The “glass ceiling” and empowerment of Qatari women for employment in Qatar.

Qatar is rapidly transforming from a traditional conservative and modest society to a more open, modern and technologically advanced society. Qatar has made significant strides over the recent years in increasing the participation of women in higher education and in the Qatari workforce (Scott-Jackson, 2015). Women comprise 24% of the Qatari population and 18% of the workforce (MDPS, 2015), however, they remain concentrated in entry-level administrative jobs (Al Ansari, 2012) and mostly in the public sector. Is this inequality of participation of women in higher levels of Qatari organizations, a Glass Ceiling phenomenon that has been noticed in other countries and global organizations? The answer from similar previous research is “Yes” and this dissertation is an endeavor to further build on these reasons and highlight how this problem has sprouted in Qatar. Using an employment effectiveness route, to make employees both men and women, express their views of their current work experiences and their likelihood to continue or leave employment and complete their career objectives in the current organization, this dissertation will help understand whether the Glass Ceiling has external reasons or is it self-inflicted. Self-infliction can be a reason from the lack of enthusiasm to progress into senior roles by women themselves due to the Islamic and patriarchal society values and the influence that this has had on women in Qatar and the entire middle east region in general (Ermis-Mert, A., 2018). The objective of this research is to find not only the reasons for the Glass Ceiling but also the solutions of how to use public policies and driving cultural changes to overcome this problem and to see Qatar fulfilling its vision 2030 in its entirety

Competencies for Successful Middle Managers in Healthcare and Medical Education

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the Kingdom of Bahrain (KB) are currently in the process of the rapid transformation of health care to a self-sustained autonomous system. Middle managers play a pivotal role in achieving this goal. The aim of this study is to develop a feasible, reliable, and valid scale for measuring the leadership and managerial competencies of MM in KSA and KB. Zhou’s (2019) conceptual framework using a mixed-method approach was followed. After procuring ethical clearance from concerned authorities and informed consent from all the participants (n = 27), semi-structured interviews were conducted across three groups: Top Management (TM), Middle Management comprising of Middle Managers (MM), and Lower Management (LM) for the creation of items for the scale, which were later approved by five experts. Two hundred two participants from medical education (ME) and health care (HC) responded to the new scale. Cronbach\u27s alpha and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to confirm internal consistency and validity. The model fit was adequate with a good GFI (0.90), TLI (0.96), and RMSEA (0.06). Seven major themes emerged from the thematic analysis, while a structural model with three inter-related constructs—“professionalism and problem solving,” “team management and adaptation,” and “time management and expertise” were recognized based on factor analysis. Both TM and LM identified the ability to motivate (70.8%) as comprising one of the most significant characteristics of MM. TM also indicated that concern and consideration of subordinates (68.8%) were important. LM considered being active (71.6%) as important for MM. Interestingly, MM had scored these attributes lower, illustrating the different ways in which MM is perceived across the three levels of management. Importantly, MM acknowledged concern for employee well-being, relationship, communication, and being active as crucial competencies, representing a mix of all competencies identified by the three levels of management. The “Leadership and Managerial Competency Scale for Middle Managers in Gulf Region (LMCS-MM Gulf Region)” developed under this study reflects what people in the three levels of management (lower, middle, and top) across ME and HC value in a (hypothetical) middle manager. This scale has several implications for the selection, training, and appraisal of MM in ME and HC. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu)

ALCOHOL POLICY IN MUSLIM MAJORITY COUNTRIES

Background: Due to the Islamic prohibition of alcohol consumption in Muslim Majority Countries (MMCs), alcohol policy research has been limited. However, consumption in MMCs has recently increased. Also, globalization and governmental transition can all affect alcohol policy development. This research examines the extent of civil alcohol prohibition in MMCs. Using Iran as a case study, it describes how alcohol prohibition can be translated into policy, including alcohol treatment policy, in a MMC. Methods: The research was conducted in three languages: Arabic, Persian and English. Policy analysis drew on case study and qualitative research methods and narrative synthesis for literature review. For Iran, publicly available literature and policy documents were collected, and information verified through consultation. Newspapers were reviewed over three time periods. Walt & Gilson’s framework was used to identify alcohol policy content, context, actors and process, including in treatment policy. Results: Four broad approaches to civil alcohol policy in MMCs were identified. From the 50 MMCs, only five have total prohibition, 10 have prohibition with concessions, others have restriction or regulation policies. Despite its approach of prohibition with concessions for non-Muslims, Iran has used nine out of ten recommended WHO alcohol policy strategy domains in a context-specific way. Pricing and taxation is not used. Iran has started a multisectoral approach to treatment of unhealthy alcohol consumption. Conclusion: MMCs face challenges in creating alcohol policies. Many have implemented civil alcohol policies that are not limited to Islamic prohibition. However, WHO alcohol policy assessment tools do not detect many MMC alcohol policies, because tools were designed for non-Muslim and developed countries. Policy formation in MMCs could benefit from external expert support and relevant research

The electronic origin of the ground state spectral features and excited state deactivation in cycloalkanones: the role of intermolecular H-bonding in neat and binary mixtures of solvents

In this study, a D-A cycloalkanone (K1) has been investigated by steady state absorption and fluorescence in neat solvents and in three binary mixtures of nonpolar aprotic/polar protic, polar aprotic/polar protic, and polar protic/polar protic solvents. The experimental findings were complemented by density functional theory (DFT), time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), and NBO quantum-mechanical calculations. Experimentally, effective changes in absorption and fluorescence were observed by solute-solvent interaction. The binary K1-solvent1-solv2 configuration, modeled at the B3LYP-DFT level, confirms involvement of inter-molecular H-bonding with the carbonyl C=O in the fluorescence deactivation process (quenching). This is supported by considerable electron delocalization from C=O to the solvent's hydroxyl (nO????*H-O). This type of hyperconjugation was found to be the main driver for solute-solvent stabilization.Scopu

A Comparison Study of Communication Skills between General Surgery and General Practice Residents on First-time Patient Visits

Background: There is little published research about differences in doctor-patient communication of different specialties. Accordingly, we compared doctor-patient communication skills in two different specialties, general surgery (GS) and general practice (GP). Methods: Twenty residents training at the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital (10 men and 10 women; mean age 28 years; 10 GS and 10 GP) participated in 200 patient first visit consultations. The consultations were video-recorded and analysed by four trained observers using the MAAS Global scale. Results: 1) Internal consistency reliability of the MAAS Global (> 0.91) and Ep2 = 0.84 for raters was high, 2) GP residents spent more time (12 minutes) than GS residents (7 minutes), in the visits, 3) There were several differences on the MAAS Global items between GP and GS residents (GS > GP, p < 0.05 on history taking, diagnosis and medical aspects; GP > GS, p < 0.05 on information giving), and 4) The present participants performed well compared to normative samples as well as to criterion-referenced cut-off scores. The general level of communication skills in both specialties, however, was ‘unsatisfactory’ and ‘doubtful’, as it is for normative samples. Conclusion: Excellent doctor-patient communication is essential but does not appear to receive the amount of attention that it deserves in practice settings. There are some differences between specialties as well as unsatisfactory communication skills for both specialties, since residents from both programs spent less time than recommended on each consultation. Our findings emphasize the need to improve the communication skills of physicians in general and for surgeons in particular.

The effect of P and K availability in soil on nutrient concentrations, uptake, and distribution in corn plants throughout the growing season

Field experiments were conducted in 1981 and 1982 to study the effects of low, moderate and high levels of P and K availability in the soil on growth and nutrient uptake by corn plants. In both seasons, 157 kg of N ha(\u27-1) was applied to all experimental plots prior to planting. Corn grain yields were 4940 and 8600 kg ha(\u27-1) in 1981 and 3920 and 6260 kg ha(\u27-1) in 1982 at the low and high fertility levels, respectively. The corn plants were sampled throughout the growing season, separated into different plant parts, and chemically analyzed;The concentrations of P and K in the plants increased and the concentrations of Zn and Mg (except in the stalks and grain) decreased as the levels of P and K availability in the soil increased. The concentrations of other elements--N, S, Ca, Cu, Mn, Fe, Na, and Al--in the plants did not vary consistently among fertility levels except for slight decreases of N and S in the grain and a slight increase of Ca in the stalks as the PK fertility level increased;Changes in nutrient concentrations during the season varied for different elements, for different plant parts and positions on the plants, and at different levels of P and K availability in the soil;Nutrient contents in the plants increased as fertility level increased. After silking, most of the nutrient accumulation was in upper ear shoots;Soil fertility differences did not markedly influence the amounts of nutrients in the grain at early stages of grain development, but later as the grain developed, the amounts of nutrients in the seeds increased as the fertility level increased

Nanoparticle Incorporation to Enhance Titanium Alloy Electric Discharge Machining Capabilities

The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of the Powder-blended Micro Electric Discharge Machining (PMEDM) technique on micromachining applications, specifically when sea water is employed as the dielectric medium. Tiny apertures with a width of 200µm were punctured over Ti-6Al-4V plates. In the initial round of experimentation, the machining performance was evaluated by subjecting sea water to various process variables without the inclusion of any other ingredients. The effects of input variables, including electrode material, hole voltage, current, Pulse-on-time, and Duty factor, on the Material Removal Rate (MRR), Tool Wear Rate (TWR), Overcut (OC), Circularity Error (CE), and Taper Ratio (TR) were analysed by conducting tests in accordance with Taguchi's L18 plan design. The method employed to ascertain the optimal parametric configuration for multi-objective enhancement involved utilising the strategy of soliciting inclination based on similarity to an ideal arrangement. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of foreign materials on the dielectric-based miniature electrical discharge machining (EDM) process in sea water. This was achieved by utilising powders with varying weight concentrations and molecule sizes, including non-conductive (Al2O3), semi-conductive (SiC), and conductive (Al) powders. The experimental setup ensured that the variable boundaries were maintained at their ideal settings. The results indicate that the choice of tool has a notable influence on the functioning of micro EDM when sea water is employed as the dielectric, without the inclusion of extraneous particles. The performance metric of multi-objective execution in PMEDM is influenced by the conductivity of supplementary compounds. An 83.18 percent increase in Material Removal Rate (MRR) was observed when SiC added compounds were utilised in Powder Mixed Electrical Discharge Machining (PMEDM). Conversely, there was a drop in Tool Wear Rate (TWR) by 36.42 percent, Open Circuit voltage (OC) by 21.48 percent, Current Efficiency (CE) by 45.15 percent, and Tool Roughness (TR) by 22.87 percent