PRIORITIZING STRESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR KAHRAMAA CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT: ANALYTIC NETWORK PROCESS AND SUPERMATRIX APPROACHt

Stress is a ubiquitous phenomenon that has several fiscal and practical consequences on both the employees and the employers. Implementing stress management strategy in the workplace is a critical issue for leaders and managers. Studying stress and reducing its impact on employees is very helpful for organizations. The aim of this paper is to present an applicable and reliable evaluation method to assess decision makers in Kahramaa Customer Service Department to prioritize and select the most appropriate stress reduction strategy. To meet the aims and objectives of the study, the Analytical Network Process (ANP) method is used to determine the best possible strategy to reduce stress based on reliable assessment criteria that are designed to suit the case of Kahramaa Customer Service Department. The research compared the best strategy out of four different stress reduction strategies which are problem-focused strategy, emotional focused strategy, job characteristics and role ambiguity strategy, and corporate wellness program. The study focused on the prioritization of those strategies by assessing the criteria and sub-criteria of each of the dimensions used for the assessment. The criteria importance and relativity were driven by a comprehensive literature review to support the pairwise comparisons using and utilizing experts’ and scholars’ opinions. The research concluded that the most effective strategies for stress reduction are social support strategies, problem-solving strategies, HR strategies, and environmental strategies. The ANP analysis shows that the corporate wellness program is the most effective and optimal strategy for stress reduction for Kahramaa Customer Service Department employees. The corporate wellness program received the highest scores among other strategies based on the criteria selection and prioritization. The assessment criteria, the sub-criteria, and the alternatives can be altered and customized to outfit any government or semi-government organization in Qatar. This study is focused and aims to assess decision makers. Such studies are not common in the Qatari market. Qatar market is rapidly growing. The government and semi-government organizations in Qatar are racing against time to cope with modern business strategies to fulfil their role in the growing eco-system of the country. Such studies can be a simple, straightforward, and reliable approach to assess managers in government and semi-government organizations on how to improve the working conditions of their employees and reduce stress. Reducing stress is an urging matter to organizations such as Kahramaa. Employees perform better when they are not stressed. Their productivity grows, as well as their commitment, dedication, and loyalty. On the other hand, stressed employees will not be creative enough and will not be effective members in the organization. Accordingly, all organizations in Qatar that have the same problem of Kahrama can highly benefit from this study

THE LEVERAGE EFFECT ON THE VALUE PREMIUM VOLATILITY: FROM AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

This paper investigates the leverage effect on the value premium volatility using GARCH and TARCH models utilizing a unique dataset, for twenty nine countries. The findings show that value premium returns are bigger in developed than in developing countries and vary from negative values in some countries to positive in other countries, suggesting that different markets may need different long-run investment strategies. Moreover, we show persistence of a finite unconditional variance that appears strong in developed countries but less significant in developing countries. Finally, leverage appears to have asymmetric effects on the value premium in eight countries including: USA, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and Poland

Role of Color Flow Ultrasound in Detection of Deep Venous Thrombosis

Background: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of lower limbs is one of the most causes for the majority of death caused by pulmonary embolism. Many medical and surgical disorders are complicated by DVT. Most venous thrombi are clinically silent. B-mode and color Doppler imaging is needed for early diagnosis of DVT to prevent complications and squeal of DVT.Aim and objectives: the objectives of our study were to evaluate the role of color flow Doppler in the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and subsequently to investigate its diagnostic value in patients who have normal deep veins despite symptoms.Patients and methods: prospective cross sectional study of 50 patients, 32 patients male, 18female, diagnosed on Doppler with DVTResults: Color Doppler flow imaging in 50 cases had sensitivity of 90%, specificity of 96.7%, positive predictive value of 94.7%, negative predictive value of 93.5%, and accuracy rate of 94%, with majority belonging to fifth decade (26%). In our study, predominantly distribution of thrombus was found to be in above knee region with (65.63%), while only 34.38% of them had DVT below knee.Conclusion: Color Doppler is useful in diagnosing DVT in symptomatic and at risk patients and provides non- invasive method of investigation. It is also helpful in evaluating the site, extent and stage of thrombus. Keywords: Color flow duplex venous examination, deep venous thrombosis, duplex scanning, pulmonary embolism, venous thromboembolis

Experimental Evaluation of the Performance of One-Axis Daily Tracking and Fixed PV Module in Baghdad, Iraq

An attempt was made to evaluate the PV performance of one-axis daily tracking and fixed system for Baghdad, Iraq. Two experimental simulations were conducted on a PV module for that purpose. Measurements included incident solar radiation, load voltage and load current. The first experiment was carried out for six months of winter half of year to simulate the one-axis daily tracking. The azimuth angle was due south while the tilt angle was being set to optimum according to each day of simulation. The second experiment was done at one day to simulate the PV module of fixed angles. It is found that there is a significant power gain of 29.6% for the tracking system in respect to the fixed one. The one-axis daily tracking was much more effective near winter solstice as compared to other months. The efficiency, fill factor for the one-axis and fixed module were 5.1%, 0.57, 4% and 0.52 respectively. Finally, it is concluded that power conditioning system is needed for load matching to improve PV performance

Women’s resilience and participation in climate governance in the agri-food sector: A strategic review of public policies

The primary objective of this working paper is to review literature (i.e., peer-reviewed and grey) on the extent to which women’s full and effective participation in climate change policies at different scales; defined at the level at which a policy is implemented, including macro, meso and micro; improve women’s resilience to climate change and environmental hazards. Given that women are vulnerable to climate change in unique ways and have important contributions to increase the climate resilience of the agri-food sector, it is imperative for governments to design and enact policies to enhance women’s resilience to climate change by alleviating gendered constraints and building women’s resilience capacities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The SDGs provide a goalpost for strengthening women’s voice and agency in climate resilience. In particular, SDG 5.5 which “seeks to ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities, defined as meaningful involvement and exertion of influence, for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.” Improving women’s full, effective, and meaningful participation in the policy process is a critical pre-condition to increasing women’s resilience to climate change and disaster risk. As such, one of the central conclusions of the 65th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) reaffirmed the need for government policies to champion women’s full and effective participation and leadership in climate change governance. The review emphasizes government policies that promote women’s agency and voices in climate change resilience at multiple scales; national frameworks for integrating gender in climate policy, and women’s resilience capacities in the agri-food sector. Importantly, and when data allows, the review also details how and under what conditions these policies succeed in enabling women to acquire voice and agency in climate change resilience through specific well-being outcomes

Knowledge about hepatitis B among nurses in the governmental healthcare sector in southern West Bank, Palestine

Health care workers (HCWs) represent a high-risk population for hepatitis infection. The study aimed to assess the level of knowledge of nurses regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2020 to November 2020. A total of 300 nurses were included in the study. Data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire, and analyzed by using SPSS (22). The results revealed that the mean knowledge score among nurses was 62.55% of the information tested in our questionnaire. Most of the correct answers were in the nature section (78.4%), while answers were poor on vaccination (46.9%). About 118 (40%) of the nurses aged between 20-30 years, 157 (52%) were females. Two hundred fifty (83%) respondents reported taking the HBV vaccine, and 96.1% reported having titers \u3e10U/I. Based on our findings, nursing knowledge about HBV in prevention and vaccination was unsatisfactory compared with the nature, treatment and transmission. Continuous training programs toward viral infection are highly recommended

Micellar and Polymer Catalysis in the Kinetics of Oxidation of L-lysine by Permanganate Ion in Perchloric Acid Medium

Kinetics of oxidation of L-lysine by permanganate ion in a perchloric acid medium was investigated to explore the order of the reaction with respect to  oxidant and substrate and to study the catalytic behaviour of sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). The reaction was found to be  first-order with respect to the oxidant and the substrate and zero-order with respect to hydrogen ion. Changes in the sodium sulphate concentration  produce a non-significant variation in the rate of the reaction. SLS and PEG were found to catalyze the reaction. Surfactant catalysis was modelled by  Piszkiewicz’s cooperativity model, while polymer catalysis was explained with the help of the Benesi-Hildebrand equation. The temperature dependence  of the rate of the reaction was elucidated, and activation parameters were obtained. Interestingly, the reaction was found to possess positive activation  entropy indicating the dissociative nature of the transition state and outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism. A mechanism of the reaction that is  supported by the experimental findings was suggested.&nbsp