Jordanian DWTPs • MPs ≥ 20 µm detected in raw and treated waters • Treatment processes achieved 65–81% MP removal • PET, PE, PU, PTFE and rayon were dominant polymers • Baseline data established for a water-scarce region

Abstract The climate crisis is increasingly contributing to a mental health crisis. Policy and practice inadequately account for the mental health costs of climate change and the mental health benefits of climate action. The climate and mental health field is expanding rapidly but unevenly. Connecting Climate Minds (CCM), a global initiative, aimed to develop a guiding vision to ensure investment in and implementation of future research aligns with lived experience needs and appropriately informs policies. CCM convened 1184 contributors with diverse expertise across 126 countries, through 21 online and in-person dialogues. Their insights produced a Global Research and Action Agenda for climate change and mental health. This paper outlines the 53 research priorities structured into four high-level themes (impacts, risks and vulnerable groups; pathways and mechanisms; mental health benefits and risks of climate action; mental health interventions). It also outlines how to implement research and translate evidence to action.

This study examines how films distributed on digital platforms shape Jordanian audiences’ perceptions of tourist destinations, with specific attention to destination image formation and to cultural communication and understanding. Using a descriptive research design, this study conducted a purposive sample to 400 Jordanians who actively view films on platforms such as Netflix, Watch It, Shahid, OSN, YouTube, Facebook, and Apple TV Plus. Respondents evaluated attributes of digital platform films and assessed the role of such films in shaping destination image and in enhancing cultural communication. Results indicate consistently high evaluations for film attributes that foreground aesthetic cinematography and natural scenery, together with presentations that emphasize excitement, adventure, and exploration. The overall mean for destination image items was high, and the overall mean for cultural communication and understanding items was also high. Hypothesis testing revealed significant positive correlations between the extent of viewing digital platform films and the perceived role of films in forming destination image, r equal to 0.344, p less than 0.001, and between extent of viewing and perceived enhancement of cultural communication and understanding, r equal to 0.289, p less than 0.001. The findings suggest that digital platform films function as influential, credibility-enhancing media that can motivate destination visiting, broaden audience knowledge, and strengthen intercultural understanding. The study contributes context specific evidence from Jordan to the literature on film-induced tourism and offers actionable implications for destination marketers, the Royal Film Commission, and platform based content producers.

Some 500 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMES) are active across the globe. Data for Europe suggest that MSMEs are responsible for 40–60% of industrial pollution. Resource-Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) has been empirically demonstrated to mitigate waste generation, wastewater discharge, and emissions in industrial processes while maintaining cost-effectiveness. RECP has been applied in several thousand enterprises globally. RECP has shown the potential to reduce waste and emissions from industries by up to 30%. Applying RECP to MSMEs has some restrictions: the availability of data, the limited capacities of management, and limited financial resources make RECP application in MSMEs generally more challenging compared to bigger enterprises. This calls for the development of RECP approaches dedicated to MSMEs. This paper describes the systematic development of a delivery approach for MSMEs in Jordan. The results show that by minimizing the time required from management, active involvement of owner/managers, provision of tailored information on applicable options, and involving other stakeholders such as chambers and financial institutions, enterprises can be involved in big numbers with very reasonable efforts, reaching remarkable results.

ABSTRACT The presence of N-nitrosamine contaminants in pharmaceuticals, particularly N-nitroso vonoprazan (NVP), poses significant health risks due to their genotoxic and carcinogenic properties. This study describes a novel, rapid analytical method for detecting and quantifying NVP in vonoprazan tablets and raw materials. The NVP was separated and quantified using an LC-ESI-MS/MS system with ESI ionisation and an Exion LC Sciex 5500-QTrap. The system utilised an ACE 3 C18-PFP column with dimensions of 4.6 mm × 150 mm and 3.0 µm. It achieved a high correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.9955) and met linearity and accuracy criteria. The method was developed and validated using ICH guidelines and against standard solutions, and it demonstrated high precision, accuracy, and specificity. The method validation results showed that the quantification is accurate, with an RSD of less than 10% and LOD and LOQ values of 0.5 and 1.0 ng/mL, respectively. The analysis of 150 vonoprazan tablets and 100 raw material samples revealed low levels of NVP, mostly falling below the FDA’s Acceptable Daily Intake limit of 96 ng/day. This novel approach provides a powerful and dependable tool for ensuring the safety and quality of vonoprazan-based pharmaceuticals.

Developing cost-efficient wastewater treatment technologies for safe reuse is essential, especially in developing countries simultaneously facing water scarcity. This study developed and evaluated a hybrid constructed wetlands (CWs) approach, incorporating tidal flow (TF) operation and utilising local Jordanian zeolite as a wetland substrate for real pharmaceutical industry wastewater treatment. Over 273 days of continuous monitoring, the results revealed that the first-stage TFCWs filled with either raw or modified zeolite performed significantly higher reductions in Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD, 58 %–60 %), Total Nitrogen (TN, 32 %–37 %), and Phosphate (PO4, 46 %–64 %) compared to TFCWs filled with normal sand. Water quality further improved after the second stage of horizontal subsurface flow CWs treatment, achieving log removals of 1.09–2.47 for total coliform and 1.89–2.09 for E. coli. With influent pharmaceutical concentrations ranging from 275 to 2000 μg/L, the zeolite-filled hybrid CWs achieved complete removal (>98 %) for ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, erythromycin, and enrofloxacin, moderate removal (43 %–81 %) for flumequine and lincomycin, and limited removal (<8 %) for carbamazepine and diclofenac. The overall accumulation of pharmaceuticals in plant tissue and substrate adsorption accounted for only 2.3 % and 4.3 %, respectively, of the total mass removal. Biodegradation of these pharmaceuticals (up to 61 %) through microbial-mediated processes or within plant tissues was identified as the key removal pathway. For both conventional pollutants and pharmaceuticals, modified zeolite wetland media could only slightly enhance treatment without a significant difference between the two treatment groups. The final effluent from all hybrid CWs complied with Jordanian treated industry wastewater reuse standards (category III), and systems filled with raw or modified zeolite achieved over 95 % of samples meeting the highest water reuse category I. This study provides evidence of using hybrid CWs technology as a nature-based solution to address water safety and scarcity challenges.

Effective communication of disaster threats to decision makers and at-risk communities is a growing challenge in a people-centred approach to disaster risk reduction. Traditional communication approaches tend to involve either top-down risk management practices or bottom-up community health and education practices. But an alternative blended approach emerges from the academic realm of science communication.In practical terms, the science communication lens focuses attention on a trio of practices for DRR: one-way dissemination of risk information to a broad public; two-way dialogues that identify, engage and consult with specific stakeholders in the risk management process; and three-way participation initiatives that enable informed conversations between communities and decision makers and within communities themselves, to motivate action. The strategic intent of communications – whether that be promotion, persuasion or partnership – ought to be guided by a ‘theory of change’ that delivers clear and coherent DRR goals and by training programmes that recognise the need to integrate a variety of interventions from across the communication continuum.

ABSTRACT Although the Russia–Ukraine war has had only a limited impact on the agricultural production in the two belligerent states, it has triggered a number of interlocking ripple effects, which have exacerbated pre-existing strains in the supply chain. The war is best seen not as an isolated shock, whose effects can be traced along a single linear axis, but as a factor in a network of interlocking global crises. The initial small drop in food supply has translated into market panic, spiking inflation and food insecurity in import-dependent areas, subsequently enhancing geopolitical dislocation. Quantitative data on food prices and trade and production volumes will be combined with a qualitative study of the war’s socio-political ripples in at-risk regions to examine the effects of the war on the global food trade and put these in a theoretical framework, outlining the links between geopolitics, socio-economic strains, disruptions to global commodity markets and food insecurity.