Competency Assessment of Public Employee in Kuwaiti Civil Service Law.

The system of competency assessment has a special importance in public employment because it is one of the tools that are used to assess the capability of the employees and their ability to satisfy their public duties, as well as their roles to achieve the goals of the administrative department in managing the public facility and attaining the public interest. The system of competency assessment seeks to achieve many objectives, the most important of which are: the advancement of the service that the public facility is providing, the improvement of the programs and methods of appointing employees and their training; the detection of the administration\u27s errors and problems; and the improvement of the competency of employees. This study will include the legal organization of the competency assessment in Kuwaiti civil service law, by identifying the public employees who are subject to this system and those who are making it. In addition, this study will shed the light on the assessment process, factors, and hierarchy. The time of assessment, steps, publicity, and effects will be covered in this study. Finally, the complaint about the competency assessment and the judicial appeal will be subject to discussion in the stud

Woodcutting Activities in Tabuk Region (Saudi Arabia): Assessment of Conservation Knowledge

The present study aims to investigate the effect of different social factors on the woodcutting frequency in Tabuk Region. A total of 100 people participated in this study by answering the questionnaire questions. The conservation knowledge of the participants was also assessed through 4 questions (Yes or No). The final score of the conservation knowledge assessment is 4. The present study findings showed that most of people like to cut the wood for heating during winter and fall seasons. The frequency of woodcutting in Tabuk Region was once a month. Among the social factors involved in this study, education showed negative and significant relationship with the number of logging times. However, age had positive relationship with the number of logging times. The most favourbale species to be cut and used for heating and cooking in Tabuk are; Acacia tortilis, Acacia ehrenbergiana, Retama reaetam and Calligonum comosum. For the assessment of the public conservation knowledge, it was found that most of participants had moderate to good conservation knowledge as most of them answered 3 questions correctly out of 4. The conservation knowledge showed to be affected positively by education level and negatively by the number of family members. In conclusion, it was found that there is remarkable woodcutting stress on wild plants in Tabuk Region and immediate and effective actions should be performe

Understanding "corruption" in regulatory agencies: the case of food inspection in Saudi Arabia

Corruption is a relatively neglected topic in studies of regulatory agencies. The label is applied to a wide range of deviations from behavioural standards derived ultimately from Weber’s account of the ideals of Prussian bureaucracy. This paper draws on a study of the work of Saudi Food Inspectors (SFIs) to argue that it is unhelpful to reduce a complex phenomenon to simple allegations of malpractice that can be managed by disciplinary sanctions. Our data show that irregular behaviour by street-level agents may be deeply embedded in the expectations that members of a society have of one another. It is less a matter of personal gain than of maintaining one’s recognition as a fellow-citizen. Such behaviour is not easily changed through sanctions directed at individual inspectors. Our study does not exclude the possibility that irregular behaviour can be motivated by personal gain, and properly managed by criminal or similar penalties. However, it does propose that research should be more sensitive to the contexts within which irregular behaviour occurs rather than treating ‘corruption’ as a uniform and homogenous phenomenon

Microstructural evaluation of suspension thermally sprayed WC-Co nanocomposite coatings.

Microstructural and sliding wear evaluations of nanostructured coatings deposited by Suspension High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (S-HVOF) spraying were conducted in as-sprayed and HIPed (Hot Isostatically Pressed) conditions. S-HVOF coatings were nanostructured via ball milling of the WC-12Co start powder, and deposited via an aqueous based suspension using modified HVOF (TopGun) spraying. Microstructural evaluations of these hardmetal coatings included TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Sliding wear tests were conducted using a ball-on-flat test rig. Results indicated that nanostructured features inherited from the start powder in S-HVOF spraying were retained in the resulting coatings. The decarburisation of WC due to a higher surface area to volume ratio was also observed in the S-HVOF coatings. Nanostructured and amorphous phases caused by the high cooling rates during thermal spraying crystallized into complex eta-phases after the HIPing treatment. Sliding wear performance indicated that the coating wear was lower for the HIPed coatings

Sliding wear investigation of suspension sprayed WC-Co nanocomposite coatings.

Sliding wear evaluation of nanostructured coatings deposited by Suspension High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (S-HVOF) and conventional HVOF (Jet Kote (HVOF-JK) and JP5000 (HVOF-JP)) spraying were evaluated. S-HVOF coatings were nanostructured and deposited via an aqueous based suspension of the WC-Co powder, using modified HVOF (TopGun) spraying. Microstructural evaluations of these hardmetal coatings included X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX). Sliding wear tests on coatings were conducted using a ball-on-flat test rig against steel, silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramic and WC-6Co balls. Results indicated that nanosized particles inherited from the starting powder in S-HVOF spraying were retained in the resulting coatings. Significant changes in the chemical and phase composition were observed in the S-HVOF coatings. Despite decarburization, the hardness and sliding wear resistance of the S-HVOF coatings was comparable to the HVOF-JK and HVOF-JP coatings. The sliding wear performance was dependent on the ball-coating test couple. In general a higher ball wear rate was observed with lower coating wear rate. Comparison of the total (ball and coating) wear rate indicated that for steel and ceramic balls, HVOF-JP coatings performed the best followed by the S-HVOF and HVOF-JK coatings. For the WC-Co ball tests, average performance of S-HVOF was better than that of HVOF-JK and HVOF-JP coatings. Changes in sliding wear behavior were attributed to the support of metal matrix due to relatively higher tungsten content, and uniform distribution of nanoparticles in the S-HVOF coating microstructure. The presence of tribofilm was also observed for all test couples

Sensitivity and specificity of nuclear medicines (DTPA and DMSA) with magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing bone metastasis

Background: The frequency of bone metastases in individuals increases at advanced stages of cancer, mostly in patients suffering from lung, breast, or prostate cancer. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of bone metastases diagnosis of nuclear medicine, CT scan, and MRI in detecting bone metastases among patients with lung, breast, and prostate carcinoma. Material and methods: Retrospective study design was adopted for the analysis of 120 recruited patients (with the presence of bone metastasis) following a series of examinations and tests. Results: Better sensitivity (73.33%) and specificity (94.66%) for MRI as compared to SPECT. MRI also proved to be more sensitive (68%) and specific (95.74%), as compared to the findings of the CT scan. Conclusions: The results conclude that MRI provided favorable diagnostic performance for bone metastasis. It emphasizes that diagnosis using MRI may enable practitioners to devise optimal carcinoma treatment strategies. The healthcare practitioners need to assess the MRI findings to determine improved treatment plans

Some factors affecting dairy she-camel performance

Abstract In order to determine the effect of some factors, as different levels of energy and protein, milking interval, lactation stage, and lactation rank on she-camel performance after weaning of camel-calves, 20 lactating shecamels were divided into four groups, 5 animals each, according to age and weight at last parturition. Groups had randomly allocated to one of four treatments diets. Group A received diet with 13% Crude Protein (CP) and 2.4 MCal Metabolisable Energy (ME). Group B received diet with 13% CP and 3.0 MCal ME. Group C and D received diet with 15% CP and 2.4, 3.0 MCal ME respectively. Diets contain 35/65 (roughage/concentrate, respectively). After 14 days of adaptation period, individual feed offered and orts had been recorded, daily and continued up to entire experimental period of 10 months. Milk yield was recorded two milking time from three consecutive days. The results show that diet (B) gave higher milk yield (MY), Fat Corrected Milk (FCM), Energy Corrected Milk (ECM) and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) 8.32, 11.77, 7.47, and 1.38 respectively. Diet (A) has higher fat % content when comparing with the other diets. Treatment did not affect milk composition except on fat and ash percentage. Milk secretion rate for 10 hours milking interval "evening milking" was higher comparing with 14 hours milking interval "morning milking" 397, 353 g/h respectively. Maximum MY, FCM and ECM were at mid lactation. In late lactation MY, FCM, ECM decreased. Higher milk productivity was at 3rd and 6th season of lactation